The Double Slit Experiment and we need an aspirin.

Ok, we're about to get all scientific on your asses. Let's discuss the double slit experiment. You know the one we mean. Where scientists fire a laser or bright light at a flat surface with two slits cut into it. The resulting pattern on the sensor placed behind the flat slitted surface (try saying that fast five times) registers the light and shows either an interference pattern (light and dark bands) or a solid light pattern, depending on how the result is measured. Apparently when we are watching, the light behaves as waves causing interference (resulting in light and dark bands) however when we are measuring it with a particle detector the light shows a solid pattern and appears as if it went through one of the slots (italics mine) What does this mean. We can think of only three things. One that our observation of the experiment causes a change to the outcome simply by viewing it. Two, that light itself changes when it knows it's being observed or measured. Or Three, the particles interfere with themselves and pass through both slits simultaneously. So what can we learn from all of this? Sadly not a lot. It appears as if our simply observing or measuring the location of the photons (or electrons in some experiments) alters their reality. If unobserved they act in a wave pattern, if observed they act in a particle pattern. This experiment is further confused by the fact that detectors placed at the slits will not change the nature of the observed light pattern and will act as if the particle passed through both slits simultaneously. So even though the detectors say the light passed through say the left slit. The resulting pattern will show that it in fact passed through both. Which should be a physical impossibility. What does it all mean? Are multiple dimensions at work here? Are we observing quantum proof that the universe is subjective to how we view it? If such is the case, can we alter reality at will? That would be interesting wouldn't it? Of course could you imagine the chaos resulting from billions of individuals each altering reality to suit their own needs? Scary though isn't it? Excuse us, we need an aspirin and a nap. Here is a photographic representation of the double slit experiment. Make of it what you will. Ciao for now.

What is time?

     The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines time as  " the measured or measurable period during which an action, process, or condition exists or continues" or "the thing that is measured as seconds, minutes, hours, days, years, etc."  Both these definitions are true. Neither one is very helpful (or satisfying) when discussing time. Our definition of time could be stated as "the inexorable pull of nature toward the destruction of self" which sounds pretty negative (if not suicidal) to say the least. But it is true that each moment we live is one less moment we will continue to exist, (at least in a physical state, we can make no assumptions about what happens after the destruction of our psyche.) Is the fact that time is fleeting our reason for focus in life? If we keep our awareness of the passing of time sharply in our mind do we at least in some small way slow it's passing. Or does the juggernaut of time simply carry us along in a mad rush to the end of our existence? We at The Crazy have felt time crawling slowly (being made to watch reality television can be a particularly painful time slowing event) or whiz by (it seems when we are enjoying ourselves in any way time seems to fly by at hypersonic speed). Sadly we may never know. One thing is certain. Time cannot be altered at will. The arrow of time moves in only one direction. Or so all past history seems to show. And though we are all time travelers none of us will ever be able to travel to the past (except in our minds of course) and relive those events.  Just a quick note on time. Ciao for now.

The Arrow of time.

     It seems time is passing quickly here at The Crazy.  We have been running around trying to get things done, but apparently it's a big circle we live in. On the other hand we recently had some friends over for a football game. And every one of us mentioned how time seemed to be going slowly. We wondered... was time actually going slower? Were we all caught in a whirlpool of the flow of time? Is that what we are, the flotsam and jetsam of time? Struggling in a vain effort to reach the far shore, when no shore actually exists?

     Why is it that sometimes time seems to slowly crawl from then to now, and other times it spurts forward in leaps and jumps? If we look back on our lives in the context of time, are the moments you remember most in your life the slow moments or the fast jerks of the rough waters of time? We are going to be doing some research on the meaning of time in our lives. If anyone has any memories or stories about how time has affected you, please be sure to post them in the commentary. We are going to look at time. From a social, artistic, and scientific point of view through the next few posts. We hope you find it interesting, we know we will. Ciao for now.

Re posting of our halloween post from last year. Just cause I liked it.

The Earliest haunts of man....

Happy Halloween everybody! We haven't posted here in a while, we've been busy. We've needed 26 hour days, but had to make do with 24. So we've been forgoing sleep to get things done. Anyway, it's All Hallows Eve, the time when ghosts and goblins walk the earth. So we thought we'd do a little history lesson for you. Ghost stories it seems have been told since man began telling stories. One of the earliest is a story told by Pliny the Younger who was born in 61 A.D. He recounts the tale of a haunted house in Athens. It seems to have all the elements that are with us today when discussing ghosts, chains, beckoning spirits, and a surprisingly calm young philosopher.. You can read it HERE.  This is far from the first mention of ghosts in literature, but it's fascinating to we here at The Crazy. Over a thousand years before Pliny the Younger wrote this narrative, the ancient Egyptians long held that ghosts were pretty much everywhere. And when the Pharoah Akenhaten died he was cursed by the priests to wander the desert forever as a ghost. The reason for the curse? Erasing many of the Gods from ancient Egypt and assigning ONE god to rule above them. The God Aten (the sun god) and surprise... guess who the sun gods sole representatives on earth were to be, Ankenhaten and Nefertiti of course. Many Egyptians claim to have seen the Ghost of Ankenhaten wandering the deserts of that country. Europe has too many ghost stories to quantify. You can't throw a rock anywhere in many European countries without it passing through (not hitting obviously) a ghost. So what about here at home, what are some of the earliest ghost stories of the America's? How about a ghost of one of the founding fathers? The Ghost of Benjamin Franklin has been sighted many times near the library of the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia (with some reports that his statue in front of the library comes to life and dances in the streets). How about pre american, The tale of Colonel Buck is one example. He condemned a supposed witch to death. On the gallows she was reported to have said. "Your lies have offended the almighty, He will help me take you life and leave my mark upon your grave." The story continues with the Colonel being frightened to death by her spirit that very afternoon. And her footprint is still seen on his grave. It looks sort of like a foot as seen in the photo at the top of this blog entry. (Ok, water stain maybe.)  And finally, there is one American ghost that has been seen and reported by First lady Grace Coolidge, Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, Eleanor Roosevelt, and perhaps the strangest report comes from Sir Winston Churchill who upon returning naked from his bath found Abraham Lincoln sitting in front of the fireplace in his room. (We imagine President Lincoln was as surprised as Mr Churchill.)  And President Harry Truman wrote in a letter to his wife that the White house floors "popped and the drapes move back and forth."   Mary Todd Lincoln told friends that the ghost of Andrew Jackson stomps and swears up and down the halls of the White House. So Happy Halloween to all of you. And if you see Mr Lincoln, tell him thanks for us will you. Ciao for now.

Experiment and other things.

After our last post we had mentioned we would try being more observant in our daily journeys into the great wide public. Not much to report although we spent Saturday afternoon at a packed Wal-mart standing around waiting for people to move. Not sure if the population around here is increasing or everybody got paid that day. The place was packed, and people with carts full of stuff they probably didn't need were standing in line at every checkout. 22 of which were open (out of 25, we think). So we decided to take a walk in the local woods and decompress from what was a stress inducing crowd of people scrabbling to get their dollar ninety five pizzas.


    Our journey started here.

 Stopped to take a picture of the frozen puddle, leaves, water, and snow.

 Came around the bend and there was a row of cedars making a nice frost protected tunnel.

 Then the trail turned into poplars and maple and various deciduous trees. Kind of a neat canopy.

 The trail broadened, and some trees still held their green leaves. Don't know why.

 Ah... the road not taken. The one on the right dead ended and backtracking was in order. Still it was an interesting spot, using the panorama setting on the camera.

 Decided to go a little artsy on your collective arses. The snow on the rock looks like white flowers doesn't it?

 The sun came out and turned the orange leaves into a yellow blanket. All in all a nice walk.

 Last shot was the stone wall surrounding the C.C.I. Cottage. Just liked the contrast between the rock the metal fence and the leaves and trees in the background.

The walk was much more enjoyable than the day at Wal-mart, and it cost us no money. So this was a short tour of a trail out behind our neighborhood. Love living in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

Did you see what you think you saw?

What kind of person are you? Are you generally good? Or do you tend toward evil? (If such things as good and evil exist that is.) How observant are you? Do you remember every person you talked to yesterday? Could you describe them to someone? Recently a university study took place that showed exactly how unobservant we are. An actor would engage in conversation on the street with the "average" person. At some point during the conversation two men would walk between the actor and the "average" person carrying a door.. When the door was between the two the actor would be replaced with another actor, taller and dressed similarly but not the same as the first. Surprisingly 50% of the participants in the experiment failed to notice the change. (We know. We found that number alarming as well.) So.. What is happening here? Are we all that unaware of the world around us. Is observation subjective? We suggest to you that perhaps we go about our day while in a self induced state of numbness. If we really payed attention to the world around us would we see something different than we expected. Over the next few days we at the crazy plan on doing an experiment of our own. We will focus more intently on the world around us and see if we notice things that heretofore escaped our attention. We will let you know what happens. Just a short blog entry to start up the blog again. We also would like to point out that we will be trying very hard not to post blog entries of a political nature. Politics are a miserable business these days. And we are getting enough of that pretty much everywhere. Ciao for now.

Coming soon. The Crazy returns. How crazy? Wait and see.