Reflex Cube and the Nature of the Universe: How the Universe Was Made Review
Reflex Cube and the Nature of the Universe: How the Universe Was Made Feature
As a young person I was very spiritual and idealistic, and this was due mostly to my Catholic upbringing. When my best friend at school showed me a wad of cash he had stolen from the collection box at church, I was shocked, but I kept quiet. Things began to change. Our president was killed, and there were allegations of a cover up. The Vietnam War began to escalate, and no one wanted to explain why we were there. I couldn't understand why the older generation didn't seem to care about the war, but the truth was, we were young people and didn't know our history. Had we realized that people over thirty had already become desensitized from being in two previous wars, WW II, and The Korean War, maybe things would have been different.
The fear of induction into the Vietnam War began to loom over me as a teenager, and I became increasingly defocused from my education. I began to get into minor trouble, such as ditching school, and staying out after curfew. Rather than being shipped off to military school for disciplinary reasons, I decided to hitch a ride with older friends who were going to Canada to avoid the draft. I was fourteen at the time. After six months on the run, I returned home and got a job. After working full time for a year, I got my GED and enrolled in music school at Columbia College in Chicago. I also studied at the Chicago Conservatory of Music. I took academic courses at the Music school's affiliated University, Roosevelt University of Chicago, and then transferred to Loyola University of Chicago. There I began to moonlight in a cab to meet expenses. School and work became too much for me, and I decided to work full time. By the time I turned nineteen and was eligible for the draft, we had gone to a draft lottery. If you had a high number, you wouldn't have to go. My number was 353. I didn't mind working for a living. It seemed a better alternative then winding up in a body bag somewhere in SE Asia.
I may seem an unlikely source for some of the best scientific information on the planet today, but let's remember, this is only theoretical physics, and I am over fifty years old. Theoretical physics is not a concrete subject. It is more less a subject filled with ideas, dreams, and possibilities. It is the creative side of science, and all one really needs in order to participate is a good imagination and plenty of spirit. This of course must accompany years of study. You can get credit for attending school for study, or you can free lance and do independent study yourself, and at your own pace. Many people continue their education in this way. It's called a hobby. It means you allow recreation time for study in a specific area. My hobby became the science of cosmology, and quantum physics. They are still my favorite subjects today.
I don't sight read music well, but I can play the piano by ear, and continue to write music for piano from memory. I have even written the piano part for a concerto. These creative skills have come in handy for much of the science work that I am doing today.
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