chaoticutopia
Posts by this author
August 15, 2006
Grisha Perelman recently crawled out the woods with the solution to the Poincare conjecture, and snuck back. There was talk of his love for mushrooms. ...er... Well, it turns out he was correct, so we probably shouldn't question his inspiration.
Since I'm about to hit the road, I can't get into as…
August 15, 2006
Here are two poems, each embracing a different perception of time:
Vigor
Go ahead...
Walk all over me
I won't bend.
I'm as hard as diamond
Hidden in the rough
Luminous and resilient
Myriad of geometric facets
Layer upon crystalline layer
Depths of fire you'll never see
Without a cut and polish
But…
August 14, 2006
"At last we got through, and I beheld, with some sadness, the goal of my journey, 'The Great Divide,' the Snowy Range, and between me and it South Park, a rolling prairie seventy-five miles long and over 10,000 feet high, treeless, bounded by mountains, and so rich in sun-cured hay that one might…
August 11, 2006
Emergence: Complex patterns arise from the simplest rules. From lighter elements emerge heavier compounds; from clouds of gasses and particles arise galaxies, stars, and planets. From basic atmospheric reactions between basic chemical compounds, the building blocks of life, amino acids emerge. From…
August 10, 2006
When I wrote about the lady beetle colony in the maple tree outside, I managed to get some great pictures of newly hatched larvae, plenty of pupae, and the beetles themselves. That would be almost the whole life cycle--except my picture of eggs had no actual eggs in it, and the pictures of large…
August 10, 2006
Via Sluggy Freelance by Pete Abrams
Sluggy Freelance, my favorite webcomic, is in the midst of a "Stick Figures in Spaaaaace" week. While the stick figures don't show off Pete's artistic ability, they offer a chance for stand-alone gags in a serial strip. (It's a little harder to share a single…
August 9, 2006
Why can't we picture a fifth dimension? One, two, and three seem so easy to grasp. We can even see how one leads to the next: a line, composed of points, is a component of a shape on a plane, which in turn is a component of a spatial object. Consider that object with an additional aspect, enduring…
August 8, 2006
When I last left off, I was describing the relationships between values and matter, and how they fit together to form information or a three-dimensional thing. But something seemed missing. Do we really live in something as simple as a three dimensional world? As I mentioned earlier, the string…
August 8, 2006
The title makes this sound like a post about utopia. That wasn't my intention, but maybe, in some ways, it is. When Jose Garcia over at Meme Therapy asked me for a quote about achieving utopia, I discussed the same issues, although just briefly. Here, I'm going into greater detail. In the last post…
August 7, 2006
Sometimes, reading philosophy is a lot like medieval torture. For some reason, talking about things like objectivity in ethics or the meaning of existence requires numerous dry definitions and explanations. This process causes the reader to be overwhelmed and confused. I'd rather not do that, here…
August 4, 2006
Friday sort of snuck up on me. When it did, it brought along a multitude of small annoyances. My cable modem has been flaking out, intermittently. When the modem is working, my pond is flooding and blowing the fuse to my office. I've managed to get a little work done, but I'm about ready to take…
August 4, 2006
Some people have been asking how I make the fractals for the Friday feature. A few just assumed that I took a photograph and plunked it into a computer program, which automatically spit out a fractal. I wish it were that easy... or, I suppose, if it were, everyone could do it, and I could sleep in…
August 3, 2006
It's a dimension of chaos! Shall we battle, or ride the waves?
They say it's a catchy phrase, but I know what they're thinking. They hear words like, "dimension", "chaos", or "battle", and think laser guns and villains with curling mustaches and deep, evil laughs. They hear "ride the waves" and…
August 1, 2006
The current "Ask a ScienceBlogger" opens a big can of worms:
I heard that within 15 years, global warming will have made Napa County too hot to grow good wine grapes. Is that true? What other changes are we going to see during our lifetimes because of global warming?
I waited until the last minute…
July 31, 2006
Last week, my Scibling* Janet tagged me with the Book Meme. There's also been an "old book" meme going about, sort of a do-it-yourself thing, so instead of doing separate posts, I just tacked an extra question on the end of this one:
1. One book that changed your life?Zen and the Art of Motorcycle…
July 31, 2006
In my recent post on a lady beetle colony, I posted a picture of a wasp which I'd identified as Polistes dominulus. Unfortunately, the wasp didn't exactly look like the prototypical P. dominulus, as one of my commenters, Julie Stahlhut also noticed. I'm still not exactly sure if it was the same…
July 31, 2006
The drums pounded and oars stirred the water in perfect rhythm--the experience was both invigorating and calming at the same time. This weekend, the Dragon Boat races came to Sloan's Lake in Denver. Despite soaring temperatures, hundreds of metro residents came out to join the festivities. Just…
July 29, 2006
If you're in the Denver area this weekend, consider checking out the
Colorado Dragonboat Festival. It will run today and tomorrow at Sloan's Lake park, from 10am to 7pm. There will be food, music, shopping (my favorite) and, of course, the Dragonboat races.
July 28, 2006
I thought I'd do today's fractal a little backwards. I usually begin with a fractal, then show a matching picture from nature, and explain a bit of the science behind the nature. This time, I'm going to start off with a nature photo, and follow with the fractals. Everyone should be familiar with…
July 27, 2006
I love trees, but trees covered in insects aren't usually my cup of tea. 'Till now.
One of the reasons I chose my house was the giant maple tree by the front porch. The foliage provides shade and privacy in the summer and a terrific Halloween backdrop in the fall. So, a few weeks ago, when I…
July 26, 2006
I've been saving these for a rainy day--a game or other timesinking tidbit for each ScienceBlogs category. I originally was going to wait until a rainy weekend, but the climate hasn't favored that idea. As it is,I'm behind on other projects, so today works. Besides--it is pouring outside, leaving…
July 25, 2006
The deeper we look, the more complex order we discover.
Biologists studying DNA have discovered another pattern of code within the genetic code. This pattern may regulate the placement of nucleosomes:
Biologists have suspected for years that some positions on the DNA, notably those where it bends…
July 24, 2006
What could a magnificent but arrogant dragon have to do with ecological change? Everything, perhaps, if we can be influenced by myth and metaphor.
I won't be able to return to my series on urbanization for a day or two, so I've brought a few pieces out of the archive and dusted them off. First, I'd…
July 21, 2006
I never did match any of Lillybridge's photography work on my visit to the South Platte. The past seemed to be lost under layers of roadways and rails. Still, within that changed land, patterns of natural beauty still exist. Sometimes, looking through fractals is the same way... there are many…
July 21, 2006
Note: I originally planned to post this along with the Friday Fractal. Then, like chaos, fractals, and life, it didn't turn out the way I expected. Considering the length and tone of this piece, it will stand better alone. Never fear, the fractal is still on the way.
"They paved paradise, and put…
July 20, 2006
An ecosystem is held together by complex interactions between living organisms and their inorganic environment. When early farmers and ranchers transformed the landscape in Colorado, were they destroying an ecosystem, or becoming a part of it? Perhaps there was a bit of both. The settlers who…
July 19, 2006
As both a mom and a kid at heart, I couldn't resist joining in Children's Book week (month?) started by the World's Fair.
Behind every child is a budding scientist. They approach the world with an unrelenting curiosity, testing hypothesis at every corner. They like to experiment hands-on, and they…
July 19, 2006
While the world changes around us, does regular, ordinary life change as well? The Lillybridge Collection shows simple, ordinary life, 100 years ago. From that simplicity, personality emerges. Charles S. Lillybridge didn't bother to seek the rich and the famous. Rather, he preferred his neighbors,…
July 18, 2006
When most people think of Colorado history, they picture the Wild West--outlaws, ghost stories, prostitutes, and other strange tales that go along with gold fever. (I talked a bit about gold mining on Friday, along with instructions for panning your own gold, in case you missed it.) It was a wild,…
July 17, 2006
The following letter, by House Representative Diana Degette, was sent to 25,000 Coloradans, urging them to show their support for science by signing this petition. I'd like to forward this request on to the scientific community at large. I hope that every ScienceBlogs reader can take a moment to…