WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.090 align:middle line:90% 00:00:03.090 --> 00:00:09.480 align:middle line:84% So I'm going to finish with just some poems that relate to-- 00:00:09.480 --> 00:00:14.003 align:middle line:84% actually it was inspired by thinking about coming here. 00:00:14.003 --> 00:00:15.420 align:middle line:84% So after I started talking to Greg 00:00:15.420 --> 00:00:20.520 align:middle line:84% about the possibilities of learning about his work, 00:00:20.520 --> 00:00:24.570 align:middle line:84% and just thinking about time, and carbon dating, and all 00:00:24.570 --> 00:00:28.740 align:middle line:84% these different things, it merged 00:00:28.740 --> 00:00:34.305 align:middle line:84% with a longstanding curiosity about the feathered dinosaur. 00:00:34.305 --> 00:00:37.890 align:middle line:90% 00:00:37.890 --> 00:00:40.630 align:middle line:84% I'm still a little murky on how this all fits together. 00:00:40.630 --> 00:00:44.430 align:middle line:84% But there's archaeopteryx and there's micro raptor. 00:00:44.430 --> 00:00:46.800 align:middle line:84% And I think they're different, but so far I'm 00:00:46.800 --> 00:00:50.940 align:middle line:84% in a very blurry way calling the whole project Archaeopteryx 00:00:50.940 --> 00:00:52.740 align:middle line:84% but I'm going to have to reckon with that. 00:00:52.740 --> 00:00:53.370 align:middle line:90% [CHUCKLE] 00:00:53.370 --> 00:00:58.830 align:middle line:84% But anyway it just mostly really has 00:00:58.830 --> 00:01:06.660 align:middle line:84% captured some broad concerns that I am often inquiring into. 00:01:06.660 --> 00:01:08.130 align:middle line:84% Most of it deals with awkwardness 00:01:08.130 --> 00:01:13.110 align:middle line:84% of some sort, something teetering, or transitional, 00:01:13.110 --> 00:01:16.650 align:middle line:84% or something that's a blurry category. 00:01:16.650 --> 00:01:19.650 align:middle line:84% Because the feathered dinosaur is considered 00:01:19.650 --> 00:01:24.180 align:middle line:90% a transitional being. 00:01:24.180 --> 00:01:26.310 align:middle line:90% I don't know what the term is. 00:01:26.310 --> 00:01:29.130 align:middle line:84% In the sense that it has features of the dinosaurs 00:01:29.130 --> 00:01:30.090 align:middle line:90% and features of birds. 00:01:30.090 --> 00:01:35.970 align:middle line:84% So it has these on the way, as we all are. 00:01:35.970 --> 00:01:38.850 align:middle line:90% 00:01:38.850 --> 00:01:44.850 align:middle line:84% So under that rubric fits a lot of awkwardness. 00:01:44.850 --> 00:01:48.780 align:middle line:90% 00:01:48.780 --> 00:01:51.840 align:middle line:84% I was watching a NOVA special about it, 00:01:51.840 --> 00:01:55.380 align:middle line:84% and it was showing these projected theories. 00:01:55.380 --> 00:01:58.770 align:middle line:84% Did it start flying because it was running really fast 00:01:58.770 --> 00:02:01.890 align:middle line:84% and it held that its arms and it took off? 00:02:01.890 --> 00:02:08.310 align:middle line:84% Or was it soaring and then caught the sense of falling 00:02:08.310 --> 00:02:10.180 align:middle line:90% and flying, the relationship? 00:02:10.180 --> 00:02:12.330 align:middle line:84% And when I saw that I was like, "That 00:02:12.330 --> 00:02:15.540 align:middle line:84% sounds like so much that is always going on in my life." 00:02:15.540 --> 00:02:18.300 align:middle line:84% And so I just started to think of poems 00:02:18.300 --> 00:02:23.640 align:middle line:84% that in some way address that teetering awkwardness. 00:02:23.640 --> 00:02:28.410 align:middle line:84% So I'm going to finish with a couple of those poems. 00:02:28.410 --> 00:02:34.440 align:middle line:84% And the first one comes from a story a friend told me, 00:02:34.440 --> 00:02:36.900 align:middle line:90% it's called "Slope". 00:02:36.900 --> 00:02:40.980 align:middle line:84% Amber took the hill so slowly the couch never 00:02:40.980 --> 00:02:45.570 align:middle line:84% felt the incline, though the slope was considerable. 00:02:45.570 --> 00:02:48.870 align:middle line:84% And though the gray sofa was found by no ropes, 00:02:48.870 --> 00:02:52.380 align:middle line:84% only its own second hand weight and the sheer traction 00:02:52.380 --> 00:02:56.130 align:middle line:84% of its plush upholstery against the roof of Amber's Honda 00:02:56.130 --> 00:03:00.540 align:middle line:84% kept the sofa always in one place relative to the car 00:03:00.540 --> 00:03:02.040 align:middle line:90% on it. 00:03:02.040 --> 00:03:05.970 align:middle line:84% Though the vehicle itself as has been noted was moving. 00:03:05.970 --> 00:03:08.400 align:middle line:84% So slowly was the vehicle moving however, 00:03:08.400 --> 00:03:10.800 align:middle line:84% than in the mind of the couch it always 00:03:10.800 --> 00:03:13.875 align:middle line:84% felt itself to be situated on a flat surface. 00:03:13.875 --> 00:03:16.430 align:middle line:90% 00:03:16.430 --> 00:03:19.580 align:middle line:84% The spaces between each increment of the tires 00:03:19.580 --> 00:03:24.140 align:middle line:84% rotation forward, created in the mind of the couch 00:03:24.140 --> 00:03:26.570 align:middle line:90% a plain earth surface. 00:03:26.570 --> 00:03:29.450 align:middle line:84% Letting the couch be content to move with the car, 00:03:29.450 --> 00:03:32.420 align:middle line:84% but never in front of the car or behind the car. 00:03:32.420 --> 00:03:34.910 align:middle line:84% It never moved faster than the car, 00:03:34.910 --> 00:03:37.100 align:middle line:84% because it never had the chance momentum 00:03:37.100 --> 00:03:41.180 align:middle line:84% would have given it to overtake the car or the drag 00:03:41.180 --> 00:03:42.470 align:middle line:90% to lag behind. 00:03:42.470 --> 00:03:46.610 align:middle line:84% It always stayed moving exactly at the same speed as the car. 00:03:46.610 --> 00:03:49.460 align:middle line:84% With Amber driving it, who knew with her foot 00:03:49.460 --> 00:03:51.910 align:middle line:84% to maintain a pressure on the accelerator 00:03:51.910 --> 00:03:55.280 align:middle line:84% so even as to keep the car and the sofa 00:03:55.280 --> 00:03:59.000 align:middle line:84% in the exact relative relationship to space and time 00:03:59.000 --> 00:04:03.290 align:middle line:84% at all times on the ride home, the ride home with no rope. 00:04:03.290 --> 00:04:05.990 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:04:05.990 --> 00:04:09.140 align:middle line:84% That was down hill in San Francisco, that she did that. 00:04:09.140 --> 00:04:10.940 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:04:10.940 --> 00:04:12.740 align:middle line:90% 00:04:12.740 --> 00:04:14.590 align:middle line:90% It's pretty incredible.