Yoshiki Kuramoto gave us the formulas that describe how fields - of any size - of oscillators more into synchrony. Clocks pendulums, transistors, cardiac pace makers, husbands and wives, flash mobs, and even my cat and I move to a shared rhythm, one defined by similarity and mutual influence. Strogatz (2003. Sync: The Emerging Science of Spontaneous Order. NY: Hyperion) introduces us to Kuramoto.

Meanwhile, Georgia Congressman Hank Johnson interviewed Admiral Robert Willard about adding 5000 more Marines and their families to Guam, an island about 5 miles x 12 miles and a population of about 175,000.

"My fear is that the whole island will become over-populated and tip over and capsize."

The Admiral paused and replied: "We don't anticipate that."

Afterwards: This morning radio host Mike Gallagher portrayed the congressman as a fool. Atlanta papers said that's his sense of humor…I suspect conservatives have been had. Meanwhile, the comments on The Hill lampoon the Congressman, those on HuffPo praise his wit.

Variance appears to be zero at either site.

I'm waiting for the R-word....

http://washingtonscene.thehill.com/i...er-and-capsize and http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/0..._n_521541.html