A Happening Is Imminent!

[peter]

Just in case:-

smp.uq.edu.au/content/pitch-drop-experiment

[Hashi Lebwohl]

Oh, yes. I have heard about this before and I think it qualifies as the longest-running experiment that is still occurring.

[Vraith]

It really is weird...I've handled that stuff, you'd never guess it was in any way fluidic. I had no idea about this experiment before.

Glass people say is a fluid, but it isn't actually last I heard. [IIRC it has a liquid-like molecular structure, not rigid/set...it doesn't "flow" though.]

[ussusimiel]

Glass people say is a fluid, but it isn't actually last I heard. [IIRC it has a liquid-like molecular structure, not rigid/set...it doesn't "flow" though.]

Yeah, I had that one wrong in my head for years due to some sci-fi book I read (can't recall which) where after some ungodly amount of time the glass of old windows had flowed away from the frames. I used to tell people this as a way of showing off the astounding breadth of my knowledge

u.

P.S. BTW, I do have an astounding breadth of knowledge it's just that some of it is wrong

[Vraith]

P.S. BTW, I do have an astounding breadth of knowledge it's just that some of it is wrong

We might be related, I kinda resemble that remark.

[Hashi Lebwohl]

Some people got the idea that glass was still a liquid because old windows would be thicker at the bottom and they thought this was because it was flowing. The more likely explanation is that the molds were not as accurate as they could be and one side was deeper than the other, resulting in thicker glass once poured.

[peter]

Yes, but my actual chemitry teacher told me glass was a fluid (the bastard). See I knew all that schooling was a waste of time!

My knowledgde (like my mind) resembles a soup-bowl. Wide but shallow.

[ussusimiel]

My knowledgde (like my mind) resembles a soup-bowl. Wide but shallow.

If I was presented with the (false) choice of which I preferred, breadth of knowledge or depth of knowledge, I would opt for the former. Breadth of knowledge suggests the potential for open-mindedness and curiosity. As a teacher of mine once said (quoting someone else), 'I knew a man once who spoke seven languages and was boring in every single one of them!'.

Obviously, breadth and depth (sticking with the false dichotomy ) are the best combination. The drawback of too little depth is the appearance of being a butterfly of ideas or of lacking sufficient concentration to master a single subject or area. It's nice to be able to speak with authority in an area. For myself I am comfortable talking with just about anyone about poetry or sociology. It's no coincidence that these are the two topic that I studies for my B.A. Mastering a subject (or at least feeling that you have covered it in some breadth and depth) takes years of application and work. There is no easy way to come to grips with even one area of human knowledge that may have been gathered over millenia.

u.

P.S. You are far from shallow, peter, and one of these days I am going to stop responding to your fishing for compliments When that day come I'm going to start a thread in the Close (or maybe Mallory's) called, 'Let's Embarrass peter by Complimenting His Intellect!'

[Hashi Lebwohl]

If I was presented with the (false) choice of which I preferred, breadth of knowledge or depth of knowledge, I would opt for the former.

As a younger student your primary goal, presuming you, your parents, and your teachers are all working to give you what I would consider to be a quality education, is to develop a breadth of knowledge--by the time you graduate high school (or its equivalent) you should know a little bit about a lot of things and maybe a lot about a handful of things. Later on you can deepen this breadth but that is a lifelong process and never quite ends (or at least it shouldn't end).

[Vraith]

My knowledgde (like my mind) resembles a soup-bowl. Wide but shallow.

If I was presented with the (false) choice of which I preferred, breadth of knowledge or depth of knowledge, I would opt for the former. Breadth of knowledge suggests the potential for open-mindedness and curiosity. As a teacher of mine once said (quoting someone else), 'I knew a man once who spoke seven languages and was boring in every single one of them!'.

Obviously, breadth and depth (sticking with the false dichotomy ) are the best combination.

That breadth/depth thing is one important theme/idea in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.
He says, very rough paraphrase from memory, that almost everything nowadays [particularly the philosophical, of course] is breadth, very few things depth. IIRC, he used an image of a river/valley...we've got a wide channel, which is good...but we're not cutting many deep ones, which isn't.
Something like that, anyway.

[Hashi Lebwohl]

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

This should be on everyone's bookshelf. If it isn't, then go find a copy and buy it. I also have Zen and the Art of Poker.

[Avatar]

I've always found it a bit over-rated myself.

Me, I like to know a little bit about as many things as possible. That provides the foundation for me to look deeper into specific areas as necessary or desirable.

--A

[peter]

Knowing a bit about a lot of things makes you a good dinner table guest but not much else - no, I don't mean that really, It's a good thing but it's also good at least once in life to really dredge the depth's of a subject to it's limit. My subject was the histopathological effects of common water contaminants on the gills of three species of fish. It made for heavy going to the point where I noticed the eyes of one of the three ajudicators closing during the course of the oral examination of my Masters thesis. I think we were all pleased when it was over especially given that my dissertation was about the size of the Bible. My supervisor said to me at the end of it "Peter, if you want to come into my office one day to discuss the possibility of doing a Doctorate - don't!"

[Hashi Lebwohl]

My subject was the histopathological effects of common water contaminants on the gills of three species of fish.

Perhaps I am crazy, but that doesn't sound boring at all. In fact, it sounds interesting.

My supervisor said to me at the end of it "Peter, if you want to come into my office one day to discuss the possibility of doing a Doctorate - don't!"

*laugh* They might just give you the doctorate if you threaten to go for it (presuming you don't already have it).

[ussusimiel]

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

This should be on everyone's bookshelf. If it isn't, then go find a copy and buy it.

I've always found it a bit over-rated myself.

Now there's a surprise


Your motto should be:

• ............. 'Cogito Ego sum'

which, in my pidgin Latin, would translate into,

• ............. 'I think the Ego is everything'

u.

[Savor Dam]

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

This should be on everyone's bookshelf. If it isn't, then go find a copy and buy it. I also have Zen and the Art of Poker.

Hashi, how do you square the sentiment in your signature with the presence of these two books on your shelf?

[Vraith]

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

This should be on everyone's bookshelf. If it isn't, then go find a copy and buy it. I also have Zen and the Art of Poker.

Hashi, how do you square the sentiment in your signature with the presence of these two books on your shelf?

No problem, he's obviously prepared to lose the competition for owning the most books on zen.

Oh...yea...you meant the other one.

Ummm...
He's not looking for the secret of Zen. He's just stating the process one should follow if one IS looking for the secret of Zen?

[Hashi Lebwohl]

Hashi, how do you square the sentiment in your signature with the presence of these two books on your shelf?

Ummm...
He's not looking for the secret of Zen. He's just stating the process one should follow if one IS looking for the secret of Zen?

Vraith is really close to the answer. If you are actively looking for the secret of Zen and you are using books as your roadmap then you will never find it. Only when you are willing to let go of your books--burning them is simply an over-the-top way of letting go of them--and begin living Zen will you start to uncover its secrets...or allow them to uncover you, as the case may be.

It gets even better than that, though--my secrets of Zen will not be your secrets of Zen. Even if I taught you all my secrets they wouldn't "feel right" to you.

[Avatar]

Yes, and if you meet the Buddha on the road, you should kill him.

If y'all really want a good book about Zen, then find Zen Without Zen Masters by Camden Benares. Introduction by Robert Anton Wilson.

I think the Ego is everything.

Somebody has been reading my posts.

--A

[peter]

It may well have been my treatment of it Hashi .

(By the way - you rotter u.! - Don't, I say Don't you dare )[Foghorn Leghorn ref there for any fans.]