Wednesday December 20, 2006 5:20 am Lethbridge Sunrise 8:25 Sunset 16:33 Hours of daylight: 8:08

A. Morning Musings

5:20 am It is -4 C at the moment with a high of +6 C forecast.

From rear window	South patio
Both images taken at 1:40 PM

I have continued with a trial of creating a causal relationship diagram for my Learning activities. Here is the result so far, containing 3 nodes from yesterday plus the first node for today.

I am using the same colors and labels that I have been using for my chronology tables.

 

B. Plan

Immediate
Health	Walk & exercise	1 hr
Science	Make notes for "Three Roads to Quantum Gravity"	1 hr
History	Make notes for "Citizens"	1 hr
	Read Watson "Ideas"	1 hr
Philosophy	Read & make notes for "Breaking the Spell"	1 hr
GO	Complete reading "Lessons in the Fundamentals of Go" Volume 1	1 hr
Literature	Continue reading "Virginia Woolf: The Inner Life" by Julia Briggs	1 hr
	Begin reading "Selected Works of Virginia Woolf" - Jacob's Room	2 hr
	Complete reading "Summer of My Amazing Luck" by Miriam Toews	2 hr
Model Trains	Continue assembly of coaling tower	1 hr
Later
Chores	Investigate water softeners for home
Technology	Read manual for cell phone
	Make notes for chap. 4 of "Switching to the Mac"
	Begin reading "iPhoto"
	digital photography - learn about using the various manual settings
Philosophy	Read "The Art of Living" by Epictetus
Mathematics	Read "Fearless Symmetry" chap 9: Elliptic Curves
	Make notes on the beginnings of number theory
	Larson "Calculus"
	Read "Symmetry" by Hermann Weyl
	Read "The Computational Beauty of Nature" Chap 3
	Gardner "The Colossal Book of Short Puzzles"
Model Trains	Build oil refinery diorama: add ground cover
	Assemble second oil platform kit
	Assembly of CN 5930, an SD40-2 with a NAFTA logo
Puzzles	The Orange Puzzle Cube: puzzle #9

C. Actual/Notes

	Science 01 December 20
Science Chronology
Notes for "Three Roads to Quantum Gravity " (2001) by Lee Smolin 6:10 am I made some notes using pen & paper yesterday while playing with the idea of a causal relations diagram for my Learning activities. This morning I am redoing these notes as part of this web site. Chapter One: "There is Nothing Outside the Universe" [p. 17 - 25] The following statements represent Smolin's initial definitions (assumptions, axioms): The universe is all there is, there is nothing outside it. There is nothing before the universe. Our explanations must only include events within the universe. The universe is a closed system. My initial reaction is that Smolin immediate rejects any multi-universe models or descriptions. SPACE: absolute view: space exists independent of any things or relationships. (e.g. Newtonian physics) relationship view: the universe is an evolving network of relationships. Popular today. TIME absolute view: time exists independent of events (e.g. Newtonian physics) relationship view: one can only compare rates of change between events, there is no abolute standard. Popular today. We have only learned how to describe a quantum theoretical model of time and space as networks of relationships in the last twenty years. It is called the loop quantum gravity model and is one of the three roads described in this book. General relativity is a theory about fields, not things. A gravitational field has 3 sets of field lines, all of which are constantly changing because the relationships among events are constantly changing. Once again, making these notes has reinforced my understanding of this material. 6:30 am

Here is my causal relationship diagram for my Learning activities for today.

This gives a better sense of the day's Learning process but I am not sure if it is worth the effort. I will stay with this for a few days and see what develops.

D. Reflection