Acemoglu, Daron, and James Robinson, Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity and Poverty, Crown Business 2012 "Some time ago a little-known Scottish philosopher wrote a book on what makes nations succeed and what makes them fail. The Wealth of Nations is still being read today. With the same perspicacity and with the same broad historical perspective, Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson have retackled this same question for our own times. Two centuries from now our great-great- . . . -great grandchildren will be, similarly, reading Why Nations Fail." —George Akerlof, Nobel laureate in economics, 2001  
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Ashby, W Ross, An Introduction to Cybernetics, Methuen 1956, 1964 'This book is intended to provide [an introduction to cybernetics]. It starts from common-place and well understood concepts, and proceeds step by step to show how these concepts can be made exact, and how they can be developed until they lead into such subjects as feedback, stability, regulation, ultrastability, information, coding, noise and other cybernetic topics.' 
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Chaitin, Gregory J, Information, Randomness & Incompleteness: Papers on Algorithmic Information Theory, World Scientific 1987 Jacket: 'Algorithmic information theory is a branch of computational complexity theory concerned with the size of computer programs rather than with their running time. ... The theory combines features of probability theory, information theory, statistical mechanics and thermodynamics, and recursive function or computability theory. ... [A] major application of algorithmic information theory has been the dramatic new light it throws on Goedel's famous incompleteness theorem and on the limitations of the axiomatic method. ...' 
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't Hooft, Gerardus, 50 Years of Yang-Mills Theory, World Scientific Publishing Company (February 11, 2005) • Language: English • ISBN-10: 9812560076 • ISBN-13: 978-9812560070 2005 Amazon Product Description 'On the 50th anniversary of Yang-Mills theory, this invaluable volume looks back at the developments and achievements in elementary particle physics that ensued from that beautiful idea. During the last five decades, Yang-Mills theory, which is undeniably the most important cornerstone of theoretical physics, has expanded widely. It has been investigated from many perspectives, and many new and unexpected features have been uncovered from this theory. In recent decades, apart from high energy physics, the theory has been actively applied in other branches of physics, such as statistical physics, condensed matter physics, nonlinear systems, etc. This makes the theory an indispensable topic for all who are involved in physics. An international team of experts, each of whom has left his mark on the developments of this remarkable theory, contribute essays or more detailed technical accounts to this volume. These articles highlight the new discoveries from the respective authors' perspectives. The distinguished contributors are: S Adler, P van Baal, F A Bais, C Becchi, M Creutz, A DeRujula, B S DeWitt, F Englert, L D Faddeev, P Hasenfratz, R Jackiw, P van Nieuwenhuizen, A Polyakov, R Stora, S Weinberg, F Wilczek, E Witten, C N Yang. Included in each article are introductory and explanatory remarks by the editor, G 't Hooft, who is himself a major player in the development of Yang-Mills theory.'back

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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Weinberg, Steven, The Quantum Theory of Fields Volume I: Foundations, Cambridge University Press 1995 Jacket: 'After a brief historical outline, the book begins anew with the principles about which we are most certain, relativity and quantum mechanics, and then the properties of particles that follow from these principles. Quantum field theory then emerges from this as a natural consequence. The classic calculations of quantum electrodynamics are presented in a thoroughly modern way, showing the use of path integrals and dimensional regularization. The account of renormalization theory reflects the changes in our view of quantum field theory since the advent of effective field theories. The book's scope extends beyond quantum elelctrodynamics to elementary partricle physics and nuclear physics. It contains much original material, and is peppered with examples and insights drawn from the author's experience as a leader of elementary particle research. Problems are included at the end of each chapter. ' 
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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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Albert Einstein, Ether and Relativity, ' The development of the theory of electricity along the path opened up by Maxwell and Lorentz gave the development of our ideas concerning the ether quite a peculiar and unexpected turn. For Maxwell himself the ether indeed still had properties which were purely mechanical, although of a much more complicated kind than the mechanical properties of tangible solid bodies. But neither Maxwell nor his followers succeeded in elaborating a mechanical model for the ether which might furnish a satisfactory mechanical interpretation of Maxwell's laws of the electro-magnetic field. The laws were clear and simple, the mechanical interpretations clumsy and contradictory. Almost imperceptibly the theoretical physicists adapted themselves to a situation which, from the standpoint of their mechanical programme, was very depressing. They were particularly influenced by the electro-dynamical investigations of Heinrich Hertz. For whereas they previously had required of a conclusive theory that it should content itself with the fundamental concepts which belong exclusively to mechanics (e.g. densities, velocities, deformations, stresses) they gradually accustomed themselves to admitting electric and magnetic force as fundamental concepts side by side with those of mechanics, without requiring a mechanical interpretation for them. Thus the purely mechanical view of nature was gradually abandoned.' back

Alexandra Stevenson and Keith Bradsher, As Hong Kong Erupted Over Extradition Bill, City's Tycoons Waited and Worried, ' HONG KONG — Weeks before this semiautonomous city erupted in political chaos over a contentious extradition bill, more than 200 of its most powerful business leaders were summoned to the Chinese government’s headquarters here. The message from Beijing: If you have worries about the bill, keep them to yourself. And they did — until hundreds of thousands of protesters took to the streets. When the Chinese government appeared unsure how to react, and a later protest turned violent, business leaders were stirred into action. Deals were canceled. Money appeared to flee, raising concerns that Hong Kong could cede financial ground to Singapore. Within days, a handful of business leaders were publicly suggesting that the Hong Kong government should back down. ' back

Alice Moldovan, Crumbling cigars of bark bring scholars one step closer to ancient words of Buddha, ' Dr Allon leads the team at the University of Sydney that is digitising some of the 2,000-year-old manuscripts, which have only recently been unfurled. Through his work, the public will soon be able to see them online and understand their ancient teachings. Handling crumbling relics Around 200 of these scrolls were discovered in the mid-1990s along the northern border of Afghanistan and Pakistan. They came from the ancient kingdom of Gandhara, which flourished between 100 BC and 200 AD and acted as a gateway for Buddhism to travel from India into China.' back

Anthony Loewenstein, Where is the outrage over Prism in Australia, 'Global surveillance is a threat to our personal freedom. And yet, the NSA revelations have barely caused a ripple on this side of the world' back

Born rule - Wikipedia, Born rule - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'The Born rule (also called the Born law, Born's rule, or Born's law) is a law of quantum mechanics which gives the probability that a measurement on a quantum system will yield a given result. It is named after its originator, the physicist Max Born. The Born rule is one of the key principles of the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics. There have been many attempts to derive the Born rule from the other assumptions of quantum mechanics, with inconclusive results. . . . The Born rule states that if an observable corresponding to a Hermitian operator A with discrete spectrum is measured in a system with normalized wave function (see bra-ket notation), then the measured result will be one of the eigenvalues λ of A, and the probability of measuring a given eigenvalue λ_i will equal <ψ|P_i|ψ> where P_i is the projection onto the eigenspace of A corresponding to λ_i'. back

Bose-Einstein statistics - Wikipedia, Bose-Einstein statistics - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'In statistical mechanics, Bose–Einstein statistics (or more colloquially B–E statistics) determines the statistical distribution of identical indistinguishable bosons over the energy states in thermal equilibrium.' back

Ciara, Dance Like We're Making Love, ' On the 50th anniversary of Yang-Mills theory, this invaluable volume looks back at the developments and achievements in elementary particle physics that ensued from that beautiful idea.During the last five decades, Yang-Mills theory, which is undeniably the most important cornerstone of theoretical physics, has expanded widely. It has been investigated from many perspectives, and many new and unexpected features have been uncovered from this theory. In recent decades, apart from high energy physics, the theory has been actively applied in other branches of physics, such as statistical physics, condensed matter physics, nonlinear systems, etc. This makes the theory an indispensable topic for all who are involved in physics.An international team of experts, each of whom has left his mark on the developments of this remarkable theory, contribute essays or more detailed technical accounts to this volume. These articles highlight the new discoveries from the respective authors' perspectives. The distinguished contributors are: S Adler, F A Bais, C Becchi, M Creutz, A De Rújula, B S DeWitt, F Englert, L D Faddeev, P Hasenfratz, R Jackiw, A Polyakov, V N Popov, R Stora, P van Baal, P van Nieuwenhuizen, S Weinberg, F Wilczek, E Witten, C N Yang. Included in each article are introductory and explanatory remarks by the editor, G 't Hooft, who is himself a major player in the development of Yang-Mills theory.' back

Clare Yu, Maxwell-Boltzmann, Fermi and Bose Statistics, 'Suppose we have a gas of N identical point particles in a box of volume V. When we say “gas”, we mean that the particles are not interacting with one another. Suppose we know the single particle states in this gas. We would like to know what are the possible states of the system as a whole. There are 3 possible cases. Which one is appropriate depends on whether we use Maxwell–Boltzmann, Fermi or Bose statistics.. back

Claude E Shannon, A Mathematical Theory of Communication, 'The fundamental problem of communication is that of reproducing at one point either exactly or approximately a message selected at another point. Frequently the messages have meaning; that is they refer to or are correlated according to some system with certain physical or conceptual entities. These semantic aspects of communication are irrelevant to the engineering problem. The significant aspect is that the actual message is one selected from a set of possible messages.' back

Derrick Bryson Taylor, Jesuit School, Defying Archdiocese, Refuses to Remove Teacher in Same-Sex Marriage, ' A Jesuit preparatory school in Indiana has refused to fire a teacher who is in a same-sex marriage, prompting the Archdiocese of Indianapolis to say that it would break its ties with the school, officials said Thursday. . . . In his decree to be issued Friday, Archbishop Thompson, who oversees Catholic education in the archdiocese, said he acknowledged “the choice of Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School to no longer retain Catholic identity according to the doctrine and pastoral practice of the Catholic Church.” The decree states that it will remain in effect until the school decides to “operate in accord with the doctrine and pastoral practice of the Catholic Church.” ' back

Dirac equation - Wikipedia, Dirac equation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'In particle physics, the Dirac equation is a relativistic wave equation derived by British physicist Paul Dirac in 1928. In its free form, or including electromagnetic interactions, it describes all spin-1⁄2 massive particles such as electrons and quarks, for which parity is a symmetry, and is consistent with both the principles of quantum mechanics and the theory of special relativity, and was the first theory to account fully for special relativity in the context of quantum mechanics. It accounted for the fine details of the hydrogen spectrum in a completely rigorous way.' back

E. J. Dionne Jr., Building a Moral Economy, ' Do you build the economy from the top down or from the bottom up? And is the main purpose of the economy the production of things or the enhancement of life? I can imagine immediate objections to both questions. Don’t all successful economies involve bottom-up and top-down elements? Doesn’t everybody claim to be a bottom-up person at heart? And don’t “things” (such as the laptop I am writing on) enhance “life”?' back

Eigenvalues and eigenvectors - Wikipedia, Eigenvalues and eigenvectors - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'An eigenvector of a square matrix A is a non-zero vector vthat, when the matrix multiplies yields a constant multiple of v, the latter multiplier being commonly denoted by λ. That is: Av = λv' back

Eugene Wigner, On Unitary Representations of the Inhomogeneous Lorentz Group, Annals of Mathematics Second Series vol 40 no 1 (jan, 1939) pp 149-204 back

Fermi-Dirac statistics - Wikipedia, Fermi-Dirac statistics - Wikipedia, the fre encyclopedia, 'In statistical mechanics, Fermi-Dirac statistics is a particular case of particle statistics developed by Enrico Fermi and Paul Dirac that determines the statistical distribution of fermions over the energy states for a system in thermal equilibrium. In other words, it is the distribution of the probabilities that each possible energy levels is occupied by a fermion. back

First Aid Kit, Leonard Tribute Show 2017, ' A recording from the two nights 13-14 march 2017 at the Royal Dramatic Theatre (Dramaten) in Stockholm. Leonard Cohen has been an inspiration since First Aid Kit started with music. They decided to make a tribute show after his passing and the result was the show Who By Fire.' back

Frank Wilczek, Arizona State University, ' Frank Wilczek is a theoretical physicist, author, and intellectual adventurer. He has received many prizes for his work, including a Nobel Prize in Physics in 2004. Wilczek has made seminal contributions to fundamental particle physics, cosmology and the physics of materials. His current theoretical research includes work on Axions, Anyons, and Time Crystals. These are concepts in physics which he named and pioneered. Each has become a major focus of world-wide research.' back

GTU, Graduate Theological Union, 'GTU’s academic programs cover a wide range of theological and religious studies. Our partnership of seminaries and graduate schools is the largest in the United States. The GTU is internationally recognized for its interdisciplinary religious thought, study, and practice. At the GTU, the world’s religions engage with each other and with the broader global culture.' back

IACS, Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies, 'The Institute conducts research on key issues facing society to help move the Church thoughtfully into the 21st Century. Ignorance of religions and their power leads to bigotry and prejudice, and sometimes leads, tragically, to violence. Rooted firmly in Catholic tradition and thought, and dedicated to ecumenism and interreligious dialogue, the Institute meets critical needs in the world today.' back

J. Clerk Maxwell, A Dynamical Theory of the Electromagnetic Field, '(3) The theory I propose may therefore be called a theory of the Elecromagnetic Field, because it has to do with the space in the neighbourhood of electric or magnetic bodies, and it may be called a Dynamical Theory because it assumes that in that space there is matter in motion, by which the observed electromagnetic phenomena are produced.' back

Jacki Montgomery, Alia Khan and Louise Carley Young, 'I didn't want to be homeless with a baby': young women shar their stories of homelessness, ' The most frequent cause of their homelessness is family violence. From 2015-2017, the number of women hospitalised due to partner assault rose by 23%. In Australia, one woman is killed by a current or previous partner every nine days. A woman is hospitalised because of domestic violence every two hours. This image of a mother and her baby sleeping out in the cold in Sydney was widely shared on social media (they received help as a result). Facebook The largest number of homeless women is between the ages of 25 and 34, a number that is increasing year on year.' back

Klein-Gordon equation - Wikipedia, Klein-Gordon equation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'It is the equation of motion of a quantum scalar or pseudoscalar field, a field whose quanta are spinless particles. It cannot be straightforwardly interpreted as a Schrödinger equation for a quantum state, because it is second order in time and because it does not admit a positive definite conserved probability density. Still, with the appropriate interpretation, it does describe the quantum amplitude for finding a point particle in various places, the relativistic wavefunction, but the particle propagates both forwards and backwards in time. Any solution to the Dirac equation is automatically a solution to the Klein–Gordon equation, but the converse is not true.' back

Maxwell-Boltzmann statistics - Wikipedia, Maxwell-Boltzmann statistics - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'In statistical mechanics, Maxwell–Boltzmann statistics describes the statistical distribution of material particles over various energy states in thermal equilibrium, when the temperature is high enough and density is low enough to render quantum effects negligible.' 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

Monica Wilkie, A great masthead bans political cartoons . . . now that's offensive, ' The New York Times has announced it will stop publishing political cartoons from next month, in response to the controversy sparked in April by a caricature of Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a guide dog leading a blind US President Donald Trump. The NYT apologised, saying the illustration was "clearly anti-Semitic". But the influential newspaper’s ban on cartooning is a terrible move, particularly from a masthead that has prided itself on award-winning political commentary.' back

Oliver Laughland, Evelyn Sampi: pain, pride and the train of the Rabbit-Proof Fence, 'In 2002 she starred in a classic Australian film. In a rare – and shocking – interview, the actor explains what happened next back

Patrick J Ryan, Divided by Ancient Disputes: Sunnis, Shi'ites and the Future of the Middle East, 'Americans wonder what is going on in the Middle East these days, especially the civil and religious strife that is tearing Syria apart – and, potentially, Lebanon and Iraq along with it. Modern Christians, even Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland, have little appetite for going to battle over religious differences. Within the House of Islam, however, ancient antagonisms between Sunni and Shi‘ite Muslims are alive and well; indeed, they are currently devastating the heartland of the religion. What is the source of the division between Sunnis and Shi‘ites, and how prevalent is this bifurcation in the whole Islamic world, a community of more than 1.6 billion people? - See more at: http://www.commonwealmagazine.org/divided-ancient-disputes#sthash.rMVr4yWw.dpuf' back

Pope Paul VI, Inter Insigniores: On the question of admission of women to the ministerial priesthood, '. . . in execution of a mandate received from the Holy Father and echoing the declaration which he himself made in his letter of 30 November 1975, the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith judges it necessary to recall that the Church, in fidelity to the example of the Lord, does not consider herself authorized to admit women to priestly ordination.' back

R. Jefrey Smith, Hypesonic Missiles Are Unstoppable. And They're Starting a New Global Arms Race, ' On March 6, 2018, the grand ballroom at the Sphinx Club in Washington was packed with aerospace-industry executives waiting to hear from Michael D. Griffin. . . . Griffin is now the chief evangelist in Washington for hypersonics, and so far he has run into few political or financial roadblocks. Lawmakers have supported a significant expansion of federal spending to accelerate the delivery of what they call a “game-changing technology,” a buzz phrase often repeated in discussions on hypersonics.' back

Reuters, Scientists shocked by Arctic permafrost thawing 70 years sooner than predicted, 'Permafrost at outposts in the Canadian Arctic is thawing 70 years earlier than predicted, an expedition has discovered, in the latest sign that the global climate crisis is accelerating even faster than scientists had feared. A team from the University of Alaska Fairbanks said they were astounded by how quickly a succession of unusually hot summers had destabilised the upper layers of giant subterranean ice blocks that had been frozen solid for millennia. “What we saw was amazing,” Vladimir Romanovsky, a professor of geophysics at the university, told Reuters. “It’s an indication that the climate is now warmer than at any time in the last 5,000 or more years.“ ' back

Sarah Boseley , One in three women suffers violence, study finds, 'More than a third of all women worldwide – 35.6% – will experience physical or sexual violence in their lifetime, usually from a male partner, according to the first comprehensive study of its kind from the World Health Organisation (WHO).' back

Stephanie Peating, Uneasiness about a woman in power unleashes a sexist maelstrom, back

Steven Weinberg, The Cosmological Constant Problems, 'Abstract. The old cosmological constant problem is to understand why the vacuum energy is so small; the new problem is to understand why it is comparable to the present mass density. Several approaches to these problems are reviewed. Quintessence does not help with either; anthropic considerations offer a possibility of solving both. In theories with a scalar field that takes random initial values, the anthropic principle may apply to the cosmological constant, but probably to nothing else.' back

The Editors, Commonweal, Stumbling toward War, ' While the administration continues to call for greater international pressure on Iran, many European leaders are urging restraint on the part of both countries. Having learned the lessons of the war in Iraq, they do not want to be drawn into another conflict built on lies and exaggeration. The United States should understand that, this time around, there will be no “coalition of the willing.” Iran retains the support of China and Russia, two countries that, unlike Iran, do have the ability to inflict grave harm on the United States.' back

Tim Cook, 2019 Commencement address by Apple CEO, ' First things first, here’s a plain fact. ' Silicon Valley is responsible for some of the most revolutionary inventions in modern history. . . . But lately, it seems, this industry is becoming better known for a less noble innovation: the belief that you can claim credit without accepting responsibility. We see it every day now, with every data breach, every privacy violation, every blind eye turned to hate speech. Fake news poisoning our national conversation. The false promise of miracles in exchange for a single drop of your blood. Too many seem to think that good intentions excuse away harmful outcomes.' back

Wojciech Hubert Zurek, Quantum origin of quantum jumps: breaking of unitary symmetry induced by information transfer and the transition from quantum to classical, 'Submitted on 17 Mar 2007 (v1), last revised 18 Mar 2008 (this version, v3)) "Measurements transfer information about a system to the apparatus, and then further on -- to observers and (often inadvertently) to the environment. I show that even imperfect copying essential in such situations restricts possible unperturbed outcomes to an orthogonal subset of all possible states of the system, thus breaking the unitary symmetry of its Hilbert space implied by the quantum superposition principle. Preferred outcome states emerge as a result. They provide framework for the ``wavepacket collapse'', designating terminal points of quantum jumps, and defining the measured observable by specifying its eigenstates. In quantum Darwinism, they are the progenitors of multiple copies spread throughout the environment -- the fittest quantum states that not only survive decoherence, but subvert it into carrying information about them -- into becoming a witness.' back