Rebirth
There are certain days when one has to decide to make a new beginning.
This cannot be accomplished with a pair of scissors.
A snake shedding its sin will have little pointers to offer in this regard.
It is not an easy process. First one thinks of Einstein and understands that in some way one has to forget the learned concept of time.
Looking at the leaves on the trees and also at the branches that bear them is a good start.
Then don't try to forget. Try to remember. I think rebirth is the act of feeling a collective consciousness.
Many people. Some known. History. The newspapers. Advertisements. Buses, trains, planes. Streetcars. A deep breath. And thinking of many things and one time.
This might include the snake that is just shedding its skin.
There are certain days when one has to decide to make a new beginning.
This cannot be accomplished with a pair of scissors.
A snake shedding its sin will have little pointers to offer in this regard.
It is not an easy process. First one thinks of Einstein and understands that in some way one has to forget the learned concept of time.
Looking at the leaves on the trees and also at the branches that bear them is a good start.
Then don't try to forget. Try to remember. I think rebirth is the act of feeling a collective consciousness.
Many people. Some known. History. The newspapers. Advertisements. Buses, trains, planes. Streetcars. A deep breath. And thinking of many things and one time.
This might include the snake that is just shedding its skin.
A bird in the sky is worth many viewings
What is the best possible way to view a world without boundaries? You can either go and watch that movie where immigration officials around the world are drunk and polite at the same time. Or you can watch the documentary by Jacques Perrin that goes under the name of Winged Migration (a very comprehensive website).
The movie deals with a subject that is still a great mystery to man: the migration of birds. It tries and answers questions such as "Why do birds migrate to the north in spring and to the south in winter? (The second question is answered more readily than the first). It ventures some guesses as to how birds know when to migrate and also how they actually accomplish the process. It also takes a very close look at the migratory patterns of many species of birds, some of them who fly to the Tundras (Canadian or otherwise, it does not matter) and others who fly to deserts in the "continent of Africa". However, it does not answer the mystery: "How did Jacques Perrin actually shoot the movie at such close ranges without himself being a bird that is capable of transforming into different species at the drop of a hat?"
For most of the movie the human narrator is quiet. He breaks in occasionally to remind us that the path to and from distant lands is "fraught with danger."
In two scenes of the movie, one feels bad for the birds who meet a premature end. (Though to be honest in one scene he shows a stork swallowing a fish and if the movie were about fish, one would have felt anger towards the stork. Circle of life and all that.)
In the beginning of the movie there is a disclaimer that insists that none of the shots in the movie were altered with special effects. That is the only redundant line in the movie. No amount of imagination or fancy special effects software could come up with the actions that are accomplished with such variance and such simplicity by birds of so many colors, shapes and sizes.
Have you seen Jesus Christ walk on water? If you are around my age, the answer would probably be in the negative. But if you go and see the movie you might be pleasantly surprised.
See and Comprehend? No.
Just See and See.
What is the best possible way to view a world without boundaries? You can either go and watch that movie where immigration officials around the world are drunk and polite at the same time. Or you can watch the documentary by Jacques Perrin that goes under the name of Winged Migration (a very comprehensive website).
The movie deals with a subject that is still a great mystery to man: the migration of birds. It tries and answers questions such as "Why do birds migrate to the north in spring and to the south in winter? (The second question is answered more readily than the first). It ventures some guesses as to how birds know when to migrate and also how they actually accomplish the process. It also takes a very close look at the migratory patterns of many species of birds, some of them who fly to the Tundras (Canadian or otherwise, it does not matter) and others who fly to deserts in the "continent of Africa". However, it does not answer the mystery: "How did Jacques Perrin actually shoot the movie at such close ranges without himself being a bird that is capable of transforming into different species at the drop of a hat?"
For most of the movie the human narrator is quiet. He breaks in occasionally to remind us that the path to and from distant lands is "fraught with danger."
In two scenes of the movie, one feels bad for the birds who meet a premature end. (Though to be honest in one scene he shows a stork swallowing a fish and if the movie were about fish, one would have felt anger towards the stork. Circle of life and all that.)
In the beginning of the movie there is a disclaimer that insists that none of the shots in the movie were altered with special effects. That is the only redundant line in the movie. No amount of imagination or fancy special effects software could come up with the actions that are accomplished with such variance and such simplicity by birds of so many colors, shapes and sizes.
Have you seen Jesus Christ walk on water? If you are around my age, the answer would probably be in the negative. But if you go and see the movie you might be pleasantly surprised.
See and Comprehend? No.
Just See and See.
Faster and faster
If this blog has not been updated very regularly, then let me say at the very outset is that I am not a very big fan of Nero. I don't play the fiddle when the city burns. At the risk of sounding cryptic, things should work out this week and this blog shall receive updates numbering more than the number of dew drops on a particularly aggressive leaf every hazy morning.
Firstly, we shall continue taking a walk on the path of science. Searching for air conditioned venues on a hot Sunday afternoon (and to be honest, I do like Starbucks, but so do many New Yorkers), I decided to go to PS1, the museum in Queens. If you ever go down to PS1, please be sure to check out the installation in the basement, where musical notes are emanating from pipes that normally carry water. Do note that the genre of music is not important, it is not very often in life that you see music coming out of pipes - no disrespect to Bjork. Right by the mellifluous pipes, there is a dark room with a very small window made of stained glass. It allows inward light in a miserly fashion. The floor of this room is also damp and this makes it very easy - in fact encourages you- to breathe. The subtle fragrance made you feel at every moment that it had just rained and that the earth is grateful in its own inimitable manner. I contemplated spending the rest of the Sunday there and decided against it. It would be a very Bart Simpson thing to do and in a museum, one must try and be original.
On the second floor of the museum they had brought in messages and equipment from the CERN particle physics laboratories in Switzerland. If you don't have an urge to tell time looking at Rolex watches, then you can also go down to the labs down at Stanford.
I shall be very honest. I didn't bring out my calculator, rest my glasses on my forehead, placed by fist under my chin and calculate the properties of a B meson particle. I know as little about B mesons as I do about the fastest way to reach the Shanghai elementary school for children from the Lu Chen teapot factory.
But so much is clear. The universe didn't go off with a whimper. It started off with a big bang. There was frenzied activity and a lot of energy was generated during the first few moments. James Brown could have taken notes. Scientists have been trying to understand what went on exactly during the initial moments. Why is it that matter triumphed over anti-matter? Why is it that B mesons (which are very small particles) disintegrate quickly? And a whole more that is waiting not only to be understood but also known.
These particles are unfortunately so small that they cannot be seen. Also under normal conditions the energy levels are not sufficiently high to result in the creation of these particles. In particle physics laboratories, electrons are accelerated in long chambers (in underground chambers going up to several miles) to very high speeds - those approaching the speed of light. Under these conditions, they possess very high energy. Then they are made to collide against stationary targets or against "anti-electrons" -positrons. The resulting interactions are studied and information is gleaned. Sometimes, the electrons are passed through intense X rays and changes in the magnetic field are discussed in a heated manner over coffees and croissants.
No classified research is permitted in these laboratories. The results are published openly. You don't have to be an American or Swiss citizen to operate the klystron arrays at these labs. Any person with suitable qualifications can utilize the facilities. This is a sphere where national interest does not take precedence. There are too many things at stake that are unknown. The subject under discussion is one that precedes the creation of all nations. It is thus an area, where it is possible to talk of equality of contributions -and opportunity-in a meaningful manner.
In this respect, the first big bang will be different from the second big bang.
If this blog has not been updated very regularly, then let me say at the very outset is that I am not a very big fan of Nero. I don't play the fiddle when the city burns. At the risk of sounding cryptic, things should work out this week and this blog shall receive updates numbering more than the number of dew drops on a particularly aggressive leaf every hazy morning.
Firstly, we shall continue taking a walk on the path of science. Searching for air conditioned venues on a hot Sunday afternoon (and to be honest, I do like Starbucks, but so do many New Yorkers), I decided to go to PS1, the museum in Queens. If you ever go down to PS1, please be sure to check out the installation in the basement, where musical notes are emanating from pipes that normally carry water. Do note that the genre of music is not important, it is not very often in life that you see music coming out of pipes - no disrespect to Bjork. Right by the mellifluous pipes, there is a dark room with a very small window made of stained glass. It allows inward light in a miserly fashion. The floor of this room is also damp and this makes it very easy - in fact encourages you- to breathe. The subtle fragrance made you feel at every moment that it had just rained and that the earth is grateful in its own inimitable manner. I contemplated spending the rest of the Sunday there and decided against it. It would be a very Bart Simpson thing to do and in a museum, one must try and be original.
On the second floor of the museum they had brought in messages and equipment from the CERN particle physics laboratories in Switzerland. If you don't have an urge to tell time looking at Rolex watches, then you can also go down to the labs down at Stanford.
I shall be very honest. I didn't bring out my calculator, rest my glasses on my forehead, placed by fist under my chin and calculate the properties of a B meson particle. I know as little about B mesons as I do about the fastest way to reach the Shanghai elementary school for children from the Lu Chen teapot factory.
But so much is clear. The universe didn't go off with a whimper. It started off with a big bang. There was frenzied activity and a lot of energy was generated during the first few moments. James Brown could have taken notes. Scientists have been trying to understand what went on exactly during the initial moments. Why is it that matter triumphed over anti-matter? Why is it that B mesons (which are very small particles) disintegrate quickly? And a whole more that is waiting not only to be understood but also known.
These particles are unfortunately so small that they cannot be seen. Also under normal conditions the energy levels are not sufficiently high to result in the creation of these particles. In particle physics laboratories, electrons are accelerated in long chambers (in underground chambers going up to several miles) to very high speeds - those approaching the speed of light. Under these conditions, they possess very high energy. Then they are made to collide against stationary targets or against "anti-electrons" -positrons. The resulting interactions are studied and information is gleaned. Sometimes, the electrons are passed through intense X rays and changes in the magnetic field are discussed in a heated manner over coffees and croissants.
No classified research is permitted in these laboratories. The results are published openly. You don't have to be an American or Swiss citizen to operate the klystron arrays at these labs. Any person with suitable qualifications can utilize the facilities. This is a sphere where national interest does not take precedence. There are too many things at stake that are unknown. The subject under discussion is one that precedes the creation of all nations. It is thus an area, where it is possible to talk of equality of contributions -and opportunity-in a meaningful manner.
In this respect, the first big bang will be different from the second big bang.
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