My OG Physics Textbook

 Sure, I'm proud of the recent publication of my physics book for Barron's.  However, there was another.  Back in 2005 or so, my first crew of AP Physics students at Swampscott noted my complaints about the textbook we were using ("Mr. Rideout, you should write your own textbook!" "Maybe I will, maybe I will").  Well, at the end of the year, they bound all of my various handouts from throughout the year and presenting me with the OG Rideout physics textbook.  Apparently I was still doing my most excellent Commander Riker impression back in those days (Nowadays, my current students don't even know who that is so I haven't done my most excellent impression in quite some time).  

I believe this effort was about 97 % Erinn Phelan, but any of the other students listed in the masthead should feel free to set the record straight!  Reading some of those names this evening took me right back.  I hope they remember the fun times we had - I certainly do.

I casually flipped through the book, finding many handouts that I authored for the first time that year that are still in use in my contemporary classes.  At the very end, I found this transcription of an impromptu lecture that I gave when someone asked me to give them advice for life (I'm guess that was a M. Graul request?):

Wine Labels and Baptisms

 Today, I noticed an old souvenir of a wine bottle in the corner of my den.  It is one of the last remnants of my previous life as a wine importer.  The bottle is the one on the left (back label is below).  For two years I tried my hand at importing four varietals (Chardonnay, Merlot, Aleatico, and Syrah) from the family winery.  I haven't thought about that back label text that I wrote for my importation company "Blackfoot Wines" in at least a decade ...

The other memorial to those years is a cross stitch that Irene made for me years ago (also in the den!):

The bottle on the right is from my cousin's baby's baptism in Corsica a few years back (Yes, my uncle did a novelty bottling for his own grandson!).  Here's a pic from that 2018 day of me holding the star of the show (Saveriu): 

Bad News, Free Will, and Harold Kushner

In a world gone crazy, in every sense:  personal, professional, national, and global - it is hard to not feel the sting of unfairness in the air:  Why me?  Why now?  Why my loved ones?

A few years ago I read an excellent book "When Bad Things Happen to Good People"(Kushner) and my review ends with the punchline of the book for me: "live in the world as it is, not as we want it to be...".

My entire life I've pondered Free Will and have often wondered about the intersection of the determinacy of the laws of the universe and our desire to be the author of our own life story.  Usually I find comfort in the idea of free will around the edges of chaos theory or quantum mechanics.  When asked about the nature of time and free will, Einstein is said to have replied along the lines of "As long as you believe you have free will, that's good enough!"

Today, though, I am wondering, if we are just on a pre-determined rollercoaster ride and our free will is not really a thing but a useful fiction, maybe there is no need for deep regrets or to be mired in introspection or the 'woulda shoulda coulda' trap.  

Just live in the world as it is and enjoy the ride when its enjoyable and enjoy the fact that you get a ride at all when it's not...

from https://danielmiessler.com/blog/absolute_vs_practical_free_will/