There was an amazing dance sequence during the 2010 Oscars.  It’s a little hard to track down on the internet due to copywriting etc etc.  LXD is the Legion of Extraordinary Dancers (often misquoted as the League of Extraordinary Dancers).

LXD is a testament to the power of social media and its ability to provide a medium for artistic collaboration and a new forum for its appreciation.  LXD is the brainchild of Jon M Chu who isn’t a choreographer or dancer, but rather a cult filmmaker who discovered the potential of hip-hop dancing.  (Jon M Chu produced and directed “Step Up 2 The Streets”.)

Here is a youtube excerpt:

choreographer · dancer · jon m chu · league of extraordinary dancers · legion of extraordinary dancers · lxd · oscar · oscars · oscars 2010 · social media · the 2010 Oscars

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080410153643.htm

This recent study shows reveals that humans do like the birds and bees when they make like the birds and bees.  That is to say, there is tremendous evidence in the animal kingdom of the exchange of sex for resources and vice versa.  Humans, it would seem, not immune to this sort of behaviour despite any influences of class or caste. 

In my study of biology, I attended a class at 8am in the dead of winter broadly titled “Animals”.  The class lacked anything wild despite its title and it was an exercise just to keep my eyes open.  Don’t get me wrong, our Prof was a nice enough guy, it’s just I don’t function at that hour.

One day though our professor Kenneth Davey took a tangent into the mating rituals of the fly family Empidae.  He showed a progression in the evolution of nuptial gifts — the process of exchanging resources for sex — across several members of the family in the following progression.

1) The male mates with the female and is eaten by the female.

2) The male brings a food gift to the female hoping that while she’s eating the gift he can do the deed and escape in a hurry.  They mate, she eats the food he brought her followed by him for dessert. 

3) The male brings a food gift wrapped in a grass wrapping.  While she busily unwraps the grass wrapping, he’s able to ‘wham bam and thank you maam’ before she manages to open the package.  He escapes and she at least is able to enjoy her food.

4) The male brings a package to the female.  As she unwraps it he, as before, completes the deed and escapes.  She finally unwraps the package only to discover that it’s empty.

I have too many comments to offer about this tale, so instead I’ll offer none.  I’d imagine your assessment of this story will be highly dependent on your perspective. 

ale · cent · empidae · evolution · flu · food · food gift · http · Kenneth Davey · king · nuptial gifts · professor · resources · sex

Capturing the voice of the customer is difficult when it comes to web visitors.  They visit, the peruse, they leave.  Wouldn’t it be great if you could allow for your visitors to speak with you in real time?

Now you can.  Simple2Chat.com has added a widget which will allow you to do exactly that. 

http://www.simple2chat.com/embed.php

has instructions on how to generate a widget for your website. 

When a visitor wishes to start a conversation s/he can click on the widget on your website:

Simple2Chat.com Widget

You are notified in a tracking conversation:

Notification in tracking conversation

You can then click on that conversation and speak with your visitor in real time.

Response to Customer

All of this is free, anonymous, and doesn’t require anyone to install any software.

Pretty simple huh?  Shouldn’t everything be this easy?

chat · http · instant chat · Internet · internet chat · king · kwout.com · php · simple2chat · Simple2Chat.com · utility · web · web 2.0 · web presence · web visitors · Web Visitors Capturing · widget · www.simple2chat.com

Being foreclosed on?  No worries if you follow the example of Jerome Daly, a lawyer and political activist of sorts, who successfully had his mortgage declared null and void. 

In order for a mortgage agreement to be legal, the bank must put up legal ‘consideration’.  That’s a fancy lawyer word for ‘money’ or some such other tangible asset.  The Federal Reserve System creates money for lending as bookkeeping entries and as such, the bank fails to provide any real consideration in the contract.  As a result, the whole thing is null and void and you can’t be foreclosed upon. 

Don’t believe me?  Read it for yourself here:

http://www.lawlibrary.state.mn.us/CreditRiver/1968-12-09judgmentanddecree.pdf

This decision has never been overturned and Daly was able to keep his house.

bank · fed · federal reserve · Federal Reserve System · http · ILS · Jerome Daly · lawyer · lawyer and political activist · legal consideration · mortgage · Mortgage Crisis · pdf · Red · Rome · the fed · US Federal Reserve

I found a very useful tool for creating nicely formatted equations. I find MS-Word’s equation editor a little lacking when it comes to some math functions. I came across this site:
http://rogercortesi.com/eqn/index.php
which will allow you to enter a LaTeX equation and it will return the properly formatted equivalent in several convenient formats.

For example if you wanted to enter the equation for the prime twin counting function (the number of prime twins between P(n) and P(n)^2) the LaTeX would be:

\#twins[P(n)\to P(n)^2] =
[\frac{(P(1)-1)*(P(2)-1)*...*(P(n-1)-1)}{2*P(1)*P(2)*...*P(n-1)} *(P(n)^2-P(n))]- n*\log_{10}(n)*0.058652

the output would be:

Many thanks to Roger Cortesi for making this tool available.

9/11 · ale · counting · equation · equation editor · http · king · LaTex · php · prime · prime twin · prime twins · Red · Roger Cortesi · twin prime · typesetting

(left)The Knesset Menorah, Jerusalem (detail – Hillel the Elder)
(right) "My question to them is, ‘when is the right time?" Obama told a supportive crowd at Arcadia University, near Philadelphia.

Listening to Obama’s rabble rousing speech on healthcare, the most stirring passage sounded eerily similar:

"My question to them is, ‘when is the right time?" Obama told a supportive crowd at Arcadia University, near Philadelphia. "If not now, when? If not us, who?"

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2010/03/obama-on-health-care-if-not-now-when/1

I seemed to have heard this in Hebrew school.  Sure enough, a little digging produced:

Pirkei Avot 1:14

“If I am not for myself, who will be for me? But if I am only for myself, what am I?"

This quote is attributed to Hillel The Elder.

Arcadia University · healthcare · Jerusalem · Knesset · obama · Philadelphia

Roza De Shabbes is one of the most famous cantorial pieces of all time.  One of the most famous recordings was recorded by Cantor Pierre Pinchik.  The album was a single 78 with two sides.  The clip plays both sides back to back with the ‘flip’ at 4:19. 

I’ve heard a rumour which I haven’t yet substantiated (or sourced) that the second half was recorded a half tone lower because Pinchik couldn’t sustain the first key.  Regardless of the veracity of the rumour, the second half is definitely a 1/2 tone lower.  This fact shouldn’t be regarded as a disparagement on this landmark recording, rather just an interesting historical footnote.

The source of this prayer which is recited at the inception of Shabbat (Sabbath) is the mystical (Kabalistic) Zohar.  A translation with commentary follows:

THE SECRET of Sabbath: She is Sabbath.
United in the secret of one
to draw upon her the secret of one.
When Sabbath enters she is alone,
separated from the Other Side, all judgments removed from her.
Basking in the oneness of holy light,
she is crowned over and over to face the holy King.
All powers of wrath and masters of judgment flee from her
There is no power in all the worlds aside from her.
Her face shines with a light from beyond;
she is crowned below by holy people,
all of whom are crowned with new souls.
Then the beginning of prayer,
blessing her with joy, with beaming faces.

Zohar 2:135a-b (thirteenth century); see Matt, Zohar, 132, 257-58.

She is Sabbath Shekhinah is the Sabbath Queen entering the palace of time every Friday evening at sunset. As the seventh sefirah below Binah, Shekhinah is the seventh primordial day. Friday evening is the time of her union with her masculine counterpart, the sefirah of Tif’eret. The Sabbath is God’s wedding celebration.
United in the secret of one … Shekhinah and her angels of escort join together in "the secret of one" in preparation for her encounter with Tif’eret, who has joined together with the sefirot surrounding him in a corresponding "secret of one." Shekhinah and Tif’eret must each be whole before they can unite.
the Other Side Aramaic, sitra ahra, the demonic realm, threatens Shekhinah and humanity on the weekdays. Once Sabbath begins, Shekhinah is safe and provides blessing openly to the world.
she is crowned over and over to face the holy King The Sabbath is referred to as Queen in Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat 119a: “Rabbi Hanina used to wrap himself in a garment, stand close to sunset as Sabbath entered, and say: ‘Come, let us go out to greet Sabbath, the Queen.’ Rabbi Yannai would put on special clothes as Sabbath entered and say: ‘Come, 0 Bride! Come, 0 Bride!’" Here in the Zohar, Shekhinah, the Sabbath Queen, prepares to meet King Tif’eret.
All powers of wrath … Once Sabbath has entered, the power of strict judgment disappears. According to Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 65b, even the wicked in hell are granted rest on the Sabbath.
she is crowned below by holy people By welcoming the Bride and celebrating her arrival, human beings array her for the union with Tif’eret.
all of whom are crowned with new souls According to Rabbi Shim’on ben Laqish (Babylonian Talmud, Beitsah 16a), "The Holy One gives an extra soul to a human being on the eve of Sabbath. When Sabbath departs, it is taken away." The extra soul enables one to leave behind the turmoil of the week, to experience the joy and depth of Sabbath. Cf. Zohar 2:136b: "Every Friday evening, a being sits in the world of souls."
–Daniel C. Matt, The Essential Kabbalah: The Heart of Jewish Mysticism (Edison, N.J.: Castle Books, 1997), at 80, 189-90.

Castle Books · Daniel C. Matt · king · New Jersey · Once Sabbath · Pierre Pinchik · Queen · Rabbi · Roza De Shabbes · Sabbath Shekhinah · Yannai

As I continue my studies of the Economy, I’m continually shocked and horrified to find more evidence of mass corruption.

http://www.gata.org/node/wallstreetjournal

The Gold Anti Trust Action Committee has taken out a full page ad in the Wall Street Journal asking, where is all our Gold?

For readers’ information… how did the gold get into Fort Knox in the first place? In 1933 Roosevelt passed a bill mandating that all citizens hand over their gold at base price. This gold was then melted down and stored in Fort Knox.

The last time a civilization was asked to hand over all its gold, they built a golden calf such that they could return to slavery. This time, there was no Moses to save us from our own stupidity. We don’t tromp in mud pits making bricks, but we do tromp to 9 to 5 jobs each day churning out contributions to our 401 K’s.

Fort Knox has never been officially audited. Moreover, strong rumours exist that the Federal Reserve has procured this gold as collateral against the US national debt. If there is no gold to be found in Fort Knox, perhaps with an open and honest audit, we may again find our liberty.

GATA has a video of a symposium they held. A summary can be found here:
http://www.gata.org/goldrush21

9 to 5 · Economy · fed · federal reserve · Federal Reserve System · fort knox · gold · Gold Anti Trust Action Committee · gold standard · golden calf · http · king · MIT · Red · roosevelt · slavery · the fed · the Wall Street Journal · United States · US Federal Reserve · video · Wall Street Journal

This piece is in the baritone range which is a little easier given my current sinusitis.  I suppose it’s better to crawl before I walk.

http://s21.divshare.com/launch.php?f=7793954&s=c76

http · Innovi Technologies S21 Bluetooth Headset · Martin C. Winer · php · sinusitis

There has been a lot of controversy regarding the proposed integration of ‘Intelligent Design’ into current biology curriculum. Intelligent Design is the hypothesis that all life on Earth was created and designed by an intelligent designer. Subsumed by this hypothesis, although not clearly stated, is that most proponents of Intelligent Design believe the intelligent designer to be the most intelligent designer, namely God. It is proposed that in the name of impartiality, Intelligent Design be taught along side Darwinian Evolution in biology classes.

We have two choices in trying to argue against this hypothesis. First we can show that the hypothesis is false by counter claims of design flaws. Next we can show that the hypothesis is an inherently un-testable hypothesis which thus belongs in the realms of philosophy or theology, but not in science. I will argue that while the first approach of finding design flaws is enlightening, it misses the issue. The issue is that for something to be taught in a science classroom it must somehow relate to a testable hypothesis: testable by experiment.

The temptation for someone who is versed in biology when approached with Intelligent Design is to quickly point out all of the design flaws that they know of. There are many examples to pick from but the most commonly offered are design flaws in (human) joints, most notably the elbow and the knee. One of my personal favourites is the prevalence of people with eye glasses which suggests there is a possible design flaw in the maintenance of a spherical shape of the eye. Biologists quickly offer up their favourite design flaw hoping to see a recantation of Intelligent Design. To their dismay, they get answers like: “We do not know the design of the intelligent designer. Perhaps non-spherical eyes are beneficial in some other unknown way, or the knee was some sort of design trade off against some other more beneficial feature. However, the sum of all the trade offs is the ultimate perfect design, designed by the most intelligent designer, God.” The frustrated scientist then returns to his beaker and the Intelligent Design guru returns to his pulpit or to the White House which are increasingly indistinguishable.

The reason that the hypothetical scientist and the theologian talk at cross purposes is that they both have failed to realize the bar of entry to science: a testable hypothesis. In life there are testable hypotheses and un-testable hypotheses. Some un-testable hypotheses are:
1) In absence of an observer, human or otherwise (i.e. a tape recorder): If a tree falls in a forest, does it make a noise? Yes or no?
2) Suppose all of history started 5 minutes ago with all of our collective memories implanted at that moment.
3) All good in the world is a work of a benevolent God, and all problems people experience are the result of God working in mysterious (good) ways.
More topically:
4) The wonder and beauty of the living world is the result of an intelligent design and all counter examples such as fossils, design flaws, evolutionary proofs, are just the result of our inability to grasp the grand design.

The common thread that runs across all four statements is the fallacy of an unprovable statement. It is this same thread that many stitch together to form a rip stop nylon fabric of belief. Statements 1 through 3 would likely be widely accepted as topics for a class on philosophy or theology. Statement 4 is no different. It is an inherently unprovable statement which has no place in science.

Many have said that science is a religion unto itself. I have often said that the only reason our language has two words for science and religion is that we sorely misunderstand both. They are both searches for the truth. Science is an ideology based on the Scientific Method and the instrument of that method is the experiment. Science allows for discussions of all things provable, even if they are not yet proved. Take for example the Superstring revolution in physics. It is currently unproven; however, scientists are building the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in Switzerland which should have sufficient power to create ’supersymmetric’ particles which would confirm the theory. What experiment does Intelligent Design proposes to validate its hypothesis? How does one experimentally prove something was designed? Even if such an experiment could be constructed, how then does that disprove that the designed item was not self designed and thus (perhaps), not intelligently designed?

Confused? The notion of a self designing design is especially hard to understand on a planet where we (most) see a clear distinction between human made and natural objects. [However, it is a distinction I do not see because humans as part of nature.] Just the same, the notion of a self designing design is crucial to evolution, and while complex, its power is compelling. If you are confused and interested pick up a good book on the subject or take a course. However, if you are presented with Intelligent Design, ask for a proposed or executed experiment published in a reputable scientific journal. Darwin had to go through the same efforts of the before his works were accepted. There is an established process in place and it has been put in place by an intelligent design (irony intended). The designer is certainly not God and its intelligence is often arguable, just the same it has served us well so far.

In summation, scientists are, by definition, very inquisitive people who would love to have conversations about many different theories and possibilities. The price of admission to such a conversation is to bring with an experimentally testable hypothesis. All other discussions belong in a different classroom.

AID · ale · creationism · darwin · darwinism · designer · evolution · frustrated scientist · God · http · hypothetical scientist · ILS · intelligent design · intelligent designer · king · life · namely God · nature · observer · philosophy · Red · Religion · Switzerland · White House