The Top 40 @ 40

I've tried three times now to make this post. For George's 40th I made him 2 discs of all the top 40 songs from each year of his life. See, he's a big music fan, and even tracked the top 40 religiously when he was in middle school (still has the notebooks of lists to prove it). His brother Bill stole my idea and ended up with better mixes, because rather than be limited by a small thing like what the actual #1 song was for that week, or even limit yourself to songs that made the charts- he only limited himself by having the songs be from albums released in that year- opening up all sorts of cool, more listenable music, while my collection, while historically accurate, will likely end up on a shelf. Why- you may ask? Well, George's birthday is February 22nd- the week after Valentine's day- which means that all the songs that got airplay and requests for the big love fest, got that extra boost to make them #1. There are some truly sappy ones and some that seem cheesy- we did escape without an Air Supply tune- but see for yourself:
Top 40 at 40
#1 single week of February 22nd:

68-Love is Blue- Paul Mauriat
69- Everyday People- Sly and the Family Stone
70- Thank you (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Again)- Sly and the Family Stone
71-One Bad Apple- The Osmonds
72-Without You- Nilsson
73-Crocodile Rock- Elton John
74-The Way We Were- Barbra Streisand
75-Pick up the Pieces- AWB
76-50 Ways to Leave Your Lover- Paul Simon
77-Blinded by the Light- Manfred Mann's Light Band
78-Stayin Alive- The BeeGees
79-Do Ya Think I'm Sexy- Rod Stewart
80-Crazy Little Thing Called Love-Queen
81-9 to 5- Dolly Parton
82-Centerfold- J. Geils Band
83- Baby Come to Me- Patti Austin & James Ingram
84-Karma Chameleon- The Culture Club
85-Careless Whisper- Wham
86-How Will I Know- Whitney Houston
87-Livin' on a Prayer-Bon Jovi
88-Season's Change-Expose
89-Straight Up- Paula Abdul
90-Opposites Attract-Paula Abdul
91-Everbody Dance Now- C&C Music Factory
92-I'm Too Sexy-Right Said Fred
93-I Will Always Love You- Whitney Houston
94-The Power of Love- Celine Dion
95-Creep- TLC
96-One of Us- Joan Osborne
97-Don't Speak- No Doubt
98-My Heart Will Go On- Celine Dion
99-Believe- Cher
00-Learn to Fly- Foo Fighters
01-Don't Tell Me-Madonna
02-Can't Get You Out of My Head- Kylie Minogue
03-Beautiful- Christina Aguilera
04-The Way you Move- Outkast
05-Since you Been Gone- Kelly Clarkson
06-Stickwitu- Pussycat Dolls
07-Say it Right-Nelly Furtado

I mean- what are the chances of 2 Paula Abdul songs back to back years! Or two Celine Dions- a Whitney Houston? Cher? Wham? Oh well. I made the more accurate and purest mix I knew how to make- hopefully that counts for something? Happy Birthday George!

Metascribing

So I've been thinking alot lately about writing. Not just little things, but seriously writing. I have some aspirations to write on more than just a bloggers level. I think part of this has been because I have been reading more lately- which is something I haven't had as much time to do until the past year or so. As a result, I get ideas and themes and make connections and then I want to write them down- to share my observations. We've recently experienced what happens when I think too much about science and the universe. (see previous blog posts) But, since I've been thinking about writing lately, I thought that I would choose to write about writing- so I guess I am metascribing- (if thinking about thinking is metacognating, then writing about writing is....)? There are a couple of things I know about me and writing- especially what I see as my weaknesses. I have to keep a sense of humor and lightheartedness- or I will get into my dark and cynical side- we don't need more of that type of thinking these days. I also find that if I am writing about something meaningful from my life, it gets pretty sappy and sentimental- I'm not a big fan of my own writing when I get that way. Lastly, I haven't ever really tried- but dialogue seems to escape me. I either write WAY to many words or what I write sounds unnatural. So, that rules out a few types of writing- including the great American novel.

What it leaves me are the forms I am comfortable with anyway- which is more of the essay- the humorous or perhaps even expository- a reflection on a topic or theme, maybe an observation on the odd way I look at life. I could also possibly do some journalism-type feature writing- but that would require time for research, and some taming of my word choice. I am not very stingy with words, if you hadn't figured that out by the length of these blog entries. With some revision and discipline, though, I might be able to tighten up my writing. If I am serious about writing I need to keep reading alot, and also I need to write more frequently. Lastly, I think if I want to do more than write as a hobby, I should take a few classes to renew some writing talents that have gone fallow. There is something about sitting under another's direction and critique that helps sharpen my writing. It makes me more vigilant about my use of passive voice or overuse of adverbs and fragmented sentences. It helps. Maybe we can all expect better blog entries in the future or, maybe, just more of them.

While I'm in the crazy universe

While I'm on this big thought, crazy universe theme- I'll share my latest idea for a sci-fi movie. First, a little geology lesson. So, it seems that the magnetic poles- north and south- change their polarity every few hundred thousand years or so. Geologists know this from studying the magnetic characteristics found in rock that has come out of the mid-atlantic sea floor as molten lava, only to harden into rock. As it hardens, the magnetic particles within it, take advantage of the fluidity and they align themselves with the positive magnetic pole. When you look at which way these particles face, you find a pattern of a width of rock lined up with the north pole, and then a width lined up with the south pole- indicating that in the past, the poles have shifted their polarity. The exact timing is hard to determine, as is why they switched (was there a bombardment of solar particles from the sun, or an asteroid coming too close?), but its pretty certain that they have indeed switched. There is much speculation as to what would happen if they switched tomorrow, as it hasn't happened in known human history. Certainly there would be some disruptions as GPS sattelites and compass system everywhere relocated their focus from North to South pole. But what else might happen?

Enter my sci-fi thriller....

So, to build the drama, you have some serious sun spot/aurora borealis/ magnetic fluctuation activity going on- and NASA and scientists world wide trying to figure out why and what it means. There's speculation of course, and you take on this one slightly crazy and discounted scientist type as your protagonist (male or female- wouldn't matter). They think it has something to do with the poles- and they would be right! Now, here's where we can take two different paths- the first having our protagonist using Biblical prophecy, egyptian, celtic and mayan calendars to figure out what's going to happen, and ending up in an deep underground bunker in the middle of Colorado- anticipating what is about to happen- which is the world actually shifts magnetic poles AND starts to revolve the other way. The result being that the entirety of atmosphere, topsoil, trees, buildings, cars, lakes, oceans, rivers etc. all get pulled off the earth- because as the globe grinds to a halt and begins to spin the other way- we loose all gravity for a few minutes- long enough for most volcanos to erupt, several earthquakes to happen, and all the aformentioned matter to get flung off into space. Our protagonist and friends have to then negotiate their way back up to the earth's surface (after the planet starts spinning the other way- sun rising in the West- whole nine yards) and then decide to repopulate- go live on the moon (which captured a bit of atmosphere when it spun off the earth in addition to altering its orbit a little further out) or maybe they simply all perish- I don't have a good ending there.

The second possible storyline involves the aforementioned science type using the same sources to figure out what is going to happen- and then its the save the world idea- how do you keep the north pole positive and what sort of satellite contraption can you use to affect the magnetic force...but in the end- life goes on as we know it.

So- there it is. I think that completes my crazy macro thinking for a little while. Maybe I'll just start blogging about how my son scored 14 of his teams 28 points in their semifinal basketball game! Look out Serge Zwicker and Cherokee Parks- there's another big goofy white boy in the paint who's on his way!

Nothing is in the center of a doughnut

Okay the title may be misleading- I'm having these 'big thoughts' again- my inner geek is hard at work these days. A couple of things have fed my thought processes- one was a video by Rob Bell- Everything is Spiritual. Great stuff- questioning the creation and the randomness of the universe. Next would be a combination of random information gleaned from sources like Science Friday and Stardate (this 2 minute radio piece on interesting space stuff). Lastly, a quote from They Might Be Giants: "There is only one everything". Funny that. Everything is a singular noun. As is Universe. (Uni means one of course). Something very, very, big, that contains all, is summed up by a singular word. "Everything is coming together." Hmm. But 'none' requires a plural verb- as in "there are none who understand" instead of "there is none." Except in the south- we is a bit more lenient on proper verb-noun agreement.

So, anyway, I've been thinking about the immense-ness of the universe. How, no matter how small you get, there's something smaller- As the sun is to the earth, the earth is to a pebble, a pebble is to an atom and an atom is to a quark. (Yes, I'm talking subatomic particles). And similarly, as big as you get- there are billions of stars, (each with a solar system?) enclosed in billions of galaxies, grouped in clusters, across bazillion light years. Oh, and speaking of light- the constant speed that we use for measuring distance across this universe- they can now stop light. It has been done- they stopped a beam of light (something like a mile long wave that was turned into about 4 microns of length) in a super cooled cloud of atoms, then picked up the light and moved it a short distance and then started it on its way again. How cool is that? But it begs the question- if scientists on earth can create a cloud of atoms supercooled enough to stop light in an experiment on our temperate planet, then why would we think that light, as it travels through the immense dark spaces of the universe surrounded by void and dark matter (read very cold)- why would we expect light to continue at the same rate as it does in our warm world? And so, is everything in the universe as far away as we think it is, or if you want to go the extra dimension- is everything as old as we think it is?

Now if you are still reading and haven't reached for the aspirin or flipped over to the american idol page yet, then I know I've got you thinking. (Susan will most likely tag this as another reason I shouldn't be allowed to blog). So, here's the thing- the more I learn about the amazing complexity and diveristy and intricate nature of the universe- the deeper my belief in God gets. I can't fathom believing that human life on this little rock is just a random accident. My trouble comes when I think about those who consider these same issues and come to the opposite conclusion. For them, it is too complex, too random, too crazy to be part of any design or created by any entity. Especially not an entity that would let itself be known as the god of a war mongering tribe of nomads. (Gene Rodenberry, creator of Star Trek fell in this category, as do several other prominent voices of Science).

Here's my take on this- as good a Smitty theory as you are going to get after all that big thinking. So, it is hard work to open up your brain and take in the vastness of space- the denseness of a single cell- the power of subatomic particles (what is an atom bomb after all?). It takes alot of work to get your brain around all of that, and if anyone has the capacity to expand that body of knowledge, to make it understandable to the common person, to possibly even find a new part of the cosmic puzzle- well then they are probably justified in thinking highly of their intellect. But having done the mental work it takes to get to the point of discovering quarks (which were unconceivable when they discoved atoms)- how much more so does it take to say- "there is more." There is more to it- it can get smaller- the universe can get bigger- something could be in a dimension outside of time. It takes more mental energy to do that- to say that after all the work you have done and all you have discovered that you aren't the final word. There is something more there. It is human nature in all its proud glory that takes the arrogant position to say: if I can't conceive it- it can't exist. I for one, disagree- I am okay with God being bigger than my capacity to understand it. Doesn't mean I don't applaud those who are trying to find what lies within- what lies at the outermost reaches of the galaxy (if the universe is always expanding- what is it expanding into?) But I for one, while I can delight in their discoveries, I can rest in the knowledge that God is the biggest, the smallest and everywhere in between. There's also only one everywhere. Funny that.

Now- where did that doughnut get to? I'm hungry.