An Interesting Site for Interested People

I forgot I told Nathan today that I would post a link to my blog for TED of which he has never heard of.  And for those of you who haven't heard of this site it is an organization that hosts conferences a few times a year, although they have expanded to more conferences across the world at many times during the year.  But what is fascinating about these conferences is that they bring extremely inspiring, influential, and informative people from many different areas and allow them to speak for up to 18 minutes.  This site has lent a great deal to the furthering of my education and I encourage everybody to explore it if you've never heard of it before.

Here are two links, the first is to the homepage the second is to an acting coach who mentions Shakespeare in passing as a part of a very interesting speech.
www.ted.com
http://www.ted.com/talks/patsy_rodenburg_why_i_do_theater.html

Cymbeline Screenplay Act V

A few people may remember in class on Tuesday how Dr. Sexson mentioned a possibility one of us writing a screenplay for Act V of Cymbeline.  Well after class today I spoke with Dr. Sexson about this idea and he encouraged me to try this out for my final project at which I was shocked and pleased to be given the opportunity to try something different than a formal paper.  While I do enjoy writing formal papers I find it just as if not more important for people to attempt to create something outside of their purview of believed ability.  Adapting an act from Cymbeline to Script fits into this area for me.  I had had some ideas for a formal paper but now I'm certain that I want to attempt a screenplay of the last act of Cymbeline.  I tossed this around for quite some time because I did have some good ideas for my final paper but as a pre-service teacher who will be expecting students to produce materials of their own besides analytical papers, I must be able to practice creative endeavors as well.  What better way to do this than through screenplay writing?  As I embark on this project I would encourage and appreciate input from anybody and everybody on what they think could be appropriate, moving, and successful in creating this screenplay.
With nothing else to say I sign off for the night
Craig West

Sonnet 4

Come to the point and be all that you may,
Dance and dance and dance around what you find.
Always searching, never receiving day.
Thus we find our thoughts are here declined.
Start again and try to foresee your challenge.
Our neurosis sees into that abyss,
That young men shake and quiver and derange,
So they might be like old men whom see bliss.
Expect and ware that deconstructing myth,
That we circle to secrete out of this.
Know that answers only given forthwith
Create honesty otherwise amiss.
   We know and do not know respectively,
   Because we try to act objectively.

Sonnet 3

I don't know why but I feel the need to write sonnets.

Through time and space the infinite questions,
Purview that which we do not know as yet.
What we know comes with the alterations,
Of full circle philosophies we've met.
"Questions beget more questions." Teacher says.
But where is the ultimate question found?
Knowing this would lead us to that which is,
Incomprehensible nature unbound.
Multiverse can purpose us to resist,
That nature can alternate position,
Of those to us that already exist,
Despite our experienced rendition.
 What? How? Who? When? Where? Why? only begin
  The questions that may too lie there within.

Another Sonnet

A day, a life, a world within a mind,
Agronomy and Economy drive,
The satisfactory piece undefined.
Yet all in one the search may yet deprive
The meaning that comes unexpectedly.
Yet solace may be found within the ground
When strife and struggle lead us heavenly
To learn to love what must remain the sound
Of green seas of grass that rustle today
And tomorrow die and decay to grow
Again. Sense the flowing nature array
That must be interrupted with the snow.
  Interconnectivity drives us all
  Despite efforts to separate the thrall.

A Sonnet

Outside the window, a portrait alive

Becomes the view of that morning winter.

Not quite the tundra because it may thrive,

But may too stress when under heat’s splinter.

The clouds reflect the coming of the sun,

Orange, red, and gray rays play on this ground.

The sight of which has power which can stun,

A man who has seen such power profound.

Behind this window simple people rest

Who know the sights and sounds of this, their land.

They strive and hope that they might be such blessed

With sights of fields that remain to be grand.

   What luck, what fortune, must these people know

    To have such beauty, outside their window?

Capacity of the Mind

"Modern science tells us that the information storage capacity of the human brain is many orders of magnitude greater than the amount of information in the physical universe, so the idea is in principle quite sound."


This quote from The School of Night floored me.  Well not quite but it definitely got an eyebrow raise.  As an English major I love and respect many works of art (literature, music, or otherwise).  But something that I consider to be a side interest is theoretical physics and astrophysics  and the implications that this subject has on philosophy, literature, and how we view the human condition.  I have a very basic understanding of science from high school and some college courses,  and consider myself to to be an amateur spectator of what happens in the science world (especially since I did NOT want to become a participant and colleague in the world of physics).  

What I would like to do in this post is to put into perspective the implications of the statement by Frederick Turner listed above. But before I get to the amount of information in the physical universe I will start with the speed of light.  The speed of light is approximately 300 million meters per second squared (671 million miles per hour) and it takes approximately 8 seconds for light to travel from our sun to earth (93 million miles).  Now the speed of light is extremely fast and is even difficult to comprehend.  But the understanding of that speed is a stepping stone to understanding the size of the universe.  The nearest star to us currently is called Proxima Centauri and it takes the very same light of our sun that takes 8 minutes to travel to earth 4.2 years to travel to this star.  4.2 YEARS!!!  If you were to walk around the world and not stop once it would take you approximately 1 year to walk completely around the world.  I can't imagine going on any trip that would take 1 year let alone 4.2 years, and light travels millions of times faster than we walk.  Furthermore it takes light 100,000 years to travel across just our galaxy and  2.5 million years to travel to the Milky Way's sister galaxy Andromeda.  2.5 million years ago our race did not exist and the first of our believed ancestors in the genus Homo who were known as Homo Habilis were just starting their journey as a new species.
Here is a picture of what Homo Habilis is believed to have looked like:

So this means that light that our scientists can pick up coming from Andromeda today first left the galaxy when this species above was just getting it's start on our now shrinking earth (they were the first species ever to use stone tools).  Homo Sapiens as a species has only been around for 200,000 years.  

Are you lost yet as to how vast the universe is? Do you want me to continue to expand on the vast nature of Turner's statement? Well too bad 'cause I'm going to.

After the distance between our galaxy and Andromeda the numbers become more and more unbelievable and   difficult to comprehend as we venture out into the rest of the universe.  I could sit here and list ways to attempt to understand them but it isn't necessary and I've probably already lost over 3/4 of anybody reading this.  So what I will do for the 1/4 of those still reading is list the distance to the edge of the universe and compare the amount of stars in our galaxy with the amount of galaxies in the universe.

Distance across the Observable Universe: 

46 billion light years (light year = the distance of one year of traveling light)

This stat is somewhat unsure by me and also by anybody considering the Universe.

Amount of Stars in Milky Way:                                      

200 - 400 billion  STARS

Amount of Galaxies in the Universe:

100 - 500 billion GALAXIES

There are possibly the same amount of galaxies in the universe as there are stars in the Milky Way?!?!  I don't even know how to begin to comprehend that, while astrophysicists are trying to come up with a theory that can relate the Big Bang and everything that we know in the PHYSICAL UNIVERSE all together in a comprehensive manner (more on this later).  So here we are with a conceptual framework of the 'amount of information in the physical universe' as stated by Turner.  What do we do with that now?  Is he right? And if so how do we rethink 'the world against a feather'? Personally I question whether or not it is possible to hold that amount of information in the brain, but I'm no scientist, and I don't know where Turner received his information.  But what I do know is that throughout the Universe there is a great amount of open space and even a great amount of open space throughout galaxies.  And so suddenly the amount of the 'physical universe' becomes much smaller than my previously stated conceptual framework (not counting dark matter and dark energy).  And if you consider what humans can remember as far as historical contexts of stories 2000 years prior to their existence simply by the imperfect nature of communication, Turner's statement becomes more and more conceivable.

Anyways at this point I've probably completely lost every person in my class, but what I would like to consider this semester and what was inspired by The School of Night article, is the implications of the relation of science (especially theoretical physics and astrophysics) to that of 'Mything Shakespeare'.  I'm not saying that this is the topic I would like to pursue for my paper (who knows maybe I am), but what I am saying is that I think this subject to be interesting and even important to the consideration of literature and the human condition, and that you can expect at least some further explication of science creeping its way into my blog.  And furthermore I challenge each of you to possibly begin bringing this relation of science and literature to attention in your own considerations of everything you believe and do in our humanities driven area of study.