Coffee blogging.

Here I am at the Water Street Coffee Joint. I'm using their internet to check on some things, and of course bring my all-important thoughts to you. Here they are.

The coffee here is overpriced, even by coffee shop standards. The internet, on the other hand, is sufficiently slow that I am now getting bored with websites before they even load. This is not a desirable state of affairs. I think I will switch back to the Rocket Star Cafe, where there is less overpriced coffee, and a smoking room in the back. But I might take a little tour of wifi-enabled coffee shops in Kalamazoo; expect future updates.

I've been reading more in this damn Goedel, Escher, Bach book. I'm sucked in. I can't help it. It is mostly about "recursive loops", that is, definitions of things that include the things they are defining. A mathematical example: G(n) = n-G(n-1) for n>0. G(0) = 0. So the first few terms of this are: 1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 4... etc. Not very interesting, but you see how it includes itself.

A verbal example is Hofstadter's Law (the book was written by Hofstadter, so he gets to make up a law): "It always takes longer than you think, even when you take Hofstadter's Law into account." Obviously, this is a crap law; look at the rules surrounding pizza delivery. But it's another example, and that's all I wanted. So when I say that this book is, in some aspect, about itself, it's kind of funny but also profoundly true. Cuz I said, that's why.

I should write a book. I can't actually write a book, but I want to, because I want to make a Law. I think I'll call it, "Not The Law That It Is", but the title might need some work. Also I'd need a law. Yay! Most flawed plan ever!