Doomed to do it again & again, no choice but to play a Phoenix in an unending sequence of rise & fall.
Assyria, Babylon, Egypt, Greece, Carthage, Rome: ground to dust; plowed with salt.
Spain, France, Britain, America – burned into the oblivion of centuries.
A Canticle For Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr. (1959)
At the top of the mountain, we get to soak in the view.
Cells in embryos make their way across a steep “developmental landscape” to their eventual fate.
Embryonic cells continuously monitor their changing surroundings and make small corrective adjustments, optimizing as development proceeds, locking in on their planned identity relatively late.
Processing positional information makes genes variously switch on and off throughout the embryo, giving cells distinct identities based on their location. (Some cells unfortunately take the wrong paths and are unable to get back on track.)
All the information is there in the landscape and processing that information effectively may be the phenomenon that makes a bunch of loosely stuck-together atoms behave like the thing we call life.
Had I been like a man living in a wood from which he knows there is no exit, I could have lived; but I was like one lost in a wood who, horrified at having lost his way, rushes about wishing to find the road.”
-Leo Tolstoy
I think that the BBC’s attitude toward the show while it was in production was very similar to that which Macbeth had toward murdering people:
and still no end in sight.
Douglas Adams about the creation of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
Had a great test ride today. Harley-Davidson LiveWire has a very strong, broad powerband and handles quite well as a quiet (and sweet smelling) street bike.
Expected sunny weather but instead got drenched by a cloudburst when approaching the foothills around the valley, so I stuck with the streets around town and put off riding the winding back roads. Still, lots of fun.
I am thoroughly invested in electrifying California with focus on electric motorcycles. LiveWire is #1 in the lineup of futuristic transportation vehicles.
Just think of the many issues needing resolution before the year 2034, including fortifying the energy grid and making electric recharging more convenient. It’s an exciting challenge.
Wanted to avoid clambering up and down muddy hillsides, so this trail was ideal: completely paved path along the level shoreline. We doubled back at the 2-mile mark to get just enough exercise.
Meticulous record keeping of daily routines is prescribed for useful feedback; the checked habits suggest adjustments pointing in the right direction, toward enlightenment.
There’s no way that a map can predict all pitfalls & problems or all pleasant surprises. A map is a metaphor that can point to but not capture the actual journey itself. A map is seen through; the journey is lived through.
Guidebook to Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
