Coincidence & Existence

Posted by Josh on August 4th, 2008 in · 0 Comments

Many phenomena that we observe in life are sought to be explained. Physicists seek to understand the ruling of our universe - why acceleration due to gravity is a balmy 9.8 metres per second per second or why the speed of light is 300 million metres per second. Similarly, creationists battle against evolutionists in the debate over the origins of life. And while an explicit explanation is the desire of many devout to their field, I contend that there is a much broader underlying phenomenon that has received little attention in the quest for the ultimate understanding of our world.

Many look at the processes of life, fascinated by its intricacies, and wonder how such a being, as complicated as it may be, could come to existence without the help of someone or something else. I argue that we are nothing more than the product of time and chance - without either, we are stagnant. We require time to allow for the progression of chance, and we require chance to explore all the permutations of our universe. In reality, it is only those combinations of both time and chance which stably interact that progress to the next moment of time.

In fact Darwin’s theory of evolution is nothing more than subset of this notion. The fittest of a species survive to reproductive maturity not because they hold better genes, but because they hold genes that are conducive to the environment that they’re in. Sucks for the fish that flopped onto land, but for the labyrinth fish whose swim bladder managed to oxygenate his blood, he might have been on to something.

But what about the confounding cosmological constants that govern our universe - surely they’re like this for a reason? Consider a universe of universes, or a universe filled with universes of universes - you get the idea - but that had one universe which represented a minute variation on each of the constants we observe today - variations on the four widely accepted fundamental forces - even better, an arbitrary number of fundamental forces. Each of these universes has the same potential to exist - that is to say that there is no bias toward one universe or another. Some universes would have constants so out of whack that matter as we know it could not exist there. Opposingly, some universes would have constants so in balance that matter condenses from energy ultimately giving rise to the heavenly bodies that we see in our universe. Our existence is not magic, its chance.

If life could not arise out of the conditions we find our universe to present, then we would not be here trying to understand them. It is by the simple nature that we can exist that allows us to exist.

Acceleration due to gravity is 9.8 metres per second per second not because God picked it but because, in the universe where gravity is anything but that, there are no beings to sit under an apple tree to have an apple fall from it.

In Trouble with the Guvernment

Posted by Josh on June 15th, 2008 in and · 0 Comments

I must admit, last night was the first, and very last time I will ever deal with the Guvernment. This high volume club is wrought with disorganization and is staffed with crude and abrasive ogres.

The bouncer denied entrance to a friend of mine - a decision I respected as I began to venture into the front entry way to round up three of our crowd that had already entered. My friend waited serenely on the other side of the line. The bouncer had asked him to leave, in a very non-specific manner. I looked at the bouncer and told him that before anyone left, I needed to go and get the others already inside.

My friend leaned in to talk with his sister who was also there. The bouncer grabbed his shirt, and repeatedly shoved him backwards along the line exclaiming “I told you to go!”, my friend simultaneously requesting that the bouncer not touch him, and backing away.

The line was thirty feet long, and by the time the bouncer finally let go of him, he was out in the parking lot. All the while, his sister was in toe protesting “Don’t touch my brother!”

He told her to “back off bitch.”

At this point, my blood pressure had risen dramatically. This guy thinks too much of himself - a powertrip for the socially impotent.

Soon after I was approached by a guy that appeared to have a better cool on the situation - who also seemed to run the show so to speak with regards to security. In synopsis of the events that transpired, I acquired his contact information and told him we’d be in touch. For not only were we embarrassed after having been promised line bypass by the limo partnership which we arrived in, but the bouncer had ripped my friend’s shirt along the front seam where the button holes are.

Assault is roughly defined as physical contact without consent. In context of a public function, a bouncer may only use physical contact to remove an individual when the individual poses an immediate and physical danger to the other individuals present. In which case the bouncer has a civil duty, and nothing more, to do the best that he can to diffuse the situation. This bouncer undoubtedly has no proper public welfare training and was probably clueless as to how to deal with such a situation.

Now I’m not a legal expert, but from all accounts, my friend was assaulted. There will be accountability.

It’s not rocket science to realize that a rip along a seam only arises when it is pulled on with sufficient force. A rip along the seam in the front of the shirt, roughly at the level of the sternum, can have only one of two meanings:

The first possibility is that my friend was actively backing away from the bouncer - providing enough tension on the seam to rip it. In which case, the bouncer should not have had any physical contact with him to begin with. In concert with his exclamation “Don’t touch me!”, it can be concluded that he was assaulted.

The second possibility is that my friend was being pulled toward the bouncer, once again providing enough tension on the seam to rip it. This is not the way an individual is removed, especially when the individual must back up to exit. In concert with his exclamation “Don’t touch me!”, it can be concluded that he was assaulted.

Ultimately someone from the Guvernment will be held accountable. The club as an entity will either replace the damaged shirt or the individual bouncer will be held accountable for the shirt with an impending assault charge. Justice will he had, especially if it goes through the government.

Futures

Posted by Josh on June 11th, 2008 in · 1 Comment

How is it that oil futures dictate the current price of gas? Oil futures jumped five dollars in afternoon trading. The price of gasoline jumped respectively.

I spent $48.00 today filling up my car that, at this time last year, cost me $28.00 to do so.

I hate not having an alternative. I hate being forced to support these oil companies by the infrastructure that we live in. If there was some other reasonable way to get into and out of the city without having to spend money on gasoline, I’d adopt it as a lifestyle without hesitation. As it is, I am already taking the subway as far west as it will take me from the downtown core, and driving the remaining bit back to my home in Mississauga.

I fear the day when the economy fails because it is literally too expensive to venture out to make any purchases. I already laugh in the faces of coupon clippers who, in this day and age, will travel an extra five kilometres to save twenty cents on a product that they could have got at their local grocery store. Sorry sir, but it just cost you an extra dollar thirty to get there and back.

There has to be some other alternative that must be adopted before the economy fails. Oil may generate a lot of revenue at present, but once it is apparent that individuals cannot afford the luxuries they plan on enjoying after they arrive at their destination, then the economy will fall; oil and all.

The future that I see truly isn’t reflected in oil futures.

Good Grief.

Dirty Dancing

Posted by Josh on May 27th, 2008 in and · 0 Comments

OMG … This Friday …

Do I need to say anything more?

Subway Sensations

Posted by Josh on May 13th, 2008 in · 0 Comments

With the onset of my job here at SickKids, I find myself in the daily commute. My mornings commence at 6:30 AM, with the sound of my dog snorting at my door. My eyes pop open in frustration. I’m out of the house by 7:10, where I venture off to the Second Cup for a coffee and a raspberry white-chocolate scone. Thirty minutes later, just enough time to polish off a coffee, I find myself down at Kipling station, where I, along with hundreds of other individuals jockey for a position along the yellow margin lining the subway platform. A subway arrives, and from that point on, the pushing and shoving begins.

This morning I was presented with a seat, a lovely treat to have considering the distance I was going. A woman flopped down beside me with a purse large enough to carry a small child. Her bag sat on my lap too. She then felt the urge to rummage. And by this I mean that her elbows extended at a sharp angle and travelled laterally as she peered into this womb of hers. She drove her elbow into my ribs. And from the rapid chain of events which ensued, I assume she jabbed the guy to her left as well, for a man who looked quite dishevelled arose rapidly and promptly relocated himself beside a much more ginger looking woman. I winced, and the lady next to me settled back in her place.

After dashing around St. George station through the thronging crowd migrating up the staircase, I once again found myself along the yellow line, anticipating prime realty in the cabin. I slid in, finding myself a pole to hang on to and foot-space to maintain my balance. A group of people filed in beside be; a girl was standing next to me. Her bag was larger than the other lady’s was, and nestled on her hip between her shoulder in such a way as to occupy the standing room that another individual could have had. She lost her balance as the subway jolted forward, and the bricks she must have been carrying, cuffed me in the side. I glared at her and then tried to shuffle away, not wanting to loose the handle space and foot-plantings that I won quite fairly. She backed up and jabbed me again with her bag, quite oblivious to the weaponry she was harbouring.

Lucky for me I only had two stops before I could relieve myself of this pain in my side. I climbed the staircase and arose through Queen’s Park station.

I can’t wait to see how well I do tonight.

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