November 20, 2009
Define an “asymptotic forcing function” as follows:
Define a mutual response interaction as follows:
Characterize interaction approximately by second order responses and choose f’(t), g’(t) greater than or less than zero.
For later: Non concurrent responses and unequal response delays.
November 18, 2009
Some interesting series identities for pi that I derived today:
November 15, 2009
Almost exactly 6 years ago, in November of 2003, Mike Hoeger recommended that I listen to a song called “Like a Rolling Stone”. I’d never listened to Bob Dylan actively before, but the first time I listened to that song–Bruce Springsteen said it was like somebody kicked open the door to your mind, and maybe I felt that way, but it also felt like someone had shut my mind in on itself. Surely, much of it had to do with the way the organ was danced about in circles by the piano line, and mostly to do with the self-referential internal rhyme scheme, the outwardly directed derision that still carried with it some sense of introspective self-denigration.
The more I learned about him, the more I liked, even down to the vaguely familiar facial features: the thin, somewhat bony face that retained vestiges of baby fat at the corners of the mouth, and the long nose that ends in a slight hook over the upper lip…In any case, I wore that song out, played it over and over into the early morning, played it on my guitar, and didn’t care to listen to much else.
At some point, the interest waned, and in any case, my musical tastes were broad: I listened equally to U2 and Jimi Hendrix, and to Tom Petty and Cream. It would be 2 years until my interest was resurrected, and then 2 years again after that. Each time, I broadened my experience, and I realized I was exceptionally jealous of him. There aren’t many people I am jealous of (and all are long dead), but I never felt such a twinge of jealousy as when I first heard “It’s Alright, Ma…”. I never heard anything so real and concise as “Tangled Up in Blue”, which must be the best-written song I’ve ever heard, and the atmosphere and poetic verbiage of “Visions of Johanna” speaks to an uncertain but steadfast love in a rather perfect way.
Watching him tonight, I think I’ll remember all the things I felt when I first listened to him, when I first heard that arrogantly nasal (but still boyish) voice of his that somehow channeled through those flared nostrils the sense that he was looking down on you. Probably I’ll remember the faces I of the people I was thinking of when I heard a particular song of his for the first time. Certainly I’ll remember the way drunks and lonely people make their way to his concerts to pick up on potential romantic partners and fall predictably over 4 foot tall protective metallic barriers and steal seats that don’t belong to them.
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I think over the last 3 or 4 months, I’ve written some 30 or more full songs, and I wrote another the other day. In my estimation, songs that are real are the most fulfilling to write. They may not always be the most entertaining for others to listen to, but to the subject, they are the most meaningful, the easiest to write and the most satisfying. My favorite songs have their genesis in real stories, and they invariably have the best lines:
“…all the scars had managed to fade, the only thing that mattered to me was to find a way to show what I couldn’t say…”
“I always tried to see her in my mind’s eye, but she was always outta sight…”
“And the hope of something real clings to my heart, a gasp of air in the sea and a flash of light in the dark…”
“What’s dead lives on, twisting out of the ground, timeless seeds of Eden that beat on without a sound…”
“I knew I couldn’t come around, so I decided to thin myself out, knowing I couldn’t do with you, I knew I’d have to do without…”
The song I wrote the other day is called “Shades of You”, and there are some nice lines in here, as well:
“Everyone I’ve known before and everyone I’ll know after, are shades of you, ghosts’ echoes of your laughter…”
“…words passed through the air, through hundreds of miles, words peppered with tears, truth turned from denials…”
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Perhaps I’ll write more on the show later, but here are some nice pictures. I was fortunate enough to catch a glimpse of him as he got into his bus from just a few feet away, and you can see him turning in my direction.
November 18, 2008
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