List of Articles

A List of Articles On Diverse Topics

By Robleh Wais

Articles of General Interest

Order Of An Element in Group Theory

For students of group theory here is a short tutorial on finding the order of an element in a group.

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Myself at 65

Review of the philosophic school of ExistentialismThe Existential Concept

I wondered what would happen if we changed the rules of algebraic exponentiation. That's what the article below examines Additive Exponentiation

Additive Exponentiation

How does our physical experience relate to the concept of Existentialism?

Existentialism and our Bodies

A Fallacious Adage

Have you ever heard this fallacious saying: The enemy of my enemy is my friend. In this article, we look at why this is a fallacious adage.

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Transinfinity Cantor Set Theory

Read more about Cantor's Set Theory

The famous short short Before The Law

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The existentialist implications of the story by Franz Kafka

Elections in America are shams. I examine the philosophy behind them in the article below.

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Are Our Devices Becoming Sentient?

I have begun to wonder about our devices with CNNs running on them becoming sentient. Here is my rumination on the topic.

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Moments Before Death

My Rumination on the moments before death, I know this is morbid, but necessary A Chain Of Reasoning

Enemy Of The State

Review of Joseph Heller's famous novel Catch 22 NotesCatch22.htm

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Released in 1998, Enemy Of The State is not anything I'd rave about, except that it oddly presages what Ed Snowden warned us of: government invasion of our privacy.

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The Vanishing

This is a French film that will keep you spellbound

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Repartir

NEW Repartir is a song by the Brazilian group 2 Reis (2 Kings) I adore this song and just had to give it an English translation.

Read more Listen to the song

Reversed English Words And Graph Theory

NEW Reversed Lettering and Graph Theory: Reversed English Words and mapping the reversed letters of common English words has become a new interest to me. Read the short intro below and maybe you will be intrigued too.

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Tim's Vermeer

The comedian skeptic duo Penn and Teller have released a documentary about how one man, Tim Jenison discovered how the 17th-century Dutch realistic painter, Johannes Vermeer may have created his famous The Music Lesson. I review it and the metaphysical questions it poses in this article.

Read more One of Russia's many great novelists is Leo Tolstoy. His Master and Man is a novelette that in 73 pages will keep you reading every word.

Leo Tolstoy

Master and Man

Hidden Figures

The film Hidden Figures was a wonderful little piece of film. Not perfect, somewhat on the bombastic side, but a real ground-breaking work about a period in American history that has been overlooked.

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The Revenant and The Hateful Eight

Two films in 2015 I reviewed in this essay.

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Commercial Festival on American TV

I thought Jeopardy was a commercial festival. Wait until you see what I found happens in commercial-infested American TV. This short study focuses on CBS News, but it's the same for the other two networks.

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Additional Articles

Network National News: An Advertiser's Paradise

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Reverse Lyrics in Stairway to Heaven

I review the debate back in the 80s that the hard rock song Stairway To Heaven contained a satanic message in the form of reversed lyrics

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Dying English Words

Some words are becoming archaic in modern English. I look at 5 such words in the following essay.

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Too many Thank Yous

What's happening to the phrase you're welcome? It seems to be disappearing as a salutary greeting.

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An Affair

This story, written in diarist style, is about an adulterous affair I had over 20 years ago. I've given fictional names to protect her even now, but the events are true. An example of how destructive, obsessive desire can be.

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Palindromes on the 12-Hour Clock

In this article, we look at palindromic numbers that occur as a 12-hour clock proceeds through its cycles. There are 57 palindromic minutes in one cycle, but what if we start adding these palindromes togethe,r will new palindromes occur? This is what I'm studying now. There is a downloadable excel file contained within to help anyone interested in further analysis.

Read more Palindromic Mappings

On Reading

I am finding that reading paper material is becoming rare for me. Do you notice this too? Are we becoming a read-less society?

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Strange Attractors Spreadsheet

Complexity theory is a part of mathematics and studies phenomena that are fascinating to mathematicians and others within the field of science. Douglas Hofstadter presented an equation in the subdivision of complexity theory called Strange Attractors in his book GEB, circa 1987 (look up that acronym for the full title). I've turned it into an Excel file with a VBA macro-driven graph that shows the odd behavior of this equation. Please have a look, I'm sure you'll be intrigued. Download it and use the instructions I've embedded on the sheet to see how, with one seed, the function tends toward a certain value.

Download the spreadsheet

Fixacao (Fixation translation)

Kid Abelha or Kid Bee is a Brazilian popular music group that makes what might be called soft rock. I like some of their songs though few have very profound lyrics. Here is one I enjoy and have translated.

Read the translation. Listen to the song

The Misuse of the Verb To Go

Another in my series on English Grammar. This time, we look at the verb To Go and how it's misused in common speech

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What is Possession?

Possession is a concept all of us know. In the latest in my series of essays on Existentialism, we look at possession from an Existentialist perspective.

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The Martian: My Pre-review

The Martian, I'm reviewing it and haven't even seen it yet. Find out why here.

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What is Nothing?

Have you ever wondered what is nothing? Just what does that word mean? Is there some strange way that Nothing exists? This is what the following article is about.

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Esfera

The song, Esfera (Sphere) is a mesmerizing look at loneliness and love from the point of Rosy Aragao. She is an English instructor in Brazil or so I am told. So, I just had to put this 7-minute song into English. The song hypnotizes me with reflection.

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The Difference Between Chance and Accident

How are chance and accident related? Have you ever thought about what chance is? Well, surely it's a random event. But have you ever wondered if, when an accident occurs, it too is a chance event? In the essay below, I make the point that one is existential, and the other is contrived.

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TV Drug Commercials

TV drug advertisements drive us crazy, right? Here is my take on this form of irritation.

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Football Games And Commercials

It is true that when you watch a football game, you only see 11 minutes of actual gameplay.  Have a look at my timed study.

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The Biggest Sham in America: Voting

Voting in America is a topic that has been a bone of contention with friends of mine. I have never voted and never will. In this article, I explain why.

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Inductive Logical Method

What is the difference between Inductive and Deductive Logic? In this review of the fields, I compare the two and use a fictitious example to illustrate the difference.

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Are We Finite?

It is a popular idea that all we do and make is limited and finite. We know we will die and our relatives too. But in this essay, I try to look at it from a different perspective. What if we can be infinite as a species?

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Goedel Numbering

Goedel Numbering is the basis for Kurt Goedel's famous Incompleteness Theorem. In this article, I explain it and explore its implications.

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The King Came Long Live The King

O Rei Chegou Viva O Rei

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Onde Anda O Meu Amor

This song is Jorge Ben's tribute to monarchy, I guess. It describes the kind of ruler you'd find in 18th-century Europe, but the chanting, melodic development, and driving beat take you in when you listen, though the lyrics are shallow platitudes.

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Burn After Reading

The Coen Brothers have made so many good films. This one is called Burn After Reading. It's a comedy and boy what a good laugh it is. I, of course, relate it to mathematics.

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Self Naming

Do you like your given name? What if we could choose our names at some point after we were born? Until then, what if we had a temporary name? I think this system could work in any culture.

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What is Prayer

Is Prayer Just Hope? Is it different from hoping? This is what the next article in the Existentialism series looks at

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A song by Jorge Vercilo, based on the Spider-Man comic book character.

Homem Arranha (Spider-Man, The Song)

Spider-Man

Jorge Vercilo Inclination (Queda)

Another one by Fonseca. This time a song about adultery or the temptation to commit it. This is something I know about personally.

De Jesus de Praga

Jorge Ben Jor shows his Catholicism again with this song about the amazing boy Jesus in Prague. I like this song for his pure beauty of melody and style.

Ed Motta is to my mind the direction that Brazilian-American-Afro music should take. This guy has African-Americans down so pat, you can't help but love him

Fora da Lei (Outside the Law)

What Is Belief

An article about the philosophical idea of Belief. I explore the topic from the perspective of science and philosophy.

Um Homem Solitario

Skank is a rock group from Brazil that has created a song that resonates with my Existentialist philosophy. I love the sardonic tone of this song, even its American-influenced rock thematic structure. Check out the translation.

Language and Infinity

Is language construction infinite? Can we form an infinite real world sentence? Steven Pinker, the author of The Language Instinct believes we can. I believe this idea is wrong, and explain why in this article.

Translation of Barbarella

A song from the cult classic Barbarella, starring Ann-Margaret in the late 70s, what Ben Jor does with is beyond description

L'Enfant (The Child) is a film by Belgian brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne that will tear at your parental instincts.

L'Enfant

The Wrong Man

A film by Alfred Hitchcock. Henry Fonda plays the mild-mannered musician who becomes the subject of a police investigation into a recent bank robbery.

Unique Infinity

Is there a unique infinity? This article looks at infinity from a different perspective.

Afro Blue: A John Coltrane Classic

A Review of John Searle's Chinese Room Argument

John Searle's Chinese Room Argument

The 4th Spatial Dimension

Is there a 4th spatial dimension? If so, are there living beings within it? This unfinished work looks at that question.

Order Of An Element in Group Theory

PDF of Order Of an Element in Group Theory

Sub-Normal translation

A song by Luiz Melodia

Sao Liebowitz translation

Jorge Ben's song based on the book The Canticle of Saint Liebowitz, A chilling work about the aftermath of nuclear war.

Elements of filmmaking

Short review of how films are made.

Typical Dreams

Dreams are strange night stories we fashion for ourselves.

Justice in America is a strange mixture of theater and ritualized procedure.

Flawed Jurisprudence

Carolina's Dream

How we can voice our opinions on radio talks with the help of set theory. Radio Programs, Sets and the Individual

Two more English words that have been used in a context for which they were not intended.

The English words High and Low

Review of The Death of Ivan Ilyich.

Death of Ivan Ilyich

Pseudo Scientists

Scientists with a religious agenda

On the Day I Went Away-No Dia Que Eu Vim Embora

A poignant work, sung by the late beautiful Brazilian singer Elis Regina. She led a tragic life that parallels this song.

Tolstoy, Kafka, Life and Death, and English Idiom

In The Penal Colony is another of Kafka's grotesque stories. A prison colony that enforces its will through a deadly mechanical instrument.

In The Penal Colony