Life during summer and consilience notes
I should definitely to a decent post some time soon, but it seems that I’m in middle of severe drought of ideas and writing abilities. Hopefully this is just a passing phase… Someone should definitely develop a drug against writer’s block I think. A few things I’ve been working on so far between all the … Read more
From Consilience:the Unity of Knowledge
“The intellectual power, honesty, lucidity, courage, and disinterested love of the truth of the most gifted thinkers of the eighteenth century remain to this day without parallel. Their age is one of the best and most hopeful episodes in the life of mankind.” – Isaiah Berlin There is a book titled ‘Consilience: the unity of … Read more
note: Life Explained
A quick note from a book before I fall asleep and forget about it… Life Explained by Michel Morange (ISBN 978-0-300-13732-3) 1952: J.Perrett “Life is a potentially self-perpetuating open system of linked organic reactions, catalyzed stepwise and almost isothermally by complex and specific organic catalysts which are themselves produced by the system.” -corresponds to 1/2 … Read more
Ebook future
I just came across an article in the Wired(link) stating that Amazon will almost certainly unveil a new ebook reader with larger screen size. While the article goes on to talk about possible tablet device from Apple as being a heavy competiton on the ebook market compared to the text-centric ebook devices, my attention span … Read more
American Gods and patterns in stories.
I finally got through the American Gods by Neil Gaiman. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. He’s a terrific writer. He’s not the best writer out there or anything (he won’t be winning any Nobel prizes anytime soon, but then does it really matter anymore?), but he’s certainly above the fray in … Read more
Coraline
I feel a little guilty about posting on Coraline when there are dozens of science write-ups sitting in the draft corner of the webpage, but I think I might as well place emphasis on the recent event. Of course, it also helps that I’m a hopeless fan of works by Neil Gaiman. I saw the … Read more
Le Corbusier, The City of To-Morrow And Its Planning
It’s 12:15 AM and I’m dead tired from writing proposals all day. So here’s a quote from Le Corbusier’s ‘The City of To-Morrow And Its Planning’ that I found especially profound. We prefer Bach to Wagner, and the spirit which inspired the Parthenon to that which created the cathedral… This modern sentiment is a spirit … Read more
My Black Friday books
I picked up my Amazon Black Friday purchases from the post office today. Here are shots of the purchases I’m especially fond of. “The varieties of scientific experience” by Carl Sagan. I didn’t plan on buying this, but at five something dollars per copy? Sign me up! “Journey through genius” by William Dunham. … Read more
Plenty of room
Just a quick note before I drift off to study for my exams. I re-read the famous ‘there’s plenty of room at the bottom‘ speech made by Richard Feynman recently. Aside from being inspired by his genius and foresight (as usual) I think I hit on an interesting idea. At the end of the speech … Read more
Cory Doctorow excerpt and musings
In answer to a question posed by an interviewer at the end of a comic “Futuristic Tales of The Here and Now” TW: Many people in your story suffer from a disease you term as “Zombiism.” Is this comparable to, say, the horrendously extreme amount of AIDS cases in Africa, a continent also rife with … Read more
