Aristotle, and P H Wickstead and F M Cornford, translators, Physics books V-VIII, Harvard University Press,William Heinemann 1980 Introduction: 'Simplicius tells us that Books I - IV of the Physics were referred to as the books Concerning the Principles, while Books V - VIII were called On Movement. The earlier books have, in fact, defined the things which are subject to movement (the contents of the physical world) and analyzed certain concepts - Time, Place and so forth - which are involved in the occurrence of movement.' Book V is a further introduction to the detailed analysis in Books VI - VIII. Book VI deals with continuity, Book VII is an introductory study for Book VIII, which brings us to the conclusion that all change and motion in the universe are ultimately caused by a Prime Mover which is itself unchanging and unmoved and which has neither magnitude nor parts, but is spiritual and not in space.' 
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Aristotle, and (translated by P H Wickstead and F M Cornford), Physics books I-IV, Harvard University Press, William Heinemann 1980 Introduction: 'The title "Physics" is misleading. .. "Lectures on Nature" the alternative title found in editions of the Greek text, is more enlightening. ... The realm of Nature, for Aristotle, includes all things that move and change ... . Thus the ultimate "matter" which, according to Aristotle, underlies all the elementary substances must be studied, in its changes at least, by the Natural Philosopher. And so must the eternal heavenly spheres of the Aristotelean philosophy, insofar as they themselves move of are the cause of motion in the sublunary world.' 
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Bastin, Ted, and C W Kilmister, Combinatorial Physics, World Scientific 1995 About this book (World Scientific) 'The authors aim to reinstate a spirit of philosophical enquiry in physics. They abandon the intuitive continuum concepts and build up constructively a combinatorial mathematics of process. This radical change alone makes it possible to calculate the coupling constants of the fundamental fields which — via high energy scattering — are the bridge from the combinatorial world into dynamics. The untenable distinction between what is ‘observed’, or measured, and what is not, upon which current quantum theory is based, is not needed. If we are to speak of mind, this has to be present — albeit in primitive form — at the most basic level, and not to be dragged in at one arbitrary point to avoid the difficulties about quantum observation. There is a growing literature on information-theoretic models for physics, but hitherto the two disciplines have gone in parallel. In this book they interact vitally.' 
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Feynman, Richard P, and Steven Weinberg, Elementary Particles and the Laws of Physics: The 1986 Dirac Memorial Lectures, Cambridge University Press 1999 Jacket: Perhaps the two most important conceptual breakthroughs in twentieth century physics are relativity and quantum mechanics. Developing a theory that combines the two seamlessly is a difficult and ongoing challenge. This accessible book contains intriguing explorations of this theme by the distinguished physicists Richard Feynman and Steven Weinberg. Richard Feynman's contribution examines the nature of antiparticles, and in particular the relationship between quantum spin and statistics. In his essay, Steven Weinberg speculates on how Einstein's theory of gravitarion might be reconciled with quantum theory and the final laws of physics.' 
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Huang, Kerson, Statistical Mechanics, John Wiley 1987 'Preface: ... The purpose of this book is to teach statistical mechanics as an integral part of theoretical physics, a discipline that aims to describe all natural phenomena on the basis of a single unifying theory. This theory, at present, is quantum mechanics. . . . Before the subject of statistical mechanics proper is presented, a brief but self contained discussion of thermodynamics and the classical kinetic theory of gases is given. The order of this development is imperative, from a pedagogical point of view, for two reasons. First, thermodynamics has successfully described a large part of macroscopic experience, which is the concern of statistical mechanics. It has done so not on the basis of molecular dynamics but on the basis of a few simple and intuitive postulates stated in everyday terms. If we first familiarize ourselves with thermodynamics, the task of statistical mechanics reduces to the explanation of thermodynamics. Second, the classical kinetic theory of gases is the only known special case in which thermodynamics can be derived nearly from first principles, ie, molecular dynamics. A study of this special case will help us to understand why statistical mechanics works.' 
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Kolmogorov, Andrey Nikolaevich, and Nathan Morrison (Translator) (With an added bibliography by A T Bharucha-Reid), Foundations of the Theory of Probability, Chelsea 1956 Preface: 'The purpose of this monograph is to give an axiomatic foundation for the theory of probability. . . . This task would have been a rather hopeless one before the introduction of Lebesgue's theories of measure and integration. However, after Lebesgue's publication of his investigations, the analogies between measure of a set and mathematical expectation of a random variable became apparent. These analogies allowed of further extensions; thus, for example, various properties of independent random variables were seen to be in complete analogy with the corresponding properties of orthogonal functions . . .' 
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Noyes, H. Pierre, and J. C. van den Berg, Bit-String Physics: A Finite and Discrete Approach to Natural Philosophy, World Scientific 2001 'We could be on the threshold of a scientific revolution. Quantum mechanics is based on unique, finite, and discrete events. General relativity assumes a continuous, curved space-time. Reconciling the two remains the most fundamental unsolved scientific problem left over from the last century. The papers of H Pierre Noyes collected in this volume reflect one attempt to achieve that unification by replacing the continuum with the bit-string events of computer science. Three principles are used: physics can determine whether two quantities are the same or different; measurement can tell something from nothing; this structure (modeled by binary addition and multiplication) can leave a historical record consisting of a growing universe of bit-strings. This book is specifically addressed to those interested in the foundations of particle physics, relativity, quantum mechanics, physical cosmology and the philosophy of science 
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Peskin, Michael E, and Dan V Schroeder, An Introduction to Quantum Field Theory, Westview Press 1995 Amazon Product Description 'This book is a clear and comprehensive introduction to quantum field theory, one that develops the subject systematically from its beginnings. The book builds on calculation techniques toward an explanation of the physics of renormalization.'  
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Posner, Gerald, God's Bankers: A History of Money and Power at the Vatican, Simon & Schuster 2015 'From a master chronicler of legal and financial misconduct, a magnificent investigation nine years in the making, this book traces the political intrigue and inner workings of the Catholic Church. Decidedly not about faith, belief in God, or religious doctrine, this book is about the church’s accumulation of wealth and its byzantine entanglements with financial markets across the world. Told through 200 years of prelates, bishops, cardinals, and the Popes who oversee it all, Gerald Posner uncovers an eyebrow-raising account of money and power in perhaps the most influential organization in the history of the world.' 
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Streater, Raymond F, and Arthur S Wightman, PCT, Spin, Statistics and All That, Princeton University Press 2000 Amazon product description: 'PCT, Spin and Statistics, and All That is the classic summary of and introduction to the achievements of Axiomatic Quantum Field Theory. This theory gives precise mathematical responses to questions like: What is a quantized field? What are the physically indispensable attributes of a quantized field? Furthermore, Axiomatic Field Theory shows that a number of physically important predictions of quantum field theory are mathematical consequences of the axioms. Here Raymond Streater and Arthur Wightman treat only results that can be rigorously proved, and these are presented in an elegant style that makes them available to a broad range of physics and theoretical mathematics.' 
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Tapsell, Kieran, Potiphar's Wife: The Vatican's Secret and Child Sexual Abuse, ATF Press 2014 Back cover: 'For 1500 years the Catholic Church accepted that clergy who sexually abused children deserved to be stripped of their status as priests and then imprisoned. . . . That all changed in 1922 when Pope Pius XI issues his decree Crimen Sollicitationis that created a de facto 'privilege of clergy' by imposing the 'secret of the Holy Ofice' on all information obtained through the Church's canonical investigations. If the State did not know about these crimes, then there would be no State trials, and the matter could be treated as a purely canonical crime to be dealt with in secret in the Church courts.' 
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Veltman, Martinus, Diagrammatica: The Path to the Feynman Rules, Cambridge University Press 1994 Jacket: 'This book provides an easily accessible introduction to quantum field theory via Feynman rules and calculations in particle physics. The aim is to make clear what the physical foundations of present-day field theory are, to clarify the physical content of Feynman rules, and to outline their domain of applicability. ... The book includes valuable appendices that review some essential mathematics, including complex spaces, matrices, the CBH equation, traces and dimensional regularization. ...' 
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Wilczek, Frank, The Lightness of Being: Mass, Ether, and the Unification of Forces, Basic Books 2008 ' In this excursion to the outer limits of particle physics, Wilczek explores what quarks and gluons, which compose protons and neutrons, reveal about the manifestation of mass and gravity. A corecipient of the 2004 Nobel Prize in Physics, Wilczek knows what he’s writing about; the question is, will general science readers? Happily, they know what the strong interaction is (the forces that bind the nucleus), and in Wilczek, they have a jovial guide who adheres to trade publishing’s belief that a successful physics title will not include too many equations. Despite this injunction (against which he lightly protests), Wilczek delivers an approachable verbal picture of what quarks and gluons are doing inside a proton that gives rise to mass and, hence, gravity. Casting the light-speed lives of quarks against “the Grid,” Wilczek’s term for the vacuum that theoretically seethes with quantum activity, Wilczek exudes a contagious excitement for discovery. A near-obligatory acquisition for circulating physics collections.' --Gilbert Taylor  
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Ambrose Bierce, Devil's Dictionary sv Fool, 'FOOL, n. A person who pervades the domain of intellectual speculation and diffuses himself through the channels of moral activity. He is omnific, omniform, omnipercipient, omniscience, omnipotent. He it was who invented letters, printing, the railroad, the steamboat, the telegraph, the platitude and the circle of the sciences. He created patriotism and taught the nations war— founded theology, philosophy, law, medicine and Chicago. He established monarchical and republican government. He is from everlasting to everlasting— such as creation's dawn beheld he fooleth now. In the morning of time he sang upon primitive hills, and in the noonday of existence headed the procession of being. His grandmotherly hand was warmly tucked-in the set sun of civilization, and in the twilight he prepares Man's evening meal of milk-and-morality and turns down the covers of the universal grave. And after the rest of us shall have retired for the night of eternal oblivion he will sit up to write a history of human civilization.' back

Andrew E Kramer, How Bubonic Plague Has Helped Russia Fight the Coronavirus, ' MOSCOW — In a remote alpine meadow in Kyrgyzstan a few years ago, a teenage boy killed and skinned a marmot. Five days later, his parents carried the sweating, delirious boy to a village hospital where he died of bubonic plague. Like a ghost from the medieval past, the plague still makes occasional, unwelcome appearances in remote regions of the former Soviet Union, where it survives today in wild rodents. . . . But the plague was still a lethal menace in the 1920s and also an embarrassment for the Soviet Union, which established a specialized state agency to track and contain it. Successors to that agency still exist in Russia and in half a dozen other countries that were once Soviet republics, and, with their ready quarantine plans and trained personnel, they have become a mainstay of the regional response to the coronavirus.' back

Aquinas, Summa, I, II, 2, 8, Is any created good the source of human happiness?, 'I answer that, It is impossible for any created good to constitute man's happiness. For happiness is the perfect good, which lulls the appetite altogether; else it would not be the last end, if something yet remained to be desired. Now the object of the will, i.e. of man's appetite, is the universal good; just as the object of the intellect is the universal true. Hence it is evident that naught can lull man's will, save the universal good. This is to be found, not in any creature, but in God alone;' back

Aristotle Metaphysics, Metaphysics XII, vii, 9: 1072 b 25sqq, 'If, then, the happiness which God always enjoys is as great as that which we enjoy sometimes, it is marvellous; and if it is greater, this is still more marvellous. Nevertheless it is so. Moreover, life belongs to God. For the actuality of thought is life, and God is that actuality; and the essential actuality of God is life most good and eternal. We hold, then, that God is a living being, eternal, most good; and therefore life and a continuous eternal existence belong to God; for that is what God is.' back

Complex number - Wikipedia, Complex number - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'IA complex number is a number that can be expressed in the form a + bi, where a and b are real numbers and i is the imaginary unit, which satisfies the equation i² = −1. In this expression, a is the real part and b is the imaginary part of the complex number. Complex numbers extend the concept of the one-dimensional number line to the two-dimensional complex plane (also called Argand plane) by using the horizontal axis for the real part and the vertical axis for the imaginary part.' back

Daniel L. Stern, A monastery in Ukraine once scoffed at coronavirus measures. Now it is a hot spot., ' Kyiv — The walls and golden domes of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra — or the "Monastery of the Caves" — have stood for centuries in the center of the Ukrainian capital. But now they've been breached by a deadly intruder: the novel coronavirus. One of the centers of Orthodox Christianity has been transformed into one of Ukraine’s hot spots of the coronavirus pandemic. It is also a cautionary tale of how, just a month ago, warnings about the virus’s spread were seen by some as overblown.' back

David Griffin & Justin Denholm, This isn't the first global pandemic, and it won't be the last. Here's what we've learned from 4 others throughout history, ' SARS [Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome] demonstrated how quickly and comprehensively a virus could spread around the world in the era of air transportation, and the role of individual “superspreaders”. SARS also underlined the importance of the inextricable link between human, animal and environmental health, known as “One Health”, that may facilitate the crossover of germs between species. Finally, a crucial, but perhaps overlooked lesson from SARS is the need for sustained investment in vaccine and infectious disease treatment research./ back

David W. Blight, Conservatives Have Been Suppressing the Vote for 150 TeRS, ' With customary ignorance, Mr. Trump has also stumbled unknowingly into history, our long tale of trickery, laws, Orwellian propaganda and violence as ways of keeping the mass of voters from casting ballots. Since the beginning of our Republic, and especially since Emancipation and the stirrings of black suffrage established in the 14th and 15th Amendments, restricting the franchise has been a frighteningly effective tool of conservatism and entrenched interests.' back

Eric Roston, Economists See "Deep Flaws" in Trump EPA Plan to Undercut Pollution Rule, ' By proposing to obliterate the legal justification for restricting toxic pollution from power plants, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has flouted bedrock practices that have driven federal policymaking for decades, according to a group of resource economists writing in the journal Science.' back

Fundamental theorem of algebra - Wikipedia, Fundamental theorem of algebra - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'The fundamental theorem of algebra states that every non-constant single-variable polynomial with complex coefficients has at least one complex root. This includes polynomials with real coefficients, since every real number is a complex number with an imaginary part equal to zero. Equivalently (by definition), the theorem states that the field of complex numbers is algebraically closed.' back

Jerome Gellman, Mysticism (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosohy), 'The term ‘mysticism,’ comes from the Greek μυω, meaning “to conceal.” In the Hellenistic world, ‘mystical’ referred to “secret” religious rituals. In early Christianity the term came to refer to “hidden” allegorical interpretations of Scriptures and to hidden presences, such as that of Jesus at the Eucharist. . . . Typically, mystics, theistic or not, see their mystical experience as part of a larger undertaking aimed at human transformation . . . and not as the terminus of their efforts. Thus, in general, ‘mysticism’ would best be thought of as a constellation of distinctive practices, discourses, texts, institutions, traditions, and experiences aimed at human transformation, variously defined in different traditions. back

John Fogerty, John Fogerty, I tiptoed in the room
I know you got to have your rest
She says, "Come lay beside me,
I've been waitin' since you left"
She's sweet to me
Must be the luckiest man alive
And did I tell you baby
You are the joy of my life
First time that I saw you
Ohh, you took my breath away
I might not get to heaven
But I walked with the angels that day

She takes me by the hand
I am the luckiest man alive
And did I tell you baby
You are the joy of my life

Some may have their riches
Some may have their worldly fame
Long as I have you
I'll treasure each and every day
Just take me by the hand
I am the luckiest man alive
And did I tell you baby
You are the joy of my life
And did I tell you baby
You are the joy of my life

back

Joseph Aldy, Matthew Kotchen, Mary Evans, Merdith Fowlie, Arik Levinson & Karen Plamrr, Deep flaws in mercury regulatory analysis, See Eris Roston back

Lawrence O. Gostin & Matthew M. Kavanagh, Why Trump and his allies' criticisms of the WHO are wrong, ' The crisis in the United States cannot end if the covid-19 pandemic rages elsewhere in the world. It’s that simple: In our interconnected world, Americans are vulnerable to infection. The World Health Organization urgently needs U.S. funding to scale up the response in low- and middle-income countries where epidemics are growing. The pandemic could kill millions in Africa, where test kits are scarce and only small numbers of ventilators are available to help more than 1 billion people. The WHO has urgent work to do.' back

Li Yuan & Rumsey Taylor, China's 'Wailing Wall': Digital Elegies for a Coronavirus Martyr, ' They come to say “good morning” and “good night.” They tell him that spring has arrived and that the cherry blossoms are blooming. They share that they are falling in love, falling out of love or getting divorced. They send him photos of fried chicken drumsticks, his favorite snack. They whisper that they miss him. Li Wenliang, a doctor in the Chinese city of Wuhan, died of the coronavirus on Feb. 6 at the age of 34. More than a month before that, he went online to warn friends of the strange and deadly virus rampaging through his hospital, only to be threatened by government authorities. He became a hero in China when his warnings proved true, then a martyr when he died. back

Mach's principle - Wikipedia, Mach's principle - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'In theoretical physics, particularly in discussions of gravitation theories, Mach's principle (or Mach's conjecture) is the name given by Einstein to an imprecise hypothesis often credited to the physicist and philosopher Ernst Mach. The idea is that the local motion of a rotating reference frame is determined by the large scale distribution of matter, as exemplified by this anecdote: You are standing in a field looking at the stars. Your arms are resting freely at your side, and you see that the distant stars are not moving. Now start spinning. The stars are whirling around you and your arms are pulled away from your body. Why should your arms be pulled away when the stars are whirling? Why should they be dangling freely when the stars don't move?' back

Maxwell's equations - Wikipedia, Maxwell's equations - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' Maxwell's equations are a set of partial differential equations that, together with the Lorentz force law, form the foundation of classical electromagnetism, classical optics, and electric circuits. The equations provide a mathematical model for electric, optical and radio technologies, such as power generation, electric motors, wireless communication, lenses, radar etc. Maxwell's equations describe how electric and magnetic fields are generated by charges, currents, and changes of the fields. One important consequence of the equations is that they demonstrate how fluctuating electric and magnetic fields propagate at the speed of light.' back

Plan S - Wikipedia, Plan S - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' Plan S is an initiative for open-access science publishing launched in 2018 by "cOAlition S", a consortium of national research agencies and funders from twelve European countries. The plan requires scientists and researchers who benefit from state-funded research organisations and institutions to publish their work in open repositories or in journals that are available to all by 2021. The "S" stands for "shock".' back

Poincare recurrence theorem - Wikipedia, Poincare recurrence theorem - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'In mathematics, the Poincaré recurrence theorem states that certain systems will, after a sufficiently long but finite time, return to a state very close to the initial state. The Poincaré recurrence time is the length of time elapsed until the recurrence (this time may vary greatly depending on the exact initial state and required degree of closeness). The result applies to isolated mechanical systems subject to some constraints, e.g., all particles must be bound to a finite volume. The theorem is commonly discussed in the context of ergodic theory, dynamical systems and statistical mechanics.' back

Richard P. Feynman, Nobel Lecture: The Development of the Space-Time View of Quantum Electrodynamics, Nobel Lecture, December 11, 1965: 'We have a habit in writing articles published in scientific journals to make the work as finished as possible, to cover all the tracks, to not worry about the blind alleys or to describe how you had the wrong idea first, and so on. So there isn't any place to publish, in a dignified manner, what you actually did in order to get to do the work, although, there has been in these days, some interest in this kind of thing. Since winning the prize is a personal thing, I thought I could be excused in this particular situation, if I were to talk personally about my relationship to quantum electrodynamics, rather than to discuss the subject itself in a refined and finished fashion. Furthermore, since there are three people who have won the prize in physics, if they are all going to be talking about quantum electrodynamics itself, one might become bored with the subject. So, what I would like to tell you about today are the sequence of events, really the sequence of ideas, which occurred, and by which I finally came out the other end with an unsolved problem for which I ultimately received a prize.' back

Special unitary group - Wikipedia, Special unitary group - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'In mathematics, the special unitary group of degree n, denoted SU(n), is the group of n×n unitary matrices with determinant 1. The group operation is that of matrix multiplication. The special unitary group is a subgroup of the unitary group U(n), consisting of all n×n unitary matrices, which is itself a subgroup of the general linear group GL(n, C). The SU(n) groups find wide application in the standard model of physics, especially SU(2) in the electroweak interaction and SU(3) in QCD.' back

Stanford University, Stanford Internet Observatory, ' The Stanford Internet Observatory is a cross-disciplinary program of research, teaching and policy engagement for the study of abuse in current information technologies, with a focus on social media. Under the program direction of computer security expert Alex Stamos, the Observatory was created to learn about the abuse of the internet in real time, to develop a novel curriculum on trust and safety that is a first in computer science, and to translate our research discoveries into training and policy innovations for the public good. By providing researchers across Stanford with cutting edge data analytics and machine learning resources we will unlock completely unforeseen fields of research. We envision a world where researchers do not limit themselves to the data that is easy to access, but instead dive into the toughest and most important questions by leveraging the capabilities of the Stanford Internet Observatory. back

Steven J. Zippersein, Gotz Ali: Europe Against the Jews 1880-1945, ' Aly’s reminder of the usefulness of taking a close look at the quiet horrors of Europe’s interwar years thus, despite the shortcomings of his new book, feels all the more valuable today. And his acknowledgment that comparisons between now and then — once the province of the ill-informed — deserve more serious attention from historians and others is just one of many reminders as to how far we’ve stumbled into an age of troubled sleep.' back

Tom Frieden, I Use to Run the C.D.C. Here's What It Can Do to Slow This Pandemic, ' The C.D.C. was created to protect the country from infectious disease threats, whether naturally occurring or man-made. It has led the federal response to major health threats since it was founded 75 years ago — until now. Just when America most needs its guidance on the pandemic, the country’s top public health experts do not appear to be guiding, and are certainly not communicating, our response. Because of this, there has been a failure to establish and carry out a science-based plan to reopen the country safely. That plan is best informed by C.D.C.’s public health expertise understanding and responding to the virus. The pathogen, not politics, will set the terms of this contest, and it leaves us with three options: Continue sheltering at home until there is a vaccine, which could take a year or more; simply open the floodgates of activity and then face a repeat explosion of cases; or prepare vigorously, expanding our public health capacity so we can gradually lift restrictions and safely loosen the tap of activity, instead. I believe the last option is our best option.' back

US Department of Health and Human Services, Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, ' Reported illnesses have ranged from mild symptoms to severe illness and death for confirmed coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases. These symptoms may appear 2-14 days after exposure (based on the incubation period of MERS-CoV viruses). Fever Cough Shortness of breath' back

Veni, vidi, vici - Wikipedia, Veni, vidi, vici - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' Veni, vidi, vici ( "I came; I saw; I conquered") is a Latin phrase popularly attributed to Julius Caesar who, according to Appian, used the phrase in a letter to the Roman Senate around 47 BC after he had achieved a quick victory in his short war against Pharnaces II of Pontus at the Battle of Zela. The phrase is used to refer to a swift, conclusive victory.' back