Diary 2021

Posts from the Year 2021

Quantum Mechanics (not to mention Strings and Multi-universes psychedelia) appears too crazy for me, and will always be as I guess I do not have enough notions plus it does not seem to fit into my brain’ settings. That is probably why I find it fascinating. According to one of the quantum theories, It’s all – we are all – about irregularities of a field!!!

I just finished reading (and partially understanding) the book “A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes” by Stephen Hawking. Every night I couldn’t wait to read some pages more before falling asleep and continuing travelling the Universe in my mind. How understanding the origin of the Universe could lead to the formulation an Unified Theory (and vice-versa) and the Anthropic Principle are takeaways I am looking forward to further exploring.

“The Anthropic Principle says that the universe has to be more or less as we see it, because if it were different there wouldn’t be anyone here to observe it. … As an example of the power of the Anthropic Principle, consider the number of directions in space. It is a matter of common experience that we live in three-dimensional space. That is to say, we can represent the position of a point in space by three numbers. For example, latitude, longitude and height above sea level. But why is space three-dimensional? Why isn’t it two, or four, or some other number of dimensions, like in science fiction? In fact, in M-theory space has ten dimensions (as well as the theory having one dimension of time), but it is thought that seven of the ten spatial directions are curled up very small, leaving three directions that are large and nearly flat. It is like a drinking straw. The surface of a straw is two-dimensional. However, one direction is curled up into a small circle, so that from a distance the straw looks like a one-dimensional line. Why don’t we live in a history in which eight of the dimensions are curled up small, leaving only two dimensions that we notice? A two-dimensional animal would have a hard job digesting food. If it had a gut that went right through, like we have, it would divide the animal in two, and the poor creature would fall apart. So two flat directions are not enough for anything as complicated as intelligent life. … Read more

Disappointed by Astronomical, the latest book I read by Tim James: overall a collection of measures and numbers, disconnected facts and diluted theories, with no story nor crescendo and with a forced humor. But I kind of liked the final quote :
“Everyone wonders sometimes if the human race is worth preserving and everyone has moments where they look at the size of the Universe and feel insignificant by comparison. Space science can potentially be depressing because it reminds us of our smallness. My answer is this: imagine if the Universe really were simple. Imagine how boring the story of science would be if Earth genuinely were flat, or if there was nothing outside our solar system. Imagine if, after spending a few years looking around with telescopes, we knew everything there was to know. No more mystery. No more exploration. No more discovery. How awesome it is that instead we find ourselves in a universe as huge and varied as this one. How fortunate we are to be surrounded with so many mysteries in desperate need of solving and how lucky we are to live in a universe bigger than our imaginations.”

The Id(ol)es of March

blue and white milky way

Lucio, Elton, Lou. They were all born in March. There must be something special about the way stars and planets align in this period of the year. So many gifted people born in March, themselves are gifts to the World. Happy birthday to you.

Weather is back to be cold, those couple of sunny and warm days in February were misleading, but enough to bring additional energy and joy and forward looking to summer days. Lately… few days on my own, spending some time outside with friends N. and D., walking around, watching spy movies, practicing Tai Chi in complete silence. And what’s also beautiful now is that my family is back home to me after one week spent in Herrenberg.

L’isola che non c’è

Peter Pan and Captain Hook is one of the fairy tales of the moment for my children. I like telling them the story, listening to and singing the songs with them. And thinking that “L’isola che non c’è” exists and can be reached.
“E ti prendono in giro se continui a cercarla Ma non darti per vinto, perché Chi ci ha già rinunciato e ti ride alle spalle Forse è ancora più pazzo di te”

We recently spent a nice morning out with friends at a snowy and icy Tegeler See!

Sparse Thoughts

– On Asimov’ Solaria they use nose filters to protect themselves from viruses and bacteria. Same does Diabolik against noxious gases.Since the beginning of this mess, I have been wondering why the “real” World does not seem to investigate this path for solution.

– Physics Videos by Eugene Khutoryansky is an interesting Youtube channel, with animated audio/videos about various branch of Physics. I recently discovered it while searching for visual aid to help me through the hallucinating quantum mechanics theory.

– I believe Edoardo Bennato is better than Pino Daniele.

Ten

Ten years ago I moved here. I’ve been in love with many aspects of the essence of Berlin. The atmosphere you could feel here at that time, here in your chest … while walking in Prenzlauer Berg or in Kreuzberg, while sitting in a Café, while living a simple day, a simple weekend, a simple life in Berlin. Then it got less… less… less warm, less personal, less mine, colder and sometimes hard. And now the city looks empty, or almost invisible from our balconies and windows in these crazy times we are living. But Ten years one can’t forget. Mind been dreaming, life been blown into my chest.

Christmas and New Year’s Eve

Watching “Frozen”, playing “Uno of fireman Sam”, “Dobble” and “Regenbogen Schlange”, packing & opening presents, cooking, baking cakes, the goose!, singing, wordpressing, spending lot of good time with Guni and the kids, speaking Italian with them, making breakfast and reading stories for them at breakfast. Watching Tatort and movies, reading, Orankesee and going out sometimes! And more.
Christmas and New Year’s Eve Time this year. With Guni, Wanda e Diego.