Thinking is one of my two favourite things to do on earth, tied with the act of simply BEING while out in nature somewhere. I read a piece in the Utne Reader in which Laura Wexler and a professor of philosophy at the University of British Columbia, Canada, Dr. Cust, had the following dialog:"I think people who think a lot are unhappy," I told Dr. Cust. "All the academics I know are dissatisfied with their lives."
"OK, I have a contract here," he replied. "You can sign away your powers to think in return for happiness. Do you do it?"
As Ms. Wexler summed it up, "I can't conceive of happiness without thinking."
Many times I have been asked what I seek in a partner, what kind of man turns me on. Well I have finally found a word (with definition) that explains the whole thing.
Sapiosexuality :.
(sā-pē-ō-sĕk-shü-ăl'ĭ-tē)
1. (n.) A behavior of becoming attracted to or aroused by intelligence and its use.
Origins: From the Latin root sapien, wise or intelligent, and Latin sexualis, relating to the sexes.
Example: Me? I don't care too much about the looks. I want an incisive, inquisitive, insightful, irreverent mind. I want someone for whom philosophical discussion is foreplay. I want someone who sometimes makes me go ouch due to their wit and evil sense of humor. I want someone that I can reach out and touch randomly. I want someone I can cuddle with. I decided this all means that I am sapiosexual.
I think about theology and spirituality and science a LOT...mostly science lately. As certain as I am that we're just moss on a rock, I find the study of how and why we got here very exciting. One of the first bits of information on the subject of our place in Known Space was an article I read in the July 1976 National Geographic in which a series of photographs showed, in a recursive fashion, precisely that place. The scientific community has expanded our knowledge of known Space since 1976, and with the advent of the Internet, there have been some outstanding films availble to show anyone willing to see, just how tiny and how fragile we are. I am happy to present one of these films here.
Here are some links to subjects I never seem to tire of exploring, not neccessarily in this order:
Want to see a FUN page, boys and girls? Enjoy science as a hobby!
- Recursion specifically, Mise en abyme. If you'd like to see a beautiful piece of recursive animation, take a look at The Zoom Quilt. Alternately, you can watch a tasteless piece of recursive animation involving David Hasselhoff. ***WARNING! NOT for the faint of heart or stomach!***
- Pi (3.14159265...)
- Phi (1.61803398874989...) The Golden Mean or Ratio
- The Fibonacci Series
- Chaos and the Cosmos
- The profundity of Number Theory
- Constructed Human Languages
- Palaeoanthropology
- Linguistics - I came very close to choosing this field as a career
- Creation Myths
- Geometric Shapes, specifically solids, platonic and otherwise. George Hart creates beautiful geometric sculptures
- Optical Illusions, especially Impossible Objects
- Bones, and lately a decided fixation on those of birds. I used to really want real bones, but lately I prefer casts. Chalk it up to a growing sense of my own mortality.
- Folded Paper and Origami
- Magic Squares
- Islamic Architecture
- Islamic Geometry
- Tessellations
- The Alhambra
- Paleopsychology
Got a question, need an answer? Check out RefDesk for ALL the answers.
Use Your Brain For a Change
Speaking of science...instead of sending me word of that new computer virus, tragic story about the footless, featherless, beakless chickens KFC is now serving, or the latest moronic chain letter, why not check out the veracity of your story at any of the following links:
Urban Folklore
Computer Myths and Hoaxes
Urban Legends
About.com
U.S. Dept. of Energy Hoaxes
U.S. Dept. of Energy Chain Letters
Hoax Du Jour
Alt.Folklore.Urban