The Journal of the VinCI Society and ISI

It is through the sensitive juxtaposition of light and dark that the stark, naked truth is born from
the shadows to dance, once more, unfettered and ever more brightly before our fading
eyes.
Chiaroscuro
The Journal of the VinCI Society and ISI-S, Issue No. 2, Jan 2004
Editor: Muhamed Veletanlić
Chiaroscuro is the official journal of the VinCI Society and ISI-S. All material published here is the
property of the respective authors.
Chiaroscuro - The Journal of the VinCI Society and ISI-S
#2, Jan 2004
Table of Contents
Haikus – Two haikus by Ryan Sloan
Honey Dew – A poem by Veola Carter
The Secret Sex Life of Charles Lindbergh – An article by Robert Brizel
John Lennon – A drawing by Kelly Dorsett
A Computer Brady Bunch (parody) – A poem by Kelly Dorsett
Quiescence – A poem by Kelly Dorsett
Spring For The Scared Child – A poem by Kelly Dorsett
Fountain – Holga photography by Kelly Dorsett
Roots – Holga photography by Kelly Dorsett
Pier Shot – Holga photography by Kelly Dorsett
Rejects Tree – Holga photography by Kelly Dorsett
Sustainable Poverty Reduction in Developing Countries - A Critical
World Imperative – An article by William Clark and Matthew Berry
We are Just One – A poem by Hernan Chang
Saddam Hussein is Captured in Operation Red Dawn –
An article by Robert Brizel
Pascal’s Wager and the Paradox of Kraïtchik – An article by Albert Frank
Gravitação Quântica - Atrativa, Repulsiva e Neutra – An article by
HIndemburg Melao Jr.
Método para aprimorar a acurácia na determinação das distâncias de
estrelas – An article by Hindemburg Melao Jr.
Die Laughing – A poem by Kay Lindgren
The One-Legged Plover – A poem by Kay Lindgren
Take Note – A puzzle by Lloyd King
Symbolism – A puzzle by Lloyd King
To Catch a Thief – A puzzle by Lloyd King
Unknown Quantity – A puzzle by Lloyd King
The Wolf at the Door – A painting by Lloyd King
Forest of the Abandoned – A painting by Lloyd King
Hypnosis (Fractal) – A visual art by Maria Claudia Faverio
Tristesse – A visual art by Maria Claudia Faverio
Blue Maze – A poem by Maria Claudia Faverio
Vagabond Sun – A poem by Maria Claudia Faverio
Monsieur Ibrahim – An article by Robert Brizel
Science and NLP (Neurolinguistic Programming)
– An article by Enrico di Bari
Semantic Investigation – A puzzle by Laurent Dubois
Answers to the puzzles from the last issue of Chiaroscuro
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Chiaroscuro - The Journal of the VinCI Society and ISI-S
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Haiku No. 1
East, where light is borne
and where darkness lies near death
'til light lies down west.
Haiku No. 2
The trees do whisper
and the glass blades do chatter
but no one listens.
Ryan Sloan
Honey Dew
Worship the ground that he walks on
Cherish his each and every kiss
Share every conscious moment, basking in the bliss
Remember the vows, that made you both ONE
Before God, man and one another
When those sacred words were softly spoken
'I DO', was not what was said, and then DONE.
The joining of two hearts and souls
Eternally, forever BOUND
Nowhere in the Milky Way, can a more celestial love be found.
Write your list, and he'll write his too
He's sweeter than the most succulent nectar.
The bees would lose their cool.
No-one else could ever guess, or even have a CLUE.
Renew your vows and reassure him by delicately whispering in his ear.
'Oh yes', my dear sweet HONEY, I sincerely and faithfully promise you that, I still
DEW (DO).
Veola Carter
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The Secret Sex Life of Charles Lindbergh
By Robert Brizel
Venerable icon. Pioneer of aviation.
Revered and beloved public legend. All
of these terms have been used to
describe flying ace Charles Lindbergh,
who was admired by Americans and
Germans
alike
for
his
airplane
accomplishments. Now, long after his
death, new details have emerged which
now paint a stunning portrait of the
aviation sex scandal of the century. What
remains bizarre in these revelations is
nobody knew about it.
In the fast of what might have been
another
cruel
hoax,
Lindbergh’s
grandson, Morgan Lindbergh, came forward for a DNA test which proved
with 99.9 percent certainty that Dyrk and David Hesshaimer and their sister
Astrid Bouteuil of Munich, Germany were Charles Lindbergh’s illegitimate
children. Between 1957 and 1974, Mr. Lindbergh and his family made three
trips to Munich every year. Unbeknownst to his own family, Lindbergh was
using these trips to sneak away for secret sexual trysts with Munich hat maker
Bridgette Hesshaimer, beginning in 1957 when he was 55 and she was only 32
under the mysterious alias of ‘Mr. Careu Kent’. Dozens of handwritten letters
from Lindbergh to the children’s mother found by them in the 1980’s
confirmed the inevitable.
Mr. Lindbergh had acted responsibly towards his ‘secret’ family, however,
devoting much time and energy to them, helping to buy a family house and
setting up trust funds for the children. The mother, acting on Lindbergh’s
behalf, had obtained the children’s silence while she was alive. Now, two
years after her death, these illegitimate children are not seeking a claim of
Lindbergh’s legitimate estate or assets. A meeting is planned between the
two Lindbergh families in 2004, and a new book and television documentary
will reveal the true details of Lindbergh’s incredible double life with the
Hesshaimers.
The Daring Exploits of Lindbergh: Lucky Lindy and the Lone Eagle
In 1927, Charles Lindbergh became an international hero by flying solo across
the Atlantic Ocean from New York to Paris in 33 hours. His life became more
public, largely due to two incidents: the kidnapping and murder of the
Lindbergh baby by Bruno Hauptmann; and Lindbergh’s sympathy for the Nazi
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cause, including receiving an award from Luftwaffe leader Herman Goering
(later a high Nazi official) seen as Pro-Nazi.
The world press nicknamed Lindbergh ‘Lucky Lindy’ and ‘The Lone Eagle’, but
Lindbergh alienated the press by speaking out against American involvement
in World War II before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. A barnstormer
pilot who performed daredevil stunts at county and state fairs, Lindbergh
enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1924 so he could become an Army Air Service
Reserve Pilot. He graduated from the Army’s flight-training school in San
Antonio as the best pilot in his class. He was hired by the Robertson Aircraft
Corporation of St. Louis to fly mail between St. Louis and Chicago.
The Orteig Challenge and the Spirit of St. Louis
In 1919, a New York hotel owner
named Raymond Orteig offered
25,000 dollars U.S. (an extraordinary
sum at the time) to any airplane pilot
who cold fly solo from New York to
Paris. Many were injured or died
attempting the challenge. In 1927, the
award was still unclaimed and
available. Lindbergh decided he
would attempt the flight, and
obtained the financial backing of nine
St. Louis businessmen. A special plane
which Lindbergh called ‘The Spirit of St. Louis’ was constructed by the Ryan
Aeronautical Company of San Diego, California. Lindbergh flew the plane first
to St. Louis, then to New York City, on May 10 to 11, 1927. Even with an
overnight stop in St. Louis, it was a transcontinental record.
On May 20, 1927, Charles Lindbergh took off in his plane from Roosevelt Field
in New York City at 7:52 A.M New York time. He landed at Le Bourget Field in
Paris on May 21 at 10:5l P.M. Paris time. The successful trip earned Lindbergh
the Congressional Medal of Honor and the Distinguished Flying Cross.
Lindbergh then went on a three month sponsored tour, visiting 92 cities in 49
American states and giving 142 speeches. He wrote the book ‘We’ which told
about his 1927 trip from New York to Paris. Mr. Orteig’s challenge is most
significant: it changed the face of tourism, and later, war.
Charles Lindbergh Finds Love in His Heart, and Invents an Artificial Heart
While touring Latin-American countries in 1927 on a goodwill tour at the
request of the United States government, Lindbergh met Anne Morrow,
daughter of the American Ambassador to Mexico Dwight Morrow. Lindbergh
taught her how to fly, fell in love, and married her in 1929. The two traveled on
many flying expeditions together.
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Between 1931 and 1935, Charles Lindbergh invented and developed the
earliest prototype of the artificial heart, a lesser known fact about him.
Lindbergh’s device could pump the substances necessary for life throughout
the tissues of the body. Lindbergh’s academic background included two
years studying mechanical engineering at the University of Wisconsin, before
he dropped out to become a pilot - and later - an inventor.
The Lindbergh Kidnapping and the Development of the Lindbergh Law
On March 1, 1932, Lindbergh’s 20 month old son Charles Augustus Lindbergh
Jr. was kidnapped and killed by Bruno Richard Hauptmann, a carpenter. It
was not until 1934 that Mr. Hauptmann was arrested. He was executed in
1936. As a result, Lindbergh moved with his wife and son Jon to Europe for
reasons of safety and to avoid publicity.
Congress then passed the Lindbergh law, making kidnapping a federal
offense if the victim is taken across stateliness or the mail is used for ransom
demands.
In 1938, Mr. Lindbergh accepted the German Medal of Honor during a tour of
Germany’s highly advanced aircraft industry. Returning to the United States in
1939, Lindbergh joined the America First Committee in 1941 as its official
spokesman, an organization opposed to American involvement in World War
II, and resigned from the Army Air Corps. After Pearl Harbor, he was not
allowed to re-enlist, and worked as a test pilot for the Ford Motor Company
and United Aircraft Corporation.
General Lindbergh’s Life during World War II and After the War
In 1944, Lindbergh flew 50 combat missions as a civilian on behalf of the
United States Army and Navy. Lindbergh also developed fighter plane cruise
control technology.
Quietly working as a consultant to the U.S. Air Force after the war, Lindbergh
was eventually promoted to Brigadier General by President Dwight D.
Eisenhower in 1954. He also worked for Pan American Airlines and designed
the new Boeing 747 aircraft. He then wrote ‘The Spirit of St. Louis’ in 1954 and
won the Pulitzer Prize.
A staunch conservationist, Lindbergh opposed supersonic transport planes
because he felt they would damage the atmosphere, and campaigned to
protect the peoples of Africa, the Philippines, and several species of
humpback and blue whales. The ‘Save the Whales’ movement grew largely
out of the early efforts of Mr. Lindbergh. ‘The Autobiography of Values’, a
posthumous collection of Lindbergh’s writings, was published in 1978.
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He died at home on the Hawaiian island of Maui on August 26, 1974 at age
72.
Lindbergh was born in Detroit, Michigan on February 4, 1902. His father,
Charles Augustus Lindbergh Sr. was a U.S. Congressman from Minnesota from
1907 to 1917. Undoubtedly the son overshadowed his father’s
accomplishments from pillar to post.
Charles Lindbergh Jr. was a venerable public icon whose adulterous ways
were somehow kept hidden and silenced for nearly half a century. 30 years
after his death, Charles Lindbergh can be forgiven for his daring secret sex
life, but it is a strange postscript.
Lindbergh Biography and References
Charles Lindbergh, an American Aviator
www.charleslindbergh.com/index.asp
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John Lennon
Kelly Dorsett
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Chiaroscuro - The Journal of the VinCI Society and ISI-S
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A Computer Brady Bunch (parody)
Here's a story,
of a fancy iBook,
who was hooking up a very small cluster.
All of them used Appletalk.
Scripted all together,
the youngest one in Perl.
Here's a story,
of a box named Mandrake,
who was hosting three domains of it's own.
They were Beowulf'd all together.
yet they wanted Cisco.
Til the one day when the Mandrake grocked this iBook,
and they gave each other root commands and such.
and these Groups, must somehow form a Network,
That's the way they all became the PC bunch.
The PC bunch, the PC bunch,
That's the way they became the PC bunch.
Quiescence
Kelly Dorsett
Secretly creeps
inverse peeps.
Losing my venue,
pungently engulfs you.
Closing your eyes,
hushing babies’ cries.
He bites as he wants to
tenacious of virtue.
My vigilant ensue,
apparition uninvited,
verger pirated
bale of ullage
gauges my courage.
Ensues absolute failure,
until the spell breaks my stature,
leaving me breathless.
A pinnacle encumbers quiescence.
I sit here motionless as was always deemed necessary.
Kelly Dorsett
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Chiaroscuro - The Journal of the VinCI Society and ISI-S
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Spring for the Scared Child
(Published in the Momence High School Yearbook '96)
Once, a child explored a beauty,
in which he'd never seen.
He watched the empty branches grow,
to dress with healthy leaves.
When he grew older, he had a child,
this child was quite afraid.
When lightning flashed and thunder blast,
the child would hide away.
One day he sat his son to rest,
and relax from the storm.
This is what he told his son,
is nature's grand reward.
Showers of rain will sprinkle down
and storms will soak our lands.
Nights may bring lightning around,
yet this is earth's demand.
But soon the showers turn to sun,
and petals of flowers bud.
Children play and have some fun,
getting dirty, playing in mud.
Lilac bushes take their heed,
as mom plucks them for her vase.
Little girls with playful needs,
carry them place to place.
Coats and jackets run and hide,
boots will take their leave.
No longer will you stay inside,
as was the former need.
The memory of winter now,
should seem now obsolete.
As swimming pools are opened up
and sandals are on your feet.
The father smiled and held his boy
with a peacefulness in his eyes.
He rocked him to sleep the rest of the day,
and was calm the rest of the night.
Kelly Dorsett
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Chiaroscuro - The Journal of the VinCI Society and ISI-S
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Fountain
Roots
Kelly Dorsett
Kelly Dorsett
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Pier Shot
Kelly Dorsett
Rejects Tree
Kelly Dorsett
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Chiaroscuro - The Journal of the VinCI Society and ISI-S
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Sustainable Poverty Reduction in Developing Countries
A Critical World Imperative
_____
William Clark and Matthew Berry
Illiteracy
Poverty
'LITERACY PREREQUISITE FOR
REACHING GLOBAL ANTIPOVERTY GOALS'
'A WORLD MIRED IN THE
DESPAIR OF POVERTY WILL
NOT BE A WORLD AT PEACE'
"Acquiring literacy is an
empowering process, enabling
millions to enjoy access to
knowledge and information,
which broadens horizons,
increases opportunities and
creates alternatives for building a
better life."
"Approximately 1.2 billion people
struggle to survive on less than a
dollar a day. An estimated 840
million suffer the gnawing pain of
hunger, and as many as 24,000
people, many of them children,
die every day as a result."
-Secretary-General Kofi Annan
September 8, 2003
-United Nations
-Secretary-General Kofi Annan
October 17, 2003
-United Nations
Economic Deficiency
‘BROAD, SUSTAINED ECONOMIC GROWTH IS THE KEY TO POVERTY
REDUCTION AND ACHIEVEMENT OF GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS'
-Fifty-eighth General Assembly Plenary
Ministerial Round Table 8
-United Nations
Three vital conditions are recognized . . .
Poverty, if left unchecked, will eventually affect everyone on earth.
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Absolute Poverty - a definition
Unimaginable to many people, absolute poverty is a fact of life for a large
percentage of people living in impoverished countries. These individuals are forced
to live on less than 1 US dollar per day.† Health conditions and mortality rates are
dismal at best. Not only are these people denied the opportunities and living
standards commonplace in the developed world; extreme conditions compel
impoverished people and their countries to forego investment in their basic
infrastructure, healthcare, education, and resource management initiatives.
Poverty, with all of its negative influences, will become an increasingly dire
circumstance for the entire globe.
The far-reaching effects of the impoverished condition have profound negative
ramifications around the globe. Countries afflicted by poverty do not have the
means to practice effective governance or wise management of their natural
resources. This inevitably leads to cause and effect scenarios that impact the global
community either directly or economically. Common effects include:
-Epidemics
-Natural resource elimination
-Civil unrest
-Food shortages
-Outbreaks of new pathogens
-Deforestation
Nestled between
China and India
is Nepal, with
37.7% of its
population living
in absolute
poverty.
Some of these affects have been
known for generations, some are just
becoming widely known, and some
are yet to be fully understood. It is clear that the consequences of inaction are very
troublesome.
†The percentage of the world's population living in absolute poverty (living on less than one United States dollar per
day) has declined since the mid-1980s. However, the decline is below the pace needed to achieve the international
development goal of reducing extreme poverty by one half by 2015, and the total number of the poor in 1998 was
greater than it had been a decade earlier. Almost one fourth of the population of less developed regions and
economies in transition - 1.2 billion people - live in absolute poverty. Poverty is most pervasive in sub-Saharan Africa
and South-central Asia and is related to a wide range of factors, including income, health, education, gender and
ethnicity.
- United Nations
First United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty
In December 1995, the General Assembly proclaimed the First United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty
(1997-2006). In December 1996, the General Assembly declared the theme for the Decade as a whole to be
"Eradicating poverty is an ethical, social, political and economic imperative of humankind."
-UN Division for Sustainable Development
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Population growth - 5 billion more people
The need for sustainable poverty reduction and eventual elimination becomes
increasingly clear every year as the worldwide population quickly escalates eventually by 5 billion more people. What is truly worrisome is the fact that most of
the world's population increase is occurring, and is projected to continue to occur,
in the underdeveloped countries - the very same countries that are afflicted with
poverty. This means that
the situation, if not dealt
World population passed 6 billion
with
effectively,
will
in 2000, up from 2.5 billion in
1950, and 4.4 billion in 1980.
worsen, and all the global
World population is projected to
impacts will be magnified.
grow to about 8 billion in 2025, to
9.3 billion in 2050, and eventually
We are not discussing
to stabilize between 10.5 and 11
issues that are to be
billion. Almost all future
realized in the distant
population growth will occur in the
developing world.
future, or even 100 years
from now. This population
The world will eventually need to feed, house and support about 5
billion additional people. This increased population, combined with
growth projection will be
higher standards of living, particularly in the developing countries,
reached by 2050 - less
will pose enormous strains on land, water, energy and other natural
than 50 years from the
resources.
-United Nations Critical Trends report
time of this writing.
The key word is “sustainable” - a form of assured growth
We cannot expect impoverished and developing countries to spontaneously
eradicate poverty on their own. There simply is no way for them to improve the
situation with little or nothing at their disposal. Conversely, the sheer magnitude of
the problem prohibits any solution to be practical if that solution relies solely upon the
giving of immediate sustenance by foreign governments and organizations. In
essence, the trouble looming over the world is just too big to handle without
empowering these countries with the means to self-sustain their own programs for
remedial change.
The question becomes how to provide this empowerment to the developing
countries - empowerment that assures the self-sustainable growth of all internal
programs for infrastructure improvement and the elimination of the effects of
poverty.
The three key points - a viable path to
solution
Solving the primary problem of absolute poverty requires
effective development of both economic and education
enhancement programs. One cannot be done without
the other. A viable economy needs educated people.
Education cost must be paid by income gained from a
functional, modern economy.
A country with no
economy equates to a country with no education, which
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Perpetual Poverty Triad
Profound
Illiteracy
Economic
Deficiency
Absolute
Poverty
Chiaroscuro - The Journal of the VinCI Society and ISI-S
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in turn sets up a cycle leading to perpetual poverty.
Economic Development - the catalyst for poverty relief
In order for any country to exit poverty, it must not only have a strong economy, but
that economy must be sustainable into the future via the creation of an earthfriendly and dynamic infrastructure. This requires the ability to develop the natural
resources of both their land and their people, and to become fully able to
participate in the modern international arenas of commerce, technology, humanity,
and responsible self-governance.
Ratio of professionals to population - tough consequences of
inaction
When one considers the current ratio of professionals to population in the developing
countries, one must also consider the effects of future population growth as
projected for these countries. With most of the growth occurring in under-developed
countries, it is not difficult to imagine the consequences. The ratio of trained talent
that is now considered extremely low would be so deficient that no country could
hope to break the poverty cycle.
The Education Explanation
Education is becoming increasingly important in our world today. With technological advances in the
workplace, even more training and education will be required for most jobs.
The cycle of education and poverty starts with knowing that high poverty rates have been linked to low levels
of educational attainment. Likewise, low levels of formal education have been linked to low-wage earning jobs
To complete the cycle, low wages have been linked to subsistence standards of living. This cycle can be seen
in countries all around the world.
-Excerpt from the United Nation
Current efforts - recognition, strategy, multi-organizational
approach
These problems have been formally recognized by the United Nations, and not
without inaction. Once the problems - and the complex ramifications - were
understood, the countries of the world pulled together and initiated several
programs for relief. Education and poverty alleviation were two key initiatives that
were launched, among them:
-The decade of poverty eradication (1997 - 2006)
-The decade of literacy (2003 - 2012)
These programs were designed to break the perpetual
poverty cycle through the efforts of governments and
nongovernmental organizations working hand-in-hand
to achieve the goals.
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The United Nations has declared
the Decade of Literacy, vowing
to provide primary education for
all peoples by 2012. Many NGOs
are working diligently in this
area. This hard work will help
build a solid foundation for which
to build upon.
Chiaroscuro - The Journal of the VinCI Society and ISI-S
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NGO involvement - critical partners in the effort
Governments and nongovernmental organizations around the world are currently
practicing two complementary philosophies:
-For immediate survival, gifts of food, supplies, and medicine
-For long-term survival, the education of adults and children
Gifts and handouts, though vital to immediate survival, are an interim part of the
solution, as the benefits are fleeting. Education is the single, most powerful act that
can be directed toward breaking the poverty cycle. Together, these programs will
lay the basic foundation for a future infrastructure.
Each country must learn to utilize and develop its resources, and resources are not
just the fruit of their land, but also, the fruit of their people.
Beyond Literacy - A novel approach
The gifted condition - a precious resource in every country
Countries consist of people having myriad types of individual talents, capabilities,
and goals. Since the wealth of any country lies with its people, it is essential to have
the greatest diversity possible in order for a firm, self-sustaining infrastructure to exist.
A country needs farmers, doctors, engineers, laborers and teachers, all of who
uniquely contribute.
All precious resources are rare
While they firmly support education for all, the members of High IQ for Humanity
concentrate their efforts on a specific subset of students - the precious few percent
that have been identified as being intellectually gifted. We will concentrate our
efforts in the developing countries around the world, in Eastern Europe, and in China.
Our work will mesh smoothly with and
‘One can even call the twentieth century the Age of
enhance the work of the UN and other
Human Capital in the sense that the primary
NGOs, while providing the intellectual
determinant of a country's standard of living is how
resources to further drive the infrastructure
well it succeeds in developing and utilizing the skills,
knowledge, health, and habits of its population.
by way of exceptional talent.
Approximately 2 out of every 100 children
are gifted. Our job is to identify them and
provide the means for them to develop
their talents. Our students will be able to
provide a vital resource - the human
capital vital to infrastructure development,
healthcare, and of course, education.
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One of the traditional cases for liberal education is
precisely that, in the long run, as economies change
and we don't know what the future will bring, a
broader education of general knowledge and skills is
most effective in providing precisely that. So I don't
think there is a conflict between the two. It is a shortrun versus a long-run.’ ~ Gary S. Becker
HUMAN CAPITAL AND POVERTY ALLEVIATION
By Gary S. Becker, Winner of the 1992 Nobel Prize
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The work of High IQ for Humanity - a specialized initiative
Some poverty alleviation plans disperse money - usually in the form of temporary
sustenance such as food, shelter, clean water, and medicine. This is hard cash that is
spent once, and never recovered. Yet this method alone will do nothing to help
eradicate the problems of the future. Other alleviation plans focus on basic
education. While both of these actions are desperately needed in the interim, more
must be done to lay a path for the development of professionals and leaders.
High IQ for Humanity’s methods and doctrine are not only unique; they actually
capitalize on the United Nations’ concept of sustainability. High IQ for Humanity
believes in the concept of sustainability and works to provide the human capital
required for continual advancement.
High IQ for Humanity provides developing countries with an exclusive form of
sustainable help. While other organizations are providing the necessary basic
education to the many, we will provide a specialized, advanced education to the
few - to the future drivers of a country's infrastructure.
The effective fulfillment of our program requires that we seek a pool of individuals
who can move far beyond literacy, toward specialized knowledge and skill. The
future leaders of the developing world will need more than basic literacy skills. They
will need to master the higher order mathematics required in fields such as
engineering and computer sciences, as well as the verbal abilities central to law and
politics.
Technique overview:
-
In the primary phase of education, High IQ for Humanity will identify and
educate bright, gifted children in developing countries. We will also identify
and groom prospective future teachers who will further propagate this unique
education plan; thus, a built-in self-sustainability mechanism - and assured
growth of the program itself.
-
In the post-secondary phase of education, and in cooperation with other
NGOs, governments, and other institutions, we will provide or augment the
scholarships that will allow our students to obtain college-level degrees and
certification, with the end-goal of providing young adults with the basic tools
they need to drive poverty out of their countries.
The doctrine of HiQH - method, means, and resources
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Method: Provide for countries the human capital that will bolster the
sustainable self-improvement initiatives required to beak the poverty cycle.
-
Means: Provide countries with the means to participate and compete in the
worldwide arenas of commerce, technology, medicine, and progressive
education.
-
Resources: Along with a basic curriculum, students will be taught the
necessary international languages of commerce, law, and technology. These
Chiaroscuro - The Journal of the VinCI Society and ISI-S
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children will be able to quickly assume the driving-force roles within their
chosen fields. Eventually, leading teachers will produce more leading
teachers, whom in turn will perpetuate knowledge and produce world-class
businesspersons, doctors, engineers, agriculturalists, and more.
The Direct Instruction System - the educational system of the future
High IQ for Humanity projects will use the Direct Instruction education system, which
was created and developed by Siegfried Engelmann, founder of the National
Institute for Direct Instruction and a professor at the University of Oregon, whose
School of Education is ranked 7th in the United States by U.S. News and World Report
magazine.
The High IQ for Humanity blueprint for growth
Modernization of the
Developing Country
Perpetual Poverty Triad
Profound
Illiteracy
Economic
Deficiency
Gifted
Absolute
Poverty
High IQ for
Humanity
Sustainable
Education of
the Gifted
Sustained
Economic Growth
Disseminated
Benefits
An effective tool backed by research and field-testing
The Direct Instruction teaching method was developed through the use of extensive
research and field-testing procedures in the largest program of its kind ever
undertaken in the United States. This system was found highly effective, even within
some of the nation's poorest schools, and is currently used to great effect in the
United States, Canada, and Australia.
Method Replication - the sustainability factor
Available on CD Rom as well as printed format, the Direct Instruction method
provides well-structured curriculum with consistent, repeatable results.
The
methodology of teaching with this system remains constant throughout all levels and
all subject matter. This lends itself to High IQ for Humanity’s doctrine of sustainability,
as the education method is easily replicable by students who have experienced it
firsthand.
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The program benefits - a win-win situation
A program that supports sustainable poverty
eradication is the ultimate goal and makes strong
financial sense.
The
returns on investment of
both time and money
are unmatched - for the
poverty stricken, for the
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willing to participate, for
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"Knowledge is the engine that
drives economic growth, and
Africa cannot eliminate poverty
without first increasing and
nurturing its intellectual capital."
~Dr. Philip Emeagwali
Dr. Emeagwali, a member of
High IQ for Humanity, holds
several world records in
computer engineering. He
lectures extensively around the
world.
High IQ for Humanity is committed to leveraging all
the sound avenues, opportunities, and disciplines - in
concert with the diverse talents available within our organization - to produce the
greatest impact to the worldwide imperative of sustainable development in
countries of need.
For more information, please visit our website at http://www.hiqh.org.
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We are Just One
In this silent night
covered by shining stars
I am thinking of you.
In these timeless moments
I am wondering about what
you really mean to me, my love.
There are no more clouds in my mind
It is just your memories and me.
You and me alone.
I realize that you are like
iced-water to my thirsty soul,
That I need your love
As I need fresh air to breathe.
In this silent night
covered with shining stars
I imagine you sitting beside me
and telling me nice things
while we are watching the sky.
In this silent night
I remember how many times you stood by me
when I needed you,
how many times I have found comfort in your arms
when I felt so blue.
In this silent night
covered with shining stars
I remember you my love
And I realize that we are one, just one.
Hernan R. Chang
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Saddam Hussein is Captured in Operation Red Dawn
By Robert Brizel
In a small underground spider mud hole
bunker 6 X 8 feet deep, on a farm near his
hometown of Tikrit camouflaged with bricks
and dirt and breathing through a specially
constructed air shaft, a most unrecognizable
grizzly bearded former Iraqi President Saddam
Husayn Al-Tikriti was finally captured at 8:30 PM
in the evening on Saturday, December 13,
2003 by coalition forces in Operation Red
Dawn after several near misses. With a long salt and pepper beard and a
sense of resignation, Saddam dug a hole in the ground and buried himself as
forces of the U.S. led coalition authority closed in. Saddam will now face trial
by: an Iraqi panel of judges authorized by the Iraqi National Congress; The
United States; then international United National Court of the Hague; and a
special tribunal consisting of an International Military War Crimes Tribunal.
After capture, Saddam was photographed, shaved and given DNA tests to
verify his identity. It appears likely, given captured documentation of the
Ba’ath Party, that Saddam will first be tried in Iraq. He ruled the country for
over 30 years, and became President of Iraq in 1979. After 23 years, he was
overthrown in April 2003. His sons Udai and Qusai were killed by coalition
forces. Saddam was found with two AK 47 rifles, a pistol, and 750,000 US
dollars in cash - far less than the hundreds of millions his deceased sons had.
Saddam was talkative and cooperative. He appeared haggard, dusty and
tired when found hiding at 8:30 PM. Hussein was the # 1 most wanted Iraqi
figure in a special deck of 55 most wanted Iraqi.
Adnan Pachachi, member of the Iraq’s U.S.-appointed governing council,
said Saddam’s capture will bring stability to Iraq, and in effect, signaled the
beginning of the end of the anti-American holy war against coalition troops.
“The state of fear, intelligence and oppression is gone forever. The Iraqi
people are very happy and we look forward to a future of national
reconciliation between Iraqis in order to build the new and free Iraq, an Iraq
of equality.” Please note: for Saddam to be convicted on an international
scale, it must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt that Saddam’s regime
possessed the nuclear, biological and chemical weapons of mass destruction
in violation of United Nations regulations which the United States claims. The
Iraqi courts will try Saddam on evidence of substantial human rights violations
within Iraq based on witnesses and documentation.
Meanwhile, loyalists led by remnants of Saddam’s paramilitary Fedayeen unit
may still continue insurgent terrorist attacks, using car bombs, grenade
attacks, and rocket attacks on buildings, airplanes, and helicopter targets to
inflict civilian and military casualties.
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About a week before Saddam’s discovery, U.S. Forces began a new special
project in and around Tikrit, Saddam’s hometown, entitled ‘Operation Red
Dawn’, which sought to identify only low level bodyguards and cronies of
Saddam. U.S. Forces then arrested their families and friends for interrogation,
before apprehending some of the former low level bodyguards and Saddam
sympathizers. One of these low-level bodyguards, under interrogation,
identified two possible locations where one of Saddam’s personal
bodyguards - and perhaps Saddam - could be hiding. Coalition forces then
raided the locations, and, at one of them, beneath a pile of bricks on the
ground at one farmhouse location, the last dreams of glory of the strongest
leader of the radical Arab world since Nasser, the unshaven and crumbling
‘Tiger of the Tigress’, who built 55 palaces and vowed never to be taken alive,
was finally captured. Abused as a child, abusive of his own Iraqi people, and
in the end, a beaten, shattered shell and shadow of his former dictatorial self.
He may believe he needed to stay in Iraq rather than flee because he still
believes a trial will affirm his place as a great leader in history. The souls of
those he tortured, gassed and killed during the many years of his regime
demand justice. Much like Nuremburg, the living will speak for the dead in the
very public trials soon to follow.
Internet and television news sources were consulted for facts stated in this
story on Saddam Hussayn Al-Tikriti, ex-Iraqi President, known in the west as
‘Saddam Hussein’.
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Pascal’s Wager and the Paradox of Kraïtchik
By Albert Frank
Recently, I was looking at the famous Pascal’s Wager.
Pascal lived from 1623 to 1662. He was renowned as a French mathematician,
physicist and philosopher. He invented the first calculator.
I give it here. First the original text (in old French), followed by a translation (I
think “not too bad, not too good”) that I found:
Original text:
Examinons donc ce point, et disons : Dieu est ou il n'est pas ; mais de quel
côté pencherons-nous ? La raison n'y peut rien déterminer. Il y a un chaos
infini qui nous sépare. Il se joue un jeu à l'extrémité de cette distance infinie,
où il arrivera croix ou pile. Que gagerez-vous ? Par raison, vous ne pouvez
faire ni l'un ni l'autre ; par raison, vous ne pouvez défendre nul des deux.
Ne blâmez donc pas de fausseté ceux qui ont pris un choix, car vous n'en
savez rien. - Non, mais je les blâmerai d'avoir fait non ce choix, mais un choix,
car encore que celui qui prend croix et l'autre soient en pareille faute, il sont
tous deux en faute ; le juste est de ne point parier.
- Oui, mais il faut parier. Cela n'est point volontaire, vous êtes embarqué.
Lequel prendrez-vous donc ? Voyons, puisqu'il faut choisir, voyons ce qui vous
intéresse le moins. Vous avez deux choses à perdre, le vrai et le bien, et deux
choses à engager, votre raison et votre volonté, votre connaissance et votre
béatitude, et votre nature a deux choses à fuir, l'erreur et la misère. Votre
raison n'est pas plus blessée, puisqu'il faut nécessairement choisir, en
choisissant l'un que l'autre. Voilà un point vidé. Mais votre béatitude ? Pesons
le gain et la perte en prenant croix que Dieu est. Estimons ces deux cas : si
vous gagnez, vous gagnez tout, et si vous perdez, vous ne perdez rien ; gagez
donc qu'il est sans hésiter. Cela est admirable.
Mais je gage peut-être trop. Voyons : puis qu'il y a pareil hasard de gain et de
perte, quand vous n'auriez que deux vies à gagner pour une, vous pourriez
encore gager. Et s'il y en avait dix à gagner, vous seriez bien imprudent de ne
pas hasarder votre vie pour en gagner dix à un jeu où il y a pareil hasard de
perte et de gain.
Mais il y a ici une infinité de vies infiniment heureuses à gagner avec pareil
hasard de perte et de gain ; et ce que vous jouer est si peu de chose, et de si
peu de durée, qu'il y a de la folie à le ménager en cette occasion.
Translation :
"God is, or He is not." But to which side shall we incline? Reason can decide
nothing here. There is an infinite chaos which separates us. A game is being
played at the extremity of this infinite distance where heads or tails will turn
up... Which will you choose then? Let us see. Since you must choose, let us see
which interests you least. You have two things to lose, the true and the good;
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and two things to stake, your reason and your will, you knowledge and your
happiness; and your nature has two things to shun, error and misery. Your
reason is no more shocked in choosing one rather than the other, since you
must of necessity choose... but your happiness? Let us weigh the gain and the
loss in wagering that God is... If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose
nothing. Wager, then, without hesitation that He is.
That is very fine. Yes, I must wager; but I may perhaps wager too much.
Let us see. Since there is an equal risk of gain and of loss, if you had only to
gain two lives, instead of one, you might still wager. But if there were three or
even ten lives to gain, you would have to play (since you are under the
necessity of playing), and you would be imprudent, when you are forced to
play, not to chance your life to gain three or even ten at a game where there
is an equal risk of loss and gain. But there is an eternity of life and happiness.
When you look on the Internet, for instance with Google, using “Pascal’s
wager” or “Pascal wager”, you find more than 10,000 articles ,a lot from
logicians, who have tried to see what can be wrong in this wager.
The interesting fact is that – from what I have seen – none of them made any
comparison of Pascal’s Wager and Kraïtchik’s Paradox!
Here I present Kraïtchik’s Paradox:
More than twenty years ago, I read the book “La mathématique des jeux” of
Maurice Kraitchik. (First edition: Imprimerie Stevens, Bruxelles, 1930; Second
edition - which I have: Editions techniques et scientifiques, Bruxelles, 1953).
It’s a fascinating book, with a lot of mathematical puzzles, considerations on
magic squares, geometrical curiosities…
Who was Maurice Kraitchik (1882 – 1957)?
He was a Belgian mathematician (born in Russia) whose primary interests
were the theory of numbers and recreational mathematics. On both subjects
he published a lot. He wrote several books on number theory (1922-1930, and
after the war), and was the editor of the periodical Sphinx (1931-1939), which
was devoted to recreational mathematics. During World War II, Kraïtchik
emigrated to the United States, where he taught a course at the New School
for Social Research in New York City on the general topic of "mathematical
recreations." Kraïtchik was « agrégé » of the free University of Brussels, engineer
at the “Société Financière de Transports et d'Entreprises Industrielles (Sofina)”
and director of the “Institut des Hautes Etudes de Belgique”.
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Among his books, I would like to mention:
Kraïtchik, M. Théorie des Nombres. Paris: Gauthier-Villars, 1922.
Kraïtchik, M. Recherches sur la théorie des nombres. Paris: Gauthier-Villars,
1924.
Kraïtchik, M. Mathematical Recreations. New York: Dover, 1953.
Kraïtchik, M. Alignment Charts. New York: Van Nostrand, 1944.
In “La mathématique des jeux”, I considered for years one of the paradoxes
he presents (page 133): “Deux personnes, également riches conviennent de
comparer les contenus de leurs porte-monnaies. Chacun ignore les contenus
des deux porte-monnaies. Le jeu consiste en ceci : Celui qui a le moins
d’argent reçoit le contenu du porte-monnaie de l’autre. (au cas où les
montants sont égaux, il ne se passe rien). Un des deux hommes peut penser :
« Admettons que j’ai un montant de A$ dans mon porte-monnaie. C’est le
maximum que je peux perdre. Si je gagne (probabilité 0.5), le montant final
en ma possession sera supérieur à 2A. Donc le jeu m’est favorable…l’autre
homme fait exactement le même raisonnement. Bien entendu, vu la
symétrie, le jeu est équilibré. Où est la faute dans le raisonnement de chaque
homme? »
Two people, equally "rich" put their wallets on the table. Both don’t know the
amount of money in each wallet. The game is: "the man who has the least
money receives the money from the other" (if they have the same amount,
nothing happens). One of the men may think: "I know I have an amount of A
in my wallet. That's the maximum I can lose. If I win (probability 0.5), my final
amount of money will be greater than 2A. So the game is in my favor"...the
other man thinks exactly the same. Of course, because of symmetry, the
game is equilibrated. What is wrong with the reasoning of the two men?
I noticed that Martin Gardner, in “La magie des paradoxes” (Bibliothèque
POUR LA SCIENCE - Diffusion Belin, extracts of Scientific American, 1975), page
114, gives the same problem, asking for an answer (« I was not able to solve
it »).
Martin Gardner (born in 1914) was the Mathematical Games columnist for
Scientific American. He originated the column in 1956, and his columns
appeared until his retirement from the magazine in 1986. He graduated Phi
Beta Kappa from the University of Chicago in 1936.
In her book “The power of logical thinking” (St. Martin’s Griffin Edition, 1997),
Marilyn Vos Savant mentions Martin Gardner as being a very logical thinker.
Some of his mathematical titles (published by several editors):
The Scientific American Book of Mathematical Puzzles and Diversions.
The Magic Numbers of Dr. Matrix.
Fractal Music, Hypercards and More.
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Codes, Ciphers, and Secret Writing.
In the first months of 2000, I put this paradox (which, afterwards, was called
“Kraitchik’s paradox”, a “name” never used by Maurice Kraitchik!) in several
magazines and on several lists. Marc Heremans did the same.
As a result, we got more than 50 answers! Most of them did not find an
answer, or were very poor.
Finally, two articles came along, giving finally what I consider to be “The
Solution”: One from Marc Heremans, and one from Erik Goolaerts. Also, Chris
Langan wrote an interesting solution on:
http://www.megafoundation.org/Ubiquity/Paradox.html
Here is the solution found by Marc Heremans:
Paradox, antinomy or sophism, I don’t know which term best describes this
statement.
Still, it generates the simultaneous feeling of admiration and incredulity, close
to the one that one feels when a devious lawyer misleads his public while
pleading brilliantly an already lost cause.
We have the conviction of having been fooled, certainly, but the tracks are
covered so finely that it is difficult for us to unmask the deception.
The attempts to resolve the paradox, which call on the general laws of logic
and simple “common sense”, are shown to be useless because they confirm
a logical impossibility of which we are perfectly conscious but do not tell us
where the error lies.
Let’s try to understand why the reasoning is not correct.
A visual representation in the form of a matrix will help.
ƒ
ƒ
ƒ
ƒ
27
The amounts of player A (a1, a2,….,an ) can be seen in the left column and
the amounts of player B (b1, b2,…,bn) are shown in the top row
The gains shown in the cells correspond with player A’s point of view (when
he wins, he receives the amount of his opponent; when he loses, he only
loses his amount)
To simplify the presentation, we will assume that the amounts are in whole
units (Euros, dollars, etc.) and
that their distribution is uniform (a binomial distribution seems more realistic
in practice, but does not change anything fundamental to the reasoning ;
it makes it, merely, technically more difficult)
Chiaroscuro - The Journal of the VinCI Society and ISI-S
ƒ
ƒ
#2, Jan 2004
Let us consider an uneven number of amounts (e.g. 5) in order to have a
central value (a3=2 in the present case), the minimum amount (a1) being
equal to 0 ;
The last column shows the total of wins for each occurrence of the
variable “a” (in brackets, the mathematical expectation “E”).
0
1
2
3
4
Total
(E)
0
0
+1
+2
+3
+4
10
(2)
1
-1
0
+2
+3
+4
8
(1.60)
2
-2
-2
0
+3
+4
3
(0.6)
3
-3
-3
-3
0
+4
-5
(-1)
4
-4
-4
-4
-4
0
-16
(-3.2)
Remarks about the matrix
Notice (this will become important later) that the matrix is either
symmetric or not, depending on the way you look at it.
If one considers the amounts shown on either side of the diagonal made
up of the zero wins/losses, one can note that the matrix is perfectly
symmetrical, each positive value being matched with an equivalent
negative value. All the mathematical expectations are complementary
and cancel each other out. In half of the cases, the “game” is
favourable for A; in the other half, it is favourable for B. The number of
winning positions is the same as the number of losing ones and the losing
amounts are equal to the winning ones.
A second approach consists of no longer looking at all the possible
occurrences, as above, but to regroup the data, taking into
consideration the regression of the “ai” on the bi For each occurrence of
“a”, we associate its average expectation of gain. Therefore, we are
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interested, in order of priority, in the first (a1,…,an) and the last column
(E1,...,En).
Seen from this angle, the matrix is no longer symmetrical. The expected values
vary greatly from one amount ai to another. The number of winning positions
is even superior to the number of losing ones! On the other hand, the amounts
of the losses are greater than the amounts of the gains.
We can note that the mathematical expectation of A is clearly positive when
he holds an “average” amount!
The reasoning proposed by A (refer to Albert Frank's previous article): “if I win –
probability 0.5 – the final amount in my possession will be greater than 2A,”
shows itself to be correct for the specific case of an average amount, but
cannot be generalised.
Actually, the fact of winning on average when you hold an average amount
does not at all mean to win “on average” in all possible cases.
That would be to ignore the totally asymmetrical shape of the distribution of
wins and losses around the average amount. In extreme situations, the wins
and losses are not balanced. A loses much more when he is in possession of a
high amount than he would win when he owns a small amount.
Conclusion
A’s error consists of reasoning that does not take into account alternative
groupings of the data he uses.
He goes from one grouping representation to another, transposing
surreptitiously conclusions that could be drawn from the other.
By itself, no grouping is “better” than any other, but if one accepts a reading
of the matrix based on the second approach (asymmetrical), it is necessary
to take into consideration the unequal values of the expectations resulting
from the grouping of the amounts that were used in that line of reasoning.
And it is quite easy to see that Pascal’s wager and Kraïtchik’s paradox are
nearly the same, with a totally similar structure.
Because of this similarity, what we can now call "The Paradox of Pascal" can
be solved in the same way that Marc Heremans and Erik Goolaerts solved the
Parodox of Kraïtchik. Without knowing they were, they have solved a *very*
old paradox.
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This is a *very* good example of how a problem can be sometimes solved
because there is an isomorphism with another problem that has been solved
before.
In the same way that it has been demonstrated, in the Kraïtchik's paradox,
that when one of the players says "it is in my favour", he is wrong (and the bet
is equilibrated), we can say that Pascal was wrong when he said "you must
wager for the existence of god" - He made the same mistake when looking at
the expectation - and the bet is equilibrated (you don't lose (or win) more - if
you lose - betting against his wager – that you would lose (or win) betting for
it).
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Método para aprimorar a acurácia na
determinação das distâncias de estrelas
Por Hindemburg Melão Jr.
Antes de ler esse artigo, é necessário saber o que é paralaxe e o que são
classes espectrais. Também convém ter noções básicas sobre estatística
e astrofísica.
O que é paralaxe:
http://instruct1.cit.cornell.edu/courses/astro101/java/parallax/parallax.ht
ml
O que são classes espectrais:
http://www.physics.gmu.edu/classinfo/astr103/CourseNotes/str_hr.htm
A paralaxe é um método trigonométrico simples usado para calcular
distâncias astronômicas há pelo menos 2150 anos e é usada para distâncias
de estrelas há mais de 150 anos. Continua sendo usado em todos os
observatórios do mundo (inclusive telescópios em órbita, como o Hubble)
para calcular as distâncias dos objetos próximos, como estrelas situadas a
menos de 5.000 anos-luz. Em 1990, a Agência Espacial Européia (ESA http://sci.esa.int) colocou em órbita o telescópio Hipparcus, cujo nome é
uma homenagem ao astrônomo grego que foi o primeiro a calcular a
distância de um astro (a Lua) usando paralaxe. A finalidade da missão
Hipparcus é justamente medir as distâncias das estrelas vizinhas.
Embora o método da paralaxe seja excelente, quando é usado para a
determinação das distâncias de estrelas, existe uma maneira de obter
acurácia muito superior ao “método cru”. Para compreender melhor esse
processo, convém dar uma olhada no artigo de nosso amigo Albert Frank
http://users.skynet.be/albert.frank/interpstat.htm. Segue um resumo da idéia
abordada no artigo:
Mais de 95% dos médicos formados em Harvard resolvem incorretamente o
seguinte problema:
“Desejamos saber se uma pessoa é portadora de uma determinada doença
e temos um teste com 99% de confiabilidade, que é usado para determinar
se uma pessoa tem a tal doença. Então escolhemos fortuitamente uma
pessoa numa população em que há 1% de infectados e aplicamos o teste
nessa pessoa. O resultado é positivo. Qual é a probabilidade de que a
pessoa escolhida esteja de fato com a doença? Os médicos quase sempre
respondem 99% ou algo assim, mas a resposta certa seria 50%, porque não se
pode apenas levar em conta a probabilidade do teste produzir resultados
corretos. Além disso é necessário levar em conta a probabilidade de que a
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pessoa escolhida estava infectada. A probabilidade da pessoa não estar
infectada numa população em que 99% não estão infectados é obviamente
de 99%. A probabilidade do teste dizer que a pessoa tem a doença e a
pessoa realmente ter a doença também é de 99%. Então são iguais as
chances da pessoa estar infectada ou não estar infectada, ou seja: meio a
meio.
Agora vejamos como os cálculos das distâncias das estrelas podem ser
aprimorados: a paralaxe que o satélite Hipparcus mediu para Mu Cephei é
p=0,00062" com std. err. 0,00052" (1 std. err. = 0,6745 sd).
Esses dados sugerem que:
Há 25% de probabilidade de que a verdadeira paralaxe seja menor que
0,00010”.
Há 25% de probabilidade de que a verdadeira paralaxe seja maior que
0,00114".
Mas isso é falso, porque indica que há 21,06% de chances de que a paralaxe
seja menor que 0”. Aqui convém fazer um comentário adicional: em todos os
casos como esse, em que a incerteza é tão grande quanto a própria
grandeza medida, a incerteza deveria ser expressa em log(p), porque uma
paralaxe negativa não faz sentido. Então a paralaxe e sua incerteza
deveriam ser representadas por: log(p)=-3,2076, log[std. err.(p)]=0.2645 e
haveria 25% de chances de a paralaxe ser maior que 0,00114” (0,00062*1,84)
e 25% de chances de ser menor que 0,00034” (0,00062/1,84). Claro que isso
não poderia ser simplesmente expresso assim. Antes de usar logs, seria
preciso que a coleta dos dados fosse feita calculando as incertezas nos logs
das paralaxes, em vez das incertezas nas próprias paralaxes, além disso a
incerteza deveria ser expressa como std. err. no log(p), em vez de log do std.
err.(p).
Mas esse não é o ponto chave. O detalhe mais interessante é que há 25% de
chances da paralaxe ser maior que 0,00114” e isso é muito maior do que a
probabilidade de uma estrela escolhida fortuitamente ter luminosidade
maior que a de Mu Cephei. Em outras palavras, com base na medida do
Hipparcus, há 50% de chances de que a verdadeira paralaxe de Mu Cephei
seja maior que 0,00062” e 50% de chances de que seja menor que 0,00062”.
Mas, com base na distribuição estatística das estrelas em função da
luminosidade, dentro da classe espectral observada, há 5% de chances de
que uma estrela escolhida fortuitamente numa população de supergigante
M2 tenha luminosidade igual à que Mu Cephei teria se estivesse à distância
correspondente a uma paralaxe menor que 0,00062” e há 95% de chances
de que uma estrela tenha luminosidade igual a que Mu Cephei teria se
estivesse à distância correspondente a uma paralaxe maior que 0,00062”
(estou supondo que a luminosidade bolométrica média das estrelas M2Ia é
cerca de 10.000 vezes a do sol). Logo, é cerca de 20 vezes mais provável
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que a paralaxe de Mu Cephei seja maior que 0,00062” do que a
probabilidade de ser menor que 0,00062”, então é claro que 0,00062” não é
o valor que melhor representa a paralaxe “verdadeira”. Para determinar
com mais exatidão a paralaxe mais provável _ isto é, aquela em que haja
50% de chances do valor verdadeiro ser maior e 50% de chances de ser
menor _, é necessário encontrar a distância na qual a probabilidade da
estrela ter tal luminosidade acima ou abaixo da média seja igual à
probabilidade da paralaxe estar tantos desvios-padrão abaixo ou acima da
paralaxe medida.
No caso de Mu Cephei, para que a paralaxe fosse 0,00062”, ela deveria
estar a 5.260 anos-luz de nós e, se estivesse a essa distância, ela teria
luminosidade visual 55.000 vezes maior que o Sol e luminosidade bolométrica
580.000 vezes maior que a do Sol.
Se a paralaxe medida estivesse certa, Mu Cephei seria 58 vezes mais
luminosa que a média de sua classe e, portanto, 20 vezes mais rara.
Considerando isso, temos que a paralaxe mais provável de ser correta é
0,00144”. Esse valor é 5,4 vezes mais provável de ser correto do que 0,00062”.
Então a distância mais provável para Mu Cephei é 2.265 anos-luz, mais
preciso e mais acurado que o valor oficialmente adotado (5.260 anos-luz).
O método que proponho não se aplica apenas nos casos das estrelas cujas
incertezas nas paralaxes sejam tão grandes quanto as próprias paralaxes,
mas em todos os casos. Claro que a principal vantagem é corrigir
disparidades nos casos em que há grande incerteza, mas o método também
ajuda a refinar todos os outros cálculos. Para Sírius, por exemplo, cuja
paralaxe é conhecida com boa precisão, o Hipparcus dá p=0,37921" com
std err.=0,00158". Uma estrela do tipo A0/A1, como é o caso de Sírius A, tem,
em média, magnitude absoluta 0.85, mas Sirius A tem magnitude 1.45,
portanto ela é 1,74 vezes menos luminosa que a média de sua classe
espectral e tem massa 1,15 vezes menor que média de sua classe, logo ela
tem vida 1,5 vezes maior que a média de sua classe e podemos supor que
seja 1,5 vezes mais abundante do que a média da classe A0/A1, portanto,
para que ela tivesse abundância igual à média, deveria estar um pouco
mais distante. Então a paralaxe que tem maior probabilidade de ser correta
não é 0,37921”, mas cerca de 0,26sd maior, ou seja: 0,37860" (1,2 vezes mais
provável que 0,37921”).
Para os sistemas binários e múltiplos, o cálculo de correção pode ser feito
individualmente, para cada componente, e depois usada a média
ponderada como distância mais provável.
A mesma idéia pode ser aplicada também em outros métodos para
determinar distâncias. Por exemplo: se um quasar apresenta desvio para o
vermelho muito pequeno e a incerteza nesse desvio é grande, então podese situá-lo mais longe com base na raridade de quasares pouco luminosos,
usando o mesmo critério.
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Apêndice 1:
A luminosidade visual é determinada pela quantidade de energia que uma
estrela emite no espectro visível (entre 360nm e 780nm). A luminosidade
bolométrica é determinada pela quantidade total de energia que uma
estrele emite. O Sol, por exemplo, emite 91% de sua energia no espectro
visível e 9% de energia invisível (ultravioleta, infravermelho, raios-gama, raios-x
etc.). Uma estrela azul da classe O5 emite apenas 2,6% na faixa visível e dos
97,4% restantes quase tudo é em ultravioleta ou em comprimentos mais
curtos. Uma estrela vermelha da classe M5 emite 2,9% na faixa visível e dos
97,1% restantes quase tudo é em infravermelho ou em comprimentos mais
longos. Portanto a quantidade total de energia consumida pode ser muito
diferente daquela que é observada visualmente.
Apêndice 2:
A massa das estrelas é proporcional a raiz quarta da luminosidade e o tempo
de “vida” de uma estrela depende da quantidade total de combustível
nuclear (massa) e da quantidade de combustível consumido por unidade
de tempo (luminosidade). Então se a massa de uma estrela for 10 vezes
maior que a massa do Sol, a luminosidade dessa estrela será 10.000 vezes
maior que a do sol e a expectativa de vida será 1.000 vezes menor que a Sol,
pois terá 10 vezes mais combustível, porém consumirá esse combustível a um
ritmo 10.000 vezes mais rápido. Se a expectativa de vida é 1.000 vezes
menor, então deve ser 1.000 vezes mais rara. Claro que não é tão simples,
porque as estrelas são “recicladas” depois de “morrer” e isso altera as
probabilidades. Além disso, nem toda a massa da estrela é usada como
combustível, portanto a proporção entre a massa total e a quantidade total
de combustível nunca é perfeita. Mas, grosseiramente, a abundância
relativa de estrelas com luminosidade L é inversamente proporcional a
L^0.75.
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Gravitação Quântica
Atrativa, Repulsiva e Neutra
Introdução
Por Hindemburg Melão Jr.
Quando Newton formulou a Teoria da Gravitação Universal, ele estabeleceu
uma relação entre gravidade e massa e também postulou que a gravidade
é sempre atrativa. Ele fez isso porque todas as experiências indicavam que a
gravidade tem efeito exclusivamente de atração, e essa era a melhor
hipótese a ser adotada, por ser a mais simples e por ser suficiente para
explicar os fenômenos observados naquela época. Ele relacionou a
gravidade à massa porque não eram conhecidos corpos sem massa, por
isso, ao dizer que a gravidade atua entre corpos com massa, ele julgava
estar dizendo o mesmo que se dissesse que a gravidade atua entre
quaisquer sistemas de corpos (com e sem massa). Newton estava certo em
suas idéias, porém ele não dispunha das informações necessárias para
formular uma teoria capaz de prever fenômenos que só seriam descobertos
vários séculos depois.
O que eu pretendo fazer é propor um modelo de gravidade atrativa,
gravidade repulsiva e gravidade neutra, e veremos que este modelo permite
explicar todos os fenômenos tão bem quanto o modelo vigente e mais
alguns fenômenos que o modelo clássico não é capaz de explicar, como
por o exemplo o motivo pelo qual a força gravitacional é muito mais fraca
que as outras forças.
Hindemburg Melão Jr.
São Paulo, 12 de julho de 2002
Teoria Geral da Gravidade
Suponhamos a existência de uma unidade fundamental de massa, que
chamaremos “u.m.f.”. Em princípio, vamos admitir que essa unidade deve ser
muito menor que a massa do elétron, de modo que os elétrons e quaisquer
outros léptons, bem como mésons, bárions e híperons tenham massas tais
que sejam múltiplos inteiros da u.m.f. Para tanto, a u.m.f. deve ter no máximo
10^-7 da massa do elétron (provavelmente é muito menos que isso).
Cada u.m.f. terá uma unidade de “massa inercial”, que chamaremos “m”, e
uma “carga gravitacional”, que pode ser atrativa, repulsiva ou neutra, as
quais chamaremos respectivamente “G+”, “G-“ ou “G0”. A maneira como
essas “cargas” atuam não deve ser interpretada da mesma maneira que
acontece às cargas elétricas, em que opostos se atraem e semelhantes se
repelem. Em vez disso, os corpos com carga gravitacional atrativa vão
sempre atrair outros corpos, tenham eles cargas atrativas, neutras ou
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repulsivas. Quando um corpo tiver carga atrativa e outro tiver carga
repulsiva, prevalecerá a força com maior intensidade. Se forem intensidades
iguais, permanecerão em equilíbrio. Os corpos que têm massa inercial
podem ter carga G+, G- ou G0. Os corpos que não têm massa inercial (ex.:
fóton) terão necessariamente carga G0 ou G-. À medida que a teoria for
testada, se houver necessidade podemos aprimorar essa hipótese,
considerando, por exemplo, que podem existir cargas G+2, G+3, G-2 etc., ou
considerando que além das partículas sem massa inercial terem carga G0,
também algumas partículas com massa inercial podem ter obrigatoriamente
carga G0. Esse ponto da teoria fica aberto até que dados empíricos
indiquem qual a representação mais promissora.
O conceito que vamos adotar para massa inercial é: quantidade total de
matéria de um corpo.
O conceito que vamos adotar para massa gravitacional é: propriedade da
massa inercial que pode atrair, repelir ou ter efeito neutro.
Vamos considerar que toda massa inercial tem vinculada uma carga
gravitacional G+, G- ou G0, de modo que o número total de unidades de
massa inercial de um corpo será sempre igual à quantidade de cargas G+,
G- e G0 desse corpo.
A quantidade de massa inercial determina a tendência de um corpo para
permanecer em repouso ou em movimento retilíneo uniforme. Quanto maior
for a massa inercial, tanto maior deverá ser a força aplicada a essa massa
para causar uma alteração delta-x em seu estado inicial (de repouso ou de
movimento retilíneo uniforme).
A carga gravitacional determina a intensidade do campo gravitacional
gerado nas circunvizinhanças desse corpo, prolongando-se até a distância
em que seus bósons mediadores puderem atingir durante suas meias-vidas.
Em princípio, vamos supor que esses bósons sejam estáveis e tenham
velocidade infinita, ou pelo menos sejam mais velozes que a luz no vácuo.
Obviamente esses bósons (para os quais podemos aceitar o nome
tradicional de “grávitons”) não podem viajar à velocidade menor que ou
igual à da luz no vácuo, porque se fosse assim eles não conseguiriam
escapar em quantidade significativa das ergosferas de buracos-negros, e se
os buracos-negros não emitissem grávitons, não exerceriam efeito
gravitacional.
Portanto, se os grávitons forem estáveis ou se tiverem velocidade infinita (ou
as duas coisas), a força gravitacional de cada corpo do universo poderá ser
sentida em todos os outros corpos. Se essa hipótese se verificar inadequada,
deve ser aprimorada para ajustar-se aos dados empíricos.
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Quanto maior for a diferença entre o número de cargas gravitacionais G+ e
G- de um corpo, tanto maior será a aceleração gravitacional exercida por
ele. Por exemplo: um corpo com 100G+, 100G0 e 95G- terá massa inercial
295 e atrairá com intensidade maior que outro corpo com 200G+, 201G0 e
199G- e massa inercial 600. Portanto nem sempre o corpo com maior massa
(inercial) terá maior massa gravitacional. Para corpos grandes, com 10^40
u.m.f., por questões estatísticas, as quantidades de G+, G0 e Gapresentarão pouca variação de um corpo para outro. Se um corpo com
10^40 u.m.f. tiver 33,4% de G+, 33,3% de G0 e 33,3% de G-, é muito
improvável que outro corpo com 10^40 u.m.f. tenha 33,400001% de G+ ou
algo maior que isso. Mas em corpos pequenos as variações podem ser
bastante acentuadas. Suponhamos que num corpo com 3*10^60 u.m.f haja:
(10^60 + 10^15) G+
(10^60) G0
(10^60 - 10^15) Ge num corpo pequeno (nível quântico), com 300 u.m.f. haja 108G+, 103G0 e
89G-. Nesse corpo pequeno a relação entre massa gravitacional e massa
inercial será 10^43 vezes maior que num corpo de proporções planetárias ou
estelares ou qualquer outro corpo macroscópico. Ou seja, a força
gravitacional com que o corpo de 300 u.m.f. vai atrair outros corpos será
10^43 vezes mais intensa do que seria esperado no caso dele contar com
uma distribuição de G+ e G- equivalente à que ocorre em corpos grandes.
Obviamente uma força tão intensa deveria ser detectada em nível
quântico, e de fato pode ser que já esteja sendo detectada há várias
décadas, porém não foi reconhecida como sendo a força gravitacional.
Se retroagirmos aos primórdios do universo (se é que houve um primórdio),
teremos uma situação inicial com corpos de carga G+, G0 e G- isolados.
Como os corpos com G- repelem tudo, eles têm uma tendência maior a
permanecer isolados, enquanto os G0 tem uma tendência intermediária e os
G+ tem uma tendência para se unir. Um G+ não se une a um G- exceto por
colisão, porque a força atrativa do G+ é contrabalançada pela força
repulsiva do G-, mas um G+ atrai outros G+ e também atrai outros G0. Depois
que alguns G+ se unirem, eles passarão a atrair com intensidade maior que a
força repulsiva de um G- isolado, portanto serão capazes de atrair também
esses G-, e progressivamente os corpos vão se formar reunindo maior
quantidade de G+, quantidade um pouco menor de G0 e quantidade
ainda menor de G- (isso se todos forem igualmente abundantes). Se os G0
forem mais abundantes, então os corpos serão predominantemente
formados por G0, em seguida por G+ e por fim por G-. A hipótese mais
interessante é se os G- forem mais abundantes, porque mesmo assim eles
representarão minoria nos corpos grandes, mas permanecerão espalhados
por todo o espaço “vazio”, provocando o efeito repulsivo descoberto
recentemente. Em outras palavras, as partículas G- formam a matéria
escura.
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Os blocos constituídos por G-, do tipo (3G-) ou (2G0 e 1G-), podem se formar
por colisão ou por influência de outras forças, mas, no que respeita à
gravidade, serão blocos instáveis e se não houver outras forças atuando eles,
logo eles serão fragmentados, expelindo as cargas G- excedentes e
tornando-se neutros ou atrativos. Como conseqüência, os corpos grandes
terão probabilidade reduzidíssima de ter carga global repulsiva.
Uma ilustração conveniente: Dada uma superfície lisa, quase sem atrito, na
qual estejam presentes duas pessoas, A e B, ambas com forças iguais e
massas inerciais iguais, cada pessoa situada sobre uma plataforma plana, de
massa desprezível, que reduz ainda mais o atrito com a superfície do chão,
sendo que A empurra B, e B puxa A. Se os vetores das forças forem
diametralmente opostos, o resultado será que as duas pessoas
permanecerão em posições inalteradas, uma em relação à outra. Mas se
uma terceira pessoa C, com força e massa inercial iguais às de A, subir em
qualquer das duas plataformas e começar empurrar quem ficou na outra
plataforma, então as plataformas vão se afastar uma da outra, sendo que a
plataforma que ficou com apenas uma pessoa (por ter metade da massa
inercial da outra) vai sofrer o dobro do efeito dinâmico da plataforma que
ficou com duas pessoas.
São basicamente esses os efeitos de G+ e G-. Durante o processo, quando as
cargas G+ forem mais numerosas que as G-, as forças combinadas farão
com que uma se desloque em direção à outra, produzindo a falsa impressão
de atração recíproca.
Tanto faz se os dois blocos são (10G+ 2G-) e (1G-) ou se são (10G+) e (3G-) ou
qualquer outra combinação. A intensidade sempre será o resultado da
diferença dos totais de G+ e G-.
Em nível quântico, uma partícula com carga G+ terá muito maior chance de
se unir a outra G+ do que a um G-, e uma carga G- terá muito maior chance
de se unir a uma G+ do que a outra G-. Mas os blocos grandes de G+
tentem a ter quase igual probabilidade de atrair outras G+, G- ou G0. Isso é
evidente, porque um bloco com 1000000G+ atrairá outra G+ com
intensidade 1000001/R^2 e atrairá uma G- com intensidade 999999/R^2, ou
seja, com força apenas 0,0002% mais intensa, porém um bloco com 3G+
atrairá outra G+ com intensidade 4/R^2, mas atrairá uma G- com
intensidade de apenas 2/R^2, ou seja, com força 100% mais intensa. Quanto
maior o corpo, maior a probabilidade de que ele reúna uma quantidade de
G+, G- e G0 na mesma proporção em que essas cargas ocorrem no universo
(exceto se G- for mais abundante que G+). Se as quantidades de G+ e Gforem iguais ou quase iguais, então a predominância de G+ em escala
humana ou em escala astronômica pode ser de apenas (1+10^-40 para) 1.
Isso significa que um corpo com massa de 10^45 u.m.f. (digamos: 1kg), pode
ter apenas 10^5 cargas gravitacionais! Ou seja, a força gravitacional pode
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ser 10^40 vezes mais intensa do se julgava, mas causa a falsa impressão de
ser muito mais fraca que as outras interações devido ao fato de estar
erroneamente associada à quantidade total de massa e ser considerada
exclusivamente atrativa.
O conceito de “força gravitacional” precisa ser reformulado em mais alguns
pontos: Vamos tratar sempre de “aceleração”, em vez de “força”, porque a
força implicaria produto de massas, e isso não pode ser feito, porque se uma
das massas for zero, ocorrerá ausência de interação, mas sabemos que isso
não é verdade, porque fótons interagem normalmente com corpos massivos,
por influência da “aceleração gravitacional” desses corpos massivos (não
pela “força gravitacional”). Logo, a idéia de produto de massas é incorreta e
precisa ser abolida. A força de atração resulta do produto das massas, mas
a aceleração requer a existência de uma única massa, portanto a
aceleração gravitacional de um corpo pode influir na trajetória de um outro
corpo independentemente desse outro corpo ter massa. Isso explica a
curvatura da luz observada nas proximidades de corpos massivos e dispensa
parte da Teoria da Relatividade. Pois um fóton pode ter carga gravitacional
G0 ou G- e pode ser atraído por corpos grandes com carga G+.
Comentários finais
Não há razão para supor que as intensidades das forças de G+ e G- sejam
iguais, nem mesmo que dois G+ diferentes tenham mesma intensidade, mas
num primeiro momento vamos usar essa hipótese para simplificar a teoria.
O modelo pode funcionar perfeitamente com G+ e G-, sem necessidade de
cargas G0, mas tendo em conta fenômenos que futuramente sejam
descobertos, convém não descartar a possibilidade de partículas com carga
gravitacional G0.
Depois de esboçar esse modelo, fiz uma busca no Google por “gravidade
repulsiva”, não tinha muita esperança de encontrar alguma referência em
português, mas surpreendentemente encontrei 6 referências. Consta que
65% a 70% do universo é constituído por matéria repulsiva. Muito
provavelmente isso é errado. O que presumem ser 65% de massa inercial
deve ser apenas 65% de massa gravitacional, ou seja: algo em torno de 10^40% do total de massa inercial, um pequeno resíduo de G-, mas em estado
“puro” (não misturado com G+ que atenuaria sua intensidade) e com força
repulsiva suficiente para produzir o efeito observado.
É possível que a força gravitacional não seja propriamente 10^43 vezes mais
intensa do que se supõe, mas “apenas” 10^30 ou 10^20, ou talvez seja mais
intensa, como 10^50. Minha hipótese de 10^43 (ou 10^39, ou 10^41,
dependendo do par de partículas consideradas) é apenas para situá-la
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aproximadamente no mesmo nível das demais forças, mas quem vai
determinar essa grandeza são as experiências.
Eu acredito que o mais importante no momento é fazer experiências em alto
vácuo (preferencialmente na Lua) para determinar o valor de G usando
massas tão pequenas quanto possível. Pois o valor de G deve apresentar
variações maiores em massas menores (quanto menor for a grandeza das
massas, maior será o desvio-padrão no valor de G). Isso acontece porque é
maior a amplitude de variação na quantidade de G+ e G- em corpos
pequenos (ex.: 10^5 partículas) do que em corpos grandes (ex.: 10^60
partículas), pois a “aleatoriedade” afeta mais sensivelmente grupos com
pequena quantidade de elementos. Outra constatação que pode ser feita
medindo o valor de G é que corpos pequenos (ex.: 10^5 partículas) terão,
em média, maior percentagem de G+ do que corpos grandes (ex.: 10^60
partículas), logo, em corpos pequenos a constante G deve parecer mais
intensa do que em corpos grandes. Determinar G usando massas
conhecidas muito grandes e muito pequenas deve permitir verificar se essa
previsão procede, no entanto a medida de G é demasiado imprecisa e
talvez demore muito tempo para testar a validade dessa teoria.
Existem algumas experiências cujos resultados talvez ajudem a corroborar
minha teoria, como as variações nos valores de G muito maiores que os
desvios-padrão calculados pelos experimentadores. A explicação para essas
variações, se minha teoria estiver correta, pode ser devido ao fato de que
em corpos pequenos as proporções de G+ e G- variam mais que nos corpos
grandes, portanto os cálculos sobre as perturbações causadas pelas massas
circunvizinhas, feitos com base na hipótese de que massas inerciais iguais
exercem forças gravitacionais iguais, estão errados e não proporcionaram
uma idéia adequada sobre a ordem de grandeza da influência das
pequenas massas próximas. Mas mesmo as pequenas massas
macroscópicas são demasiado grandes em comparação a u.m.f. (pelo
menos 10^30 vezes), de modo que isso implicaria uma extraordinária
abundância de G0, algo como 10^25 ou 10^30 G0 para cada G- ou G+. Se
for assim, significa que a maior parte do universo é constituída por partículas
com carga gravitacional G0, que tem massa inercial, mas não exerce
nenhuma atração gravitacional. Uma fração muito menor (cerca de 10^30)
é constituída por G-, que exerce repulsão e permanece esparramada pelo
universo, cada partícula vagando isoladamente. Uma fração ainda menor é
constituída por partículas G+, que exercem atração e reúnem-se para
formar imensos blocos contendo G+, G- e G0, sendo cerca de 10^30 G0
para cada G+ e aproximadamente 1 G+ para cada G- (sempre um pouco
mais de G+, caso contrário o bloco seria instável). Por outro lado, se for
constatado que as variações nas medições de G resultam de outros fatores,
então podemos usar a teoria (que me parece mais elegante) em que G+, Ge G0 existem aproximadamente em iguais proporções. Se a quantidade de
G+
for
1+10^-40
vezes
mais
abundante
que
a
de
G(1,000.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.0001 G+ para cada G-), a
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força gravitacional entre os corpos de grande massa (laranjas, planetas,
galáxias etc.) terá uma constante gravitacional “G” cerca de 10^40 vezes
menos intensa que a constante “G” em nível quântico. Outras proporções
de G+ e G- em diferentes situações também podem produzir resultados
similares. Por exemplo: se G- for mais abundante no universo que G+, a
quantidade de G+ num corpo grande tende a ser um pouco maior que a
quantidade de G-. À medida que a massa cresce, a quantidade de G+
pode convergir para 0,5 ou para um número um pouco maior que 0,5 (por
exemplo:
0,500.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.00005),
dependendo de vários fatores, entre os quais as abundâncias relativas. As
determinações dessas proporções só podem ser feitas empiricamente.
Se essa teoria for medianamente correta, significa que o universo é um caldo
de partículas G- espalhadas por todo o espaço, mais ou menos
uniformemente, concentrando-se nas proximidades dos grandes corpos
carregados com G+ (planetas, satélites, estrelas, galáxias etc.) e produzindo
a expansão do universo.
Uma outra possibilidade que deriva da mesma idéia é que cada partícula
(lépton ou quark) pode ter uma carga gravitacional. Se for assim, corpos
com mesma massa formados por substâncias diferentes devem gerar
campos gravitacionais com intensidades diferentes. Isso poderia explicar
também a hipotética força bariônica, descoberta no início dos anos 1990,
mas não confirmada, e poderia explicar (e prever) uma larga variedade de
outros fenômenos, porque uma gravidade atrativa / repulsiva é muito mais
versátil que a gravidade exclusivamente atrativa.
Uma nota conveniente: durante o processo de atração, embora as cargas
G+ estejam atraindo as cargas G- e estas estejam repelindo as cargas G+, as
massas inerciais de cada bloco farão com que uma se desloque em direção
à outra, produzindo a falsa impressão de atração recíproca. É como pessoa
que está uma puxando a outra sobre uma superfície com pouco atrito. Tanto
aquela que está passiva sendo puxada, como aquela que está executando
a ação de puxar, ambas vão se mover uma em relação a outra. Se uma
delas estivesse empurrando a outra com força menor do que aquela que
está puxando, o efeito também seria esse.
Hindemburg Melão Jr.
[email protected]
Última revisão: 11 de fevereiro de 2003
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#2, Jan 2004
Die Laughing
I can think of no
better way to go:
My body becomes a bottle
uncorked. Giggles rise
like bubbles. Lips ring
like the rim
of a champagne flute
rubbed the right way
by wet fingertips.
Tickled to death,
my essence,
fermented, foams
in my head.
My tongue is my springboard.
I dive up, spiraling
to corkscrew galaxies.
On the surface of the cosmos,
I bob like a cork a brown dwarf
amidst the stars,
the blazing buoys
of eternal laughter.
Kay Lindgren
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The One-Legged Plover
I mope along the water's edge and brood
on feelings of inferiority.
I tint the waves to match my cobalt mood.
I long to drown in my self-made blue sea.
The plovers come. One hops on its right leg,
lame limb akimbo under its left wing.
It mines damp sand for supper, does not beg
from abler birds. And still, I think, Poor thing.
It does not know self-pity - just the need
to keep up with the flock - and this it does,
hopping along at their frenetic speed,
not brooding on a nest of sterile woes.
It does not think, I'm not as good as you...
I'd give a leg to be a birdbrain, too.
Kay Lindgren
Take Note1
On Christmas morning Santa leaves you this note:
What does it mean?
Lloyd King
1
Answers to the puzzles will be published in the next issue of Chiaroscuro.
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Symbolism
Move one letter or symbol so that both sides of this equation are
equal.
X+X=O
To Catch a Thief
Someone has stolen a precious diamond. Under suspicion are
Susan, Agnes, Nancy, Simon and Tommy. One of them is
definitely guilty. Look over this puzzle carefully. Eventually you will
find the culprit. It is very obvious. Too obvious some might say.
????? STOLE IT
Unknown Quantity
Every one of the little folk, who live at the end of Amy’s garden, is
either a Trooth Fairy, who never lies, or a Storyteller, who always
lies.
One summery afternoon Amy notices seven little folk sitting
under a shady toadstool. After gently introducing herself, she
asks each one of them how many of them are Trooth Fairies.
Three say "three", two say "two", one says "one" and the
remaining one says "zero".
Since it is impossible for her to figure out an answer from their
replies, she asks her good friend Barney the owl, who never lies, if
he knows how many Trooth Fairies there are in the group. "Yes!"
he says, "There is...". Unfortunately, the number he gives at the
end of his sentence is drowned out by Amy’s dog Cacophony,
who suddenly appears on the scene and starts barking, causing
Barney to fly away. Consequently, Amy still doesn’t know the
answer to her question.
Can you tell her how many Trooth Fairies are sitting under the
toadstool?
Lloyd King
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The Wolf at the Door
Lloyd King
Forest of the Abandoned
Lloyd King
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Hypnosis (Fractal)
Maria Claudia Faverio
Tristesse
Maria Claudia Faverio
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Blue Maze
Slangs of memories
scoff at the outrage of the years,
the underlying urge
to survive the moment’s whims,
the skilled excuses
to force transitoriness into
permanency,
like a diary.
Beyond the polka dots of existence,
hands search,
try to grasp,
recede
when they encounter another hand,
yielding to the intricate evasions
of solidarity,
the blue maze
with its own blue sun.
Solidarity - taboo word
translated into myriads of innuendoes
and still not understood,
like a god
hiding his tired eyes
behind a mask.
These memories are more intricate
than Ariadne’s string,
convoluted as winter sky,
a confusion of sounds,
disjointed syllables in a Mensa
puzzle
only champions can solve.
Why are they shouting like mad?
Aren’t they happy in the blue
maze,
the cave of forgetfulness
where the delirium of being
delights in the splendour of
unawareness?
Don’t they understand
they will commit mass suicide
if they join into the puzzle
that is not supposed to be
completed
too soon?
The golem will dance
a danse macabre
on their grave.
Maria Claudia Faverio
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Vagabond Sun
If the valedictory hand of time
could pluck the stars from the sky
and scatter them
over astounded souls,
would astonishment turn
into recognition?
Vagabond sun
frail as Merano glass
conceals more than the intrinsic.
In the fanning loam,
relics crack to life
again,
like bored Buddha.
This anthology of memories
is too heavy,
bound in clay
that doesn’t withstand
the kicks of time,
bruised as unloved corpse
squeezed into emptiness.
Light and shade
bite each other
like Yin and Yang,
colliding into the soft violence
of twilight.
Crickets chirp
in the curdling pink
of dusk.
Maria Claudia Faverio
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Monsieur Ibrahim
By Robert Brizel
More than 35 years after Dr. Zhivago,
Omar Sharif is still electrifying audiences
with
his
incredible
on
screen
performances. His latest film ‘Monsieur
Ibrahim’ is a showcase of his phenomenal
talent. He plays a religious Turkish Muslim
grocer in a red light district in Paris, who
befriends a poor Jewish boy named
Momo (played by newcomer Pierre
Boulanger), whose companions are street
prostitutes. Momo’s father abandons him and then commits suicide. Monsieur
Ibrahim adopts the boy, and together they travel to Turkey in a red sports
convertible. The film highlights Mr. Ibrahim’s worship of the Koran, and
confronts religious and racial differences in France in the 1960s.
The film might bring Sharif an Academy
Award nomination after many years of
being forgotten. He has admitted that this
film is the first decent script he has received
in 25 years. Since his career faded, he has
attracted attention as a world class bridge
player and columnist. This past summer, he
was awarded a Golden Lion Lifetime
Achievement Award at the Venice Film
Festival. ‘Monsieur Ibrahim’ had its
premiere at this 60th edition of the Venice
festival and he got a standing ovation.
Born Michael Shalhoub in Alexandria, Egypt, in 1932, Sharif has appeared in
over 80 films. ‘Monsieur Ibrahim’ is a must see. Don’t miss it. Now playing at a
theatre near you.
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Science and NLP (Neurolinguistic Programming)
Enrico di Bari
Some time ago I read the article "What is NLP? And does it work?" by Lewis
Jones in the Italian “Scienza & Paranormale” (issue 40), but accessible for free
at www.cicap.org/articoli/at101621.htm. I decided to write my opinions
because I am a "Master in NLP" and have a diploma hanging in my office,
where I am a business consultant.
I could begin my examination of that article at any point, but I think it is
appropriate to begin near the end: "Therefore NLP has failed to show itself to
be based in a credible way in programming, linguistics or neurology. It is a
serious problem for a discipline that calls itself 'Neurolinguistic Programming'.".
In another place it is written: "... NLP does not like the scientific method.". I do
not want to demonstrate that these claims are false, I only want to put this
discipline in the right context and make it a little clearer as to what NLP is.
In order to do this, I would like to use some simple examples. Bread: I ask you:
is bread (and its production) scientific? Surely bread is not paranormal or a
piece of nonsense (it can be eaten!). But can we say that making bread is
"scientific"? I remember reading somewhere that a complete understanding
of all the chemical reactions and physical changes that take part in flour,
from the harvesting of wheat to the removing of bread from the furnace, has
only been understood for a few decades. Before every chemical or physical
change was understood in a scientific way, bread was not "scientific" was it?
And what does the baker, who knows how to produce bread (better than me
and better than most CSICOP members, I suppose), yet knows very little if
nothing about chemistry and physics, make? Doesn’t he make bread
“scientifically"? I believe on this point you too might share my same
conclusion: science studies the existing (as it is found in nature or modified by
man), discovers what it is and gives explanations based on scientific method.
The existing exists (and works!) independently of the scientific explanations
that you give, definitively proved or still to be proved, satisfactorily or still
unfinished in every detail.
Therefore, if NLP still failed to show it was based in a credible way in
programming, linguistics or neurology, it would be pretty poor. The aim is to be
useful (and if it was as useful as bread, I think most of those reading would ask
me to “taste" it).
I think I remember that not being based on the scientific method does not
necessarily mean being anti-scientific, and I would like to talk about the
usefulness of this discipline.
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Telling you that NLP is like bread would be nice (for NLP, not for you!), but
those who want to investigate (as members and readers of CSICOP would
surely wish to) would hardly accept a claim without a good explanation.
However, NLP is more akin to "how to make bread” than its product "bread".
Knowing how to make bread, assuming you would like to, is easier and more
useful because it is more immediate and direct than knowing all the involved
formulas, chemistries, molecules and physical transformations that happen.
Obviously, all these scientific pieces of information can be useful and
important for several reasons, detected or undetected, that have, or may
have, improved the quality of bread. In addition to the example of bread, I
would like to make others, but I am afraid I may bore you. So I want to throw
out a challenge: I defy you to prove that the reasoning I am going to reveal
hereafter is non-scientific (or is against logic or is simply against your own
experience or good sense).
The alphabet, I read some time ago, was probably invented entirely at one
point in history. Given that the Phoenicians (who were good merchants and,
therefore, spoke more languages, including Egyptian and other languages
from Mesopotamia), invented it and all the people in the world (Hebrews,
Greeks, Romans and so on) copied it. Now, the various alphabets can be
studied scientifically through archaeological finds, through their similarities or
differences, through all the possible sounds that the human voice can
produce and so on. But the spread of that first alphabet had to its usefulness,
and because of that it was copied, adapted into several languages and
civilizations and quickly became widespread.
Copying something that is useful, like the alphabet, is obviously something you
can do immediately. You do not even need to have a discussion to realise
the speed with which good ideas have spread in the ancient and modern
world: entrepreneurial innovations are copied (or imitated, if there are
licences), co-operative companies studied, the legislation of nations modified
on the basis of those that seem better, cinema and television stars imitated by
people in the way that they dress or behave and so on. Therefore, copying is
simple and immediate and we usually do it without thinking. It seems there is
no need to create a discipline for "copying"; indeed, hardly anyone admits to
copying because, doing so, means to be unoriginal, or inferior to the
originator (perhaps this is also why in NLP you do not say "copying" - it is simply
what we make -, but "modelling").
Copying, which is modelling, is it really so easy? I want you to think about the
child that learns to speak. How does he or she learn? He or she imitates the
mother, i.e. models himself or herself on her. I defy any one of you to contest
the claim I am going to make. Based on scientific study, your experience and
your good sense, how is it possible for a child to imitate the mother without
any neurological apparatus (the brain) and yet receive the sensory
information (the child sees her and concentrates on the movement of her
face, eyes and lips, listens to the her and perceives the tone and volume of
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her voice, feels the heat and the consistency of the body of the mother and
perceives how she smells and tastes), from which he or she can model and
also learn to speak due to innate linguistic abilities?
The mother, who begins this "sensory strafing" from the beginning, carries out
practically all the necessary programming so that the child models himself or
herself on her (All this just happens. It is not necessary for the mother to
voluntarily "program" herself to behave that way. She does so, perhaps,
because she has modelled herself on her mother or because of genetic
programming. I personally imagine that throughout the history of Homo
sapiens, the mothers, who habitually spoke to their children, enabled their
children to develop better mental faculties and so to have a greater
probability of survival and of generating other children – the importance of
modelling!).
Another example will illustrate the importance of modelling. I have read in a
book by Isaac Asimov about the history of inventions (‘Asimov’s Chronology
of Science and Discovery’) that the wheelbarrow (yes, the simple
wheelbarrow!) was probably only invented in the first few centuries of the
current era. Evidently, until then, no one had thought to combine a wheel
(which the wheelbarrow has) with a lever (the structure of the wheelbarrow is
a lever, whose fulcrum is the axis of the wheel), although they had been
invented thousands of years before. It’s easy, Asimov commented, to
understand the wheelbarrow after seeing it, but, evidently, not at all easy to
invent. How many "wheelbarrows" have been lost to our lives because we
failed to model them?
The NLP was obviously not founded to model the production of bread and
wheelbarrows or to teach children how to learn from their mothers: these are
all things that are already made (and abundantly, too).
But there are some fields in which modelling is not so easy as it is with bread
and wheelbarrows and it is difficult to make a program like the one that
happens between a mother and her child. This is the field of human relations
(between friends, work, school, psychotherapy, family etc.) and the field of
communication with ourselves (motivation, entering into friendly relations,
engaging ourselves in important tasks, making decisions, making changes,
removing bad habits, etc.). If, in order to imitate a wheelbarrow, you do not
need to tell anyone what to do, can you think of anyone in the world who has
collected models systematically (effective and positive models) in the field of
human relations or communication that claims they can teach you how to do
it on your own? It is what John Grinder and Richard Bandler have done since
1972. They began to model Fritz Perls (the founder of the Gestalt), Virginia Satir
(important family therapist) and Milton Erickson (considered by many to be
the most important hypnotherapist of the last century).
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If the concepts of "scientific method", "programming", "neurology" and
"linguistics" are not developed in the NLP to the extent you would expect, this
is because modelling is not meant to give explanations. Also, in spite of great
developments in scientific research in neurology and linguistics still very little is
known about how the mind works. When we have a scientifically based
theory that explains how the mind works, the NLP and all the other disciplines
concerned with the mind will receive a strong impulse in their development.
Therefore, in expectation of a good theory that explains our mental faculties, I
propose to do as our ancestors have done for thousands of years: to eat
bread and to model the way that bakers make it, in the hope that a good
explanation about what happens is eventually found.
However, some efforts have been made to give a systematic exposure to NLP
in “The Encyclopedia of Systemic NLP and NLP New Coding”, which you can
read at http://nlpuniversitypress.com (the aim of this systematic exposure is
not to show that it is credibly based in programming, linguistics or neurology,
but to ease the acquisition of NLP techniques that consist, or derive from,
modelling).
Semantic Investigation
“Do you know where “it” is?”
Laurent Dubois
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Answers to the puzzles from the last issue of Chiaroscuro
Horse Play
A pinto (half a pint of beer), which is usually brown and
white or black and white.
Equation
NINE – I + 0 = N0NE
Witness
Ron. The thief is called Ron ("cauldron").
Guess Who?
Tim. "I guess(tim)ate 20 sweets in all!"
Indian Takeaway
A teepee. ("80p")
Sea Monster
Navigate around the 7 C’s to find ‘GIANT SQUID’ going
backwards.
Yakety-Yak
Take away six matches as follows to leave a letter K.
KAY equals YAK going in the opposte direction.
The Fourth Dimension A ‘lift’ because, as you can see, it is slightly less than llft.
Sqayd
54
The answer is Tetrahedron
Chiaroscuro - The Journal of the VinCI Society and ISI-S
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Birds
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