Minimalist poetry: after the storm

 

Czeslaw Milosz - Encounter (zen reading)

Encounter

 (Czeslaw Milosz - 1936)

We were riding through frozen fields in a wagon at dawn.
A red wing rose in the darkness.

And suddenly a hare ran across the road.
One of us pointed to it with his hand.

That was long ago. Today neither of them is alive,
Not the hare, nor the man who made the gesture.

O my love, where are they, where are they going
The flash of a hand, streak of movement, rustle of pebbles.
I ask not out of sorrow, but in wonder.

My take: whether intended or not, this is a magnificent artistic representation of the Mahayana Buddhist concept of sunyata (creative emptiness - impermanence), the poetry version of a masterful zen painting, an immersion into the wonder of Buddha-nature.

Scoala cu clasele I-VIII Florin Comişel - Ploieşti (Middle School Florin Comişel)

That's the school where I was a student in grades 1 through 4 (from 1970 to 1974). 

At that time, the school name was plainly "General School Number 11". Every school recess happened in the Jupiter 6 backyard: then it seemed huge to me (although over the years my perception changed). Still, the school was very close to my home (I used to live on Jupiter 2). My classroom teacher was Mrs. Elena Nedelcu, a kind, family-oriented person.

Later, the school name changed to Florin Comişel Middle School.

Florin Comişel (1922-1985) was a Romanian composer, pianist, and director.

In context (and speaking of music): in 1972, just around the time when I was finishing the second grade, Elton John released Rocket Man.

Agnosticism/atheism and the underlying zen

To be agnostic in the sense of "I don't want to get involved" or "I am sitting on the fence" is not a tenable position. It is incomplete in that it begs for a follow-up. However, most of those claiming an (operational) agnosticism are implicitly pointing out to a (philosophical) atheism. 

Otherwise, only "sitting on a fence" would implicitly recognize a certain region bounded by that fence. 

But there is no fence. 

And here is the zen.

Over the Hills and Far Away - my favorite LZ and why

 

In the night that preceded my departure to America (August '92), I obsessively listened, for hours and hours, Led Zeppelin's "Over the Hills and Far Away". This LZ piece remained with me forever!

"Many dreams come true, and some have silver linings"...

 

 

Yitang Zhang - the genius who prevailed

Pe scurt - viata unui geniu matematic - Yitang Zhang - care a suferit multe obstacole, faultari si a trecut prin multe perioade dificile. Sint foarte bucuros ca a reusit.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yitang_Zhang

Zhang's PhD work was on the Jacobian conjecture. After graduation, Zhang had trouble finding an academic position. In a 2013 interview with Nautilus magazine, Zhang said he did not get a job after graduation. "During that period it was difficult to find a job in academics. That was a job market problem. Also, my advisor [Tzuong-Tsieng Moh] did not write me letters of recommendation." Zhang made this claim again in George Csicsery's documentary film "Counting from Infinity: Yitang Zhang and the Twin Prime Conjecture" while discussing his difficulties at Purdue and in the years that followed. Moh claimed that Zhang never came back to him requesting recommendation letters. In a detailed profile published in The New Yorker magazine in February 2015, Alec Wilkinson wrote Zhang "parted unhappily" with Moh, and that Zhang "left Purdue without Moh's support, and, having published no papers, was unable to find an academic job". In 2018, responding to reports of his treatment of Zhang, Moh posted an update on his website. Moh wrote that Zhang "failed miserably" in proving Jacobian conjecture, "never published any paper on algebraic geometry" after leaving Purdue, and "wasted 7 years of his [Zhang's] own life and my [Moh's] time". After some years, Zhang managed to find a position as a lecturer at the University of New Hampshire, where he was hired by Kenneth Appel in 1999. Prior to getting back to academia, he worked for several years as an accountant and a delivery worker for a New York City restaurant. He also worked in a motel in Kentucky and in a Subway sandwich shop. A profile published in the Quanta Magazine reports that Zhang used to live in his car during the initial job-hunting days. He served as lecturer at UNH from 1999 until around January 2014, when UNH appointed him to a full professorship as a result of his breakthrough on prime numbers. Zhang stayed for a semester at The Institute For Advanced Study in Princeton, NJ in 2014, and he joined the University of California, Santa Barbara in fall 2015.

Tolkien - on trees

"Every tree has its enemy, few have an advocate. In all my works I take the part of trees against all their enemies" ~ JRR Tolkien

via FB - Aragorn

Hosting trickortreat 2022 with Felix the Cat

 

#trickortreat2022 in Ada, 2022 

Hosts: me and Felix, our tuxedo cat

Encounter at Farpoint

Star Trek TNG's pilot episode "Encounter at Farpoint" (1987) concluded today on Heroes and Icons HD. 

Wonderful. It's a must see, but for everybody I paste here the plot from Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encounter_at_Farpoint

In 2364, the new flagship of the United Federation of Planets, Starfleet's USS Enterprise, travels to the planet Deneb IV for its maiden voyage. Enterprise is to open relations with the simple Bandi people who have somehow been able to tap immense energy reserves and construct Farpoint Station, much to the surprise of the Federation. En route, the Enterprise is met by an omnipotent being who identifies himself as Q, a member of the Q Continuum—posing in appearance as a Grand Inquisitor—who declares that humanity is being put on trial then decides that their actions in their upcoming mission will be used to judge their worthiness and determine their fate as a race. Before letting the ship resume its course, Q warns Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) that he is destined to fail. As the Enterprise arrives, the crew members explore the offerings of Farpoint Station and establish relations with their Bandi host, Groppler Zorn (Michael Bell). The crew becomes suspicious when items they desire seem to appear out of nowhere moments later, and are unable to identify the power source that feeds the station. Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis), an empath, senses a being with powerful yet despairing emotions nearby, and the crew discover a strange labyrinth beneath the station, but Zorn does not offer an explanation. As the Enterprise crew continues its explorations, a large unknown alien craft enters orbit and begins to fire upon an older Bandi settlement near Farpoint Station, and abducts Zorn. Before Picard orders the ship's phasers to be fired at the craft, Q appears to remind him of humanity's trial and prompts Picard to send an away team to the alien craft. The away team discovers the craft has passages similar to those under Farpoint and they are able to free Zorn. Their actions cause the alien craft to transform into a jellyfish-like space creature, and Picard is able to deduce the mystery of Farpoint Station. He confirms with the apologetic Zorn that the Bandi found a similar lifeform injured on their planet and, while attempting to care for it, they also exploited its ability to synthesize matter to create Farpoint Station. The creature now in orbit is trying to help free its mate by attacking those who hold it captive. Though Q goads Picard into punishing the Bandi, Picard refuses, instead ordering the Enterprise to fire a vivifying energy beam onto Farpoint after the station is evacuated. The beam allows the land-bound creature to transform back into its jellyfish-like form, and it flies into orbit to join its fellow being. As the crew watches the reunion of the alien creatures, Q reluctantly tells Picard that the humans have succeeded in their test, but hints that they will meet again.

QUANTA MAGAZINE: Mathematicians Discover the Fibonacci Numbers Hiding in Strange Spaces

Mathematicians Discover the Fibonacci Numbers Hiding in Strange Spaces 

Recent explorations of unique geometric worlds reveal perplexing patterns, including the Fibonacci sequence and the golden ratio.

Read the Quanta Magazine paper here.

Best signal that Autumn has come - Flying geese

 

Ada's autumnal splendor