A Curious Statistical Anomaly

Remember my post awhile ago about the connection between Earth and the Sun that occurs every eight minutes, well looks like more can happen during that connection than scientists first thought. NASA today released an interesting article about a recent discovery by the THEMIS project. It seems that during the connection, while THEMIS was actually watching, the Earth’s magnetic field was breached and solar energy flowed though, charging our magnetosphere. This loads up the Earth’s magnetosphere with charged particles and that can mean more powerful geomagnetic storms — cell phone disruption, prettier Auroras, and other related events.

That they found this as the sun is going into Solar Cycle 24, with more frequent and stronger solar events, may add to the fun here on Earth. [Hyperion: Each Cycle is approximately 11 years long, measuring from Solar Minimum to Solar Minimum, with Solar Maximum hitting at the midway point, or 2012-2013 in this case.]

The really interesting bit is that scientists were convince this just couldn’t happen. But, it did. They have the data and it can’t be denied. It happened. So, now they have to deal with this new information and change their existing theories and check out the ones that they develop to take the place of the old one that was just proven wrong. You just got to love science — it’s so, so practical, the way that new data means throwing out the old way of thinking and start over and everyone just shrugs their shoulders and moves on. Wish that happened more often in the daily life.

I read today a short quote from Oscar Wilde:

, “A school should be the most beautiful place in every town and village – so beautiful that the punishments for undutiful children should be that they should be debarred from going to school the following day.”

I checked to see that he’d said it and found the quote listed in “The Schooldays of Oscar Wilde”
by David Robertson, Portora Archivist. It seems Oscar Wilde’s school didn’t live up to his belief that schools should be beautiful.

I went to school in the usual picture book schoolhouse — looking a bit like you’d expect a church to look actually. It was a small school with grades kindergarten through sixth grade. Then it was on to junior high (the first year in that school) and then high school (the last class to graduate from that building).

I was an okay student. Looking back I believe I could have been a much better student but I was more interested in learning in general than in learning just what was taught. If I found something interesting in an assignment, I was likely to go to the library or to our set of encyclopedias and look up more information and read on that topic until my interest got caught by something else. So, homework got a lick and a promise, but luckily in such small school I was still a A-B student.

Then came college. That’s when lots of things changed. You see I thought that college was the time to explore, learn, expand my horizons, and check out new areas of study. It took nearly flunking out to make me realize that that’s not what colleges are for. College is to polish the edges of what you already know and add depth to the knowledge that you already have. Taking a subject you know nothing about and studying like crazy and ending up knowing a lot but not as much as the students who came into it already knowing the basics and building on that knowledge usually left you at the C or D level, and that’s not how you graduate. So, eventually, I learned that college was not for learning and settled down to polish my edges and got a degree. I even did most of the studying for a MS before I decided I just couldn’t take the politics and rules for rules sake that made little to no sense to me.

However, looking at school now and talking to teens and younger children — schools are prisons now. There’s guards and police officers. In some schools students go through metal scanners similar to the ones in airports. Their belongings can be searched at any time. Some schools have won cases in court and banned students or punished them for things they did outside of school hours and off school grounds. With budget cuts and a worsening economy text books are getting older and older and more out of date. The buildings are decaying. Many classes are held in trailers set up next to the schools.

I honestly can’t think of an environment that is less likely to encourage learning. Then you add in the unfunded No Child Left Behind which translates into you will learn to pass the tests because we can’t do anything else with our budget. The bullying that children suffer from, that teachers can and will do nothing about — because Zero Tolerance means the victim is victimized twice, once by the bully and again by getting the same punishment as the bully if it’s reported. Zero Tolerance means that the letter not the spirit of all the rules is followed and that lowers students respect for and belief in fairness, justice, and authority.

Schools now-a-days seem more about not offending anyone anywhere rather than teaching facts, skills, logic, science, and how-to find out about a topic. To me it is a wonder that anyone learns anything in schools now-a-days and from some of the studies that show up showing that most American’s think the Sun goes around the Earth, that can’t name the states of the US (or even half of them), and can’t find countries on a labeled map. [Hyperion: Or my own pet peeve: That still think global warming and/or evolution are hoaxes.]

Our schools need help and we need to encourage learning. Schools are not supposed to be just places where sports occur at regular intervals with pep rallies. Schools are supposed to be where learning occurs. Where students open their minds to learn about new ideas, new thoughts, and new ways of putting those ideas and thoughts together to form hypotheses, and to gain skills to help them find jobs and work that will be satisfying to them.

Schools should be beautiful places of learning, knowledge, and exciting ideas. Punishment should be denying us the ability to attend schools. Of course, right now your economic ability to pay impacts your ability to attend school more than any other factor. Education should rest on ability to learn not ability to pay.

Just some thoughts…

You’re probably wondering why I have a cup as the image for this post. Well, this is the new December coffee cup. There was a bit of an accident with the original December coffee cup. I was making bread and opened the cupboard to get out the measuring cups when the cupboard exploded. Well, it didn’t actually explode but it seemed like it to me as things just fell out of it shattering an heavy eight ounce glass and breaking my December mug into 6 pieces. The glass was the worse as it left splinters of glass all over the cupboard, the floor, and the small rug in front of the sink. Luckily, I had shoes on. But it took quite a while to get all the pieces and slivers (and cup/glass contents wiped up). But finally, it was a shoe free zone again — except I’d lost a cup I really, really liked. This weekend I found this cup and it seemed like a fair replacement to help me keep in the Christmas spirit.

We’ve had the tree up since December 1st. I thought I’d finally get a photo in of it. We found a nifty tin Santa tree topper (actually it’s a table topper). Hyperion and I have never been able to find a tree topper that we think is more than so-so and this was a compromise to replace our star ornament that we’ve been weaving over the upper branch to use as a tree topper for the last few years. This Santa is made of painted tin and is cone-shaped so it fits on the tree top. It also matches with most of our ornaments. We have lots of Santa ornaments interspersed with some ornaments Hyperion made as a child, some bear ornaments (of various types), and then the rest are sort of homespun/natural type ornaments. All of the ornaments are ones we’ve collected over the years and have meaning for us or made us smile, laugh, or giggle when we saw them.

Bear-Making Part two:
When last you saw the bear I was making it was the various parts — flat. I’ve now got them all sewed together: arms are arms, legs are legs, and the body is one piece. I’ve also stuffed the body/head and limbs. The seams are still open in the arms and legs so I can add in the large buttons that I use for joints.

What’s left to do now is to sculpt the bears face, add the buttons into the interior on the arms and legs and connect to the bear for joints so that it can sit or stand or be positioned. The button go inside so that the child can’t pull them off and eat them. I also use large buttons so that IF for some weird reason they get out of the arms or legs they’re too big to swallow and choke on.

Hopefully, I’ll get to the face sculpting and connecting the arms and legs sometime soon. Meanwhile, this little proto-bear sits there looking forlorn and a bit lost.

Baby sweater:
Last time you saw this project it was on the needles and only down to just below the arms. I’ve got it finished except for blocking. I crocheted around the edges and added a crochet tie. I like ties rather than buttons on baby sweaters whenever possible so the baby can’t pull the buttons off. Okay, okay — so I have a tiny bit of a problem with baby safety issues. These ties, since their in one piece with the edging that goes all along the outside edge of the sweater, can’t be just pulled free and swallowed by baby. (PS: I think the mom-to-be reads my blog so pretend it’s a surprise when this shows up at some point as a gift. Okay?)

So, I’m now on a roll with finishing things off. I’ve still got some green fleece to spin, three sweaters on the needles, a lace scarf on the needles, a pair of socks, and a pair of mittens (which I might give up on). So, it’s a toss up when I’ll find the time but I’m trying to fit the knitting into the spaces where I have wait time (usually for downloads). However, I finally found my wire book holder so I can knit and read at the same time. But, it only really works well for hardcovers and trade paperbacks. So, I read all those first this month, and now I’m into the paperbacks so the knitting is on hold again.

Anyway, after the excitement of exploding cupboards and smashed cups, several very bad fibromyalgia days (where I could barely move), I think I’m back to being mostly normal and may be back to posting again.

I was pointed to a website with an example of genetic programming where the result was a pretty darn good approximation of the Mona Lisa.

Roger Alsing had done the programming to just have some fun, try out some code — and I presume stretch a bit in a different direction than he usually got to try. He also put up an FAQ about the project. The FAQ says that he’s cleaning up the code he hacked together and “may” make it available if he manages to get it like he wants it. The FAQ also give his reasons for believing that it’s actually genetic programming — I happen to agree with him on this.  I’d never really seen this applied to art before at least not that I remember so if I did, it probably wasn’t this impressive.

I’m actually just intrigued with the approximation he got the original. His website has the series of photos that show how the program steadily got a better and better looking approximation of the painting. Here’s the last of the images.

I find it amazing that a simple program could just tool along for three hours and get so close to the original. It really makes you think about how decisions made at points based on just what’s around you can make a world of difference to what happens overall.

I’m just saying that, whether it’s DNA, programming, or people making choices based on the information they have available, we make patterns. As each individual choice effects those around them until your have picture or a pattern or an effect.

It’s amazing the power that we have to create our own world view, actions, and environment.

Really, visit his website and read about the process and the result — it’s truly fascinating.

True evolution isn’t driven by a desire for beauty, or anything else other than simple survivability. I.E. if I make more offspring (and my offspring make more offspring) than my competitors, I must be fitter.  The problem is that Roger didn’t have millions of years to wait for something pretty to come out of his experiment.  So he cheated a bit with the fitness function, making it: Do I look like the Mona Lisa.   But this doesn’t change the fact that the polygons mutate and survive based on a fitness function, and it is therefore, in my opinion, an accurate, though severly simplified simulation of evolution through genetic selection.  If you read through the comments on Rogers’ site, the disrespect and meanness is truly disheartening.  Mostly though, they’re completely irrelevant to the point Roger was trying to make.  If I show you a snowball I’ve made, then telling me it’s nothing like a glacier, while true, is rather pointless, and only serves to make you look like a gormless git with “anonymous-internet”itis.

It’s cold outside. Well, cold for Maryland. Yesterday there was a lot of wind as well, but today it’s just a calm, cold, cold, day.

I miss the seasons. I grew up in Maine in a small town called Mexico. Yeah, I know. It’s on the famous Maine sign at the Tourist Information Center just after you cross the bridge into Maine and get on the Turnpike. Mexico is not that far from So. Paris, Norway, and Sweden. But the point is that I grew up with seasons. There was Spring, Mud, Summer, Fall, Mud, and Winter. Yes, there were two seasons of Mud if it was rainy enough.  And if Mud season was bad enough we had an additional season of mosquitos and black flies, but we had those anyway no matter what season (except Winter).

The Christmas Holiday season always meant snow. I think that during my childhood we only had one year when it didn’t snow (to stick on the ground) until Christmas Eve. That’s become more frequent over the years. But, here in Maryland, there’s has seldom been snow during the Winter; at least during the ten+ years we’ve lived here. People tell us they used to always have snow for Christmas but not anymore, or at least in our part of the state. Last Friday, we had a few bits of white falling from the sky but it was gone the minute it touched down. Even Maine doesn’t have snow except in the mountains and ski areas — and I think they make most of their snow in the ski areas now because the winters aren’t what they used to be.

I talked to my mom, who still lives in Maine, and she said it snowed the other day but then it rained and it was all gone or mostly all gone as far as she could see. She lives in town, but still — it’s December and there’s still no snow yet back in my home town in Maine.

So, here it is sixteen days until Christmas and once again it’s still Fall here in Maryland. The leaves have fallen and piled up where we haven’t done anything to get rid of them. They’re beautiful in their own way — orange, yellow, and some reds along with the dead browns. The trees are bare against the sky which today is a clear, cold blue of water ice.

It is beautiful but I miss the white drifts of snow that always meant Christmas is coming when I was a child. My husband just says I should be very glad we don’t have to shovel six feet of the stuff off our quarter-mile driveway. He’s right but I still miss the Winter season of snow.  [Hyperion: That’s because she’s not the one that had to shovel it.  I like snow too but, I’m just saying, there needs to be priorities :-)]

Guess I’m just feeling nostalgic today. Home with the tree lights on and a mystery to read (Bones of Betrayal by Jefferson Bass) which I’ll be reviewing for Gumshoe Review’s January issue. The story takes place in the cold. So, guess I’ll just go back to sipping my warm coffee with it’s Mocha Peppermint creamer and visit the world of the body farm and stop thinking about the snow that isn’t outside my window.

A recent study, announced in BBC News, says that scientists have evidence that happiness is infectious. I don’t think that’s particularly new news, especially if you’re the type of person who studies the people around them.

I’m a writer, so I love to people watch. I noticed many times that people may be grumpy, but if someone is particularly nice to them, they often turn away with a smile. The obverse is also true a seemingly happy person who is given a hard time by a sales person quickly becomes a grumpy person. This being the season to be jolly — you can watch this glum-happy-glum transitions in most fast food places, stores, any place where people deal with people.

This study showed that if people around someone were happy that someone tended to be happy themselves. So, after some thought, I remembers that old adage by George Burns (I think, if you know the attributions let me know):

“Sincerity is everything. If you can fake that, you’ve got it made.”

Sincerity is what makes whatever you do seem real. But happiness is sort of a state of mind. If you can convince yourself to act as if you are happy, then the people close to you are likely to feel better about themselves and be happier also. Then, the happiness you’re faking slowly becomes real because the people around your are happier in a spreading spiral of happiness.

Before we get in a “it’s a small world after all” frame of mind, we all fake happiness at times. The big smile when faced with having to entertain or be with people when you’d like nothing better than to be alone with a cup of tea and a good book. But haven’t you noticed that after the first few minutes of pretending to be pleased about something, and going with the fact that you have to be there, that it sort of becomes fun. And not much longer after that, you are actually having a good time being with friends and talking.

Last year around Christmas time, the buzz was to “pay it forward”. Well it seems that here is a way to pay things forward that don’t cost us a cent. Get up and tell yourself that today you’ll have a great day and be happy. Smile at people, acknowledge that they exist in your world. I’ve found that even the street people appreciate a smile and a hello — even if it’s accompanied by a “sorry, but I’ve donated my quota for today”. (That’s sort of a story for another time — short version, I have a set amount I’ll give out when in the city and after that it’s just a sorry.)

Tell yourself that you’ll make an effort to not let your mood affect other people; that you’ll smile and be relaxed and at ease with friends, family, relatives, and salespersons no matter how much you hate lines, waiting, or how rude they’re being to you. It’s time to try that turn the other cheek thing — just be pleasant. I’m not saying you need to be a comedian or entertain everyone you bump into — just maintain the common courtesies of life — or what used to be the common courtesies before most people forgot the words please, thank you, and have a wonderful day.

I think an effort to pretend to be happier than we are, especially now during the stress of the holidays and the economic downturn, could actually make those around us feel better and help ourselves. And, other studies have shown that happy people handle stress better and make better decisions. So, be selfish and help yourself by being pleasant to those around you.

Tonight we watched An Inconvenient Truth on DVD. We’d been meaning to for a while since we’ve heard so much about it — for and against.

What did I think? It’s excellent. The case for global warming is made in a clear, straightforward manner backed up by graphs, photos, and scientific evidence. I doubt if I’ve seen the evidence as clearly and concisely presented in this form. I’d expected to see some of what people have complained about — exaggerations and soft and mushy science. Not there. I’m afraid the nay-sayers have been misleading the public again. There is very little that is stated in the movie/slide show that is not backed up by scientific fact. The bits that are opinion or reminiscences are clearly delineated and if viewers can’t tell the difference, I doubt they’d recognize the difference between truth and fiction anyway.

I was doubly impressed with the short segment on automobile gas mileage requirements in various countries. In this segment, it shows the US against many other countries, and that we have the worse mileage rules regarding what our automobiles should be getting per gallon of gas. Then it listed California’s proposed standard for cars and the fact that automobile companies in American complain that this would require them to, in eleven years time, meet the current Chinese standards. He then showed a chart of the profitable car manufacturers worldwide. Guess what? The US big three car companies were in the red on that chart. Now years later and our big 3 are in critical trouble. While the rest of the world was at least taking a interest in helping the environment (if not just conserving their own oil reserves), we, in the US, put short-term profit over all other considerations and we lost — big time.

Gore also tries to deal with the major objections used by those that try to poo-poo Global Warning. His data blows most, if not all, of those objections out of the water. The few that aren’t totally torn down are left to be merely rumble-strips to be dealt with but not deal breakers.  The fact is, all reputable scientist accept that global warming is real and caused, in whole or in part, by our actions.  The only disagreement is on what is going to happen as a result, and how soon its going to happen.

We’re in trouble. Our environment is our environment. This Earth is all we have and if we don’t start doing everything in our power to help stabilize or reduce the impact of Global Warming, we are looking at worldwide catastrophes that are going to change the shape of the world, our societies, and our way of life.

Everyone should have to see this film and think about the changes that have happened during their lifetimes and what changes are coming in the next fifty years. Then we need to not just think about our place in this world but what we can do to help. That help can be changing to compact florescent lighting, improved insulation, lowering our thermostats (I have and I’m cold), recycling, properly inflating our tires, getting a more fuel efficient car or hybrid, recycling (we have to actually take our stuff to a recycle center it isn’t picked up for us). Individually, we really don’t need to do that much, but what little we can do, needs to be done.

If we all do our part and make our elected representatives understand that our environment is as important an issue (at least as important as the economy because many of the problems with our economy spring from environmental issues), and act for the good of the Earth, not just their state — it will be a good thing. Why? Because it will be good for the states and the country in the long run and thus good for all the citizens. We’ll all be better off, remember it is not like we can go live somewhere else, Earth is currently all we have and that’s not going to change anytime soon so we have to take care of our home planet.

I got bored the other day and found a new time sink. I needed to finish a sweater I was working on and stuff a bear or two — so I wanted something to watch. But, I didn’t want to go to the TV. YouTube videos are usually short. Someone had told me about Hulu.com earlier and I’d checked it out. So, I thought this is perfect.

Hulu has movies and TV shows for free. The catch is that they have commercials but so does TV so what’s the difference. I have a pretty fast connection so thought I’d give it a try. Mostly, I wanted to check out the TV shows. Our TV is in the basement — the very, very cold basement so we don’t watch it much (actually, we don’t watch it at all during the winter). So, I watched Bones. I’d never seen it so started with season one. Luckily, that was the only season they had other than season four, I think. I’m now thinking I’ll need to put the season boxed sets on my Amazon list. I loved them. I’ve scoped out some more shows that I want to watch so I’ll be coming back to Hulu.

Oh, I did finish the sweater and the stuffing. Photos tomorrow probably.

We’d tried to watch the NetFlix online on my husbands computer but the sound was horrible. NetFlix also requires that you use IE (and I hate IE with a passion). Eventually, after several disastrous listening experiences with NetFlix, we desperately wanted to watch something and found my laptop had better sound. Of course, I had to update IE first but finally, NetFlix’s Watch Now works on my laptop with decent sound. So, guess that will be a secondary time sink when I need to find something for my eyes and ears when my hands are busy.

I’ve tried reading and doing crafts but if it’s not a simple ribbing or stockinette stitch, I can’t read. I need to watch something or I get antsy and nervous feeling like I’m cheating by just doing one thing. In fact, I can’t just sit and watch a movie anyway, I have to do something with my hands so socks are a good small project for movie watching.

Anyway, check out Hulu and see what you think. But you have to have a connection fast enough for streaming video. If you can’t do YouTube, you probably can’t do Hulu either.