Bernie Sanders for President

I have never been as enthusiastic and hopeful about a candidate for President of the Unites States as I am for Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. I urge every American to familiarize herself or himself with the inspiring career and positions of Senator Sanders.

He is absolutely brilliant on issue after issue, and I expect that although different voters may have some different priorities, almost everyone can find many things about Bernie which excite and energize them.

Please do your nation and yourself a favor by taking a look at: https://berniesanders.com/about/ 

Please take a minute to watch this great video which is an enjoyable introduction to this outstanding candidate:

 

Please donate and volunteer if you can!

For me, his call to return to an economics that has worked in the past (in fact, the dominant economic policies of the 20th century), that help grow the middle-class while also energetically helping people join the middle class is most important. For over three decades, the median income of Americans has been declining [!]. More than half of our hard workers are making LESS than they would have in the 20th century. Only Bernie has the progressive policies to change the direction of that trajectory in favor of the American people. No other candidate is seriously talking about changing the policies that have been in place which benefit only the top 0.1% richest of the rich, while making everyone else poorer.

Bernie Sanders is also the only candidate with the credibility to begin to tackle the emergency of climate change. This crisis alone is enough reason for anyone who cares about the next generation to do everything they can to get Bernie elected President.

His consistent commitment to LGBTQO rights and civil rights for all people of color, and staunch work against homophobia and racism has been a hallmark of his career and his goals as future President. He is one of only a few members of Congress to oppose the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act in 1996, and this is only one highlight of his consistent alliance with the LGBTQO community.

Please consider giving your full support to Bernie Sanders for the future of all Americans, and especially for the next generation who absolutely need us to do the right thing in this election.

Thanks for reading my passionate endorsement of Bernie Sanders, and please do yourself a favor and learn what you can to make a good decision for our nation in the coming presidential election.

No Socks Day

If you look at ads featuring hot young models, you'll notice that most of them go sockless in their shoes or barefoot. Why? Because it looks more appealing!

Most skaters never wear socks so that they can precisely feel the movements of the board beneath their sneakers.

This Thursday, May 8 is the holiday "No Socks Day." If you usually wear socks, try going without them for one day, and you'll probably realize that not only does it look great, but it feels wonderful! Socks create a dulling constant sensation on your feet that ends up removing any real feeling. The enjoyment of various sensations on your feet that you can experience by going barefoot or wearing shoes without socks is an important part of your everyday potential sensory experience. Give it a try this Thursday in celebration of "No Socks Day"!

What are your ways?

Boat shoes with no socks?

 Barefoot in the snow? (The Southern Hemisphere should celebrate too!)

Exercise modeling?
Those socks will not protects you if you drop weights on your feet.

Champernowne number: We all exist in it eternally!

Mathematical existence is a slippery concept, and I don't think anyone knows exactly what its nature is. But I do think most of us strongly believe that the number '3' has a kind of existence. Even if there were no people to count them, wouldn't there still be a three-ness existing about three rocks together? I know that the planets orbited in our Solar System before humans used math, but to stay in those orbits, they needed to follow mathematical laws, laws which necessarily involve PI. PI preceded life.

Champernowne's constant is also a number, which has its own existence just like the number '3.' Champernowne's constant is the number constructed by listing all of the integers in order -- 1,2,3, ... 145,146, ... forever, after a decimal point, creating an irrational number like PI (3.14159...) which is a decimal expansion that also goes on forever. So, Champernowne's constant = 0.123456789101112131415161718192021... (never-ending). PI is also a never-ending, never-repeating decimal, and its existence, and Champernowne's constant's existence as numbers are certainly no less real than the number '3.'

What is amazing about Champernowne's constant that every finite sequence of numbers appears somewhere in its decimal expansion. '7181' -- you can find that in the small portion of the decimal expansion which I gave just above. It turns out that we can prove that every sequence of numbers of any length will exist at some point in this number.

Now, consider digital representations of reality. Take a JPG:

This is a file which a computer stores as only a sequence of numbers. Every point (pixel) in the image is coded as a number representing the color, and the width and height are also coded in the file as numbers. The JPG above exists as a number sequence somewhere within Champernowne's constant. Video sequences are also able to be represented as a string of numbers, one image after another. Add sound -- no problem. All your mp3's are just strings of numbers. Somewhere in this number is a high-definition (as high-def as you want) copy of the movie Avatar and every other movie ever made, yet to be made, or ever possible to make. Add a third dimension, rather than a flat image, and a whole room or galaxy and its motion and change over time can also be coded as a string of numbers. They all exist at a specific location in Champernowne's constant just as '7181' does. Our brains have a physical configuration and electric potentials that are just as easily represented as numbers, so our thoughts are in there too.

The dramatic implication of this is that my life (in 3D video, sound, smells, and all other senses), your life, and everyone's life, and the details of the whole universe (or any conceivable universe) over any time-frame can be found represented to any desired accuracy somewhere within Champernowne's constant.

As numbers exist, everything that ever has, ever will, or ever could exist will always exist.

We cannot completely cease to exist as long as the number '3' cannot either. Mathematical existence seems like a real kind of existence to me, but perhaps that is as much illusion as our material existence is also probably illusion.

Fun stuff.

Interstellar Beings - Voyager 1 Exits Solar System

Congratulations humans!! NASA has announced that the Voyager 1 spacecraft has become the first man-made object to venture out of our solar system into interstellar space. We awake now to the dawn of interstellar travel.

Also according to NASA, Voyager 1 is more than 125.4 astronomical units, or 18,759,573,023.4 kilometers from the Earth. This distance is equivalent to circling the Earth around the equator more than 468,111 times. Driving your car non-stop at 65 mile/hour (104.607 kilometers/hour), you would reach this distance in approximately 20,471 years!

Smile! We are now interstellar beings.

Imbolc 2013 is Exactly Feb. 3 16:07 UT

What and when is Imbolc?

I have calculated the exact time of Imbolc in 2013, to the minute, halfway between the 2012 Winter Solstice and the 2013 Spring Equinox. February 3, 16:07 UT (11:07 a.m. Eastern Standard Time) is the precise Imbolc time between Dec. 21, 2012 11:12 (UT) (Winter Solstice) and Mar. 20, 2013 11:02 (UT) (Spring Equinox).

Imbolc is an important landmark in the seasonal cycle of the year, and many cultures closer to the land than ours have considered it the start of Spring. Imbolc is the traditional festival which has survived in America in the form of Groundhog Day.

The pagan "Wheel of the Year," has eight festivals, composed of the 4 quarter days:

-- The Vernal (Spring) Equinox, when the Sun is aligned with the Equator, and begins the half of the year in the Northern Hemisphere when the daylight is longer than the dark period of night.

-- The Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year and when daylight begins getting shorter each day.

-- The Autumnal Equinox, the counterpart of the Vernal Equinox, when day and night are equal, but now beginning the half of the year when the length of nights will be longer than the days.

-- The Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year and when daylight begins getting longer each day.

The solstices and equinoxes are the main quarterly changes in the growth, diminishing, and dominance of daytime or nighttime.

The cross-quarter days are the four traditional festivals, each of which falls halfway between two adjacent quarter days:

-- Imbolc, around February 2, has the same daylight ratio as Samhain, but with increasing daylight. Imbolc ends the darkest three months of the year.

-- Beltane, around May 1, has the same daylight as Lughnasadh, but with increasing daylight. Beltane begins the lightest three months of the year.

-- Lughnasadh, around August 1, has the same daylight as Belane, but with decreasing daylight. Lughnasadh ends the lightest three months of the year.

-- Samhain, around November 1, has the same daylight as Imbolc, but with decreasing daylight. Samhain begins the darkest three months of the year.

The modern celebrations of Groundhog Day, May Day, and Halloween are derived from the older festivals of Imbolc, Beltane, and Samhain respectively.

Happy Imbolc 2013! Happy Spring!

why do i like feet

If you type "why do i li" into Google's search field, the autocomplete helpfully suggests, "why do i like feet" as the third most likely query:

This means many millions of people are searching, "why do i like feet," providing strong evidence that "liking" or being into feet is an extremely common human trait. It is a sad situation if a lot of us feel "not normal," or that there's something wrong with them.

[UPDATE Sept. 13, 2013 - "why do i li" now auto-completes on Google "why do i like feet" as the #1 most likely query. "why do i l" gives it as the 3rd most likely query! We're even more popular now! :)]

The fact is that liking feet is a good, healthy human preference. To those searching "why do i like feet," I would ask, "why ask why?" Curiosity about the causes and science of human desires and behaviors is natural and interesting, but if you're searching because you're wondering if there's something wrong with you, relax and smile! Many millions of people are into feet, and it is a harmless and even interesting or exciting aspect of your personality.

So, first make sure you are happily enjoying your precious individuality. Then if you're still curious about why, here are a few guesses of some likely reasons:

• People are beautiful creatures, and many parts of people are beautiful. Everyone has different favorite aspects, just like favorite foods, colors, songs, etc. Feet are very interesting looking with lots of curves and crevices, and are very diverse in their appearance. Many people find them highly aesthetically pleasing!

• "Strong and supple feet are a bio-mechanical miracle; the human foot contains 26 bones, 33 joints, and more than a hundred muscles, tendons, and ligaments. In top condition, they provide an excellent shock-absorbent and springy step, balance your body with stability, and make walking, running, and jumping motions easy and graceful."

  -- Yoga For Feet
• The sensory areas of the brain which register feelings from your feet may be close to other erogenous zones, and might be associated neurally with pleasant stimulation. (Wikipedia: Cortical homunculus)
• In many cultures, people almost always keep their feet hidden in shoes or socks in public, which may make feet seem more alluring because they seem hidden and mysterious.
• It is possible that with many sweat glands, feet are a source of human pheromones which may be attractive to many people.

Please comment if you have helpful items to add to this list!
People are unique and diverse in so many ways, and it's really not all that important to understand why, but it's about time to recognize that liking feet is popular, fun, and harmless.

iOS 6 First Look

In general, many tiny tweaks make iOS 6 look a bit sleeker, and perhaps save a bit of time, like not having to enter your password for free app updates.

Evidently there are quite a few goodies for iPhone owners and the yet to be released 5th generation iPod touch, but most of the best of the new stuff is not compatible with the existing iPod Touch 4th gen. I cannot take panoramic photos, Passbook usage seems limited, and still no Siri for 4th gen iPod Touch.

I like the idea of being able to sync my web-browser tabs between my device and desktop, but I kind of doubt it will get me using Safari on the desktop much more, so that will probably be of limited use.

Apple has removed the built in YouTube functionality, so you'll need Google's free app. It appears very well designed, so this is really a good thing because we have ended up with a much better YouTube app.

Enjoy iOS 6! Don't expect much unless you have an iPhone 4S or 5, or plan to buy the iPod Touch 5th gen, but since iOS 6 is a free upgrade, it's definitely worth the zero pennies.