His Credo
We start out stupid. All we have at the beginning is the built-in
wisdom of
the body, which tells us which end to eat with and which end to shit
with
and not much more. But we are put here to do battle with entropy, and
entropy equals stupidity. Therefore we are obliged to learn. Our job is
to process information and gain control of it: that is to say, to grow
wiser as
we go along.
If I am just as stupid when I am twenty as I was
when I was two, if I am
just as stupid when I am a hundred as I was when I was fifty, then I am
not doing my job. I am occupying space and time to no purpose, and I
might just as well have been a lump of rock.
Of course, a time comes when even the wisest of men
stops growing wise
and starts getting stupid again. It may take two hundred years for that
to
happen to him, but it will happen. I am reconciled to the inevitability
of
that, I think. All that means is that entropy wins in the end, which we
knew
all along. No matter. The fact that we're fighting a losing battle does
not
excuse us from fighting it. The great human purpose is to postpone the
moment of defeat as long as possible.
-Robert Silverberg, Star of Gypsies
Mayan Calendar Program Offering
Since it's important to know what day it is, Dick has written a program
that converts Gregorian calendar dates to their representations in the
Mayan long count and the Haab. Some interesting information on the Maya
can be found at The
Maya Astronomy Page. Actually, the program is a
work-in-progress rather than a completed project. The current version
is written in QBASIC , has limited graphics and seems to be accurate
for AD dates. If you would like a copy of the source code, send an
email request to djhoff@ix.netcom.com
with subject "Maya calendar program" and, as a minimum, include your
email address in the body of the request. The source code will be sent
to your email address in reply, as an attached 6K ASCII file.
Math 601 Notes:
To view some notes from an
advanced calculus course Dick took in 1961, go here.
Some Recommended Links
HOME
(Dick developed this himself; Jean provided some
solicited advice)
Please address comments to: djhoff@ix.netcom.com
Changes last made on: 30 Nov 2007
