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9:43 p.m. - 2003-10-09
Of Caterpillars and Mushrooms
Not a lot to say today. I received one telephoned response from my resumes and I have an appointment for an interview next week. A lot of the larger employers in this city have autoresponders when they receive applications just acknowledging receipt and letting you know you will be called if you fit the criteria and that otherwise your resume will be kept on file for x months for upcoming postings. I applied for two positions at one of those employers and got two responses back almost instantly. Twelve hours later I got a second e-mail specific to just one of the postings. I hope that means I'll hear about an interview soon. It is one of the jobs I would REALLY like to have. Sent out a few more resumes today as well. For a while there was very little that fit my criteria for a job now there are lots - better strike while the iron is hot, I guess.

I see that Canada is investing $11 million toward the GPS project, Galileo, by the European Space Agency. I think that is one of the most critical technologies for future use - I'm glad to see it happen. What I'd like to see as a priority is enhanced tracking of air and wind currents over the globe. Too much of the environmental damage is being ignored because each political entity is denying responsibility for the toxins, but their citizens certainly pay the price in damaged health. When you think of it, the cost from higher demands on health care systems and lost productivity from illness probably cost considerably more to the economy than cleaning up the pollution. Somehow those numbers have to be compared so that action is taken to reduce the damage.

More debate on the space forums I participate in. This time on the issue of "time". I hadn't realized that some scientists actually took Zeno's paradoxes as measures of reality. There are actually whole mathematical "solutions" that have been calculated upon which whole systems of thought and practice with respect to calculating time/space interactions are built. I always saw the paradoxes as the western equivalent of the eastern Zen practice of Koans. Those are riddles meant to teach students to think beyond the limitations of "concrete and contradictory" beliefs or assumptions. You know "What is the sound of one hand clapping?" "What does a man's face look like before conception?" "What colour is the soul?". Time is artificial. We use it to measure the movement of physical material through space. It doesn't have any "concreteness" except for that relationship.

If one studies cultural differences world wide one of the key variables for behaviour within a social system is the agreed upon definition of time. One of the primary causes of dissonance between cultures is that very unique societal convention. The Aborigines of Australia believe there is only one day that repeats itself over and over - something like the movie "Groundhog Day". Our discussions of time as a river are odd to Buddhists, who will point out that one never steps from the exact same spot on the bank into the same river twice - the entire composition of a river changes, that is the only constant about it. Among the Zulus, their language uses less words, but incorporates the concept of time by the lengthening or shortening of the vowels. For them sound tells distance. Intonation that is agreed upon replaces the mathematical measurements used in European based cultures. Time Zones, "invented" by the Canadian Sir Sanford Fleming, simply tell us more precisely where the sun is relative to our own position on the planet - it is useful of course, but it is still not an absolute. Ask any farmer who feels frustrated with the practice of daylight saving time. As they are wont to say "The cows don't change their schedules for the change of measurement." With six sons I can attest to the fact that each has their own distinct in-built circadian rhythm that has been unique to them since birth. For some of them societies measurement and use of "time" has helped them and for some it has been a real barrier. Their bodies don't respond to the conceptualizations of the mathematicians who feel the need to have everything codified down to the last parsec. I don't believe that the paradoxes were meant to be quantified. I think Lewis Carroll, who was in fact a mathematics professor, was trying to explain those paradoxes through his story "Alice In Wonderland". Apparently there are a lot of mathematicians who are still trying to "crack" his codes. Just ask a child - they can explain it.

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