Week 8 - Chaos

A very large family is driving North on I5 in two vans. The van in front blows a tire, overturns, and spills 14 bodies onto the side of the freeway. The second van unloads 15 hysterical people onto not just the side but also the freeway itself. Two of those people are hit by passers by as they try to avoid the unpredictable movements of the family. Traffic comes to a grinding halt in view of the chaos. In the middle of the madness is me and my team, sorting, triaging, organizing, planning, treating, transporting. To the large crowd gathered behind us, it seemed chaotic, mad, and unsorted. From within it was quiet, well organized, and well structured.

I’m pretty familiar with ordered chaos. It’s actually kind of fun to be the eye of the storm.

I really don’t understand fractals. I see them, I recognize them, but I don’t understand what they are or how they form. I like the reliability of the Fibonazzi numbers so I like that they are within that structure. Larry mentioned cauliflower being a fractal that appears in nature. I happened to have a head of cauliflower at home so I went and checked it out. I looked at the head, then cut a floret off and looked at that. Tiny little replica of the head. Using a magnifying mirror I cut smaller and smaller and smaller sections and was amazed to see it exactly the same every step of the way. I think that’s really cool.

I did the static cat experiment. Samson was *not* pleased. She sparked as predicted and that was a bit startling for her! Fun for me, but she lectured me for twenty minutes after.