The revolution of an orb is what?!

In addition to reading Tesla’s work, my husband has been studying the controversial Velikovsky. I’ve been on another painting binge, which he just watches and grins as I happily give a new fresh start to a room with little comment. On occasion he’ll ask what color it’s going to be when I’m done, but he more or less let’s me do as I please when it comes to that, even *gasp* when I said pink. I was kidding of course, it wasn’t really going to be pink, but even if it was he doesn’t really care as long as whatever color it ends up being makes me happy, at least until I decide it would look better some other color.

After a few hours we discussed the idea that science has divorced itself from the idea that observation has intrinsically two different views, one of observer, the other of the observed. In essence if you’re spinning in your chair what you see and what someone watching you spin are two entirely different things. As he began to explain this “theory” to me I reduced the 5 page ethos of that very statement to the sum total of two sentences. After doing so he simply grinned, and nodded. He was a bit crestfallen that his newfound particulate of information was so quickly summed up. He likes the whole 5 page dish complete with videos to demonstrate that whole thing. The same videos he said I would have to watch in order to prove that beyond any reasonable doubt, this is so. I watched them, and guess what? If you’re spinning in your chair, and someone else is watching you spin, you don’t see the same thing.

Tonight was another example of the fact that science and people within the Queen of the sciences, Cosmology take themselves way too seriously. I mean do you really need 5 pages to say something so simple? Apparently yes, and the kicker is, there are those who disagree with him!! Scary huh? Ahh yes, our hard earned tax dollars at work. Yippee!

People who take themselves so seriously make me laugh. Realistically who could be so close minded to the possibility that a “theory” is wrong? After all the very science and evidence they base their assumptions on are a “theory” which means it’s unproven. It’s not like someone is saying bones are made of plaster and chewing gum here. That we would know immediately to be false since what bones are actually made of is a fact, not a theory.

I’ve also found that I have to remind my husband that an explanation that encompasses an hour long dictation is ok; however a summary which encapsulates 5 minutes and says the entire thing is better. You know the familiar quote, “Lemme ‘splain…no there is too much lemme sum up.” Sciences for some reason tend to much prefer the “splaining” and care much less for the “summing up”. Not sure why exactly, since well I’m pretty sure anyone who reads this understands the concept of observer versus the observed from the two sentences I wrote there. Fairly sure no one really needs a video of an orb spinning and then another from the perspective of the orb to get that whole thing. Over-complications, bleh. English itself allows for direct and exact word phrasing. There is no mistaking what you’re saying and yet that doesn’t seem to stop the over-complications created by those who are the keystones of academia. This says to me that either, they enjoy hearing themselves talk way too much, or simply they get paid by the word. If something is blue can’t you simply say it’s blue unless calling it blue would eliminate a key point you’re trying to make? If the point you’re making is that the orb spins when you rotate it, I do not need a 5 minute dissertation on how blue the orb is. If the color is not a factor, why bring it up? It just clouds the issue.

I get frustrated sometimes when Matt brings these topics to me for discussion. While I enjoy the discourse created by these ideas, and much enjoy debating philosophy, and cosmology, as well as views on history, I get somewhat irritated by the overly verbose explanations his referring texts that he gets the inciting ideas from have. I often ask him, “Why couldn’t they just say that?!” He’s used to it by now, I ask him this daily before we actually begin the discussion in truth. His reply is always the same, “They said all of that in order to explain how this works.” To which I reply, “Yes but did you really need to know the history of electricity to know how to turn on a light?” his reply to that is usually something like, “That’s an effect, the phenomena created by the light itself….” To which I counter, “Has no intrinsic value on this discussion at all.” Then he scowls at me, and with a sigh agrees. He gets caught up in the whole thing. He gets excited about the discussion and where these new and interesting ideas lead his mind. He revels in the long detailed explanations of the color blue and that whole thing. I much prefer the simpler “it’s blue”. Unless it matters that it’s blue, don’t burden me with the color. It could be green, purple or even pink, and yet the effect is the same.

He’s an engineer, details are his life. He loves details. He would love to have a detailed 3-D model in AutoCAD of everything in the entire world at his fingertips 24-7 that he could zoom into as far as the subatomic level. This is why I handle the monthly finances. My take on the whole thing is, “Ok, so trash pickup is X dollars per month.” I send them that amount and as far as I figure it I don’t need to worry about it for another month. He however likes to know exactly what that entails and would spend an hour figuring out the gross weight of such a pick up, and per pound what we’re paying and then compare that poundage to an hourly wage, then figure out how long it would take to actually pay for a weekly pick up per pound, multiply that by the year…you get the idea. To me it’s simple, bill needs to be paid, ok done. To him it’s simply another puzzle.

We actually debated tonight that 180 degrees was a straight line. Now, as I said I’m math illiterate, but even I know that. I don’t care what axial rotation you’re putting on anything, a straight line is 180 degrees, and a 180 degrees is a straight line. This does not imply by any means that if salt is white that all things white are salt. It’s simply a fact that a straight line is 180 degrees. After an hour of converse he admitted that indeed it was a straight line, but now that I was sure of that, he could show me this! Where he went on to show me the complete revolution of an orb is 720 degrees not merely 360. Weird, I didn’t buy it at first either, but it’s true. In order for something to rotate on an axis and come to where it started it does actually take 720 degrees. Try it out on a balloon, draw an arrow on it, and have it complete a full revolution, you’ll see what I mean. The arrow should be pointing in the same direction as when you started when you’re done.

We have these bizarre discussions about the weirdest things. I honestly think while at work he looks for this stuff just to come home and tell me about the new weird thing he found. The topics are as diverse as can be, but all within his favored topics, philosophy, science and history. After we’ve finished the day’s converse on the newest or oldest fact he’s found in either whatever text he’s reading at the time he always seems genuinely pleased. I’m not sure why. Perhaps it’s the exchange of ideas? I ask questions, of course since the material is more intimate to him than it is to me. I’m sure he’s already read and garnered the gist of all we’re discussing while I run alongside and catch up to his train of thought. Perhaps that I do run alongside is what makes him happy? I’m not sure. “No one else gets this stuff.” is what I hear from often. Of course others do, or else no one would have written about it, just not those he’s talked to.

Friends will often comment, “You guys talk about the weirdest stuff.” And I ask, since I have no experience in relationships outside of this one, “Well…what do you guys discuss?” usually it’s news, but we talk about that too, or politics, and we discuss that too, or television, ok we don’t really watch it so we don’t really discuss that, and work, which we discuss as well. They don’t however discuss …well this sort of thing, whatever that implies. The weird philosophical topics on well…everything, anything. Maybe we’re bizarre, maybe normal people don’t have hour long conversations complete with drawing on balloons to figure out the revolution of an orb and what that implies to the atomic structure of energy. Maybe they do and they’re just not saying? Or maybe they’re engrossed with regular more perceptive levels of things, like paying bills, and work and living. It’s not generally things I consider during the day, I’ll be honest, but when he finds excitement in these things I do as well and want to know why he’s excited about them.

Writing this all out I think I have finally found the answer to the often asked question, “Why if you’re husband doesn’t like to dance does he go dancing with you every Friday?” I think I know. I finally figured it out, it’s because I’m willing to follow his excitement in the axial rotation of a balloon and the implications that has on an energy particle. It’s a give and take. I enjoy dancing, he enjoys these discussions about things that fascinate him, and I enjoy them because he enjoys them, and well honestly I learn a lot too, and more than how these things work, but perhaps also how he works too.