Moving at the Speed of Life

Einstein did it all the time.  Just what is "speed?"  How is it present in life?  What does it effect?  What does it enable? ... A fresh look at the "meaning" of "speed" you may not find particularly anywhere else.  You may respect speed more or fear it less, as well as understand better it's limitations and abuses.

The Relativity of Impossibility

(note the authentic "R sub i" by Einstein)  Essay explores "innovation" and what is considered possible and what is not.  "Expert" goofs, "negative science," and it's counterpart "pseudo science."  Amusing examples - like the "airplane" - once largely regarded as fundamentally "impossible" by many leading scientists less than 100 years ago!   A review of scientific method and "humble observer" scientific inquiry and the nature of theory and proof.  A look at "discovery," of uncovering "things already there" but never seen.  A look at imagination, visualization, and the realization of thought.  Current issues and possibilities we now face - are not unlike "the airplane" 100 years ago.  An understanding of the "Relativity of Impossibility" can help one see more accurately what unexpected things can really be and really are.  (please note - I use the expression "relativity of impossibility" purely artistically, and in no way do I relate or equate it to the rigors and math of Einstein's Special Relativity or General Relativity)

Beauty and the Beast

Explores two very different ways/means - two very different approaches - towards realizing an "end" - one characterized by "force" and "control" or "claim," the other by creation and order and elegance and refinement.  Implications and fascinating examples of their presence in everyday life and in "problem-solving."  Both are revealed plainly in pursuits of speed.  One is pure parasite, the other is pure source of everything of desire and value.  One may appear to work "in a bubble," the other always works.  Take your pick.  Consider the words of Albert Einstein, "We cannot solve our problems with the same kind of thinking that created them."

The Art of Cycling

Explores the history and social significance of the "humble" bicycle  (starters straight from Susan B. Anthony on women and cycling!) .  Explore the bicycle's role and history with automobiles and airplanes, and try the sort of problem-solving approach that underlies bicycle design and racing and beyond.  Look at the various forms and disciplines of cycling - "road," "mountain," "track," "cyclocross," "bmx," "trials," "speedbike," "lowracer," "recumbent," "gravity speedbike," ...and go for a ride!

Speed of Fire

Explores the "Burning Problem" of hydrocarbon burning (Oil, Coal, Natural Gas) - the remarkable but finite energy infrastructure in "developed countries" that "makes the world go around."  Tangible examples to give a clear sense of the magnitude, it's use and role and why to respect and appreciate it, and limitations and endpoint and pre-endpoint in the near future.  The intrinsic interplay of energy, transport, food, water, markets, housing... geopolitics and... war....  A fresh look at the little-known "hopefulness" rather than the "hopelessness" of "Malthusian" or "fatalistic" thinking.  If you're not very old, daunting changes most certainly loom - the outcome appears to tend towards "very wonderful" or "very ugly" with little in between.  "Beauty and the Beast" and the "Relativity of Impossibility" are in full form here.