Thursday, November 29, 2012

Happiness

HAPPINESS = HAVEs - WANTs. 

HAPPINESS can be material or immaterial. HAPPINESS can be negative, when WANTs > HAVEs. There are people who are (almost) always happy and such that are (more or less) always unhappy. To increase HAPPINESS, HAVE more or WANT less. Absolute LEVELs of HAVEs and WANTs may range from very low to very high, to an extent that the increase in HAVEs or the decrease in WANTs may not be trivial to achieve.


HAPPINESS(overall) = a * HAPPINESS(health) + b * HAPPINESS(success) +  c * HAPPINESS(social) + d * HAPPINESS(inspiration) + e * HAPPINESS(time) +  f * HAPPINESS(other)

Coefficients (a, b, c ...) may differ between individuals and also may change over time.

Monday, November 26, 2012

Death is the most important day in life

"Death is the most important day in life" (Der Tod ist der wichtigste Tag im Leben, dradio-Hintergrund, about death and mourning in West Africa).

Lizi's Granola

Lizi's Granola: Toasted muesli, originated in Oxfordshire B&B in the 1990s. Low glycemic load (GL). Mostly available in UK. Best flavors are Treacle, Pecan and Organic.

Sunday, November 11, 2012

Robotic Telescope in Arizona

Astronomy: Rent time on automatic, robotic telescopes at Tenagra located in the south of Arizona, USA. They are offering use of a 0.81-m (32") f/7 Ritchey-Chretien and 0.41-m (16") f/3.75 astrograph automated system to academic institutions.

Saturday, November 10, 2012

Highlander (1986)

Movie (YT): Highlander (1986). w/ Christopher Lambert, Sean Connery, Clancy Brown, Roxanne Hart. Directed by Russell Mulcahy. Music by Queen. Immortal Scottish swordsman must fight his last opponent in New York City. Cult movie, though little story. Overall rating: 6 out of 10.

Measuring the World: Gauß and Humboldt

Audiobook (CD): Daniel Kehlmann: Die Vermessung der Welt (2005, engl.: Measuring the World). Read in German by Ulrich Matthes. 5 CDs, ca. 345 min. Narrates and compares the biographies of two contemporaries, the natural philosopher Alexander von Humboldt and the mathematician Carl Friedrich von Gauß. "This is the history of two scientists who could not be more different, but who both have the goal to understand the world". Not comprehensive biographies, but nicely narrated with some hidden treasures. Overall rating 7 out of 10. 

Contact (1997)

Movie (YT): Contact (1997). w/ Jodie Foster (Eleanor Arroway), Matthew McConaughey (Palmer Joss), Tom Skerrittc (David Drumlin, former boss), William Fichtner (Kent, blind radioastronomer), James Woods (Michael Kitz, security advisor). Based on the novel by Carl Sagan. While working on a SETI program, Ellie receives a signal presumed to be sent by an a advanced extraterrestial species. It contains a blueprint for a device that may allow for interstellar travel. Great acting. Foster is superb. Conflicts of science and religion. Overall rating: 8 out of 10.

Lissy Elle

Photography: Lissy Elle Laricchia. Photostream on Flickr. Surreal. Expressive.

Skyfall (2012)

Movie: Skyfall (2012). w/ Daniel Craig, Javier Bardem, Judy Dench, Naomie Harris. Directed by Sam Mendes. James Bond is trying to capture the bad guys while M is under attack. Best Bond movie so far, as there finally is a bit of a story. Some good special effects as expected. Overall rating 7 out of 10.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)

Movie (iTunes): Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008). w/ Rebecca Hall (Vicky), Scarlett Johansson (Cristina), Javier Bardem (Juan Antonio). Written and directed by Woody Allen. Two girlfriends on vacation in Spain both fall in love with a painter. Then his ex-wife (Penélope Cruz) enters the scene. Typical Woody Allen film. Entertaining. Overall rating 5 out of 10. 

Quartier Lointain (2010)

Movie (iTunes): Vertraute Fremde (Quartier Lointain, 2010). w/ Pascal Greggory (Thomas Verniaz / Zorn (adulte)), Jonathan Zaccaï (Bruno Verniaz, le père), Alexandra Maria Lara (Anna Verniaz née Zorn, la mère) Directed by Sam Garbarski. Man mysteriously returns to the village of his childhood and finds out why his father ran out on the family. Quiet movie. Overall rating 5 out of 10.

Richard III

Theater: König Richard der Dritte, Schauspielhaus Bochum. Nov. 2012. Play by William Shakespeare. Directed by Roger Vontobel. Paul Herwig as Richard. History lesson. Lots of screaming. Crude. With 3.5 hours too long. German Review at Nachtkritik.de. Overall rating 4 out of 10. Don't put your parking card in the wrong slot.

Orpheus Decending

Theater: 'Orpheus steigt herab', a play by Tennessee Williams, starting Sep. 29, 2012 at Muenchner Kammerspiele. Directed by Sebastian Nübling. w/ Wiebke Puls as Lady Torrance, Risto Kübar as Val Xavier. Based on Orpheus Descending by Tennessee Williams. There also is a screen adaptation of the play under the title The Fugitive Kind (1959). Val, an appealing young unconventional man arrives in a narrow-minded, racist southern town. Only Lady, a middle-aged woman with a disgusting elderly dying husband is willing to fight on his side. Watched opening. Carousel on stage. Puls is great in her working-class role, but loses when she turns to glamor. German review on Nachtkrtik.de Overall rating 7 out of 10.

Lamia

Lamia was a figure in ancient Greek mythology, a daughter of the god Poseidon. According to Encyclopedia Britannica, ancient commentaries on Aristophanes’ Peace say that she originally was a beautiful queen of Libya and loved by Zeus. His wife Hera, in her jealousy, robbed her of her children. Lamia went mad and became a child-eating daemon. She was often represented with a woman's face and a serpent's tail. Athenian mothers used her as a threat to frighten naughty children. In later times, Lamiae were conceived as handsome ghostly women attracting young men in order to enjoy their fresh, youthful, and pure flesh and blood, similar to vampires today.

John Keats published the narrative poem Lamia in 1819, based on a short anecdote in Robert Burton's Anatomy of Melancholy (1621).

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe retells the story in his poem Die Braut von Korinth (1797, in German).

The English Classicist painter Herbert James Draper (1863-1920), who focused mainly on mythological themes from ancient Greece, painted The Lamia in 1909. Lamia, girded in a snake skin and gazing maliciously, holds a small snake on the back of her hand.

On the album 'The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway' released by Genesis in 1974, the song 'The Lamia' describes the encounter of the story's hero Rael with three snakelike figures in a water-filled pool.

Luther (2003)

Movie (YT): Luther (2003). w/ Joseph Fiennes (Martin Luther), Alfred Molina (John Tetzel), Jonathan Firth (Girolamo Aleander), Claire Cox (Katharina von Bora), Sir Peter Ustinov (Frederick the Wise), Bruno Ganz (Johann von Staupitz), Uwe Ochsenknecht (Pope Leo X). Directed by Eric Till (Fraggle Rock). Luther’s story, simplified, that led to church reformation. Overall rating 6 out of 10.

The Phantom Planet (1961)

Movie (YT): The Phantom Planet (1961). Science fiction film. w/ Dean Fredericks (Capt. Frank Chapman), Coleen Gray (Liara), Richard Kiel (The Solarite; Kiel known from James Bond movies). Directed by William Marshall. In search of a lost space ship, pilot Chapman lands on the nearby asteroid Rheton, whose advanced civilization is batteling an enemy (the Solarites). B-movie character. Cannot compare special effects to today's computer-generated imagery (CGI). Story simple. Flash-Gordon-comic-like. Overall rating 5 out of 10.

Tuesday, November 06, 2012

Zola Budd

Zola Budd (b. 1966) is a field an track runner from South Africa, intermediately competing for Great Britain, as South Africa was excluded from international athletics competition because of its apartheid policy. During the 3000m-final at the Olympics 1984 in Los Angeles, CA, USA, Budd's rival Mary Decker stumbled and fell after collinding with Budd. A jury of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) found that Budd was not responsible for the collision.

Monday, November 05, 2012

Fermat's Last Theorem

Fermat's Last Theorem states that no three positive integers a, b, and c can satisfy the equation an + bn = cn for any integer value of n greater than two. The equation is an expansion of the Pythagorean theorem where n = 2 and certain solutions can be found (e.g. a = 3, b = 4, c = 5). In 1637, Pierre de Fermat conjectured that this equation was not true for any positive integer greater than two. In 1995, British mathematician Andrew Wiles presented a final proof for the theorem. His story has been described by the BBC (video below) and is also discussed among experts in BBC radio show In Our Time.

Knowledge and Water

"[...] learning and inventing are kin; both are processes of seeking out the surprise of something new. Certainty is learning's enemy, for it already knows and it cannot be surprised." Look at water as a metaphor: "If we want water, we head for the valley, not the high ground. Water flows to the humblest point, so that's where we'll find it. Once we really identify our ignorance, knowledge will flow in to make it go away." (Engines of Our Ingenuity No. 2011).