Rio Verde

Hola,

in Rio Verde Mexico. Walked about 130km in the last week. It felt good. Rained almost every night. Made for cool weather in the days. Walked 16km 16 20 24 20 and then 35km. I arrived at night and bathed in the Rio Verde. It was refreshing.

From San Luis, I walked east into the forest toward Ciudad Valles instead of walking south into the desert to Queretaro, as I mentioned in my last email. I prefer the forest to the desert.

I met many friendly people along the way who looked after me. This lady Carmen in Santa Catarina gave me lunch, a pair of shoes and offered a place to stay. Met Another guy Chris with two little people and his mom, cool dude. Adorable little girl named Blanquita. His mom lives in Dallas. she was in San Luis visiting her grandkids. Met other good folks at restaurants. cars were polite too. There were many stretches of road without much shoulder and folks were good to share the road with me. Gracias machines y drivers!

I met a guy Julian in Rio Verde a few days ago. He works at a radio station. He offered to show me San Sabastian, a small natural lake near Rio Verde. Thought that sounded fun. We drove there in his car and by the time we arrived, the river was too high to drive through. We met a guy Antonio who offered to take us in his truck. Antonio lived in Doraville GA for three years, then spent nine years in jail in Pennsylvania. He returned to the area a few years ago where his family owns 600hectares of land. Chin-guan tierra! We got in his truck and made it about 100 meters before the engine went out. An hour later, Julian and I drove back to Rio verde, he dropped me off at the river where I was camping and we saw I had some things taken… Solar panel, pocket knife, external hard drive(s) bag of stones and three pair of underwear. Nothing critical, though they got some good stuff.

Julian offered for me to stay on his couch. I took the offer. Next morning we awoke early and went to the radio station where he works, 91.7 Spectacular and had almost a two hour interview on Facebook live. I shared this on Facebook. Good conversation, we talked about lots of things.

One of the themes maybe from the conversation, folks don’t need to go anywhere else to find success or happiness. Mexico is beautiful. Guatemala.. Probably beautiful. Everywhere on the planet. Beautiful. Arable. All made of dirt and water. TV is a big advertisement that something is better elsewhere. It’s not. Best place is right where you are.

After the conversation, Alba, a friend of Julian’s, offered to do work on my hair. I haven’t cut my hair since I started this trip. It’s long with several knots. Galleta, “Cookie” the barber, untied the knots with a comb. Amazing work. Really. He was gentle. It took about an hour. And then he gave me a little face shave. Feels fresh! And then Karla, another barber, braided my hair! Looks super chido (cool). Pics on fb. And then Alba got me new underwear! Awesome. gracias!

I stayed at Julian’s another night and today I’ll head east toward Ciudad Valles, maybe a weeks walk, then I’ll head south toward Xilitla and Tamasunchale, then further south another thousand km or so before I’ll arrive in Guatemala. Maybe three months walking.

Just briefly where I’m at with other studies. I have a lot of free time on this trip. I like to use this time to think about various things. While resting, while packing and unpacking, while walking. Walking is great meditation to clear one’s mind. Something about moving my legs helps move things in my brain.

Been thinking of writing a book about science. Science seems a lengthy and wordy practice of official models and accepted standards. An amazingly complex and utterly boring study of how life came to be. I want to write a book about how life came to be, as concisely, simply and accurately as possible.

In the few weeks of research I’ve done, I’ve come across a mountain of information. And the mountain seems to be getting bigger. Names, theorems, proofs, overlapping concepts, made up words. It seems ruthlessly complex.

Then in the same text, I’ll read things like how molecules are “mathematical illusions”.  

And, “There is… no entirely satisfactory interpretation of quantum mechanics,” says Steven Weinberg, a scientist.

And, “I think I can safely say that nobody understands quantum mechanics,” says Richard Feynman, another scientist.

The message this kind of language says to me is… open field. The study of  quantum mechanics, and science in general, seems open to interpretation.

My take on science. Five chapters.

First chapter. Quantum theory. It starts with light.. Light enters our world as photons, made of quarks and leptons, massless particles. Once light gains enough charge, it enters our field of measurement.. it gains mass.

The moment a light particle gains measurable mass, we measure the mass AND measure the cumulative charge before the mass was measurable. These two measures are proportional.

When the energy of the photon equals e, the mass of the particle equals 1 gram, and the electric charge equals 1.6amps.

This relationship, between the electric charge and the mass of the particle, seems hugely important. And to be honest, it may not be not exactly this. It’s something close to this, similar, I think. More importantly than the exact measurement, one relationship, one equation, e-> 1=1.61 may hold together the entire spectrum of standard measurements. kilograms, meters, feet, miles, amps, gallons, liters… the metric and imperial system of measurement seems to be hinged on a single equation. A relationship that relates nuclear energy to electromagnetic energy. Photon energy to electron energy. The now and the now plus the before. 1:1.61

This is the Planck length.

This is one of the threads I’ve been following. I’ll list a table of contents to share a few others…

Quantum theory

• Leptons
• Quarks
• Electrons
• Coulomb,  Planck length

Physics

• Units of measurement
• Gravity
• Inertial frame reference
• Momentum eigenspace
• Thermodynamics  

Chemistry

• Table of elements sorted by density
• Chemical bonds Magnetism
• List of Common compounds

Biology

• Composition of living species
• Bacteria flagellum amoeba
• Prokaryotes -> eukaryotes
• Evolution by phenotype
• How plants and creatures eat
• Superfluous biological systems

Anatomy

• Eye nerves brain spine
• Organs single double
• Structure bones muscle skin
• Systems circulatory respiratory digestive

As mentioned, clearly there is a tremendous amount of information on this topic. I’m hoping to condense this mountain range, this continent of information, into a thorough, quick and entertaining read. With lots of illustrations.

I think education may be fun and simple. When it’s fun and everyone gets it, we can apply this stuff and be able to do reasonably, generally good stuff with it.

Life may be simple. And if it’s not, we can make it simple. Personal imperative here. Life is whatever we want it to be. I want to make it simple. And I want to understand our world. And that’s what I’m trying to do. I hope to deliver a more lengthy draft of this idea when I pass into Guatemala. If this stirs anything in you, I appreciate any feedback you may have.

Saludos!

Brian