In a magnanimous gesture of outward stretching towards the world at large, I am finally and tremulously bellyflopping into the pool of the internet. I will be squinting at the world through my muggy peepers and trying to make some sort of coherent record of what swirls about in my mind.
If I were to suggest a landscape of what you will see in there, I would urge you to picture an Arctic forest, chock full of deer and bears and hooting shinyeye birds. It is equally possible that you will step on a badger skull, or indeed come across a lovely dyke. A dyke of facts. Probably the least good kind.
Something which has blown my mind rather a lot recently is something called The Secret Life of Waves which I saw a few weeks ago on BBC4. It talks about the incredible physics (not often I can say that phrase without a sardonic eyebrow hoist) behind what waves actually are. In particular, it made me realise that the water doesn't actually move (that much, relatively), the wave does. I don't know if everyone else knew that, but waves are energy which is transferred through water, like as through a piece of silk or something. The whole universe is filled with waves of energy of different frequencies, but can be most clearly seen on water. (Like the sun, for example. If he had a hat on at the moment it would be some kind of St Patrick's Day, devil-may-care-who-gives-a-shit-I'm-letting-it-all-go felt jester number, is kindly beaming down extra specially damaging waves of radiation or Coronal Mass Ejections [it's only a matter of time before that gets twisted into a porn title - suggestions please. I'm going with a topical Royal Wedding Coronation Mass Erections, but am aware that that's pretty lame] which the earth is currently bobbing about in like an O2 promotional duck. For more info and some incredible NASA images of the sun doing a jizz, check out: http://www.tbd.com/blogs/weather/2011/02/2011-solar-flare-causes-magnetic-storms-today-video-photo--8657.html)
The most beautiful thing, I think, though, is the idea that the crashing of the waves, which I assumed is the smashing of water against the sea-floor, is actually nothing more than the cumulative cacophony of billions of tiny bubbles popping en masse. Can you imagine such a thing? No need, here's a nice science man to explain:
I'll just let that settle into your conscience for a bit.
Well, I must say it never occurred to me that solar flares are what you get when the sun has an orgasm. The sun must be masculine, then, while the entities that receive the sun’s “jizz”, which include the earth and the moon, must be feminine. So why do the Germans refer to Die Sonne (feminine) and Der Mond (masculine)?
ReplyDeleteOf course, one of these days the sun will swell and become a red giant, at which point it will swallow the earth. Erections can be dangerous!
If you’re really interested in waves, then try reading Schrodinger, who certainly knew a thing or two about them. Like you, he thought politically but you will not find much sexual imagery in his writings. Personally, I feel Schrodinger’s great rival, Werner Heisenberg, had much greater insights into the nature of reality.
Anyway, Miss Muggy Peepers, please keep up the blog. It’s an interesting read and you do at least have one fan.
Thanks for your comment, Ted - a real person who isn't contractually obliged to be interested is a very valuable thing! You make some good points:
ReplyDelete1. The sun is the most powerful and important thing to all of us, and so I imagine the vast majority of (male) world leaders throughout history have wished to align themselves with it, thus supplanting some of the earlier myths about a female sun, relics of which include the German "die", and I believe the Jains still worship a fe,ale sun deity.
2. Having said that, your inference that jizzing should automatically mean a male is wrong - jizzing is universal, just hard to do for some. The Kama Sutra is full of references to the precious female liquid, which should be worshipped and coaxed at all times.
3. I will move from Schrödinger's cat to his quantum foam, and admit that I have just bought but not yet fully read this week's New Scientist, in which apparently they manage to open up some quantum loopholes and discover the nature of reality. A bold headline, I fear. I will attempt to twist my head around the whole waves being particles except when looking at them, but I can't guarantee that I will be able to understand it and not want to smash the place up.