Brillouin, Leon, Science and Information Theory, Academic 1962 Introduction: 'A new territory was conquered for the sciences when the theory of information was recently developed. . . . Physics enters the picture when we discover a remarkable likeness between information and entropy. . . . The efficiency of an experiment can be defined as the ratio of information obtained to the associated increase in entropy. This efficiency is always smaller than unity, according to the generalised Carnot principle. . . . ' 
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Hawking, Steven W, and G F R Ellis, The Large Scale Structure of Space-Time, Cambridge UP 1975 Preface: Einstein's General Theory of Relativity . . . leads to two remarkable predictions about the universe: first that the final fate of massive stars is to collapse behind an event horizon to form a 'black hole' which will contain a singularity; and secondly that there is a singularity in our past which constitutes, in some sense, a beginning to our universe. Our discussion is principally aimed at developing these two results.' 
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Jauch, Jozef Maria, and (Enz and Mehra eds), Physical Reality and Mathematical Description, D Reidel Publishing Co 1974 'This collection of essays is intended as a tribute to Josef Maria Jauch on his sixtieth birthday. Through his scientific work Jauch has justly earned an honoured name in the community of theo­retical physicists. Through his teaching and a long line of dis­tinguished collaborators he has put an imprint on modern mathematical physics. A number of Jauch's scientific collaborators, friends and admirers have contributed to this collection, and these essays reflect to some extent Jauch's own wide interests in the vast do­ main of theoretical physics.' 
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Khinchin, Aleksandr Yakovlevich, Mathematical Foundations of Information Theory (translated by P A Silvermann and M D Friedman), Dover 1957 Jacket: 'The first comprehensive introduction to information theory, this book places the work begun by Shannon and continued by McMillan, Feinstein and Khinchin on a rigorous mathematical basis. For the first time, mathematicians, statisticians, physicists, cyberneticists and communications engineers are offered a lucid, comprehensive introduction to this rapidly growing field.' 
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Lonergan, Bernard J F, Insight: A Study of Human Understanding (Collected Works of Bernard Lonergan : Volume 3), University of Toronto Press 1992 '. . . Bernard Lonergan's masterwork. Its aim is nothing less than insight into insight itself, an understanding of understanding' 
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McCullough, David, 1776, Simon & Schuster 2005 Amazon Editorial Review: 'Esteemed historian David McCullough covers the military side of the momentous year of 1776 with characteristic insight and a gripping narrative, adding new scholarship and a fresh perspective to the beginning of the American Revolution. It was a turbulent and confusing time. As British and American politicians struggled to reach a compromise, events on the ground escalated until war was inevitable. McCullough writes vividly about the dismal conditions that troops on both sides had to endure, including an unusually harsh winter, and the role that luck and the whims of the weather played in helping the colonial forces hold off the world's greatest army. He also effectively explores the importance of motivation and troop morale--a tie was as good as a win to the Americans, while anything short of overwhelming victory was disheartening to the British, who expected a swift end to the war. The redcoat retreat from Boston, for example, was particularly humiliating for the British, while the minor American victory at Trenton was magnified despite its limited strategic importance. Some of the strongest passages in 1776 are the revealing and well-rounded portraits of the Georges on both sides of the Atlantic. King George III, so often portrayed as a bumbling, arrogant fool, is given a more thoughtful treatment by McCullough, who shows that the king considered the colonists to be petulant subjects without legitimate grievances--an attitude that led him to underestimate the will and capabilities of the Americans. At times he seems shocked that war was even necessary. The great Washington lives up to his considerable reputation in these pages, and McCullough relies on private correspondence to balance the man and the myth, revealing how deeply concerned Washington was about the Americans' chances for victory, despite his public optimism. Perhaps more than any other man, he realized how fortunate they were to merely survive the year, and he willingly lays the responsibility for their good fortune in the hands of God rather than his own. Enthralling and superbly written, 1776 is the work of a master historian.' --Shawn Carkonen 
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Misner, 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. . . . ' 
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Reynolds, Vernon, and Ralph Tanner, The Social Ecology of Religion, Oxford University Press 1995 Jacket: 'No society exists in which religion does not play a significant part in the lives of ordinary people. Yet the functions of the world's diverse religions have never been fully described and analyzed, nor has the impact of adherence to those religions on the health and survival of the populations that practice them. . . . this extraordinary text reveals how religions in all parts of the world meet the needs of ordinary people and frequently play an important part in helping them to manage their affairs.' 
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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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Wilkinson, Toby, Writings from Ancient Egypt, Penguin Classics 2016 Jacket: In ancient Egypt words had magical power. Inscribed on tombs and temple wals, coffins and statues, or inked onto papyri, hieroglyphs give us a unique insight into the life of the Egyptian mind. . . . 'back

Chaitin, Gregory J, "Randomness and Mathematical Proof", Scientific American, 232, 5, May 1975, page 47-52. 'Although randomness can be precisely defined and can even be measured, a given number cannot be proved random. This enigma establishes a limit in what is possible in mathematics'. back

Szilard, Leo, "On the decrease of entropy in a thermodynamic system by the intervention of intelligent beings", Behavioural Science, 9, 4, October 1964, page . 'In memory of Leo Szilard ... we present an English translation of his classial paper Uber die Entropieverminderung in einem thermodynamischen System bei Eingriffen intelligenter Wesen which appeared inthe Zeitschrift fur Physic 1929, 53, 840-56. This is one of the earliest, if not the earliest paper, in which the relations of physical entropy to information (in the sense of modern mathematical theory of communication) were rigorously demonstrated and in which Maxwell's famous demon was successfully exorcised: a milestone in the integration of physical and cognitive concepts. ' Reprinted in Feld, Bernard T, The Collected Works of Leo Szilard: Scientific Papers, The MIT Press 1972 Amazon  back . back

Asymptotic equipartition property - Wikipedia, Asymptotic equipartition property - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'In information theory, the asymptotic equipartition property (AEP) is a general property of the output samples of a stochastic source. It is fundamental to the concept of typical set used in theories of compression. Roughly speaking, the theorem states that although there are many series of results that may be produced by a random process, the one actually produced is most probably from a loosely defined set of outcomes that all have approximately the same chance of being the one actually realized. (This is a consequence of the law of large numbers and ergodic theory.) Although there are individual outcomes which have a higher probability than any outcome in this set, the vast number of outcomes in the set almost guarantees that the outcome will come from the set.' back

Borel set - Wikipedia, Borel set - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'In mathematics, a Borel set is any set in a topological space that can be formed from open sets (or, equivalently, from closed sets) through the operations of countable union, countable intersection, and relative complement. Borel sets are named after Émile Borel.' back

Christopher Mosely, Bose Statistics, 'In 1924 the Indian physicist Satyendra Bose derived the quantum statistics of photons by assuming them as indistinguishable particles. Albert Einstein was fascinated by this idea and applied it to atoms. The fundamental difference is, that for atoms the particle number is conserved (if they are trapped in a box or a magnetic field) whereas photons can randomly be emitted and absorbed (e.g. from the walls of a box). Particles behaving in accordance to Bose's statistics are today called bosons (in contrast to fermions, which are described by "Fermi-Dirac statistics").' back

Darren Curnoe, Lucy’s shattered bones prove our ancestors lived a dangerous life in the trees, 'A ground breaking new study of the bones of a 3.2 million year old human ancestor (‘Lucy’) has revealed that she died from the crushing impact of a fall from high in the trees. This exciting research published this week in the journal Nature adds great weight to the idea that Lucy and her Australopithecine kin spent much of their life in the trees, in addition to walking on the ground, an idea which has been controversial up till now.' back

Entropy (information theory) - Wikipedia, Entropy (information theory) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'In information theory, entropy is a measure of the uncertainty associated with a random variable. In this context, the term usually refers to the Shannon entropy, which quantifies the expected value of the information contained in a message, usually in units such as bits. In this context, a 'message' means a specific realization of the random variable. Equivalently, the Shannon entropy is a measure of the average information content one is missing when one does not know the value of the random variable. The concept was introduced by Claude E. Shannon in his 1948 paper "A Mathematical Theory of Communication".' back

Entropy in thermodynamics and information theory - Wikipedia, Entropy in thermodynamics and information theory - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'There are close parallels between the mathematical expressions for the thermodynamic entropy, usually denoted by S, of a physical system in the statistical thermodynamics established by Ludwig Boltzmann and J. Willard Gibbs in the 1870s, and the information-theoretic entropy, usually expressed as H, of Claude Shannon and Ralph Hartley developed in the 1940s. Shannon, although not initially aware of this similarity, commented on it upon publicizing information theory in A Mathematical Theory of Communication. This article explores what links there are between the two concepts, and how far they can be regarded as connected.' back

Eugene Wigner, The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences, 'The first point is that the enormous usefulness of mathematics in the natural sciences is something bordering on the mysterious and that there is no rational explanation for it. Second, it is just this uncanny usefulness of mathematical concepts that raises the question of the uniqueness of our physical theories.' back

Sic et Non - Wikipedia, Sic et Non - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'Sic et Non, an early scholastic text whose title translates from Medieval Latin as "Yes and No", was written by Peter Abelard. In the work, Abélard juxtaposes apparently contradictory quotations from the Church Fathers on many of the traditional topics of Christian theology. In the Prologue, Abélard outlines rules for reconciling these contradictions, the most important of which is noting the multiple significations of a single word. However, Abélard does not himself apply these rules in the body of the Sic et non, which has led scholars to conclude that the work was meant as an exercise book for students in applying dialectic (logic) to theology.' back

The Gruen Transfer - Wikipedia, The Gruen Transfer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'The Gruen Transfer is an Australian television program focusing on advertising, which debuted on ABC1 on 28 May 2008 and has run for four seasons. The program is hosted by Wil Anderson with a panel of advertising industry experts (Wil Anderson is joined weekly by panellists Russel Howcroft of George Patterson Y&R and Todd Sampson of Leo Burnett) and is produced by Andrew Denton's production company, Zapruder's Other Films. The title refers to the Gruen transfer, the response to designed disorientation cues in retail environments.' back

John Lennon, Imagine, back

Leo Szilard, On the decrease in entropy in a thermodynamics system by the intervention of intelligent beings, 'The objective of the investigation is to find the conditions which apparently allow the construction of a perpetual-motion machine of the second kind, if one permits an intelligent being to intervene in a thermodynamic system. When such beings make measurements, they make the system behave in a manner distinctly different from the way a mechanical system behaves when left to itself. We show that it is a sort of memory faculty, manifested by a system where measurements occur that might cause a permanent decrease in entropy and thus a violation of the Second law of Thermodynamics, were it not for the fact that the measurements themselves are necessarily accompanied by a production of entropy.' back

Meliorism - Wikipedia, Meliorism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'Meliorism is an idea in metaphysical thinking holding that progress is a real concept leading to an improvement of the world. It holds that humans can, through their interference with processes that would otherwise be natural, produce an outcome which is an improvement over the aforementioned natural one. Meliorism, as a conception of the person and society, is at the foundation of contemporary liberal democracy and human rights and is a basic component of liberalism.' back

Monica Tan, Yamandhu marang? Langiage does not belong to people, it belongs to country, 'Language was just one aspect of Wiradjuri culture that was taking a severe battering. Christian missionaries condemned their spirituality as heathenism. For more than 40,000 years they had honed sustainable living on the land and yet were called “savages” and “uncivilised” by the pastoralists. Forced off their traditional country and hustled on to reserves, they were considered a vanquished people.' back

Nicholas Wade, World's Oldest Fossils Found in Greenland, 'Geologists have discovered in Greenland evidence for ancient life in rocks that are 3.7 billion years old. The find, if confirmed, would make these fossils the oldest on Earth and may change scientific understanding of the origins of life.' back

Nicky Woolf, North Dakota oil pipeline protestors stand their ground" "This is sacred land', 'The Cannonball river flows into the mighty Missouri about 50 miles due south of Bismarck, North Dakota. At its confluence, a protest encampment – really a series of camps, on both sides of the Cannonball, strewn with kitchens and canteens, portable toilets, stabling for horses, sweat lodges and tall teepees, and stands selling indigenous art – has sprung up. The inhabitants are there to block the planned $3.7bn Dakota Access Pipeline, which would transport fracked crude from the Bakken oil field in North Dakota to a refinery near Chicago.' back

Niels Bohr, Niels Bohr - Wikiquote, 'Two sorts of truth: profound truths recognized by the fact that the opposite is also a profound truth, in contrast to trivialities where opposites are obviously absurd.' As quoted by his son Hans Bohr in "My Father", published in Niels Bohr: His Life and Work (1967), p. 328 back

Pauli exclusion principle - Wikipedia, Pauli exclusion principle - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'The Pauli exclusion principle is the quantum mechanical principle that no two identical fermions (particles with half-integer spin) may occupy the same quantum state simultaneously. A more rigorous statement is that the total wave function for two identical fermions is anti-symmetric with respect to exchange of the particles. The principle was formulated by Austrian physicist Wolfgang Pauli in 1925.' back

Peter King, Peter Abelard (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy), 'Peter Abelard (1079–21 April 1142) . . . was the pre-eminent philosopher and theologian of the twelfth century. The teacher of his generation, he was also famous as a poet and a musician. Prior to the recovery of Aristotle, he brought the native Latin tradition in philosophy to its highest pitch.' back

Philip Soos, Private tax is the great unspoken of neoliberal philosophy. And the rich are the winners, 'The debate in Australia is curious given what is not discussed: private taxes. These are sanctioned by government policy (implicitly or explicitly) and levied by market participants upon others. Private taxes come in three forms: intellectual property rights (IPRs), rising asset prices and negative externalities. Unlike public taxes, they are not labelled as taxes, even though they have the same economic welfare effects.. . . One study placed uncorrected negative externalities at 34% of US GDP in 1994. A more recent estimate is a whopping $US7.3tn or 13% of global GDP in 2009. A 1998 report demonstrated the total social cost of a gallon of gas was between $US5.60 and $US15.14, rather than the then market price of $US1.' back

Samuel Johnson, Wikiquote, 'No man but a blockhead ever wrote except for money. April 5, 1776, p. 302.' back

Shakira, Hips Don't Lie, back

Susan Harris Rimmer, What does the G20 actually do?, 'Presumably, you have now read all about what on earth the G20 is, and you care deeply. But what does it actually do? The aim of the G20 is clear. The 2009 G20 Framework for Strong, Sustainable, and Balanced Growth states that members will “promote balanced and sustainable economic development in order to narrow development imbalances and reduce poverty”.' back

Taylor Swift, The New Romantics, 'The best people in life are free back

Transfinite numbers - Wikipedia, Transfinite numbers - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'Transfinite numbers are cardinal numbers or ordinal numbers that are larger than all finite numbers, yet not necessarily absolutely infinite. The term transfinite was coined by Georg Cantor, who wished to avoid some of the implications of the word infinite in connection with these objects, which were nevertheless not finite. Few contemporary workers share these qualms; it is now accepted usage to refer to transfinite cardinals and ordinals as "infinite". However, the term "transfinite" also remains in use.' back

William Wan, Inside the Republican creation of the North Carolina voting bill dubbed the 'monster law', 'Last month, a three-judge federal appeals panel struck down the North Carolina law, calling it “the most restrictive voting law North Carolina has seen since the era of Jim Crow.” Drawing from the emails and other evidence, the 83-page ruling charged that Republican lawmakers had targeted “African Americans with almost surgical precision.” ' back

World Health Organization, Violence against women: Intimate partner and sexual violence against women, 'Violence against women - particularly intimate partner violence and sexual violence - are major public health problems and violations of women's human rights. Recent global prevalence figures indicate that about 1 in 3 (35%) of women worldwide have experienced either physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence or non-partner sexual violence in their lifetime. Most of this violence is intimate partner violence. Worldwide, almost one third (30%) of women who have been in a relationship report that they have experienced some form of physical and/or sexual violence by their intimate partner.' back