the high desert

It’s where I belong. Click photo for larger version.

seacompression 2009

Don’t put bacon on the cupcakes.

the sources of nothing

1. This blog is a excellent source of nothing. Or at least has been for several weeks. My spare time has been close to zero.

2. Nothing is also produced by the vacant stares of the people at Jiffy Lube. I won’t go into detail here, but the workers decided to pretend I was invisible, which was only fun for a few seconds. I finally realized that although they usually ask what kind of service I want when I arrive, and direct me to the lane they want my car in, on this day I’m supposed to shut up and sit down and they will talk to me later.

3.  How could something come from nothing? It’s a frequent question from religious creationists. This is supposed to explain the existence of their god. “It didn’t come from nothing, god did it!” It’s true we don’t yet have scientific answers to the deep questions of existence. Was there “always” some form of energy and matter or the potential for it? Does the question even make sense? What does this have to do with an alleged all-powerful being from human mythology? If not mythological, then how did this god arise from nothing if everything has to have a cause? Physics and cosmology are at least gathering evidence. “God did it” is  just a period at the end of a sentence full of zeros.

4. You can create a bottle of nothing with an empty jar and a lid. Okay, the jar is mostly filled with nitrogen, but we can’t see it. Looks like nothing.

5. There’s a sign above an aisle at a local QFC grocery store that lists “Natural water” as one of the items you’ll find there.  “Damn,” I thought. “Where’s the manufactured water? Can I get a mix of half natural water and half manufactured water? Or, say, 30% natural water and 70% unnatural?” This sign has generated nothingness in my brain. Here comes some more: “If I drink natural water will my pee be more natural? Is it possible to suffer from manufactured-water-in-the-bladder disease?”

The diving bell and the butterfly and other movie stuff

Maggie Netflixilated this movie for us and I was amazed. One of the best films I’ve seen in quite a while. Beautiful, brilliant, and intelligent. Nice soundtrack too. I noticed that many of my favorite films over the past ten years also had excellent soundtracks: “Children of Men,” “Lost in Translation.” Music is a big factor for me, I guess. If you missed “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” like I did, I recommend seeing it.

Even though “The Men Who Stare at Goats” is getting mixed reviews, I’m eager to see it. I’m becoming a fan of Jon Ronson, the author of the book it’s based on. Not so much for his writing style, but for his bold ability to stick his neck into weird and/or  downright dangerous situations and come back with true stories from crazy-ville. His books being turned into films is an unexpected turn of events for me. I heard him say on an interview that “Them!” has been optioned for film treatment, too.

Blue Cheer and The Pains of Being Pure of Heart

Lately I’ve been revisiting the band, Blue Cheer. Sounds like a laundry detergent, but the name actually came from a type of LSD going around San Francisco in days of yore. Oldsters and psychedelic music aficionados will remember their famous cover of Summertime Blues. I think I first heard it from my older brother or his friends. Don’t remember. Their first couple albums are a curiosity–sounds like a combo of MC5, Hendrix, and a blues band. It’s good when you take it a little bit at a time.

A current interesting band for me is The Pains of Being Pure of Heart. Don’t know where I ran across them. KEXP maybe. I immediately paid attention because I liked the atmospheric sound. They’re kind of like Jesus and Mary Chain. There are understated melancholy-innocent vocals drifting over a wall of loud guitars. Right now too many of the songs sound alike, but I think there might be big potential here.

another halloween gone

All praise to the Timmons’ for continuing their most excellent annual Halloween parties. Thanks to “A Wink and a Smile,” now Seattle’s burlesque stars are coming to the party, which seems to get larger every year.

cosmic puzzles–easy answers

The following questions appeared in New Scientist magazine. They are allegedly the seven unanswered questions that most frequently keep physicists awake at night. I can answer all seven because I have friends with authority on these matters. I decided to put these questions to either the Master Nashwan or my Ouija board mouse pad. Both have the omniscient cojones to provide answers, but Nashwan won the coin toss.

Ouija said the coin toss was rigged and claimed that divining board spirits always get the shaft. “Everyone thinks flat squares of material lack charisma,” Ouija said. “You are 2-D phobic,” he accused. Nashwan interjected with “Nyah nyah.” On with the Q & A:

1. Why this universe? (That is, why do we have our current laws of nature and not different ones?)
Nashwan: I’ve learned the hard way that the setting up of natural laws is much like what goes on in Las Vegas. It’s a roll of the dice–completely random chance–so don’t put any bets on the next universe. I personally lost three metric tons of pure, undiluted good karma—karma that I had collected over hundreds of lifetimes—in a stupid wager regarding an upcoming universe. I don’t like to talk about it. Next question.

2. What is everything made of?
Nashwan: Everything is made of “is,” and the deeper you look, the more you become mired in “is-ness.” Go deep enough and you’ll dissolve in it, which is neither pleasant nor desirable. I’ll say no more, for your own safety.

3. Why does complexity arise in our universe?
Nashwan: Too easy. According to the law of thermodynamics, energy wants to disperse itself equally across space. Like a whirlpool in a stream, complex systems naturally form to efficiently capture and disperse energy (the link will download a PDF). This evens out the gradient between big chunks of energy and energy-poor areas. Now give me a hard question.

4. Will string theory ever be proved correct?
Nashwan: No. I said give me a challenging one.

5. What is the singularity? (The hot and dense state of matter at the beginning of the universe.)
Ouija board mouse pad: I know! Let me answer this one!
Nashwan: I eat questions like this for breakfast. Here’s the deal: our universe exists on a three-dimensional membrane that lies right next to another membrane. They are both sitting in a four-dimensional space. Every trillion years or so, the two membranes collide; unleashing massive energy which we call the Big Bang. Translation: it is the gods driving bumper cars. Each car is a “brane.” One brane strikes another, big fireworks, a universe happens. Woo hoo!  It’s all in good fun until someone gets hurt. Then the mothers of the gods appear and everyone runs away.

6. What is reality really? How is it that our observations are able to shape reality?
Nashwan: This is a crock of quarks. An event will happen in exactly the same way whether someone observes it or not. Unless your observation tools muck up what you’re trying to watch. You can take that to the bank. Don’t try to foist your Deepak Chopra stuff on me. New agers come to me for advice, not the other way around. Ask your last question and get out of here.

7. How far can physics take us?
Nashwan: Okay, Ouija, you take this question.
Ouija board mouse pad: From this location, physics will take you to Tacoma, if going south. If heading north, you might get as far as Vancouver, because of the magnetic north pole attraction. East or west, physics will take you 73 miles.
Nashwan: Don’t take his word for it, saddle up your natural science and take it for a test ride.

isn’t the cost of medical care an interesting topic?

I’ve been listening to the two-part “This American Life” examination of the health care industry in the U.S. of A. Below are a few items I took away from this broadcast. Caution: I sometimes get things wrong, so I advise listening to it yourself. It’s an entertaining and educational review of the topic.

Underlying causes of the spiraling costs of medical care include unnecessary medical procedures and tests (up to 1/3 of all care is in this category), higher costs for drugs, more expensive equipment, increasingly complicated patient billing and administration, patient demands for more care, the cost of malpractice insurance, and doctors expecting a big salary. In other words, just about everyone involved is complicit, and problems are pretty much built into the system.

Meanwhile, health care providers give the best pricing deals to very large insurance companies–the ones that bring them the most patients. The smaller insurance groups are charged higher prices for the same services. Increased competition by additional insurance companies doesn’t improve anything, and in fact may weaken bargaining power with providers. Health care providers will still set the prices and their highest volume clients will get the best deals.

The state of Maryland has dealt with this problem for the last 30 years with regulation. The state sets the same price for every medical procedure at all hospitals. You’ll pay the same amount for a colonoscopy, for example, no matter where you get it, and no matter if you’re on an employer insurance plan, a private plan, or a government plan like Medicare. Since health care providers aren’t allowed to compete in the pricing arena, they have to compete on quality of care. Allegedly this works pretty well.

At least that’s what I thought I heard. I certainly skipped over quite a bit in my tiny summary here, such as the fact that for the first time ever, everyone, from the patients to the executives, now truly believe that something must be done to reverse the crazed expense spiral. Also, I learned how it came to be that employers became the primary buyers of our health insurance, and how the current growth of health insurance and health care for pets closely reflects how our human health care got out of control. It’s happening all over again, except it involves dogs and hedgehogs.

You can listen to the episodes for free, “More is Less” and “Someone Else’s Money.”