Why

It turns out that fossils of a crested dinosaur discovered in China in 2002 belong to an ancestor of the Tyrannosaurus Rex. They call it Guanlong wucaii, meaning crowned dragon from five colors. I have no idea how scientists determine genetic lineage from examining a few fossil skeletons. Probability equations are probably involved because I dont think actual DNA samples survived the process of fossilization. Anyway...

The CNN article asks this: Why did this beast have a crest on its head? Which struck me as a very odd question. It's like asking somebody why he has an anus. "Gee, uhhh... I dont know. I was born with it and I never questioned the why of its existence. Dammit, youve given me pause. Now I have to ponder my asshole's philosophical significance." Maybe it's just me. To me, 'Why' is seeking an answer that's more than 'What for.' Or maybe it's not just me. When the Merovingian asked Morpheus why they seek him, Morpheus answered, "We are looking for the Keymaker." To which the Merovingian replies: "Oh yes... but this is not a reason; this is not a 'why'."

"Causality. There is no escape from it, we are forever slaves to it. Our only hope, our only peace is to understand it, to understand the 'why'. 'Why' is what separates us from them, you from me. `Why' is the only real social power, withoutit you are powerless." (Matrix Reloaded)

Why did the beast have a crest on its head? You see the absurdity? The author asks the dead dinosaur "Why?".

What the article meant to ask of course was, "What was the crest for?" Scientists speculate that it was probably used as a kind of display to other members of its own species. I'd like to think that, being hollow, it also probably had acoustic properties as well to amplify its cries, much like a brass instrument. The crest display and the sound box probably indicates that it is a social animal who lived in family groups and among family groups. The adults would have to find a way to be distinct from other adults just in case their babies get lost in the group. And they also need distinct calls. Or maybe they use the calls to mark territory much like a lion's roar does. "If you can hear this, youre trespassing on my territory." But these are not Why's.

Science cannot answer 'Why'. It can only answer 'What for'. And most of the time, it can answer 'What for' in probabilities. That's because Science isnt anybody. It's a disembodied concept. Only people can answer 'Why' since 'Why' is a faculty of the human mind; something that goes beyond the realm of the physical. the realm of the measurable. For Science, 'Why' does not exist.

Our lost Strad

My grandfather, my mother said, was quite skilled with the violin. After working in his clinic--he was a dentist--he'd spend afternoons serenading the sunset with his instrument. It was his way of unwinding, I suppose, after an entire day of looking into people's mouths, possibly the most germ-infested part of the human body. (My mother surmised once that her inordinate fear of dentists came about because her father was one.)

I never met my grandfather. The Japanese arrested him during the war--aiding and abetting the guerrillas--and he was never seen again. My mother was four. Her father's violin playing was one of the few memories he has of him. She told me about his violins, how he had a collection of them, but he had one that was really special, she said. It had a name. A foreign sounding name. "Was it an Amati?," I asked. No. Different, she said; it's quite a long name. "A Stradivarius?" Yes, I think that was what it was, she said. Holy crap!, I thought. "Where is it? Is it in Pili?" No, she said, Mama sold it.

Mama, my grandmother, God bless her, didnt know much about these things. She lost her father when she was very young, and he left her with an inheritance that she was not capable of managing. She never went to high school; she didnt need to. At that time, women of her upbringing were just waiting to be married off to the other members of the gentry. She had servants at her beck and call and the fields were bringing in enough money for her to live like that. She married my grandfather when she was 16 or thereabouts. The fields were entrusted to the management of an encargado, (who happened to be former Senator Raul Roco's dad, if you must know). When my grandfather died, Mama didnt know enough about making a living so she sold stuff to maintain the lifestyle. And some of the stuff she sold were the violins, including the alleged Stradivarius.

Antonio Stradivari (1644-1737) had a sort of magical way with sound and the means to produce them. He produced violins of unsurpassed tone and depth because of his uncanny way with the woods with which he crafted his instruments. He carves the woods just so, shaving here, whittling there, in full kinesthetic awareness of how tactile sensations in spruce and maple affected the sound he was after. Another violin maker, Guarneri, allegedly could make a violin that sounded a better than a Strad, but he lacked consistency. So buying a Guarneri is a hit-or-miss proposition, whereas in buying a Strad, you are assured of high quality. Many have tried to duplicate the quality of a Strad but failed.

Now a team of acoustic scientists from Sweden are using modern technology to try to duplicate the magic of the Strad. Using computer models, they'll try to build a Stradivarius facsimile by creating a violin in a computer and tinker with it, the electronic equivalent of Antonio shaving and whittling the wood he works with. They reshape the electronic violin, tinker with the 'wood' and 'varnish', here a little, there a little, until they come up with the right sound, and then build the violin. Sounds plausible. What is a violin if it isnt just a collection of shapes and materials with measurable acoustic properties? With the use of computers, the process of tinkering with the materials could be done in no time.

Building it would be the tricky part since wood has very individual properties and no two pieces are alike, so good luck to the Swede geeks in trying to find just the right piece of wood to capture the sound theyre after. But this shouldnt be too difficult if they decide to look beyond wood and choose specially engineered synthetic materials.

Now let's say they succeed. Let's say they create a duplicate of Stradivari's Lady Tennant or his Dolphin. Would it also fetch the same value as an original Strad? It sounds the same, plays the same, so why shouldnt it? We all know the answer to that. The violin-from-the-lab doesnt have the same spirit, the same mystique, the same history as any of Antonio's originals. They dont have the X-factor of a genius's blood and sweat, working with only his hands and ears, built into any of the instruments. Once the Swedes succeed in creating their violin, they can create dozens--hundreds--of duplicates, whereas each of Antonio's violins is unique. There is no violin like it. I doubt any machine can replace the human genius because no machine can produce magic. They can produce precisely measured properties of data, but they can never produce the mystical, spiritual, intangibles that the human genius can. The ordinary mortal, steeped as he is in the machine age will not be able to tell the difference. But that's because he has sunk to the level of the sub-human, merely a cog in the machine, with bills to pay, deadlines to meet, appointments to make. Unfree. The human will be able to tell the difference. Only the human has faculties that are adequate enough to recognize the mystical in something. That's why the Strads are so highly valued. Not only because the Strads are rare, but because humans are rare.

As for our Stradivarius, the one Mama sold all those years ago, who knows? Truth be told, maybe it wasnt even a Strad. My mother is notorious for forgetting names. Maybe it was a Giuseppe Guarneri. Maybe not even that. But when I tell this story, I always say that it was an Antonius Stradivarius. Nothing like it in the world.

Lyrics

(Photo from Associated Press. Used without permission)

Wowowee
(Lito Camo)

Sa Luzon, sa Visayas, at sa Mindanao
Saan man sulok ng mundo
Makakasama nyo
Magbibigay saya sa bawat isa
At maghahatid ng kakaibang ligaya

Kadugo, kababayan at kapamilya
Sa bawat sulok ng mundo
Na may Pilipino, itoy para sa inyo
Sa kinabukasan nyo
Ang ibibigay naming paparemyo

Wowowee sinong di mawiwili
Dahil sa game na to ay di ka magsisisi
Wowowee panalo ang marami
Pagkat walang talo sa wowowee

Sa loob at labas ng ating bansa
Saan man nagmumula
May pero o wala
Kasama ko kayo at pwedeng manalo
Ganyan kung magmahal
Ang kapamilya mo ( wowowee )

Wowowee sinong di mawiwili
Dahil sa game na to ay di ka magsisisi
Wowowee panalo ang marami
Pagkat walang talo sa wowowee

Wowowee sinong di mawiwili
Dahil sa game na to sigurado ang swerte
Wowowee panalo ang marami
Pagkat walang talo sa wowowee
Pagkat panalo ka sa wowowee

Wowowee wowowee wowowee

Another breakthrough that just wasnt there

In another case of misguided scientific reporting, MSNBC reports that 'scientists force evolution in the lab.' Holy mother of pearl!, I thought. This is astounding! Finally proof that macroevolution--the emergence of a new species over time--has been achieved in a controlled environment. I read on with interest, but the first paragraph didn't look promising. "Scientists have forced a little evolution in the laboratory..."

To make a long story short, there was nothing of the sort. The scientists weren't even trying to 'force evolution in the lab.' What they were trying to do was understand the effect of hormonal differences in species. As always, the reporter sheepishly admits that "none of this looks to be going anywhere in the sense of survival of the fittest. The black and green caterpillars will all grow up basically the same." Gee, you think?

There was no evolution in the lab in the Darwinian macroevolution sense. This article was clearly aimed at the gullible.

A side order of Hamas

The December 2004 tsunami brought together Bill Clinton and George Bush Sr. Theyre pals now, 2 people on opposite sides of the political fence. The Hamas situation is also bringing together Jimmy Carter and conservative columnist and one-time Republican presidential candidate Pat Buchanan, at least on their positions on Hamas. Both are urging the US not to stop foreign aid to the Palestinians; Carter for bleeding-heart reasons and Buchanan for practical reasons. In the meantime, the Israelis are still nervous. This is one time their nuclear deterrent won't work because the Palestinians are right next door.

Hamas is still classified as a terrorist organization by the US and the EU. But the Israelis weren't so pristine in its early days when they were fighting for a country they can call their own. The Irgun Svai Leumi and the Stern Group, which nurtured the future Israeli leaders, were known terrorist organizations. Irgun, under their leader Menachem Begin, planned bombings of hotels in Jerusalem and other terrorist acts, and with the Stern Group (one time member, Yitshak Shamir) were guilty of the massacre at Deir Yassin where 260 people were killed, including women and children. Later, Menachem Begin became prime minister of Israel and Nobel Peace Prize laureate. I'm not saying that Hamas would choose the path of peace, now that the Palestinians have entrusted them with their government, but it is possible. Not likely, but possible. I mean, who woulda thunk a thug like Begin would win a Nobel Peace Prize?

Will work for Winx Club stickers, too. 

I have the best model

She'll work for food.