Friday, May 22, 2009

Fractal, Like the Geometry of Clouds

"The whole moon and the entire sky are reflected in one dewdrop on the grass." Dogen
In one small moment, we see the workings of the universe.
"Speaking loosely without technical terms such as hausdorff-Besicovitch dimension, a fractal, coined by Mandelbrot in 1975, is a geometric pattern that is self-similar, i.e. if we zoom in on a small portion of the pattern we find a figue that is similar to a larger portion of the original image. nature is filled with fractals as seen in such objects as mountains, shorelines, trees, ferns, fluid flow patterns, and cloud formations (with or without lightning)"
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Adam used the phrase, "They didn't plan it well. They didn't plan it at all." It seemed a little dumb to him that he would be on leave, and have to get back into uniform and guard at some ceremony or other. In fact, another guy was told to do it, and complained so much that Adam offered to trade the job with him. Fine, so he went. He arrived at the place, and heard a voice, "Hi Adam!". It was his cousin Nissim,(son of Adam's grandmother Rachel's sister). Nissim had received shrapnel in the leg a few years ago in Lebanon, and this turned out to be a ceremony honouring soldiers who were wounded. In fact, the main group being honoured were Adam's cousin's unit. Adam made a quick phone call to tell me, "Now I know why I'm here".
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A small dewdrop of a moment, but the geometry of the moment is the geometry of all things. We don't get it, it makes no sense, and something happens, and "Now I know why I'm here".

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