this is my last general ed. requirement.
despite wanting to sleep through it, i have learned a few things. i haven't taken anything that could be called proper notes, but there is a bit of margin scrawl all over the syllabus Professor Scott Wright handed out.
1. a disaster = released energy causing harm or damage
a disaster = energy
2. decay = engergy/heat/light/fission/fusion/etc.
(loss is a myth) (the law of conservation of matter)
3. all rocks make up a restless and dynamic system
4. igneous = "born of fire"
these four points were interesting for different reasons. the fact that energy is behind it all is somehow unifying. simple.
the fact that radioactive decay is responsible for a lot of that energy is interesting because "decay" is not a word that evokes productivity. i read once that change is always loss. culturally and emotionally that might be true, but scientifically, loss is impossible. the only thing there is is change.
the idea of rocks being restless and dynamic paints some of those cliche metaphors with a bit of odd sarcasm, in my head. "as lively as a rock" becomes a very ambiguous description, then. the concept of time and relativity must be questioned.
the root of "igneous" was something i had learned before, but i felt inspired to take note of it anyway. i could use that word to describe so much more than rocks. . .
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