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My work as a maintenance guy has regularly provided amusement in the form of easy, obvious fixes.  I’m sometimes – politely, I would say – embarrassed for the person asking for help, because the solution is so easy.

Then again, maintenance is my job, and they would probably find amusement in my attempts to help our students going to the bathroom, or playing catch.

Still, the kinds of problems that come up are widely applicable – a refrigerator isn’t working, a digital camera isn’t working, there’s a burning smell, and so on.

The refrigerator happened this morning:  a staff member noted several important facts, including the functioning light and the completely melted ice.  So, the fridge was still getting power, yet the cooling mechanism (compressor) had not been functioning for a long period of time, probably several hours.

She was inclined to believe there was a serious malfunction in the machinery (I don’t know if she could have identified it as the compressor or a related part), and certainly this could have been true.  But there were possibilities that were more likely to be true, and that’s how the axiom gets introduced.

Ockham’s Razor:  The simplest explanation is usually the best.  (My words, not his).  Turns out maintenance is a philosophy-laden field!

As the staff member was talking, I quickly glanced and noticed this was a Whirlpool appliance.  We have fridges from other manufacturers, so I was gathering whether this was a new or old fridge, which makes the compressor issue less or more likely, respectively.  The reputation of the manufacturer led me to believe it was even less likely to be a compressor issue.

So, while they talked about what to do with the food, I crouched down and looked for the temperature dial.  Sure enough, for whatever reason, it was set to “Off.”  I turned the dial to “Normal” and could hear the compressor kick into gear.  Main problem solved, with humbling efficacy.

I’ll post a few more stories like this, if only to archive the usefulness of Ockham’s Razor.

I was on hold when Chris Fox came back to the office for lunch.  We had a brief conversation while I was on hold, and here are some highlights:

- It’s amazing to think that before, let’s say 1900 (to be safe), there was no such thing as a customer service representative.  This took tens of thousands of years to develop, and I think it is a strong argument against the notion of “progress.”

- What do musicians think when their “art” is used for hold music?  Did this ignominious fate occur to them as they wrote the songs?  And how is it that hold music is almost invariably bad?

- The customer service rep was far too enthusiastic about his job.  You know, in a way that is clear he does not like being a customer service rep, but he’s going to “crush it” so that he’ll be marked for promotion.

- He asked me if I knew how many miles were on one of our school’s vans.  I don’t have any record on that van yet, so I told him, “I don’t know.”

“Well, just roughly, if you had to guess, what do you think?”

“Uh, 10,000.”

Brief pause.

“Actually, I’m showing the vehicle was in for service in October and had 33,431 miles.”

Really, guy?  Is this a trivia show, or a sting operation?  Should I expect a Chrysler Enforcer to come crashing through my window?

I love customer service reps.

This is cool.

This guy appears to be a classic nerd, and also my hero.  He has a website with dozens of plans and projects, and appears to have interest in many other fields as well.

woodgears.ca

I was looking for new casters for a project which is, by itself, pretty amusing*.  Then I stumbled onto this product which has been rated 5 times, and received 5 stars each time, along with rave reviews.  Better run out and get yourself one of these!

I just have to wonder, what were these people expecting that they were actually impressed by this, and felt compelled to write a review?

*Our executive director borrowed a cooler from her husband for a function here at the school.  Somewhere in the transport of the cooler, a wheel broke, leading to a good deal of anxiety for our director.  The cooler is apparently his pride and joy.

I was asked today to fix it, and as I looked it over I had a suspicion about what she wanted me to accomplish.  She confirmed it later:  ”I just want to be able to wheel it into the garage, and make him think he broke it the next time he uses it.”

“Quantum Jumping.”

I don’t think there’s much to prove in lampooning this idea, or the interpretations Mr. Goldman draws from physicists who are speculating into metaphysics.  Slick website, though.

A much-anticipated book was delivered yesterday, and I easily could have stayed up all night reading it.  The only reason I didn’t is that I couldn’t justify calling in sick on account of being absorbed in a book.  But I’ll get there.

The book is Creation as Science by Dr. Hugh Ross, an astrophysicist.  Dr. Ross heads up a ministry called Reasons to Believe and you can learn more, if you’re so inclined after reading this post, at www.reasons.org

The premise of the book, and their ministry as a whole, is that one can be completely devoted to science and faith at the same time.  More precisely, Dr. Ross would say this faith is particularly that of Christianity, faith in the God of the Bible.  I would offer that anyone with faith in one God would find encouragement in the material so far.

Without getting into a detailed outline, I do want to point out some key features of the book:  Dr. Ross offers what he calls the “RTB Model of Creation” – a testable model of Creation that makes predictions as to what future research will find.  This means that Ross does not identify with the ID movement, nor its predecessor, Creationism.  In fact, he falls down on the side of every court ruling which prohibited the requirement that science classes teach Intelligent Design alongside Evolution.  The reason, he says, is that the ID’ers never posited their own model; they were only out to refute evolution.

He does say – and this will be a stumbling block for some – that the Bible does, in fact, lay much groundwork for a testable model of creation, explaining up to 86 different points of data that any model must explain.  I do stumble, a little bit.

But here’s something many people have noticed, which really is mind-blowing, when you think about it:  The Bible claims that God created the cosmos out of nothing.  The current, most widely accepted theory of cosmology says that the Universe had a distinct beginning – called the Singularity, actually – and before that?  Nothing.

This is not an intuitive idea.  For ages, people believed many other ideas, notably that matter is eternal and therefore the Universe does not have a beginning.  Up until the last century, top scientists (Einstein included, whose theories led to Big Bang cosmology) wanted to believe the Universe was eternal, and constant (also see Eddington).

Ross builds momentum, citing passages of Scripture which he believes accords with the scientific data.  Now, I think one’s agreement with Ross on this accord depends on one’s sense of charity, and even what a person wants to believe.  Or, to put it another way, some of his points are stronger than others (creation out of nothing being particularly strong).  So, that momentum may seem to be steady, or it may seem to come in fits and starts.  I would offer that it is worth considering, at least.

Here is another particularly strong point, which provides the title for this post.  Dr. Ross, citing research by Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow, describes the fine-tuning of dark energy.  The density of dark energy in the Universe, he says, is of such a precision that if it were to be altered by one part in 10^120 (1 followed by 120 zeroes), life could not exist.

This is a number beyond any real comprehension.  Scientists can use it and make sense of it in the realm of mathematics, but there is simply nothing we experience which could prepare us for such a number.

Consider a smaller number, which is still, really, beyond the realm of comprehension – 10^60.  According to Dr. Ross, if you were to consider the entire mass of the Universe (not just a mountain, or the Earth, or the Sun, or the galaxy, or a billion galaxies…), one part in 10^60 could be represented by 1/10 of a dime.

If you cut a dime into 10 equal pieces, and threw one of those pieces into the the Universe at the time of the Big Bang, life would not exist.  Take that much away, and life would not exist.

WTF?!

And now – stack these numbers up on each other.  I have to admit that I have not fully captured – or been seized by – that sense of God’s reality, not as thoroughly as I would like.  Yet I’m leaning that way, strongly, with less and less concern for my landing.  How can you lean the other way?  How can you say that, despite the fact that this kind of precision (these kinds of numbers, even!) finds no correlation with our lives, but rather demonstrate an unfathomably surpassing …wisdom, power, intelligence, artfulness… how can you then say, “Well, aren’t we lucky!”

That’s not luck.  This place is rigged, and even scientists not ready to admit the existence of a God find themselves wondering what else it could possibly be.

This was in a recent edition of the local paper:  Plainfield couple make a connection with a transient Joliet man

There may be a few ideas or words to object to here, but I think it’s worth shedding certain scruples in view of the essential thing – some who have are reaching out to some who have not.  A man living on the streets (believing God wants him to, actually) has found a kind of affection from a couple living nearby, living their more mainstream life.

What really struck me, however, was something too small to see in the online version of the story.  In that picture, slightly obscured by the seat of Sherwood’s bike, is a sign that says, “Love never fails.”

Here is one of my favorite fall colors, though the “season” is quickly slipping away…

Somewhere in New Lenox, IL

Whilst painting our bedroom in the new house (about a week ago), I was listening to Plato’s The Republic on audiobook.  This made for a very agreeable experience, as I did not need to dedicate total attention to either the painting or to the purported words of Socrates.  Yet each, in doses, proved satisfying.

I “read” The Republic in college.  As indicated, however, I didn’t really read it.  I just paid attention at the lecture and hoped that was enough to write essays, and it usually was.  In any case, apparently I missed some crazy stuff – essentially, the breeding of humans in Plato’s ideal city, thereby producing ever better specimens which will render ever greater service to the republic.  Consequently, anyone who choose to have sexual relations without the endorsement of the city might bear a child; that child, Socrates explained, would not be permitted to grow up, and it would be up to the parents to make sure of this.

Yeah, it was a different time, and that was also evidenced by the relatively straightforward talk concerning the differences between men and women, as well as the explicit and uncrossable boundary between the artisans and the military class, and then again separating the philosopher king from all the rest.  Anyway…

One can only take so much Plato – some more than others, but there is surely a limit for us all.  When I reached my limit, I switched to Mumford and Sons.  No surprise, I’m sure.

I put the album on “shuffle” and went back to work.  Then came the first notes to “The Cave” and I was pleased.

But then it usually is.

What I refer to is finding scribblings from my younger days.  They are often painfully naive, or misguided, or otherwise unworthy even of the scrap paper they were written on.

Therefore, I usually dispose of them.  Quickly.

However, the latest one was also unusual.  I’ll transcribe it for you, right off the crumpled paper that almost ended up in the trash can.  Please keep in mind, I have no idea what (if any) context there was.

The blind have better senses of hearing.

He knows about your fear of poopers.

Quite the couplet, eh?