October 9th, 2006
We Are Star Dust
My children are eating lunch and continuing a conversation started whilst I prepared their food.
It started like this:
“Mum, can I please have ice with my juice?” asked my 7 year old son.
“Yes, of course.”
“I asked nicely because it would give me a better chance of getting some.”
“Well, it worked! When you ask nicely, you will have a better chance of getting an answer you like, but even when you ask nicely you have to take a chance that the answer will be ‘no’.”
Silence for 5 minutes.
“Mum, if there were no chances we wouldn’t even be here, would we? Everything would be the same everywhere.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, if there were no chances, there wouldn’t be planets, or suns or solar systems. There wouldn’t be comets or meteors to hit the earth, which wouldn’t be here anyway, and there would be no chance for us to be here either. There would be no chances at all. Everything would be the same everywhere.”
After praising his interesting thought (and more than a little confounded at how he made the leap from “˜chances’ to something perhaps closer to chaos theory) I left the room to write here”¦the boys continued the conversation, and just as I started typing, I heard my youngest say “After all, we’re all made of stardust.”
These conversations make my head spin a bit, but I love my son’s playful way with ideas, much the same as his playful way of moving numbers around in his maths lessons. Reaching conclusions from unusual angles.
Who was it who said “Think 6 impossible things before breakfast.”? Was it from
Alice in Wonderland? Anyway
We try.
My son, like me, was a dirt and sand thrower in his younger years. He loved to throw the particles up and watch them fall back down. This caused us a lot of grief during his brief time at public school, where he once was formally accused of ‘assaulting’ a fellow student by throwing dirt ‘at’ her. He was horrified and unable to explain…I tried to explain, but no use– anyway, that’s all dirt dusted from my hands now thanks to homeschooling. The point is, there are reasons for these things. The lovely patterns of leaves and dirt and water falling can translate to helping us observe the more complex patterns we find all around us. The patterns of star dust, for instance.
We were recently delighted to find that Apophysis 2.05b is now available for download. If you like playing with fractals and haven’t given them a go for a while, give this a try. It’s great fun”¦we’re still trying to figure out how some of the controls work, it’s quite different from the old 2.02 version we’ve been using till now. There’s something called ‘juliascope’ in the variations that I’m pretty sure works like a kalidescope somehow, and will be fun trying to figure it out. Here’s a link to their site where you can find downloads and tutorials and stuff : http://www.apophysis.org/
And a link to a fractal club on DevArt; have a browse through their gallery, ’tis loverly stuff: http://apophysis.deviantart.com/
I showed the kids the basics of using the editor and basic controls a couple of years ago, and they’ve ended up showing ME things about the program I didn’t know. Isn’t it funny how kids can figure these things out so much better than adults? Cool…
I want to be sure to say “thanks!” to Lisa-Jedi for posting the link to Pythagoras Switch snippets on YouTube. You can read her entry here: http://lisa-jedi.blogspot.com/2006/10/hooked-on-pythagoras-s witch.html The boys and I enjoyed these so much! We are now the proud owners of a remote control made by my sons and inspired by the “˜Father Switch’ segments. We’ve had a great time as they take turns walking mum through complex operations, which usually leave me walking into walls and dropping items in the wrong place as I take their instructions VERY literally. It’s hugely funny and fun as are the other ideas on the show”¦thanks for sharing this, Lisa!
October 10th, 2006 at 6:25 am
Alice laughed: “There’s no use trying,” she said; “one can’t believe impossible things.”
“I daresay you haven’t had much practice,” said the Queen. “When I was younger, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”
October 10th, 2006 at 7:27 am
Carl Sagan would be proud.
October 10th, 2006 at 8:07 am
Oooh! I’m so glad you all enjoyed Pythagoras switch! We shared the Algorithm March with ninjas segment with B’s best buddy yesterday & he was humming the tune the rest of the afternoon
I really giggled at your “oka-asan suuwitchie” antics (oka-asan is mom :). I just knew there was someone else out there ready to run with this stuff- have you done any Rube Goldberg contraptions yet? I think B is mentally working on one… 
October 10th, 2006 at 9:40 am
That is just fabulous! Aren’t the things they say just the best thing, the ideas and leaps in imagination.
Duncan used to love to through dirt up in the air. We had a sandpit, but he’d toddle to the soil border and dig and throw and be in heaven. He hated having his hair washed though, still does, so I used to hold him upside down and ruffle his curls to release the muck. Then I didn’t have to wash it so often.
October 11th, 2006 at 5:05 am
Thanks Bonnie, I think it’s time we read “Alice” as our bedtime story. It’s been too long for me, anyway, and I think my son would like it. Thanks for jogging my memory
D’ofC, I miss Carl, he was a good ‘un.
Lisa, today we found a segment we’d missed! It was all contraption segments, it was great. We haven’t tried making one yet, but it’s fun to back the film up on YouTube to re-examine what’s going on
Let us know if B comes up with one, that would be cool.
Sharon, I’ve done my share of dusting out the hair lol! When my son was little it was constant…at least now he knows how to stand up wind (and that protects his eyes as well–Oh, how he hates dirt in his eyes!) He’s also learned to be more careful about throwing towards other people, whew.
I loved that story about Duncan today…what a sweetheart, he was so worried about the little lady.
October 11th, 2006 at 5:58 am
Thanks for the link on fractals! My husband really enjoys them so I’ll be sure to pass it on.
October 11th, 2006 at 7:42 pm
Mum is thinking,
This is good. Sometimes I have to read over things many times before I get it. I heard you say that you love your sons playful way with ideas. Thats cool.I have alot to learn from parents like you.
I just read that you were reading my blog. At least I think it was you…. I really freaked out. I mean Im honored that you are reading it but I want to deleate alot of old stuff.
I really wish I had understood some things better before I started writing. My wife hasnt read alot of them and she wants to do that before I delete them.
My mom is so excited about reading and learning from parents like you. Ill tell her about your blog tommorrow. Your kids are real fortunate to have the parents that they do.
Also, I plan to write more blogs later once I figure some stuff out. Thanks for your comment. It meant alot to me. Ill be keeping up with your blog.
Thanks, Ed
October 11th, 2006 at 9:01 pm
Ed, I hate for you to feel you need to delete anything, unless you really want to for your own sake. The way I figure it, most of us are on a journey, we don’t end up where we started in our understanding, if that makes any sense. There’s no shame in the journey. I like what you have written very much!
I keep thinking of Athena, the Greek goddess who sprang fully formed from her father, Zeus’s forehead. She was born with full knowledge. We’re not like that. We mere mortals aren’t that lucky, we have to struggle for knowledge.
Am I babbling yet? LOL! I just don’t want you to feel you have to change anything you don’t want to.
Your writing reminds me of Steinbecks for some reason, something about the way you say something very profound but in plain language that makes it beautifully accesible. That’s a gift, not everyone can do that
I’m very happy to have found your blog, keep up the good work.