Wendy and I like explaining things to Pinkie Pie. We both take great joy in doing our best to make incredibly complicated scientific topics just simple enough that she can grasp them. The other day Wendy was trying to teach Pinkie Pie about the behaviour of fundamental particles and how quantum mechanics works. The thing Wendy was talking about was the fact that you don't actually know where a particle is exactly, and it could at any time just decide to be somewhere else. The example Wendy used to illustrate this is the idea that a person *could* theoretically teleport to Mars if all of their constituent particles did that at once.
It is unlikely. Like, really unlikely. Unlikely enough that nothing that unlikely will occur in the entire history of the universe... most likely.
But there is nothing theoretically stopping all the particles in your body from simultaneously teleporting to Mars.
The best part of this was that a few months ago when I was explaining similar concepts I also talked about particles teleporting and I used the exact same example. I could have talked about teleporting to Grandma's house, or Texas, or Jupiter, or just to the bathroom, but I used the example of teleporting to the surface of Mars.
I wonder if perhaps Wendy and I learned this concept from the same source, and that source used teleporting to Mars as an example to illustrate this very strange part of physics.
In any case I don't know that Pinkie Pie really has any better understanding of physics. But she does know that she could just teleport to Mars. Maybe. Probably not. Really, really probably not.
But if she *does* teleport to Mars, now she can be sure that it wasn't magic, but in fact an extremely likely event that is totally admissible in physics.
Presumably while she suffocates or freezes to death, I suppose, since Mars isn't exactly a nice place to live.
(The true odds on bet in the situation of appearing to be on Mars is clearly that she is hallucinating and she isn't really on Mars. That is considerably more likely than spontaneous teleportation, by about 100,000 orders of magnitude or so.)
Monday, May 28, 2018
Friday, May 25, 2018
Strategic reversal
Ontario's election is coming up in a couple weeks and things are looking good. The Conservatives are lead by Doug Ford, an angry white man who does everything he can to channel Donald Trump. Doug Ford's notable achievements include being the brother of world famous crack smoking internet meme Rob Ford, being born rich, and convincing people that he will bring back the good ole days.
In the early polling the Conservatives were doing great, and were the clear leaders. The latest poll has shown a dramatic reversal of fortune for them.
NDP (left wing) - 47
Cons (right wing) - 33
Liberal (centrist) - 14
Green - 4
I wouldn't particularly mind another Liberal government because they have had their scandals and their fiscal blunders but every government does that. They have been good on social policy though and that is key for me.
The NDP seem poised to continue the Liberal social agenda, which largely speaking is a slow march towards progressive values. They aren't moving as fast as I would like but they are moving in the right direction and realistically no government will move as quickly in this regard as I would want, so I will take what I can get. Their fiscal policy is pretty standard for left wing politics and looks perfectly fine from where I sit.
Overall this is superb news. The Liberals are getting booted out because they have been in power awhile, and that is fine. One thing that concerns me though is that people will often talk about how there are two real parties in Canada, Liberal and Conservative, and any vote for the NDP or Greens is just a vote thrown away. Liberals often accuse NDP voters of helping the Conservatives whenever they vote NDP, and demand strategic voting to prop up the 'inevitable' Liberal victory.
Not this time.
The Liberals are down and out. They will be back someday of course but this time around it is time for all those lefty and centrist voters who just want to vote 'Not Conservative' to strategically vote for the NDP. The strategy is on the other foot this time.
One thing that is quite different for me in this election is I have a friend who is running for office. Andrew Drummond is the NDP candidate in Burlington and it makes me smile because I remember him back in university at age 19 and the idea of that person governing is nothing short of hilarious.
But people grow up, it turns out, and they are quite different at the age of 38 than the age of 19.
I know that Andrew is hard working (far harder working than me, no doubt), deeply interested in politics and governance, and has values that I respect. If he is elected I am certain he will help govern in ways that will improve Ontario. His FB page:
Ontario's citizens have a choice between bigotry and trickle down economics from the Conservatives, or inclusiveness and equality from the NDP. The choice is clear.
In the early polling the Conservatives were doing great, and were the clear leaders. The latest poll has shown a dramatic reversal of fortune for them.
NDP (left wing) - 47
Cons (right wing) - 33
Liberal (centrist) - 14
Green - 4
I wouldn't particularly mind another Liberal government because they have had their scandals and their fiscal blunders but every government does that. They have been good on social policy though and that is key for me.
The NDP seem poised to continue the Liberal social agenda, which largely speaking is a slow march towards progressive values. They aren't moving as fast as I would like but they are moving in the right direction and realistically no government will move as quickly in this regard as I would want, so I will take what I can get. Their fiscal policy is pretty standard for left wing politics and looks perfectly fine from where I sit.
Overall this is superb news. The Liberals are getting booted out because they have been in power awhile, and that is fine. One thing that concerns me though is that people will often talk about how there are two real parties in Canada, Liberal and Conservative, and any vote for the NDP or Greens is just a vote thrown away. Liberals often accuse NDP voters of helping the Conservatives whenever they vote NDP, and demand strategic voting to prop up the 'inevitable' Liberal victory.
Not this time.
The Liberals are down and out. They will be back someday of course but this time around it is time for all those lefty and centrist voters who just want to vote 'Not Conservative' to strategically vote for the NDP. The strategy is on the other foot this time.
One thing that is quite different for me in this election is I have a friend who is running for office. Andrew Drummond is the NDP candidate in Burlington and it makes me smile because I remember him back in university at age 19 and the idea of that person governing is nothing short of hilarious.
But people grow up, it turns out, and they are quite different at the age of 38 than the age of 19.
I know that Andrew is hard working (far harder working than me, no doubt), deeply interested in politics and governance, and has values that I respect. If he is elected I am certain he will help govern in ways that will improve Ontario. His FB page:
Ontario's citizens have a choice between bigotry and trickle down economics from the Conservatives, or inclusiveness and equality from the NDP. The choice is clear.
Wednesday, May 23, 2018
My fun, don't spoil it
On the weekend I was up at the cottage. The tradition is that on the May long weekend we go up there and do all the setup - put the dock in, set up the swimming raft, etc. The dock is always the biggest part of the project as we have to haul the board sections to the dock once we have lifted the metal dock structure into place. Normally the metal structure is moved with three or four people as it is quite heavy. Last year I wanted to try lifting it myself but everybody refused to let me attempt it and insisted on helping.
This year though I got em.
All the other adults left to go to the farmer's market early Saturday morning, and as soon as they closed the door I ran to Pinkie Pie and told her that I was going to do the whole dock by myself. I knew that the others would try to help me if they knew I was doing it, so I deputized her as my lookout so I would have warning if they returned from shopping.
She LOVED this. She knows that her daddy is a big fan of doing difficult things by himself just for fun, and tricking other people out of helping me was just her jam.
I rushed to get changed and get to work. Lifting the metal structure was quite a challenge, but I was able to get right under the centre of it and hoist it up. It was pretty close to my maximum weight allowance but not quite there so I carefully walked it out to the lake and dragged it to the end of the dock. Being as I was solo it was more difficult that usual to set it exactly in place but eventually I just dumped it in the water, changed positions, and got it to work.
By the time the others returned I had managed to fix the metal in place, put all the wooden sections down, and do the extra bits required to finish the job up properly.
Wendy was quite surprised to see it done, but after a moment's reflection realized that she should absolutely have expected this.
My inlaws... were baffled. They couldn't quite see why exactly I would lift a heavy, enormous object over my head just to prove that I could do it without anybody helping. Wouldn't it be safer and easier to wait for help?
Of course it would be safer and easier!
But since when has safe and easy been as fun as pushing yourself to your limits? Never, that's when. Maybe lifting for a few years has changed me, I am not sure. But now I have this intense desire to try to do really difficult things that my strength can barely managed. I spend so much time hoisting things for no reason that an opportunity to test my abilities in a setting where the work is actually useful feels wonderful.
I feel so happy that I tricked people out of helping me with a task. I do not always make sense, it would appear.
This year though I got em.
All the other adults left to go to the farmer's market early Saturday morning, and as soon as they closed the door I ran to Pinkie Pie and told her that I was going to do the whole dock by myself. I knew that the others would try to help me if they knew I was doing it, so I deputized her as my lookout so I would have warning if they returned from shopping.
She LOVED this. She knows that her daddy is a big fan of doing difficult things by himself just for fun, and tricking other people out of helping me was just her jam.
I rushed to get changed and get to work. Lifting the metal structure was quite a challenge, but I was able to get right under the centre of it and hoist it up. It was pretty close to my maximum weight allowance but not quite there so I carefully walked it out to the lake and dragged it to the end of the dock. Being as I was solo it was more difficult that usual to set it exactly in place but eventually I just dumped it in the water, changed positions, and got it to work.
By the time the others returned I had managed to fix the metal in place, put all the wooden sections down, and do the extra bits required to finish the job up properly.
Wendy was quite surprised to see it done, but after a moment's reflection realized that she should absolutely have expected this.
My inlaws... were baffled. They couldn't quite see why exactly I would lift a heavy, enormous object over my head just to prove that I could do it without anybody helping. Wouldn't it be safer and easier to wait for help?
Of course it would be safer and easier!
But since when has safe and easy been as fun as pushing yourself to your limits? Never, that's when. Maybe lifting for a few years has changed me, I am not sure. But now I have this intense desire to try to do really difficult things that my strength can barely managed. I spend so much time hoisting things for no reason that an opportunity to test my abilities in a setting where the work is actually useful feels wonderful.
I feel so happy that I tricked people out of helping me with a task. I do not always make sense, it would appear.
Tuesday, May 15, 2018
A man called Ove
I cried so many damn times reading this book. It caused more shed tears than any other piece of media I have ever consumed, I think, and that takes some doing. The book wasn't my usual fare of fantasy romp or science fiction heavy with ideas. It was just a simple story of a curmudgeonly old man who wished to die because his only reason for living was gone and his discovery of new reasons to live.
There are bits of myself in Ove, but this story wasn't so moving because I saw myself in the protagonist. It piqued my emotions because I could see in Ove a man who struggled mightily with the injustices of the world and who wanted to live his own way even though the people around him could not understand why he would want that. In his own way he tried to do the best things for the world, the right things, and his struggle to do right caught him up in all kinds of difficulty.
The story is well written, tight, and easy to read. It has all the things it needs and no waste. All of the little bits that you might want to dismiss as mere details are there for a reason and they contribute to the story in just the right way. The characters feel absolutely real and believable and the silly and random events that occur are just the sorts of things that happen in real life.
Normally I recommend books because they will make you think or expand your horizons. I recommend this book enthusiastically not because it will do either of those things, but simply because it is a joy to read. Despite the tears created by the sad parts the book as a whole is uplifting and may raise your faith in humanity's ability to be good in spite of all the troubles we must endure.
Thursday, May 10, 2018
Won't somebody please think of the children
Ontario is in a bad situation right now. The Liberals are currently in charge, and they are beset by scandal and have been in power long enough to have the public wanting to give them the heave ho. The issue isn't that the Liberals are on the way out - it is that the polling suggests that the Conservatives are headed into power in the election that is coming up soon.
I always expect Conservatives to come into power with visions of doling out money to the rich and stomping on the poor. They will try to fill the prisons with people who are harmless and encourage cars as the default mode of transport. That is all awful but I know it is coming every time the pendulum swings to the Conservative side.
I just saw that the newly minted Conservative leader Doug Ford (Yes, he is the brother of the famous crack smoking mayor of Toronto) has some new talking points, and they include his desire to roll back the public school curriculum to the 'good ole days'. He wants to get rid of the updated sex ed curriculum to go back to the old style where children are taught that sex is bad, queer people don't exist, and the only thing we should be teaching is making babies. Ontario's new curriculum is a huge improvement over the 'good ole days' because it openly talks about all kinds of different people and addresses consent even with young children. Unfortunately religious groups don't like children having information and don't want them taught that being gay is ok, so they campaign against it under the guise of wanting more consultation.
"I want more consultation" is, as always, code for "I want things my way". No matter who is saying it.
Ford also wants to go back to old style mathematics. Rote learning and drills are the way of the future, he thinks. The fact that endless drills don't provide the best learning for anyone doesn't seem to dissuade him. Neither does the fact that inflexible styles are terrible for many students who don't fit neatly into a factory teaching style. Usually the pitch is that drills make students more prepared for the real world, but there aren't employers out there desperately clamoring for workers who can sit at a desk and fill out worksheets full of arithmetic problems. There are employers out there who want workers who can tackle problems creatively though, but that isn't Ford's concern. Let's be frank: This is about conformity and obedience, a desire to have children who do as they are fucking told and are convenient. It has nothing to do with effective education.
These potential changes to education are really getting to me. I know all the economic insanity the Conservatives will get up to if they win, but knowing that they intend to step in and trash education makes me so ANGRY.
This election the Conservatives are openly and brazenly appealing to people's desires for conformity and obedience. They are making it clear they want everyone to be religious, straight, and deliver shareholder value. We can do better than that, and we should.
The Liberals have screwed up big time in plenty of ways. The Conservatives are actively campaigning for dystopia. I am going to support the NDP in this upcoming election as they are the party that closest aligns with my values, and if you are in Ontario I hope you do the same.
I always expect Conservatives to come into power with visions of doling out money to the rich and stomping on the poor. They will try to fill the prisons with people who are harmless and encourage cars as the default mode of transport. That is all awful but I know it is coming every time the pendulum swings to the Conservative side.
I just saw that the newly minted Conservative leader Doug Ford (Yes, he is the brother of the famous crack smoking mayor of Toronto) has some new talking points, and they include his desire to roll back the public school curriculum to the 'good ole days'. He wants to get rid of the updated sex ed curriculum to go back to the old style where children are taught that sex is bad, queer people don't exist, and the only thing we should be teaching is making babies. Ontario's new curriculum is a huge improvement over the 'good ole days' because it openly talks about all kinds of different people and addresses consent even with young children. Unfortunately religious groups don't like children having information and don't want them taught that being gay is ok, so they campaign against it under the guise of wanting more consultation.
"I want more consultation" is, as always, code for "I want things my way". No matter who is saying it.
Ford also wants to go back to old style mathematics. Rote learning and drills are the way of the future, he thinks. The fact that endless drills don't provide the best learning for anyone doesn't seem to dissuade him. Neither does the fact that inflexible styles are terrible for many students who don't fit neatly into a factory teaching style. Usually the pitch is that drills make students more prepared for the real world, but there aren't employers out there desperately clamoring for workers who can sit at a desk and fill out worksheets full of arithmetic problems. There are employers out there who want workers who can tackle problems creatively though, but that isn't Ford's concern. Let's be frank: This is about conformity and obedience, a desire to have children who do as they are fucking told and are convenient. It has nothing to do with effective education.
These potential changes to education are really getting to me. I know all the economic insanity the Conservatives will get up to if they win, but knowing that they intend to step in and trash education makes me so ANGRY.
This election the Conservatives are openly and brazenly appealing to people's desires for conformity and obedience. They are making it clear they want everyone to be religious, straight, and deliver shareholder value. We can do better than that, and we should.
The Liberals have screwed up big time in plenty of ways. The Conservatives are actively campaigning for dystopia. I am going to support the NDP in this upcoming election as they are the party that closest aligns with my values, and if you are in Ontario I hope you do the same.
Friday, May 4, 2018
Hidden costs
The construction going on beside my place is bonkers. There are a half dozen high rises going up within 2 blocks of me and a subway line being put it right past my building. I knew there would be dust, noise, and inconvenience but there has been on particular side effect I didn't expect - cement splatters.
I am on the 15th floor of my building so you might think that I would be free of direct detritus but you would be wrong. My balcony has little spatters of cement on it and so do my windows. Being 15 floors up there is no way for me to try to clean them off, and I doubt the regular window cleaners are prepared to remove concrete!
It does make sense though. The sixty storey monstrosities going up right beside me haul tons of concrete up to the top to build things and along the way bits of it get caught up in the breeze and wander down to my place.
This is a shot of a cement glob stuck to my window and the two buildings which is might have drifted off from.
I like building up, rather than building out. Paving farmland is far worse than construction here. What I wonder though is if anyone thought that they might have to do something for the people who have concrete bits rained down on them from these mighty glass edifices. Probably not, and I will just have to accept that slight marring of my view from now on. There are a great many environmental concerns that a develope must address when building but somehow I imagine that this isn't one of them.
I am on the 15th floor of my building so you might think that I would be free of direct detritus but you would be wrong. My balcony has little spatters of cement on it and so do my windows. Being 15 floors up there is no way for me to try to clean them off, and I doubt the regular window cleaners are prepared to remove concrete!
It does make sense though. The sixty storey monstrosities going up right beside me haul tons of concrete up to the top to build things and along the way bits of it get caught up in the breeze and wander down to my place.
This is a shot of a cement glob stuck to my window and the two buildings which is might have drifted off from.
I like building up, rather than building out. Paving farmland is far worse than construction here. What I wonder though is if anyone thought that they might have to do something for the people who have concrete bits rained down on them from these mighty glass edifices. Probably not, and I will just have to accept that slight marring of my view from now on. There are a great many environmental concerns that a develope must address when building but somehow I imagine that this isn't one of them.
Thursday, May 3, 2018
Suffering for my art
I thought that I had a handle on the downsides of weight lifting. Mostly it is a massive sink of time and money, in that you have to not only work out but also cook and eat a *lot* of eggs. You know that your routine is burning a ton of calories when you need to schedule extra time in just for eating all the eggs you need!
But the month of March taught me a new lesson. I have maxed out all the weights in my gym so increasing my difficulty is a matter of doing more reps. Throughout February and early March I added on reps for all of my exercises and then found myself feeling positively ill for most of my workouts. Sore muscles, this is normal, but working hard not to barf for forty minutes a day is not fun.
A sensible person would probably decide to dial back the reps a bit. After all, nearly vomiting from working too hard is a pretty good sign that the exercise you are doing is not healthy.
I am not as sensible as that.
The only concession I was willing to make was that I stopped adding on reps and purely focused on improving enough that I could do my current sets without constant nausea. It took a month, but by the end of March I was able to do my regular routine with only minimal complaints from my tummy.
In April I added on a few more reps but only on a couple of exercises. I seem to be hitting a plateau where increasing gains are becoming difficult to come by, so I will need to be gentle with my increased demands.
Still, I am not capped out. I have added 20% more reps across all my exercises in the past six months, which is a pretty substantial increase.
The weird thing is that although I am obviously still increasing in strength I am no longer increasing in size. I am the same weight as I was half a year ago, hovering right around 205 lb, (93kg). I don't know if my extra strength is me converting my relatively sparse body fat to muscle, basically just shifting percentages, or if I am getting more efficient somehow without adding muscle mass. Possibly some combination of both explains it, though I have no good way to be sure.
Quite some time ago I had thought that if I ate a lot and worked really hard I could add on a ton of muscle and maybe get my weight up to 250 lb (113kg) or so. Now I don't think that will work. I could probably eat a truckload of sugary calories and get my weight up by adding on fat but my muscle gains seem to be capped, barring heavy drug abuse, which isn't part of my plan. There are probably some marginal gains over time that I can achieve, but most likely I am as heavy as I can be while staying lean.
This is a fine thing really. I like the way I look now and I am plenty strong for all practical purposes. I even had a bit of a moment the other day when I lay down on my back, putting my arms beside me on the floor, and my elbows couldn't touch the ground. Too much tricep muscle on the back of my arms, apparently. RAWR /flex whoot! and such. These sorts of small things drive me on ever further, even through great suffering.
But the month of March taught me a new lesson. I have maxed out all the weights in my gym so increasing my difficulty is a matter of doing more reps. Throughout February and early March I added on reps for all of my exercises and then found myself feeling positively ill for most of my workouts. Sore muscles, this is normal, but working hard not to barf for forty minutes a day is not fun.
A sensible person would probably decide to dial back the reps a bit. After all, nearly vomiting from working too hard is a pretty good sign that the exercise you are doing is not healthy.
I am not as sensible as that.
The only concession I was willing to make was that I stopped adding on reps and purely focused on improving enough that I could do my current sets without constant nausea. It took a month, but by the end of March I was able to do my regular routine with only minimal complaints from my tummy.
In April I added on a few more reps but only on a couple of exercises. I seem to be hitting a plateau where increasing gains are becoming difficult to come by, so I will need to be gentle with my increased demands.
Still, I am not capped out. I have added 20% more reps across all my exercises in the past six months, which is a pretty substantial increase.
The weird thing is that although I am obviously still increasing in strength I am no longer increasing in size. I am the same weight as I was half a year ago, hovering right around 205 lb, (93kg). I don't know if my extra strength is me converting my relatively sparse body fat to muscle, basically just shifting percentages, or if I am getting more efficient somehow without adding muscle mass. Possibly some combination of both explains it, though I have no good way to be sure.
Quite some time ago I had thought that if I ate a lot and worked really hard I could add on a ton of muscle and maybe get my weight up to 250 lb (113kg) or so. Now I don't think that will work. I could probably eat a truckload of sugary calories and get my weight up by adding on fat but my muscle gains seem to be capped, barring heavy drug abuse, which isn't part of my plan. There are probably some marginal gains over time that I can achieve, but most likely I am as heavy as I can be while staying lean.
This is a fine thing really. I like the way I look now and I am plenty strong for all practical purposes. I even had a bit of a moment the other day when I lay down on my back, putting my arms beside me on the floor, and my elbows couldn't touch the ground. Too much tricep muscle on the back of my arms, apparently. RAWR /flex whoot! and such. These sorts of small things drive me on ever further, even through great suffering.
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