Between motion and act

I read a poem from a blog of my acquaintance, titled 'On time' written by John Milton.

Beautiful poem. I just wanted to share it with you all.

I’m a physicist (to be). Everything in the world is within the realms of cause and effect, even the imagination of the human beings, even the ‘bits’ of information that can ever be represented by the universe itself. If my belief is true, just what mechanic of this universe allows impressions to surpass their expressions? Musics transcendent over instruments, and memory over life? Integrated together into a beautifully knit whole, yet one’s emergence feels entirely different from the substance it originated from.

Again, I am a physicist and a scientist (again, in training). And I refuse to leave such profound movements of my heart to simple metaphysical jumblings as if they weren’t part of this universe to begin with. I can perceive them, and I can feel its intent spreading throughout my heart. The indescribable sensation of being alive and empathetic to things made by the living, they are definitely integral parts of this physical universe.

The beauty should not be relegated to some pathetic social conventions that grew from physical impediments of last few centuries should humanity ever hope to go beyond a few more centuries into the future. If something in this universe is so capable of grasping at our hearts, then we must be able to explain it in the language of this universe. We must be able to recreate it. And active study and understanding of us, the life, might as well be the first step into the breach.

That, ladies and gentlemen, is the reason why I am obsessed with artificial life.

The political strife and violence in Lebanon is reaching its heights, and might get worse. Am I too quick to blame this event on the recent Israeli incursion into the Lebanese territory? To be frank, in the past situation of the Israeli invasion of the Lebanese sovereign soil, the decision to attack was a total military and political failure in that Israeli army was unable to secure total victory over the Hezbollah faction and that the Israeli government was unable to secure moral and legal superiority over the faction/party/idea they were supposedly fighting against despite relatively significant loss of resources and decidedly superior men/womenpower Israeli army had considering the strength of the enemy. All that 'war' caused was worsening of the split within the already significantly weakened Lebanese government base and moral justification and effective recruitment campaign for Hezbollah and other violent political parties of the middle east sector of the world. Regardless of what the Israeli government and military intended during that 'war' (which is in itself peculiarly uncertain), the end result is that a sovereign nation's economy was destroyed along with significant portion of its infrastructure. And looking at all the homeless people in the NYC, I don't think people without money and education would devote themselves to peace with the people who bombed the hell out of their job, homes, and families. It almost seems as if some core faction within the Israeli government doesn't wish for any sort of stabilization of the middle east region, a claim frequently sprouted by many fringe theorists of international politics. Either that or the visible majority of the Israeli government is composed of idiots who can't figure out what's good for their own country, but I'm personally against assuming that other people are simply retarded, so this is beginning to worry me quite a bit.

The government 'crackdown' on the Hezbollah owned media/telecom facilities hint toward some sort of outside influence/pressure that had been building up for quite a while, ignited by already present internal strife for/against the Hezbollah and the brand of politics such parties frequently represent, militaristic, fundamentally religious (though I do not believe that any religiously fundamental and political objective can be in any way related to religion) and anti-Israel policies. This is a nasty can of worms for any surrounding nations, including Israel, since any sort of intervention by a single foreign state in the region would be interpreted as partisan to one side or another, since everyone around Lebanon has a direct geopolitical and diplomatic interest within the region and its controlling regime.

What is even more worrisome is how the Lebanese military is intervening in the conflict between two major governing factions of Lebanon. In my experince with world history, such movement by the military of a sovereign nation rarely results in any diplomatic or politically sound policies. In fact, they tend to foster a tendency toward ultra-nationalism and dictatorship in which the military is such a deeply entrenched influence in the governance of a nation that they need to spend decades, and even centuries to cleanse themselves of the impact, provided that they are lucky enough to be rid of the military dictatorial regime in the first place. Numerous examples of such situations abound, like Iraq under Sadam, China, Pakistan, past South Korea (not contemporary), and in some limited fashion, even Japan (though not in any contemporary times).

I do find some of the people of Israel I know to be perfectly lovely and respectable people. And that is the same sentiment I have for the people of Lebanon towards whom I hold great respect. Yet the regional government policies and their actions (especially that of Israel) certainly leaves a lot to be desired, to the point that they are making a perfect stranger like me, who resides in NYC and holds no aptitude in international politics, to suspect of willful wrongdoing in supposed interest of their nation, which will soon prove to be severely short sighted.

A lot of little things to write about today, some of which should condense into a regular sized post sometime this week.

bluesky422 had been nice enough to point me to another helpful donation/education site named "Aid to Childern". The drill is the same as the freerice website I have linked on my page. You get to broaden your vocabulary, and help out children across the globe at the same time! I highly suggest everyone to pay a visit.

Leslie Feist is having a concert in NYC tomorrow! I can't believe I missed it. I tried to get a ticket but I think all the regular sits may be sold out. All the tickets on the net were VIP box seats starting at over sixty dollars... I'm not a big fan or anything, but her songs have a particular charm that's very easy on the ears I think. I really want to hear her live. I think I'll pay a visit to the hall tomorrow and check if they have regular sits left.

The food shortage crisis is making headlines, which is quite interesting since the warning bells had been ringing since at least last year! I remember the press treating those people like whiny crackpots. Now look at where we are! I say the problem is with the economic climate and the lack of adequate infrastructure/economic network in place for efficient redistribution of resources, rather than an actual shortage of food in absolute terms. The global economic system still has a lot of kinks that should be worked out.

I love alcoholic drinks. Of course, I never drink enough to get drunk and act in loose or unseemly manner. And I never drink beer unless I'm with people very close to me. Those two are my drinking ethos I've never broken so far and plan to never break.

I love the exquisite aroma and taste of well crafted drinks, and the slight feeling of drunkenness that is pleasant without being overdone or nauseating. I believe the best drink ever conceived by any human mind is wine. Grape wines to be precise. I've tried my hands with some foreign wines like the Japanese sake, but never quite enjoyed them as much as I enjoy the traditional wines. I have particular softness for midrange Italian wines. They have certain honest and rustic quality that cannot be found in some of the overly industrial or excessively delicate wines of other regions. Good, rich wines crafted from cabernet sauvignon are enjoyable like a good book without being pretentious or extravagant. The French wines are fine too. But many of them cost more than their worth for the virtue of being from France, though it's changing these days. Among the French wines I enjoy are the Medoc and Haut-Medoc Bordeaux, and I prefer them young, for their distinct pepper tannic taste and aroma that is simply amazing with good food. 

I hate sweet alcoholic drinks. I particularly disdain the recent waves of 'sweetened' alcoholic beverages that taste like cheap Fanta. If I wanted sugar water I'll drink sugar water. Leave alcohol out of it please. I avoid any and all drinks that are sweet. There's really no point in drinking sweet alcoholic beverage I think. That's what juices are for.

I've been trying my hand with the cocktails. Of course, as usual I don't drink the sweeter ones, which narrows down my choices since many of the cocktails are strangely sweetened despite their classic descriptions. The plus about the cocktails is that they must be drunk by the glass unlike wines which I purchase by the bottle. So I'm much less likely to gulp and leisurely enjoy the taste and texture of the drink itself. There are four cocktails that stand out to me.

1) Jack Rose 
I can't quite put my finger on why I like this one, there's just this strange attraction about the drink. Easy without being sweet.

2) Bloody Mary
Classic. I love the spice factor inherent in the design. This is my favorite so far.

3) Martini
The cocktail name associated with bunch of famous dead people, like Oppenheimer and Churchill. I like the dry and precise quality of this drink. It might become my favorite cocktail someday, but I've never actually been to a place that can make a killer martini. Just average ones. Nothing much I can do on lab assc salary.

4) Manhattan
This one is quite peculiar. There is this formal quality to this drink, old and classic, nothing fancy yet elegant. I go for this one when I need to think through bunch of stuff.

The biggest gripe I have about the drinking scene in NYC is how overpriced and pretentious everything is. When I go somewhere to drink I go to that place to drink. Not to look 'hip' (whatever that might be), not to socialize with random strangers (though well thought out conversations are always welcome, such are rarely encountered), and not to reinforce some failing personal attribute. I've been to some of the places frequented by youngsters in NYU and such, and hated the experience for the most part. At least fix the drink decently damn it. 

I'm still looking for that quiet and decent place for casual drinking and occasional eating. There's this cafe that gives cheese and a glass of chianti for a decent price, but it's a wine place, and I'd rather not drink cocktail from there.

Just came back from the Met. I attended the Jasper Johns public lecture there today. I must say that I am bitterly disappointed.

I am fascinated by Jasper Johns, both in terms of his personality and his work-philosophy. I scour over any book or articles I can find regarding his thoughts and visions. Yet this lecture bored me to tears. The first one about the form-meaning relationship of Jasper Johns' work was alright. A little dry, but there were quite a few interesting interpretation of his work which allowed some interesting and novel perspectives upon his works I previously glossed over. The second lecture on Jasper Johns, titled "Gray is my favorite color", given by a famous Harvard alumni with a degree in arts was simply horrible. The problem wasn't that it was too hard to follow or too far away into the realms of professional nomenclature. The problem was that there wasn't any content. The doctor droned on and on about his personal feelings for the work of Jasper Johns while listing bunch of lackluster theories on his works with the depth of cheap art analysis text books for an hour and a half. I believe about half of his lecture was composed of "uh", "ahhh", and "ehh." I actually had to tear at my hair to keep myself from falling asleep, and I am used to my fair share of mind-numbingly boring classes. This is something I don't ever want to go through again.

The highlight of the lecture series was the panel discussion between the museum curators about what they've learned while working with Jasper Johns' work. Quite interesting stuff. Nothing with too much depth, but one cannot expect much in public lectures I guess (the lecture on Poussin's landscape series a few days ago, however, was amazing, which leads me to believe that today's lector was simply sub-par). Interesting comparison on Jasper Johns' past and present works and techniques and manifestations of his philosophy were shared. I am a little too tired right now. I'll share the details on the lecture and Jasper Johns in general with you after I catch some sleep.

I came across an interesting service awhile ago, thought I'd share it with you.

http://vixy.net

It's an online application that transcodes FLV files into other format of choice, like mp4 for ipod or avi for desktop viewing (for those who don't have flv viewer). Although there are free desktop applications that does the same thing better, this one is useful in that it doesn't eat up your computer's resources. I'm transcoding some music videos and interesting TED talks into mp4 format right now.

Oh, and in case you don't know what TED is, it's an annual meeting of brilliant minds across the globe, giving talks on issues related to betterment of humanity. Their topics vary widely, from performing arts to particle physics, and each of those talks are truly a gem. I've been binge watching/listening Craig Venter these days. He is currently attempting to build a minimal genome network for construction of a base life-like system, so it has a lot to do with my obsessive interest in artificial life. It's interesting how easy it is to find genome and synthetic biology relevant talks among the TED list. Whatever the result may be it certainly is the trend of the times... Makes me want to live forever. 

I just love the future. I love what this world can be. That makes it all worth it.

I decided to give Perdido Street Station a go, since I got a free copy the other day. The premise and characters seem intriguing. I just hope author can pull it through until the end.

From what I see, and from what I heard around the web, the whole book is placed within an imaginary city called New Crobuzon. The environment is unique. A sort of mix between mad science and fantasy, a juxtaposition of anything and everything according to the author's whim, each chunks of his chaotic imagination settling down into a wild and interesting pattern believable to the mind's eye, like the clairvoyant reading the pattern from the random fallen rocks. I guess that kind of writing is in fashion these days. I must say that it feels very refreshing though.

Some refer to the book as having steam-punkish atmosphere, and I must agree. Although when you think about it, steampunk seem to be the term applied to every world setting where individuals use physical science to fulfill unusual feats without backup of a large industry or government...

With so many things going in my life right now I don't know when I'll be able to finish this book, but I think I'll be able to enjoy it while it lasts.

I've been a little too busy recently. Things going on in personal life and job all at once, waking up at 4 am and going to sleep after midnight doesn't really help things either. Well, hopefully I can get things in order this coming week and get some much needed break.

When I'm busy I find the best thing to do to keep my edge while relaxing just enough to keep going is reading. I ran through Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell around last week. Great book. I recommend it to anyone looking for a light reading... Some of the settings and characters are so memorable that I can still remember them vividly as if I was actually within the events of the book. I found the part leading to the end to be a little sluggish, but the book itself is a quality read nonetheless.

Right now I don't have any new book to read. Of course, I read every single day of my life, but I don't consider "Modeling Complex Systems" or "Nonlinear Science" to be a relaxing read... When I'm resting I find that I much prefer fiction over academic texts and other nonfictions.

Maybe I should browse around amazon and librarything websites this weekend, find someting I can read to my heart's content.

Whale rescued by dolphin

An interesting article on BBC news today. Apparently a dolphin came to two stranded whales and helped them set themselves free to the sea. The description used in the article is (deliberately?) hard to believe, in that what the dolphin seemed to be doing was communicating with the whales, although there is no scientific basis to say such a thing other than observation of the people at the scene...

I don't know what to say. While this is certainly a charming news (and kudos to the brave dolphin), the implications are quite interesting when viewed in light of the motivation to such an act on part of the dolphin and the specifics of communication that made it possible. Or am I just making a fuss over something that might have been a coincidence? Maybe dolphin just came to see a curious sight of two whales stranded, and the whales reacted due to having another (possibly bothersome) creature snooping around themselves which resulted in coincidental freedom from their shallow prison. And the general scene played out in such a fashion that people interpreted it as helping and willingly following directions. Yet, if, just if the whole thing is just as people saw it to be...

Why did the dolphine to what it did, and how did whales follow the intention of the dolphin despite being of different species? Are there any other organisms capable of 'communicating' trans-species? Is a form of empathy a fundamental feature of complex life-form? How would we be able to explain such characteristic on the standpoint of complex systems study? Does that mean other complex systems in nature might display such 'empathy' under specific situations against other complex systems?