Frank's Bus
A blog with Information and Ideas on...
Math,
Philosophy,
Nutrition & Health,
Parapsychology,
Astronomy,
Astrology,
Music,
etc.
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Bus [buhs],noun(2)
a conduit that enables the exchange of information. Without a bus, the components of a system would be unable to communicate with each other, rendering the system useless.
-- ChatGPT
About Me,
Frank Hummer
This website is where I share thoughts about my professional interests and hobbies. My formal training is in math, which I've used in teaching college math (16 years) and in solving problems for government and industry (24 years -- Cryptology, Statistics, Neural Networks for Image Processing, Communications Protocols in Radio Networks, Information Theory, GPS Navigation...).
(see my resume via the Menu)
So, "there will be math" here at this site, for students, educators and anyone involved with math.
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But I'm interested in many other things. I have an undergraduate minor in Philosophy, an area I continue to follow. Childhood Music lessons (piano, French horn, ear training, voice) came in handy when I started amateur songwriting and recording as an adult. I got interested in health and nutrition in 1973 when Linus Pauling's Vitamin C writings helped me cure a bad cold. I learned in 1999 that "low carb" is healthy. I was certified by the ISSA as a nutrition coach a few years ago.
​​I was a science nut as a kid, with the required chemistry set and telescope. My atomic cloud chamber didn't work right because I didn't get the dry ice I needed to make the most of my radium and uranium samples. An 11-year-old could get those in 1966 if he didn't ask his mom. The space program in the 60s and 70s thrilled me, and I had a subscription to Space World magazine. I saw 2001: A Space Odyssey twenty-three times in the 1960s. (That's money well spent.) For decades now the film critics have vindicated me on that relentless entertainment choice, Gary.
​​​​My Philosophy interest started with Aesthetics. This was prompted by my discovery of the Beatles in May 1970. (You know the song.) ​​​​I thought beauty was objective back then (not "in the eye of the beholder"), and I still think so. My views on aesthetics are a type of "formalism", which is not as stuffy as it sounds. Math and statistics have some interesting things to say about aesthetic value in all of the arts, and it's not all about the "Golden Ratio". The physics and math of musical harmony is also something I've looked into. I'll be writing about all of these things.
Other philosophy interests are philosophy of science and philosophy of mind. Regarding the later, I'm a panpsychist. Panpsychism bypasses Descartes' body mind dualism, which presents a lot of problems. Mathematics has some bearing on philosophy of mind, through the topic of computability and other things. (See Roger Penrose, though I'm not sure he's right.) Carl Sagan has some offerings for philosophy of science, but I have some qualms about his statement -- which not many people seem to question -- that "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence". I think there's something Sagan missed.
Philosophy enters into my interest in parapsychology (ESP, telepathy, and so on). Because it's so "controversial", parapsychology leads one to ask the big basic questions: Are things like telepathy even possible? Do they violate physics? What's science? What exactly do we mean by "Rational Explanation"? How does the mind relate to the physical world? ​
Philosophy matters in parapsychology. So does math, via statistics—especially where statistical interpretations of experimental results spark contention. Actually, statistics, or their misuse, are also a big source of debate in health and nutrition. I think Cholesterol has been wrongly seen as a health risk factor due to mistaken statistical work, and poor logic. Understanding math, and having a grasp of philosophic issues, can help guide us through a lot of the questions that we have to think about in everyday life.​
​​Why would I create a single blog site to write about all these different subject areas?
Shouldn't this website be more focused?
Well, I think it's easier to navigate life with a wide field of vision. All of these topics almost feel like just one big topic to me: it's hard for me to talk about one thing without also talking about some of the others.
Maybe you're at this website because the world seems that way to you, too.​
​​​In about 1961, my sister Kathy took a break from teaching me phonics and reading, and she painted my wagon black and labelled it "Frank's Bus" in white paint.
