Blablabla
Well, it's the end of August, and it's almost September, and I am still in Austin. I didn't expect this! It's like waiting for a storm to come, my parents on horses racing down from Dallas in the wind of a dark night to take me back home where they can keep an eye on me and get me married to an appropriate Muslim before I go to graduate school far away. But that hasn't happened yet and I’m still around.
The Riggzes friend from Isreal is here visiting. He's an old scientist, just like them. What I like about old scientists is that even though they may get confused about the details a little more often than the young ones, they are filled with the kind of passion and understanding that only comes from years of experience. It’s almost like a spirituality or a religion that keeps them alive. Compared to younger scientists the old ones are more peaceful and reverent. The young ones are more competitive, arrogant and impatient, but maybe that’s because they have to be. When Riggs first came to UT back in the 50s, he was one of a small handful of qualified applicants. About a year ago, a position for a molecular biologist opened up and there were literally hundreds of qualified applicants. It reminds me of Isreal and Palestine. Let me explain what I mean. Isreal has more money and room and fewer people. When they finally pulled out of Gaza a few weeks ago, they bulldozed their thriving towns and settlements. At first I was perplexed and angry. Why would they destroy their houses, instead of leaving it for the people who they displaced? The answer is this: there simply isn’t enough room for all of the Palestinian refugees and they can’t afford to keep the single family homes. They needed to knock the houses down in order to build huge apartment complexes.
Virginia Woolf wrote about what an author needs in order to write: money and a room of her own. I can’t help but feel sad for the Palestinians and their plight. I feel sad for the Isrealis that had to leave their homes to be bulldozed, but sadder for the Palistinians who cannot afford to live in the small homes in the peaceful towns that the Isrealis could afford. As long as there is such inequality, I don’t think there will be peace.
Anyway, I talked to the Riggses friend and he told me about how physicists view death, and his voice and face were filled with happiness about sharing this with me. He said that time is a dimension, like the ones in space. We have 3 dimensions in space, and they always exist. “If you fly 100 miles from New York, New York is still there.” If a person lives for 100 years, they always live for 100 years! The flowing of time is only an illusion. Time is like the other dimensions, it is always there.
The Riggzes friend from Isreal is here visiting. He's an old scientist, just like them. What I like about old scientists is that even though they may get confused about the details a little more often than the young ones, they are filled with the kind of passion and understanding that only comes from years of experience. It’s almost like a spirituality or a religion that keeps them alive. Compared to younger scientists the old ones are more peaceful and reverent. The young ones are more competitive, arrogant and impatient, but maybe that’s because they have to be. When Riggs first came to UT back in the 50s, he was one of a small handful of qualified applicants. About a year ago, a position for a molecular biologist opened up and there were literally hundreds of qualified applicants. It reminds me of Isreal and Palestine. Let me explain what I mean. Isreal has more money and room and fewer people. When they finally pulled out of Gaza a few weeks ago, they bulldozed their thriving towns and settlements. At first I was perplexed and angry. Why would they destroy their houses, instead of leaving it for the people who they displaced? The answer is this: there simply isn’t enough room for all of the Palestinian refugees and they can’t afford to keep the single family homes. They needed to knock the houses down in order to build huge apartment complexes.
Virginia Woolf wrote about what an author needs in order to write: money and a room of her own. I can’t help but feel sad for the Palestinians and their plight. I feel sad for the Isrealis that had to leave their homes to be bulldozed, but sadder for the Palistinians who cannot afford to live in the small homes in the peaceful towns that the Isrealis could afford. As long as there is such inequality, I don’t think there will be peace.
Anyway, I talked to the Riggses friend and he told me about how physicists view death, and his voice and face were filled with happiness about sharing this with me. He said that time is a dimension, like the ones in space. We have 3 dimensions in space, and they always exist. “If you fly 100 miles from New York, New York is still there.” If a person lives for 100 years, they always live for 100 years! The flowing of time is only an illusion. Time is like the other dimensions, it is always there.
posted by Xgoose at 4:31 PM
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