Daily Report
Our day started out early this morning when Clementine decided the water bowl was empty. Well, it was--right after she took it in her teeth and flipped it over. Sandy got up, threw a towel over the water to soak it all up and prevent a possible slipping hazard, and she filled it up again. She was not a happy camper by any stretch of the imagination. I coerced Clementine to come over to my side of the bed and lie down. She did. I think she knew her mother was angry, and no one wants to make the mother unhappy at four in the morning.
On a much brighter front, the sun came up a few hours longer, and Alexa awakened us to an Electric Light Orchestra tune. After getting up and letting the dogs out, I took Clementine to the cage we have set up for her in the dining room. She's not quite old enough to be left without supervision. She's well trained, though. She runs right into the cage because she knows she'll get a treat afterward. Maybe she's got me well-trained...?
Sandy and I went to the chiropractor, then we grabbed breakfast and went to our doctor (I mentioned her yesterday). When I got home, I turned on the waterfall, and I sat with the dogs as they wandered around the yard doing everything but notice the squirrels trying to attract their attention. One even ran over and perched on top of the waterfall, but he scampered off when I grabbed my phone to take his picture.
We have a lot of birds visiting our bird feeders. And squirrels. Taking care of Mother Nature isn't easy, but it's something we all need to do. Besides, I get the side benefit of watching the wide variety of avian critters who like our birdie buffet. We've got some really large blue jays who've been in attendance, and yesterday I snapped a picture of our resident woodpecker. I'll resist the urge to call him "Woody." Enjoy.
It's Magic I Tell You!
Normally when I think of magic, I think of the sort of sleight of hand that's always been popular in Las Vegas. Back in my single days, I'd take the train to Vegas to see the shows. I've never been much of a gambler, and Branson hadn't attracted my attention. I saw quite a few magicians in those days. The highlight of those experiences was Melinda--the First Lady of Magic. She had one trick I remember quite well, as she disappeared in a cloud of smoke on stage, and then she suddenly reappeared at the back of the auditorium moments later. It was so fast I imagined a certain Scottish engineer had a hand in it. She's still performing from what I understand. At one time she was associated with Rick Little, but that relationship fell apart after she discovered he'd been taping them in bed. The resulting lawsuit made national news and changed my opinion of Rick Little quite a bit. She later married Lance Burton, another Vegas Magician I'd seen in the past. That marriage lasted about as long as her trip from the stage to the back of the auditorium.
Then, of course, you can't mention magic in the current world without mentioning Harry Potter. I've read the books. I've seen the movies. Watching the three kids that started out as Harry, Hermione, and Ron grow up was something we all share in a sense. I'll confess that I had to look up how to spell Hermione, but I've got it committed to my short-term memory now.
In 1975, during my senior year in college, I had the rare opportunity to spend three days with Arthur C. Clarke (the fellow who wrote 2001: A Space Odyssey). I talk about this fairly often because as a science fiction reader and writer, meeting Arthur C. Clarke was akin to meeting Isaac Asimov and Robert A. Heinlein (and shame on you if you don't know who they are!).
I mention Arthur C. Clarke because he created a concept that's relative to the subject of magic. He said that "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." Relate that to UFOs, and you've got an explanation for their ability to make right corner turns in an instant or their ability to vanish right in front of your eyes (I've had that happen).
When it comes to physics, there are a few concepts I understand innately. I can't explain them, and the scientific formulas supporting them look like a foreign language to me, but I understand some of them well enough to get by. Ideas like inertia, for example. The definition of inertia is that an object at rest tends to stay at rest, and an object in motion tends to stay in motion. You have to apply force (energy) to move an object, and you have to remove energy (friction) to get an object in motion to slow down and stop. Think about driving your car. When you make a fast turn, you lean in the direction opposite the turn. You hit the brakes to slow down. Anyway, those are my ideas on the subject. I've got a good friend from college who's probably reading this and smacking his head against the wall right now. He's a retired physics professor. He also helped confirm one of my ideas about time travel not long ago. I expect he'll send me an email correcting my gross over-simplifications.
If you move beyond normal, everyday physics like the laws of motion, gravity, and so forth, you eventually end up in the realm of quantum physics/mechanics. I don't understand enough about either to know if they're two separate things or just parts of the same thing. There's where you get into the hazy, fuzzy, mysterious world that springboards into teleportation and even warp travel.
Now, there's magic!
That's enough for now.
Take care. Stay safe.
cma
No comments:
Post a Comment