Hawking (2007), Stephen , God Created the Integers, Running Press 2007 ' Bestselling author and physicist Stephen Hawking explores the "masterpieces" of mathematics, 25 landmarks spanning 2,500 years and representing the work of 15 mathematicians, including Augustin Cauchy, Bernard Riemann, and Alan Turing. This extensive anthology allows readers to peer into the mind of genius by providing them with excerpts from the original mathematical proofs and results. It also helps them understand the progression of mathematical thought, and the very foundations of our present-day technologies. Each chapter begins with a biography of the featured mathematician, clearly explaining the significance of the result, followed by the full proof of the work, reproduced from the original publication. 
Amazon   back

Klein (2009), Richard G, The Human Career: Human Biological and Cultural Origins, University of Chicago Press 2009 ' Since its publication in 1989, The Human Career has proved to be an indispensable tool in teaching human origins. This substantially revised third edition retains Richard G. Klein’s innovative approach while showing how cumulative discoveries and analyses over the past ten years have significantly refined our knowledge of human evolution. . . . In addition to outlining the broad pattern of human evolution, The Human Career details the kinds of data that support it. For the third edition, Klein has added numerous tables and a fresh citation system designed to enhance readability, especially for students. He has also included more than fifty new illustrations to help lay readers grasp the fossils, artifacts, and other discoveries on which specialists rely. With abundant references and hundreds of images, charts, and diagrams, this new edition is unparalleled in its usefulness for teaching human evolution.' 
Amazon   back

Klein (2009), Richard G, The Human Career: Human Biological and Cultural Origins, University of Chicago Press 2009 ' Since its publication in 1989, The Human Career has proved to be an indispensable tool in teaching human origins. This substantially revised third edition retains Richard G. Klein’s innovative approach while showing how cumulative discoveries and analyses over the past ten years have significantly refined our knowledge of human evolution. . . . In addition to outlining the broad pattern of human evolution, The Human Career details the kinds of data that support it. For the third edition, Klein has added numerous tables and a fresh citation system designed to enhance readability, especially for students. He has also included more than fifty new illustrations to help lay readers grasp the fossils, artifacts, and other discoveries on which specialists rely. With abundant references and hundreds of images, charts, and diagrams, this new edition is unparalleled in its usefulness for teaching human evolution.' 
Amazon   back

McGregor (2010), Richard, The Party: The Secret World of China's Communist Rulers, Harper 2010 Amazon editorial review: From Publishers Weekly 'McGregor, a journalist at the Financial Times, begins his revelatory and scrupulously reported book with a provocative comparison between China's Communist Party and the Vatican for their shared cultures of secrecy, pervasive influence, and impenetrability. The author pulls back the curtain on the Party to consider its influence over the industrial economy, military, and local governments. McGregor describes a system operating on a Leninist blueprint and deeply at odds with Western standards of management and transparency. Corruption and the tension between decentralization and national control are recurring themes--and are highlighted in the Party™s handling of the disturbing Sanlu case, in which thousands of babies were poisoned by contaminated milk powder. McGregor makes a clear and convincing case that the 1989 backlash against the Party, inexorable globalization, and technological innovations in communication have made it incumbent on the Party to evolve, and this smart, authoritative book provides valuable insight into how it has--and has not--met the challenge. ' Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. 
Amazon   back

Misner (1973), Charles W, and Kip S Thorne, John Archibald Wheeler, Gravitation, Freeman 1973 Jacket: 'Einstein's description of gravitation as curvature of spacetime led directly to that greatest of all predictions of his theory, that the universe itself is dynamic. Physics still has far to go to come to terms with this amazing fact and what it means for man and his relation to the universe. John Archibald Wheeler. . . . this is a book on Einstein's theory of gravity. . . . ' 
Amazon   back

Nielsen (2016), Michael A., and Isaac L Chuang, Quantum Computation and Quantum Information, Cambridge University Press 2016 Review: A rigorous, comprehensive text on quantum information is timely. The study of quantum information and computation represents a particularly direct route to understanding quantum mechanics. Unlike the traditional route to quantum mechanics via Schroedinger's equation and the hydrogen atom, the study of quantum information requires no calculus, merely a knowledge of complex numbers and matrix multiplication. In addition, quantum information processing gives direct access to the traditionally advanced topics of measurement of quantum systems and decoherence.' Seth Lloyd, Department of Quantum Mechanical Engineering, MIT, Nature 6876: vol 416 page 19, 7 March 2002. 
Amazon   back

Albert Einstein (1905), On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies, An english translation of the paper that founded Special relativity. 'Examples of this sort, [in the contemporary application of Maxwell's electrodynamics to moving bodies] together with the unsuccessful attempts to discover any motion of the earth relatively to the ``light medium,'' suggest that the phenomena of electrodynamics as well as of mechanics possess no properties corresponding to the idea of absolute rest. They suggest rather that, as has already been shown to the first order of small quantities, the same laws of electrodynamics and optics will be valid for all frames of reference for which the equations of mechanics hold good.' back

Andrew D. King, Tilo Ziehn, Matthew Chamberlain, Alexander R. Borowiak, Josephine R. Brown, Liam Cassidy, Andrea J. Dittus, Michael Grose, Nicola Maher, Seungmok Paik, Sarah E. Perkins-Kirkpatrick, and Aditya Sengupta , Exploring climate stabilisation at different global warming levels in ACCESS-ESM-1.5, ' Abstract Under the Paris Agreement, signatory nations aim to keep global warming well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels and preferably below 1.5 °C. This implicitly requires achieving net-zero or net-negative greenhouse gas emissions to ensure long-term global temperature stabilisation or reduction. Despite this requirement, there have been few analyses of stabilised climates, and there is a lack of model experiments to address our need for understanding the implications of the Paris Agreement. Here, we describe a new set of experiments using the Australian Community Climate and Earth System Simulator Earth system model (ACCESS-ESM-1.5) that enables the analysis of climate evolution under net-zero emissions, and we present initial results. Seven 1000-year-long simulations were run with global temperatures stabilising at levels in line with the Paris Agreement and at a range of higher global warming levels (GWLs). We provide an overview of the experimental design and use these simulations to demonstrate the consequences of delayed attainment of global net-zero carbon dioxide emissions. We show that there are substantial differences between transient and stabilising climate states and differences in stabilisation between GWLs. As the climate stabilises under net-zero emissions, we identify significant and robust changes in temperature and precipitation patterns including continued Southern Ocean warming and changes in regional precipitation trends. Changes under net-zero emissions differ greatly between regions, including contrasting trajectories of sea ice extent between the Arctic and Antarctic. We also examine the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and find evidence of reduced amplitude and frequency of ENSO events under climate stabilisation relative to projections under transient warming. An analysis at specific GWLs shows that significant regional changes continue for centuries after emission cessation and that these changes are stronger at higher GWLs. Our findings suggest substantial long-term climate changes are possible even under net-zero emission pathways. These simulations are available for use in the community and will hopefully motivate further experiments and analyses based on other Earth system models. back

Andrew King & Tilo Zehn (2024_31), Earth’s climate will keep changing long after humanity hits net-zero emissions. Our research shows why, ' The world is striving to reach net-zero emissions as we try to ward off dangerous global warming. But will getting to net-zero actually avert climate instability, as many assume? Our new study examined that question. Alarmingly, we found reaching net-zero in the next few decades will not bring an immediate end to the global heating problem. Earth’s climate will change for many centuries to come. And this continuing climate change will not be evenly spread. Australia would keep warming more than almost any other land area. For example if net-zero emissions are reached by 2060, the Australian city of Melbourne is still predicted to warm by 1°C after that point. But that’s not to say the world shouldn’t push to reach net-zero emissions as quickly as possible. The sooner we get there, the less damaging change the planet will experience in the long run.' back

Apophatic theology - Wikipedia, Apophatic theology - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'Apophatic theology (from Greek ἀπόφασις from ἀπόφημι - apophēmi, "to deny")—also known as negative theology or via negativa (Latin for "negative way")—is a theology that attempts to describe God, the Divine Good, by negation, to speak only in terms of what may not be said about the perfect goodness that is God. It stands in contrast with cataphatic theology.' back

Australian Patents Office, Patents: IP Australia, ' IP Australia is an Australian Government agency, responsible for administering intellectual property law in Australia. The agency manages the registration of patents, trade marks, registered designs and plant breeder's rights in Australia. The agency sits under the Department of Industry, Science and Resources.' back

Electric Lady Studios - Wikipedia, Electric Lady Studios - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' Electric Lady Studios is a recording studio in Greenwich Village, New York City. It was commissioned by rock musician Jimi Hendrix in 1968 and designed by architect John Storyk and audio engineer Eddie Kramer by 1970. Hendrix spent only ten weeks recording in Electric Lady before his death that year, but it quickly became a famed studio used by many top-selling recording artists from the 1970s onwards, including Led Zeppelin, Stevie Wonder, and David Bowie. back

Elvis Costello, Brilliant Mistake, ' Released on: 1986-02-01 He thought he was the King of America
Where they pour Coca Cola just like vintage wine
Now I try hard not to become hysterical
But I'm not sure if I am laughing or crying
I wish that I could push a button
And talk in the past and not the present tense
And watch this hurtin' feeling disappear
Like it was common sense
It was a fine idea at the time
Now it's a brilliant mistake

She said that she was working for the ABC News
It was as much of the alphabet as she knew how to use
Her perfume was unspeakable
It lingered in the air
Like her artificial laughter
Her mementos of affairs
"Oh" I said "I see you know him"
"Isn't that very fortunate for you"
And she showed me his calling card
He came third or fourth and there were more than one or two
He was a fine idea at the time
Now he's a brilliant mistake

He thought he was the King of America
But it was just a boulevard of broken dreams
A trick they do with mirrors and with chemicals
The words of love in whispers
And the acts of love in screams
I wish that I could push a button
And talk in the past and not the present tense
And watch this lovin' feeling disappear
Like it was common sense
I was a fine idea at the time
Now I'm a brilliant mistake
I was a fine idea at the time
Now I'm a brilliant mistake

Source: LyricFind Songwriter: Elvis Costello Producer: J. Henry Burnett Producer: Declan MacManus Producer: Larry Kalman Hirsch Producer, Associate Producer: David Miner Studio Personnel, Asst. Recording Engineer: William Jackson Studio Personnel, Asst. Recording Engineer: David Dominguez Alhert Associated Performer, Vocals: Elvis Costello Associated Performer, Acoustic Guitar: The Little Hand Of Concrete Associated Performer, Drums: Mickey Curry Associated Performer, Bass Guitar: Jerry Scheff Associated Performer, Electric Guitar, Accordion: T-Bone Wolk Associated Performer, Piano: T-Bone Wolk Associated Performer, Hammond Organ: Mitchell Froom Associated Performer, Harpsichord: Mitchell Froom Composer Lyricist: Declan MacManus back

Flora Salim (2024_10_29), What is AI superintelligence? Could it destroy humanity? And is it really almost here? , ' In 2014, the British philosopher Nick Bostrom published a book about the future of artificial intelligence (AI) with the ominous title Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies. It proved highly influential in promoting the idea that advanced AI systems – “superintelligences” more capable than humans – might one day take over the world and destroy humanity. . . . What exactly are they talking about? Broadly speaking, superintelligence is anything more intelligent than humans. But unpacking what that might mean in practice can get a bit tricky. In my view the most useful way to think about different levels and kinds of intelligence in AI was developed by US computer scientist Meredith Ringel Morris and her colleagues at Google. Their framework lists six levels of AI performance: no AI, emerging, competent, expert, virtuoso and superhuman. It also makes an important distinction between narrow systems, which can carry out a small range of tasks, and more general systems. . . . There is significant debate even about the capabilities of current systems. One notable 2023 paper argued GPT-4 showed “sparks of artificial general intelligence”. OpenAI says its latest language model, o1, can “perform complex reasoning” and “rivals the performance of human experts” on many benchmarks. However, a recent paper from Apple researchers found o1 and many other language models have significant trouble solving genuine mathematical reasoning problems. Their experiments show the outputs of these models seem to resemble sophisticated pattern-matching rather than true advanced reasoning. This indicates superintelligence is not as imminent as many have suggested. . . . Like many in the AI research community, I believe safe superintelligence is feasible. However, building it will be a complex and multidisciplinary task, and researchers will have to tread unbeaten paths to get there.' back

Geoff Edgers (2024_11_01), How Elvis Costello teamed up with T Bone Burnett to make one of his best albums, back

Geoff M Boucher (2024_10_29), Is Donald Trump a fascist? No – he’s a new brand of authoritarian, ' Is Donald Trump a fascist? General Mark Milley, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under Trump, thinks so. Trump is “fascist to the core,” he warns. John Kelly, Trump’s former chief of staff, agrees. So does Vice President Kamala Harris, his opponent in this year’s presidential election. But political commentators who have a grounding in history are not so sure. Writing in The Guardian, Sidney Blumenthal calls Trump “Hitlerian” and his rallies “Naziesque”, but stops short of calling him a fascist. . . . Authoritarians like Putin must govern through the state, not the people, because, as social psychologist Bob Altemeyer explains, they ultimately represent a tiny minority of the population. Military dictatorships rule through the armed forces. The fascist regimes of 20th century Europe were ultimately police states. They relied on converting paramilitary death squads into secret police (like the Gestapo) and state security (the SS in Nazi Germany). The new authoritarians, however, govern through the transformation of the civil service into their own personal political machines. . . . Trump has been following this new authoritarian playbook for nearly his entire political career. These are the three steps he is taking to lay the groundwork for authoritarian rule: 1. Undermine electoral integrity; 2. Weaken the legislative ad judicial branches; 3. Attack their enemies . . . It is about time to call things by their true names. Trump has the anti-democratic tendencies of a new authoritarian – and, as his opponents point out, he seems likely to put his words into actions if elected a second time.' back

John F. Fink, Editor Emeritus, The Criterion, July 29, 2016: 20th-century Church: Pope Pius X condemns modernism, ' On July 3, 1907, Pius X had the Holy Office publish a decree that condemned 65 modernist propositions, and outlined ways to keep modernism out of seminaries and schools. Two months later, the pope issued the encyclical “Pascendi” in which he tried to impose a systematic destruction of modernism. He decreed that all clergy must take an oath disavowing modernism. To carry out this suppression, Pius X ordered every diocese to set up a “vigilance committee” to root out any signs of modernism. These committees were to do their work in absolute secrecy. Anyone who disagreed with the condemnation of modernism was to be excommunicated. The Vatican also set up a network of spies in some dioceses who kept their work secret and communicated in code. It seemed like a return to the days of the Inquisition. This had a devastating effect on Catholic scholarship. Seminaries were forced to teach a biblical fundamentalism. Scholars were forbidden to question whether Moses wrote the first five books of the Old Testament (he didn’t), whether Isaiah had more than one author (it did), whether Matthew was the first Gospel written (it wasn’t), or whether Paul wrote the Letter to the Hebrews (he didn’t). Those who supported Pius X called themselves “integral Catholics.” They began to search out for denunciation those whom they considered less than Catholics. Among those denounced were two future popes—Benedict XV and John XXIII.' Fortunately for the Church, the anti-modernist witch-hunt didn’t last past the death of Pius X in 1914. His successor, Benedict XV, condemned integralism in his first encyclical, and dismissed integralists within the Curia. But the reputation of the Church among scholars suffered well beyond that time. back

John McDermott, Electric Lady Studios: A Jimi Hendrix Vision, ' Legendary guitarist Jimi Hendrix converts a New York City nightclub into Electric Lady Studios. It soon becomes home to such celebrated artists as Stevie Wonder, the Rolling Stones, John Lennon, David Bowie and more.' back

Jongkil Jay Leong et al (2024_07_01_, POSTER: Addressing the Privacy by Use Challenges in Verifiable Credential based Digital Wallets, ' Abstract The concept of Verifiable Credentials (VC) has emerged as a viable alternative to federated identity systems and can offer greater levels of control and ownership to users over their Digital Identity. However, the inability of users to make optimal decisions in relation to the use of VC results in privacy risks. To address this gap in VC technology, we present game-theoretic models for optimising the privacy of users and simultaneously ensuring minimum disclosure of PII in line with privacy safeguards around CDR and GDPR expectations around anonymity and unlinkability and demonstrate these properties through a digital credential wallet (DCW). The developed technology will deliver a novel DCW which embeds decision-making ability to quantify, benchmark and recommend the optimal usage of credentials that are held within the DCW. back

Lawrence Bamblett (2024_10_25), Friday essay: why it’s time to move beyond truth-telling to Indigenous resurgence, ' The events at Burrowmunditroy happened a little more than a decade before the University of Melbourne was founded in 1853. Now Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff are leading the university through a process of truth-telling to give a full and accurate account of its more than 150-year history. Dhoombak Goobgoowana, a phrase from the local Woi Wurrung language that translates as “truth-telling”, is the first volume to be published from this process. The book is a thorough account of how the university shamefully benefitted from racism, murder, theft and grave robbing. Edited by Ross L. Jones, James Waghorne and Marcia Langton, it collects essays by academics across a range of disciplines. Their contributions are organised into four themed sections. Place shows the university’s connection to stolen land, its disregard for Aboriginal landscapes and plans for the future of its campuses. Human Remains describes the university’s efforts to repatriate bodies it stole from Aboriginal graves. Settler-Colonial Knowledge and Indigenous Knowledge show a recent shift within the university toward a growing understanding and appreciation of Indigenous knowledges. The book widens its view beyond the university. Not only does it engage with other institutions and museum collections; it incorporates a broader discussion about how the university contributed to and supported wider societal racism. The editors say the book is about how race has been constructed by academics, who wielded their power against Aboriginal people. They call for an apology for the treatment of Aboriginal people as well as “a permanent place for truth-telling and correcting the record” on campus.' back

LCCR, Low Carbon and Climate Resilience, ' Department of Economic and Social Affairs Sustainable Development back

M. J. C. Warren (2024_10_28), Kamala Harris is being called ‘Jezebel’ – a Biblical expert explains why it’s a menacing slur, ' Jezebel has long been used as a slur against women who are considered too self-confident, too independent or too close to power – particularly when they happen to be Black. From Beyonce to Nikki Minaj, US vice-president and Democratic Presidential candidate Kamala Harris is only the latest in a long line of women of colour to be on the receiving end of the slur. But beneath the use of Jezebel’s name as a way to paint powerful women as promiscuous lies something even more sinister: the threat of sexual violence for those who will not submit to white patriarchal control. . . . The Bible frequently paints female characters as unacceptably sexual, or threatens them with sexual violence, in order to maintain its patriarchal hierarchy. For example, as biblical scholars such as Renita J. Weems have pointed out, Hosea 1-3 uses the metaphor of God as (abusive) husband and the people of Israel as their (abused) adulterous wife in order to convince the Israelites to worship God again. . . . Femicide is an ongoing crisis. A woman is killed by a man every three days in the UK and three women are killed by men every day in North America. Sexual violence against women is also rampant and is a weapon in the patriarchal arsenal for subduing independent women. Calling a powerful woman like Harris a Jezebel, then, isn’t just an offensive slur – it carries with it the persistent threat of racist violence and sexual assault. back

Mary, Mother of Jesus - Wikipedia, Mary, Mother of Jesus - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under various titles such as virgin or queen, many of them mentioned in the Litany of Loreto. The Eastern and Oriental Orthodox, Catholic, Anglican, and Lutheran churches believe that Mary, as mother of Jesus, is the Mother of God. The Church of the East historically regarded her as Christotokos, a term still used in Assyrian Church of the East liturgy. Other Protestant views on Mary vary, with some holding her to have lesser status. She has the highest position in Islam among all women and is mentioned numerous times in the Quran, including in a chapter named after her. She is also revered in the Baháʼí Faith and the Druze Faith.' back

Nate Loewentheil (2024_10_26), The Push to Fire Lina Khan Reveals a Serious Problem in Silicon Valley, ' Now, Amazon controls something like 40 percent of online retail in the United States. Google controls 90 percent of the global search market. Meta owns three of the four largest social media platforms. And already Amazon, Meta and Google, along with Microsoft, are positioned to control the future of artificial intelligence. . . . In 2017, Lina Khan, then a student, identified the problem in an influential law review article that argued that Big Tech was amassing market power in ways that failed to register in the current legal regime. Appointed chair of the Federal Trade Commission four years later, she immediately set about pushing for a return to the more expansive antitrust jurisprudence of earlier eras. . . . You would think that venture capitalists — who purport to be in the business of displacing incumbents — might support the F.T.C. Instead, many have attacked. Ms. Khan is “not a rational human being,” said Vinod Khosla, founder of Khosla Ventures. Reid Hoffman, an entrepreneur and venture capitalist who sits on the board of Microsoft, has argued that Ms. Khan is trying to “dismantle companies” and called on a future President Harris to replace her. . . . Instead, I believe the attacks on Ms. Khan and the F.T.C. are an effort to protect the few very large technology companies that dominate markets. . . . A robust federal antitrust program may be the only force that can liberate technology markets from the hold of Big Tech and restore venture capitalists to their true calling: advancing the cycle of innovation that powers American capitalism.' back

Ofir Hovav (2024_10_27), 'In a Couple of Years There Will Be Nothing in Israel, Neither Arab nor Jewish. No Art and No Culture', ' Artist Fouad Agbaria's visibility as a Palestinian in an Israeli space is a constant preoccupation expressed in his work. Ever since the war broke out, he has been feeling that the environment has grown even more radical. . .. It should be clear to every Israeli citizen, says Agbaria, that "In a couple of years there will be nothing here, neither Arab nor Jewish. If today they do not allow Arabs to speak, tomorrow it will be left-wingers and then everybody else, everybody, and there will be no art here and no culture and no nothing. Just religion and that's it. We are in a third world country. A full-on dictatorship, for real. At any moment they can come knocking at your door with the excuse of protecting security and the emergency law, that allows them to do more or less as they please and to abuse all your rights as a citizen of a democratic country. It's lying to your face".' back

Pope Pius X (1907), Encyclical: Pascendi dominici gregis: On the doctrines of the modernists, '2. That We make no delay in this matter is rendered necessary especially by the fact that the partisans of error are to be sought not only among the Church's open enemies; they lie hid, a thing to be deeply deplored and feared, in her very bosom and heart, and are the more mischievous, the less conspicuously they appear. We allude, Venerable Brethren, to many who belong to the Catholic laity, nay, and this is far more lamentable, to the ranks of the priesthood itself, who, feigning a love for the Church, lacking the firm protection of philosophy and theology, nay more, thoroughly imbued with the poisonous doctrines taught by the enemies of the Church, and lost to all sense of modesty, vaunt themselves as reformers of the Church; and, forming more boldly into line of attack, assail all that is most sacred in the work of Christ, not sparing even the person of the Divine Redeemer, whom, with sacrilegious daring, they reduce to a simple, mere man.' back

The Movement and the Madman - Wikipedia, The Movement and the "Madman" - Wikipedia the free encyclopedia, 'The Movement and the "Madman" (2023) is a feature documentary directed by Stephen Talbot. The documentary covers the 1969 showdown over the war in Vietnam between the peace movement in the United States and President Richard Nixon and National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger Based on interviews with antiwar activists, historians, and former Kissinger aides, the film shows how two enormous demonstrations in the fall of 1969 pressured Nixon to cancel what he called his “madman” plans to drastically escalate the war, including threats to use nuclear weapons.' . . . Some in the film, including Nixon’s personal aide Stephen Bull, argue that Nixon’s threats to use nuclear weapons in Vietnam were only a bluff meant to intimidate his adversaries, but former RAND analyst and nuclear war planner Daniel Ellsberg states, “The bottom line is I believe we would have had the first nuclear attacks since Nagasaki in 1969 had it not been for the October 15th demonstrations and the demonstrations in November".' back