We're reviewing Einstein's work.

The forecast is for rain and looking out at reality, it appears dark and dreary out there so I'm calling off the walk for today. Instead I'll devote the time to reading about Amelia. The more I read the more interesting she becomes. Her perfection reminds me of early Julie Andrews. And I'm not to a mention of the round the world flight yet.
As a side thought: Amelia Earhart, Julie Andrews, Perry Como, Dara Torres, Dinah Shore... All perfect.
Lately Budda has taken to speeding around the house for no apparent reason. He just appears out of nowhere going like the blazes. So I get out the laser pen and give him the red dot to chase.
On other matters, I try to finish at least one lecture on the DVD about dark matter and dark energy. We're reviewing Einstein's work so the meat of the course is still a way off.
Anticipation of dark energy is proof that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

The second anniversary of the stupidest thing I ever did.

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 (which he may have saved). But I'm slowly stumbling back to a semblance of normalcy.
Stupidity and gravity are proof that we're all on this flight together.
Dick

Quantum mechanics tells us that time runs both ways.

Another example of the abrupt change from winter to fall. Quantum mechanics tells us that time runs both ways (or could). Anyway the colors are nice.
I'm deep into the book about Amelia Earhart and I am finding she becomes more of everything as she grows up. She had to be one of the original feminists. I think she personifies that "There are old pilots and there are bold pilots but there are no old and bold pilots". In truth she was a gutsie woman.
Tomorrow is the second anniversary of my incident and I have a few special photos planned.
A plethora of old and bold pilots would disprove that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

No entry today.

There will be no entry today because I divided it by zero and it burst into flames.

Dick

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

Times, dimes, rhymes... it's not sublime.

I've accepted the reality of extra hidden dimensions. Somewhere in our history the universe we see was reduced to 11 dimensions, one of time and ten of space. But there is no reason to believe that it couldn't have been two of time and ten of space.
We grew up accepting spatial dimensions with a single time dimension. We understand that intuitively. Now try to imagine what it would mean to have a second time dimension. Where would it go? What would it measure? It's even harder to imagine than the extra space dimensions. Quantum mechanics tells us that what is possible will happen. Somewhere in the multi verse beyond our access there is a 'bubble' with more than one time dimension. I wonder what it's like.
Wonder wonder, torn asunder, proof again that we're on this flight together.

Dick

Christmas started just after Halloween.

Christmas may have started just after Halloween but the neighbor just got around to it this week end. The train is a work of art.
Sunday the walk was the hardest since I started walking. But inspired by Dara Torres WWDD (August 17, 2008 blog entry) I decided to finish the whole walk and not cut it short. I'm not sure what was going on but it seemed that every muscle in my body was aching. I think it was the Parkinson's pitting one muscle against another. That was the extent of my exercise for the day. I even drove the car around the corner to pick up the funny papers which were in color. Yesterday it was much better in part due, I'm sure, to the extra Vicodin taken 'just in case'.
There was one aeroplane that passed over this morning but no earthquake so it's hard to assert a correlation there.
Correlations are proof that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

Thanksgiving day plus two.

Another successful food fest was held at the home of Brother Bob& sister-in-law Diane. Usually held on Thanksgiving, the event was moved to the following Saturday as a result of regularly losing attendees as a result of excessive traffic on Thanksgiving Day itself. This year as a result of the acceptable traffic level only one attendee arrived late but still in time for some food. Bob had cooked a free range grown, fresh turkey and did a pretty good job of it. The attendees stretched in age from 7 months to 7 decades. And two double knee replacements. Daughter Deb and son-in-law Rick picked me up on their way down from Studio City. Deb is the family historian-in-waiting , waiting for brother Bob. So Deb got the Full Monty of her ancestors. I learned a lot just listening. Bob showed Deb is collection of antique photos of her family.
On the way home from a distant satellite came the dulcet tones Bruce Springsteen on the radio. I knew of his background in folk/rock music but this was great. I learned something from this.
I was recently asked to clarify the Hall of Fame to which Dianne has recently been nominated.
It is the Senior Softball Hall of Fame. Both males and females are members. But Bob assures me that a personal count showed only 8 female members. None from sunny California. Sounds pretty exclusive to me. Congratulations again to Dianne.
Halls of Fame are clear indicators that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

What a nice surprise.

What a nice surprise. For years public radio in SoCal (specifically KPFK) had two major attractions for me. Amy Goodman and bluegrass music. I used to schedule my Saturdays around KPFK for the music scheduled from 6am til noon. It was the only way to hear new country/folk/bluegrass music on the radio. I heard a lot of talent I would never have heard of but for KPFK. Then little by little the schedules were trimmed and changed until a few years ago the powers that were decided music was to be de-emphasized to the credit of 'ethnic news'. Boring! Now all the great music was gone. Then this morning for some reason I turned it on again. There was a female DJ playing Jim & Jesse! I hope it's permanent. It's the kind of music I really love.
Rick & Deb will be here about noon and off we go to Fallbrook and a turkey dinner.
Jim & Jesse are proof that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

Dark matter, dark energy and anti gravity.

I came across this surfing my surfing over the week end. It's about dark energy and its being the source of anti gravity. Try it .

Dick

I’m not an astrophysicist, but as well as I can follow, the theory goes
 something like this: When a star collapses into what we thought was a 
black hole–violating all kinds of quantum mechanics in a way that can
 only be justified with the technically unsatisfying “quantum
 singularity” tag–the surface of the star actually takes on some rare 
attributes of crystal superconductors. The star forms an outer shell 
where all quantum motion slows down to a near-stop, looking for all the
 world like a black hole with an event horizon that stops time. But 
quantum motion isn’t stopped, it’s just moving so slowly we can’t
 perceive it. This solves the whole “black holes break time” problem in
 quantum mechanics.
Inside the star shell is a matter vacuum filled instead with bizarre
 energies. The physicists call this a “dark energy star.” All the matter 
that falls into the dark energy star passes through the shell and is 
converted into something new–antigravity!
 These stars now pump out the accelerating force that is making galaxies 
move away from each other, precisely counter to what we’d expect if
 gravity was merely slowing or reversing the outward force of the Big 
Bang. This completely explains the Hubble Expansion.
It also is a more rational explanation for what happens to energy and
 matter that drops into a black hole. Instead of the “disappears from
 our universe” excuse that breaks the basic rule of “no matter is ever
 created or destroyed, merely changed” rule, matter and energy are changed into antigravity.
Finally, based on the physicists’ math, it’s very likely that
 super-small versions of these hypermassive dark energy stars were 
formed shortly after the Big Bang, thus accounting for all the 
undetected “dark matter” that must exist for all the observed
 gravitational behavior of galaxies to be explained. The universe is 
brimming with hidden stars, holding galaxies together while pushing the 
universe apart–and solving all the bizarre problems that the
 placeholder idea of a “black hole” could never address. I sure hope an 
idea this cool turns out to be right!

Jay Garmon

A very short post.

Happy Thanksgiving to all.


Dick

A perfect (almost) correlation!

Yesterday I posited that the appearance of three airplanes on my walk today would be confirmation of the predictive character of earthquakes. I saw two planes. Not perfect but not too bad for a first try.
A piece of physics info that I forgot yesterday is that yesterday for the first time protons were collided in the Large Hadron Collider. At reduced energy to be sure but it's still a great step in what could be proof for extra dimensions and/or string theory. Oh boy!
Tomorrow is a football day. I just can't get excited about football since the entire character of my beloved 49ers changed. I think it was an inevitable change undergone by any organization as it goes from a 'family' atmosphere to the bean counter takeover on the 70's and 80's. IBM did it, Hewlett Packard did it and any number of large corporations as well as start ups that never succeeded because they couldn't (or wouldn't) make the change. Well, that's progress.
Or not.
Unequivocal collisions are proof that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

There was a small earthquake near Sacramento.

There was a small earthquake near Sacramento and a larger one off the shore of San Diego yesterday. There was a larger one in Southeast Asia. If there should appear three aeroplanes passing by tomorrow it will be amazing confirmation of the predictive correlation I made a few days in which earthquakes on day one cause aeroplanes to fly over on day three. We did have 100% correlation last time.
Saturday will be the family gathering to celebrate Thanksgiving. Turkey , football and old acquaintances. Oh boy.
I'm deep in Brian Greene's book on string theory for the second time. What I have never found is a definition of a point in space. Are the points continuous and infinite or are they quantized limited to occurring on a sort of grid? The question is directed at finding where in space extra dimensions can be found to exist.
Infinity is proof that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

The alchemists dream achieved.

Two days ago there was an earthquake up in Big Bear. It was a 3.7. On this morning's walk a single aeroplane flew overhead. A perfect causal correlation! It happens rarely but it's hard to argue with perfection.
I've been considering some practical applications of string theory. After all changing the mode of vibration of a tiny strings to change a pure substance like silver to gold should be a problem easily overcome. The obvious problem is that the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle says that as the size of an object ( say an electron) goes down to the size of a string, its energy goes up by about 17 orders of magitude. It requires more energy than we could collectively supply. But there is an out here. The energy of the quantum jitters is negative which cancels out almost all of the required energy. A solution would be to find a way to 'activate' the quantum jitters over a measurable spacetime. In that manner the vibrational mode of the strings and hence its value can be modified. For instance, take a small stack of silver dollars and change the vibrational modes of the strings which cause silver to a mode of vibration which results in gold. The alchemists dream achieved.
The problem has been reduced to an engineering triviality.
Engineering trivialities offer proof that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

OK so I missed Saturday.

OK so I missed Saturday. It will happen in the future. Friday evening I went to Harvey Mudd College. It has a real nice urban campus in Claremont and the Galileo Auditorium is spacious but cozy at the same time. This was were I saw Brian Greene. Friday night was by a Cornell professor talking about synchrony. He had a short video of fire flies in Cambodia which flash in synchrony. Tens of thousands of them all together. He also demonstrated that given a few seconds, every one in the audience clapped their hands in synchrony. All together with no leader. Which was his point: there doesn't have to be a leader for self organization to occur. There are many example of self organization in nature. An argument for the spontaneous emergence of life I suppose. And he offered a small smattering of the math involved since the speech was sponsored by the math department.
No earthquakes registered and no planes observed overhead. But then I didn't look for them either. Conclusion? Inconclusive correlation.
Not looking is dangerous of we're all on this flight together.

Dick

It always leaves a chill down my spine.

It was a beautiful day to walk I felt reasonably strong so I'll probably drive to Claremont unless something changes. The sun is out and the temp is about 70 degrees. Calm and clear. Perfect!
No dogs and no cats spotted. I did see an airplane pass overhead but with no earthquake yesterday I cannot associate earthquakes with planes passing over. I'll cross that one off.
On a linguistic note: I frequently see signs that read "Certified Used Cars" at automobile dealers. The question always springs to mind "Who would need certification( whatever that is) that it is assuredly used. Hell, look at it. More correctly the signs should read "Used Certified Cars". If that's what they mean.
Right now I'm reviewing quantum mechanics. No matter how many times I read this stuff it always leaves a chill down my spine due to the perfectness of the ideas.
Perfect ideas are strong indicators that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

Yesterday I entered a very short blog entry.

The photo is of a big mushroom. Just to remind us that I haven't seen any mushrooms lately.
Yesterday I entered a very short blog entry. Half way through the piece my brain went south. I thought sure I was dying but I was wrong. I think now it was a reaction to my Prop 215 meds. I've never had a reaction that way before but it surely was scary. I still feel a little dingy. I plan to drive to Claremont to hear the final lecture in the series I've been attending but am not sure I'll be up to it tomorrow. We'll see what tomorrow brings.
I missed my walk yesterday and today. Besides feeling queasy it's too cold out.
I didn't even read this morning.
This too shall pass ( I hope).
Uncertainty makes me question whether we are all on this flight together.

Dick

The Elegant Universe.

I've started to re-read "The Elegant Universe". It's hard to believe I first read this in 1999. And now it's a decade out of date. Last month I attended an excellent lecture by the author Brian Greene. The biggest change is that the theory now embraces branes. These are like strings but extended through an extra dimension, making like a rumpled sheet in extended dimensions. I keep thinking it gets curiouser and curiouser.
Curiosity is proof that we're all on this flight together.
Dick





















and n

There were two sizable earthquakes 65 miles west of LA

There at the base of the tree is a calico cat. Not one I've seen before but she just sat there watching as I walked by. Nothing notable there but there was a quantum circumstance yesterday. Two airplanes flew over during my walk yesterday. I heard them but did not see them. The previous day there were two sizable earthquakes 65 miles west of LA in the ocean. The first was a 4.5 and the second was a 3.8. Could the warped spacetime due to the earthquakes have caused the airplanes to fly over? Or since quantum mechanics tells us that time does not have to flow in one direction, could the two airplanes have retroactively caused the two quakes the previous day?
Or not.
My confusion is proof that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

Yesterday was the monthly meeting of EAA Chapter One,

Yesterday was the monthly meeting of EAA Chapter One at Historic Flabob Airport. There were only a dozen or so attendees. It used to be 40 or 50 but then there used to be a fried chicken dinner at noon time just before the meeting. Could there be a connection? The 'entertainment" was a short video about the upcoming 100th anniversary of the first aviation show in the US. It was April 1910 about 20 miles from Fullerton and the anniversary will be January of 2010. The event was held over a two week period and special trans hauled attendees from LA to the site. Sort of an early Woodstock.
The cross wind was blowing the car both on the way there and on the way home. And to add to the difficulty, the sun was low in the west, right into my eyes . Well, needless to say I made it home safely.
A new cat was observed on my walk. I have a picture but it wouldn't load. Maybe tomorrow.
Cats are Mother Nature's way to remind us that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

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I braved the darkness last night.

The photo is of the local fire company's ladder truck with the ladder extended. It's about three stories high with out trying I wouldn't mind climbing out to the end.
I braved the darkness last night to drive to Claremont and Harvey Mudd College to hear a lecture by NPR's "The Math Guy". He believes that teaching beginning math from books is inefficient. He believes that beginning math can be taught more effectively using video games. As I understand it the process is one of immersing the student in video games that teach as well as stimulate. It was worth the trip but he's no Brian Greene.
I visited Dr. Chung yesterday morning to discuss osteoporosis and its resolution. Ugh! More pills. And the changes in my body are continuous rather than quantum..
I'm deep in the process of understanding branes, they are really two dimensional strings with different characteristics. Branes, strings and Mexican Hat diagrams. Slowly it comes together. And the fascination remains.
I, I, I and the rest of them are evidence that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

It's the little things.

The picture is one I took a few years ago on the Santa Monica pier. As I recall, the Merry go round had just reopened after an extensive reconstruction. I came across it yesterday and it caught my eye.
It's the little things. I get up every morning feeling pretty good. The sun comes up every day and the car starts when I turn the key. I'm in pretty good shape for the shape I'm in. So life goes on. Yesterday I was on the home stretch when the cane sounded different when it touched the ground. Closer inspection showed that the rubber tip had broken through so the metal tip of the cane made a different sound. No problem, I'll pick one up at the CVS store around the corner. So off I went this am to get a new tip. I tried to use the cane as little as possible on the way so as to not destroy the metal tip. Well the short story is that CVS didn't have the right size. I never realised they came in sizes. So back home I went. Onto the computer to find that the local Wallgreen's has the right thing in stock. So this trifling item will have cost me a half a day to replace it. I'm not complaining, mind you, just a reminder that it was Shakespeare who told us " a horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse". Something like being about being in need of a nail.
"Being about being in need of a nail.
Thinkin' 'bout you, darlin' here on the trail."
That's a country song just crying to be written if there ever was. Three chords and off we go!
Little things and country music show us that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

This is the 500th entry non this blog.

The first photo of the day is of the old Flabob Express, a DC-3 under re-construction off and on for years. It wouldn't get very far without propellers. The second is a Trike with the pilot way out front and the plane is powered with a pusher engine as opposed to the normal tractor (puller) arrangement. You can see that the morning haze affects the picture.
For the second month in a row my bill from Southern California Edison is $7.00. Thanks to the donor of the weatherization process on my house. Life is good to the old folks except that the dollar declined in buying power by 25% in the last eight years. What the hell. Enjoy it while you can.
Friday night is another presentation in the series at Harvey Mudd College where I saw Brian Greene last month. It was worth the drive last time so I'll try it again this week. Then I think the monthly meeting of EAA Chapter One is on Sunday. If don't forget I'll go out to historic Flabob Airport for the meeting.
Spending time at historic Flabob Airport will prove to the unbeliever that we're all on this flight together

Dick

The venerable Cessna 195,

On the left is a photo of a post war Packard. Somehow it's an icon of WWII. In my mind I connect it with Gen Douglas MacArthur. There it sat in all its pristine glory.
On the right is the venerable Cessna 195, a true work horse of airplane. It is turbo charged so you know it's ready for the higher altitudes. In beautiful condition.
Today I'm in search of the theory behind the Higgs fields. We may never find out about their existence by searching for them with the Large Hadron Collider. Two Nordic scientists have suggested that someone in the future has travelled backwards in time to cause problems with the Large Hadron Collider, which if you will recall has been shut down twice to correct serious problems since its start-up. Wouldn't it be interesting if it were to be true?
The Large Hadron Collider will provide proof that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

What a day!

What a day! But it wore me out by noon. First it was good to see old friends. Then the aircraft! Heaven on earth. But what should I see on first entering the area? A Sonex... for sale... It had the big Jabiru engine and was loaded with extras. He was selling it as an aerobatic plane. But I never did meet the owner. Here's a picture of it. The next plane I saw was the big yellow Stearman painted in Navy training colors. It was just returning from a paying flight with a customer.
The third picture is of the Missing Man Formation using three planes. The "missing man' is represented by the plane climbing off to the right with the smoke on.
More pics to come.
Then I just basked in the atmosphere of the Forties. It was exciting even for a non patriot such as I.
Airplanes that fly are indicators that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

Swing music for entertainment.

It's Saturday morning at 7 am. In a few minutes I'll pack up my stuff and head out for historic Flabob Airport. Today is the Veterans Day celebration at historic Flabob Airport. Shit on a shingle for lunch and swing music for entertainment. And of course the usual aircraft both flying in and out but also displayed on the ground for us to drool over. Aside from the usual homebuilts and such which will show up, there will probably be an assortment of period activities. The WWII vets (as well as some of the Vietnam vets) will still fit into their uniforms. Old jeeps, maybe a tank or two and a few WWII era Pipers, Cessnas and Aeroncas which had served as observation platforms.
The weather right now is 2 1/2 mile visibility and the sky is clear. The mist should be burned off by mid morning making for a spectacular day ahead of us.
Part of my problem with the books on quantum theory is that a lot of the terms used didn't exist when I went to school. So I've got to rewire my brain to reflexively convert to the new names. Bosons and fermions indeed. Maybe then I'll have a deeper understanding the relationships between the many fundamental particles.
The reality of historic Flabob Airport is proof enough that we're all on this flight together.
Dick

It's really been just like time travel,quantum-wise.

Wow! It was like someone gave me a week of life back. Yesterday when brother Bob was here (Congratulations to Dianne for her nomination to the softball hall of fame) we spoke of Veterans Day which is upcoming. It's always exciting at historic Flabob Airport since many of the locals are WW II vets. But when I check my computer for the time and day I was disappointed to find out the Veterans Day celebration at historic Flabob Airport was last weekend, November 5 (follow me here). Anyway I tell you that to tell you this. I had an appointment with the doctor at 8 am. When I checked in the lady politely informed me that the appointment is for next week. So I'm back to November 5 and the Veterans Day celebration at historic Flabob Airport is this weekend coming up I haven't missed it after all. It's really been just like time travel to the past (future?).
Time travel is proof that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

Meditating helps me understand.

It's a quarter mile visibility and very low ceiling. I chose to meditate extra in lieu of my walk. Meditating helps me understand the physics I'm studying.
Yesterday I visited the urologist. The chemistry of my prostate is a little high. It always has been a little high due, I believe, to my almost daily bike rides. Anyway when we looked at the chemistry over time it turned out that the results were within 10%. Over 13 years! Going in I expected him to ask to put all sorts of probes in my nether region. Urologists have a habit of doing that. But none of that today thank you. And we had a nice discussion about the cost of health care in the US today.
I've started re-reading Lisa Randall's "Warped Passages" about hidden dimensions. It's a much easier read this time since I have a general idea of what she's saying and where she's going. Still it's very engrossing.
Reading the book, the thought crossed my mind that several influential physicists have been born within a few miles of where I was born and raised. Richard Feynman , Far Rockaway, Leonard Susskind, the Bronx, Brian Greene and Lisa Randall, Queens. And that's without really thinking about it. Could it be the water? Or maybe the long gone, great NY school system.
Unanswered questions are clear indicators that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

Black Hole complimentarity.

A new cat on the block. It seems to be Siamese oriented (get the pun here) but meandered off as I approached. Here he is.
I swear it gets weirder the more I learn. We all know that black holes are objects from which nothing, not even light, can escape. The point at which everything is swallowed is called the event horizon. The weirdness is when you take into account the Theory of Relativity and what one would see when passing through the event horizon or when one is sitting outside the black hole watching what happens. The person passing through the event horizon would feel nothing, it would seem to be the same as outside the event horizon. The person outside the event horizon would see the person passing through the event horizon appear to stretch as he/she passed through, finally ending up as electrons, protons and quarks. The two appearances is called complementarity, specifically Black Hole complementarity. The reason they appear different is because inside the black hole time itself is changed while appearing unchanged to the outsiders as shown by Relativity.
Relativity teaches us that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

Well, I 'm stuck again.

Well, I 'm stuck again. The concept of exactly how symmetry works is beyond my comprehension. I get the general idea but how to manipulate the equations to arrive at an obscure symmetry confuses me. I figure when I can teach the class, I understand it and I'm a long way from there now.
In the meantime another thought wandered thorough my mind. We can talk about space and points in a space but what does that mean? How are points in space separated? Is there an invisible grid outlined in all of space? Is there a minimum distance between points? Are they related to the Planck length? Even Einstein once considered the possibility of an 'ether' filling all of space. How much of the everyday world don't we understand at a fundamental level? Would that they taught that in school.
Tangled thoughts assure me that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

Me and the condensate.

There they are. Right down the street from my house. Yesterday there was nothing. Today there are two new trees in Fullerton Welcome new trees.
What I really appreciate about advanced physics is that to quote Lewis Carr0l, 'It gets curiouser and curiouser". We all know about virtual particles. Those little things that pop into existence in a vacuum and immediately join together and pop out of existence. What physicist Brian Greene called "quantum jitters". Easy to picture if you don't mind unimaginably small numbers. These things occur at sizes of 33 orders of magnitude smaller than a basket ball. Or the size of a basket ball compared to the size of our galaxy! That's small. But for a moment, consider the vacuum. Empty, a void, nothing. But if you make the vacuum and pass a spark through it there will appear a dark deposit on the walls of the vessel. Out of nothing! If the spark is passed through the vacuum before the quark /anti-quark disappear into the void a condensate is formed. However, these are not virtual particles but instead they are real therefore the condensate. Further examination will show that the deposit, called condensate, is the result of quark /anti-quark pairs popping into existence and the rejoining into the vacuum. The next obvious question is "What is the condensate made of since quarks cannot exist by themselves"?
More to come on quarks and condensate.
Quark /anti-quark pairs are a promise that we're all on this flight together.
Dick

A temperature inversion?

Here it is almost winter and it is warmer in Oshkosh Wisconsin (52 degrees) than it is in Fullerton, CA (48 degrees). Could this inversion at this time of year be a result of the earthquakes in Asia? Pushing the tectonic plates together releases energy in the form of heat. That heat could be focused on Wisconsin by the interior structure of the earth.
Or not.
But the walk was chilly. Jacket weather to stay comfortable.
I'm struggling through Carl Sagan but am constantly drawn to the books on quantum and string theory. Perhaps the problem is that Sagan was an advocate of our terraforming and inhabiting other planets and I've come to the conclusion that we are entitled to screw up only one planet (Earth). So I read one for a while then clear my mind with the other. Time will sort out the truth.
Besides our politicians are more interested in denigrating Obama than in the future of homo sapiens. Only in their own re-election. Or in the case of Republicans, is it their next re-erection?
Things quanta are common enough to remind me that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

I've got a lot of cogitating to do.

Today I'm glad I'm here rather than in San Francisco. A support cable broke and the Bay bridge is shut down "indefinitely" in the interest of safety. What a traffic disaster that will be.
Here the weather is cool and breezy, forecast to be warm and breezy.
I finishhed the book about string theory and have started the book by Carl Sagan. He is reputed to have been involved in some nefarious scheme but I can't find anything about it. Any help out there?
In the meantime I've got a lot of cogitating to do about the last book and string theory. I have to fit it in with Brian Greene's book "The Elegant Universe". Then I can seek to expand on that.
Not much happened on the walk this morning. There did appear a previously unseen orange tabby. He looked just like Tigger. He was sitting 20 yards away so I wouldn't say he interacted with me but he did trigger a thought. Some traits are gender favored meaning that the trait is more common in one gender than the other. There's a name for it but I can't remember it right now (dimorphism?). Anyway I tell you that to tell you this. A large majority of orange tabbys are male. I can't be any more specific than that except to say it was uncommon enough for the vet to comment on it when I first got Tigger.
Dimorphism is proof that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

Halloween decorations and anti-deSitter space

This year the house decorations seem more frequent and elaborate than in the past. It appears that every third house is decorated while in the past the number was closer to one in ten. I'm not sure what this means but perhaps it's the connection to the earthquakes occurring in Asia. Or I could be wrong. In any case the spider shown here is at least three feet across.
The space we are used to and which is used to do most calculations in science is flat or very close. However there are two additional classes of space that are curved. We learned to use these in non-Euclidean algebra classes. Closed space, with a positive curvature, is shaped like a sphere. The third class of space is open space and is shaped like a saddle. This third type of space is call anti-deSitter space after a mathematician named, you guessed it, deSitter. He did a lot of pioneering mathematics studying curved space. I'm not sure who cares about deSitter space but I think it sounds absolutely foul.
Or not.
Both deSitter space and anti-deSitter space are indicators that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

Hawking, Susskind and Werner in the same room,

The book by Leonard Susskind has turned to a discussion of black holes. He had a bet with Stephen Hawking. Hawking had proved mathematically that nothing, including information , could escape from the interior of a black hole. Susskind described the pixy-like smile that Hawking would display when convinced he was right. However Susskind found a hole in Hawkings assumptions and showed how information could escape from a black hole. It has to do with the outer edge of a black hole being a hologram. I have to finish the book to find out whether or not he believes the entire universe (universes?) to be a hologram. Although the book "The Holographic Universe" by Michael Talbot explained a lot of paranormal events, the science behind his position is unassailable. I think I'll move the book up in my sequence of reading to reinforce my understanding of the science supporting Talbot's thesis. Susskind introduces the topic along with his humorous presentation of the ideas and a personal description of some of the outstanding scientists of our generation, Nobel Prize winners among them. The friendly battle between Susskind and Hawking is funny and something I haven't read anywhere else so well. Susskind describes a meeting about black holes between himself, Hawking and several others at Werner Erhardt's mansion in San Francisco. For those who have forgotten, Werner is the originator of EST, a personal growth seminar (which I have attended to my great disappointment). Another of my peripheral connections to this story.
I'll not walk today because my knees are killing me. Neither the Vicodin nor my medical marijuana cut the pain enough to make a walk worthwhile. I don't want to double the Vicodin because I feel antsy and ill at ease when I forget to take it as it is. The ill at ease feeling is a symptom that I'm getting marginally addicted to it. Or not.
Hawking, Susskind and Werner in the same room is proof enough for me that we're all on this flight together.

Publish Post

Dick

I have nothing to say today.

I have nothing to say today.

Dick

Black holes and black squirrels.

The photo is of a squirrel who was playing (or chasing) another squirrel around the tree. I thought, in the early morning light) it was a black squirrel, which we've discussed in the past. On closer inspection I realized it was of the gray persuasion. The black squirrel had disappeared into a black hole and we were left with the gray. Which incidentally is the name of one type of inter-terrestrial creature. The significance of which escapes me. Whatever happened to the squirrel, they are fast little buggers.
The airport was reporting the temperature to be 58 degrees just before my walk this morning. I swear it felt 20 degrees colder. But the pace of my vigorous stumble warmed me a little bit. But the feel of autumn is in the air.
Brother Bob lent me a book written by Carl Sagan. One more book to read as an obstacle to my Hawaiian adventure. The book by Leonard Susskind continues to hold my interest. Why do such tiny things intrigue me so? That's the question of the day.
Unanswerable question are clear indicators that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

Particles? Holograms? Hogwash!

As I was on the final stretch of my morning walk a small plane flew overhead. It was climbing out of Fullerton airport and was at a fairly low altitude. A funny though came to mind. I have committed never to fly again because of the risk involved. Suppose that airplane had lost its power and glided to a landing where I was standing and hit me. Imagine the irony of being killed by an airplane on the ground! It didn't happen though. It continued on its merry way. And I completed my walk very aware of the tragedy I had just avoided.
The temperature in Oshkosh Wisconsin is 32 degrees. Just at freezing. Oshkosh is the mecca of small planes, particularly of home built planes such as mine was. But 32 is too cold for all but the most dedicated to flight. I was comfortable in Fullerton with a sweat shirt for my walk.
I finished the book by Leonard Susskind and his thoughts on the recent advances in string theory (or brane theory). At one point in his discussion he suggests that the elementary particles which comprise our universe are HOLOGRAMS! Which brings me back to the 1980 book "The Holographic Universe". The book was written by Micheal Talbot, a physicist who later died at a young age of a brain tumor. It certainly changed the way I look at the word around me. Imagine...... everything around you is but an ephemeral hologram But of what is the hologram comprised? Shades of Star Wars.
Holograms are physical proof that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

The sun is rising later every day.

The weather is reported to be 10 mile visibility and 2800 feet overcast but it seemed much gloomier than that as I left for my daily walk. The sun is rising later every day. Even so, it was T-shirt weather for the walk. But the Parkinson's really slowed me down today.
There were the usual cars parked blocking the sidewalk. Every time I encounter one of these I am reminded of son Ricks suggestion that I stand banging my cane on the car until the owner comes out to move it. It gets funnier every time I imagine it. But I'm not that much of a curmudgeon yet.
I'm learning more about string theory every day. I never realized before that the strings have a quark at one end and an anti quark at the other. They can react with quarks and anti quarks on other strings. And then the multiple interactions.... oh my. Or three tied together at the center like a South American bolo. Picture that! Imagine getting hit by a quantum bolo. Far in, not out!
Quarks in hidden dimensions show that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

It must be Sunday.

It must be Sunday. The funny papers are in color.
Even the duck are walking today. 1/4 mile visibility in mist and the ceiling is only 400 feet. But Riverside, 30 miles away, is severe clear and celling unlimited. What we'll have this afternoon. The temperature is just right. Another day in Paradise.This is one of those days in which I'm glad I'm down here wishing I were up there rather than being up there wishing I was down here. There's old pilots and there's bold pilots but there ain't no old , bold pilots. A good landing is any landing you walk away from. There! Now I've got my aviation frustration out for the month. And all it took was a few old cliches.
Today I start to read Leonard Susskind's interpretation of string theory. He is skeptical of most of the claims so I'm looking forward to seeing what he has to say.
Old cliches are evidence that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

The Large Hadron Collider has been cooled down

The Large Hadron Collider has been cooled down to its operating temperature and low energy proton beams are expected to collide in the last half of November. This will be the start of something spectacular. Hopefully we'll 'see' the Higgs particle to verify the existence of the theoretically proposed Higgs fields.
I started off my walk this morning to the dulcet tones of Townes van Zandt singing "Freight Train". Which reminded me that of all the drugs of which I have partaken (partook?), cocaine is the only one I consider evil. I've never done heroin but the danger of an overdose aside, it is probably psychologically benign. I could be wrong here. I finished the walk to Emmy Lou Harris singing "Satan's Jewel Crown". Diametrically opposed to evil. Beautiful and elegant.
The weather has been very changeable over the last few days. One day it was a wintry cold and rainy and the very next day the temperature went to 95 degrees. And the following day it was in the 70's. This morning was pleasantly warm and severe clear. Go figure.
The book by Leonard Susskind is very interesting. He posits that mathematical constants in the universe we live in are very demanding to assure the existence of life but refuses to accept the existence of a supernatural power to get those values. He reminds us that we may live in a limited part of the Universe with it's own values of the constants. Very much like Lisa Randall's explanation but from a slightly different perspective.
Confirmation assures me that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

I have no idea what this is about.

Please excuse my dereliction for the past few days. Earlier in the week I got a flu shot and I have been a little under the weather ever since. And I haven't gotten the swineflu shot yet. Somehow it sapped my strength, what little I have. The vapors kept me from my walk on Wednesday and yesterday it rained. I've always been concerned that I am so sweet I might melt in the rain.
Gold is $1060 per ounce, which says more about the value of the dollar than it does about the value of gold.
One of my new books is "The Cosmic Landscape" by Leonard Susskind. It turns out that he was brought up in the Bronx, for the New York connection and worked at SLAC during the 60's, for the Palo Alto connection. But I tell you that to tell you about the Cosmological Constant.
When Einstein did the math for the Special Theory of Relativity, because something was askew he inserted a constant, the Cosmological Constant, to make things work out properly. And the General Theory of Relativity didn't change it. He later called this his greatest mistake. The Cosmological Constant has the following effect on how everything turns out. If it is zero the universe is static, neither growing nor shrinking. If it is positive it as the effect of causing the universe to grow and if it is negative, the universe will shrink. Much like the analogy of spots on a balloon As the balloon is inflated the dots grow apart. If the balloon shrinks the dots grow together. In a sense, the Cosmological Constant measures the rate and direction of the balloon's size (or our universe). Thence the great concern for the exact value of the Cosmological Constant. It might also be a measure of what we call dark energy since it determines the status of our universe. This is because Einsteins equation E=MC^2 tells us that energy and matter are equivalent and therefore energy should influence us in the same manner as mass which dark energy has been shown to do.
Things that confuse me are proof that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

This space intentionally...

This space intentionally left blank because it's raining and I have nothing to say.

Dick

It must be Monday.

October 12, happy Indigenous Peoples Day!
The funny papers were in color and one night has come and gone so it must be Monday. The picture is of a new cat in the neighborhood. It looks a lot like Budda but had more white. He was just sitting behind a bush when I passed and sat quietly while I juggled the cane in one hand and the Sunday paper nestled under the other arm . Meanwhile I tried to retrieve the camera from my pocket and get it turned on with one hand. Talk about a one armed paper hanger! And just when I got the whole thing together, off he strolled. So here's his rear view.
Just when I thought I had symmetry in hand along comes supersymmetry. Damn! But I know it will all come together somewhere.
Indigenous Peoples Day leaves room to question whether or not we're all on this flight together.

Dick

The Higgs mechanism and me.

The photo is one of a house I pass on my daily walk. Imagine waking up to this. And the street trees were covered. Talk about overkill!
The last song on my iPod on the walk was Townes van Zandt finger picking "Cocaine Blues". Truly a finger picking masterpiece. It transports one to a new level. And the music is cheaper than the real thing.
The Higgs mechanism is the process which gives fundamental particles their mass. The Higgs field, which is a field like a magnetic field or an electric field only different, causes the renowned Higgs particle. The traditional image of gravity is a stretched rubber sheet which is normally flat. Mass (like the sun) causes a dimple in the sheet (or spacetime). My mental image of the Higgs mechanism is that the Higgs field is like the stretched rubber sheet. But in this case the particle is caused by the dimple in the Higgs field rather than the particle causing the distortion. In any case, without the Higgs field there could be no particles and without particles there could be no me... or you. A horse, a horse, my Kingdom for a horse (or the Higgs mechanism).
Or maybe not.
I'm probably full of shit but that's proof enough that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

I'll never win the Nobel Prize in Physics.

I'll never win the Nobel Prize in Physics but Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace prize, bless his heart. An indication that the European elite, as well as the rabble rousers respect him as opposed to their feelings about his predecessor. It's a shame to politicize the Nobel Prize but what the hell. I've expressed my disappointment in Obamas performance up to now. His wrongful following through with the bank bailout, not having resolved the 'civilian combatant' and Guantanamo problem and his disappointing position with regard to healthcare reform may be masterful chess playing. Why he puts up with republican intransigence in hopes of a long gone bipartisanship I'll never figure out unless it's a part of his chess game. I hope it is. Or there could be a conspiracy preventing him from doing as he pleases. Or not.
The weather this morning is 9 miles visibility and 1900 ft ceiling. But it really looks dreary. I'm glad I'm down here and not up there.
I'm re-reading the book on hidden dimensions. The last time I thought I was confused by the use of symmetry. Now I realize it's not the why about symmetry but the how. I think the problem is that I don't see the math behind it and how to treat symmetry mathematically, which is the root of the symmetry. Oh well, we all have our own brand of faith.
The beauty of symmetry is hidden proof that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

Earthquakes caused by the rising price of gold?

Earthquakes caused by the rising price of gold? The recent spate of quakes in Asia have not resulted in any connection with my cats or their actions. However, they may result in an earthquake locally by inducing stresses in the 'Ring of fire'. In any event it is more than a coincidence that the price of gold has risen sharply in the last week. Connection? I think so. Or it could be that earthquakes are caused by the rising price of gold rather than the other way around. Keep an eye on this. According to a recent program on the History Channel on the electric TV, Isaac Newton (of gravity fame) prognostized that Armageddon would start in 1944 and then the year 2012 appears again. That magic year. The prognostications of Nostradamus could be interpreted to be in accord with that. I had known that Isaac Newton was very religious but did not know of his prognostications. But he predicted this in 1630.
Isaac Newton gave us science and that reminds me that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

I'm re-reading "Warped Passages".

I've been asked by Kaiser to present myself for a physical. Since I've also got some shopping to do, with its attendant activity, I skipped the walk in favor of reading.
I'm re-reading "Warped Passages", the book about hidden dimensions. It is just as exciting the second time as the first. The part about special relativity peaked my curiosity. Looking at the equations which cause gravity (mathematically acceleration), the thought occurred to me that one could devise an anti gravity machine if one could make the equation negative. Without making the output of the equations negative, one would float around aimlessly in space.
There I've given you the concept. Now its just a trivial engineering detail on your way to fame and fortune.
Trivial engineering details venture to show that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

We used to have a 'fire season'.

If you don't like the weather, wait a few minutes. Saturday and Sunday the temperature was in the 90's. This morning it was 55 degrees on my walk. Almost too cool for the turtle neck shirt I wore. I'm not complaining mind you just that the coolity came as a surprise. The up side of the coolarity is that fire fighters got a little respite. It used to be that we had a 'fire season' but no more. The fire season runs all around the calendar now.
There has been several major earth quakes, mostly in Asia, in the last week. The lack of odd behaviour by the cats is startling. Is it possible to connect the quietude of the cats retroactively with the earth quakes? Now I'm pretty sure that when the cats are quiet there will have been a spate of earthquakes a week ago. Take that Nostradamus!
I saw a crawl on the electric TV that the 49ers beat the Los Angeles Rams 35 to 0. That's what they get for running away with their tails between their legs. Los Angles indeed.
I ordered a book on Amazon about string theory. They of course, suggested several other pertinent books. I ended up buying three more books to read before I embark on the Grand Flight. Will I ever get to Hawaii or is this an Aristotelian paradox?

Cool weather serves to emphsize that we're all on this flight tgether.

The Grand Flight to Hawaii.

The picture is of the lily that greets me randomly in the morning. For weeks it is rolled up tight then all of a sudden, for no discernible reason, it blossoms forth in all its glory. Maybe it's related to all the earthquakes that have been going on around the world.
The paper has been read. The funny papers were in color so it must be Sunday but the 49ers aren't on the electric TV. The war in Afghanistan goes on and the war in Iraq has been privatized. Heath care reform is i trouble and there is no effort to turn global warming around. Jose always talked of retiring to the Virgin Islands (for obvious reasons), my goal is to make the Grand Flight to Hawaii in a light plane for more obtuse reasons. Maybe it's time.
But not yet. I've started to re-read the book hidden dimensions so I will understand it better and then I have to re-read The Elegant Universe about string theory one more time. Thence back to The Holographic Universe which posits that what we see, feel and other wise experience exists as a giant hologram. The book was written in 1980 and the author Michael Talbot died in the 90's at a young age. But he explained the possibility of paranormal events as a science as well as being an excellent primer on holograms. If I feel it's still not time for the Grand Flight after that I'll re-read The Tao of Physics, which I should anyway. Then there's the possibility of re-reading Michu Kaku's books on black holes and parallel universes.
All that is far enough in the future that I don't have to concern myself regarding my commitment not to fly again.
Reading about the cosmos reminds me that we're all on this flight together.
Dick

Brian Greene, a real hero.

Wow! I haven't driven after dark in the last three years. There doesn't seem to have been anything worth the stress of driving at night. But last night Brian Greene, the author of "The Elegant Universe" was speaking in Claremont, CA. That's too close to miss the chance to hear him live. It was worth it! Aside from being a leading authority on string theory, he is an entertaining speaker. Totally apart from all the college age young women in the audience. The talk was lively and informative. I've read his book but still there were things to learn. All in all it was worth the drive many times over. I was home by 10:30.
I thought there was to be an event at Historic Flabob Airport today but checking the Internet I found it was LAST WEEK! It was a gathering of Stardust builders which is an aerobatic stressed biplane. The original Stardust kits were sold out of the Far West hangar, which is where I finished 'The Sound Of Freedom" before I flew it to my incident.
Making the 471st entry in this blog reminds me that we're all on this flight together.

Dick

anti de Sitter space and me (and you)

anti de Sitter space is spacetime with constant negative curvature. This is different than spacetime with constant zero curvature (flat). Or spacetime with constant positive curvature. But what difference does it make to you and me? It turns out quite a bit. It makes the difference of whether the universe in which we live is suitable to human life (or life of any sort) or totally unsuitable. But the reason for writing about anti de Sitter space is because it sounds so exotic to my ears. The more I think about it the more I come to the conclusion that the appeal of quantum mechanics and string theory is that the entire concept is so bizarre. Something must exist because we're here. But what is it that is here? anti de Sitter space! And it all sounds so fascinating. Quarks, muons and tau and Z particles... and Kaluza-Klein particles that are the result of gravity in the 5th dimension. Does any of that mean everything to our daily lives?
Or not?
Dimensional quandaries assure me that we're all on this flight together (in three dimensions anyway).
Dick