Re: [FRIAM] Apropos of a certain off-limits thread
On Tue, Jul 5, 2011 at 6:49 PM, Steve Smith sasm...@swcp.com wrote: In 1992 I bought a house that a Physicist started building in the late 1960's... it was impeccably designed (to his very strange tastes) and exquisitely built (with only the best materials and tools) virtually all by the hands of the Physicist in question. wow. I think I read about this house somewhere. didn't know it might be in the hands I've actually talked with. Do you have any photos? Too bad I missed the event. Seems to be my life most days. Oh well... mark sf_x FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
Re: [FRIAM] Apropos of a certain off-limits thread
Brilliant!! One night Murray Gell-Mann was here for dinner, and said off-handedly, oh, physicists could solve artificial intelligence in no time if they just put their minds to it. I nearly went over the table at his throat. And he was my guest. AI has been the graveyard of more than one physicist, but they usually just slink away with their tail between their legs, and you never hear about it. Statisticians, otoh, have actually been a big help. On Jul 5, 2011, at 4:40 PM, Douglas Roberts wrote: http://xkcd.com/793/ -- Doug Roberts drobe...@rti.org d...@parrot-farm.net http://parrot-farm.net/Second-Cousins 505-455-7333 - Office 505-670-8195 - Cell FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org In humans, the brain is already the hungriest part of our body: at 2 percent of our body weight, this greedy tapeworm of an organ wolfs down 20 percent of the calories that we expend at rest. Douglas Fox, Scientific American FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
Re: [FRIAM] Apropos of a certain off-limits thread
Oh, sorry; I thought this was private between me and Doug. Mea culpa. We were just dissing the physicists. On Jul 5, 2011, at 5:16 PM, Pamela McCorduck wrote: Brilliant!! One night Murray Gell-Mann was here for dinner, and said off-handedly, oh, physicists could solve artificial intelligence in no time if they just put their minds to it. I nearly went over the table at his throat. And he was my guest. AI has been the graveyard of more than one physicist, but they usually just slink away with their tail between their legs, and you never hear about it. Statisticians, otoh, have actually been a big help. On Jul 5, 2011, at 4:40 PM, Douglas Roberts wrote: http://xkcd.com/793/ -- Doug Roberts drobe...@rti.org d...@parrot-farm.net http://parrot-farm.net/Second-Cousins 505-455-7333 - Office 505-670-8195 - Cell FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org In humans, the brain is already the hungriest part of our body: at 2 percent of our body weight, this greedy tapeworm of an organ wolfs down 20 percent of the calories that we expend at rest. Douglas Fox, Scientific American FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org In humans, the brain is already the hungriest part of our body: at 2 percent of our body weight, this greedy tapeworm of an organ wolfs down 20 percent of the calories that we expend at rest. Douglas Fox, Scientific American FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
Re: [FRIAM] Apropos of a certain off-limits thread
Pamela! Brilliant!! Yes, xkcd is definitely brilliant. And Doug, well, he does have a way. FWIW, until I actually followed up and checked it out I *assumed* that the cartoonist was a *wicked-smart* young woman... there is something about the style of friendly but unreserved lampooning that seemed like only an outsider who understood things inside out could muster. I don't know why I thought *that* made the author female... somehow I just did. If my older daughter could draw, I'd suspect her of it... wait! xkcd *can't draw*! I'm calling her *right now!* The the relatively few women on this list: I must honor all of you for putting up with our wide range of male-typical boorish habits. Some of us even know who we are. I only know of Tory, Pamela, Dede, and Peggy (as often enough posters to be memorable). I sure hope I haven't missed someone obvious in this list, which would surely be another boorish male habit. As for physicists... I once imagined I was one... for a few years anyway, after picking up a BS in Math and Physics and then dragging myself through a half-dozen grad courses as well, what else does one need? If Computer Science and Engineering hadn't been blossoming and captured me in it's vortex, I suppose I would have at least hacked away as a third-rate physicist for part of my career. Several of my best friends are Physicists. Some of them are women. I admit that there appears to be a bit of occupational hazard associated with being a physicist in thinking that if you don't know everything, you can figure it out, and if you can't figure it out and nobody is looking you can wing it! This was what drew me there in the first place. That or reading too much Science Fiction. It also is what flung me off like mashed potatoes from spinning mixer blades! My first interview with Physicists involved a hazing that was beyond my range (and I have a wide range)... After accepting a different offer (in Computer Science) I heard that the Physicists who had hazed me and left me feeling... not incompetent, but... well... hazed... they had decided I was a stellar candidate (because I answered all their questions the best I could and never once let on that I'd rather be tossing them out their third story window? Or making up esoterically difficult questions from some obscure field to ask them?) I *wanted* that job so bad (control system for the Proton Storage Ring), but couldn't imagine working with those jerks... Their instinct may have been right... they may have saved me from a life in the wrong profession! I fully appreciate (and occasionally attempt to live) both extremes... figure every ffing thing out from first principles, even if it takes the rest of your life to do the most minute and trivial thing VS hack it together on a whim and see what it does!. I prefer the romantic image of the Natural Philosophers of the Age of Reason and Enlightenment over that of the modern day Physicist. Though Feynman did a pretty good job of making the modern physicist role an entertaining one as well, hitting on Peter's wife not withstanding. In 1992 I bought a house that a Physicist started building in the late 1960's... it was impeccably designed (to his very strange tastes) and exquisitely built (with only the best materials and tools) virtually all by the hands of the Physicist in question. The house was essentially 50% complete when I bought it. The exterior was perfectly completed excepting that there were no front steps. The interior was entirely unfinished, bare studs and floor deck and not a single interior wall. Talk about a blank canvas! The 1960's hydronic heating system was big enough to heat an entire city block and he had a 7 zone hand made manifold bolted to it with an oversized pump dedicated to each zone. He had enough slant-fin radiator to line the entire exterior of the main floor (2600 sq feet) and the exposed exterior of the above-ground basement (1800 sq ft). He had boxed 1960's vintage fixtures with an inch of dust on them (Avocado Green, Harvest Gold, Powder Blue, etc.) including a Bidet. There was NO end to his obsession with detail and care and thought and effort. I even inherited the 100lb jackhammer he used to carve the basement out of the Tuff himself! There was little if anything on that house I think he did not do with his own bare hands, with great thought and care, and more than a little insight. He *was* prone to overkill however, I could barely *lift* that jackhammer and I am not a small man. I'm a whack job myself when it comes to projects but this totally blew me away. And he was so excited after 25 years to have someone else take on his project who might do it justice. It took me 6 months of dedicated effort (well, early mornings, evenings, weekends and liberal LANL vacation days) and some pro help (drywall, electric, plumbing) to make it liveable, 18 months
Re: [FRIAM] Apropos of a certain off-limits thread
You're one of my favorites here, sas. We can always count on you for a good stream of consciousness. -Doug On Jul 5, 2011 6:51 PM, Steve Smith sasm...@swcp.com wrote: Pamela! Brilliant!! Yes, xkcd is definitely brilliant. And Doug, well, he does have a way. FWIW, until I actually followed up and checked it out I *assumed* that the cartoonist was a *wicked-smart* young woman... there is something about the style of friendly but unreserved lampooning that seemed like only an outsider who understood things inside out could muster. I don't know why I thought *that* made the author female... somehow I just did. If my older daughter could draw, I'd suspect her of it... wait! xkcd *can't draw*! I'm calling her *right now!* The the relatively few women on this list: I must honor all of you for putting up with our wide range of male-typical boorish habits. Some of us even know who we are. I only know of Tory, Pamela, Dede, and Peggy (as often enough posters to be memorable). I sure hope I haven't missed someone obvious in this list, which would surely be another boorish male habit. As for physicists... I once imagined I was one... for a few years anyway, after picking up a BS in Math and Physics and then dragging myself through a half-dozen grad courses as well, what else does one need? If Computer Science and Engineering hadn't been blossoming and captured me in it's vortex, I suppose I would have at least hacked away as a third-rate physicist for part of my career. Several of my best friends are Physicists. Some of them are women. I admit that there appears to be a bit of occupational hazard associated with being a physicist in thinking that if you don't know everything, you can figure it out, and if you can't figure it out and nobody is looking you can wing it! This was what drew me there in the first place. That or reading too much Science Fiction. It also is what flung me off like mashed potatoes from spinning mixer blades! My first interview with Physicists involved a hazing that was beyond my range (and I have a wide range)... After accepting a different offer (in Computer Science) I heard that the Physicists who had hazed me and left me feeling... not incompetent, but... well... hazed... they had decided I was a stellar candidate (because I answered all their questions the best I could and never once let on that I'd rather be tossing them out their third story window? Or making up esoterically difficult questions from some obscure field to ask them?) I *wanted* that job so bad (control system for the Proton Storage Ring), but couldn't imagine working with those jerks... Their instinct may have been right... they may have saved me from a life in the wrong profession! I fully appreciate (and occasionally attempt to live) both extremes... figure every ffing thing out from first principles, even if it takes the rest of your life to do the most minute and trivial thing VS hack it together on a whim and see what it does!. I prefer the romantic image of the Natural Philosophers of the Age of Reason and Enlightenment over that of the modern day Physicist. Though Feynman did a pretty good job of making the modern physicist role an entertaining one as well, hitting on Peter's wife not withstanding. In 1992 I bought a house that a Physicist started building in the late 1960's... it was impeccably designed (to his very strange tastes) and exquisitely built (with only the best materials and tools) virtually all by the hands of the Physicist in question. The house was essentially 50% complete when I bought it. The exterior was perfectly completed excepting that there were no front steps. The interior was entirely unfinished, bare studs and floor deck and not a single interior wall. Talk about a blank canvas! The 1960's hydronic heating system was big enough to heat an entire city block and he had a 7 zone hand made manifold bolted to it with an oversized pump dedicated to each zone. He had enough slant-fin radiator to line the entire exterior of the main floor (2600 sq feet) and the exposed exterior of the above-ground basement (1800 sq ft). He had boxed 1960's vintage fixtures with an inch of dust on them (Avocado Green, Harvest Gold, Powder Blue, etc.) including a Bidet. There was NO end to his obsession with detail and care and thought and effort. I even inherited the 100lb jackhammer he used to carve the basement out of the Tuff himself! There was little if anything on that house I think he did not do with his own bare hands, with great thought and care, and more than a little insight. He *was* prone to overkill however, I could barely *lift* that jackhammer and I am not a small man. I'm a whack job myself when it comes to projects but this totally blew me away. And he was so excited after 25 years to have someone else take on his project who might do it justice. It took me 6 months of dedicated effort (well, early mornings,
Re: [FRIAM] Apropos of a certain off-limits thread
I think xkcd draws extremely well. Stick figures, ovals, hats, a few lines for hair and he ends up with these extremely expressive characters we can relate to and come to care about (at least for a few panels). All this brilliance several times a week while under much stress (see his recent blog). As to the hitting upon issue, well, there's a tradition of scientists and percussion. Carl On 7/5/11 6:49 PM, Steve Smith wrote: Pamela! Brilliant!! Yes, xkcd is definitely brilliant. And Doug, well, he does have a way. FWIW, until I actually followed up and checked it out I *assumed* that the cartoonist was a *wicked-smart* young woman... there is something about the style of friendly but unreserved lampooning that seemed like only an outsider who understood things inside out could muster. I don't know why I thought *that* made the author female... somehow I just did. If my older daughter could draw, I'd suspect her of it... wait! xkcd *can't draw*! I'm calling her *right now!* The the relatively few women on this list: I must honor all of you for putting up with our wide range of male-typical boorish habits. Some of us even know who we are. I only know of Tory, Pamela, Dede, and Peggy (as often enough posters to be memorable). I sure hope I haven't missed someone obvious in this list, which would surely be another boorish male habit. As for physicists... I once imagined I was one... for a few years anyway, after picking up a BS in Math and Physics and then dragging myself through a half-dozen grad courses as well, what else does one need? If Computer Science and Engineering hadn't been blossoming and captured me in it's vortex, I suppose I would have at least hacked away as a third-rate physicist for part of my career. Several of my best friends are Physicists. Some of them are women. I admit that there appears to be a bit of occupational hazard associated with being a physicist in thinking that if you don't know everything, you can figure it out, and if you can't figure it out and nobody is looking you can wing it! This was what drew me there in the first place. That or reading too much Science Fiction. It also is what flung me off like mashed potatoes from spinning mixer blades! My first interview with Physicists involved a hazing that was beyond my range (and I have a wide range)... After accepting a different offer (in Computer Science) I heard that the Physicists who had hazed me and left me feeling... not incompetent, but... well... hazed... they had decided I was a stellar candidate (because I answered all their questions the best I could and never once let on that I'd rather be tossing them out their third story window? Or making up esoterically difficult questions from some obscure field to ask them?) I *wanted* that job so bad (control system for the Proton Storage Ring), but couldn't imagine working with those jerks... Their instinct may have been right... they may have saved me from a life in the wrong profession! I fully appreciate (and occasionally attempt to live) both extremes... figure every ffing thing out from first principles, even if it takes the rest of your life to do the most minute and trivial thing VS hack it together on a whim and see what it does!. I prefer the romantic image of the Natural Philosophers of the Age of Reason and Enlightenment over that of the modern day Physicist. Though Feynman did a pretty good job of making the modern physicist role an entertaining one as well, hitting on Peter's wife not withstanding. In 1992 I bought a house that a Physicist started building in the late 1960's... it was impeccably designed (to his very strange tastes) and exquisitely built (with only the best materials and tools) virtually all by the hands of the Physicist in question. The house was essentially 50% complete when I bought it. The exterior was perfectly completed excepting that there were no front steps. The interior was entirely unfinished, bare studs and floor deck and not a single interior wall. Talk about a blank canvas! The 1960's hydronic heating system was big enough to heat an entire city block and he had a 7 zone hand made manifold bolted to it with an oversized pump dedicated to each zone. He had enough slant-fin radiator to line the entire exterior of the main floor (2600 sq feet) and the exposed exterior of the above-ground basement (1800 sq ft). He had boxed 1960's vintage fixtures with an inch of dust on them (Avocado Green, Harvest Gold, Powder Blue, etc.) including a Bidet. There was NO end to his obsession with detail and care and thought and effort. I even inherited the 100lb jackhammer he used to carve the basement out of the Tuff himself! There was little if anything on that house I think he did not do with his own bare hands, with great thought and care, and more than a little insight. He *was* prone to overkill however, I could
Re: [FRIAM] Apropos of a certain off-limits thread
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xkcd On 7/5/11 6:49 PM, Steve Smith wrote: Pamela! Brilliant!! Yes, xkcd is definitely brilliant. And Doug, well, he does have a way. FWIW, until I actually followed up and checked it out I *assumed* that the cartoonist was a *wicked-smart* young woman... there is something about the style of friendly but unreserved lampooning that seemed like only an outsider who understood things inside out could muster. I don't know why I thought *that* made the author female... somehow I just did. If my older daughter could draw, I'd suspect her of it... wait! xkcd *can't draw*! I'm calling her *right now!* The the relatively few women on this list: I must honor all of you for putting up with our wide range of male-typical boorish habits. Some of us even know who we are. I only know of Tory, Pamela, Dede, and Peggy (as often enough posters to be memorable). I sure hope I haven't missed someone obvious in this list, which would surely be another boorish male habit. As for physicists... I once imagined I was one... for a few years anyway, after picking up a BS in Math and Physics and then dragging myself through a half-dozen grad courses as well, what else does one need? If Computer Science and Engineering hadn't been blossoming and captured me in it's vortex, I suppose I would have at least hacked away as a third-rate physicist for part of my career. Several of my best friends are Physicists. Some of them are women. I admit that there appears to be a bit of occupational hazard associated with being a physicist in thinking that if you don't know everything, you can figure it out, and if you can't figure it out and nobody is looking you can wing it! This was what drew me there in the first place. That or reading too much Science Fiction. It also is what flung me off like mashed potatoes from spinning mixer blades! My first interview with Physicists involved a hazing that was beyond my range (and I have a wide range)... After accepting a different offer (in Computer Science) I heard that the Physicists who had hazed me and left me feeling... not incompetent, but... well... hazed... they had decided I was a stellar candidate (because I answered all their questions the best I could and never once let on that I'd rather be tossing them out their third story window? Or making up esoterically difficult questions from some obscure field to ask them?) I *wanted* that job so bad (control system for the Proton Storage Ring), but couldn't imagine working with those jerks... Their instinct may have been right... they may have saved me from a life in the wrong profession! I fully appreciate (and occasionally attempt to live) both extremes... figure every ffing thing out from first principles, even if it takes the rest of your life to do the most minute and trivial thing VS hack it together on a whim and see what it does!. I prefer the romantic image of the Natural Philosophers of the Age of Reason and Enlightenment over that of the modern day Physicist. Though Feynman did a pretty good job of making the modern physicist role an entertaining one as well, hitting on Peter's wife not withstanding. In 1992 I bought a house that a Physicist started building in the late 1960's... it was impeccably designed (to his very strange tastes) and exquisitely built (with only the best materials and tools) virtually all by the hands of the Physicist in question. The house was essentially 50% complete when I bought it. The exterior was perfectly completed excepting that there were no front steps. The interior was entirely unfinished, bare studs and floor deck and not a single interior wall. Talk about a blank canvas! The 1960's hydronic heating system was big enough to heat an entire city block and he had a 7 zone hand made manifold bolted to it with an oversized pump dedicated to each zone. He had enough slant-fin radiator to line the entire exterior of the main floor (2600 sq feet) and the exposed exterior of the above-ground basement (1800 sq ft). He had boxed 1960's vintage fixtures with an inch of dust on them (Avocado Green, Harvest Gold, Powder Blue, etc.) including a Bidet. There was NO end to his obsession with detail and care and thought and effort. I even inherited the 100lb jackhammer he used to carve the basement out of the Tuff himself! There was little if anything on that house I think he did not do with his own bare hands, with great thought and care, and more than a little insight. He *was* prone to overkill however, I could barely *lift* that jackhammer and I am not a small man. I'm a whack job myself when it comes to projects but this totally blew me away. And he was so excited after 25 years to have someone else take on his project who might do it justice. It took me 6 months of dedicated effort (well, early mornings, evenings, weekends and liberal LANL vacation days) and
Re: [FRIAM] Apropos of a certain off-limits thread
And a grand bottle it was, too. Now there's a tangent, a great bottle of Bourbon. Thanks, Sas, for the excellent summer get-together! Wonderful conversations at our table about art, science, observation, cognitive processing, perception, awareness, h, all the big ones. Consciousness. Be still my heart. Someone tell the discuss list. Have another shindig: we'll all bring more food. You two have the best house in the worldthe walls are made of books and there's no clear inside and outside to the place, just activity. Perhaps this is physics in actuality, rather than theory. Have a great drive. I for one am vey curious about your transmutational optics project. ?? Catch ya later- Tory On Jul 5, 2011, at 7:11 PM, Steve Smith wrote: Doug - You're one of my favorites here, sas. We can always count on you for a good stream of consciousness. Thanks, It's about all I have left after I used everything else up trying to be a scientist. I intend to spend the rest of my life honing my richochets into proper non-sequitors. You missed the bottle of Boulliete Rye Saturday. And some new characters at the funny farm. And the moon is made of green cheese. And I'm about to drive two days straight each way to (probably) turn 3000lbs of carefully constructed optical components into an equal mass of square marbles. I need all the distraction I can get. Segue. Careen. Tangent. - Steve FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
