I Am A Lazy Slob At Heart

I finished my project at le funque yesterday at noon, so I’ve had yesterday afternoon and today off. If you’re expecting a list of accomplishments, you‘ll be disappointed. My main accomplishments from this recent and possibly almost my last time off are (1) I took a great nap yesterday afternoon, (2) I went to band practice last night, (3) I went to a yoga a class at the health club this morning, and (4) at 4:30 today, I am finally writing a blog entry. I have been preoccupied over the last several weeks in activities best not shared through the blog medium. My two readers know what I’m up to anyway.

I finished reading a book about Greek and medieval science, “The Beginnings of Western Science”, by David Lindberg. I thought it was interesting, but I am pretty strange. The author’s main point is that these folks were not as stupid as we lie to think they were, and it’s likely we are not as smart as we think we are. I learned a bit about Platonic and Aristotelian philosophy. I was able to figure out (on my own) that the Newton – Apple incident is definitely a pile, since there’s a perfectly adequate explanation for falling apples that doesn’t require the creation of a new force in the universe, like gravity. The classical Aristotelian explanation would go something like this; the apple’s main elements are earth and water. It is their nature to exist below air (ever seen the ground or a lake above the air?). The tree took “heat” (we’d call it energy) from the sun to transport the elements to a position above their natural state. Once the apple is separated from the tree and its “heat”, the apple will seek its natural position in the universe – below the air. What could be simpler? This certainly makes a lot more sense than a magical force by which masses exert influence upon each other without even touching or emitting projectiles. By golly, if I was a legislator in Kansas, I’d introduce a bill requiring disclaimers for textbooks teaching this so-called theory of gravity. So there.

I found a pretty funny review of a Star Trek The Next Generation (TNG, as it’s known among geeks) Episode, written by none other than Wil Wheaton . A Dopey TV Website has the blog. This was the episode where the Ferengi were first introduced. They were intended to provide an enemy as good as the Klingons in TOS (the original series). He takes savage cuts at the Ferengi, as well as the great Star Trek Dialogue. However, he does credit Armen Shimmerman for creating an interesting Ferengi race in DS9.

Disclaimer: While writing this entry, to the best of my knowledge I wrote no explicit IMs to any Blogger pages, or anyone else for that matter.

That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.