The AnkiDroid Collection (Part 56) – Allopathy, Proton / Photon & Superposition

Posted on March 13, 2024 by observationblogger — 2 Comments

Ankidroid additions related to Science, History and Philosophy. More information about Anki can be found in this article.

Allopathy

Allopathy is the system of medicine that aims to combat disease by using remedies such as drugs or surgery. ie “the treatment of disease by remedies that produce effects opposite to the symptoms,” as opposed to naturopathy / homeopathy which intends to build the bodies natural defense system. It is the term applied by homeopathists to traditional medicine.

The difference between a photon and proton

A photon is a quanta of light and is a mass less particle through which energy transfers when light propagates. It travels at the speed of light and has no charge.
A proton is a positively charged article having a finite non zero mass which forms the positive part of the atom. They are discrete packets having finite energy.

Superposition

Superposition is the ability of a quantum system to be in multiple states at the same time until it is measured.

The bottom line on Quantum Mechanics: What we observe is much less than what actually exists. Position and velocity are what you observe, but until you measure the particles, their positions don’t actually exist. Only the wave function does. Fundamentally, there is a difference between a thing when you are looking at it and when you are not looking at it. You cannot observe the wave function.

So it’s a particularly different view of reality.
The question you might want to ask is why does reality look normal to us at all. Why don’t I see a probability cloud all over the place? We don’t know…

At no point did we put new worlds in. The worlds were already there. In the Copenhagen textbook Schrödinger’s Cat Thought Experiment, we had to erase part of the wave function. So if you saw the cat awake you erase the part where the cat was asleep and vice versa. And ‘you’ are quantum mechanical just like everything else in the Many-Worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics. If an electron can be in a superposition of that place, then a cat can be in a superposition of awake and asleep and you can be in a superposition of seeing the cat awake and seeing the cat asleep. And finally the Universe can be in a superposition of one where you saw the cat awake and one where you saw the cat asleep.
For more information see my post – Reflections on ‘The Many-Worlds’ Theory by Sean Carroll

Tagged with: allopathy, proton / photon, Superposition
Posted in Reading

Burning Love (1972) – Elvis Presley

Posted on March 12, 2024 by observationblogger — 18 Comments

Though it had obvious hit potential, Elvis had just separated from his wife, Priscilla, and was not in the mood for a Rock n Roll number, so he wasn’t keen to record it. Elvis’ producer Felton Jarvis had to persuade him that the song was worth trying, and after 6 attempts, the “King of Rock and Roll” came up with an inspired take.
– Songfacts

This is one of my favourite Elvis songs and was his biggest hit single in the United States since “Suspicious Minds” in 1969. Burning Love was written by Nashville songwriter Dennis Linde, and originally released by country soul artist Arthur Alexander earlier in 1972 on his self titled album, 4 months prior to the Elvis version. It was Elvis’s 40th and final Top Ten hit reaching No.2 in the American Hot 100 (it was kept out of the top spot by Chuck Berry’s “My Ding-a-Ling“). The electric guitar opening and riffs were overdubbed and played by Dennis Linde himself.

[Verse 1]
Lord Almighty
I feel my temperature rising
Higher higher
It’s burning through to my soul
Girl, girl, girl, girl
You’re gonna set me on fire
My brain is flaming
I don’t know which way to go

[Chorus]
Your kisses lift me higher
Like a sweet song of a choir
You light my morning sky
With burning love

[Verse 2]
Ooh, ooh, ooh
I feel my temperature rising
Help me, I’m flaming
I must be a hundred and nine
Burning, burning, burning
And nothing can cool me
I just might turn into smoke
But I feel fine

The song was originally released on the B-side of the single It’s a Matter of Time and later on the album Burning Love and Hits from his Movies: Volume 2.

More interesting trivia from Songfacts:

In addition to making the original commercial recording of a song later covered by Elvis, Arthur Alexander has the claim of being the only songwriter in history to have his songs sung by The Beatles (“Anna (Go to Him)”), the Rolling Stones (“You’d Better Move On”) and Bob Dylan (“Sally Sue Brown”).

Dennis Linde, who wrote this song and also provided the guitar intro, was reclusive by nature and was at one time tagged “Nashville’s best-kept songwriting secret.” Apart from “Burning Love,” most of the successful songs he wrote were for Country stars, including,Roger Miller (“Tom Green County Fair” – 1970), Garth Brooks (“Callin’ Baton Rouge” – 1993) and The Dixie Chicks (“Goodbye Earl” – 1999.) In Britain, Welsh Rock and Roll revivalist Shakin’ Stevens recorded a #10 hit with his version of Linde’s “A Letter to You” in 1984.

In 2005, an Australian woman, who was evidently not a fan of this song, stabbed her partner in the back, thigh, and shoulder with a pair of scissors because “he played the song too many times.”

References:
1. Burning Love – Wikipedia
2. Songfacts – Burning Love

Tagged with: Arthur Alexander, burning love, Dennis Linde, Elvis Presley
Posted in Music

4/3 – 10/3/24 – Dune 2, Ping Pong & Fastest Man

Posted on March 11, 2024 by observationblogger — Leave a comment

Welcome to Monday’s News on the March – The week that was in my digital world.

Awe Strikes Back in Dune 2
Movie Review at Reely Bernie

Before I read Bernie’s article, I was willing to hold out for the weekend to see Dune 2 with the kids, but his brilliant review got me on my high-horse to see it first thing. I’m going to see it again with them this weekend.

I wanted to do a ‘Friday’s Finest’ of Dune 2 last Friday, but I realised I could never top Bernie’s outstanding article. Basterd. So I thought I’d slot him in here at Monday’s News on the March.

Theatrical movie releases at the beginning of the year are predictably rancid. Only a colossal sandworm can devour the memory of The Beekeeper, Mean Girls, and Argylle.

Thankfully, that worm arrived on February 29 to represent the second part of Director Denis Villeneuve’s adaptation of the Dune universe. And, like his first effort nearly three years ago, Dune: Part 2 is an enthralling exercise in awe—both practically wrought and imaginatively immense.

Ep2. Ping Pong With Pineapple | 24 Hours with Roger: Shanghai Edition | UNIQLO
Video presentation at UNIQLO

I have missed watching the wizardry of Roger’s tennis game on the world stage, so I thought this might alleviate the cravings. This was fun and I hope you enjoy it too.

Roger engages in a heated match of table tennis against an unlikely opponent: seven-year-old Gui Duoer (aka Pineapple).

The Fastest Man Alive | Bolt
Video presentation by Olympics

Every now and then I like to revisit some of the greatest human sporting achievements. They might include; the documentary Bobby Fischer Against the World, Mohammad Ali’s victory in Rumble in the Jungle or How George Foreman took back his title. It was nice to get this Usain Bolt video in my feed since it had been a long time since I viewed his remarkable feats and long standing domination of the sport.

Step into the electrifying world of Usain Bolt, the legendary sprinter whose lightning-fast speed redefined the Olympic Games. In this video we look back at the extraordinary journey of the fastest man on Earth as he blazed his way through the Olympic history books.

Tagged with: Roger Federer, reely bernie, Dune 2, ping pong, Fastest Man, Usain Bolt
Posted in Movies and TV, News, Sport and Adventure

Bluebell Wood (2023) – Frank Joshua

Posted on March 10, 2024 by observationblogger — 11 Comments

I first heard Bluebell Wood by UK artist Frank Joshua when it featured at Eclectic Music Lover. According to various interviews on his personal web site this intriguing singer songwriter doesn’t use his face or image, for promotion which is unusual in the social media age. He prefers to let the music create the buzz and not the face.

I think I realised a few years ago that social media took over everything that we became so hyper aware of characters and personalities more than the content they were creating. I think it was Beyonce who said a little while ago. You really didn’t know what Nina Simone looked like, but now you know what an artist had for breakfast and what they feel about abortion. Things like that, before you get to listen to their music…

Frank Joshua started playing in bands and writing songs at school when he was 16 in Reading. He stated that he didn’t mean for it become a career but it kept coming back to him whenever he tried to leave it alone. At 18 he moved to London to do the whole music scene. He was influenced by the likes of Stevie Wonder, Prince, The Beatles and David Bowie.

‘I’m not afraid to jump genres and work in a counter-intuitive way with remixers and collaborators. I work up from the song each time, which feels like an old-fashioned way of doing things, but it works for me.

When you are doing the actual writing part, the real trick is to get out of your own way’.

I consider Bluebell Wood a fantastic piece of Pop. I especially love how a warm, breezy state envelopes me when Frank sings the following:

Kipinging on a mountain top,
Skipping down to Bluebell Wood
I saw you,
Flowers in your hair
Laid open to a clear blue sky and
Holding close as clouds go by
I wonder,
Is Bluebell Wood really there?

Regarding Bluebell Wood, Frank Joshua said:

I’m such a fan of the pop song. It’s the thing I’m drawn to whatever I’m listening to. The lyric comes from the uncertainty of new love and the anxiety of not knowing quite where the other person is at and the concern that what you feel might not be reciprocated.

So if I asked and really really meant it
Not that I wouldn’t but not that I do
And if I said it like I wasn’t joking
Jokes apart,
what would you do?

Just suppose you do the asking
Just for a laugh but not just for fun
And if you said it like you really meant it
What would I do,
not that I’m jumping the gun

We could talk about the weather
Pretend we hadn’t heard
Talk about the nicest things
The nicest things
that might not get us hurt

Guess we got most of what we asked for
Guess we got more than most
More than enough might be too greedy
So maybe not to ask is best

For more information from Frank Joshua I point you to the insightful interview in the third reference below. Here are some of the Press’ feedback to his music:
“A timeless universe of melodic pop” – Rock Era Magazine
“So hooky and addictive it’s crazy” – Sound Won’t Stop
“Beautiful and timeless” – Pop Magazine
“Sophisticated, opinionated, and authentic” – Making a Scene

Frank Joshua also remarked, ‘We spend a lot of time producing music videos that I think are also quite interesting and challenging. We try and use imagery that both represent the song and provokes people to think..‘ The music video below was directed by Diego Monfredini and inspired by the animations of Wladyslaw Starewicz from the 1930s.

References:
1. Fresh New Tracks, Vol. 23 – Frank Joshua, Ryan Redwood, Scoopski – Eclectic Music Lover
2. Frank Joshua
3. The Music Series: Frank Joshua audio interview – The Sunday Night Army

Tagged with: Bluebell Wood, eclectic music lover, Frank Joshua
Posted in Music

Precious Angel (1979) – Bob Dylan

Posted on March 9, 2024 by observationblogger — 14 Comments

Today’s song Precious Angel along with Gotta Serve Somebody and my previous entry I Believe in You are my favourite songs from the album which marked Dylan’s conversion to Christianity called Slow Train Coming. I remember in my second year on Exped at Sea listening to these songs ad nauseam. You might think I had grown tired of them over the years after the hundreds of listens. I even tried Dylanholics Anonymous. Nope, didn’t work. The music somehow seems ‘reborn’ upon each listen and lyrically it does as well, but I think a large part for why ‘musically’ it resonates so profoundly is in large part due Mark Knopfler’s wonderful contribution as lead guitarist on this record. I’m not alone in that view: Authors Oliver Keys and John Nogowski particularly praise the guitar playing of Mark Knopfler on the song.

The single from the record Gotta Serve Somebody became his first hit in three years, winning Dylan the inaugural Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance. I remember Nick Cave professing he got into music because of that song.

On November 17, 1978, while playing a gig in San Diego, an audience member apparently threw a small silver cross onto the stage, and [Bob] Dylan felt impelled to pick it up and put it into his pocket. The following night, in Tucson, Arizona, he was feeling even worse and reached into his pocket, pulled out the cross, and put it on. That night, while stuck inside his hotel room, he apparently experienced the overwhelming presence of Jesus whose power and majesty he’d heard about through his girlfriends Helena Springs and Mary Alice Artes, in addition to his recently converted band mates Steven Soles, David Mansfield, and T- Bone Burrnett. It was Artes, though, who seems to have influenced him the most. She had recommitted herself to the Christianity of her youth through a Church in Tarzana, California, called the Vineyard Christian Fellowship, which Dylan soon joined
– The year Bob Dylan was born again: a timeline – Oxford University Press

After Dylan made the sudden religious conversation to a Christian believer despite his Jewish hereditary, he poured out lyrics which expressed his new found devotion. He then went on to do a trilogy of records to ratify and prophetize ‘the word’ based on his newly held beliefs, namely Slow Training Coming, Saved and Shot of Love. Many songs have already appeared here from these three records, but my stand-out from the three was the bootleg Every Grain of Sand which featured on The Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961–1991. Not unlike what occurred when he went electric on his 66′ world tour with The Band, Dylan was often booed and derided by audiences in concerts when he went all ‘preachy’ with monologues before and during the sets.

I have always found today’s featured track Precious Angel a companion piece of his scantily known Covenant Women song from the follow up record Saved. Both seem dedicated to a woman who he was indebted and devoted to for helping him forge an unrequited love and faith in Christ. At a concert in Seattle on January 14, 1980, Dylan claimed that the song is addressed to the woman who brought him to Christianity.

The covenant is a bond, a promise, a link of overwhelming significance. Put into the context of this song a covenant between a man and a woman is a bond between a couple who not only love each other but also share a belief that there is a God, and the Bible represents His teachings. So it is a triangle – the man, the woman, the teaching of Christ.

[Verse 1]
Precious angel
Under the sun
How was I to know
You’d be the one
To show me I was blinded
To show me I was gone
How weak was the foundation
I was standing upon?

Now there’s spiritual warfare
And flesh and blood breaking down
You either got faith or you got unbelief
And there is no neutral ground
The enemy is subtle
How be it we are so deceived
When the truth’s in our hearts
And we still don’t believe?

[Chorus]
Shine your light, shine your light on me
Shine your light, shine your light on me
Shine your light, shine your light on me
You know I just couldn’t make it by myself
I’m a little too blind to see (read the remainder here)

According to the Wikipedia article below: The lyrics contain many biblical references. The theme of the song seems to be taken from 2 Corinthians 4:4 to 4:6, in which the light of Christ is contrasted with the darkness faced by those deluded by the devil. The line “Now there’s spiritual warfare, flesh and blood breaking down” appears to be a reflection of another verse from 2 Corinthians (10:3) which states “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh“. The line in the chorus about blindness appears to be influenced by a passage from the Gospel of John in which the blind man healed by Jesus proclaims that “Whereas I was blind, now I can see“.

References:
1. Slow Train Coming – wikipedia
2. Precious Angel – Wikipedia
3. Precious Angel: an enigma inside a seemingly straightforward Bob Dylan song – Untold Dylan

Tagged with: Bob Dylan, precious angel, slow train coming
Posted in Music

None But the Brave (1983) – Bruce Springsteen

Posted on March 8, 2024 by observationblogger — 11 Comments

For most other artists, today’s featured track None But the Brave would be their best song. For Bruce Springsteen it’s an outtake, kept in the vault for years. I was surprised to read how early this was recorded. I assumed it was a 90’s or 2000’s track. It just plain sounds like modern Bruce. His voice clearly carries his age and a certain world-weariness that characterized the heavy subject matter of Rising-era recordings.

This song is fantastic, and for that reason many fans feel it should have been on Born in the USA. But does it thematically/musically fit that record? None But the Brave is heartfelt and heartbreaking, and it captures the E Street Band sound at perhaps the peak of its powers. None But the Brave is the second bonus outtake to appear here from The Essential Bruce Springsteen record released in 2003 after the previous entry County Fair.

Tonight down on Union Street
I’m thinking back baby to you and me
The way you used to be
Your words come back to me
From passing cars
Voices sing out
And empty bars
Where guitars ring out
We’d walk and talk about
Who’d be the ones to get out

You said
None but the brave
No one baby but the brave
Those strong enough to save
Something from what they gave

None but the brave
No one baby but the brave

In my dreams these nights I see you my friend
The way you looked back then
On a night like this
I know that girl no longer exists
Except for a moment in some stranger’s eyes
Or in the nameless girls in cars rushing by
That’s where I find you tonight
And in my heart you still survive (read the remainder here)

None But the Brave made its live debut shortly after its album releases, at Bruce’s Asbury Park holiday shows in December 2003. The first E Street Band performance was more than four years later, in Vancouver on the Magic tour. Apart from today’s track, there are some seriously good songs left off the Born in the USA album including: Pink Cadillac, Johnny Bye & Shut out the Light.
None But the Brave finds Bruce nostalgically looking back on days spent with a lost love. This makes it something of a companion piece to “Point Blank” from The River, and in the July 1983 Born in the U.S.A. sequence, it was slotted as the third song on Side One. Ultimately, it wouldn’t see an official release until 2003, and it’s been played live a scant six times.

References:
1. Roll of the Dice: None But the Brave – E Street Shuffle
2. 10 Amazing Songs Bruce Springsteen Cut From ‘Born in the U.S.A.’ – Rolling Stone

Tagged with: Bruce Springsteen, none but the brave, the essential bruce springsteen
Posted in Music

Riley Gaines – Female Competitive Swimmer Talking About the Inclusion of Biological Male (born) Competitors in her Sport (Joe Rogan Podcast)

Posted on March 7, 2024 by observationblogger — 17 Comments

Below is a caption from about 15 minutes where Riley talks about seeing what appears a 6,4 tall swimmer with a bulge in his pants in the 100 meter sprint:

Before we get to that I just want to say the following (I may have the trans-correct term incorrect):

What amazes me above anything else is how a Transgender person can compete against athletes who they know are not biological men which they themselves were born as, and somehow do it as though it were fair ball. That cowardliness and ignorance in their belief that they transcend the rights of athletes born into the sport based on their biological marker is unfathomable. What gives someone with that irreconcilable mindset to think that’s ok ? That’s sick. We have to call it out for what it is.

Riley said, ‘As female athletes, we are applauding our own erasure, our own demolition….I thought a coach would say something. I thought some other swimmer. Someone with political power, someone within the NCAA. Quite honestly I thought someone’s Dad would come down there and yank this man out of our locker rooms’.

Tagged with: Riley Gaines
Posted in News, politics

Fire and Rain (1970) – James Taylor

Posted on March 7, 2024 by observationblogger — 17 Comments

In September, 2019, for Friday’s Finest I presented an article about a Sidney Lumet’s film called Running on Empty which showcases a stellar performance by River Phoenix in the prime of his youth. One of my favourite scenes in the movie is where Phoenix’s character and his family launch into their homespun version of James Taylor ‘Fire and Rain‘ (see the end of this post). To me today’s featured song feels more akin to a spiritual hymn; or a music sanctuary that draws me back down the road from whence I came. The duality in the feelings it elicits between ‘somber’ and ‘joyful’ has always resonated in me. Songs like Fire and Rain ordinarily don’t just appear out of thin air, but this one feels like it did in its tranquil, timeless and seamless condition. As a listener I’m grateful for that.

[Verse 1]
Just yesterday morning, they let me know you were gone
Suzanne, the plans they made put an end to you
I walked out this morning and I wrote down this song
I just can’t remember who to send it to

[Chorus]
I’ve seen fire and I’ve seen rain
I’ve seen sunny days that I thought would never end
I’ve seen lonely times when I could not find a friend
But I always thought that I’d see you again

[Verse 2]
Won’t you look down upon me, Jesus
You’ve got to help me make a stand
You’ve just got to see me through another day
My body’s aching and my time is at hand
And I won’t make it any other way

James Taylor explained the song in an interview with David Mikkelson this way:

Fire and Rain has three verses. The first verse is about my reactions to the death of a friend. The second verse is about my arrival in this country with a monkey on my back, and [Won’t you look down upon me,] Jesus is an expression of my desperation in trying to get through the time when my body was aching and the time was at hand when I had to do it. The third verse of that song refers to my recuperation [beating the heroin addiction] in Austen Riggs which lasted about five months.”

The “Flying Machine in pieces on the ground” is a reference to the depression he’d been in about the demise of his band, The Flying Machine.

Fire and Rain was released in August 1970 as the second single from Taylor’s second studio album, Sweet Baby James. As expressed above the song follows Taylor’s reaction to the suicide of Suzanne Schnerr, a childhood friend, and his experiences with drug addiction and fame. After its release, Fire and Rain peaked at number two on Canada Top Singles chart and at number three on the Billboard Hot 100.

References:
1. Fire and Rain (song) – Wikipedia

Tagged with: fire and rain, james taylor, Running on empty
Posted in Music

Flight of the Bumble Bee (1900) – Rymsky Korsakov

Posted on March 6, 2024 by observationblogger — 3 Comments

I presented Flight of the Bumble Bee (possibly the most recognisable classical piece in popular culture) in my post about the Australian movie Shine. That movie is based on the life of piano genius David Helfgott, a child prodigy whose schizo-affective disorder manifested in young adulthood, which eventually caused a mental breakdown. He spent years in an institution before making an unlikely recovery. His re-emergence below as a much older man (played by Geoffrey Rush who won the gong) playing Flight of the Bumblebee in a local restaurant will forever be etched in my memory.

At the Academy Awards ceremony, the real-life Helfgott received a standing ovation for a fevered rendition of the same famous piece.

Flight of the Bumblebee is an orchestral interlude written by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov for his opera The Tale of Tsar Saltan, composed in 1899–1900.

All I see is a row of violinists playing this and one by one they keep falling down out of exhaustion, and the other violinists still playing start to sweat and watch their dying friends with the corner of their eyes. All this while the conductor is shaking his arms violently and is completely dissociative.
– Shamsher1171

Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov was a Russian composer, a member of the group of composers known as The Five. He was a master of orchestration. He is thought of as developing a nationalistic style of classical music. Rimsky-Korsakov appreciated Western musical techniques after he became a professor of musical composition, harmony, and orchestration at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory in 1871. He undertook a rigorous three-year program of self-education and became a master of Western methods and further enriched by his exposure to the works of Richard Wagner.

References:
1. Shine (film) – Wikipedia
2. Flight of the Bumblebee – Wikipedia

Tagged with: flight of the bumble bee, Rymsky Korsakov, shine
Posted in Movies and TV

The AnkiDroid Collection (Part 55) – Psilocybin, Impiety & Dyadic

Posted on March 6, 2024 by observationblogger — 3 Comments

Ankidroid additions related to Science, History and Philosophy. More information about Anki can be found in this article.

Psilocybin

Psilocybin is the active hallucinogenic compound in magic mushrooms. It has a long history of use in Mesomerica in religious and spiritual rituals (Mayan and Aztec cultures).
Just 15 hours ago appeared this news story – A Missouri House committee has unanimously approved a bill to legalize the medical use of psilocybin by military veterans.

Impiety

Impiety refers to disrespect for the sacred, lacking in reverence or proper respect toward the supreme being, wickedness. For example, visitors are advised not to wear shorts or tank tops when touring certain churches and cathedrals in Europe, because doing so is viewed as impiety by those who worship there.
From an Old French impieté “impiety, wickedness” (12c.) or directly from Latin impietatem.

Dyadic

Dyadic in sociology is a term which represents the group of two people. For example Dyadic communication refers to two people engaged in conversation. Or the counterpoint of the voice against voice conception of polyphony – which is a style of music composition employing two or more simultaneous, but relatively independent melodic sounds.
“The number two, two units treated as one,”. Origen: 1670s, from Latin dyad-, stem of dyas, from Greek dyas “the number two, a group of two,”.

Tagged with: Dyadic, Pathos, Psilocybin
Posted in Reading