Sunday, July 31, 2005

Bolted On

Ha, ha. I think it is a hoot that John Bolton's rise to the position of US Amabassador to the UN will happen through non-democratic means (through a recess appointment by George Bush.)

There is a chance that Bolton's abrasive style is exactly what we need to start to help get the UN back onto its classical liberal track. There have been cases where critics have turned to be good administrators.

One thing is certain. For the upcoming year, the United Nations will be interesting.

Monday, July 25, 2005

Year Six is a Winner

I was supposed to be doing other things. But, I decided to read Rowling's Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince instead.

It was definitely a thrill ride. Unlike the previous novels, this works leaves a large number of issues to be resolved in the final year.

I understand that Ms. Rowlings originally intended the work to be a seven part series. I hope that she does not sell out and that she concludes the series as orginally planned. I understand that Rowlings is now the richest writer ever. She has all the money she will ever need. I will be greatly saddened if she sells the integrity of her series for more.

Thursday, July 21, 2005

Scotty-less

Scotty died.

I am now starting to worry that there is no one at the helm to beam us up.

Tuesday, July 19, 2005

Martyrs for Freedom

Sheikh Mujbil al-Sheikh Isa, Dhamin Hussein Ileywi and Aziz Ibrahim were Sunni members of the Iraq Constitutional Committee. They were gunned down in an effort by the insurgency to stop the process of forming a government.

Murdering your own people for being engaged in the process is a sign of the poor quality of debate that defines these modern times. I do suspect that future generations will look back at the thugs running the insurgency as evil, misguided people. The hard part, as always, is living through these modern times.

Unfortunately, Bush's war has translated into shrillness in debates. It is easy to imagine the shrillness dominating discourse taking place in the Western World escalating into wide scale violence. The loss of people who are authentically trying to engage in the process is temendously sad.

For that matter, the primary reason why I dislike both the left and right is that the extremes are generally set on preventing discourse.

Friday, July 15, 2005

Suicide Bombings

I wonder if Arab countries have newspapers and web sites that tick off the daily total of dead Arab Fundamentalists in their war against the new Iraqi and Aghanistan governments?

They probably do, but the message with the body count is more of the tune: "We've had this many martyrs for the cause of fundamentalism...long live the cause" The US body counts tend to carry the political message "what a waste of human life."

Wednesday, July 13, 2005

US Debt

The papers are now plastered with applause for George Bush's debt management. Apparently, somehow the US has collected more money in taxes so far this year than expected. It could be that people unable to find jobs are cashing out stocks and taking the capital gains hit. Who knows? It could just be money collected this quarter that will not show up in the future.

Apparently the appearance of an unpredicted increase in revenue means fiscal responsibility on the part of the Whitehouse.

Anyway, I thought I would add a link to the Treasury's debt page. Even if the unexpected increase in tax revenues helped cut the record deficits in half, the US is spending far more than is healthy. The debt jumped from $5.6 trillion (when Bush took office) to $7.8 trillion today. The unexpected increase revenue might save the Bush administration from crossing the $8 trillion mark this fiscal year...but we will cross it early next fiscal year.

BTW, Clinton's famed decrease in the increase of the budget and his famed budget surplus happened for the same unexpected increase in revenue. Clinton's suplus occurred because the stock market hit the stratosphere.

The Whitehouse simply has to stop this game of taking credit for leaps and dips in the stock market. Everytime there is an increase in the stock market, there will be an increase in tax revenue. It really has nothing to do with the skill of the president.

Wednesday, July 06, 2005

SOHO Groups

I crashed the SOHO Groups monthly meeting this morning. We were split into groups about different topics. I was in a group that discussed networking. My speil, of course, was that blogs are a great tool for building networks within the local business community.

In addition to their corporate web site, companies should have blogs, or at least encourage people in the company to have blogs. The blog would then be a free form space that overviews the activities of the business.

While the blogs themselves are not informative. In many cases, they are not even good reading; such blogs end up building an authentic link structure for the overall community. While the blogs themselves may not be that interesting, aggregate information from blogs written by people who care about their local community is extremely helpful in finding informative web sites.

Rather than limiting your networking efforts to a links page on your website, creating a blog and making short write ups on things would help build a more authentic topology for links.

Tuesday, July 05, 2005

Domain Change

Over the weekend, I moved the domain Proto Photo to a new server. The reseller account I was using had a limit of a paltry 200MB...not sufficient for a photo gallery. Not only did they have low bandwidth and space restrictions, the account had a punitive pricing structure. It was basically the thing that if the site got popular, I could have ended up with network fees in tens of thousands of dollars.

Because of that limit, I had stopped adding pictures or development on the account. I also had compressed all of the images in the gallery to the point that the quality of the images was compromised.

My new account has a 2GB limit and it has a reasonable upgrade path if I exceed that amount. That means I can start adding photos again! That is, if I can get everything working again.

I waited so long as I really was expecting my web host to change the pricing on my original account.

I am slowly getting the new account to work.

Sunday, July 03, 2005

Money Grubbing

On the money grubbing front.

The set of community directories produced a pathetic 682.88. I sent 7453 hits to advertisers. It is about a 10% improvement over last year, but not a living (details). Affiliate marketing does not mesh with community service.

I had received one bid for the ad auction thing I put on the front page of each directory. The bid was for $1 for 1000 impressions. Currently, I have only 643 impressions a day. Even if people were bidding for the ad blocks, I would not be any where near a living.

I need to clean up the program and take off the word "beta". I lowered the reserve bids to under $10 per 1000 impressions.

Trapped by Comtempt

I realize that my last post was very contemptuous. Temerity might be a better description of amateur daring to speak of what many consider to be the greatest triumph of modern thought...transfinite theory.

More than once, people have told me that I am a contemptuous little snit who does not recognize his betters. Most of the comments I have received about investigations into the subject point out that I am too small and petty of an individual to even utter the great words “diagonal method.”

The theory was not intended for the common man or for small minded rabble who drown their pettiness in pubs (people like me). It was meant for that small tiny transcendental elite who flutter in the upper heavens of thought and spirituality

My actions do wreak of contempt. When I speak of transfinite theory, I feel the part of an uncouth gentile soiling sacred temple grounds.

In truth, I do have a great deal of respect for the time and effort that scholars apply to their respective fields of study. I’ve always thought that it is more likely that I am wrong in my beliefs than it is likely that the great mathematicians of the modern era were misled. This assumption that I am wrong in my thoughts is a driving force in both my academic and professional life.

The idea that I am wrong drives my own personal investigations.

What I do in my research in start with the assumption that I am wrong. I assume that the great mathematicians who hold to the theory are right. Somehow, set theory really is the hidden forms that Plato saw when exited the cave of temporal illusion. I assume that I just somehow misunderstood the diagonal method.

The way I would approach the issue is to put the theory aside for several months or years. I would then pick up a few books on Set Theory. I would read through, doing exercises, etc.. I am usually impressed with the astute logic and structure of discrete set theory. Frege’s propositional and prepositional logics are a grand contribution in the history of thought.

Then I would get into the sections on transfinite theory. All of my old objections would flood back into mind...generally the objections would be added with new objections. I find myself wanting to take an even stronger stand against transfinite theory, transcendental logic and all of the silliness of the modern tradition.

Anyway, during the last iterations of this process. My mind was burning on the issue of how one could rid mathematics of this idea that mathematics is driven by a fundamental dichotomy.

A year ago, I lighted on the idea of creating something called “Rich Theory.”

Transfinite theory essentially says that there are only two layers of infinity. It starts with the claim that all denumerable sets are the same size. The diagonal method creates a set which is larger than this denumerable infinity. Transfinite theory holds the following. It holds that n = n+1 where n is infinity, 2*n = n, when n is infinity and n^2 = n when n is infinity. However, it states that 2^n is greater than n.

Rich Theory notes that n < n+1 < 2n < n^2 < 2^n when n is a large number. We can actually imaging each of these operations creating a different level of infinity. Essentially, infinity is a rich space.

For various reasons that will take a long time to explain, what we see in infinity is largely a reflection of what we see in the finite. When we look at complex issues in the finite world, we see that there’s a large number of different things going on (wheels within wheels). Transfinite Theory’s effort to sum up mathematics with a simple dichotomy between denumerable and nondenumerable was as off base as Marx’s attempt to sum up the economy in terms of a single conflict between the bourgeoisie and proletarian classes.

Transfinite theory does not open a paradise. It impoverishes a paradise. It wants to reduce the fantastically complex nature of infinity into two piles...denumerable and nondenumerable.

Rich Theory says that infinity is rich. We can find all sorts of wonderful things reflected in the study of infinite sets.

Calling this view of infinity “rich” is really a mean thing.

The theory was not satisfactory because it did not address the reason that attracted attention in the first place. Mathematicians want a way to address the important distinction between discrete and continuous mathematics.

So, my mind had been racing on how the issue of the distinction between discrete and continuous mathematics. The distinction of course, pretty much falls from definitions. Discrete mathematics is reduced to finite elements. Continuous mathematics allows of the use of infinite length entities.

My current thinking is that an approach that the best way to approach transfinite theory would be a discussion of binary strings. Such a course could present better and clearer models for discussing the infinite. Likewise it would fit in well with computer science.

Which, of course, brings me back to the problem that I am a contemptuous little snit.

There is a possibility that I have a good idea that could help students understand mathematics. The problem is that, even if I have a good idea, my being a contemptuous little snit immediately nullifies anything that I might say.

In classical mathematics, there would be a hope that serious mathematicians could look beyond my personality defects. If they found something worthwhile, they would run with it and discard the inane things I say.

Unfortunately, we live in the world of modern mathematics. Modern mathematics is driven by who a person is and not what they say. The Hegelian heart of modern mathematics has the world spirit realized in the writings of a few super intellectuals (philosopher kings).

The very act of speaking, researching or trying to understand mathematics is an act of contempt.

The modern world has created a culture of silence. In the days of classical mathematics, you saw people in all walks of life engaged in the discourse of mathematics.

The set theoretic model discards input from people judged as lesser men. They drove the classical mathematicians and scholastic scholars from the schools. Today all mathematics and logic is written in terse, arcane symbolic form. Commoners are simply to worship our transfinite betters and stay silent. To even speak or think is an act of contempt.

It is a trap that is extremely difficult to break.