Monday, March 16, 2009

Gardenrant.com

Kevin Hollis wins the Good Enough to Eat prize for this lifelong saga:

He met his wife because she saw that corn in the graduate co-op garden and asked him what his secret was. He missed the birth of his son because he insisted that there was one perfect day to plant this family "heirloom". He wouldn't be one of those pacing types anyway. His daughter had been married in their backyard and he was certain it was pollen from this corn that made her new in-laws sneeze throughout the ceremony. Only appropriate then, he thought, when he gasped for his last breathe staring up at the sky between those emerald leaves.

Those of my friends who have not gone to gardenrant.com should go there now!

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Environmental Decoherence

"Once environmental decoherence blurs a wavefunction, the exotic nature of quantum probabilities melts into the more familiar* probabilities of day-to-day life." -- Brian Greene
* (familiar to some of us I would say, but a mystery to all those who date, play the lottery, or tithe.)
I highly recommend The Elegant Universe and The Fabric of the Cosmos to all of you struggling to understand quantum physics and "apply it" to your daily lives. Brian Greene is a very talented author. I thought I was up to date and appropriately confused about the realm of electrons and photons but now I know I needed a refresher, and his is the best.