Greetings,

The committee met last night and discussed, as usual, what today will look like. However, they did ask that I begin this PSA with a note of utmost importance. Today, October 8th, 2008, is the last day that those of us who live in Missouri can register to vote. We have until 5:00 this afternoon to either go to the KC election board, which is downtown on the 1800 block of Walnut, or to any of our fine public libraries. It is painless, quick, and quite thrilling to be able to participate in our civic duty. Do not let the fact that you are not registered to vote YET deter you from getting registered. And, for those of you who may not feel informed about this election, the committee has authorized me to provide you--at your request--with numerous fact-oriented and unbiased websites and resources to help you determine which candidate will best represent you and your interests.

Now that that is out of the way, the committee has also asked that I relay a bit of information given to the committee last night by a special guest speaker on Quantum Physics. The speaker talked about "Strange Attractors", which are physics phenomena that have some interesting characteristics. Strange attractors seem erratic, spontaneous, unpredictable even. (Somewhat like our students, no?) However, given the opportunity to observe and collect data over a period of time (and several dimensions), these strange attractors reveal themselves to be beautiful ultra-ordered systems. ( http://wynchar.com/cpc/Complexity/gifs/LorenzStrangeAttractor.gif.) In addition, the committee would like to suggest the idea that chaos, in a quantum physics sense, is not chaos at all—merely order in disguise.

Let us remember THAT, as we work with our chaotic, unpredictable, erratic students today....


Thank you, that is all.

The Decider
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