Very eclectic, but centering on '60s folk/ballads (almost any ballads, including sea chanties), rock 'n' roll, blue grass, dulcimer, classical and some jazz. I'm very open to new things when I can understand the words (if they're supposed to be in English), but I like a lot of international music, too, from Slavic to Celtic to Israeli. Instrumental music is great, from New Age to pan flute from Mexico. Favorite individual artists and groups include Gordon Lightfoot, Gordon Bok, Moody Blues, John Denver, Genesis, Jim Croce, Harry Chapin, Jefferson Airplane, CSNY, Doors, and CCR, among MANY others.
Gordon Lightfoot's Ballad of the Yarmouth Castle
(An example of a modern sea chanty I like.)
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Fey's Diselo con Flores
(I like what she does with time reversal and multiple dimensions.)
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Movies
Back to the Future, Star Trek: First Contact, The Time Machine (orig), When Harry Met Sally, October Sky, Finding Nemo, Timeline, Donnie Darko, The Lakehouse, Meet the Robinsons (so, almost anything having to do with Time Travel)or using time in a new way, such as Vantage Point.
From YouTube, Simpson's "Time and Punishment"
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From YouTube, Time Tunnel, Titanic episode (Episode #1)
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From YouTube, "Back to the Future" moments
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Television
NUMB3RS, Smallville, NOVA, Kyle XY, Grey's Anatomy, Commander-in-Chief, Gilmore Girls, This Week with George Stephanopoulos, Chris Matthews, Jay Leno's Monologues and Headlines, LOST (when I remember to watch it), almost any Star Trek, Twilight Zone, Outer Limits, Saturday Night Live, to name a few. Surprisingly, there are lots of great shows I haven't seen (no time), like CSI.
Books
Time Traveler's Wife, Timeline, God's Equations, Da Vinci Code, Slaughterhouse Five, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!, The Little Prince, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Stranger in a Strange Land, The Forgotten Door, The Source, The (original) Foundation Trilogy, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe, Working by Studs Terkel, The Number Devil, The Forgotten Door, Ender's Game
Heroes
I have two main role models -- although I unfortunately never met either one personally --
are Albert Einstein and Carl Sagan.
Albert Einstein used pencil, paper, logic and a great deal of patience to squeeze secrets out of Nature -- secrets that no one knew Nature was keeping from us. Always rebellious, his natural skepticism allowed him to question authoritarian doctrines of his day to distill simple and immutable truths about our Universe. And for his efforts, he discovered that (space and time) and (matter and energy) were interrelated couplets that were fundamentally linked throughout the Universe -- for all space and all time. And it may turn out that even when he thought he was wrong, he was really right!
Carl Sagan was an interdisciplinary scientist, using what he learned from basic physics, chemistry, biology and planetary science to fashion a research-based story of universal appeal to the lay public hungry for someone to explain science to them! From Cosmos to Pale Blue Dot, from The Demon-Haunted World to The Dragons of Eden to Contact , he was concerned that regular folks understand how they came to be and have some concerns about where we all are going.
Both scientists expressed the need for scientists to care about more than just their research and get involved in education and in the discussion of issues larger than themselves and important to the survival of humanity. Here's an example of Sagan's thoughts.
One scientist I have met who is similar is Dr. David Goodstein of the California Institute of Technology. In the education field, he developed the Mechanical Universe PBS series. And out of concern for humanity, he has spoken about the depletion of our resources. (See this)
I can only hope that before I discorporate, I can make a similar and positive impact on those I meet and those I teach.
Evolution of Terrestrial Life from Carl Sagan's Cosmos
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University Of California-Los Angeles
Los Angeles,California
Graduated: 1978
Student status: Alumni
Degree: Master's Degree
Major: Earth and Space Sciences./Geophysics
Minor: (Solid Earth/Thermal Evolution/Orbital Dynamics)
1976 to 1984
Yale University
New Haven,Connecticut
Graduated: 1975
Student status: Alumni
Degree: Bachelor's Degree
Major: Physics
Minor: (Geophysics/Space Science/Atmospheres)
"When I consider the short duration of my life, swallowed up in the eternity before and after, the little space which I fill and even can see, engulfed in the infinite immensity of spaces of which I am ignorant and which know me not, I am frightened and am astonished at being here rather than there; for there is no reason why here rather than there, why now rather than then. Who has put me here? By whose order and direction have this place and time been allotted to me?"
-- Pascal, Pensees, Thought #205, original in French, 1660;
see http://www.ccel.org/ccel/pascal/pensees.txt)
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"The most beautiful and profound emotion we can experience is the sensation of the mystical. It is the sower - the source - of all true Art and Science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead. To know that what is impenetrable to us really exists, manifesting itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty, which our dull faculties can comprehend only in their primitive forms - this knowledge, this feeling, is at the center of true religiousness... My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals Himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble minds... That deeply emotional conviction of the presence of a superior reasoning power, which is revealed in the incomprehensible universe, forms my idea of G-d."
(Albert Einstein, various sources, original in German, 20th century.)
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Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world's grief. Do justly, now. Love mercy, now. Walk humbly, now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.
- The Talmud
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"I like to think of them out there in the dark, watching us. Sometimes we'll do something and they'll laugh. Sometimes we'll do something and they'll cry. And maybe one day we'll do something so magnifcent, everyone in the universe will get goose bumps."
-- Lily Tomlin (Jane Wagner),
Search for Intelligent Life in the Universe
More About Me:
For more than two decades, I've taught many versions of Physics, Astronomy and Chemistry to (mainly) 9-12 graders in four private schools around the L.A. area. Presently, it's Honors Chem, Honors Physics and regular Physics to a great group of lifelong learners at a private school in the San Fernando Valley.
Before full-time teaching, while I was a grad student at UCLA, I taught General Astronomy, Observational and Planetary Astronomy at CSUN.
I have lectured -- and after a respite for "acting training" do again -- in the planetarium at Griffith Observatory. Currently, their new show, "Centered in the Universe" is a highly-animated, strictly-scripted production for which the Director originally hired young actors instead of rehiring experienced astronomical lecturers, most of whom had lectured at Griffith for more than 20 years, and who had continued lecturing for the Director -- in good faith -- in a makeshift mini-planetarium while the main building was being renovated.
If you see the new glitzy show and think that it has dumbed-down the tradition of live lectures at Griffith Observatory, contact them to tell them what you think! The new show is a GOOD show, but it tells the visitors nothing about the current night sky nor is there much time to answer visitors' questions about Astronomy.
Much of my spirituality comes from a connectedness to "The Universe" at large -- by exploring what we can detect of the "world around us." My quotes tell it better than I ever could in my own words.
As part of school curriculum and personal interest, my students have been involved in several research projects: from astrophotography to cosmic ray detection to weather to seismology. Many of these projects are affiliated with one college or another, and I get a lot of enjoyment out of them.
Aside from weight gains and hair losses, I haven't changed much since high school --- if you thought I was a nerd then, then I'm probably still a nerd. (I like computers and other gadgets.) If you thought I was friendly then, I'm probably still friendly. If you hated my bad puns, well, they're only worse now.
And then, of course, there's "family" -- I decided that while my students were (and still are!) great surrogate kids, there was a lot to my life that was missing if I didn't have one of my own. So we did. See the Star Trek Next Generation episode, "The Inner Light" (see here) to better explain my feelings on the matter or see the excerpt of the episode below. Most decisions in my life now center around those concepts.
Okay... this is gettin kinda silly.. Is this YOUR page? Or mine! LOL!!! Please...do tell what the night brought your way. Did you dress in your spaceman costume? How 'fitting' that would have been.
Today on the internet, while keeping track of our fires, I heard that this weekend SoCal is going to have "thee worst September storm in 20 years". Now.. maybe you can tell me why this made me think of you. Hmmmm? and Mr. Spaceman? Can you shed some light on this? C'mon! The WORST??? However, September doesn't usually bring much in the way of storms, right? So maybe an inch of rain is all it would take. Thinking of you and wishing you well.
