Showing posts with label birthday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label birthday. Show all posts

Friday, September 9, 2011

September Events

Nick contemplating the Sirag Numbers
First of all, I would like to thank all the peeples dat remembers my birthday this year. And thanks for the many sweet birthday gifts including the opportunity to handle an 1895 Winchester 45-70 rifle

On Sunday, Sept 18, Nick will be the Featured Reader at Poet/Speak, a monthly event hosted by Poetry Santa Cruz. Reading will occur at 2 PM at Santa Cruz Main Library Meeting Room, 224 Church St. Santa Cruz, CA. Open Mike signup. A rare chance to experience quantum tantra live.

On Tuesday, Sept 20, MIT professor David Kaiser will describe his new book "How the Hippies Saved Physics" at the University Club in San Francisco from 6 to 9 PM. Some of the "hippies" will be present for interrogation including Jack Sarfatti, Fred Allen Wolf and Russell Targ. $25 including refreshments. For more info contact Michael Sarfatti at sarfatti@alum.mit.edu.

The Sirag numbers have been partially tamed! Mark Buchanan and Dick Shoup produced a list of SN up to 2995 from which Saul-Paul Sirag extracted several quasi-periodic interval pattern of period 32. From Saul-Paul's data, Nick Herbert constructed this morning the basic equations that all Sirag numbers must satisfy. The Herbert equations classify all Sirag numbers as Primary SNs or Secondary SNs. For the Primary SNs the Herbert equations generate true Sirag numbers. For the Secondary SNs, the Herbert algorithm generates true Sirag numbers but also false ones. However the Herbert classification is exhaustive--any true Sirag number will be generated by one of the Herbert algorithms.

The Primary Sirag numbers (SPs) fall in two classes, Even and Odd. Their defining algorithms are:

SE(n) = 12 + 32n where n = 0 -> N
SO(n) = 12 + 32n - 25 where n = 1 -> N

The Even Sirag numbers SE(n) repeat with a period of 32 beginning with the first Sirag number J*(1) =12. The Odd Sirag numbers SO(n) repeat with a period of 32 beginning with J*(3) = 19. Thus the primary Sirag numbers are represented by two superposed periodic sequences separated by the interval "7". These two equations generate true Sirag numbers but fail to generate ALL SIRAG NUMBERS. For instance J*(2) = 15 is not a member of SO(n). J*(2) is a Secondary Sirag number (SS).

The Secondary Sirag numbers (SSs) fall into four classes--SS3, SS4, SS12 and SS13. These SNs are generated by the four equations:

SS3(n) = SO(n) - 3
SS4(n) = SO(n) - 4
SS12(n) = SE(n) -12
SS13(n) = SE(n) - 13

Any Sirag numbers will be found to be described either as a SP or a SS. Thus this classification is exhaustive. The first set of equations (SPs) can be used to generate Sirag numbers; the second set (SSs) are useful only for classification--some of the numbers generated are not true Sirag numbers.

As an example of this classification scheme we can now recognize J*(2) as SS4(1). The famous Sirag number "1939" representing the year of Saul-Paul's birth turns out to be the Primary Sirag number SO(61). Does the largest computed Sirag number "2995" belong to one of these sets?

The skeptical reader may wish to check Herbert's claims by testing to see if any Sirag number refuses to be pressed into one of these six classifications.

Herbert's equations for the Sirag numbers are a generalization of Saul-Paul's discovery that the intervals between consecutive Sirag numbers are dominated by "7"s and "25"s. And that these intervals are further haphazardly divided into sub-intervals "3 + 4 = 7" and "12 + 13 = 25". And these intervals are the ONLY INTERVALS that appear. No pattern has yet been discovered in the distribution of subintervals, Hence the present lack of an algorithm that will generate all Sirag numbers.

Now shout it from the rooftops:
The Sirag Numbers are (partially) tamed!

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Happy Birthday, Betsy!

Betsy Rose Rasumny Herbert (1938-2002)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BETSY

Today Betsy would have been seventy-two, probably still dancing and mixing it up with children, midwives, teachers, poets, physicists and politicians. All her life Betsy taught and studied dance including a stint in the 60s with Anna Halprin's Dancer's Workshop in San Francisco. (Anna herself will be 90 in a few days and is also still dancing.) For Betsy, dance was more than graceful movement, was the practice of being fully present in the moment. And for monkey-mind Nick, this was one of her greatest teachings. Taking a walk with a fully-present being like my wife was like taking a drug: everything seeming brighter, more alive and engaging. Like the rest of us, Betsy had her ups and downs but her striving was always to experience the world fully and to MOVE!

In the 80s, while I was giving physics workshops and seminars at Esalen Institute, Betsy was connecting with the Big Sur women: cooks, masseuses, dancers, workshop leaders, midwives. Betsy once helped deliver a baby in the "waterfall house" on Hot Springs Creek in the middle of the Esalen grounds. Lately I've been looking over Betsy's journals and discovered this account of our trip to Esalen from Boulder Creek in August of 1983 with Heinz and Elaine Pagels. Because slides had closed the north coast road, we had to take the "back way".

BETSY TRAVELS TO ESALEN

In residence in Mike and Dulce's room for the weekend, Nick and Heinz giving physics workshop together. Elaine glad to be "on vacation" and doing beautifully with Mark. We left Boulder Creek at 7 AM yesterday, traveling thru the farmlands of Watsonville and Salinas, watching pickers in the fields. I thought of Aunt Ida and David, fulfilling dreams of being California migrant workers in the mid-forties. How different this must have looked then. Please, please, Earth spirits, keep Watsonville from being plowed under.

From Salinas south on bumpy travel-worn 101 we go in and out of fog, that thick greyness that makes you think you are on another planet. Khola is struck by the poorness of the towns--Gonzales, Greenfield, Soledad. By 9 o'clock we are hungry and eager to reach King City. I am expecting another dismal collection of buildings and am pleasantly surprised by the liveliness and color of the City of the King, as they call it. We hunt all over for a hometown cafe' and finally find it, tucked away at the far end of Broadway. Locals and a few travelers are breakfasting. We enjoy our meal, a little dazed by being what seems so far from home so early in the day. Full of sausage, eggs, pancakes, we make ready for the 2nd leg of our journey.

Nick gases up the car while Khola and I explore the A-1 Market, run by a Chinese grandma and her Mexican son-in-law, each misunderstanding most of our English. We circle once more around King City, say a fond goodbye, and head back north briefly on 101 for our take-off point, Jolon Road. Khola navigates from the back seat with the Esalen driving instruction sheet.

First 10 miles are thru farm land with rolling hills. Then we start into country which reminds Heinz of Africa, a sparsely planted oak forest, small plains and knobby hills. This goes on into Jolon, which seems to be a ghost town in a stage of renovation. Here we enter the Liggett military reservation, more of the same terrain with strange vibes. Barbed-wire fence and signs: Training Area 11. 12, 13, etc. No sign of the military, tho later Charles sez he saw them and folks said the road was closed for 2 hours due to a maneuver.

We cross over into Los Padres National Forest where the road is joined by a small stream running alongside. We stop to stretch and drink. Soon we are at the summit and then we start our descent to the ocean. The road is endlessly long and curvy. And the views of the Pacific are more breath-taking than along Highway 1...


WHAT I WANT FOR MYSELF

I want to dance
All over the place.
Move every molecule
Of well-built me.


Saturday, June 26, 2010

Happy Birthday, Quantum Tantra Blog!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

This day marks the second anniversary of Quantum Tantra blog. It's been a busy year which saw the publication of a baker's dozen of Nick's love poems to Mother Nature, as well as the publication of more hot poetry from muse-inspired friends in my own community and the wider world including bard-master supreme D. H. Lawrence.

This year also witnessed the production of a handful of short videos including a two-minute Wagnerian opera (URGE: a short opera about reality) released on Valentine's Day 2010 plus a cartoon animation (Benjamin Bunny Faces Reality) by the late Randy Hamm about the reality behind quantum mechanics. Also the performance of our Irish session band at Santa Cruz lawyer Patrick Reilly's St Patrick's Day party was captured on video.

I am a compulsive reader and have chosen here among the dozens I have devoured this year a few books that merit special attention including my own Quantum Reality-- to which Amazon reviewers have awarded 4-1/2 stars as the book that explains the world's quantum mysteries more clearly than any other book in the world. For every copy sold, a buck goes to the Quantum Tantra Ashram to keep my pantry stocked with meat, Guinness and cat food.

Speaking of quantum physics, last year I happened upon a new law of nature--the quantum no-wedding theorem. And this year My Sweetheart Muse gave me a great birthday gift, called NICK'S THEOREM, that puts quantitative limits on psychic powers--the first instance, to my knowledge, that physics concepts have been used to constrain the powers of the mind. Also in the physics realm, I describe here Four Preposterous Devices which purport to bridge the elusive border twixt mind and matter using concepts imported from quantum physics.

Sadly, a number of deaths occurred this year. In QT blog, I publicized a few, left others for private mourning. Persons memorialized here include my good friend and explorer Earl Crockett (1938-2010); George Leonard (1923-2010), chief mainstay of Esalen Institute, and my wonderful late wife Betsy Rose Rasumny (1938-2002). The departure from the physical plane of these three individuals has left holes that nobody can ever fill.

On a happier note I was pleased to congratulate friend and colleague, John Clauser, on his being awarded the Wolf Prize for experimental work on quantum entanglement. Recently the New York Times featured gym buddy Bruce Damer in its tech pages for his development of the EvoGrid, a massively parallel computer simulation of artificial life. Also this blog was able to recount two of the exploits of the notorious Ferdinand Feghoot: One. Two.

Also appearing this year is the story of Nick & Betsy's move to Boulder Creek more than two decades ago; Scientific American columnist (1914-2010) Martin Gardner's classic essay "Is Realism a Dirty Word?"; a series of mathematical postage stamps "Ten Equations That Changed the World"; the most recent upgrade of my "Tantric Table of the Elements" and a short photo essay by Reno DeCaro: "Egad! It's an iPad!"

A few of the quantum tantra high points of the past year are cataloged below. If you find this sort of thing entertaining, educational and/or enlightening, I encourage you to browse the site for more posts in the same style.

Happy Second Birthday, Quantum Tantra Blog! (Loud cheers. Free intoxicants. Wild music. Frenzied dancing. Fireworks. Speaking in tongues.) Thank you all for coming. Now to suitably kick off Quantum Tantra Blog's Year Three, I intend to publish next something really special: Nick's Nobel Prize acceptance speech. Happy New Year, Quantum Tantra Blog! (Deafening smashing of preconceptions and the beginning of a new era of human relations with the Universe.)

NICK'S POETRY (QUANTUM TANTRA YEAR 2):
1. What Do Men Want?
2. Natura Naturans
3.Harlot Nature
4. Jabir Meets Earth's Underlords
5. Hanukkah Song
6. Elements of Tantra
7. Meta-docs on Duty
8. Submit to Walt
9. Praise to Ichthos
10. LSD is the Hubble
11. 99 Names of Goddess
12. The New Sex Robot
13. Lifting the Veil of a New Sensual Science
plus bonus link to an older broadside called Jailbait.

POETRY OF OTHERS (QUANTUM TANTRA YEAR 2):
The Day the Saucers Came by Neil Gaiman
The Man Who Fell for the Universe by Len Anderson
Eyes by Bonnie Eskie
In These Five Remaining Days by Kathleen Flowers
Boulder Creek BistroScene Era (1992-2007)
Whoreson Crawl by Ladislaw Tzestrczyk (aka John Greeley)
The Joyce of Hemp by Walt Bachrach
Antarctica by Patti Sirens
O Taste and See by Denise Levertov
Moonrise by D. H. Lawrence

VIDEO SHORTS (QUANTUM TANTRA YEAR 2):
URGE: a short opera about reality
Benjamin Bunny Faces Reality
St Paddy's Day Session Band
A is For Allah by Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens)
Tantric Jihad! the Video
Just Like at Nuremberg by Rico Youngblood
Quantum Tantra by Kelly Evans

BOOK REVIEWS (QUANTUM TANTRA YEAR 2):
Time Slave by John Norman
Women by Charles Bukowski
Quicksilver by Neil Stephenson
The Age of Entanglement by Louisa Gilder
Quantum Reality by Nick Herbert

Friday, June 26, 2009

Happy Birthday, Quantum Tantra Blog!

Father's Day Near Moran Beach
photo by August O'Connor

Today is the first anniversary of this Quantum Tantra blog. Over the last year exactly 100 posts were published (including this one). I'd like to thank Google for providing me this simple blogging app which despite a few frustrating clumsinesses permits the crudest klutz a rather sophisticated presence on the Internet.

Quantum Tantra blog was not begun by Nick Herbert but by an earlier entity calling itself Mudhead who devoted the blog to inquiries into the nature of God, that is, God as defined by Fug-founder Tuli Kupferberg: "God is a spreadshot." From time to time I dipped into Mudhead's graphic simulations of Her Divine Nature until about a year and a half ago when Mudhead unaccountably abandoned the site and it became free for the taking. So I took it. My first posts were about being interviewed for a video about psychedelics at Bruce Damer's ranchero in Boulder Creek and a short poem called Physics for Beginners.

Since that fateful day the blog has featured profiles of notable friends including poets Dale Pendell, Betsy Herbert and Kathleen Flowers, famous authors Rudy Rucker, Robert Anton Wilson, Roald Dahl and David Jay Brown, fringe scientists such as James Culbertson and the musical priest himself, Ryan Duns, S. J., master of the Irish whistle, and many others.


Two cool videos Just Like at Nuremberg and Tantric Jihad. And of course a cute LOL rendition of my black cat Onyx.

The aim of quantum tantra is to utilize the insights gained by modern physics to open up new doorways into nature, seeking direct union with the world unmediated by machinery including the machinery of the senses. Not much of that dream has been realized so far. But, hey, this is only Quantum Tantra blog's First Birthday. This baby's barely learning to talk.

Many of my private musings about physics have appeared for the first time in this public space including (Hooray!) Nick's discovery of a brand new law of nature: A Pair of Quanta Cannot Be Wed plus a popular exposition of the quantum measurement problem called Stephen Hawking Joke. Cherchez la physique. Learn about eigenfunctions, unmeasurements and Nick's three favorite quantum physics text books. And more.

This blog has attracted the attention of other congenial bloggers including Bruce Bratton, the Herb Caen of Santa Cruz; Willy Yaryan, eloquent eyewitness to life in Thailand; sci-fi novelist and Flurbmeister Rudy Rucker; Iona Miller, the Spy in the Pyramid; prolific sci-fi author and proponent of new peace plan (The Great Equalizer), James P. Hogan; Island Group founder Bruce Eisner; a cool dude called Heretic X and the supremely weird and mysterious JOG Entity who is continuing the work of late maverick economist J. Orlin Grabbe.

Many thanks to everyone who has encouraged me in this effort and thanks to all the new friends this blog has introduced me to. I value greatly your companionship on this journey.

Happy Birthday, little blog. May you live long and prosper.