A Tale of Unlikely Friends

Owl and Tortoise met one morning at a pond, each there for a drink. Owl said he had been thinking about all the ways he and Tortoise were different. "I can fly and am very fast while you walk very slowly. I eat animals while you eat fruit and mushrooms. I have feathers while you have a hard shell, and I can hunt at night while you hunt in the daylight. Given the differences I think it is amazing that we are friends.” Tortoise thought a moment and said “I too have been thinking about our friendship and the ways we are the same: we both have few enemies, I because of my shell that protects me and you because you are a top predator. We both live long lives, though I am much older than you, and are considered wise by our animal friends, and we are both spirit guides for men. Given the similarities. our friendship was inevitable, don’t you think? And you know, Owl, that we are distant relatives, don’t you? We both are egg layers, and descended from ancient dinosaurs.”
Owl thought about what Tortoise had said and replied “You are right! I see now that the differences are really trivial while our similarities are important and deep. I know now which one of us is the wiser, too and clearly it is you.”
Tortoise thought about what Owl said and replied “No Owl, we are both wise, but in different ways. I am not the wiser, and the proof is that you are willing to see another’s viewpoint and learn from it. Only a wise and humble soul can recognize wisdom in others, and accept that others can be equally wise. I think our friendship is based on respect for each other, and respect for the world around us. Thank you for being my friend, Owl. I value that greatly.”
Then, as the sun rose above the horizon, Owl flew up to his tree, and Tortoise walked off to find breakfast, both content in their friendship, and both with a renewed feeling of respect.
Image: khazarsgathering2012.com/Images/galapagos-tor...

(For another tale of the same unlikely friends, go to this website khazarsgathering2012.com/pomseeds2.html and scroll down to the story. I do not endorse the philosophy of the site, but find it very interesting. Indeed, the story of the owl and tortoise there is very good.)

Leaving the Chaos Laboratory

For many of us, our office is a sanctuary and fortress, and a place to gather. Work? Sometimes that too. But if you are an academic and all your office is used for is work, you are missing the whole point. Every particle of junk in my office has a story, or could tell one if pushed. For the last 25 years my office, although 3 different rooms, held the bits and pieces of me in my academic life. Old tests and papers, old grade books, textbooks, novels, slides, dried specimens, flags of students countries, tea towels from places I visited, artwork (mine and others) and much more. If one listens carefully the echoes of laughter, crying, and quiet discourse can be heard.
When I retired “Emeritus” a benefit was keeping an office as long as the space wasn’t needed for new faculty. It was more than an office then. It was a lifeline to the past, a past that simply wouldn’t let go. I am still working on campus 2 years later, and the office is little used. Others have a greater need, so I will move into a smaller shared space and yield the “Chaos Laboratory” to another. Here is what I hope the next occupant will experience in the old Chaos Laboratory:
Fun with colleagues and students
Creative time to innovate teaching ideas
Serious discussions about everything in the world, not just the narrow academic view of the new occupant
Quiet moments of contemplation
Serious sessions with students, helping them to clarify their life goals, and listening to their stories and problems
Student’s children climbing into a willing lap when they come with their parents to talk.
A door always open
A mind always open to new ideas and paradigms
Above all, listening.
I wish the new occupant of my old digs the best, and hope their tenure is as long, fun and fulfilling as mine has been. As for me, I have a new project. Somewhere on campus there is a space waiting to become the next “Chaos Laboratory”. I am hoping that when I finish boxing up the accumulata of the years, I will uncover some forgotten gem.

Maybe a Higgs Boson.

Image 1 drewfrancis.wordpress.com/2008/10/

Finding your inner fish!!!

My students of yore (that is a lot of students) will recall the discussions we had on Evolution. (Hisss. Did he actually say “Evolution” out loud? ) Yes by jiminy, I did. Evolution is settled science. No arguments at all over “If” or “maybe” or “possibly” or “speculative”. No, now the refinements of how, where and when come into play. Denying evolution is like denying sunrise. Even a blind person can feel the sun rise. Even a rock reacts to the sunrise.
So you guys remember the Tiktaalik right? And then we discussed the importance of the structures found in that animal that resulted in the evolution of quadrupeds that include us and everything else with 4 limbs. Here is a book to read that delves into the connections in more detail and makes connections that I could not. Why you ask? This guy knows more about Tiktaalik than anyone. He found it and has studied it since.
The next time you are quoting Search, or arguing with some ignorant soul denying evolution, just end it by telling the cretin to “get in touch with your inner fish, and watch out for hemorrhoids. (Theory is the vessels around the anus of a fish, our ancestor, were not evolved to be sat upon or vertical for long periods of time: therefore they swell and hurt.)
I love my inner fish. Don’t you wish everyone did? You can have fun looking for your inner yeast, too.
(And by the way, there is no point in arguing with anyone about the truth of Evolution Theory unless you like to argue about things like "there is no sun" or " air is really gasoline" or some other such nonsense. There is nothing to argue about. Truth is truth, and evolution is the truth. Period, or as my English family would say "Full Stop". )
NPR source: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127937070&sc=nl&cc=nh-20100705
Image and book review: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/feb/10/shopping.scienceandnature

July 5th: Time for Reflection

The battle of Carthage 238ce was won decisively by Rome (1). In the film “The Gladiator”, a mock battle staged in the coliseum had a different result: the rebels won. That was fiction. Our rebellion is fact, and we won against a massively superior force: the British Empire.
The reasons for rebellion are usually complex, and sound bites and simple statements like “we fought for our freedom” or “we fought because they taxed us unfairly” don’t touch the long mix of reasons. The Americans did fight for their freedom, and were taxed unfairly, and were badly treated in trade, and were enslaved on the seas, and, well, the list goes on. But fight we did, and win we did. Over the years, the Constitution, that document that neocons and other conservative types insist should be interpreted only as the Founder wrote, has been amended many times. Tweaked. Interpreted both by vote (the amendments) and by precedent (court decisions). The Constitution has proved to be an invaluable guide to the more than 200 years of governance for America. It was written on paper, not stone.
I heard one of the Senators during the Kagan hearings say that Americans have never had less freedom than now, and he believed it continues to erode. He implied, as best I can remember, that some Supreme Court decisions had helped the slide into servitude.
If this is true, then what can we do about it? Buy more guns? Vote Libertarian (2)? Form militias and fight the government? No doubt both major political parties have curtailed some liberties. The Republicans want to take away a woman’s rights of personal body decisions (abortion), selectively remove habeas corpus (slippery slope?), listen to all your phone conservations without a court order and give mega corporations status as persons for 2nd amendment rights of free speech. This from the party that wants more freedoms and less government control. The Democrats want more regulation of financial giants, oil companies, air and water quality and healthcare, and want less freedom to purchase certain kinds of guns.
Both parties claim to be for more freedoms while at the same time curtailing freedoms in many areas. The battle cry of the year may be “throw the bums out!” The incumbents from both parties have gotten us here over the last 75 years or so. Time to start over? Maybe so, but it ain’t gonna happen, as is often heard in the South.
See, I think our guys (Democrats) are doing a better job than the other guys (Republicans) and the other guys think the same about us. So I won’t throw out bums of my party but would love to see some Republicans bite the dust. They feel the same way, and would love to see the Democrats bite the dust while their numbers grow. Oh yeah, and all the while Rome BURNS.
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Carthage_(238)
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libertarian_Party_(United_States)
Image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/froodmat/16722536/in/photostream/