Tag Archives: Brian Clegg

Blogs, Wordpress

Daily Prompt: Connect the Dots (To the Moon)

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Gravity
Gravity (Photo credit: eat more toast)

Today’s Daily Prompt was just too enticing to pass it by. Open your nearest book to page 82. Take the third full sentence on the page, and work it into a post somehow.

Well the first book I grabbed was a notebook so with a little extra lean in the opposite direction I picked up my latest read.  Once I saw it I was tempted to go for another but figured that wasn’t fair.  After all what is the poiont of a game if you don’t follow the rules?

Many years ago I fell into the ‘buzz’ trap getting all caught up with my friends when Weight Watcherswas a relatively new program.  Oh my we counted our proteins, fats, and breads, adhered to three fish meals a week, and made sure we ticked off every wee box for water, milk and fluids.  Our social get togethers amongst the women folk were all about what and how we achieved and discussions ensued on the validity of the program (after all it was over seen by physicians) and how well we were doing.

Weight Watchers company logo
Weight Watchers company logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Now belonging to  an active weight loss club is a lot like being addicted to, say, gambling.  When the scales are not in sight the conversations can be all about your success – how much you lost (or gained when it comes to gambling),-  with little discussion about your set backs or losses.

‘Why you know I lost 25 but must confess I gained a bit back but then I lost it again and I feel wonderful!’

Meanwhile you think to yourself, Honey, I saw you when you joined months ago and the only difference I can see is your hairstyle.

*Actually the program works fine as does any weight loss program **if you follow the plan.

But this post is not about losing or gaining, about succeeding or failing.   It’s about perception and the why of things.  By the way I did all right on the program then and each of the ten times I joined in the following decades.  Matter of fact I will never again even see my initial joining weight (which I thought was soooo huge) but now lies 25 pounds ago quite happily.  This is because I choose to believe the medical data that says an elderly person (well as close to elderly as damn is to swearing) should not be stick thin.  It’s healthy to carry a little weight.  I would also like to say it is all behind me  now (get it? get it?) but that would be way too much of a stretch because in fact it is all in front. haha

But now I realize I can believe pretty much anything I choose..so my hypothesis is that food intake has nothing to do with a generous middle.  It all has to do  with Gravity and the moon, tides and oceans, and because we are 90% water – salt water that is- well we reflect mother earth which lends credence to “‘This is the main reason for the tidal bulge on the opposite side of the Earth to the Moon.” *Gravity by Brian Clegg page 82 third full sentence.

It is quite humorous decades later to laugh or chuckle at our youthful worries and thoughts.  It is also quite satisfying to find joy in the me of now and quite like how I am.  What a difference a little age and wisdom makes.

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Authors, Truth

Hypothesis for Today’s Living – Electrically Charged

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Smart Meter, Boring topic
Smart Meter, Boring topic (Photo credit: miheco)

As many of you know my thoughts get to bubbling and boiling now and then on issues of truth.  What is truly true?  What is financially profitable for those who declare truth?  Why are we so ready to believe authoritative statements of so called fact just because they have access to media, speak louder and longer, and often sport impressive degrees utilizing just about every letter of the alphabet?

I have been knocking back three or four books a week lately and the latest was an interest book by Brian Clegg called Gravity which is intriguing as long as I jump over some statements such as, ‘It says that the square of a planter’s orbital period is proportional to the cube of it semi-major axis.’  Clegg then goes on to explain that sentence that in no way added clarity for me, but aside from that the book really does hold worthwhile information that my plebian brain does understand.

Now don’t run off yet because here comes the crux of my thoughts.

Science, which I once thought was solid is probably the least solid of any subject matter.  The current definition of Hypothesis is: 1.  A supposition or proposed explanation made on the basis of limited evidence as a starting point for further investigation   2. a proposition made as a basis for reasoning, without any assumption of its truth.

I love number 1!  ANYONE can make a supposition on the basis of limited evidence!  and do!  And in many cases the public buys it.

Basically hypothesis is my favorite question – What If.

See I used to think Sciences were confirmed truths and I am not the only one.  It seems folks just like to grab onto an idea and declare it truth: the earth is flat, the heavens rotate around the earth, man is the center of existence.  Copernicus, Galileo, Newton, Huygen, gradually dispelled these ‘hypothesis becomes truth’ ideas though not without effort.    I find it amusing that scientific truths that change as new discoveries are made are heralded and brand new discoveries. Yipee! When the fact is that the truth has always been there, we just haven’t noticed it yet.

Cover of "Timeline"
Cover of Timeline

Michael Crichton, in one of my fave books TimeLine says in the Introduction;  ‘By the end of the nineteenth centyr it semed that the basic fundamental principlels governing the behavior of the physical universe were known.’  And the same was true at the beginning of the twentieth century.  But explosive new information continues to change the world.  Man as in HUman continues to be surprised.  Perhaps the surprise is at their own ability to continue uncovering layers of knowledge.

But I digress – badly – horribly.  What really got me on this train of thought is not ever changing scientific principles but ordinary every day things we take as truth.  I’ve said it before and will continue to say it, she says with that more dinosaur rather than guru wisdom, we, the people need to embrace some of the mindset of the sixties – question everything and believe nothing you are told with out careful examination.

Take something as simple as our Hydro (electricity from water), although most of you probably just call it electric as sources include nucleur power, wind generated power..etc etc.

Now here in Southern Ontario, sometime ago suppliers started advertising that the cost of power would increase dramatically but the common folk should rejoice because the government was going to install Smart Meters.  Why to prevent the increased cost you just had to let your life be guided by Smart Meter.  Occassionally someone on the six  o’clock news will say that regardless of when they use electricity the prices have skyrocketed.   So I took a look at the ‘rules’ to save money on the Smart Meter.

Smart Meter Hungry Meter

My hypothesis for this one is:  The robotic acceptance by the public is directly influenced by the degree of fecal matter dished by profit making government and non-government agencies to feed the illusion that consequential high costs are generated by that same robotic public. *Bridgesburning 2012

Hypothesis are fine as long as they are not accepted as truth.  The truly great minds intended, I believe, that they be a jumping off place for investigation, but gosh darn we are so hungry to feel “Truth’ we want to leap frog over the points and make it true by saying it’s true.

Now just to explain Mr. Smart Meter’s secret plan for winter – our current season:  (keep in mind a family of four as an example).  If you wish to be truly cost effective you can only use hydro from 9pm to 1am.  That’s the time to run appliances, heat, cooling, cooking, bathing/showering, laundry.

Now lets look at the most expensive time to run hydro: 5pm – 9pm and 1am to 11am  Seems to be that pretty much covers essentials like eating, bathing unless you insist the evening meal be taken at about 4pm and keep the kids up til 9ish for perhaps a snack because nothing else can be gotten until after 11 am (late late brekkie).

Summers are pretty good and weekends and holidays are also reasonable.  But the big nasty gobbling everything we have hydro company makes winter the most distasteful season and the most expensive.  Just think if we could spend November to May each using no electricity we might actually have some money in our pockets to head south for 6 months not for luxury but necessity.

*And NO Ontario Power /Hydro – I will not accept your definition of the highest used times for winter.  You would have to do some mighty big talking to get this girl back on the robotic farm of truth acceptance.

 

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