View 524 June 23 - 29, 2008 (original) (raw)

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Sunday, June 29, 2008

I am not making myself clear. I know what entropy is. What I do not understand is how or why the Big Bang Stuff is considered low entropy or highly organized. First, is there any reason it should be highly organized? Is there a theory about this? And for that matter, wasn't the original Big Bang Stuff just a lot of highly energetic very low Z particles?

I thought the point of Carl's Star Stuff lecture was that the first stars were made of low Z materials, and they cooked up the more interesting elements like oxygen and carbon, and exploded, and this made planets like Earth where the blind forces of chance could produce Swan Lake, Beethoven's Ninth, and Carl Sagan. Now surely planets that can evolve you and me are less entropic than the Big Bang Stuff? If not, why not?

Lucretius had this pre-universe of atoms streaming along, then one atom swerved, and the blind forces of nature did the rest. It was a brilliant invention of the mind, but it began with high entropy and went to low; not that Lucretius understood any of that.

Look, I know that the notion is that in local areas, like the Solar System, there can be decreases of entropy, or apparent decreases of energy, but over a long enough time they are doomed and we'll all be part of the Universe of the Iron Suns, and nothing can be done about it. From Big Bang Dust we came and to Iron shall we return, or something like that, but perhaps one or two of the drops will shine; not that there will be anyone or anything to remember either the best or the worst. What I do not understand and have seen no theories of is what it means to say the Big Bang Stuff was highly ordered, high energy, low entropy. Thanks to all of you who explained entropy to me; it was a decent refresher course, or actually, a reasonable reminder that I haven't forgotten how it was explained to me by Van Allen at the University of Iowa a very long time ago. But he never said that time is measured by increase entropy, or if he did, I didn't think to ask how the Universe came into being at LOW entropy, and is devolving over billions and billions of years into the high entropy Universe of the Iron Suns.

Actually, I thought the evolution of Carl Sagan from a fish -- surely a move from higher to lower entropy? -- far more interesting than I would find the eventual decay of Carl Sagan into dust. Perhaps my mind really is going.

Topic continued in mail.

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There is mixed news:

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080628/D91IPT580.html

WASHINGTON (AP) - A former Army scientist who was named as a person of interest in the 2001 anthrax attacks will receive $5.8 million to settle his lawsuit against the Justice Department. Steven Hatfill claimed the Justice Department violated his privacy rights by speaking with reporters about the case.

The bad news is that they haven't a clue as to who actually sent the anthrax.

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The US has decided that special education (for the handicapped, mentally deficient, attention deficient, etc.) is far more important than gifted student programs. Surprise!

I told you that No Child Left Behind meant No Child Shall Get Ahead.

We sow the wind. We shall reap the whirlwind.

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2330: A good day. I had a healthy appetite and ate well. We took our walk. There is considerably less ringing in my ears, and the sudafed seems to be clearing that out. Joint pains are less. I am still sleepy far into the morning, but if I refuse to let that conquer me I manage to get some work done. I may be back to 4 hours of work a day, which is not a lot for me, but it sure beats what's been going on.

Of course we need to find out how I'll feel in the morning, but today looks good. I have some ambition to get real work done.

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