A Sunset Bloom
Then we sat on the sand for some time and observed
How the oceans that cover the world were perturbed
By the tides from the orbiting moon overhead
"How relaxing the sound of the waves is," you said.
I began to expound upon tidal effects
When you asked me to stop, looking somewhat perplexed
So I did not explain why the sunset turns red
And we watched the occurrence in silence instead.
1 Lieutenant Commander Data (2338 – 2379)
Measurements Change Dramatically Depending on the Methodo...
Benoit Mandelbrot asked his famous question “How long is the coast of Britain?” long before this symposium was written, but it perfectly captures the sort of puzzle people in this crowd love. The question seems simple. Just look it up in the encyclopedia. But as Mandelbrot observed, the length of the coast of Britain depends on what you use to measure it. If you draw lines on a map to approximate the coastline, you get one length, but if you try to measure the real bumps in every inlet an...David Brook's relating Benoit Mandelbrot's experience measuring the British coast.
A Zen monk in a Japanese temple draws beautiful lines in the sand and makes a wonderful pattern. He then draws a line in the pattern, in his mind disfiguring the pattern, the reasoning behind this is his view is that nothing is perfect in this world.
What is perfect? That is a misconstrued concept, the world is as it should be, otherwise it would not be so. Everything around us follows the basic laws of the universe, cause and effect. Things are as they should be. That there are brutal dictatorships around the world is a result of cause and effect, it is how things should be, or they would not be like that, is that not perfect? Sure we can try and change the world and make it more just and fair, if we succeed, that is how things should be, if we fail that is how things should be, but as a human one must try ,a human being is born with the ability to act, take action and change it, if you succeed, then you have taken the action that leads to change, that is as how the world should be, is that not a perfect world?, following the laws of the universe of cause and effect. As a human take action to destroy what you do not like, but do not say it is not perfect. The world follows the laws of cause and effect perfectly, it is a perfect world.
That blacks are downtrodden does not make the world imperfect, it is a result of cause and effect, and as humans they must take action and cause things to change for the better. Without action things will remain perfectly bad for black people. Perfectly bad is still perfect.
Science Reveals the Wonder of a Mundane World
Where the untrained eye will see nothing but mire and dirt, Science will often reveal exquisite possibilities. The mud we tread under our feet in the street is a grimy mixture of clay and sand, soot and water. Separate the sand, however, as Ruskinn observes—let the atoms arrange themselves in peace according to their nature—and you have the opal. Separate the clay, and it becomes a white earth, fit for the finest porcelain; or if it still further purifies itself, you have a sapphire. Take...Turning mud into wonder.
Thoughts on a Collapsing Wall
One summer day, while I was walking along the country road on the farm where I was born, a section of the stone wall opposite me, and not more than three or four yards distant, suddenly fell down. Amid the general stillness and immobility about me the effect was quite startling. ... It was the sudden summing up of half a century or more of atomic changes in the material of the wall. A grain or two of sand yielded to the pressure of long years, and gravity did the rest. 
notesA stone wall collapses, and the author imagines the half-century of atomic changes that brought about the mini avalanche.
Evidence That India Was Once Under Sea
But if you have seen the soil of India with your own eyes and meditate on its nature - if you consider the rounded stones found in the earth however deeply you dig, stones that are huge near the mountains and where the rivers have a violent current; stones that are of smaller size at greater distance from the mountains, and where the streams flow more slowly; stones that appear pulverised in the shape of sand where the streams begin to stagnate near their mouths and near the sea - if you cons... notesAnd filled up by debris carried by streams.
A Beautiful Quote on Wonder
31
I believe a leaf of grass is no less than the journey work of the
stars,
And the pismire is equally perfect, and a grain of sand, and the egg
of the wren,
And the tree-toad is a chef-d'oeuvre for the highest,
And the running blackberry would adorn the parlors of heaven,
And the narrowest hinge in my hand puts to scorn all machinery,
And the cow crunching with depress'd head surpasses any statue,
And a mouse is miracle enough to stagger sextillions of infidels.
From Walt Whitman on the wonder all around us. Especially enjoy the "a leaf of grass is no less than the journey-work of the stars" part.
