Fractals on PBS Nova

There is a great PBS Nova on the history and applications of fractals. They also have the video online.

Fractal Video Feedback 5 Min of Fame

A long while ago I made some fractal video feedback images with a web cam and a mirror and posted them to my web page. Recently they got included on the cover of the academic journal "Fractals". The article in the journal is here, but unfortunately requires paid access. Here is the original post. Michael Frame teaches a class at Yale on fractals and was the person that found my page and included the images in one of his papers. He is currently being treated for cancer and if anyone should know him be sure to extend my thanks for sending me a copy of the journal.

Best Movies III

Excellent
The Namesake
The Lives of Others
Grindhouse: Death Proof
Talk to Me
Pixar Short Films: Vol. 1, 2007

Good
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, 2007
Zodiac
Ratatouille
Futurama the Movie: Bender's Big Score
Stardust
The Bourne Ultimatum
The Pianist
3:10 to Yuma, 2007
The Prestige
The Illusionist
You Kill Me

Medium
Live Free or Die Hard
The Devil's Backbone
1408: Unrated Version
Primal Fear
Grindhouse: Planet Terror
300

Bad
Transformers
Spider-Man 3

Good Documentaries
Crazy Love, 2007
The Devil and Daniel Johnston
The Oil Factor
Bowling for Columbine

Silence

Every once in a while you have a gem of a thought and remember that there was a quote for it. I went looking and found two.

All mankind's troubles are caused by one single thing,
which is their inability to sit quietly in a room.

Blaise Pascal, Pensees, II, 139 (other quotes)

Learn to be silent.
Let your
quiet mind
listen and absorb.

Pythagoras (other quotes)

Some commentary on these quotes:
http://www.spiritsite.com/writing/waydye/part6.shtml

H. G. Wells Quote

“I am English by origin but I am early World-Man. I live in exile from the world community of my desires. I salute that finer larger world across the generations and maybe someone down the vista may look back and appreciate an ancestral salutation” (H. G. Wells).

Common Improbable Events

Ever witness an improbable event ? You think how lucky you are. Then you think how many improbable events are there out there waiting to happen. Surely there are allot more possible improbable events than there are possible common events. Clowns throwing boomerangs in the middle of a herd of cows is one improbable event. But change it a little and you have another one. So the chances of coming across at least a few improbable events is quite high.

Best Movies II

Great Documentaries

Bowling for Columbine, 2002
Sketches of Frank Gehry, 2005

Good Movies

Breach, 2007
Children of Men
Pan's Labyrinth, 2006 (watch second time with director's commentary )
Freedom Writers, 2007
Penn & Teller's Magic and Mystery Tour, 2003

Good Documentaries

Metallica: Some Kind of Monster
American Movie
The Corporation, 2004 ( lots of extras on dvd )
Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers, 2006
The God Who Wasn't There, 2005
Power and Terror: Noam Chomsky in Our Times, 2002
Noam Chomsky: Rebel Without a Pause, 2003

My previous list of movies ... Best Movies I.

Radio Lab

There are lots of science and good stories at the podcasts of RadioLab.

Freud, Science, the Mind, and Psychotherapy

Found a wonderful discussion on Charlie Rose about how science is revealing the mind. Its also a delightful conversation among a very articulate and authentic group.

Osiris, Dionysus, and Jesus Similarities

Spotted a link on Wikipedia that discusses the similarities between Osiris, Dionysus, and Jesus. Regardless of how you interpret them knowing the similarities brings up allot of interesting questions.

Other Links:
Parallels between the stories of Jesus and Osiris-Dionysus
The Jesus Mysteries
The_Jesus_Mysteries (Wikipedia)
Google search for: "Osiris Dionysus Jesus"

Jonestown

PBS American Experience broadcast a story on Jonestown, the cult founded by Jim Jones. Wikipedia also has a page on Jonestown. The most amazing thing about the story is that it happened. Among the elements of politics, religion, corruption of power, the bold actions of dreamers, and Orwellian archetypes, one idea stands out, the importance of learning from history, so that it is not repeated.

Black Swans

David Hume: "No amount of observations of white swans can allow the inference that all swans are white, but the observation of a single black swan is sufficient to refute that conclusion."

Karl Popper: "You cannot know with any certainty that a proposition is true; you can only know that it is not true."

Malcom Gladwell on Black Swans and Blowing Up
Wikipedia page for Taleb's Book "Black Swans"
Wikipedia page for "Fooled By Randomness"

A few key ideas in all of this:

• The richest guy at the end of the day might be the luckiest and not the smartest.
• There are two paths to the same end, loosing a little bit every day and then winning big, and winning a little bit every day and then loosing big.
  
• People try too hard to explain randomness.
• Disruptive events are magnified in their intensity by not being expected.
• Disruptive events happen more often than one would expect because people are chaotic.
• People trust their own beliefs too much.
  
• Few people have the best strategy for taking advantage of the unknown.