We at Blog Wyrm really wish everyone Happy Halloween, but it is difficult to be happy when so much of the world is swirling with violence and stupidity.  Nonetheless, even if we can’t feel particularly mirthful we can, at least, remind ourselves that life, while ugly at times, is a great gift and that the nobleness of the human soul allows for light to shine through even in dark times. And, after all, isn’t that really the point of Halloween?

Now onto the columns.

Is mankind a smart ape or a material reflection of a higher power?  What makes the species special?  And we are special as even the most pessimistic or nihilistic of us would concede.  Why else be pessimistic or nihilistic towards mankind but nothing else if you don’t tacitly assume humans are special.  This month’s Aristotle2Digital explores, in a very small way, some of the positions and points of view on the measure of Man.

Human beings, by their very nature, are storytellers.  Some stories mold and shape us, giving us role models and solutions to life’s ups and downs.  Some stories amuse us and tickle the bored recesses of our life.  But some stories harm.  These are the ones with a lie at the center and poison oozing out to the edges.  Such lies mislead us and seduce us into making terrible decisions.  CommonCents examines one such lie that is poisoning many minds these days: that the wealth of the developed world comes by theft from poorer countries.

The power of the Boltzmann equation is finally on full display in this month’s UndertheHood.  In this final installment for kinetic theory, the linkage between the mechanical degrees-of-freedom on the kinetic scale with the average field properties that manifest on the macroscopic scale comes full circle with the derivation of the fluid equations of motion.  A clear correspondence results between the random, disorganized motion of individual particles with the macroscopic behavior of the stress tensor.

Enjoy!