BLC-Anigif

today

9 a.m. 15th Annual Plant Sale Bayside Grange

read >

10 a.m. 35th Annual Daffodil Show Fortuna River Lodge

read >

10 a.m. Peace Begins with ME Eureka Center for Spiritual Living

read >

10 a.m. Annual Juggling Festival Humboldt State University

read >

10:30 a.m. Learn How to Meditate Humboldt Area Foundation

read >

11 a.m. Understanding Islam Arcata Library

read >

noon Rainwater Harvest and Reuse Systems Living Earth Landscapes

read >

2 p.m. Antigone Matinee College of the Redwoods

read >

2 p.m. So Hum Tales Mateel Community Center

read >

2 p.m. Open Jazz Jam Morris Graves Museum of Art

read >

2 p.m. Irish Tea and Celebrity Cake Auction Fieldbrook Winery

read >

2:30 p.m. Open Mic World Cup Cafe

read >

6 p.m. Vintage Jazz (jazz) Chapala Cafe

read >

6 p.m. Competitive Scrabble See Event Description

read >

7 p.m. Open Mic Mosgo's

read >

7:30 p.m. Zoe Boekbinder Westhaven Center for the Arts

read >

8 p.m. Karaoke at Bear River Casino Bear River Casino

read >

8 p.m. Karaoke Blue Lake Casino

read >

8 p.m. Cabaret Arkley Center for the Performing Arts

read >

9 p.m. Deep Groove Night Jambalaya

read >

9 p.m. Piano Ben Six Rivers Brewery

read >

previous columns

Aug. 14, 2008

Growth and Decay

Begin with one bacterium capable of dividing each hour. After ...

read >
Aug. 7, 2008

Osmosis is Awesome

Sap drips from the leaves of my indoor banana plant. ...

read >
July 31, 2008

Concretions

Meter-sized spherical rocks decorate Bowling Ball Beach three miles south ...

read >
Add to deliciousAdd to DiggAdd to FacebookAdd to FurlAdd to redditAdd to YahooAdd to NewsvineAdd to Spurl
  • Coral Coral
  • Grass ball Grass ball
The Poetry of Science

The Poetry of Science

By Don Garlick

My efforts at the Journal are coming to an end after 50 issues. If you are interested in continuing this science column, please e-mail the editor, Hank Sims, at hanksims@northcoastjournal.com. Among many questions I am leaving for others are the nature of corals dredged off Shelter Cove (see photo) and the origin of balls of grass found on our beach by Jenny Finch (see photo of typical ball).

I take this opportunity to present Richard Feynman's thoughts on our place in the universe:

I stand at the seashore, alone, and start to think:

There are the rushing waves

mountains of molecules

each stupidly minding its own business

trillions apart

yet forming white surf in unison.

Ages on ages

before any eyes could see

year after year

thunderously pounding the shore as now.

For whom, for what?

On a dead planet

with no life to entertain.

Never at rest

tortured by energy

wasted prodigiously by the sun

poured into space.

A mite makes the sea roar.

Deep in the sea

all molecules repeat

the patterns of one another

till complex new ones are formed.

They make others like themselves

and a new dance starts.

Growing in size and complexity

living things

masses of atoms

DNA, protein

dancing a pattern ever more intricate.

Out of the cradle

onto dry land

here it is standing:

atoms with consciousness;

matter with curiosity.

Stands at the sea,

wonders at wondering: I

a universe of atoms

an atom in the universe.

-- Reprinted with permission from Engineering and Science, December 1955.

My thanks for help from Sharyn Marks of HSU was dropped from my article on newts.

comments

No comments for this entry

post a comment

what's happening

march 2010

SuMoTuWeThFrSa
  1 2 3 4 5 6
7 8 9 10 11 12 13
14 15 16 17 18 19 20
21 22 23 24 25 26 27
28 29 30 31