Giker's Super Slide Puzzle

 I know you are smart because you got this tiny puzzle game for Christmas- the smallest present out of all of them- and I couldn't solve it, but you could. I studied it for 10 minutes with your little brother and we were totally inept at it. Until you came to rescue, moving the pieces around like you could already see the solution before starting. It took you less than 30 seconds.

 We then tried it again and still couldn't get it right even after watching you. I asked you to show us how to solve it again and you did so with ease. You have a gift, my son. I hope you will use it well as you grow older, better than I have tried to use mine.

 It's a rectangular puzzle game that maps where you should place your pieces beforehand. You then need to move the pieces into a position that allows the big red square to settle at the bottom center. It is Giker's super slide puzzle game, pictured below.

Sundays

  I love the peacefulness of an ordinary Sunday. People sleep in, the graceful go to church. The air swells with the absence of traffic, as natural as it was before the revolt of industry. You can hear the birds and trees swaying in the wind more clearly. When you run, clouds can watch you without the film of light pollution. When you read, the words speak to you more carefully. You aren't thinking so fast that the day falls into a forgetful cavity. You savor the moments, the quiet solitude that enhances reflection, the fun and meaningful events you attended with family. God's goodness shines on the slow things you do, methodically and lovingly, in full realization of the gifts he gave you. The non-physical is given as much attention as the physical. It is the great reset that prepares you for the next week, a revolution of the clock restructuring the order lost from the chaos of six other days. It is a day of prayer, wonder, communion, all the intangibles we need to function without admitting it. Sunday is the forsaken goddess that soothes us in our stressful slumber. Refreshing fruits of religious harmony reconcile you to the other faiths that preach solace on this special day. It is a holiday about nothing, ignored by the calendars, secretly yearned for by the busy and the pious. Civilization pauses for a splendid seventh of its monopoly on time. The painters and the poets spend their deepest moments meditating on eternal truths unveiled. Weddings produce the most sustainable moment of joy the good Earth will witness. Angels sing to us sopranos of blessedness and love. All is in rhythm, all is bright, all is safe, all is well. I love the peacefulness of an ordinary Sunday.

Gratitude

 Be wary of the talons of gratitude. People can go their whole lives being grateful for what someone did, not realizing they are enabling bad behavior. A person can save your life or bail you out and expect you to repay them by allowing them to treat you badly. When parents do this, it is especially deceptive. Once you call them out, they will be quick to point out all the positive things they've done for you, making it seem like the bad things are excusable, as a sort of guilt trip. They will use the guilt to make you a pawn in their scheme.

 True gratitude is feeling appreciative of the people that gave you something without expecting anything in return. Their expectations don't trigger an imbalanced power struggle. When you don't feel the stress of constantly needing to please them, it is much easier to feel gratitude in all its purity.

Google Business Reviews

 I have written a slew of reviews on Google, most of them positive. This came after a horrendous experience at Planet Fitness, where my locker was broken into. I try to write some positive reviews for every negative one. It felt like a good time for some business reviews since we have really settled into the area and are well-acquainted with our favorite locales.

Here is a link to the Planet Fitness review. You can find the others by clicking my name. You can also expand out the map to see where these locations are.

Memory Is Attachment: How to Navigate Dreamwork Without Going Crazy

  Memory is an often-overlooked form of attachment. Many people would like to remember everything they can, as sentimental pieces of their soul. But Sri Nisargadatta Maharaja taught that attachment to memory tethers the soul to the past, making it harder to live in the present, resulting in greater suffering. The seminal work I Am That relates all his teachings in Socratic-interview form, and is one of the highest-rated books on Goodreads that I've read this year.

 I explored my memory frequently this year, mainly from being reminded of things in my dreams and trying to psychoanalyze them. For me it was dreams about people who hurt me that I no longer wanted to have. I got carried away when I did some dreamwork with my spirit guide to help resolve them- a wild journey that I am hesitant to share with the public. It wasn't the spiritual resolutions that stopped the dreams, but realizing that exploring my memory was making me overly attached to the past. I haven't had a recurring dream since making more of an effort to let go of the memories, which have also helped with the pain and suffering they've caused. The spiritual resolutions actually helped with forgiveness more than dreamwork, at least serving to make them less vivid.

 What also helped was willing myself not to check the social media pages of people who hurt me. These indicators of the present can trigger memories, inviting them into our dreams and distorting reality. In our dreams, we might replay past events as if they were scenes from the present on their social media pages. It follows that along with memory, we must detach from these social media checkups, no matter how interested we are. We don't know them anymore, and the pain of checking can sharpen the memory of the trauma they caused, reinforcing the dreams. Sometimes I would check their page just because of a dream I had, so it works both ways. Our minds want more information to fuel the dreams, but we must not provide it; we must stop supplying the subconscious with new details of the present.

 This is not to say that memory isn't important. We need memories to help us function in daily life, and our dreams can help us sort through past problems so that we may learn how handle situations in the future better. But if we go too deep by trying to solve them through memory alone, it can backfire. In dreamwork, you must find a balance by practicing detachment from your memories. Focus on the emotion and not the contents of your choices. If there are regrets, forgive yourself and move on. Vow not to make the same mistake twice and your mind will reward you with more pleasant dreams.

The Drums and the Guitar

 The brave drums marched through the jungle, beating to the pulse of its wet, humid air. Leaves on the trees shook as they paraded past, moving with a cadence that to the trained eye might have perceived them dancing. Each beat intensified as the evening drew on, growing louder as they approached the river. Like a troop of monkeys, they had transformed the quiet canopy into a frenzy of percussion.

 Once they came to the river, a sound as sweet as honey stopped them in their tracks. On the other side, a voluptuous guitar was stringing herself along the shore, meandering with her notes to the flow of the water. She dazzled the spectators with her otherworldly sound, so much that the batonists fell into a swoon of silence. 

 As she approached, the air became electric with her hypnotic solo. She stopped to look at the water, emanating a melancholy disposition. Tears of sadness fell from her frets, supplying the river with a lonely dirge that collected in a stream. The drums could see that she was alone, that she yearned for a companion in the compositions she kept.

 It was the smallest drum who cast the first beat. The guitar's interest piqued at the sound of a complementary performer. Soon the larger drums followed his lead, so that the chords of the guitar blended into the beats, becoming something bigger. The drums no longer wanted to march in formation as a single entity, but to become synchronized with the lovely treasure they'd found across the river.

 As they gathered around her, their sounds rolled into an assembly of powerful forces that liberated her from the shell she'd been in. At once she played high, fast notes that speckled the firmament with a galvanized crescendo, bolstered by the heavy pounding below. The leaves on the trees whipped back and forth, swaying in newfound fusion, while the water rushed with a progression of strength.

 The guitar was eminently pleased with her new band of brothers, who'd fallen in love with her. Their marching beats carried her through the rest of the jungle, curing her sadness, giving her purpose. In turn, she led them to charge a bridge over the river, taming their wildness, connecting division through unity. Once she had them, the world became clean.

Sincerely by Kali Uchis

  Sincerely by Kali Uchis is easily the best album of the year. If an album were capable of seducing a man, this would be it. On her masterpiece, Kali walks a thin line between sexy and sadness, creating a hybrid emotion of the two that carries the whole album. Silky, sulky vibes wrestle with a broken heart that is struggling to find peace as a new family begins. 

 I have not heard such a cohesive unit of beautiful-emotional songs since Bjork's Vespertine in 2001. But the artist you can hear most on this record- as Kali's apparent inspiration- is the little-known Rosie and the Originals, whose album Maybe I'm Dreamin', all the way from 1960, is the only one she released. And that's what this album sounds like at times- a 60s throwback. The rest of the time it's a more familiar R&B sound, laced with such an intimate charm that I could listen to it all day.

Library Gods

There's a library
At the university
Where brilliant scholars
Ascend marble steps
To study in a vaulted room
That rises in graduated tiers
Over stained-glass windows
Into a parabolic ceiling
Triumphant with gothic wonder.
As they uncover new truths

Their notes are elevated
To the lofty chandeliers
Illuminating all knowledge,
Cementing it in their research.
Higher yet the margins converge,
Each page of discovery assembled
On a scroll unfurled high off the walls,
Where immortal philosophers
Painted in a fresco parliament,
Arrayed like the stories of Genesis,
Hold the light for students below.

Precog Dream About Baseball's Greatest Game

  I've witnessed the greatest game 7 in World Series history. The Dodgers came back to beat the Blue Jays 5-4 in 11 innings. But it was the cinematic 9th inning that will go down in baseball lore. After the Dodgers tied the game in the top half of the ninth, they made two incredible defensive plays in a row to send it to extra innings. Both plays were with the bases loaded. Both plays saw the Blue Jays come inches short of winning the World Series. 
 The first play was a ground ball to second, which ended with a throw out at home plate. That play was so close it looked like a tie.
 It's at this point that I must mention the precog dream I had about Ernie Clement coming up to the plate and something big about to happen. I woke up before that big thing happened, but it was the exact same situation. Clement launched the ball to left center, where two Dodgers collided at full speed, yet somehow the center fielder held on to the ball. That saved a run from scoring and sent the game to extra innings, where the Dodgers won the World Series on a solo home run. 
 It is easily the best baseball game I have ever seen and it's even more wild that I had a precog dream about it this morning. It was spooky to watch as the ninth inning developed how events were happening that led to the dream coming true. I mean Clement was like the seventh batter that inning and things had to align perfectly for him to get up without them scoring a run. 
 As it was happening, I told my son I saw this happen in a dream. And after it happened, I told him the Dodgers are going to win because my dream would have shown the Blue Jays doing something more dramatic otherwise. Not that my 6-year-old son had a clue what I was talking about, but I think he will remember that game the same way I will. I told him, this is a special moment, you'll never forget this, no matter who wins. That dream though, wow, it was so electric, just like the real stadium, and with the whole world watching. One of the most fascinating experiences of my life.

Ernie Clement up to bat with 2 out, bases loaded, tie game, bottom of the 9th in the World Series. This image was in my dream last night.

Watch the entire bottom of the 9th in this video.

Top 1000 Songs of the 1960s

 Below is my compilation of the top songs of the 1960s, based on popularity, cultural significance, landmark albums, play counts, and personal affections. Play counts derived from my profile at last.fm: skydude13579’s Music Profile | Last.fm

Jews and Cartography

  I've just read that the Jews were the pioneers of modern cartography. In the 15th century, as explorers and navigators expanded knowledge of the seas and faraway lands, cartography became in high demand, especially after the printing press made the distribution of maps more prolific. The diaspora shaped this cultural landscape, as Jews became wedged between Christian and Muslim spheres, particularly in Spain. "Driven from place to place, they [Jews] helped make cartography... into an international science, offering facts equally valid in lands of all the faiths" (Boorstin, 150). Thus, the Jews served as a bridge between the dominant religions of the time, translating what medieval Arab scientists had discovered for Christian Europe. 

 I can feel this effect in my DNA. The strong Jewish genes in my family that shape our geographic talent and interest was passed down from centuries of cartographic practice. My own grandfather was a cartographer. And while I studied it in college, the field seems to have become diluted by IT guys because of the importance of GIS, making the ancient art of mapmaking less appealing for those preferring to design them conceptually.

Boorstin, Daniel J. The Discoverers. 1st Vintage book ed. Vintage Books, 1985.

Meditation Techniques

 Meditation has become one of my biggest hobbies, if you can call it that. It always helps bring clarity to my fast-paced mind. There are different techniques I use, depending on the issue. To calm myself down, I do a simple breathing exercise where I focus on my breath and imagine myself as Aang the Airbender sitting on top of a mountain. Deep breaths are most critical to success. I'm usually able to calm down within minutes.

 Another is chakra meditation, for when I notice an imbalance in energy centers. This can manifest as a headache, pain in a certain area, or anxiety from doing an activity too long. The idea is to imagine other chakras as receiving excess energy from overactive ones by projecting the breath towards them. This takes longer, anywhere from 5-10 minutes. Typically, this happens when I need to redirect excess energy from my navel chakra (action) to my third eye (vision) chakra.

 The one I've developed the most this year is spirit guide meditation, where the intent is to ask a spirit/guardian angel for advice or understanding on a difficult matter. This is an advanced technique that doesn't always work. I can't always tell if it's a spirit I'm talking to or just my higher self, but the better I get at it, the more I believe it's a little of both. The answers to most problems are already known subconsciously; the guide simply helps me find it. What's wild is that you can even encounter other spirits and make resolutions with them. I have had some very strange and vivid experiences doing this, but they all gave me closure on difficult times in the past.

 A technique I've done since being a teenager that I never realized as music meditation. This is one of the best for finding artistic inspiration. Play your favorite music, meditate on the visions, feelings or ideas they invoke. If there are words, let them describe a poetic device you can use in your art. Often, I will listen to favorite songs while writing poetry- a way for the meditation to manifest on the page. Usually, it reveals things about me or life in general that I hadn't been conscious about.

 Mastering meditation takes time and effort like anything else. My life is so much richer because of it. I don't know who I'd be without it, probably more like my mom. It's the best way to shut out the noise and simplify your life. It can even help you sleep. 10% of the time I accidentally doze off. There are guided meditations on YouTube to help you sleep. I don't really meditate on them; those soothing voices are sometimes enough to conk me out. They just relax my busy brain.

Top 1000 Songs of the 1970s

  Below is my compilation of the top songs of the 1970s, based on popularity, cultural significance, landmark albums, play counts, and personal affections. Play counts derived from my profile at last.fm: skydude13579’s Music Profile | Last.fm

Academic Career

     Below is a rough outline of my academic journey and the trajectory it might have taken had I not fallen behind when I was young.  I have taken most of these as actual classes.  Others are ones I would have taken had I continued on a steady path, particularly in a graduate program.  Rest assured, I have studied every subject here to a degree that I feel is worthy of accreditation, whether self-taught, on the job, or in a class.

Dream Trap Erotomania

  And you were there in the auditorium when Enigma played Sadeness as I watched you from afar like I always do, wondering how fate could bring us together again after being apart so long. When the haunting chants ended he proposed to you the bright one wearing pink, bright as the ocean sunset that overlay waters serene, and your face lit up with joyful tears as you said yes and we locked eyes and I knew forever I would always be too late. Like Jack when he met Rose on the Titanic and their love drowned in the ocean deep with my teenage failures chained to your eternal grace. My sorrow meant nothing to you, you couldn't see me, you never even tried.

 And I imagined dancing to Ottmar Liebert's Santa Fe with you twirling around me wearing a Spanish dress that tried to outshine you but inevitably couldn't. And though it was forbidden to dance with you, to love you, to merely set eyes on you, I did it anyway because I didn't care what they thought and for once neither did you. And I imagined us running away down the coast, listening to Just Like Heaven on a golden California bay, where you kissed me kissed me kissed me and said we should get married, become beach bums and spend our 20s exploring the west.

 And then it became too much for me, how much better you were than me, how much more charm you had than me, that I tried too hard and messed with your head, even though I didn't mean to, it's the kind of thing that happens when I get bored.

 And then I was on some lost lake beach in the mountains with Black echoing from the stars and you were gone, all gone, left me on the turnpike with a couple towels and my sorrow to burn in the summer sun, tattooed to charcoal by the anger you dented my soul with. And I went to find you on the county line to tell you I'm sorry, but I saw you in his house as I stood in the rain, you weren't alone though you were still the same, you'll always be the steady drain in my heart. And you had children, I couldn't believe it, so I planted a tree for them, watched them grow through the years playing under them, a ghost they couldn't see who protected them without you knowing.

And then I woke up in my room alone, just a boy again hearing Adam's Song on the radio and I wasn't sure I'd ever see you again if I decided to stop going to school. I tried for one more day but all I could think about was everyone watching me and wanting to go home, struggling to keep up, failing at everything, even suicide. My shrink convinced me I wasn't supposed to love you, that it's impossible because I didn't even know you, but what the hell does he know about love, I was with you every day for a whole year. And that's when I decided against that future because I couldn't wait for you to come around, but in my dreams I'm waiting, always waiting, until it's too late, until my entire life has passed me by. It's like being trapped, trapped in you, trapped in a paralysis of fear of talking to you, oh God, please let me out please let me escape her please let me be free of the truth.

Geo-certified

  I just finished my self-selected curriculum in geography. The goal was to read textbooks about every facet of geography that interests me, so that I may be an actual master by my own standards. Along with finishing my academic master's, this completes a long journey I've been on for three or four years, researching every region of the globe, analyzing most geographic topics offered at university level. The books I completed in the last three days to round out the journey were:

 Dragons and Tigers: A Geography of South, East and Southeast Asia

 GIS Tutorial 3: Advanced Workbook

 World Geography 7: Antarctica, Australia, and the Pacific

 A detailed list of the curriculum can be found on my Goodreads empire, under the geography-travel shelf. I had similar goals with history (complete) and science (to complete by December). Accounting is the final one, but it is not interesting enough to keep me going. Nonetheless I will probably do accounting for the rest of my career, unless a miracle happens.

Twin Paradox

 They who witnessed the ancient marriage
 Of science and religion
 Built the 12 houses of astrology,
 Reigning supreme over all faiths
 For hundreds of years.
 But gradually, the word of Augustine
 Endured a schism 

 Between faith and reason
 By positing the lives of twins
 Are often at odds,
 As Jacob's and Esau's had been.
 If two souls are born
 At the same time and place
 Yet lead vastly different lives,
 How can astrology be true?

 The missing ingredient, Karma,
 Paused the grand rotation,
 Exclaiming that forces beyond the stars
 Govern the fate of souls,
 But that souls given astral imprint
 Were thus influenced by cosmic motions.
 And the world kept turning
 As science and religion entwined
 After being at odds for centuries,
 Twins born from the same instinct
 Writing vastly different stories
 Only to share the same ending.

The Selfishness Equation

  My wife said something very wise in bed today. "Nobody is completely selfless. We are all selfish at something." It's true. I am selfish about eating. When I'm hungry I don't wait for people to join me, or let them have first bite, unless I am a guest. I always have the first bite, even when my kids are hungry. I am also selfish when delivering, taking only good offers when others need the money more than me.

 My wife is selfish at cleaning. She will vacuum around us when we're still eating, or watching a show, and she's completely aware that it bothers us.

 Many people who give a lot to others are only trying to make themselves feel better. They are doing it to improve their own feelings, not necessarily out of a desire to help others.

 Even religious people who most renounce selfishness to achieve nirvana or sainthood may only be doing it to improve their karma, not out of innate goodness or a moral imperative to do the right thing.

 This isn't to say we are all selfish. The true measure of selfishness is a three-fold set of variables: the grand total of the things we are selfish about, the degree to which we are selfish about them, and how significant they are. For example, being selfish about needing space on the bus is not as significant as being selfish by cutting people off driving at high speeds. If a sociologist were to list every single individual and their corresponding selfishness scores, each would have a composite score representing the totality of their selfishness. It would all be relative to the mean score, sort of like IQ (intelligence quotient).

Weighing all possible measures of selfishness, most people are far more selfless than selfish. Most of us are aware of the things that bother others, and we do our best to be nice. The optimist in me clearly sees that all the selfless behaviors we make, including not acting on our impulses, or the first thought that comes to our heads, far outweighs the selfish ones. If everyone was a 100% selfish, without making any sacrifice for the greater good of society, we would be living in lawless anarchy. This is the social contract Roussea had written about three centuries ago. People are inherently unselfish enough to keep their communities running, but selfish enough at particular behaviors to make the appearance of being it.

Top 1000 Songs of the 1980s

   Below is my compilation of the top songs of the 1980s, based on popularity, cultural significance, landmark albums, play counts, and personal affections. Play counts derived from my profile at last.fm: skydude13579’s Music Profile | Last.fm

Ariel's Lament

 You saw him aboard the ship
 Playing a fife in some far-off fantasy
 Where he was the prince of your dreams,
 The man who could save you
 From all the pressures of the deep.
 You wanted to come on land, with him,
 To hear him play the music every day
 While you sang along, seducing
 The land to your aquatic arias,
 A siren's love at first sight.
 He danced around on the planks
 While your heart melted,
 Sending your mind to enchantment,
 Young love dripping from a violin's bow.
 You saw the future, saw marrying him,
 Fathering your child,
 Helping you through the crass world
 After your parents refused.
 You saw in his face what the boy's father
 Couldn't give you, a steady presence,
 A loyal provider, strong enough to care,
 A transformer of fins to legs.
 The passion stormed through you,
 Igniting your fiery hair,
 Burning through every truth
 That mocked your happy ending.
 A sea witch will steal your voice,
 A tragic monster living inside you
 Thwarting all the stability desired.

Curmudgeoned by Sanderson: The Stormlight Archive Conclusion

  This review is on book 5 Wind and Truth, midway between the entire series, which is supposed to be 10 books long.

 Journey before destination. Sure, if you can live that long. And buy more books full of overindulgent wankery like books 4-5 in The Stormlight Archive. I didn't invest in 7,000 pages of intriguing, strong characters to become consumed by their grief, to be trapped in their heads while a beautiful world falls apart. I love Sanderson when he isn't damning his creation to storm ash and transforming his heroes into patients for a PTSD group therapy session. Half the time it felt like I was reading Dalinar watch the History Channel, or Shallan confusing herself for a new persona, or Kaladin getting blown further off course by his nervous breakdown. The dude's arc went from unsung hero to the sidekick shrink of someone with even bigger issues, and as far away from the main action as possible. But hey, at least he can cook and play the flute now, right? Adolin seemed like the only one who kept his head straight, yet even he had chapters serving no other purpose than ruminating on self-doubt.

 Most of the book has no relation to the core series of events. It shifts POV so prolifically, and with so much inner dialogue riddled by impossible questions, that it meanders like a teenager's diary. Despite its flaws, even at page 1,200 it still had potential to be one of the greatest series ever written. But instead of concluding it simply like he did in the first two (more successful) books, Sanderson chose to make it even more complex, a la the George Martin syndrome, where the ending should be simple, but gets confounded by trying too hard to be unpredictable. There are twists that oddly kill off all that made the heroes of Roshar great, typically through resolving an unnecessary character arc, or by introducing some weird new magic trick to move things in a more convenient direction (there is a deus ex machina every 50 pages). I was so anxious from all the repetition and hype surrounding the Contest of Champions that I found myself begging for an old-fashioned resolution but got "Retribution" instead.

 The biggest surprise though was Sanderson's attempt to justify this utterly sad ending- which Wit calls brilliant- as if he needed some way of soothing his die-hard fans or keeping their mojo going for another five books. The payoff for sticking with this, if there is one, isn't worth it for me at this point in the series. The Stormlight Archive is so brilliant that it became a victim of its own success; full of fantastic ideas that are so drawn out that they ultimately fail to keep the reader interested, especially after a dismal pause in events.

8/7

 Now that some time has passed, I have come to appreciate more where this wild journey has taken me. There is a dark ending to this one, something he is not known for. I believe I've been a bit spoiled by him in that regard. In the long run it is no less of a shattering outcome than The Empire Strikes Back, Avatar: Earth, or Game of Thrones. Though I still believe these tragic arcs should have taken place much earlier in the series, it was wrong of me to think it has lost its place among the greats. So long as Kaladin is alive, there is still time for a real retribution. I also believe that by the uniting the shards, Odium will never be the same, for the power of honor will compel him to consider better options. Odium will now be torn between what's right and what's wrong, as indicated by his last thought in the book, the one where he realized Dalinar had torn down his philosophy. Though he has more power now, I'm not sold that he'll always use it for destruction. Plus, he needs to hide from the other shards since they've been alerted to his perversion. So at least the war is over, for now. But 90% of Roshar is still scorched and run by the Fused, and many of our friends could not reunite. Still a sad ending.

 The way I see it now, two individuals who are already very powerful effectively doubled their power: Taravangian, who doubled it with the power of honor, and Kaladin, who doubled it by becoming King of the Heralds. If Taravangian attacks, Kaladin is Roshar's only hope.

Electric Nucleus Slingshot

  Scientists have discovered a surprising property of electrons. While it is already known that they can "tunnel" through energy barriers like the Coulomb barrier in stars and the strong nuclear force in radioactive decay, it wasn't known that they spring back to the nucleus mid-penetration and recharge back out. It's as if some nuclear awareness of a barrier pulls them back to increase potential energy, as the arm pulls an arrow back when holding a bow, to release it with the extra strength.

 The finding supports string theory because it shows how intimately electrons are connected to the nucleus by vibrational patterns. It may have something to do with the electromagnetic force interacting with the strong nuclear force- two of the four known fundamental forces of physics. Since it has been proven that the stronger strong force unites with the electroweak force at higher energies, it follows that such high energy is what propels the electron back then forward, like a slingshot. Note that while the electroweak force is an integration of electromagnetic and weak nuclear forces, the added component of the strong nuclear force is fiercely demonstrated by this new finding in quantum tunneling, supporting a unified theory of at least three of the four fundamental forces of physics. Gravity remains the elusive maverick.

Pohang University of Science & Technology (POSTECH). <Quantum tunneling mystery solved after 100 years—and it involves a surprise collision | ScienceDaily>.ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 28 July 2025. 

Birds and Fairies: Imagining the Deep Future of Human Body Plans

  Humans have been a homogeneous species since the disappearance of Neanderthals. This means that despite our geographic dispersion through prehistory, we did not break apart into other species. It was only relatively recently that we were reunited by a shrinking globalized world that allowed us to mate with each other after millennia of migration away from Africa. Fortunately, there was no cataclysm strong enough to separate these isolated populations long enough for new species to develop. Since the last Ice Age, the races of the world have been conglomerating back into one as each society becomes integrated into the modern global framework. 

 But that doesn't mean a classic population purge will never happen. A cataclysm could wipe out all our technology and everything we've built, leaving isolated communities of humans who would evolve certain traits from selective pressure by nature. This is what happened to the dinosaurs 65 million years ago, after an asteroid impact rendered them extinct. Today there are countless species of birds- the evolutionary offspring of dinosaurs- with such varieties of appearance and function that one has to wonder what the future offspring species of human would look like if such an event occurred.

 It is my intuition that the traits these new species carry will mysteriously echo the fantastic anthropogenic creatures of our fiction and mythologies. To put it bluntly, these are traits belonging to fairies, elves, dwarves, gnomes, etc. There is no reason for me to doubt that any of these mythological human imprints could eventually become reality in our offspring species. And that once the dust of the cataclysm clears and they are all brought together again, as today's birds are, there could be a global melting pot of current mythological beings becoming reality in the deep future. We are unique in that we have the ability to imagine such a deep future in our collective mythology, brought by transformations unseen in fantasy, as we call their homes other worlds when it could actually be a forecasting of our own. When reading an epic fantasy like Lord of the Rings, we are possibly witnessing derivations of our future world through all the stories we have shared, whether they be orally transmitted, written down, or projected on the screen.

 There's no telling what the most accurate blueprint of human progeny is based on current mythology. Likely only several of the myriad imagined humanoid species will take shape, or just one. But that single species could blossom into an array of stunningly diverse species through a single body plan, as the birds seem to have done. If humans ever grow wings, you can be sure the cataclysm that forced it will subside to reveal a fertile breeding ground for that body plan to flourish, while in the interim, various body plans will compete with each other to win out as nature's favorite. Perhaps as birds eventually won out over dinosaurian body plans, a small, winged one will prevail in our post cataclysmic world. Perhaps the deep future of our evolutionary branch will be entirely populated by fairies.

East-West Sisters

  Cuyahoga is the only national park in the country inside a metropolitan area. It is sandwiched between Cleveland and Akron, Ohio. As national parks go, it is one of the least spectacular: just a collection of rocks broken by glaciation and the erosion of streams that aren't very tall compared to ones in parts of the west.

 But the west is a wild woman, sexy and seductive, luring unsuspecting voyagers into her bosom. The east is a refined woman, faithful and steady as a matriarch. Her land is old, the west is young. There is so much buried under her surface that time has unraveled her beauty. The west has high peaks, robust rapids and extreme environments featuring exotic landscapes. As she ages, she will become more like her sister in the east.

Empyrean Coronation

 And I fell into the deep dreamless sleep of death's kiss,
 Spinning through a tunnel, letting go of all I held,
 To wash upon the shores of a vast porcelain ocean
 Where my guide alighted a golden stairway upward
 Through clouds bulbous in stormy surrender,
 Parting the heavens in sweet rapture to recall
 The mosaic memories of a life complete,
 Welcomed by all I shared in love.

 And I saw her smiling there in my soul group,
 Waiting for me in a blue dress glittered
 By pixie dust sparkling off wings of magic
 That levitated her beyond purgatory,
 Through the Gates rimmed by banana pancakes,
 A marine angel inside a glassy orb, 
 Inviting me to examine the paths we took,
 The projects we completed,
 The dreams we left unrealized.

 And they were all blonde cherubs
 Who opened my eyes to the lessons,
 The lives that end but the soul that never does,
 All in care of the Empress,
 Manifestation of my guide,
 Who sits on her vaginal terrace
 Atop the phallic tower,
 She who protected me in the life I left,
 The life of -----.

 -----, -----, there will never be another,
 But the soul lives on, morphing to greatness
 Through each incarnation's matrix
 To solve all the riddles before finally earning
 Divine honor atop the Samsaran pyramid
 Beyond the self, beyond soulmates and past lives,
 To an Empyrean coronation of unity,
 Certified by the permanent desire to help.

 And that's when I was taken to the secret planet
 To practice creating life, new life,
 For new worlds imagined, in the universe of my own
 That will begin when I attain ultimate peace,
 Compassion and understanding,
 To start a new chain of beings
 Fractured by a Bang, into pieces of me.

Top 1000 Songs of the 1990s

   Below is my compilation of the top songs of the 1990s, based on popularity, cultural significance, landmark albums, play counts, and personal affections. Play counts derived from my profile at last.fm: skydude13579’s Music Profile | Last.fm

Berzerker Amnesia

 Like some godforsaken Norse creature
 Put in trance by a rage that erupted
 From dormant trauma under the mother's craton,
 I would smash the faces of my parents
 All three of them who sabotaged me,
 Left my heart to sour, forsaken on a magma cross,
 A three-faced Hydra blowing fireballs at me
 From a top a broken faultline of despair.
 And they will hear my voice when the night is through,
 Screaming through cherubic libraries that cherish wisdom,
 All the way to their empty caverns
 Where all they have are the riches mined
 At my expense, when I found out I was only conceived
 Because they needed someone to love them,
 To be their therapist, to nurture their egos,
 To forgive their responsibilities,
 To emotionally support every tragic earthquake.
 To save them, to offer martyrdom
 Upon the cold terraces of obsidian
 Glazed by alexandrite tears

 That a life of confusion
 Domesticated from the abuse of a good soul.
 Sometimes I wish I had amnesia,
 The only power to erase them,
 A supernatural brain freeze reflecting
 Off the bifrost leading to Asgaard,
 Through the fiery temples of dispossessed thoughts,
 Then on to the golden cradle of Valhalla,
 Where I can start again.

Siblings in Soul Groups

  A remarkable thing I have learned from Journey of Souls by Michael Newton is that one's immediate soul group, comprising 3-20 individuals, is most likely to be the same as who their siblings are. Not parents, distant relatives, or friends, but brothers and sisters are the people in real life who we are most likely to meet us soul mates. This contradicts the popular belief that soul mates are people we romantically resonate with the most.

 The whole idea makes a lot of sense for several reasons. Being a generation removed, our parents have different learning experiences on a social and cultural level. Technological differences between generations would create too much tension among souls in the same class who are trying to learn the same lessons. Another related one is that siblings are often faced with the same challenges in life, usually from a social or family dynamic. A third is temporal; siblings are of the same generation and would move in and out of lives more seamlessly. They also tend to die in the same age groups. Think about humanity's long history of war, disease, and other agents of speedy death, especially pertaining to infant mortality, which still occurs in today's world. Souls would need to transition quickly in such environments. Yet another is that having the same parents likely exposes soul mates to goals that enhance their innate ones. For example, with my brother and I, when we were younger, being the smartest person in the room may have been a similar goal we had, shaped by the motivation and/or imitation of our cerebral father. Abandonment would be another challenge with us. I'm not saying we are soul mates, as it doesn't really feel that way, but it wouldn't surprise me if we were from the same soul group.

 I don't know why my children were chosen for us as parents yet. If they are part of the same soul group, there may be a lesson they both need to learn from us as parents. Often you won't see the challenges facing siblings until adolescence at the earliest. It will be interesting to see how spiritually developed they are as they grow older together.

Pythagorean Forest

 The tree trunks are made of squares
 Crowned by triangle's obtuse,
 Equal, isosceles and acute,
 Forking branches through space-time,
 Iterated to oblivion,
 Where the endless twigs bear fruit.
 It's the same structure as spirit,
 Each of us bearing a different
 Cast of angles, sides, reflections,
 Nuanced eccentricity of the square root
 Leading the soul as climber
 To nested apples atop creation,
 Glittering orbs adorning the canopy
 In unique patterns of tribulation.
 The soul climbs, each iteration
 A higher vibration, a new dimension,
 Vast orchestration billowing suspension,
 Cosmic fractals of personification
 Shaping the elevation of trees to perfection,
 Growing incarnations in God's imagination.

Bubble Experience

  The highlight of our weekend was the bubble experience, a temporary exhibit at the old Toys R Us box store in downtown Bellevue, converted for what I assume is a revitalization effort. There were 8-10 rooms of surreal displays, some interactive, some not. In one we got to toss around large balloons like they were cloud droplets. In another we got to walk on a virtual seafloor where organic bubbles are manufactured. The highlight was a giant bubble bath full of little balls that you could wade through or submerge yourself in. I would lift the boys over my head and toss them in the bubble bath, making sure they were safe. At one point we were so engaged in fun that we didn't notice thunder and lightning descending on the bath from above. It was all a show of course but I rarely lose focus so much that I'm not aware of surroundings. I guess fun will do that as well as anything.

 There was another cool room where you could walk through a fractal of bubbles hanging from the ceiling. The bubbles would change color from red to green to blue and purple, sometimes a rainbow mix of them.  Finally, the kids got to color their own submarines and put them in a photo box that copies what you colored and projects it on an underwater scene with the drawings of other kids. It was a great way to end the event because it helps calm the kids down. Activities that require extra focus always do. 

This was a surreal and mesmerizing experience, worth every penny.

Pacers/Knicks Redux

 That really just happened.

 30 years ago, I watched Reggie Miller score 8 points and 9 seconds against the New York Knicks, who choked the game and the playoffs series.

 Today I watched Aaron Nesmith, a little-known shooting forward, make five 3-pointers in two minutes to bring the Pacers back from being 14 down against the Knicks at Madison Square Garden. The same place Miller beat the odds 30 years ago. This time, to cap it off, Tyrese Halliburton at the buzzer shot a miraculous fade away that bounced straight up off the rim, hung in the air for five seconds- higher than the shot clock- then was gracefully guided back through the net by what seemed like the same higher power that guided the ball in that game 30 years ago, igniting one of the greatest rivalries in sports. These are two of the greatest moments in NBA history, happening in roughly the same circumstances 30 years apart. What made it extra special tonight was that Reggie Miller was calling the game for TNT in their last official series broadcast, though it is only game one. Halliburton made the same choke sign to the fans that Reggie made 30 years ago when the Knicks choked a different game. Unknown to Halliburton, his foot was on the 3-point line, sending the game to overtime. But the Pacers still pulled it off.

 I love the Knicks, but I don't care that they choked right now. That was something special to watch, a total deja vu replay of history. When Halliburton hit that shot, I went berserk, yelling "Did you see that!" to my son. God I love this game.

 What a magically fitting way to end things on Inside the NBA. The show was hilarious as usual; everyone was in perfect form.  I really hope to see the team back next year. It is the best show in sports and even one of the best TV shows overall in history.

Cup Slam

 Spontaneous joy of racing blasted us through a mushroom stadium
 Off the map, dangerous corridors of levitating stones,
 Under an amusement park floating on water,
 Meandering down a canyon that tunneled through a donut,
 You wanted to eat it, you said, swallowing pleasure
 Laced by enchantment of sweets intangible,
 The shriek of your laughter counting coins in the tumult
 Shell crash of thunder from a lightning strike you cast.
 You're in first, you said, sanctifying glory,
 Coating it in candy enamel pastries that glittered
 Frosty lights off the cracked eggs of your wheels
 Now coasting through an airport high on sunshine.
 In a purple city electrified by night bright strobe lights,
 Stripes and stars illuminated white,
 Your head turned inside out when the road forked,
 Split upside down by mirrored turnpike,
 Smashing your glee to smithereen disco chips
 Falling like confetti in a labyrinthine dome,
 Sedated by the pinball finish line sounding victory.

The Cantor Set in Genes: We Are Fractals

  The Cantor set is the most basic mathematical fractal. It starts from a principal line that bisects at eeach iteration into smaller lines that are 1/3 the length of the previous one:

 If we assign the second iteration with two lines a binary address, it follows that each iteration thereafter will have an infinite diversity of binary combinations. For instance, iteration two can be assigned L and R for left right. Iteration three would then have LL, LR, RL, and RR designations; and so forth.

 There is an intriguing analogy in genetics. After conception between sperm and egg, each time the cell(s) split, a new ladder on the Cantor chain unfolds to represent a new arrangement of genes, coded by recessive or dominant probabilities in gene expression. Each time the cell splits, we go lower on the Cantor chain to find the corresponding genetic code in an individual's genome.

 The analogy also applies to evolution. If we go far back in time, each generation is a step up the ladder leading to the most primitive set of genes. This includes the mother gene that started it all- a single line at the top of the Cantor chain. Somehow it split to form the two sexes and all the successive combinations down the fractal chain through the long history of evolution.

 Thus, all life is coded from the Cantor iteration structure. That is how we are fractals.

Sitcoms As Stages of Life

  There seems to be a hilarious sitcom for every stage of life. Each of my favorite sitcoms represents a stage of my own.

 "The Simpsons" is great for young teenagers as they develop a sense of stereotypes in a crazy world. Bart and Lisa are the consummate child victims at the center of twisted adult schemes in Springfield. Teens may not pick up on all the satire, but that's what makes it mysterious for them. It can be a good learning experience culturally.

 "The Big Bang Theory" is a late teen/early 20s romp, ideal for college, first job, or just moving out. It helps if you are a total geek or enjoy the company of one.

 "Friends" is perfect for people just getting their career started and living on their own, usually mid to late 20s or early 30s. It is definitely set before the family stage.

 "Seinfeld" reflects the 30s, either as a stage of midlife crisis or the yearning to start a family. It's best to watch it during this stage, as it pokes fun at all the social norms you have gotten so sick of that starting a family starts to sound good.

 "Home Improvement" is a great family show because it can teach you a lot about how to maintain one.  I peg this as a late 30s/early 40s show, but anyone who's getting in the prime of parenthood can relate. You can learn on a lot from Wilson, Al, Jill, and even Tim.  Having two boys make it even more relatable for me.

 "The Office" reflects the 40s, when you are deep in a career and going through the monotonous motions of it. There is a sense of tiredness, being sick if it all, and just wanting to make fun out of anything you can get away with.

 "Frasier" is great for late career in the 50s, when you are well-established as an intellectual in your field and still have some goals. The humor is refined and witty enough that you would probably only understand it later in life.

 "Parenthood" isn't a sitcom, but I believe it is the best for old age. This is when you can look back on a successful family you built, be proud of it, and offer a lot of seasoned advice to the generations in front of you.

Master of None

 Now that it's over I can catch my breath
 That polluted our home with foul stress.
 My dream was a mistake, a heavy burden
 Corrupting my connections, unbidden
 Remorse for running away, sinking bridges
 Built on charm and aspiring wishes
 Damning the past for the future,
 The way it sewed up a suture
 For that leak in my soul
 I so desperately sought to console
 With knowledge cast to infinity,
 An impossible cure for vanity.

Healthy Fast Food

  I was looking at menus for a new place to have lunch, a place with relatively healthy items compared to the usual fast food that I eat. The closest grill has a chicken sandwich, advertised as having "tons of melted cheese", as if the taste of chicken should be avoided at all costs, let alone any vegetables that go on it. It is sad that I can't find a non-Asian healthy option around here, while anything remotely close has an imbalanced topping that would quicken the heart rate I am trying to avoid. There is an idea I have for a restaurant that only serves healthy food. Better yet, a fast food restaurant that simply sells pre-made healthy food that has not necessarily been preserved. I wonder how many have tried this and failed. If Panera Bread can successfully advertise itself as "healthy fast food" and succeed, why can't others? I'm sure a lot of people like me would want a speedy option that isn't going to kill them over time. We as a society should stop demanding gross food with our dollar and fill the stores with anything healthy.

Antarctica and Astrobiology

  Antarctica is a continent layered by a sheet of ice that is two miles thick in some places. There is so much ice that the weight of it has sunk the continent substantially, resulting in an average height below sea level; at some locations it is below 1.5 miles (far lower than the Dead Sea), with miles of ice stacked on top of the ground.

 This makes for an interesting topography of subglacial canyons and lakes. Denman Glacier, the deepest point on earth, is an ice-filled canyon that stretches 11,500 feet below sea level. For comparison, the Grand Canyon is only 5,000 feet deep. The subglacial Lake Vistok would be the 10th largest lake in the world if visible on the surface. Ice cores from the two mile deep lake have been taken that reveal a potential ego system with microscopic life.

 That life can survive in such extreme environments as a subglacial lake at the south Pole buried under 2 miles of ice supports the idea that other ice planets and moons may harbor it. One example is Enceladus, a moon of Saturn, which globally iced over. Despite being more than twice as far from the sun as Earth, it may have environmental conditions that favor biogenesis. The more we can learn about these buried ego systems, the more we can infer that perhaps sunlight and oxygen aren't so fundamental to life after all.

Ocean of Peace

 I want to drown in an ocean of peace
 That calms my nerves, gives me release,
 Silences the disease of manufactured unease.
 La petite filet de la mer,
 Wandering a skylit darkness
 Between the edge of the deep,
 A galaxy of life swimming around me,
 Glowing through a dim current of hope.

The Chaos Game

  In chaos theory, there is a feedback iteration where choosing a random point reproduces random outputs among the following iterations. But over a long enough period of time, it doesn't appear to be so random. The shape the points make after thousands of iterations becomes a fractal- specifically the Serpinski Gasket. This called the Chaos Game. A better explanation with illustrations can be found at the Boston University math department here. 

A Sierpinski Gasket showing the outcomes of rolled dice over an infinite series of iterations. Mysterious gaps in the "landing zone" result in a classic fractal structure.

 It is one example of the connection between chaos and fractals; how seemingly random events inevitably lead to order within a larger structure. This could be applied to nature through the Bayes Theorem of probability, where the likelihood of an iteration having a given output is predictable over the course of time but not at the beginning. It serves the wave-particle duality of nature as tiny variations within a structure ultimately lead to the same result. It is the probability of particles forming an entity that lend it reality. Like the chaos of a fractal, any initial condition iterates to the same body plan, as if it was already there. That's where waves converge on particles, with the particles serving the plan and the waves serving the force. Together they create a probability distribution that "fractalizes" nature in real time.

Geology of the Grand Canyon

  The Grand Canyon, stunning as it is, goes often unnoticed for the epic geological story it unfolds. Visitors are taken aback by its sheer beauty, but are unphased or ignorant of the sheer history on its walls. Each formation is a standalone eon on the timeline of Earth history, filled with the fossils and sediments of a unique landscape.

 The bottom of the canyon is far back as we can see in the history of deposition that the Colorado River eroded. At this time it was mainly volcanic sediment. At other times it was awash by marine deposition, forming limestone surfaces under a prehistoric ocean. Later it was a great swamp, full of siltstone and amphibious fossils. Later still it was a vast ocean of tall dunes, rising at least 400 feet, as that is how tall this portion of the Canyon wall is, peppered by desert reptile fossils and sandstone. It was then overlain by another shallow ocean before being uplifted by major orogeny, the fault lines creating opportunities for new rivers like the Colorado to erode vast canyon-scapes of underlying rock and sediment.

 Each layer is like a snapshot in time, separated by a relatively short period of erosion. It is a magnificent architecture of earthen materials, folded intricately over time by God's patience. There is no greater place to study the history of Earth than here.

Using Social Media to Geolocate Disaster Spots

           On May 31, 2013, El Reno, Oklahoma experienced the widest tornado in recorded history (Ukusurri et al, 111).  Believed to have reached its maximum extent at 2.6 miles, it is one of the best-documented cases of a mass tornado evacuation in history (Hatzis & Klockow-McClain, 722).  As most tornado responses don’t involve an evacuation, this one was mostly due to its sheer size.  It was also compounded by a rough 2 weeks of severe weather for the city, which had started with the disastrous Moore tornado that killed 24 people on May 20^th that year.

What generated this monster tornado was the combination of a classic southwest dryline, a slow-moving front across the Great Plains, high surface dew points, unstable lapse rates, and high vertical wind shear (ibid., 722).  The supercell that formed from this combination tracked east over central Oklahoma.  Tornadogenesis was just south of El Reno, but the path alarmingly went in the direction of metropolitan Oklahoma City.  Fortunately, it did not reach the city, which is about 30 miles east.  It primarily passed over open country, killing 8 people (all in vehicles), including 3 storm chasers (ibid. 722) before stalling over I40 and dissipating. 

The official rating from the National Weather Service was EF3, but Doppler radar detected velocities that exceeded the wind threshold of an EF5 (ibid. 722).  Based on the size, intensity, and damage inflicted on things it did intercept, including a brutally mangled car, many believe the rating should have been upgraded to EF5. 

The El Reno tornado is known for having many traits that aren’t typically seen even among EF5 tornadoes.  When the tornado was visible, several sub vortices were detected by storm chasers, spinning around the main vortex like a top.  It also took a deadly turn just as it was doubling in size, causing many chasers to get caught in its path.  Because the tornado was rain-wrapped, it was difficult for many to see.  The deceptively wide base made it appear to be merely a rainstorm.  As it stalled on I40, poor visibility caused several people to drive right into it, including the driver of a semi-truck.  These anomalies make El Reno a highly unique tornado, and one of the most fascinating to study in recent history.

Reports of the tornado’s intensity led to a large-scale evacuation of metropolitan Oklahoma City, which had been reeling from the disastrous Moore tornado only 11 days prior.  The evacuation created major traffic jams that would have caused fatalities in the hundreds if the tornado had reached Oklahoma City (ibid. 721).  The traffic jams increased potential for a violent tornado hitting gridlocked traffic, especially as the tornado struck during the afternoon commute.  As vehicle fatalities account for 10-20% of all tornado fatalities (ibid. 722), a response that didn’t involve thousands of people stuck in their vehicles should have been executed by officials during this event.  Telling people who are already on high alert from 2 weeks of severe weather that they need to evacuate if they cannot get below ground can also lead to mass hysteria, putting more lives at risk (ibid. 733).  Any emergency communication network must clearly decide where a tornado is heading and prioritize the safety of individuals in its path without alerting a whole city.

            Two solutions to the communication problem are in the use of social media to monitor tornadogenesis, and the crowdsourcing of information by storm chasers and researchers.  In the case of crowdsourcing, storm chaser video can be collected and fixed precisely in time and location (Seimon et al, 2070).  Geographic Information Systems (GIS) can then be used to georeference storm chaser video (ibid. 2079) as it is happening.  Though this may be difficult to achieve in real time, it is possible.  While this provides a benefit to future researchers, it also presents an opportunity for emergency alert systems to track the speed and direction of tornados.  It would help respondents see any surprising developments or abrupt changes in direction on camera rather than relying on radar or ground reporting alone, which are vulnerable to delays.  In the case of El Reno, the tornado was crowdsourced extensively, but only after the event happened and not by emergency alert systems.  Even if this approach proves impractical in emergency settings, the added benefit of crowdsourcing a tornado is that researchers can reconstruct it to find behavior that led to any accidents and fatalities (ibid. 2079), thus helping emergency planners predict problem areas in future events.

            Another solution is the use of social media to geolocate disaster spots.  Twitter (now X) has already been used as a source of information for pinpointing disasters or social emergencies (Ukkusuri et al, 110).  Posts with hashtags can provide unique and valuable information toward ground responses, information sharing, and can also help with crowdsourcing.  Crucially, it accelerates the speed of information by the sharing nature of threatening situations (ibid. 110).  The information can help public and emergency management authorities improve the understanding of on-the-ground realities during emergency events like tornadogenesis (ibid. 110).  As some posts contain geolocation data, it is useful in identifying local hotspots of activity (ibid. 111).  However, posts that do not have this information would require a bit of data mining, which can be slow in real time.

            If these communication methods had been used during the El Reno event, it would have prevented the major traffic jams that put many lives at risk.  A whole city simply does not have enough time to evacuate from a tornado that just formed 30 miles away.  A small section of the city could, but even this wasn’t necessary for this tornado.  With improvements in crowdsourcing and data collection on social media, an evacuation for the El Reno tornado wouldn’t have been necessary, as respondents would have seen it hooking away from the city and slowing down near the interstate.  A real-time GIS generated map can provide all the functions of a spatially motivated evacuation plan, provided the emergency team has enough data from crowdsourcing and social media.

 

Sources:

Seimon, A., Allen, J. T., Seimon, T. A., Talbot, S. J., & Hoadley, D. K. (2016). Crowdsourcing The El Reno 2013 Tornado: A New Approach for Collation and Display of Storm Chaser Imagery for Scientific Applications. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 97(11), 2069-2084. https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-15-00174.1

Hatzis, J. J., & Klockow-McClain, K. E. (2022). A Spatiotemporal Perspective on the 31 May 2013 tornado evacuation in the Oklahoma City Metropolitan Area. Weather, Climate, and Society, 14(3), 721-735. https://doi.org/10.1175/WCAS-D-21-0106.1

Ukkusuri, S. V., Zhan, X., Sadri, A. M., & Ye, Q. (2014). Use of Social Media Data to Explore Crisis Informatics: Study of 2013 Oklahoma Tornado. Transportation Research Record, 2459(1), 110-118. https://doi.org/10.3141/2459-13

How Geography Differs From History

Like history, geology is concerned with explaining past events, this time from a physical perspective.  While geology and geography both involve studying the earth, there are three key differences that distinguish them from each other.  One is that geographers only study the surface.  Geologists mostly look at data about the interior of the earth and infer what processes have taken place, while geographers only infer what has taken place on the surface.  Sometimes their studies overlap, such as when mapping continental drift, or evaluating how a landscape evolved, better known as geomorphology.
            Another difference is that geographers study human and earth processes while geologists are limited to only studying some earth processes.  The ability to study human behavior offers a plethora of sources from which the geographer can gather data, such as on population, agriculture, economics, migration, and ethnicity.  Geologists don’t study any of these human traits and behaviors.  Instead, they are only concerned with earth processes that help explain solid earth structures and materials, including earthquakes and volcanoes.  Earth processes they don’t typically research are meteorology and oceanography, but the geographer does because they significantly influence regional climate.

A third and final difference is that geographic research is more about evaluating spatial relationships than events shaping earth processes.  Mapping is a key element of geographic research that geologists would only need if they were describing changes on a long enough time scale.  This limitation prevents geology from describing present conditions the way a geographer does, making it more of a study about the past.

The article Glacier Remote Sensing Using Sentinel-2… is more about geography than geology.  The researchers utilized remote sensing to map glacier retreat, as global warming is melting them at an historical rate.  Remote sensing is a geographic tool that scans the earth’s surface for data in real time.  In addition to glacial extent, it can be used to map a variety of environmental factors like vegetation and flooding- all surface features.  And while geologists do interpret data about the surface, it is mainly from an historical perspective and not necessarily what’s happening in the present.

Considering this, glacial retreat is more of a contemporary environmental issue.  It is not about the past because it relates to the impact of drought on human conditions.  Around the globe, glacial melt provides much of the water for local rivers that farmers rely on to irrigate crops.  Measuring their retreat is of fundamental importance when it comes to monitoring environmental changes that impact agriculture.  It also impacts local biodiversity, which humans may depend on for a diverse crop yield.  And to a lesser extent, glacial retreat can impact transportation, as rivers and lakes receiving supply from glaciers may no longer cover enough area to support shipments over long distances. 

Another reason this article is more about geography than geology is the use of maps to communicate results.  The maps compare bands from different satellites to help geographers decide the best parameters to use when mapping glaciers.  For example, one of the measures indicated a difference in performance when ice was detected under shadows (Winsvold et al, 12).  Comparisons between satellites generating two different data sets about the same areas being mapped more applies to the spatial analysis of glaciers and not any geologic dynamic. 

Satellites are an important resource for geographers using multiple remote sensing tools, and for the detection and monitoring of glacial retreat in sensitive areas that rely on seasonal melt.  Though they can infer processes about Earth’s past, particularly when it comes Ice Age cycles, most of the data retrieved is used for a contemporary analysis of human-related issues.  Because they reveal patterns on the surface that impact human behavior, like glacial retreat, they are more relevant to the study of geography than geology. 

 

Paul, F., Winsvold, S. H., Kaeaeb, A., Nagler, T., & Schwaizer, G. (2016). Glacier Remote Sensing Using Sentinel-2. Part II: Mapping Glacier Extents and Surface Facies, and Comparison to Landsat 8. Remote Sensing (Basel, Switzerland), 8(7), 575-575. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs8070575

How Geography Differs From Geology

        Despite their similarities, geography differs from history in several important ways.  One is that history is about recorded events while geography describes where events happened.  They are related by being two dimensions of studying the progress of these events.  Because it is helpful to understand the places where past events took place, geography is important to understanding history to the same degree that history is important to understanding geography.  Geography can map the progress of history through spatial orientation, while history can document the progress of humans in geographic locations.
        Another difference is that geography has more of a physical dimension because you can’t fully understand a place or its history without knowing its environment.  The physical attributes of a place, such as climate, soil, and water content, can determine some of the behavior of its people, such as the ability to irrigate crops.  Therefore, it is crucial to understand the physical geography of a place if an historian is going to understand why events developed, particularly when it is related to economic activity. 
        There are also differences on an analytical level.  Geography examines spatial relationships while history examines the significance of past events.  Because history depends on what is recorded by humans, it is more supported by written documents, whereas geographic studies are more supported by spatial data.  Technically history doesn’t exist prior to the written document; all investigations into human behavior prior to written texts are better described by archaeology, which examines the physical remains of humans who did not leave written evidence.  Yet past events can be examined through geography far beyond even the archaeological age.  By inferring through continental drift, ice core samples, and evolutionary data, geographers have the power to map events as far back in time as geologists.
        An article about the past that helps differentiate these subjects is Borderlines: Maps and the Spread of the Westphalian State from Europe to Asia Part One – the European Context.  Though it takes place in the past and is based on a historical event, the article is more about geography because it describes the need for spatial awareness after the Treaty of Westphalia.  This 1648 treaty was arguably the most pivotal event in political geography.  Prior to the treaty, borders and nations were not recognized as sovereign entities (Pickering 1), thus they were not shown on any maps (ibid. 3).  After the treaty, cartography went through a paradigm shift when national borders needed to be shown on large scale maps.  Since there were more borders on maps, the first use of color showed areas on maps enclosed by national borders (ibid. 3). 
        Furthermore, the article illustrates the need for spatial data in the creation of maps.  When it comes to boundaries, data can be collected from international agreements on where the boundaries are.  In this case, that agreement is the Treaty of Westphalia.  Even when a boundary is disputed, or there is no claim, the cartographer may blend the boundary or their colors using several techniques.  An example provided is the Carta Marina (Pickering 5), which does not show borders but blends the two colors between countries where a boundary is thought to exist.  The article explains many techniques of using boundaries to communicate spatial awareness on maps after the 1648 treaty.
        In summary, the article is more about the evolution of cartography applied to new spatial data than about a past event impacting a significant portion of the population.  Though the Treaty of Westphalia helps explain some events in history, the article doesn’t describe what those events specifically are; only the ways it influenced spatial communication.  This type of communication is a cornerstone of geographic work.  Without cartography, the use of words to explain spatial data is as unhelpful as understanding history without words and only maps.
 
Pickering, S. (2013). Borderlines: Maps and the Spread of the Westphalian State from Europe to Asia Part One – the European Context. International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences., XL-4/W3, 111-116. https://doi.org/10.5194/isprsarchives-XL-4-W3-111-2013

The MAGAmaniacs of Meta

  For the last three days I have been glued to my phone wrestling with MAGA maniacs on Meta. The tariffs clearly were not working, so I went full Stephen a. Smith on them. I like to think my voice got through somewhere in high places, because they do watch social media. Today the president caved on his tarriff plan, sending stocks soaring. He didn't get the kind of deals he was expecting, who'd a thunk? Many suspect insider trading, but I don't. He really is that dumb. Now I can rest, unplug, detox from the miasma of social chaos on Meta. Until next time, which won't be long. When the bully won't stop throwing punches, you have to hit him back. Though I probably did not influence the president directly, every little bit of resistance counts, crystallizing in a calculus of social upheaval. I'm with them out there on the streets, the Hands Off protests, if not in body then in spirit, echoing their message in tweets and comments. I am the invisible atlas of education that haunts the enemy's bleeding hearts. The'll never know who I really am, until DOGE hacks Meta and finds my IP address.

Africa, Preserver of Megafauna

  An interesting nugget from my biogeography textbook is that the megafauna of Africa are the only population that survived to the present. Every continent except Antarctica had a robust population of megafana about 50,000 years ago. And this is why Africa is most fascinating today for being the only continent with such a rich diversity of large species.

 The last ice age cannot account for this variance. What we see in the paleobiological record is a gradual extinction of megafauna on all continents where humans migrated. The record shows simultaneous extinction events with the arrival of human migrants no matter what time period. The reason they did not go extinct in Africa is that they evolved along with humans adapting to their threats for ages. Once humans left Africa and decided to migrate- a relatively fast process that coincided with glacial retreat- all the megafauna that weren't adapted to our intense hunting skills became ambushed into extinction.

 Africa is the great preserver of megaffauna ancestry. Elephants, lions, tigers, rhinos... They all had sister species on other continents who proved themselves vulnerable to the human diaspora.