Fluorescent Dreams Wax Cylinders

6:36 - What is truth?

Many people think that truth is a single entity: everything can be compared with the single truth, and verified.

I disagree. Not only do I assume that truth is a multitude, I assume that different situations measures of truth can give different answers of whether something is true.

(Please note: I strongly believe that truth -- or truths -- exist. I just do not believe that when we talk about truth, we always mean the same system.)

Here's three examples of what I mean:


Mathematical Truth:
Truth in mathematics means that if a person accepts axioms A, B, and C , then they will accept theorems X, Y, and Z, they will reject theorems X', Y', and Z', and they will have nothing to say about theorem W.

The catch is the axioms. If you agree with them, then you can use the theorems. If you disagree with the axioms, then that branch of mathematics has nothing to say about truth. You have to decide whether the axioms apply.


(Hard) Science Truth:
Truth in science means that if every time that a specific situation occurs, then specific results will happen. The results might be probabilistic ("A 1g mass of uranium placed in front of a detector for x milliseconds has a 50% chance of setting off the detector") or descriptive ("When I put food in front of my dog, she eats 90% of the time.").

The catch is that the situation must be testable: it must be possible to re-witness the same situation.


Historical Truth:
Truth in history means that something happened.

The catch is that historical truth is difficult to prove. One can read records, ask people who were there, or examine physical evidence -- but very few historical events can be proven to have taken place.


These three kinds of truth are not the same.

Mathematical but not Scientific or Historical:
Many abstract forms of mathematics aren't related to science; they're studied for their own beauty. The situations never happen in reality, so they can't be observed even once.

Scientific but not Mathematical:
Some science is observational, not mathematical. Biology has many instances of this: mapping genes to their effects uses deep algorithms, but the resulting map hardly uses mathematics. (If you want the real difference between science and mathematics, learn the difference between inductive and deductive logic.)

Historical but not Scientific or Mathematical:
Any event that happens only once in history -- the crowning of a particular monarch, a battle of a war -- cannot be repeated. Therefore, it's not scientific. (And I have no idea how to link the Battle of Waterloo with axioms or theorems.)


Here's where I get controversial: I don't believe that I've listed all of the forms of truth.

Fiction, even fantasy, has its own truth. If the setting isn't consistent, if the characters don't act believably, then it rings false.

Music, also, has its own truth. Only a few patterns of sounds are music to our ears -- the rest is noise.

Finally, religion has its own truth. It has the power to move people to do great works, and to die for their beliefs. Denying its truth is to deny a large dimension of many people's lives.

What do you think? Take care, all.

This essay first appeared in Fluorescent Dreams Wax Cylinders. You may copy this essay, provided you also copy the link back to the original source. Fnord!

11:04 - Mildred Loving

You probably have never heard of Richard and Mildred Loving.

They had lived in Virginia all their life, and they loved each other. They got married in Washington D.C. in 1958. When they returned to their home in Virginia, this marriage caused anger, attacks, and they were found guilty of a felony.

You see, Mildred was black, and Richard was white. In the trial, the judge said:

"Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, malay and red, and he placed them on separate continents. And but for the interference with his arrangement there would be no cause for such marriages. The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix."

"The freedom to marry has long been recognized as one of the vital personal rights essential to the orderly pursuit of happiness by free men... To deny this fundamental freedom on so unsupportable a basis as the racial classifications embodied in these statutes, classifications so directly subversive of the principle of equality at the heart of the Fourteenth Amendment, is surely to deprive all the State's citizens of liberty without due process of law. The Fourteenth Amendment requires that the freedom of choice to marry not be restricted by invidious racial discriminations. Under our Constitution, the freedom to marry, or not marry, a person of another race resides with the individual and cannot be infringed by the State."

12:21 - Race

Last night, I saw my first Bollywood film. It won't be my last.

Race is set among the very wealthy Indians of South Africa. Ranvir Singh runs "Stallions", a ranch that buys, breeds, races, and sells race horses. His brother, Rajiv Singh, is a ne'er-do-well drunkard, but Ranvir loves him.

Starting with that point, the film races (no pun!) through every testosterone-laden genre: from a Bourne Identity-style thriller to horse racing to competition for a model's hand to Dumb and Dumber to Spy versus Spy. (Okay, Spy versus Spy versus Spy.) The plot twisted more times than computer cables hidden behind a work desk.

Like every Bollywood film, it has four or five music videos as part of the movie. These ranged from an American hoe-down to an Arabic dance dirge on an industrial-style stage. Great, danceable music.

The language of the film was definitely Hindustanenglish: a language made of equal parts Urdu and English, tossed in a blender. Key words in Urdu sentences were in English; most dialog had some English sentences. (The cinema that I saw the film had very proper English subtitles. For example, when one character said the Hindustani phrase, "That's complete bullshit!", the subtitles read, "I disagree!")

Some things surprised me;

1. The film had, and needed, an intermission. This action film lasted more than three hours.
2. The film technically kept the Indian cinema convention of no kissing each others' lips. The film had two (PG-rated) nude scenes, had dry humping, had nibbling and kissing along the back and neck, and had (through clothing) breast-fondling -- but no kissing each others' lips.

Some foreign films are "deep, meaningful experiences". Race was not. It is a turn-off-your-brain, mass-entertainment testosterone-popcorn film with an attractive cast and high production values. I recommend it!

(I saw the film at the Naz 8 in Fremont. It will remain there for at least a week.)

Take care, all!

8:19 - Florida Christian License Plates

For a time, Florida considered making Christian license plates: license plates with a cross, a stained glass window, and the words "I believe".

In the end, state lawmakers did not include the design in the final bill.

A shame. You see, since the Constitution prohibits establishing any State religion, it's likely that Florida would have to allow all religions on its license plate. And I would love a license plate with the Flying Spaghetti Monster on it...



(Hat tip to Stephen Colbert for pointing out the license plates.)

10:36 - INANE: Deadly library!

I'm on level D of the U. Cal Berkeley main library. (Yes, this area is students and faculty-only. Don't ask.)

Berkeley has too many books for its space. As a response, their books are on shelves literally touching each other. On each side of the shelves is a large, spoked wheel from a company named "Mobilex". Turn the wheel one rotation, and the thirty-foot long shelf full of books moves about two inches. There's enough space among the shelves for about three aisles; you literally "dial" the shelf that you want.

I checked. If you're among the shelves, you can't stop them from moving. I didn't care to browse the shelves for long...

Am I the only one who sees this system, and wonders why other libraries don't have potential deadly weapons as an essential part of using the library?

Take care, all.

12:09 - Freedom of speech in France

Dear all,

Freedom of speech in Europe is shrinking. Two stories this week saddened me:

Pro-ana web sites

Brigitte Bardot and Muslim slurs

French anti-racist groups complained last year about comments Bardot made about the Muslim feast of Eid al-Adha in a letter to President Nicolas Sarkozy that was later published by her foundation.

Muslims traditionally mark Eid al-Adha by slaughtering a sheep or another animal to commemorate the prophet Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son on God's orders.

Personal opinion

10:20 - The evolution of universes and the anthropic principle...

Dear all,
The anthropic principle says that the universe we see must support life; otherwise, no life would be around to see it. But why would the universe exist to allow life?

I love speculating.

If I could make three wild assumptions:

1. Universes can generate daughter universes, which are similar but not identical to the mother universe
2. Universes compete for some resource.
3. Life is a "strategy" that lets universes to compete better

20:29 - Unidentified Flying Object

Time: Approximately 20:08 (8:08 pm) (PDT)
Duration: About 3 seconds
Date: 15 April 2008
Location: Newark, CA. (37 32' 19"N, 122 33' 02"W)

Driving home from dinner, I looked up. A bright light caught my eye: slightly brighter than the two airplanes in the sky.

The bright light moved fairly quickly: it covered about 15 degrees of arc in about 3 seconds.

I saw a (much smaller) spark fly off of the light, then the spark faded out.

The main light itself winked out while it was in the air.

I heard nothing; I was in my car.

I have no idea what it was. It seemed too fast for an airplane, but too slow for a meteor.

Take care, all.

23:00 - Yuri's Day, Bay Area...

I'm writing this post from the Yuri's Day celebration at Moffett Field, just outside Palo Alto. It celebrates the first space flight of Yuri Gegarin.

The Yuri's Day celebration is, emphatically, a rave. I thought that raves were supposed to be vaguely anti-authoritarian, "temporary autonomous zones". Therefore, Yuri's Day is a rave in the, by definition, least likely location.

Moffett Field is still a Federal research facility with military groups. It is surrounded by barbed wire; it advertises military homes on site; and police roam the site.

On the other hand, researchers rarely fit nicely into categories. And the Yuri's Day celebration broke categories.

The celebration itself is two parts cyberpunk, one part science fair, one part computer demo -- oh, hell. It's all cyberpunk. Whatever the 1980's thought was the future -- is here. Purely mind-controlled video games (no joystick; just use your mind) are here. Futuristic electric cars, promising 0 to 60 mph in three seconds, are here. Decayed, once-proud buildings -- they're here, too. Electronic music determined by gum balls? Well they weren't part of my cyberpunk plans, but they're here, too. Weird green foods -- spirulina -- for a post-apocalyptic feast are here, too. (Some kids didn't believe that I've willingly eaten spirulina, many many times.)

On the control-by-mind video games: My concentration was literally off the charts. When I was asked to move things by concentrating, my new-found psychokinetic powers moved the items at a shocking speed. On the other hand, my meditation was... not. I was not able to blank my mind enough to be a Jedi master.

On the decayed buildings: The Moffett Center has seen much better days. One of the hangars, though still usable, is missing windows and has not been kept up.

I just saw a video of the first American in space: not Alan Shepard, but Ham. Ham was a chimp, about three years old, who went into space for about sixteen minutes.

I spent time in a chill area, beneath the wings of a small Boeing airplane, listening to electronic trance music being programmed, shifted, and mangled by a group named "Perphony Systems". Relaxing. Wunnerful. Purrrrr.

The festival had dozens of things to see. Hydrogen bubbles that burst into flame. Robots that burst into flame. Thirty-foot tall robots with searchlights. 1980s-style electronic punk music. 1960s-style vegan food. Hand-built airplanes. Large airplanes for high-atmosphere research. Discussions about the origin of life. (The scientist strongly believed in the panspermia -- spores from spaaaaaaace! -- model.) Bicycle-powered carnival games. Lots and lots of electronica music. World-electronica music.

Acrobats in the air doing tricks. Bicyclists with lit spokes doing tricks. More fluorescent and glowing things than I've seen in any rave. A hangar filled with artificial smoke. Three-dimensional dancers. Slightly less marijuana smoke than most raves. Lasers. Huge screens with 1960s-era space shots. People wearing 1960s-era space suit-style costumes. Deelyboppers. NASA engineers wearing orange jumpsuits.

I got slightly fewer hugs here than I do at conventions -- I've only recognized four groups so far. But they're all wonderful folk.

Next year, I'll be here again.

Take care, all.

10:05 - Question Of The Day...

Dear all,
If you had two minutes (and just two minutes) of time on a national network during prime time...

What would you say?

14:10 - I have the blues about Skewz.

I look for sites with useful information about politics. skewz.com is close, but no cigar.

The idea for this site is simple: submit stories from blogs, websites, or news sites. The readers of skewz decide whether it has a liberal or conservative bias, and how much.

It quickly shows that among the most left-wing stories is Disclosure of Torture Memo Fails to Grab Traditional Media's Attention and among the most right-wing stories is Does Obama Know America?.

If you want to find good stories that agree with your political disposition, the site does only half of a job. It gives whether between ten and thirty people consider a story to be "liberally biased" or "conservatively biased".

It has two major faults: its topic system and its lack of a dimension for quality.

Stories are placed in one, and only one, topic: would a story about state-mandated abortion in China go under "Abortion" or "China"? The topic list can't be added to: articles about Zimbabwe's elections have gone under "Other".

A more serious problem is that the single scale has no judgement of quality, other than the number of people who voted for the skewing of an article. Seventy-two voters on the liberal side selected Since McCain Is Running on His Military Record. Yet, the article is just a link to John McCain's speech plus two short paragraphs. Further, very little screens out one person from posting all of his blog's messages, one at a time, to the site. (This has already happened.)

Skewz is a slightly different take on ideas like digg.com and reddit.com. It can only become better than them if it offers something that they don't give. It's a start.

Take care, all.

8:27 - LolGrues!

Riba Rambles pointed me to LolGrues.

I had to write a shaggy dog story in response:

"C'mon!" Holly said, pulling me by the shirt. "If we're not there just at midnight, we'll miss it!"

I yawned. I am at my worst in the middle of the night. I stumbled around the trees, grateful for the full moon. "What's so special about this forest, at midsummer's eve at a full moon?"

"I told you -- you won't believe me unless you see it." She dodged one oak tree, then walked into a natural clearing. "Here we are!"

I squinted. Grasses and small plants. A ring of mushrooms, about twenty feet across. Dirt inside the ring of mushrooms. I shook my head, trying to understand the lack of life inside the circle.

I sat down using a tree for support. "Okay. We're in the middle of nowhere," the moon hid behind a cloud, "if I'm lucky, I'll get six hours' sleep before I have to go to work -- and the mushrooms are glowing?"

The mushroom caps shined with a white light that cast no shadows. They illuminated neither trees, grass, nor us. I got up. "What--?"

Holly giggled. She looked at her watch. "Thirty seconds," she said.

From inside the circle, I heard drumbeats and a bowed string instrument playing a regular, rhythmic melody. Nobody was inside. I relaxed, knowing what was happening. "Nice recording," I said, walking closer to the circle to look for the player.

Holly tackled me. Luckily, I landed on no tree roots. "Don't. Enter. The. Circle. You won't ever escape. It's not a recording."

I looked up at the circle. Clouds of smoke rose from the black earth. I smelled honeysuckle, roses, and sandalwood. The moon revealed itself from behind the cloud, and shimmering forms coalesced and revealed themselves.

Thirteen fairies.

"Surprise!" Holly laughed.

The thirteen were of all different shapes, sizes, and colors. Two were winged foxes about a foot tall. I recognized one fairy: Heather Alexander.

"They can only reach our world until the morning dew," Holly explained. "Just don't enter the circle!"

Heather Alexander played her fiddle, and we danced. A green-skinned jester told corny jokes from the twelfth century, and we groaned. Two wood-colored satyrs and a nymph did what they do best, and our mouths fell open.

"Can anything orgasm that many times?", Holly whispered in my ear.

A magician, blacker than Spinal Tap's album, pulled increasingly large objects from his hat, then set them free. As they left the circle, they vanished. "The elephant wasn't possible!" I said.

The two red foxes danced in the air, twirling around each other. As they twirled, Heather and the other four fairies played increasingly frantic music, inviting us to come, join, dance in the circle. Holly and I energetically danced folk dances, following the foxes' leads. (Sadly, not in the air.) The moon set. Above us, another light shined. As we got nearer morning, the dawn's light made the fairies fade.

I looked more closely at the lights above. A medium-sized ship was descending. All thirteen climbed on-board, waving to us. "What is that thing?" I asked Holly.

"It's a fairy ark," she answered. "We are likely to be greeted by the dew."

7:07 - The negative penny

On March 16, 2008, U. S. Mint director Ed Moy reported that it costs 1.7 cents to mint one penny.

In a national examination of prices, the U. S. mint has noticed that over seventy percent of prices are either an exact multiple of five cents, or one cent lower than a multiple of five cents. In order to reduce the need for pennies, the U. S. mint will produce its first new denomination since 1933.

The new currency will be called the "negative penny" or the "deficent", and its value will be -1 cent. A purchase of $0.99 can be made with a one-dollar bill and one negative penny. A purchase of $4.99 can be made with a five-dollar bill and one negative penny. Every negative penny will remove the need for four pennies.

To simplify distinction between pennies and negative pennies, the negative penny will be zinc-coated copper. To ensure that they leave peoples' pockets, on the obverse side of the negative penny will be a portrait of Richard Nixon, and the reverse will be a picture of the United States Congress.

Citizens' reactions have been mixed. One citizen said, "I know someone who I want to send all my negative pennies and bankrupt him."


Take care, all!

16:13 - Norooz Mubarak!

Happy Iranian New Year, only... uhmmm... nine days late!

This year was the first parade for the Iranian New Year in Northern California. They hope to make it an annual festival.

In brief: Four dance troupes, one music group, two different Zoroastrian groups, many different Iranian groups of professionals, three literary societies, seven politicians, and a complete dearth of Shi'a groups.

And, of course, the politicians (including the San Jose mayor) did not have the Iranian flag on their cars.

The true joy of the parade was not found walking along the route, but sitting beside me. Her name was Noori; she seemed to be in her mid-fifties, with a daughter, Leila, in her mid-twenties. Noori was intensely proud of her Iranian heritage. When she learned that I knew the basics about her country's history and about this festival, she immediately adopted me.

She pointed out quick things that I would have missed -- men kissing as greeting, an impromptu folk dance, beautiful dresses (many worn by people who were obviously not Iranian), and that the songs under the driving techno beat were actually old folk songs. She taught me a few phrases in Farsi, and laughed every time that I called them out to the paraders.

Good music, good dancers, and interesting company. I'm glad that I went.

But -- grumble -- absolutely no stands selling Persian food. Not even kebobs.

Take care, all!

15:24 - Fitna, commentary, and commentary2

The short film Fitna by Geert Wilders was released to the Internet on 27 March 2008.

Since then, it's been removed from the original source and LiveLeak.com. You may be able to still get a copy from rapidshare.com, and I'm sure that it's available through BitTorrent.

The film is rather poor propaganda. It includes three quotes from the Qu'ran, video from September 11, March 11 (Madrid train bombings), and Fallujah, and many quotes from extreme Muslims. It would take, perhaps, two weeks to create a similar film about the evils of the United States.

The film has also widened a division worldwide. I say to both sides:

Calm down! It's just a film!

To those who have given death threats against Network Solutions and LiveLeak, shame on you. Your enemies now say that you lack the ability to answer even a half-assed piece of propaganda on its own terms. It is EASY to find fifteen minutes of film from the United States and Israel to imply that these countries want to eliminate the Islamic world. (If you have come to this blog and have such a film, I will also give links and make it available through email. Limit to three films of roughly equal quality or better than Fitna.)

And there are those who sympathize with this film, and call Islam a cancer, barbaric, and uncivilized. There's between 2 and 3 million Muslims in the United States. Don't declare war on them. Talk with them, THEN decide whether they're barbaric or uncivilized.

I vigorously stand for freedom of speech, even for speech that I disagree with (like the film Fitna.)

How much do I disagree?

Tomorrow, I'll be at the Iranian New Years Festival in downtown San Jose. See you there.

UPDATE: The film is available through Google Video. That's probably the best source for the film.

12:05 - 4,000 American soldiers dead in Iraq

Dear all,

This evening, I will be at the vigil at:

Mountain View

Organization: Mountain View Voices for Peace
Location: Intersection of Castro Street and El Camino Real
Expected time for event to start: 07:00 PM
Point Person: Karen Meredith
Phone: 650.814.3611
Alternate Phone: 650.814.3611
Details: MONDAY, MARCH 24 7 P.M. Candlelight vigil to honor and remember the 4000 dead US soldiers, the wounded US soldiers and the incalculable suffering by the Iraqi population. We will light 4000 lights to represent the US dead. We will read the 426 California names. Please bring candles, a friend and a peaceful heart.


If you are interested in joining a vigil, and you're not near the Peninsula of the Bay Area, CA, visit the American Friends Service Committee's 4000 fatalities page.

I hope that we do not reach 5000 American soldiers dead for this war.

-- Chip

15:31 - Artificial Whiskers!

Whiskerbot

High-resolution touch sensors, to reproduce how mice perceive the world.

A nifty, different way to sense the world. With plenty of murine assistants.

*squeak*

10:04 - Joining the 24-hour LiveJournal strike.

Dear all,
I will be joining the 24-hour LiveJournal Strike. In my local time, this will be from 5pm PDT tonight through 5pm PDT Friday night.

Do I think that it will change matters? I don't expect that such a short strike will make a difference, but I'm willing to stay away for 24 hours to discover whether it helps.

I have a long essay about the existence / non-existence of God coming up. I hope to post it on Saturday morning.

Have a blessed Good Friday. Take care, all!

17:19 - Arthur C. Clarke: 1917-2008

"Oh my god. It's full of stars."

Rest well, Star Child.

20:14 - Welcome to the recession. It's going to get worse.

Fed Takes New Steps to Ease Crisis

On Tuesday, the chairman of Bear-Stearns promised that his company was doing well.

On Friday, the Federal Reserve Bank stepped in to provide Bear Stearns with capital -- the first time it has done so since 1998.

On Sunday, JP Morgan & Chase bought out Bear Stearns and the Federal Reserve approved an emergency rate cut -- ON SUNDAY. Not a normal working day.

All I can say is:

Crap.