On Games

Life's a game.
Life's not a game.

Let's begin where most discussions ought, and define what a game is.

Dictionary says:

...oh my! Long, confusing and in places contradictory!

That simply won't do. It's amazing that people even think that they communicate.

Games have rules.
Often the rules themselves have rules, including rules about how to create new rules.

Games can be played simultaneously--rules between simultaneous games can conflict or reinforce each other.

Hmmmm. It looks really messy from here.

As I sit, the children in my neighborhood, who range from 5-15, are playing across the street.

One of them just said, "Let's have a rule like...."

Some rules are assumed, unspoken--and some of those may be secret until someone initiates you into the local game by popping one of these rules on you--and it is often permitted to attempt to foist a 'new' rule upon a noob.

It appears that whatever humans do, they are likely to turn into a game or a competition. "Just to make things interesting."


The question becomes not: "Is life a game?" But; "Which rules and games will I play?"


Without humans, the rules of the game become the rules of physics as translated into matter/energy interfaces. Humans can choose, and in choosing change the universe.

Rules are limits which we set upon ourselves. Nature doesn't care.

Except that the fact that many lifeforms appear to create games. From cat's playing predator-prey to tigers sliding down hillsides in the snow to dogs chasing each other, games exist or are created. Often, they are quite obvious practice for 'grown-up' existence, but many appear to satisfy some itch deep down.

Beneath it all like the real world--a game for high stakes in which luck has a large role.

This just in....

I have a question….

Nagasaki 1945, after the atomic bomb

Nagasaki 2011, after the Tsunami.

What the (&^$ is that arch made of? And why didn't we build the World Trades Center out of THAT!!

Water

As I write this, it's a sunny & hot afternoon. There is rain in the forecast for tomorrow night and high probability that we'll see a reasonable amount of rain this week.

My neighbors are watering their lawn.

Wasteful.

For several reasons.
1) Watering in bright sunlight wastes water and risks injuring the lawn.
2) Using well-water to water a lawn or garden is using a very valuable limited resource when rainwater is available.
3) Sprinkler systems are incredibly inefficient, much of the water evaporates.
4) Lots of shallow waterings tend to increase root mass near the surface--fewer deep waterings encourage the roots to follow the water deeper--making the plants more resistant to short-term water shortages.

Very short grass (most grasses are recommended to be maintained at 4"-6") does not provide any shade for the ground, increasing evaporation of the water near the surface--drying out everything much faster.

We are very lucky to have the well-water we have in Menomonie--our water is sweet and lacks any strong mineral flavor, nitrates or pesticides--not to mention much worse things some local water contains elsewhere.

Our water isn't unlimited. It has very definite limits to how much may be pulled from the aquifer...limits based upon soil area and permeability as well as precipitation. Expanding roadways, housing, pavement, converting woods to lawns all reduce permeability and increase evaporation.

Good potable water is currently inexpensive in Menomonie, but it is a limited resource, we can use it too rapidly and it can be depleted.

It will be expensive as it becomes scarce; the time to conserve resources is before you begin to run out.

Unless you are anxious to begin using Lake Menomin as a drinking water source....