Knowing Everything

The greater our knowledge increases the more our ignorance unfolds.

John F. Kennedy
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"The best actors in the world, either for tragedy, comedy, history, pastoral, pastoral-comedy, historical-pastoral, tragical-historical, tragical-comical-historical-pastoral, scene undividable, or poem unlimited:" (Shakespeare)

An authority: Someone who knows more and more about less and less until he knows all there is to know about nothing at all.

When I was in high school the options were very simple: math, chemistry, biology, physics. That was more or less it. Over the years the more that has been discovered the more specialized science has become: anthrozology, primatology, robotics, evolutionary computation, paleobotany, astrochemistry, climatology, microbiology, crystallography, nanotechnology, nonEuclidian geometry and so on.

How does a young scientifically inclined person make a choice out of that cornucopia of disciplines, especially as they seem to be dividing themselves every day? There use to be a saying that two advanced chemists can't talk shop to each other because they haven't spoken the same language since 10th Grade Chem Lab.

The true mystery of all this is that Nature, like Life, is a very complicated thing and the more we know about it the more there is to know. And also, like Life, there is a lot of guess work involved, trial and error, hypotheses proven or unproven, theories that fly or crash. And, if anyone cares to face it, that's what makes everything so interesting.

I would like to know everything there is to know as impossible as it is. And that's why I'm glad to learn something every day. Being retired I don't have to ask myself what good it's going to do for my career, not that I ever asked myself that. And I am glad there is always something more to learn.

Lunar geology anyone?
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DB - The Vagabond
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SUMMER QUESTION

Summer is moving along, people.

It's a long, hot, sticky summer, so here's a hot, sticky question for you. Don't let the recent New York State decision rob you of your thunder.

Same sex marriage. Should it be legal or not? If so, why? If not, why not?

dbdacoba@aol.com

Only 14 answers so far.

You have until the last day of summer, but don't dally.
I eagerly await your answer.

DB
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WEEKEND CONTEST ANSWERS

4 Weird Songs
Once again Geo was the only contestant. So he wins the grand prize of a stuffed organ grinders monkey, complete with cup and funny hat.
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ZEY NKZ VQ AFQ KCCUQ ED ZEYM NEAFQM'T QZQ, VYA ZEY'MQ IEA KCCQKUWIR AE NQ.
You may be the apple of your mother's eye, but you're not appealing to me.

W REA K METQ VQAJQQI NZ AEQT DMEN JKUBWIR VKMQDEEA AFMEJRF AFQ FEAFEYTQ AE ZEY, VKVZ.
I got a rose between my toes from walking barefoot through the hot house to you, baby.

JFE JKT FKXWIR IKCEJQEIT JWAF LETQCFWIQ JFWUQ VEIQCKMA JKT KHKZ KA AFQ JKM?
Who was having napoleons with Josephine while Bonepart was away at the war?

GWRKMQAAQT KIS JFWTBQZ KIS JWUS, JWUS JENQI, AFQZ'UU SMWXQ ZEY GMKYZ, AFQZ'UU SMWXQ ZEY WITKIQ.
Cigarettes and whiskey and wild, wild women, they'll drive you crazy, they'll drive you insane.

Thank you Geo.
DB
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