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Hi Everyone,
It's my first day back from the trip out to California to attend
the International Society for Systems Sciences conference. It was really fun to
meet some of the list subscribers; three were presenting papers at the
conference. I survived delivering my first, ever, plenary talk and managed not
to vapor lock, flat-line, or otherwise embarrass myself beyond repair. The beach
is-- by far-- the best thing about the Asilomar Conference Center, which in
their literature they like to describe as "rustic". Fortunately, they do
have running water, electricity, and toilet paper-- not a whole lot beyond that,
though. But the endless stretch of undeveloped seacoast, with rolling dunes,
mountainous boulders, and crescents of white sand beach interspersed with craggy
rockscapes... yeah. It didn't take me long to find a "favorite spot", perched up
on one of the granite rockscapes, from which to meditate on the incoming surf. I
brought some of my father's ashes with me, and on the last day I added them to
the ecosystem at my favorite spot. He belongs there.
I see from my in-box that there have been interesting discussions
going on over the past two weeks. I'll take a look and see whether I have
anything to add. We may have a few new people joining the discussion
over the next couple weeks: Several attendees at the ISSS conference asked
about ways to learn more about Robert Rosen's work that don't require an ease in
dealing with differential equations and John Kineman mentioned Tim's
list as one specific source/mode of entry. Next year's meeting is in Cancun,
Mexico...
Judith
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