even pictures fall away

Befuddling: All we can ever say
is made with glyphs —
all of science, philosophy, and myths;
even pictures fall away.

Bosons for Bieber

It's bosons bumping into me
that gives me heft:
Higgs to the right of me,
Higgs to the left.

Like a Justin Bieber
moving through a crowd:
By their Biebs-grabbing fever
his star mass endowed.



Science has chosen the finding of the Higgs boson as its Breakthrough of the Year
American Music Awards Crown Justin Bieber Artist of the Year

The future of money

I suppose in the future (when robots replace laborers), people will all become artists, scientists, or inventors (to varying levels of achievement). I'm sure a smart economist can figure out how money will work in that world.


machines may soon be ready to perform many tasks that currently require large amounts of human labor — who will benefit?

Mark my math

I just typed

\‍(i\hbar\frac{\partial\psi}{\partial t} = \frac{\hbar^2}{2m}\nabla^2\psi + V(\mathbf{r})\psi\‍) ...

and there it would lie:
\(i\hbar\frac{\partial\psi}{\partial t} = \frac{\hbar^2}{2m}\nabla^2\psi + V(\mathbf{r})\psi\)

first christmas

yahweh had a babeh with a hebrew ladeh.
the holy ghost made a toast.
shepherds in the fields turned cartwheels.
three priests of zoroaster came after.
the birthdeh of the babeh gets a holideh.

be

discrete
in a lattice of pixels
walk the planck
max the bright
recurse



Do we live in a computer simulation? UW researchers say idea can be tested

Republican butterflies

In 1981 there was a Republican president, a Republican Senate, a Democratic House. But major legislation was passed (e.g. the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981) with a minority of Democrats — the "boll weevils" — joining with the majority of Republicans in the House. There were 244 Democrats in the House and 53 Republicans in the Senate in the majorities.

In 2013, it's the reverse (but with fewer Republicans in the House and more Democrats in the Senate in the majorities). So it's theoretically possible that the reverse can happen: Obama could pass legislation with a coalition of a majority of Democrats plus a minority of Republicans.

A counterpart to the 1981 Democratic boll weevils? Republican butterflies^* would have to emerge.


* The other Republicans would call such beings "gypsy moths", as they did decades ago.

Primordial soup

Little noodles (twisted into glyphs)
swarmed in the broth around the bits
of chicken and ham

until some formed WHO. I blew.
WHY. I sigh.
Then WHEN. I blew again.
WHAT. This is nuts.
WHERE. I jumped from my chair.

The chicken and ham didn't give a damn.

Philosophers became dinosaurs

Philosophers became dinosaurs
in lumbering dead-end paths
as mammals replaced them
with their science and maths.


But what remains of them,
with feathers unfurled,
are birds chirping, chirping
at the superstitious world.

Werewolf, zombie, mummy, vampire

Werewolf, zombie, mummy, vampire:
movie monsters are for fun.
Too soon children then discover
the real-life monster is the gun.



Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting

Today my news feed

Today my news feed
                       looks like a poem:
words                         elided,
                       sentence parts roam.

A.I. will not come Robby-like

A.I. will not come Robby-like,
but as ghosts from the cloud,
when Big Data gets all smarty-pants
and our bodies enshrouds.

A poet walking at the beach

Viewing and tapping
e-tablet in hand ...
ocean surf lapping
the feet in the sand.