Music and Friends

Saturday I met a friend I hadn't seen in several years. We used to play music together. He had flown into Denver from San Francisco to attend a conference sponsored by The American Recorder Society and Regis University. Although I chose not to participate in any classes, we ate dinner together and went to the faculty concert. It was fun.
I marveled at how age and time and experience had improved him (as it does with so many people I've known). It's as if he grew into himself and actually liked the fit. I was happy for him and happy for myself for knowing him.
When I returned home satiated from music and merrymaking, I discovered the movie Blade Runner was on BRAVO. What a perfect ending to a delightful day. I just had to stay up for the ending, especially to hear Rutger Hauer's character Roy say "I've seen things...and it will all be lost, like tears in the rain"."Time to die." Afterall no one knows how much time anyone has.

Back from Dereliction: Credit CNN

Ok I've been bad, very bad. I haven't posted in over a week but it doesn't mean I haven't been thinking of things to write. I have a long list of topics. You can credit Lou Dobbs at CNN and his "report" on the CAFTA agreement last night for making me break my silence. What follows is an unequivocal rant.

First of all, I haven't watched CNN in years and I haven't seen Lou Dobbs since his departure to join the ill- fated dot.com enterprise which failed miserably and resulted in Lou returning to CNN. As much as I respect and admire entrepreneurs and business people willing to take risks and make difficult decisions, Lou Dobbs is no business man. Apparently the years of watching and reporting on the business markets has not given him any personal insight or expertise. Nevertheless, I still expect some level of professionalism which means in this case an unbiased presentation of facts. Please allow me and your viewers to draw their own conclusions. Of course, I know CNN rarely allows this.

The "so called free trade agreement" CAFTA was compared to NAFTA, a terrible failure in the eyes of Lou and his guest economist, a professor at Columbia University. Apparently NAFTA has not only been bad for America but has directly impacted the increase in poverty within Mexico!
5 minutes online provides numbers that directly refute this conclusion. U.S. Agricultural exports have increased by 59% since NAFTA's implementation far surpassing the increase of imports. Nor did Lou or his guest mention Mexico's peso devaluation, rampant corruption, or the Chiapis conflict (an uprising amongst indigenous people led by Marxist separatist Zapistas). You think these factors may contribute to Mexico's economic problems? Canada was conveniently absent from the discussion, I suppose because their economy has grown by an average of 3.7% since 1994, undisputed results from NAFTA.

Ok so, Lou and his guest didn't provide any numbers or statistics to support their position. We are supposed to rely on them because they tell the truth. Oh really?
Insult turned into injury when Lou openly snickered at a Congressman's remarks that this agreement was also about National Security. That certainly revealed the low level of journalism and lack of professionalism practiced at CNN.

Despite Lou's ridicule, I understood what the Congressman said.
Free trade leads to economic freedom and economic freedom creates growth and prosperity. Doesn't encouraging international growth and prosperity (and everything it brings like health, education, innovation and opportunity) benefit the entire free world?
The Democrats have criticized America for selling arms to rebels, financing wars, giving too little and too much foreign aid that mostly ends up in the personal coffers of tyrannical despots. When it comes to making a real impact on decreasing world poverty and promoting freedom, Democrats support declining special interest groups (with often devastating results, ie. steel, textile and auto workers just to mention a few, in addition to the sugar producers...)

If America truly believes in freedom and prosperity for all, we must continue to do things to encourage it (and not just talk about it). CAFTA and NAFTA are steps in the right direction.

Regarding Lou Dobbs and his show, start looking for work buddy. Competition from reliable, factual, unbiased and professional sources are going to continue to kick your butt by reducing your viewers and eliminating your paid sponsors. Isn't free trade and economic choice great?

Art of Science Competition / Gallery

Dynamic Asset Allocation in Freight Transportation
Warren B. Powell & Belgacem Bouzaiene-Ayari
Dept. of Operations & Financial Engineering
Princeton University
First Annual Art and Science Competition

Hyperbolic Planes

"For God's sake, please give it up. Fear it no less than the sensual passions, because it, too, may take up all your time and deprive you of your health, peace of mind and happiness in life." Wolfgang Bolyai (1775-1856) to his son Janos Bolyai regarding the study of hyperbolic geometry
Anyone interested in geometry? How about crocheting? Pondering the shape of the universe ?
Until the ninteenth century, mathematicians knew about only two kinds of geometry, the Euclidean plane and the sphere. The discovery of hyperbolic space in the 1820s and 1830s innitiated the formal study of non -Euclidean geometry.

In Euclid's geometry, all surfaces are flat and parallel lines always stay the same distance apart, never meeting and never diverging. However in curved non-Euclidean geometries, lines that start off parallel eventually cross each other in a positive curvature and these same lines can diverge from from each other in a negative curvature.

A sphere is an example of a surface where the lines curve in on itself and is closed. A hyperbolic plane is a surface in which the the space curves away from itself at every point but like a Euclidean plane is open and infinite.
It is easy to understand a sphere because we have experience in our everyday lives with them. But how does one fully grasp the geometric opposite, a hyperbolic plane? For over 100 years, mathematicians searched for a physical surface with hyperbolic geometry without sucess. Until in 1997 Daina Taimina, a mathematician from Cornell University made the first useable hyperbolic model out of crochet.

You can see more examples of hyperbolic planes at Cabinet Magazine and I really enjoy The Institute For Figuring which has yet more models as well as interesting lectures on "The Physics of Snowflakes" , "The Mathematics of Paper Folding" and "The Logic Alphabet".

Bat Stories

I saved a bat from drowning in the pool last night. I was alerted to his dilemma by a cat intently circling the perimeter. All I saw was a black spot splashing frantically along the side but I guessed what it was. I grabbed a net on a pole and scooped the creature up. He had been on his back in the water, wings outstretched desperately trying to right himself. Unable to determine if he was seriously harmed I put him in the crook of a big old plum tree. This morning he was gone. So I'm hoping he escaped any predators (mostly cats and raccoons in this neighborhood rather than owls, hawks, falcons and snakes).

It was not my first encounter with a bat. One morning I found a small bat hanging upside down in the pools' skimmer. It was a precarious place even for a bat. If he dropped, he would be sucked into the skimmer basket. If he was able to hang onto the slick, slippery surface all day, how was he going to fly away with his head only millimeters above the water? Besides, how did he get there in the first place? Was he sick? Did he have rabies?

I called Animal Control. They said it was unlikely he had rabies. The most recent report of rabies in Denver was well over 15 years ago and found in the skunk population. Still, I was strongly advised not to touch him with my bare hands for any reason. Similar to last night, I scooped him up in a small net and deposited him in the same old plum tree. At dusk, he climbed up the trunk and flew off into the night.

Every summer, bats are regular evening guests here, swooping down into the pool gently slapping the water collecting insects and quenching their thirst. My lady friends don't care for them much. They think they will mess with their hair. I tell them not to fret unless of course they have bugs in their hair. I'm joking of course but I'm constantly surprised at how little people know about bats and how inaccurate that information often is.

Curious Facts:

Bats are unique in the animal kingdom because they are the only mammals to have evolved true flight.

Most bats also possess a system of acoustic orientation, often called "bat radar," but technically known as echolocation.

There are almost 1000 species of bats worldwide, representing 1/4 of all mammals.

Bats nurse their pups just like other mammals do.

Nearly all bats that live in the United States feed on insects.

Vampire bats don't suck blood. They make a small incision and lap up the blood of their hosts.

In some parts of the world, bats take the place of bees in pollinating plants.

Little brown bats have life spans that may exceed 32 years.

A bat will eat half its weight in insects in a single night.

The Bumblebee Bat with a 6-inch wing span is the world’s smallest bat.

The Flying Fox, with a wingspan of 78 inches, is the world’s largest.

Fewer people have died from bat rabies during the past 40 years than have died from dog bites or bee stings in a single year.


If you would like to learn more about bats check out this link .

Barbaric Bombings: An Attack Against All Nations

I wanted to post something yesterday expressing my deepest regrets and condolences for the people of London. But everything I thought of writing seemed glib and woefully inadequate. Instead I spent my time reading everything I could about the bombings on line, watching the internet catch fire with comments and responses.

I even went to the Democratic Underground which in response to the attack at that time had no less than 1000 comments of which I read over 50. The concensus there was that these horrific events were somehow inevitable and the direct result of persistant imperialism, and illegal, brutal warmongering.

I was dumbstuck. The implication was that the terrorists were really the victims fighting back the only way they could and the people who were hurt, maimed or killed deserved their fate.

Maybe it's the time of life, (or time of month), but reading these comments only made me sadder. Is this what humanity has come to, I wondered. How can misdirected, vengeful violence against innocent civilians ever be justified in any circumstances?

Today, I am more heartened. The British people have once again demonstrated their courage and resolve in difficult, dangerous times. World leaders have publicly expressed their outrage and disapproval. The struggle against terrorism has only been strengthened. I worked in my garden, planting, weeding, and watering seedlings showing in a small way that life continues and that I have some hope for a better future.

Confetti Dreams

Faces that wear well

The news of Anne Bancroft's death a couple of weeks ago got me thinking about some of my other favorite actors/actresses and celebrities. The last time I saw her was in Up at the Villa, an adaptation of a Somerset Maugham short story. She played Princess San Ferdinando, a flamboyant, aging socialite who in one scene has too much to drink. I thought she portrayed the tipsy matron perfectly.

Of course she was good in so many of her roles. My favorite was probably 84 Charing Cross Road. But who could forget her work in The Prisoner of Second Avenue, The Turning Point, The Graduate, or The Miracle Worker?.She had a long distinguished career and I will miss her. But I digress.

Not only was Anne an accomplished , talented actress, she had a face that could wear. William Holden had a face that wore well. As good as he was in Sunset Boulevard, Picnic and The Bridge over River Kwai as a young man, who could forget him in Network?

Truthfully, I have always preferred faces that reveal a past( and that isn't because my own face at 48 is generously revealing mine). I've never been attracted to the pretty boys and the glamour gals so popular in the American movie and entertainment business. Maybe this explains my penchant for low budget "B" films as well as the less than perfect stars in foreign films. The character actors cast in supporting roles are often more appealing to me than the mega movie stars.

Faces that just got better (or keep getting better) include William DaFoe, Peter Cushing, Lee Van Cleef, Vincent Gallo, Joaquin Phoenix, Jack Elam, Ed Harris, Anthony Hopkins, John Cassevetes, and probably a lot more I can't remember now.

Notice the lack of women? Hollywood doesn't care much for women "of a certain age". Europe seems a little more tolerant and allows their leading ladies the priviledge of aging. But then again , most of the American movie industry doesn't play to grown ups.

I caught a little of Henry's (Rollins's) Film Corner last night on IFC. He was speaking with Rob Zombie (punk musican & horror film director) and asked where are the films for "guys like him in their 40's"? I nearly fell off my chair. I guess it's not just a chick thing. I wonder who Henry thinks "gives good face"?