Apple Pie

  

“If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, first invent the universe.”

- Carl Sagan

I love that quote.

While I was never into Sagan as a kid, I knew of him. For a kid in the 70s, with one teevee with seven channels in the house, his face was ubiquitous. As was the mock phrase “billions and billions,” though I understand he never actually said it. As a young padawan who loved physics I knew him; as a teenager struggling with calculus in high school I knew him; as a college student contemplating a major in something ending in “-ology” I knew him.

Despite all this, though, I never saw Cosmos. Thought about renting it over the years, but felt that it wouldn’t live up to the hype with its dated special effects. (Though it might have some weird type of never-experienced nostalgia for me as a big fan of Nimoy’s In Search Of). But I did read the paperback version of Cosmos during my time at Seton Hall, followed by either Dragons of Eden or Broca’s Brain. Can’t remember which one. Might have been both.

I also read his science fiction novel, Contact, and found it somewhat entertaining. There was a really good idea in there, something about how the aliens either communicated with us or enabled us to travel to them. Don’t remember, unfortunately. And now that’s making me think I should re-read the book. Saw the movie in the 90s and was underwhelmed. First in a long line of the girl-scientist cliché as well as the religion fanatic with a bomb cliché.

Anyway, this is all just some random warblings from me. No ulterior motive behind this post, written only because I came across that apple pie quote.

Now I need to keep my eye out for a Sagan next time I’m at the used book store.

N.B. A “sagan” is the tongue-in-cheek scientific unit of any number greater than four billion – “billions and billions” translates to at least two billion plus two billion, or four billion. Example: Bill Gates, the second richest man in the world, is estimated to have a net worth of around 22.5 sagans of dollars.

Suggestion of the Decade!

Deplatform Twitter.

[That’s “Deplatform Twitter,” for those viewing this on smartphones, the suggestion observed in the comments section of a recent article on The American Conservative.]

The Healer

Last night I had a dream. Crazy dream. Anything I wanted to know … anyplace I needed … to go …

Well, not exactly. But it was strange.

I dreamt I was wandering the streets of New York City. 1970s New York City: dirty, litter-strewn and sweaty, menace tangible on every street corner. To show I wasn’t afraid I made a point to turn into every alleyway and at least nose my way in a little before returning to the gritty numbered streets. Who I was proving my bona fides to I don’t know, but it seemed important in the dream.

In one alleyway I spotted a stone staircase heading down underground. I hesitated, then descended a ways into a little passage, then climbed up stairs into a cave hewn straight from granite. It was open to the sky, but I couldn’t see the surrounding terrain, though I intuited I was still in the City.

Sitting on a rock before me was an old man. And at his feet, laying on its side, was a deer, panting slowly.

The old man was quietly weeping. I patiently listened as he explained, in broken sentences, that the deer was his best friend … and his best friend was once a man! Something – a witch, an evil spirit, I’m not sure it was spelled out in the dream – something had turned this friend into a deer, and that deer was dying at the man’s feet.

I understood that the old timer was going to cut off the deer’s legs to save it from its wounds (not sure what its wounds were, but in the dream I felt it had something to do with a curse). Then I stepped up and told him not to do so. “Stand back,” I said with conviction.

Reaching down, I gripped the deer’s hide tightly. “Be healed!” I commanded.

But before I saw the results of my invocation, I found myself moving out of the chamber into another passageway … that led to a banquet hall. My wife and daughters were with me as I entered, and we passed tables of food looking for a place to sit. I passed a family member (a photographer by trade) who handed me a glass of ice cold orange slices and said that my oldest daughter had left this at her seat.

Okay. If there’s any Great Wisdom in that segment of the dream, I’m at a loss.

Then I noticed a table with books stacked on it, like a store display. I always am curious when it comes to books, so I went right up and nearly fell over in shock at the novel on display:

The Healer, by Stephen King, with a picture of a deer on the cover!

Hopper, Inc.

“Every block of stone has a statue inside it, and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it.”

   - Michelangelo

“Don’t think. Thinking is the enemy of creativity. It’s self-conscious, and anything self-conscious is lousy. You can’t try to do things. You simply must do things.”

   - Ray Bradbury

Schwarzeneggerian

One of my New Year’s resolutions was to get physically fit. I’m a firm believer in the mind-body connection, and when you got a million things you want to do, it’s best to start first with the physical.

So far I’ve kept myself on track this year.

I’ve walked a total of 29.5 miles.

More importantly, I’ve pushed nearly 30 tons of iron.

30 tons of iron? How so, Hopper?

Well, five days a week I do two sets of ten exercises. Mostly one-arm stuff with dumbbells. The sixth day I do three sets. Day seven is a Day of Rest.

I load 33 pounds of weight onto a dumbbell for my one-arm curls. Two sets of twelve means I’ve moved 792 pounds of metal. Since January 1, I’ve curled 13,761 pounds, or nearly 6.9 tons.

I like thinking like that. It’s a great motivator.

I’ve also curbed my carbs by 75 percent, and made up the difference with protein. I’m not quite minus 10 pounds of body weight for the year, though. Partly because, I guess, I really haven’t cut back on my caloric intake, just switched the types of foods I’m eating. Ultimately I’ll have to lose 30 pounds, but if my body mass has shifted from my belly to my arms, chest, shoulders, thighs, and calves, maybe I could live with a 20-pound weight loss, keeping 50+ year old me under 200 pounds.

We’ll see; it’s a work in progress.

1917

Don’t know much about this year’s Oscars (nor do I really care), but I know one thing:

Joaquin Phoenix should win Best Actor for portraying Arthur Fleck, i.e., the Joker, hands down, and 1917 should win Best Editing and Best Cinematography.

Yes, I saw 1917 in the blurry enfilade of the last ten days.

Yes, it was good, and if I was an Oscar voter, I’d vote for it for Best Picture, too.

But, damn, I’ve never, ever, ever been as impressed with cinematography – cinematography! – in a movie as I was in this one. And I’ve seen a lot of movies. The landscapes, about a half-dozen set pieces or so, are so iconic, such cinescapes of hell, that I couldn’t be but overawed. The bombed out city with crawling, seeking shadows from swirling searchlights, the infamous “No-Man’s Land” cesspools of WWI, the trenches – of different coloration due to, I guess, the shifting geologies of the geographies traversed by our two protagonists … that is what I took away, and will long remember. Along with the horrible, terrible grandeur of war, and of the human spirit.

As far as Best Editing goes, well, the whole movie plays as one long, unbroken camera sequence, which literally puts you on the ground with Privates Schofield and Blake.

And yes, I highly, highly recommend 1917.

Which reminds me, I still need to see Peter Jackson’s World War I homage, They Shall Not Grow Old.

Rest in Peace Neil Peart

More thoughts to come later, after an extremely busy week culminates …

One Week In...

Well, 2020 has been pretty darn good to me so far.

I’ve lost seven pounds through some hard but enjoyable work. I’m walking every morning before work, rain or sub-zero temps notwithstanding, and have clocked 14 miles. I’ve also been battling the iron, and I do a daily two rounds of ten exercises that takes me about 30 minutes. Additionally, I’ve stayed away from my two El Guapos, pizza and beer, mostly avoided sugar, and have cut my carb intake 75 percent. This has translated into a seven pound weight loss.

Instead of listening to talk radio while commuting I’ve been listening to some super- hyper- motivational CDs. The result over the last eight days has been, no surprise, a more positive, optimistic, can-do tilt in my daily moods. I’ve been focusing on my work at work, which will help me financially and stress-wise, and focusing on my family at home. Was there something going on between the US and Iran recently?

Concerning work, I have a huge project I’m spearheading that goes live next Monday. If all goes well, based on past projects and remunerations thereof, I should expect a minimum bonus of $5,000. So it’s really, really nice to have my head in the game for this. I estimate right now that I am about 90 percent of the way toward a spotless implementation, though I realize that by just writing this I am opening myself up to be blindsided by the gods of Chaos.

I’m cruising along The Hobbit, my Tolkien-related Christmas gift from the girls, and enjoying it immensely. For those nerds in the know, I’m in the Mirkwood right now with Bilbo as he’s seeking a way to free his dwarven companions from Thranduil’s dungeons. The other book I’m reading is the surprisingly good Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie. Readable, endearing, and filled with life lessons, I wish I read it when I was a teenager. If I was a high school teacher I’d put it on my mandatory reading list, though it might get me fired, it being unabashedly pro-capital and all.

Also working on Big Picture stuff, but that’s not figured out yet, so no more detail here and now. Suffice it to say that I have been re-evaluating lifelong goals and am looking forward to the future optimistically for the first time in a long, long time. Einstein is famous for saying something along the lines of how to solve problems we must elevate our thinking. I believe I am experiencing this first hand.

More later …