h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Just aside, as I'm not sure it showed from my postings: I wasn't particularly offended (though I can understand how some sissies would be ). It seemed that you were going on an increasing slope of, um... interesting jokes

Anyway it reminded me of the ways to catch a lion in the Sahara desert:

http://www.netfunny.com/rhf/jokes/89q3/lions.552.html

Hey thanks Toy Box. I can't tell you how nice it feels to get your friendly humerous post. Shall have a good read later.

I'm glad someone got my gallows humour on that thread. It's no different to the type of thing you regualarly get in any comedy club in London, (also known as Satan's abode, bysome )

As you say, it's all context. It could be pretty frightening on some other forums, I guess.

By the way, just remembered something which really, really puzzles me about reality, but it's a bit difficult to share. Seeing that you are scientifically minded I shall use you as a guinea pig

It is about a very strange link between mathematics and physics.

First, the maths: I don't know how you were taught about derivatives, but for me they were introduced starting with the graph of a function and how to compute equations for the tangent, subsequently rediscovering all usual differentiating rules. And we get interpretation in terms of velocity etc.

Later, we were told that vector-valued functions could be differentiated just the same way, by differentiating each component and just putting all together again. (Quite unlike differentiation of several-variables functions, which is messy.)

Now the physics: We learn also that speed is the derivative of position and acceleration the one of speed, and that this feature is also true for vector-valued functions: that is, Newton works in space as well and not only on a line.

So, when you have a point which moves around on a fancy trajectory, its speed is still the derivative of bla.. bla.. and the acceleration as well.

Now the miracle: we take something circling steadily around some fixed point, along a circle, at constant angular speed. If we apply the maths, just following the rules we got by looking at tangents on a graph, we find some speed vector which is not tangent to the circle but points out a little. Fair enough, mathematicians are weird guys, no wonder their rules give eldritch results.

The beauty of it is: well, they didn't get it actually wrong, as you can really *feel* that centrifugal force when you circle around a fixed point. This is what puzzles me so much: you have a virtual force, which has no physical origin whatsoever (as when someone pushes you), but which you retrieve when following mechanically the mathematical procedure obtained from a somewhat different field

Do you see what I mean? Isn't that curious?



Which reminds me of a book I saw, 'What you believe but cannot prove' or something, where different personalities were asked that question and the answers were collected. I peeked inside and, sure enough, found Richard Dawkins saying something like that he believes (but cannot prove) that if there is any sort of life anywhere else in the universe it will still be evolve according to the same laws of evolution and natural selection.

This is an aside. What I believe but cannot prove is that if there is out there a civilisation sufficiently advanced to make use of mathematics it will have come up with at least the same essential basics as us, maybe some bit of plane geometry, prime numbers and, more beautifully, pi. The same pi as we do! Fancy that.



OK, that's enough mathematics for tonight. Sorry about that!

Hey Toy Box I'm having one of my excessively hotly emotional 'turns' at present. (No-one can do an emotional fit like a bipolar, ) Once I calm down, hopefully tomorrow, I shall give your posts proper attention. I love having you posting on my ps, btw


I've noticed you contributing more to threads lately, which I really like.

Hi Toy Box

Just got through reading your link in the first post. Hilarious!

My favourite is

2.1 The Dirac method

We assert that wild lions can ipso facto not be observed in the Sahara
desert. Therefore, if there are any lions at all in the desert, they
are tame. We leave catching a tame lion as an execise to the reader.


That really appeals to me, catching a theoretical tame lion that unfortunately turns out to be the actual one in a million real lion, that happens every 17 years that's got lost and happened on the Sahara and so one is mauled to death by some very low probability claws and canines.


I hope this fantasy appeals to you as much as it does to me.

Hey, no problem with taking your time to read or answer the postings

I liked Schroedinger's method a lot

Indeed, this posting more thing... It was really your message which achieved that. I can't really figure out why, but there was a flash in wherever flashes happen and I started posting more (but not smarter, mark you )

Toy Box you lost me on the maths.

I have a very basic qualification in maths, O level. At university I did stats to a higher level. Derivatives, calculus, yes? are a very hazy memory indeed.

I love thinking about things quite deeply and plafully in terms of creative thinking. Comedy, philosophy and literature. But my pure maths is no great shakes. You don't really need it for biology, which is the 'science' which most interests me.

But by all means post stuff which I might not fully understand. There's nothing I like better than struggling with trying to understand something I don't understand if I see creative potential in it for mind.

I may well not understand something that is probably quite simple and basic for you, in terms of pure maths.

The maths itself don't really matter. Mostly, the stunning bit is that when you do blindly the computation you obtain a "force" which doesn't seem to have any physical origin, and yet in real life you experience exactly that force .

That's a very effective trick to progress - trying to follow something which is just a bit outside your field of comprehension. Just like sports I guess, you get better when trying to achieve just more than what you currently can

By the way (you'll be impressed at my fast reaction time ) didn't you say somewhere that you spent time in the Amazonian forest? Isn't it that huge green bit with all the creepy crawly? Would you like to tell me more about it?

Yes. It wasn't technically part of the Amozonian system, but the connected to the Mana river in French Guina, connected ultimately with Amazonian forest.

Where to begin? It was one of the most positive and negative experiences of my life. The positive involving the animal life I saw there. And the things I learned by literally living in the forest for several weeks. And not in the David Attenbrough way of some interesting animal every 5 seconds. There'd be days of misery, being eaten alive by something known coloquially as 'grass lice' that live in the rain forest floor. These little b**tards. bite you and leave part of their mouth parts behind in your skin. Mosquito bites are a breeze compared with these. They itch unbarably for weeks. They are a specific problem to the South American forest that any person entering the forest for any length of time has to deal with. Europeans are particularly affected because we have no kind of immunity to them. However much you try to cover your legs, they still get through. I've yet to hear them mentioned on the pretty wildlife programmes on telly. I can only presume that the presenters fly in and out really quickly, and don't have to live with the realities.

I was there assisting someone who was studying seed dispersal in the virgin forest. The system of rain forest renewal is incredible complex, involving many different animals being attracted to a particular tree when it is fruiting. Spider monkeys and other species of monkey are important as well as other mammals such as peccaries, and birds. Basically the fruits get eaten and the seeds are expelled in the sh*t. Thus a tree can renew itself. Rain forest woodland is utterly different to temperate forest in that there far greater species variety than temperate forest.

This is why when forest is cut down for logging, even if some trees are left in a small protected zone, the forest doesn't regenerate properly because the complex interaction between the many animals and plants is destroyed.

Any way that's a taster of things. I'll tell you more about it in subsequent posts. Because it was one of the highlights of my life; and there's so much to tell.

There's no word for it. If you told me that you are good friends with Sean Connery I would be less amazed. It is really one of the most fascinating places on - you sort of know it from documentaries (or movies!) but it makes one forget that it is a real place.

I look forward to hearing more about it

Yes that's ultimately what's most interesting to discover, the actual hell of trying to live in true virgin equitorial forest. You are assaulted continually. You realise that you are an animal like any other trying to survive. It's very hot and very damp, though at night it can get quite chilly. You can't wear leather boots because they start rotting immedediately in such conditons. Everything is speeded up in terms of the process of death, decay and re-uptake of nutrients by the plants from the soil; hence the soil layer is only very thin. Another reason why logging is so destructive. In no time the original soil is eroded.

The roots of rain forest trees stretch huge distances away from the tree as the soil is so thin, to grab the nutrients. It's quite weird every so often hearing something like a rifle crack. It's a tree falling over in the distance and because their roots stretch 'miles' when they snap, it's with incredible force. I wouldn't want to be unlucky enough to be next to one when its time was up....

More tomorrow. It's fun telling you about it. I've got a good long term memory, and it's still quite vivid, because everything was so intense. My so called intellectual brain at the time sort of disappeared, because it was all I could do to cope physically with conditions.

This is another reason why some wildlife programmes bug me so much; they give so little hint of actually how hard it is to survive as the 'observer' in such situations. The observer is presented as a 'neutral' onlooker on behalf of 'we' the viewers.

It's fun reading about it I wonder if the Earth long long ago did look a bit like that.

I had no idea the soil was so thin, and rather expected the opposite Well, now you explained why, it seems natural.

It must be a normal reaction to put your intellectual brain aside in this environment, as it seems you need to turn more practical, maybe. As you said, an animal like any other trying to survive.

Be back soon for more rainforest installments Toy box.

At present having another very very big emotional turn. a really nasty one actually

The rain forest can wait. Take good care of yourself

Thanks. its complicated. Everything always seems to be with me.

But the rain forest is always there in the background to get back to. There's so much more I want to tell you.

Hey Toy Box It's genuinely very difficult for me emotionally at present for complicated emotional reasons you don't need to know, but just thinking you are there really helps.

Glad to be of service

I hope you will feel better soon.

Hi Toy Box, hope you don't mind me speaking about this thing to do with Vicky. I feel like hell about it. She's had quite a few problems for a few years on the religious threads, often being the only faith person. She can be quite provocative and difficult and annoying in debate, no doubt. Thing is I've got to like her as a person and can see some reasons why she is the way she is, like all of us have difficulties due to our background.

Anyway recently I made a particular effort to get friendlier with her and started a thread for us to discuss things. It's been really good how it's developed and I've felt much closer to her and friendlier with her as I got to know her.

In the background was a post by someone, called, 3dots, who I have a lot of intellectual respect for, which analysed Vicky in 3 objective ways. You'll see it towards the end of the 'Why am I on your friends list' thread on my space, where I posted it. It's always freaked me out. But I tried to push it away from my mind. Anyway yesterday someone sent me an email which really disturbed me about Vicky. It really spooked me. And last night I got in a panic and imagined that Vicky wasn't a real person, but some kind of calculated construct, because of the email and 3dots analysis.

I posted that last night because of the surreal panic I was in, to get Vicky to explain once and for all. But ever since she has not come back. I feel so guilty for doing that, even though I was in a kind of existential panic because of the email and 3dots analysis.

All night I was torn in conflict about which *truth* to believe in. It was horrific. I still have it a bit. But suddenly last night I felt my *instincts* were telling me that Vicky is for real, the person I've grown to like and love even. And that's what I think now for sure.

But the guilt is unbearable. Thinking she read that analytical stuff about her, that *I* posted from 3dots. Me being the person she'd got to like and trust.

I feel unbelievably awful and angry and upset.

Hope you don't mind me unburdening myself with this?

I felt the need to tell someone here. And for all I know Vicky may just not be back online for normal reasons. But I can't help worry because of that thing I posted of 3dots. The email I got earlier was the main stimulus though for the state of paranoia I suddenly got in.

I'm so angry and upset.

No problem, I am honoured that you unburdened yourself to me

Well, I see no reason why Vicky should not be real. Yes, she can have a, um, peculiar way to argue in God threads, but I always attributed it (at least partly) to feeling too defensive about sometimes very fierce opponents.

Maybe I am too trusting. On the other hand, maybe 3dots is not trusting enough. That is, from his postings he appears to be a very, very rational person. While, of course, this certainly makes his opinion very valuable, it could also make him, maybe, misunderstanding towards emotional people. Well, not 'emotional', but I cannot find a better word (it feels like impressionism as opposed to realism anyway).

As for Vicky's absence so far, I wouldn't worry for now: what with the time difference and maybe some nudge from RL, the online communication can stutter a little. I mean, she hasn't been away for long yet.



I would feel that the fact that you and Vicky carry on with this conversation shows that you care, despite the occasional rough patches - and apparently, being bipolar means that patches can be very rough!

Surely she had read 3dots's analysis on the other thread anyway - then she might appreciate the fact that you were open about it to her. It seems to me, from the Why Am I On Your Friends List thread, that she likes you too - I guess it could be due to your being open and honest, even if it means expressing doubts at time.