Sunday, October 27, 2019

Nocturnal notes

The opposite is diurnal notes but those daytime notes are nothing special.

Now I'm not saying that I blog at night. I have done most of my post writing as a daylight activity.

Having a thought and then explaining that thought in a post is two distinct activities. Many of the thoughts found on my blog originate at night. What I seem to fail to do too often is writing a note of my nocturnal thought






They are listening




I just asked our Google Home Mini gadget if it would take a note. It told me there was an issue with the permission setting. After some fiddling with my smartphone and the gadget I was able to have the gadget save a short reminder for me. Not quite note taking but possibly useful for remembering a thought.

Most of my book reading is nocturnal. Typically before I fall asleep. I just finished a book titled, The Trouble with Gravity, (blog followers probably recall I read mostly non-fiction). It's a good overview of humanity’s understanding of gravity's pervasive effect on our existence.

I read a few online reviews of the book. I agree with the opinion that book doesn’t provide an in-depth explanation of the various theories of gravity. But those explanations are difficult to present without some serious math and science understanding. So the book offers a good overview history to a broader audience.

A few notes I found interesting:


  • Nobody really knows what gravity is. They can measure and predict its influences but still don’t know exactly its composition.
  • Throughout the spread of many different cultures/religions the distinction of things up there and down here being very different was incorporated in their views/teachings.
  • I learned of Roger Babson who considered gravity to be our enemy number one. He started the Gravity Research Foundation to develop gravitational shielding.
  • The LIGO gravitational-wave observatories have unbelievable sensitivity. 


Please listen to a song that leaves me thinking about gravity’s effect on moving the planets around, click the youtube clip below. I didn’t realize until I just read a comment on its youtube page that songwriter, Patrick Monahan, was inspired by his late mother, who had died after a struggle with cancer, and that the opening lines "came to [him] in a dream." A great example of a nocturnal thought.

The lyrics certainly play on ideas of gravity and space.

But tell me, did you sail across the sun?
Did you make it to the Milky Way to see the lights all faded
And that heaven is overrated?
Tell me, did you fall for a shooting star– One without a permanent scar?
And did you miss me while you were looking for yourself out there?






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