Matt’s Blog

A friend at work gave me a link to an interesting website today. We were having one of our usual conversations involving mostly things we know nothing about, but trying to sound very intelligent about it and pretending we were getting our points across. This time it was quantum physics and relativity (that’s what it is pretty much every time). Nothing really interesting came out of the conversation except that he apparently went and googled for some related topics and found this: The Tenth Dimension

Now, the tenth dimension is much farther than I’d ever considered. I usually stop at trying to convince people that the fourth dimension is not time, but some other in-conceivable something, because the third dimension is actually space time, and not just space. Not that I really have anything to back that statement up with, other than some vague memory of a book I read half of once a long time ago. Of course, if I didn’t have an opinion about it, I wouldn’t be writing this.

Anyways, this website very creatively explains all tenth dimensions ending climactically by stating that the tenth dimension is just another point (kind of poetic in a way if you like to get poetic about the universe, as I do) It throws in the multiverse theory in there around number six or something, and something even cooler than the multiverse which might explain the one plot hole in the book Timeline by Michael Crichton that I’ve been getting a lot of mileage off for the past few years. But it also states quite firmly that the fourth dimension is time, and that dissapoints me greatly. I mean, the whole idea of this study of dimensions is that you can’t really understand or even fathom a dimension higher up than you. A two dimensional being would never stand a chance of understanding us right? So how can we even have a word for time, we certainly don’t have a word for any of the other dimensions, as is obvious by the website author’s proliferous use of the words “point”, and “fold.” I just don’t think that if these extra dimensions really exist we would stand a chance at comprehending them, except ours and the ones below us.

In any case, I refuse to believe that the fourth dimension is time, since we can comprehend it, use it in our math effectively, and even travel through it (at least rudimentarily) If anyone cares to set me straight, feel free.

The State of the Union last night was something of a puppet show, I still don’t understand all the clapping.  Last year I listened on the radio with a friend and we got into a huge fight.  This year the clapping was back (maybe it’s a tradition I don’t know about?) but it was accompanied by standing ovations.  Typical of politics, you get applauded for the things you promise, not the things you accomplish.  Oh well, it’s a complicated game I’m glad I don’t have to take part in.  I’m happy with computers, they’ll do what you tell them to, it’s the telling them that is difficult.

Bush did say a lot of things that I’m interested in seeing happen, and a few others I wish would go away (not Iraq, I’m not too passionate one way or the other about that).  But that’s not what this is about, at least, the title says it’s about nothing, but I have a hard time with that sometimes.  I can be a drama queen, which is something I often dislike in others.

Of course, now that I say this is supposed to be about nothing, I can’t think of anything to write.  Sometimes I wonder why I do write this blog.  It’s mostly because I want motivation to write.  I don’t even care if anybody reads, I’m pretty sure nobody actually does.  That’s not what it’s for anyway.  : )

Oh my eyes, I’m forgetting things already about this magnificent book. It’s wonderfully crafted and well written for a scientist, he reminds me of Carl Sagan because he has a real background in science and astronomy so he’s capable of transmitting the vastness of space.

My favorite part of the book by far is his unique views on time travel. I’ve long debated with friends over the dilemma. Though we long gave it up for impossible, we nevertheless spend hours (both at work and at home) trying to devise solutions. The most popular of late is the multiverse, though that doesn’t actually account for travel through time. You can see that our debates are entertainment at best. But the long debate is over causality. How can you go to the past without affecting the present (future?). The debates unravel quickly. But in the book Exultant, the author suggests an approach I’ve never heard of. Ignore causality. The web of spacetime is not a line as we’ve come to think of it, but more of a web, one that’s capable of absorbing discrepancies in the timeline. So if you went back in time and killed your grandfather, you would according to other theories suddenly cease to exist (at best) or unravel the so-called fabric of the universe (at worst). But the author proposes that you would go on living, having already been born, and the universe would just keep spinning. It’s fantastic! I love it!

He also explores fascinating life forms that might occur in space, far from the bumpy foreheads of Star Trek. Even going so far as to suggest creatures living inside black holes, or thriving on the defects of spacetime itself. The characters are vivid, the struggle seems real, and the ending is perfect. He explores religion based on life in space, even quantum religion. I just can’t say enough, it’s a must!

This was an opera I went to see today with some friends.  It wasn’t my favorite, but there were some parts I really liked.  The whole first act was excellent.  The conflict that the composer felt hit pretty close to home for me.  He had written an opera about a woman who gets dumped by her boyfriend and went to live on a deserted island to wallow in misery, but the Majordomo ordered that the performance of a comedy troupe be mixed in with the performance of the opera.  The composer is devastated, because he feels that the comedy troupe is a disgrace and such a performance would ruin the work that he has done.

He goes on to lament about it, saying that the world is not what he wanted it to be, and that he would rather burn the opera than see it performed like that.  He’s the kind of person that expects too much out of the world and is way too dissapointed when it doesn’t turn out the way he expected it.

The second act of the opera had it’s moments of hilarity as the two stories were intertwined, which I appreciated immensely, but then the opera alone took charge and it was pretty boring from there.  Still it was worth it for the good parts.  Opera is just so interesting.  The way these stories have been preserved for so long is great, because it’s a chance to see how people viewed storytelling in the past.  Storytelling is such an intrinsic part of a culture, that an old opera like this one is a glimpse into the way the world was.

I spent much of the weekend installing a linux box.  I went through several iterations before I got to one that worked well, finally settling on Fedora Core 6.  And I really liked it, so I was all excited to log on to the blog and post something from the machine.  It was a rather riveting post all about the marvels of open source software.  I went on and on.  And then when I submitted it, the network just slowed way down, I don’t know if it was the box, or the web server or what, but the post vanished into the dark matter of the interwebs.  So I’m writing this from my windows laptop.  What a drag.  I’m sure I’ll figure out the problem.

I’ve got lots of problems with Apple’s latest announcement, the iPhone.  I’m not going to mention any of them except for one.  The fact that it’s a cell phone is enough for me to hate it.  But I really don’t care that much about it, I just won’t buy one.  I’m surprised to find so much reaction to it.  It seems that our obsession with materialism has elevated to a new level.  Not only are we obsessed with goods, but we’re obsessed with their manufacturers, their outlook, their projected sales, and on and on.

I’m still thinking about buying a MacMini, I won’t let a little thing like a hugely expensive cell phone with an umpteen year contract bother me.

Michael Crichton’s latest novel is typical of his recent releases, dissapointing. I just finished reading it a few days ago and found it to be lacking compared to his earlier work. I used to be a hardcore fan, but this book is just so different than his other stuff. It’s series of disjointed stories which have a few token tie-ins which appear to be for mere courtesy, followed by a soap box by the author covering all the obvious points of the stories. State of Fear was similar, but in that novel, there was a main character and a story to follow through the whole novel. Next has no such luxuries.

I finally finished my grad school application.  It took me much longer than I expected.  Chasing down letters of recommendation would have to be my least favorite part.  I honestly don’t know if I’m going to get in.  Parts of my application are strong, but I’m afraid they aren’t the parts the college considers of greatest importance.  Hopefully I know soon one way or the other, so I can figure out what’s going to be happening in my life in the next few years. Wish me luck!