fractals and human behavior

(Mandelbrot set: by António Miguel de Campos) I’ve been called upon to reveal some scientific research to support my assertion that human behaviors follow the same fractal patterns that are the building blocks of the natural world around us. The onus is on me to provide some proof that the fractalic axiom “as above, so [...]

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fractals

(Mandelbrot fractal) What is a fractal? Why is it important? How can I turn a fractal into a philosophical metaphor that will knock everyone’s socks off? These questions and more have been knockin’ around the old noggin during the last few days…This blog posting will attempt to satisfy each question, and hopefully anyone who may [...]

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alternative science.

(Roger-Noël-François de La Fresnaye) I was reading a blog posting this afternoon when I came across this quote: The greatest threat to science and scientific progress is not religion, ignorance, or superstition, it is the mistaking of a model or paradigm for Reality, or “laws of Nature.” It is the creation of a type of religious [...]

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the oil spill is darwin’s fault.

(Jean-Baptiste Lamarck) In the last month I have witnessed a lot of death in nature. There was the green snake killed by the scrub jay (an experience on which I wrote a blog entry). Then two weeks ago I saw a little brown bird being pecked to death by a crow. Over the weekend I [...]

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over the river and through the woods…

I just got back from spending a night with twenty-one 5th graders and eight parents. We had really good food, thanks to the selfless devotion of one Jason B., who held a “food prep night” before we left. Fresh greens, garlic bread with real garlic, tomato sauce with fresh oregano. And real meatballs. Then liege [...]

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hooray for: (insert drug of choice)

I’ve been tired. I believe, if I’ve counted properly, that I have 14 1/2 days of school left. (I mentioned this fact on Thursday and one of my students said that he didn’t know that teachers counted down too. Ah youthful naivety). I thought I was going to talk about John Dee in this blog. [...]

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you have bones inside you.

My next door neighbor invited me to come over and watch his dog (and his cable) last friday night. I was watching an episode of the Ghost Whisperer (starring Jennifer Love Hewitt, who I last saw in that one show from the nineties…I keep thinking it was called Eight is Enough but that isn’t right…you [...]

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do you save worms on a rainy day?

(photo by Ingrid Taylar) I save worms. Sometimes I’m late to work because I keep finding them, every few feet, and I feel compelled to get them off the death cement and put them back into the soft, nutritious soil. Compelled, I said. I don’t necessarily do it because I have compassion for the worms. [...]

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van gogh the weaver.

(color wheel by Moses Harris–1766) Did you know that if you stare at a yellow circle for a minute or two and then close your eyes, you will see a purple circle floating around on the back of your eyelids? And that if you stare at a blue circle and then close your eyes you’ll [...]

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form from chaos, descending onto earth.

A friend once said that only narcissists commit suicide. At the time I felt like that a fair enough assumption (we were talking at the time about a wealthy, good looking movie star who had made the attempt but failed), but after reading and doing a little writing on Vincent van Gogh, I think I’ve [...]

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