Creative Play

I used to love to go into Radio Shack and pick through all of the chips, resistors, capacitors, switches, etc. that they had. The whole store used to be taken over by this stuff. Now you're lucky if you can even get in there past all of the yipping plastic robot dogs, roaring dinosaurs and remote-control cars. What happened?

I recently read someones rant on something similar to this. It seems over the years (at least the ones I've been around for) that there's been a transition from "build it yourself" to "take home this ready-made plastic thing". I remember playing with everything from Lego kits to chemistry kits to electronics kits and getting myself in trouble (yes, acid burns carpet). Now play seems much more guided and guarded.

Don't get me wrong. I had plenty of ready-made plastic things growing up. I enjoyed figuring out how to take most of them apart. I got all but a few of them put back together with minimal leftovers.

Even Lego has transformed. I remember having a technical Lego car kit that was basically just a jumble of pieces that looked nothing like a car. When I put them together with gears and a motor I could almost make out a car-like form. Creative play ensued...I had to make it "be" a car in my mind. I was recently at LegoLand at the Mall of America where they have a Lego airplane (looks like a stubby Boeing 737). Seriously, it's as if they took a die-cast Boeing 737 model mould, filled it with molten Lego plastic, cut it into about six pieces, threw in a few of the signature Lego nubblies at weird and unexpected spots on the airframe, and put it in a box. The thing looks exactly like what it is supposed to look like, just smaller. I bet the assembly instructions leave nothing to the imagination! As much as I like things that fly and want to encourage my kids to like things that fly, I did not buy this. Instead, my kids and I (well, okay, mostly I) enjoy making Lego airplanes that are gigantic and so unweildy that they have to be left "on the ground". Attempts to fly them invariably lead to wings shearing off or the fuselage splitting in half. What it gives us is an opportunity to explore...to figure out if there are better ways to make wings so they won't shear off the moment the airplane is lofted skyward.

On the other hand, I have an Erector Set kit that has instructions for three out of the "seven suggested models". Good for them! I have to admit, though, being a bit frustrated that I couldn't figure out how to make my jumble of metal bits look *exactly* like one of the suggested models without step-by-step guidance.

Turns out I'm old...I believe we lose creative play as we get older. But wait...do we lose it, or is it lost on us because of the decline in availability of creative play enhancing toys?

Deep Thoughts

So I was recently loaned an Organic Chemistry textbook by my brother-in-law who teaches the same at Ball State in Indiana. It happens to be a topic I have wanted to pursue ever since I figured out I wouldn't have enough credits (or money, or time) to learn it in school. That's what's great about having brainiac brother-in-laws (brothers-in-law? see...).

Point being, it's deep stuff. I like, no *love* deep stuff. I like to graze around in the depths of topics that are, as a whole, mostly beyond me. I figure that by doing so I might somehow coddle together a vague idea of what life is all about. Along the way perhaps, I'll also bring some of that knowledge into my head and keep it warm for a little while until I leave [Paul Erdos -- thanks for the book, Mom!].

Here's an example of deep stuff I enjoy...more on Organic Chemistry later:

I recently read "The Big Bang Never Happened: A Startling Refutation of the Dominant Theory of the Origin of the Universe" by Eric J. Lerner. Yeeesh, what a title! It describes an alternative theory to the origin of the Universe. Plasma cosmology theory basically states that everything formed from electromagnetic vortices and plasma interacting in ways that makes them twist and spin together tightly enough to form universes of stars, galaxies, super-cluster galaxies, etc. It postulates that the Universe is far older than the 14billion-or-so years the Big Bang theorists propose. Evidence of this, so it goes, is in the sheer immensity of some of the large-scale structures observable in our Universe, such as super-cluster galaxies. In fact, the author proposes an evolutionary model of the Universe that "has no beginning or end". The Universe is just a constantly evolving entity.

No sooner had I put this down, convinced that the Big Bang theory was dead [while also making a mental note to check recent events as the book was published back in 1992], when I picked up and read "Atom: A Single Oxygen Atom's Journey from the Big Bang to Life On Earth and Beyond" by Lawrence M. Krauss. Yeeesh, what a title! This is a story of, as you would hopefully expect, a single oxygen atom's...well...okay. The basic premise is that atoms are born but very rarely die. So rarely in fact that we will probably never see one before the Universe goes belly-up (or so I gathered). And, how are atoms born? From the fiery-yet-ever-so-tiny furnace that was the Big Bang, of course. From there they are spewed outward and form clusters of what will become stars; inside the stars they begin to clump together more protons/neutrons and form higher elements; lather, rinse, and repeat, and WHAM...here we are. It was a very interesting journey, I've never really thought about atoms as things that persist. I never thought about atoms dying. When I die, my atoms will become part of something else. Now that, they teach you in church.

So I read these two books and am still totally confused, but that is a good feeling. Did the Big Bang happen or not? I'd like to think not. If the Universe was born it has to die. Are atoms born? If so, they too must die. But we haven't seen one die yet. Do we know what we are looking for?

Perhaps the birth of a Universe is something we just can't (yet?) grasp. We cuddle up to the Big Bang theory because it sounds cool and gives us a point (literally) of reference. But then again, it also alludes to possible points of exit (ie. Universe death). The Universe will die, either by continued expansion leading to heat death (every atom in the Universe separated by such a great distance that there is minimal interaction between them and thus no heat generated to perform work or sustain life, or at least nowhere near enough to fire up another atom-forming star cauldron), or by a crunch back down to the singularity-sized Big Bang predecessor. But if you believe Eric J. Lerner you will wonder if we're making our observations match the Big Bang theory just because that's what we want to believe happened.

So if there was a Big Bang...cool. But what caused it? If the Universe is a continually evolving and even-more-gigantic/old-than-we-can-fathom entity...cool. But what caused it?

It's this kind of mess that keeps me on my toes.

Like a Blogger...for the very first time!

I don't know why I expected cheers, noisemakers and something like "next up, Mr. Pow takes a stab at wowing with his intelect..." when I decided to step into the Blogosphere.

No fanfare...quite the contrary. A web-flash of "thanks for signing up, now get blogging..." and next thing I know I'm sitting in front of a blank screen, the computer patiently poised for my first keystroke. I could almost feel the phosphors glow differently as I struck the key and it appeared on the screen in front of me -- breaking the silence, filling the void that was the Big Bang of my Blogospheric birth.

Also as soon as I started typing the title, "Like a Virgin" started running through my head.

Wake up ya'll...I'm here...

I feel a bit like a Jesus-wannabe, someone standing in the crowd thinking "Blessed be this and that group? I can *so* top that!" Where's my Mount? I've got something to say! But, as it turns out, I'm really not very good at forming readable thoughts. I don't think I'd do very good trying to feed hundreds of people with a loaf of bread and a fish, either. No, I guess I'm one of the meek, or the cheese-makers depending on your degree of Pythonism (Monty-style). I keep mostly to myself, so you won't get much "this friend did this, that friend did that" here. Just me and my musings on...whatever.

So I guess I'll fire off a list of the things that interest me, concern me, define me, have happened to me, are dreams of mine, etc. Items within this list may or may not appear as focus for my future posts. I can make no promises. Perhaps I can incorporate them in the title somehow so you (there are readers out there? right?) can skip past ones that don't sound at all interesting.

Possible blog topics (no order possible):
My Boys (Gavin 4, Matthew 2)
My Wife (Mary)
My Cats (Lily, Izzy)
My Family
Nintendo 8-bit
Software Engineering
Systems Engineering
Aviation
Airbus A380
Telecommunications
Projects I Am Working On
Projects I Want To Work On
Work (Honeywell)
GPS
Navigation Algorithms
Chemistry
Genetics
Mathematics
Physics
Quantum Mechanics
Biology
2D Videogaming
3D Videogaming
Universe
Politics
My House
My House Renovations
My House Problems
DIY
DDIY (Don't DIY)
HYFILDIFY (Have Your Father-In-Law Do It For You)
Minneapolis
Monty Python
Fawlty Towers
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Extras

If any of those sound interesting, check back.