Sunday, August 28, 2011 Lethbridge
5:15 am
The temperature is +14 C, with a high predicted of +26 C. From the Environment Canada website: Today Mainly sunny. Wind west 20 km/h becoming northeast 20 near noon. High 26. UV index 7 or high. Tonight Clear. Low 10. Normals Max: 23°C Min: 8°C.
5:30 am Morning Musings
It has been almost exactly 2 months since I last (June 26) sat down in the early morning to collect a few thoughts.
The three main activities identified at that time (new vehicle, raised gardens, new GPS) have all come to pass. Actually, the raised gardens are not quite completed. But arrangements have been made to haul away the excess dirt as well as some additional yard refuse. As soon as that is done we will order the stones for the pathways and it should only take a couple of hours to spread them out and that will finish this activity.
I have reached my goal of 1000 geocaches and have resolved the problem with Dreamweaver. I am back to a fairly regular routine with Literature.
What now needs attention?
Geocaching should be raised to a regular activity. So should mathematics and science. Time with model trains should be increased and so should time playing with new recipes. Finally, I need to return to my daily coulee walks.
- Literature
- I have selected "The Elephant's Journey" by Jose Saramago as my next novel.
- Geocaching
- There are a number of new caches in Waterton National Park as well as many in the immediate Lethbridge area.
- Mathematics
- I have 3 main interests in mathematics: symmetry, linear algebra, and APL
- I have a good book on symmetry
- and another on linear algebra. This can be coordinated with an MIT course that is on the Web.
- APL is installed on my MacBook Pro (I think it will run using the new OS X Lion, but am not sure)
- I now need to set up a regular timetable for all 3 activities.
- I have 3 main interests in mathematics: symmetry, linear algebra, and APL
- Science
- I have a number of good science books to read. One of these is by Fritjof Capra, "The Hidden Connections" (2002). I want to make some detailed notes as I read this.
- Model Trains
- I want to play with the Ship It software and see if I can follow the details embedded in some of the reports.
- I want to try the MRC software for programming the mobile decoders in my locomotives.
- Cooking
- Select a recipe from some magazines I bought in Kingston earlier this summer.
9:00 PM Science
I have begun reading "The Hidden Connections" (2002) by Fritjof Capra. Fantastic!
I have prepared the following chart (using a program called Inspiration) that indicates the key people that Capra identifies as making an important contribution to our understanding of cognition. I have almost all of the books that are identified (with the exception of Margulis and Maturana - which I have just ordered).
Capra has done a superb job of bringing all of these ideas together. It has also been a great reminder of some of my favorite books. Not only do I have some new reading to do, but I want to revisit many of the books I read over a decade ago, particularly Gregory Bateson and Ilya Prigogine.