I am Dick's daughter, Deborah.
With great sadness, I am putting up the final post for this blog.
My father died last Sunday. My Uncle Bob learned earlier last week that Dad hadn't been feeling well, and several attempts to contact him by e-mail and phone went unanswered. On Sunday, my husband and I decided to drive down to Fullerton yesterday to check on him. We found him dead.
He passed away in his bedroom, of natural causes. He lived the last several years of his life exactly as he wanted: safe at home, with his books, his computer, his cats. He had few relationships, but those he had were strong and lasting. I last saw him on Christmas Day, and he was cheerful and optimistic. The encroachment of Parkinson's disease was obvious, and to me his death means that he escaped the worst that disease can do. Though his circumstances were much reduced, he felt a sense of plenty most of us would not have maintained in the face of similar challenges. I grieve his loss, but I am glad for him that he did not live to see that sense diminished.
My brother and I are going to have him cremated as soon as possible, and we're not having a viewing or a service at this time. Later we may decide to hold some kind of private memorial.
Thanks to all of his blog readers for their virtual companionship with him over the last couple of years. As you all know, we are all on this flight together.
I'd like to close this final post by relating an observation I posted on Facebook on Tuesday, when I was musing about what impression I would offer by way of explaining my father. This one came to mind:
Through the entire duration of the long wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, every week my father would carefully read the names and the biographies published in the L.A. Times of the Americans who died there. The important fact about this observation is that he did so apolitically. He read each entry with great concentration, respect, interest and sorrow. Though his critics might conclude that he was looking for evidence of the legitimacy of his political beliefs , they would be wrong. He was simply paying attention, something he thought was the obligation of a thoughtful human being and a responsible citizen.
I can't think of anything my father did in his life that speaks better of him than than the quiet attention he paid to the value of human life when no one was looking, and the curious way he maintained his optimism despite what he read in the newspaper.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Monday, January 17, 2011
A few physics jokes.
A few physics jokes from the Internet:
A hydrogen atom lost its electron and went to the police station to file a missing electron report. He was questioned by the police: "Haven't you just misplaced it somewhere? Are you sure that your electron is really lost?"
"I'm positive." replied the atom.
Heisenberg was driving down the Autobahn whereupon he was pulled over by a policeman. The policeman asked, "Do you know how fast you were going back there? Heisenberg replied, "No, but I know where I am."
What's the difference between an auto mechanic and a quantum mechanic?
The quantum mechanic can get the car inside the garage without opening the door.
Now doesn't that beat a weather report on my morning walk?
Good jokes are proof that we're all on this flight together.
Dick
A hydrogen atom lost its electron and went to the police station to file a missing electron report. He was questioned by the police: "Haven't you just misplaced it somewhere? Are you sure that your electron is really lost?"
"I'm positive." replied the atom.
Heisenberg was driving down the Autobahn whereupon he was pulled over by a policeman. The policeman asked, "Do you know how fast you were going back there? Heisenberg replied, "No, but I know where I am."
What's the difference between an auto mechanic and a quantum mechanic?
The quantum mechanic can get the car inside the garage without opening the door.
Now doesn't that beat a weather report on my morning walk?
Good jokes are proof that we're all on this flight together.
Dick
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Pythagoras music and planetary orbits
Pythagoras' philosophy, music and planetary orbits are all based on the same mathematics. Invented by Sir Isaac Newton to solve the riddle of planetary orbits. Although greatly varied in scale, each is relativistically consistent within itself. It even holds true for orbits of electrons about a nucleus. Each has what we call musically a chord. Relative frequencies can be scaled up or down as desired but they're all 'chords'.
Or not.
Perfect chords are proof that we're all on this flight together.
Dick
Or not.
Perfect chords are proof that we're all on this flight together.
Dick
Friday, January 14, 2011
Ear lobes are what?
There is an apparent connection between heart attacks and a crease in ones ear lobes. The existence of a small crease in an earlobe is an indication of a possible heart attack. Not imminent but a distinct possibility. A connection between the crease and and a heart attack has been shown to be true over and over again. Something about chi going on here. Nothing quantum shown to be inherent in this concatenation.
Or not.
Ear lobe creases are proof that we're all on this flight together.
Dick
Or not.
Ear lobe creases are proof that we're all on this flight together.
Dick
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Oh when will they ever learn?
The last few weeks I have been reading Howard Zinn's book "A Peoples History of the United States" for my morning read. I had started to read this impressive book about 15 years ago but never picked up a copy to replace it after giving the book to an inquiring mind. Thanks to son-in-law Rick Testa for unknowingly giving me a much needed new copy on my most recent birthday.
The following quote fairly well summarizes Zinn's belief in the value of war. This was written by a former U.S. Lt. Col. who had flown 101 combat missions over Vietnam commenting on the 'situation' in the Middle East three years before 9/11. Following his military service he had become a Catholic Bishop when he wrote this.
"We are not hated because we practice democracy, value freedom or uphold human rights. We are hated because our government denies these things to people in Third World countries where resources are coveted by multi-national corporations... Instead of sending our sons and daughters around the world to kill Arabs so we can have the oil under their sands, we should send them to rebuild their infrastructure, supply clean water and feed starving children."
Over and over polls in the U.S. show 80% of American people generally agree with this statement although our government doesn't act in accordance.
Democracy indeed! RIP Ruth Bang.
Quoting the Pete Seeger song. "Oh when will they ever learn, Oh when will they ever learn?"
Third World countries will prove that we're all on this flight together.
Dick
The following quote fairly well summarizes Zinn's belief in the value of war. This was written by a former U.S. Lt. Col. who had flown 101 combat missions over Vietnam commenting on the 'situation' in the Middle East three years before 9/11. Following his military service he had become a Catholic Bishop when he wrote this.
"We are not hated because we practice democracy, value freedom or uphold human rights. We are hated because our government denies these things to people in Third World countries where resources are coveted by multi-national corporations... Instead of sending our sons and daughters around the world to kill Arabs so we can have the oil under their sands, we should send them to rebuild their infrastructure, supply clean water and feed starving children."
Over and over polls in the U.S. show 80% of American people generally agree with this statement although our government doesn't act in accordance.
Democracy indeed! RIP Ruth Bang.
Quoting the Pete Seeger song. "Oh when will they ever learn, Oh when will they ever learn?"
Third World countries will prove that we're all on this flight together.
Dick
Monday, January 10, 2011
Prime numbers and me.
Prime numbers are a fascinating part of the Universe. The are numbers divisible by the number 1 and the number itself. One of the mystical searches regarding to these numbers is when and where they occur. Periodically one used to see a reference to someone who has discovered one more prime number using a pencil and paper. Today they are found with the use of Matrix-like electronic black boxes called algorithms which search on their own and notify the world when it had found another.
On a similar tack recently while surfing the Internet I stumbled across a demonstration of prime numbers called Ulams Spiral. You-lam or oo-lam... the correct pronunciation I know not. But contnuing on...
The prime spiral, also known as Ulam's spiral, is a plot in which the positive integers are arranged in a spiral, with primes indicated in some way along the spiral. There was an accompanying plot of the spiral but it wouldn't copy into the blog. But it should brighten anyone's day just to know there is a thing called Ulams Spiral out there.
Or not.
Ulams Spiral is proof that were all on this flight together.
Dick
On a similar tack recently while surfing the Internet I stumbled across a demonstration of prime numbers called Ulams Spiral. You-lam or oo-lam... the correct pronunciation I know not. But contnuing on...
The prime spiral, also known as Ulam's spiral, is a plot in which the positive integers are arranged in a spiral, with primes indicated in some way along the spiral. There was an accompanying plot of the spiral but it wouldn't copy into the blog. But it should brighten anyone's day just to know there is a thing called Ulams Spiral out there.
Or not.
Ulams Spiral is proof that were all on this flight together.
Dick
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Does this make sense?
From the internet:
Can I Smite My Neighbor?
An open letter illustrating the need for discretion in the the application of "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven." [Matt. 5:17-19 NIV]
Dear Dr. Laura,
Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding God's Law. I have learned a great deal from your show, and I try to share that knowledge with as many people as I can. When someone tries to defend the homosexual lifestyle, for example, I simply remind him that Leviticus 18:22 clearly states it to be an abomination. End of debate.
Some people are smarter than others proving that we're al on this flihgt together.
R
Can I Smite My Neighbor?
An open letter illustrating the need for discretion in the the application of "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven." [Matt. 5:17-19 NIV]
Dear Dr. Laura,
Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding God's Law. I have learned a great deal from your show, and I try to share that knowledge with as many people as I can. When someone tries to defend the homosexual lifestyle, for example, I simply remind him that Leviticus 18:22 clearly states it to be an abomination. End of debate.
Some people are smarter than others proving that we're al on this flihgt together.
R
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
More on dark flow.
This is copied from an English newspaper.
Something lurks beyond the edge of the observable universe, drawing unimaginable numbers of stars towards it.
Distant clusters of galaxies are all shifting inexorably towards the same spot in the sky, beyond the boundary of what we can see, a baffling discovery by Nasa scientists that seems to challenge our understanding of the Big Bang.
A survey of hundreds of moving galaxy clusters, each of which contains hundreds of millions of stars, shows that they are defying expectations by moving at roughly two million miles per hour towards a particular location that may lie beyond the horizon of our observable universe.
The universe is approximately 14 billion years old and the "cosmological horizon" is defined by the distance from where the light emitted at the moment of the big bang reaches us today - roughly 14 billion light years.
The spot is a patch of sky between the constellations of Centaurus and Vela and the strange finding flies in the face of the current theories of the universe which would predict such motions as decreasing at ever greater distances.
There are already two giant cosmic mysteries, sources of hard-to-account for anti-gravity and gravity, called dark energy and dark matter, respectively, which are ubiquitous in the universe.
In honour of this, and because the flow cannot be accounted for by the observed distribution of matter in the universe, the Nasa team that found the cosmic drift calls it "dark flow".
The find was made using data from Nasa's Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP), which maps out changes (anisotropy) in the microwave (heat) radiation left over from the Big Bang 13.7 billion years ago, when the universe was born.
This energy can be used to chart galaxy movements by measuring a minute shift of the microwave background's temperature, which astronomers call the "kinematic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) effect."
The Nasa team, with colleagues at the University of California, Davis, University of Salamanca, Spain, and University of Hawaii, used this effect to track 700 clusters.
"The clusters show a small but measurable velocity that is independent of the universe's expansion and does not change as distances increase," says lead researcher Dr Alexander Kashlinsky at Nasa's Goddard Space Flight Centre in Greenbelt, Maryland. "We never expected to find anything like this."
The astronomers detected bulk cluster motions of nearly two million miles per hour. The clusters are heading toward one spot in the sky.
"We find that the entire cluster sample moves coherently (within the measurement errors) in the direction of the sky between Centaurus and Vela constellations. (The patch width of 20ยบ represents the error in the direction determination)."
What's more, this motion is constant out to at least a billion light years and "likely extends across the visible universe," Dr Kashlinsky says. "The distribution of matter in the observed universe cannot account for this motion," he says.
"We ruled out every possible systematic artifact that can mimic these results and it is not clear what the remaining suspect systematics could be that could contribute to our measurements".
"We conjecture that it likely extends across the entire visible Universe (horizon). This can be explained by the pull from the far-out inhomogeneities, well outside the current horizon of about 14 billion light years."
Cosmologists view the microwave background - the remnant of the flash of light emitted 380,000 years after the Big Bang - as the universe's ultimate reference frame, which scientists describe in a blend of space and time, called spacetime. Relative to it, all large-scale motion should show no preferred direction.
Big-bang models that include a feature called inflation offer one possible explanation for the flow. Inflation is a brief hyper-expansion early in the universe's history.
Dr Kashlinsky and his team suggest that their clusters are responding to the gravitational attraction of matter - the "far-out inhomogeneities" - and were pushed far beyond the observable universe by inflation.
"This measurement may give us a way to explore the state of the cosmos before inflation occurred," he says. "Such structures are expected to be there from pre-inflationary epochs, if indeed our observable homogeneous Universe formed as a result of inflationary expansion in the first moments of the Big Bang."
He likens the observation to one made in a calm ocean. "As far as you can see to the horizon, the ocean seems smooth and isotropic (the same in every direction) and you may conclude that the entire cosmos is like that you see. But then you find a small flow in some direction extending across the entire field of view.
"The flow would then indicate the existence of other very different structures (say ravines to sink to, or mountains to flow from) from your local part of space-time (ocean). In other words, the ocean (locally observed space-time) is just a part of the larger and very different world (cosmos)."
Or not.
Dark flow is a indicator that we're all on this flight together.
Dick
Monday, January 3, 2011
Rain rain go away and don't come back some other day.
Rain rain go away and don't come back some other day. Enough already. East Coast or West. Enough. Stop. Cease and desist. Dry out you're all wet. No more. You win....
Daughter Deb left me a stack of National Geographic magazines. Always fascinating. Replacing my quantum physics reading with Nat Geo mags I can go through them at about three days per magazine. Pretty intense material. But the rate is more casual.
Watching the Science channel on the electric TV, I a coming to a better understanding of dark matter and dark energy. But whatever they are they remain hidden in the extra dimensions. Perhaps the LHC will give us better hints allowing better understanding of what they are.
Seven hidden dimensions are proof that we're all on this flight together.
Dick
Daughter Deb left me a stack of National Geographic magazines. Always fascinating. Replacing my quantum physics reading with Nat Geo mags I can go through them at about three days per magazine. Pretty intense material. But the rate is more casual.
Watching the Science channel on the electric TV, I a coming to a better understanding of dark matter and dark energy. But whatever they are they remain hidden in the extra dimensions. Perhaps the LHC will give us better hints allowing better understanding of what they are.
Seven hidden dimensions are proof that we're all on this flight together.
Dick
Saturday, January 1, 2011
What's going on?
On the right is a memorial to Tigger.Happy New Year! Boy that one sure came fast. Last night I went to bed and everything was 2010, a nice round number. I awoke this am too 2011 what an unusual number. I did some reading and fell asleep during the meditation. And I slept right through the Saturday morning music. I didn't realize I had missed the morning music until 9 am. And I missed my morning walk. And my Prop 215 medication. I'll have to fix that. It's been over a week as I ramp up the anti-Parkinson's medication and nothing is happening. Shake, Shake, Shake. Is there no end? Just to prove that Patience is a Virtue. But Budda hasn't changed.
I recently had a reason to review some of the entries that are over a year old.There is a striking difference between the entries over a year old and the more recent entries which have turned into rather boring weather reports. I guess I'll have to try harder.
One more for those who (whom?) may have missed it:
Happy New Year.
The constancy of Budda is proof that we're all on this flight together.
Dick
Friday, December 31, 2010
I have nothing to say.
I have nothing to say except that it's turned from perpetual rain to really cold. I supose wew could be on the East Coast which is worse than here. Cold weather is proof that we're all on this flight together.
Dick
Dick
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
A horse, a hotrse, some rare earth for a hotse.
From today's news:
"China has said it will cut exports of rare earth by 10% in 2011.
World manufacturers are heavily reliant on China for these minerals, which are essential for making many electronic goods, such as TVs and PC monitors."
The topic of my Senior Thesis concerned the rare earth chemicals. In those days this group of elements had little practical use. They were mainly of interest when used to separate elements with extremely close chemical and physical properties. Today these elements are used in great quantities to make TV And computer monitors. Imagine if we could no longer get monitors to go with our new computers.
So the Chinese are in a position to use the tools of Capitalism against us. Karl Marx once said he would sell the Capitalists the rope used to hang them. And here we see a monopoly of the chemicals needed to build the equipment needed to defend ourselves in time of war. The Chinese won't need a war to bring us to our knees. Just take away Dancing With the Stars and the US of A will collapse like a tired hound dog. But can you imagine a war in which the Chinese had the latest in technology and we had no monitors?
In an act of irony, during the Roaring Twenties much of the light generated used a bag coated with thorium to make the light brighter. Great quantities of thorium were extracted and the junk left over from isolating the thorium from the original ore was strewn about the location of present day Chicago to raise the ground level. Rare earth minerals are present in commercially large percentages in the same ore in which thorium is found. We could reclaim the rare earths but would destroy Chicago in the process. Irony? To quote a conservative presidential thinker."You betcha!"
Irony is proof that we're all on this flight together.
Dick
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
The third anniversary of the stupidest thing I ever did.
Note: This is copied and modified from a previous entry.
At approximately 11:30 PST will be the second anniversary of the stupidest thing I ever did. Known as The Incident.
On the left is a photo taken about 5 minutes before the incident in my beautiful Sonex. Up until then everything was fine and dandy. Then a sudden quiet as I figured out just how stupid I'd been. Out of gas at 3500 feet. That left me with about 7 minutes to figure out what to do and then do it. In the meantime, Einstein's gravity ruled.
On the right is a photo showing the result of Einstein's gravity and my stupidity. That's me lying on the ground. My head is being stabilized by EMT Dick Deboer, bless his heart, who fortunately for me, happened to be passing by. I will be eternally grateful to him. He probably kept me from being a quadriplegic for the rest of my life (also of which he may have saved). But I'm slowly stumbling back to a semblance of normalcy as the Parkinson's slows the recovery.
Stupidity and gravity are proof that we're all on this flight together.
Dick
Skip all from here down.
Her picture reminds me of my mother.
Yesterday Deb & Rick drove down from Studio City to take me to a buffet lunch in the hills of the city of Orange. Very nice but the shrimp , which I love,had their shells on and I couldn't figure out how to deal with them gracefully. Otherwise an excellent time topped off with cheesecake and double layer chocolate cake. And Deb gave me a book on Amelia Earhart, a woman I admire and still have vastly underestimated. And her picture reminds me of my mother. But her success is the result of the nexus of several people and events, not the least was the time in history in which she existed. This book will put off my trip to Hawaii even further.
I finished the book on String Theory by the Englishman and to let it percolate I took up the book on Amelia E. But I'm left with a few thoughts from the book. String Theory exists on the background of space. Space exists in several variations: some ordinary and some exotic. A separate String Theory must be generated for each variation of space since we have no way to distinguish which is which. Although new trails must be blazed for each variation the task is doable since we know where the end is (our reality). So combined with mega verses, there is a plethora of String Theories around to choose from.
Multiple String Theories are proof that we're all on this flight together.
Dick
I finished the book on String Theory by the Englishman and to let it percolate I took up the book on Amelia E. But I'm left with a few thoughts from the book. String Theory exists on the background of space. Space exists in several variations: some ordinary and some exotic. A separate String Theory must be generated for each variation of space since we have no way to distinguish which is which. Although new trails must be blazed for each variation the task is doable since we know where the end is (our reality). So combined with mega verses, there is a plethora of String Theories around to choose from.
Multiple String Theories are proof that we're all on this flight together.
Dick
Friday, December 25, 2009
Merry Christmas to all with twistors.
Merry Christmas to all. The book I'm reading has finished with twistors and back to strings but making a correspondence between them. Now I've started a DVD about dark matter and dark energy. I've only heard Lecture 1 (of 24). It works so much better for me than reading it seems to stick better. Thank you Rick & Karen. I will point out that the completion of the course on dark matter and dark energy necessitates putting off the flight to Hawaii.
One of the thoughts that I had was to ponder what time would be like at very short times. At times shorter than the Planck time, time as we know it does not exist. The only way to keep things sorted out at these times is to measure the wrinkles in space instead of a temporal metric. Which raises the follow up question: Since we know that time stretches inside a black hole, could it be that for times shorter than the Planck time, that a temporal metric is stretched there to?
Knowing the Planck time is proof that we're all on this flight together.
Dick
One of the thoughts that I had was to ponder what time would be like at very short times. At times shorter than the Planck time, time as we know it does not exist. The only way to keep things sorted out at these times is to measure the wrinkles in space instead of a temporal metric. Which raises the follow up question: Since we know that time stretches inside a black hole, could it be that for times shorter than the Planck time, that a temporal metric is stretched there to?
Knowing the Planck time is proof that we're all on this flight together.
Dick
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Merry Christmas.
I wish you a Merry Christmas,
I wish you a Merry Christmas,
I wish you a Merry Christmas...
And a Happy New Year. At least an improvement over the last
Happy New Years would be proof that we're all on this flight together.
Dick
I wish you a Merry Christmas,
I wish you a Merry Christmas...
And a Happy New Year. At least an improvement over the last
Happy New Years would be proof that we're all on this flight together.
Dick
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
What it all means.
The photo is another recently recovered pic. Taken several years ago it is of me with the venerable Julie Andrews following a teleprompting job I did for her. One of the nicest people I've met she has always been a hero of mine since I saw her live on the Broadway stage (My Fair Lady probably) when I was in high school. Count those years! She went out of her way to see that this photo was taken.For the past several days I've been reading the section of a String Theory book on Twistor Theory. I've read that section twice and have no idea what a twistor is or where they come from or their relation to reality. Which brings to mind that this author must be British. One of the great tragedies of my life is that I have been congenitally incapable of making sense of British authors. Either that or accept the responsibility for my lack of literacy myself. But in general, their thoughts don't follow the same trajectory as mine. Although the father of Twistor Theory (Sir Roger Penrose) is a Nobel Prize winner. So British authors write differently than I.
Or not.
Twistor Theory would be proof that we're all o n this flight together.
Dick
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Me and the camel.
This is a photo taken in Israel on a teleprompting trip several years ago. I just found again so here it it is. I remember the trip fondly since I had few responsibilities and lots of free time to explore. The thing I remember best is the total lack of spirituality I personally found there. Lots of talk but no walk, as it were. Believing, as I do, that there are daily human rights abuses by the Israelis, godliness is the last thing on any ones mind. I spent one whole day with a Palestinian cab driver who offered a different perspective. But overall it was an enlightening and fun experience.It looks like 'health care reform' turns out to be few gains for the many and a big giveaway to the insurance companies. Oh well, as the vintage Congressional saying goes, "Another day, another dollar".
It's all enough to make one believe in the Illuminati.
Or not.
Giveaways to the insurance companies are proof that we're all on this flight together.
Dick
Monday, December 21, 2009
Addresses got lost in the digitized wasteland of my digital memory.
The cat is one we've seen before but he was a block a way from his home base. And standoffish.A few months ago my computer crashed and a whole bunch of addresses got lost in the digitized wasteland of my digital memory. The addresses were not only to people but to the pictures from my camera and to the music for my iPod. It's all there somewhere but exactly where I know not. The address book for AOL didn't show up missing but everything else is gone. If I had some skill I could resurrect the data and then start my own religion. Given enough time I could probably think of a catchy name for the new religion.
My study of quantum theory has progressed to a study of twistors. The theory here is that space is fundamental to the twistor objects and that space does not occur without the presence of twistors. This also assures that space is quantized.
Or not.
Twistors are proof that we're all on this flight together.
Dick
Saturday, December 19, 2009
28036 days ago.
28036 days ago I was born. And on December 28 it will have been 2 years since 'the incident'.
It seems like a lifetime ago.
In my search for the meaning of everything through quantum mechanics I became re-acquainted
with Sir Roger Penrose. He writes of spinors which are the fundamental objects of spin. If true,
space is quantized and cannot be continuous. But then he adds twistors to the spinors to make it
make space three dimensional and to create particles. Or something like that. I haven't
finished the story yet so it remains to be seen.
Virtual twistors are proof that we're all on this flight together.
Dick
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Gigantic strings all over the place.
I've seen this little guy before but he's never been overly friendly. Here's a pic as he watches me pass with a zen like pose.Gigantic strings may be the only direct evidence of String Theory we'll ever see. The fundamental strings were formed shortly after the Big Bang. Unimaginably tiny when they were formed (10^-33 cm), some of the ended up as entanglements of many tiny strings similar to a ball of yarn which grew in size as the universe expanded. At the present time those once tiny string entanglements have grown as the universe expanded to it's current size and should be detectable with our present technology as it stretches across the universe.
Or not.
With its near infinite interpretations String Theory is proof that we're all on this flight together.
Dick
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Meaningful health care reform is down the drain.
It's a beautiful day. Cool but not cold. Although I had not walked for three days because of rain and curmudgenishness felt strong. One cat,, no dogs and no airplanes spotted on the walk today. I may be chasing a fantasy looking for correlations between cats, dogs, airplanes and earthquakes. But then maybe I'm at 6 Up.
Brother Bob will stop this morning by and take me to the weekly Hughes graduates meeting for lunch.
My reading continues along quantum stuff. It seems that I have to read each book two or three times and then I forget most of it. Must be the Parkinson's. But it's still fascinating the third time so it must be right. What's to lose? I could be on a street corner selling drugs. Which reminds me, I watched an episode of South Park yesterday which parodied the 'badness' of drugs. Very funny. Those guys get it right every time.
It appears that any meaningful health care reform is down the drain for the next two decades.
Oh what a state we're in. We continue to pay twice as much for less care than any other 'advanced' country.
And could it be true that our beloved Amelia Earhart was a spy for FDR? And was 9/11 a U.S. conspiracy? That's a 'yes' according to Jesse Ventura, the ex-Governor of Minnesota.
Or not.
Amelia Earhart as a spy would be proof that we're all on this flight together.
Dick
Brother Bob will stop this morning by and take me to the weekly Hughes graduates meeting for lunch.
My reading continues along quantum stuff. It seems that I have to read each book two or three times and then I forget most of it. Must be the Parkinson's. But it's still fascinating the third time so it must be right. What's to lose? I could be on a street corner selling drugs. Which reminds me, I watched an episode of South Park yesterday which parodied the 'badness' of drugs. Very funny. Those guys get it right every time.
It appears that any meaningful health care reform is down the drain for the next two decades.
Oh what a state we're in. We continue to pay twice as much for less care than any other 'advanced' country.
And could it be true that our beloved Amelia Earhart was a spy for FDR? And was 9/11 a U.S. conspiracy? That's a 'yes' according to Jesse Ventura, the ex-Governor of Minnesota.
Or not.
Amelia Earhart as a spy would be proof that we're all on this flight together.
Dick
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Two thing you proably didn't know.
1. More people are killed annually by donkeys than die in air crashes.
2. .The ant can lift 50 times its own weight, can pull 30 times its own weight and always falls over on its right side when intoxicated.
Arcane information on ants is proof that we're all on this flight together.
Dick
2. .The ant can lift 50 times its own weight, can pull 30 times its own weight and always falls over on its right side when intoxicated.
Arcane information on ants is proof that we're all on this flight together.
Dick
Sunday, December 13, 2009
I have nothing more to say.
It rained all night and I fell asleep during my morning meditation so I have nothing more to say.
Dick
Dick
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Quantum mechanics proves it. X rated
Quantum mechanics proves that shit rolls down hill. I thought it was a brilliant insight when I first thought of it, quantum jitters and all. But now realize that according to gravity, everything rolls down hill. However if one considers that shit is heavier than the average 'thing', the shit will end up at the bottom of the hill faster than anything else. Which explains the current condition of our national politics. and gravity proves it. Now on to the old question "Do bears shit in the woods?"
Arcane questions are proof that we're all on this flight together.
Dick
Arcane questions are proof that we're all on this flight together.
Dick
Friday, December 11, 2009
Up-down, back and forth and in and out.
Get your mind out of the gutter. It's not what you think.
I finally figured out a way to think of the extra dimensions and what they mean. Forgetting the time dimension there are three dimensions with which we are familiar (Up-down, back and forth and in and out). That just means that any object is free to move in each of the three directions (dimensions). My realization came when I realized that 'other objects' could be moving in the extra dimensions. The 'other objects' could simply be other attributes of space. Spin and quantum number are two that spring to mind. Each of the attributes are free to move in its extra dimension. Mathematically it turns out that 7 attributes inhabiting 7 extra dimensions avoids the disastrous infinities associated with more or fewer than 10 dimensions (3+7+time).
That would also explain why we cannot travel from one space dimension to another dimension of spin, which is already occupied.
Or not.
Travelling through extra dimensions is proof that we're all on this flight together.
Dick
I finally figured out a way to think of the extra dimensions and what they mean. Forgetting the time dimension there are three dimensions with which we are familiar (Up-down, back and forth and in and out). That just means that any object is free to move in each of the three directions (dimensions). My realization came when I realized that 'other objects' could be moving in the extra dimensions. The 'other objects' could simply be other attributes of space. Spin and quantum number are two that spring to mind. Each of the attributes are free to move in its extra dimension. Mathematically it turns out that 7 attributes inhabiting 7 extra dimensions avoids the disastrous infinities associated with more or fewer than 10 dimensions (3+7+time).
That would also explain why we cannot travel from one space dimension to another dimension of spin, which is already occupied.
Or not.
Travelling through extra dimensions is proof that we're all on this flight together.
Dick
Thursday, December 10, 2009
What does it all mean?
Dick Hein's blog. So what? What does it all mean when the sun goes down? Which only reminds me of Sundown syndrome. The time I spent in Europe with Brittany Spears is as real as the typing I'm doing here. So again I ask, So What? In the end we boil down to minute strings forming bosons and fermions, all of which are subject to quantum jitters. Because of the jitters the real question is: Can we really know anything?
Quantum mechanics is proof that we're all on this flight together.
Dick
Quantum mechanics is proof that we're all on this flight together.
Dick
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
To be or not to be.
The pic was taken a few years ago of the roller coaster at the Santa Monica pier. Taken back when I could ride a bike safely.One evening Rene Descartes went to relax at a local tavern. The bartender approached and said, "Ah, good evening Monsieur Descartes! Shall I serve you the usual drink?". Descartes replied, "I think not.", and promptly vanished.
It's cold again today, maybe one or two degrees warmer than yesterday but still cold. It's probably 40 degrees out there.
That Descartes understood String Theory is proof that we're all on this flight together.
Dick
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
36 degrees!
36 degrees was the temperature as I left the house this morning. And it felt every degree. I haven't been this cold since I skied thirty years ago. The jacket kept me warm enough but I haven't had gloves in years. And boy, that cane got cold. I didn't do a short course in the cold today because it had rained yesterday so I missed my walk.
I finished the book on OJ and have returned to the mysteries of the Universe as a expounded by Leonard Susskind. It matters not what the temperature is outside as long as I'm warmly intrigued by String Theory. It never gets old.
Every one of the 36 degrees are proof that we're all on this flight together.
Dick
I finished the book on OJ and have returned to the mysteries of the Universe as a expounded by Leonard Susskind. It matters not what the temperature is outside as long as I'm warmly intrigued by String Theory. It never gets old.
Every one of the 36 degrees are proof that we're all on this flight together.
Dick
Monday, December 7, 2009
December 7, a day that will live in infamy.
December 7, a day that will live in infamy as opposed to living in famy. And barely noted today in favor of the more politically useful 9/11. Those who don't learn from history are bound to repeat it. Our nation survived the attack on Pearl Harbor and its resulting chaos but I'm not so sure about surviving the present attack on our Constitution. The world I grew up in doesn't exist anymore and we're all the worse off for it.
Brother Bob lent me a book to read on the OJ Simpson circus written by a ghost for the two lead detectives. What they never seemed to get was that the whole thing had little to do with OJ and everything to do with institutional racism and trustworthiness of the LAPD. And everyones attempt to use the trial to advance their careers. But the forces of law completely missed the significance of the entire event. Marcia Clark could have won the trial if she had ignored the evidence and tried it topless. She would have had my vote.
One trial held topless would prove that we're all on this flight together.
Dick
Brother Bob lent me a book to read on the OJ Simpson circus written by a ghost for the two lead detectives. What they never seemed to get was that the whole thing had little to do with OJ and everything to do with institutional racism and trustworthiness of the LAPD. And everyones attempt to use the trial to advance their careers. But the forces of law completely missed the significance of the entire event. Marcia Clark could have won the trial if she had ignored the evidence and tried it topless. She would have had my vote.
One trial held topless would prove that we're all on this flight together.
Dick
Sunday, December 6, 2009
The weather forecast was for rain until next Wednesday.
Well, I've been diagnosed with osteoporosis, an old ladies disease. Maybe next I'll get 'the vapors'.
The weather forecast was for rain until next Wednesday but it is really beautiful out there right now. Anyway I've planned to spend the day reading. It's too cool out there to be comfortable so I'll stay in next to the fireplace.
Deb gave me some left wing literature last week, All it does is get my blood going over what could be as I watch it go down the drain. I'll leave it to you to define 'it'. Could 'it' be our Constitution, or reasonable health care or ....?
Enough of that. Standoffish Tigger has been down right friendly lately. Time seems to have healed whatever her wounds were.
Standoffishness is an indicator that we're all on this flight together.
Dick
The weather forecast was for rain until next Wednesday but it is really beautiful out there right now. Anyway I've planned to spend the day reading. It's too cool out there to be comfortable so I'll stay in next to the fireplace.
Deb gave me some left wing literature last week, All it does is get my blood going over what could be as I watch it go down the drain. I'll leave it to you to define 'it'. Could 'it' be our Constitution, or reasonable health care or ....?
Enough of that. Standoffish Tigger has been down right friendly lately. Time seems to have healed whatever her wounds were.
Standoffishness is an indicator that we're all on this flight together.
Dick
Saturday, December 5, 2009
No entry today.
There will be no entry today because I divided it by zero and it burst into flames.
Dick
Dick
Friday, December 4, 2009
1180 Mev!
This photo is what greeted me as I started my morning walk. Even the birds were walking.The LHC beams were collided at 1180 mev , a new record. They are expecting collisions at 2000 Mev in the near future. And that's just a start towards the design value.
Proton collisions at 1180 Mev are proof that were all on this flight together.
Dick
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