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Darwin, Charles, The Voyage of the Beagle: Charles Darwin's Journal of Researches, Penguin Classics: Abridged edition 1989 Book description: '"The Voyage of the Beagle" is Charles Darwin's account of the momentous voyage which set in motion the current of intellectual events leading to "The Origin of Species". This "Penguin Classics" edition is edited with an introduction and notes by Janet Brown and Michael Neve. When HMS Beagle sailed out of Devonport on 27 December 1831, Charles Darwin was twenty-two and setting off on the voyage of a lifetime. His journal, here reprinted in a shortened form, shows a naturalist making patient observations concerning geology, natural history, people, places and events. Volcanoes in the Galapagos, the Gossamer spider of Patagonia and the Australasian coral reefs - all are to be found in these extraordinary writings.'
Amazon back

Otto, Rudolf, and John W. Harvey (translator), The Idea of the Holy, Oxford University Press, USA 1958 Amazon customer review: 'Traditional theology has usually concerned itself with doctrine, with focus on the rational aspects of God. Otto, following the tradition of mystics, gave careful consideration to an oft-neglected aspect of theology: the non-rational aspects of God. In doing so, he coined the word "numinous" to depict that which transcends or eludes comprehension in rational terms. It suggests that which is holy, awesome, and 'wholly other.' He also applies the expression "mysterium tremendum" to the numinous, describing that which is hidden, esoteric, beyond conception or understanding, awe-inspiring, fear-instilling or uncanny, an absolute overpoweringness of an ineffable transcendent Reality.' David Graham
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Scholem, Gershom G, Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism, Schocken Books 1995 'Gershom Scholem was professor of Jewish mysticism at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem until his death in 1982. He is also the author of The Messianic Idea in Judaism, On the Kabbalah and Its Symbolism, On the Mystical Shape of the Godhead and Zohar.

"A crucially vital work in the long history of Jewish esoteric spirituality. Aside from its intrinsic importance, the book's influence has been enormous, and is likely to continue all but indefinitely."--Harold Bloom, Yale University'
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Papers

Awschalom, David D., et al, "Qunatum Spintronics: Engineering and Manipulating Atom-Like Spins in Semiconductors", Science, 339, 6124, 8 March 2013, page 1174[1179. 'ABSTRACT The past decade has seen remarkable progress in isolating and controlling quantum coherence using charges and spins in semiconductors. Quantum control has been established at room temperature, and electron spin coherence times now exceed several seconds, a nine–order-of-magnitude increase in coherence compared with the first semiconductor qubits. These coherence times rival those traditionally found only in atomic systems, ushering in a new era of ultracoherent spintronics. We review recent advances in quantum measurements, coherent control, and the generation of entangled states and describe some of the challenges that remain for processing quantum information with spins in semiconductors.'. back

Monroe, C., J. Kim, "Scaling the Ion Trap Quantum Processor", Science, 339, 6124, 8 March 2013, page 1164-1169. 'ABSTRACT Trapped atomic ions are standards for quantum information processing, serving as quantum memories, hosts of quantum gates in quantum computers and simulators, and nodes of quantum communication networks. Quantum bits based on trapped ions enjoy a rare combination of attributes: They have exquisite coherence properties, they can be prepared and measured with nearly 100% efficiency, and they are readily entangled with each other through the Coulomb interaction or remote photonic interconnects. The outstanding challenge is the scaling of trapped ions to hundreds or thousands of qubits and beyond, at which scale quantum processors can outperform their classical counterparts in certain applications. We review the latest progress and prospects in that effort, with the promise of advanced architectures and new technologies, such as microfabricated ion traps and integrated photonics.'. back

Stern, Ady, Netanial H Lindner, "Topological Quantum Computation = From Basis Concepts to First Experiments", Science, 339, 6124, 8 March 2013, page 1179-1184. 'ABSTRACT Quantum computation requires controlled engineering of quantum states to perform tasks that go beyond those possible with classical computers. Topological quantum computation aims to achieve this goal by using non-Abelian quantum phases of matter. Such phases allow for quantum information to be stored and manipulated in a nonlocal manner, which protects it from imperfections in the implemented protocols and from interactions with the environment. Recently, substantial progress in this field has been made on both theoretical and experimental fronts. We review the basic concepts of non-Abelian phases and their topologically protected use in quantum information processing tasks. We discuss different possible realizations of these concepts in experimentally available solid-state systems, including systems hosting Majorana fermions, their recently proposed fractional counterparts, and non-Abelian quantum Hall states.'. back

Links

Abraham Abulafia - Wikipedia Abraham Abulafia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 'Abraham ben Samuel Abulafia, the founder of the school of "Prophetic Kabbalah", was born in Zaragoza, Spain, in 1240, and died sometime after 1291, in Comino, Maltese archipelago.' back

Bible: Exodus Exodus 20:3 'You shall have no other gods before me.' back

Bible: Ezechiel Ezechiel, from the Holy Bible, King James version ' 1: Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the river of Chebar, that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God. 2: In the fifth day of the month, which was the fifth year of king Jehoiachin's captivity, 3: The word of the LORD came expressly unto Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and the hand of the LORD was there upon him.' back

Bible: Psalms Psalm 34:9 'Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.' back

Book of Enoch - Wikipedia Book of Enoch - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 'The Book of Enoch (also 1 Enoch[1]) is an ancient Jewish religious work, traditionally ascribed to Enoch, the great-grandfather of Noah. It is not part of the biblical canon as used by Jews, apart from Beta Israel. It is regarded as canonical by the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church, but no other Christian group. back

Hans Kung A Vatican Spring 'THE Arab Spring has shaken a whole series of autocratic regimes. With the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, might not something like that be possible in the Roman Catholic Church as well — a Vatican Spring? . . . To this day the Curia, which in its current form is likewise a product of the 11th century, is the chief obstacle to any thorough reform of the Catholic Church, to any honest ecumenical understanding with the other Christian churches and world religions, and to any critical, constructive attitude toward the modern world.' back

James R Davila Hekhalot Literature and Shamanism 'The Hekhalot literature is a bizarre conglomeration of Jewish esoteric and revelatory texts produced sometime between late antiquity and the early Middle Ages. The documents have strong connections with earlier apocalyptic and gnostic literature and claim to describe the self-induced spiritual experiences of the "descenders to the chariot" that permitted these men to view Ezekiel's chariot vision (the Merkavah) for themselves, as well as to gain control of angels and a perfect mastery of Torah through theurgy. This material is of particular interest for the study of divine mediation and mystical/revelatory experiences, because the Hekhalot documents claim to detail actual practices used to reach trance states, gain revelations, and interact with divine mediators.' back

John Preskill Lecture Notes on Quantum Computation Indistinguishable particles in two dimensions that are neither bosons nor fermions are called anyons. Anyons are a fascinating theoretical construct, but do they have anything to do with the physics of real systems that can be studied in the laboratory? The remarkable answer is: “Yes!” back

Merkabah mysticism - Wikipedia Merkabah mysticism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 'Merkabah/Merkavah mysticism (or Chariot mysticism) is a school of early Jewish mysticism, c.100 BCE - 1000 CE, centered on visions such as found in the Book of Ezekiel chapter 1, or in the hekhalot ("palaces") literature, concerning stories of ascents to the heavenly palaces and the Throne of God.' back

Nyquist-Shannon sampling theorem - Wikipedia Nyquist-Shannon sampling theorem - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 'The Nyquist–Shannon sampling theorem, named after Harry Nyquist and Claude Shannon, is a fundamental result in the field of information theory, in particular telecommunications and signal processing. Sampling is the process of converting a signal (for example, a function of continuous time or space) into a numeric sequence (a function of discrete time or space). Shannon's version of the theorem states:

If a function x(t) contains no frequencies higher than B hertz, it is completely determined by giving its ordinates at a series of points spaced 1/(2B) seconds apart.' back

Persona - Wikipedia Persona - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 'A persona (plural personae or personas), in the word's everyday usage, is a social role or a character played by an actor. The word is derived from Latin, where it originally referred to a theatrical mask.[citation needed] The Latin word probably derived from the Etruscan word "phersu", with the same meaning, and that from the Greek πρόσωπον (prosōpon). Its meaning in the latter Roman period changed to indicate a "character" of a theatrical performance or court of law, when it became apparent that different individuals could assume the same role, and legal attributes such as rights, powers, and duties followed the role. The same individuals as actors could play different roles, each with its own legal attributes, sometimes even in the same court appearance.' back

Rainbow Nation - Wikipedia Rainbow Nation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 'Rainbow Nation is a term coined by Archbishop Desmond Tutu to describe post-apartheid South Africa, after South Africa's first fully democratic election in 1994.' back

Van Morrison Into the Mystic Comment: 'sq8188u 4 days ago Van Morrison is truly one of the greats. That unimmitable style, the strain in his voice, that sweet, edgy baritone. Life is more bearable and perhaps explanable having Morrison to ease the anguish.' back

Notes

Sunday 31 March 2002

Monday 1 April 2002

Tuesday 2 April 2002

Wednesday 3 April 2002

Thursday 4 April 2002

Friday 5 April 2002

Saturday 6 April 2002

Further reading

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