Via Karol.

Wanting to be up on the basic concepts as well as being interested in the advances, I've been reading a whole lot.

Primarily books by Lee Smolin, a well-known physicist and critic (as well as sometime supporter) of string theory.

My current reading is "Three Roads to Quantum Gravity," although it's more a place for me to make notes on what is going through my head on that topic. Lots of questions, not many conclusions. I'm going to start posting them here as I think of them, rather than waiting for class and then confusing my teachers.

It's been a long year. The new URL for this blog, fallenicarus.net reflects the changes I've gone through. Now I'm picking up the pieces.

Bear with me please, and don't remove me from blogrolls. I'm not gone, just lurking. Spring is on its way, and I'll be hot on its tail.

Meanwhile, as a show of good faith, here's me with the Little Orange Princess, Her Royal Highness Athena.

Mark this day well, it's the first time I've shown a photo of my face on this site.

Didn't Bush say last night that he wants to institute a guest-worker program to allow for those already here to stay, and just keep new ones from coming in? That makes perfect sense to me. Add in an easier method for western-hemisphere citizens to immigrate here, and I am happy.

That's really the long and short of it.

Bitch.

The other night, coming home from class, I saw a tortie I hadn't encountered before. Although possibly pregnant, with a round belly, she seemed well-fed and happy, as well as being very friendly, miauwing at me and bullying my hand into petting her. Since it was raining, she was damp, but didn't seem all that uncomfortable. Every time I took a step, she would follow me, rubbing against my leg and demanding attention. I crouched down and skritched behind her ears a bit, eliciting a sweet purr and more vehement miauws.

We continued on for a few feet, approaching my building and enjoying each other's company. She didn't seem all that hungry, just wanting attention. As we arrived at my building, I started to wonder what my own kittens would think when they smelled her on me, as well as how I was going to get up into the building without her following me. She hopped up a couple steps behind me, calling insistantly and wondering where I was going and looking at me with curiosity. She had her head tilted in that friendly kitty way, which seems to say "hey, wait, I wasn't done with you, where are you going? Pay more attention to me!"

All the while, my brain was swirling, trying to figure out how to slip in the door, since although she was breaking my heart and I wanted to bring her in with me, I wasn't about to expose my girls to anything she might be carrying, and I couldn't isolate her easily. She sat down on the one dry spot, continuing to look at me and ask what I was doing. Tears filling my eyes, I put the key in the lock and slipped in my front door, closing it on her questions and demands.

The last I saw of her, she was staring at me through the wrought-iron covered window, expecting me to come back out and play with her. I assume she has a home, since that was the first and last I've seen of her, but I'm probably deluding myself. All I can do is hope she has someone caring for her and giving her the love she enjoys so much.

Professors feel the need to "police" their classrooms by banning laptops. This goes back to the concept that the students aren't adults, but children who need to be taken by the hand and lead around the world.

How can we expect to grow up if they insist on treating us as irresponsible? Punish the whole for the failings of a few?

Trying to globalize the world might destroy the diversity of many cultures of humankind.

Friedman's book The World is Flat is referenced.

"There is this fear that culture will become flat."

I really don't think so. Globalization gives everyone an equal playing field on an economic level, but, if done properly, the individual cultures also become equally represented. A child in India can learn the peculiarities of the Japanese people. At the same time, a Chinese businessman can understand how to do business in France or Brazil.

I'm reminded of the trip my father took in the late 80's to Asia. He spent so much time beforehand learning the little cultural references so he wouldn't insult his associates. He studied not only the language, but the proper way to approach a colleague, how to act in a teahouse, and what would be expected of him in negotiations.

It's been years since I've thought of that. Amazing.

Getting back to the topic at hand...The current globalization trend is not the "flattening" that Friedman and his readers seem to think it is. Instead it's a rounding of the world economy and a strengthening of the understanding of all of us as "human."

They're offering a scholarship to people who participate in the site. I feel like I should challenge their progressive thoughts by joining up, blowing them all away, and then getting banned from the site for sounding conservative.

Mwuahahahahaha.

Have I mentioned I'm evil?

Yeah. Evil. And I enjoy the hell out of it.

Oy.

School has started again. I'm going back and forth as to whether or not I want to take classes this summer, just because the idea of getting out of school makes me happy, but so does keeping my summer free.

Ideas?

Here are the current notes and questions:

Children need to be children while learning how to interact with organized systems and adults. How does this work? How is it possible to raise a child who is not overscheduled but still is able to grow up well, without seeing a divide between adult and child?

UPDATE: Never mind. It's all about their hatred of Family Guy.

Which I love, by the way.