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Thursday, February 23, 2006

There Is No Such Thing As Luck

Ok, most of you know i've already posted this. somehow though it disappeared from my blog. wierd. anyway, i'm reposting it

I had an epiphany a moment ago. I was watching some videos over at ebaum’s world, and one of them was one of those generic “lucky shot” videos. This one happened to be in golf. An announcer or someone mentioned “luck”. He was wrong. But I figured out what “luck” really is.

What we might call a “lucky” event is simply a moment where the incomprehensible and overwhelming complexities of matter an energy become aligned into such a way, so that the end result is an outcome we were not trying to achieve but would have loved to achieve were we capable of it alone.

Example:

A fellow chips from 40 yards. He can barely see the green, let alone the hole. But then, he makes the shot. What happened is that all the incalculable variables worked in his favor for a moment. The ever-changing breeze, the humidity levels, the air pressure, temperature, the way each atom on each blade of grass is positioned at that ONE moment. All these things allow that ball to fall into that hole

This is the sort of thing that inevitably gets the phrase “Chaos Theory” thrown at it, but it is precisely the opposite of chaos. It is a highly ordered system, but it happens on such a small and persistently changing scale that our little brains can’t get around it.

And that is luck, in a nutshell. And the next time someone uses the term “Chaos Theory” or uses any of its nomenclature, throw some of that complexity crap at them and explain how randomness is an illusion of the feeble human mind.

Now you know.
And knowing is half the battle.

Have a lovely day.

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Niemoeller's Poem


First they came for the Communists,
but I was not a Communist, so I didn't speak out.

Then they came for the Social Democrats,
but I was not a Social Democrat, so I didn't speak out.

Then came the trade unionists,
but I was not a trade unionist, so I didn't speak out.

Then they came for the Jews,
but I was not a Jew, so I didn't speak out.

Then when they came for me, there was no one left to stand up for me.

-Pastor Niemoeller, protestant minister and victim of the Nazis

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Saturday, February 04, 2006

A Homesteader's Lament

Soon to be a chart topping single from the Leaf River Boys!

(a work in progress)

I live in a house made a dirt
The brochure said "sod"
I call it flung, cattle dung feng shui

My wife's a beautiful gal
she thinks it's ok
would you till clay to wage your life this way?

(chorus and further verses are TBA)

Any thoughts?

RM

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Friday, February 03, 2006

Today, The Music Died

February 3, 1959

Rock In Peace, guys.

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I've Come To A Conclusion

America is now a Fascist State.

Some of you may say this is an extreme statement. To you, I would simply ask that you review the definitions of Fascism, and then take an objective look at our current situation.

If observing and commenting on facts is extreme, then ok, I am extreme. If loving the roots of one's country but hating it's rotten and poisonous recent branches is unpatriotic, then call me unpatriotic.

I really don't care.

Just look at it for yourself, and stop being a sheep.

RM

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