When I was a teen I was fascinated by the I-Ching. It seemed mystical and important to me. A few years ago I found my old copy of “The Book of Change” in a dusty box along with my copy of the Zohar and similar books. At that moment I dismissed it as another silly mythology. Something that was probably useful thousands of years ago for imparting sage lessons or for Shaman to hold power over their flock.

As it turns out, the I-Ching is far more important than I thought it to be even as a naive and impressionable kid with a penchant for Asian philosophy and religion. Today while re-reading “You’re It” by Alan Watts I learned, Leibniz refined and popularized the binary number system because he was inspired by the I-Ching. I’m not sure how I missed this on my last reading ten+ years ago. This means that the yin and yang is at the very heart of the digital computer. I’ve always thought this about binary–the yin and yang as bits–but I did not know there is a literal connection.

In case you don’t idolize certain mathematicians like I do, allow me to make clear Leibniz sits on a very tall tower in the world of mathematics. As it turns out, Leibniz was a Sinophile and in his papers he makes reference to the I-Ching.

Leibniz > Boole > Shannon > Stibitz

This reminds me of something one of my college math professors said to me: “everything the white man thinks he invented was invented by the Chinese 2,000 years earlier.”

Today I asked the family who they would select if they could have lunch with anyone alive or dead. Other than Tara’s response there weren’t any real surprises here.

Ashby: Taylor Swift

Roe: a secret agent spy man or ninja

Tara: Johnny Depp.
Really Tara?

Me: I went with the obvious and cliched Jesus. It was a toss up between him and Bodhidharma, but I figured Jesus could clear up a lot of questions for modern people about the Abrahamic religions.

What’s with the photo? Oh yeah, that’s Ashby after being whipped by Roe’s goggles. Sigh…

While putting Roe to bed I told him: “Stop eating your fingernails. It’s gross and you’ll get worms.”

I realize this is nonsense, but I’ve been trying to get my six year old to stop biting his nails and this scared me as a child when my Great Grandmother “Mango” told me it at about the same age Roe is currently.

Roe: “How would I get worms?”

Me: “Worm eggs.”

Roe: “Worms don’t lay eggs.”

Me: “Hard to argue with that.”

Roe returns to biting his nails while I read his book.

For the record, worms lay cocoons not eggs.