vol VII: Notes
2019
Notes
Sunday 1 December 2019 - Saturday 7 December 2019
[Notebook: DB 84 Pam's Book]
[page 36]
Sunday 1 December 2019
Is there anything preachable in all this? Ultimately, to bring about a peaceful world, theology, religion, politics and culture in general must be based on reality, where possible using scientifically respectable evidence. I have been pushing about 6000 pages per month (ie 200 pages per day) of this sort of thing for at least ten years, so there is probably a germ of the idea about and millions of other have been saying similar things, so we might imagine a leading edge of the human mental distribution is aware of these ideas but there are probably a few centuries, maybe ten generations to go before it becomes mainstream. The limiting rate is probably the rate at which human minds change rather than the rate of propagation of theological ideas.
[page 37]
In the universe of light all geodesics are null so that the whole system has no size [from an observer's point of view]. Size only begins with space-like separation which enables the existence of ps and not-ps.
In the null world which predates space and mass we nevertheless have energy-time, the first step in differentiation after pure action [but maybe no potential yet, before the emergence of space]. When space and momentum emerge the null world continues to exist as the light world in space-time. All so simple it is hard to understand. The next step is the emergence of massive charged particles and photons now described in space-time by Maxwell's equations. This story of origin somehow gives some sense to the electromagnetic properties of space, phase, gauge symmetry etc etc, we just have to get the jigsaw of ingredients right and figure out how the four forces came into this and created the foundations of atomic matter. Just have to make endless attempts to write it all out at length.
1 – Action – gravitation
+ 2 – energy – time
+ 3 – space – momentum
+ 4 – mass – electric charge – photon
+ 5 – weak – neutrino
+ 6 – strong – quarks – gluons
+ 7 – atoms, and off we go
To make fancy things first we have to make the tools. The basic tools of the universe are action and gravitation [how do they fit together, gravitation sees only energy].
All the glorious possibilities of the world were present in the beginning in the transfinite potential. We can listen to them in the music of the
[page 38]
quantum spheres, three dimensional spaces. Somewhere in there was [is?] a long string of Goon Shows. The Last Goon Show of All
Pound notes is a conceptual token. Milligan working on representation, preoccupied with the deep structure of thought. Spike Milligan - Wikipedia, John Fisher: Heroes Of Comedy The Goons (Series 2 Episode 4)
The Goons define the universe, a major moment in british cultural life and Milligan was the creative genius. John Fisher: Heroes Of Comedy: The Goons (Series 2 Episode 4)
Monday 2 December 2019
A lot of me is unknown country to myself. Although I feel that I have got the divine universe thing in the bag I am still rather obsessed with the logical path of the emergence of atoms from the initial singularity and regularly find myself coming back to the question. This is partly motivated by simple interest and partly by the feeling that the current quantum field theory model as described by Wilczek makes no sense, the root of the problem being the infinities induced by the use of real numbers in physics and the idea that a continuum carries no information. All I can really do is keep at it because each attack of the obsession seems to yield a little step forward, the latest being how the complex space of time / energy / null geodesics is to be embedded in the Minkowski space, ie how do we get from time / energy to 4-space energy / momentum and the symmetries that carry us through this
[page 39]
transition, ie conservation of energy, conservation of momentum, conservation of 4-momentum and the source of the potential that drives the emergence of the complex universe from the simple God which seems to be a combination of fixed point theory and Cantor's theorem. Frank Wilczek: The Lightness of Being: Mass, Ether, and the Unification of Forces
My guiding light is that things must be very simple at the root of the cosmic tree. We see energy as a wheel, going round and round in place. Momentum is the wheel rolling through space. The velocity of light is the product of frequency and wavelength, not just for photons but for massive moving objects as well, for whom E = mc2, so time frequency = mc2/h. The foundation of everything is that it id all pixellated in quanta of action, the divine power or potential that makes the whole system go. We begin with the form of action that gives us pure energy an then watch the action differentiate in a way modelled by the Cantor universe.
The velocity of light applies to massless objects, ie photons, whose momentum and velocity obey the relation c = 2πωλ.
. . .
[page 40]
Tuesday 3 December 2019
One reason for concentrating on the relationship between ancient models of God and modern physics is to avoid the uncertainties introduced into theology by the religious and political vestiges of tribalism that encourage people to shape their beliefs to their social environments in order to 'fit in'. Physics and scientific theology can to some degree immunize themselves against these forces by sticking close to scientifically established evidence, but this still depends on the hypothetical framework used to interpret the observed fact, so I am faced with reconciling a model of God with th output of the world's particle accelerator as currently interpreted by the physics industry, eg Zee. Anthony Zee; Quantum Field Theory in a Nutshell
Entanglement and spooky action at a distance indicate that quantum mechanics predates space and is a matter of energy alone, and so seems to be on a par with general relativity which also sees only energy. What does this imply [but somewhere here we must introduce the bifurcation of potential and kinetic energy]? That both quantum mechanics and general relativity predate observation, ie universal consciousness, since all observation involve particles which imply the existence of space as a field of motion, pioneered by photons, which have no rest, followed by the development of massive particles which have internal activity which means mass-energy.
Polina Polina (film) - Wikipedia
Wednesday 4 December 2019
The link between action and energy is frequency or inverse time
[page 41]
so when we ask how much energy it takes to flip an electron or cause one quantum of change in the orbital angular momentum of an electron we are in effect asking how long it takes to execute that action, and the faster it is the more energy must be used. We think of a photon as a long sequence of waves whose frequency is equivalent to the energy of the photon but from the point of view of an observer the photon 'wave train' has zero length and effectively infinite time, since the observed time on a photon is stationary so a photon is in effect a formal symbol outside space-time from an observer's point of view and its effect, when absorbed, is to transmit on unit of spin and a quantity of energy equivalent to its 'frequency' ie its symbolic form.
Potential / force acceleration / motion. An imperative creates a potential: 'clean up you room'; 'do your homework'; 'keep left'; and in fact all messages carry potential, they are bosons, influencing the spatial motion of fermions which are themselves the source of space by the exclusion principle. We have a putative gravitational boson, the graviton. What is the corresponding fermion? energy / momentum.
Within the gravitational potential there is an inertial geodesic which is followed by, for instance, the moon, a mapping from the 4D manifold to a one dimensional line parametrized by velocity We may think of the 'orbits' of electrons in an atom and the motions of all other particles in the universe as analogous to geodesics [determined the structure of the space in which the particle finds itself, eg a war]. Does this make sense? Am I moving through life like every other particle in the universe, on a 'generalized geodesic' in a transfinite dimensional space-time? Science fiction = hypothesis; but is it true. Here I go back to the first time I read Misner, Thorne and Wheeler [1975], a fantasy to make true. Misner, Thorne & Wheeler: Gravitation
[page 42]
Newton's third law, action and reaction are equal and opposite implies geodesic motion in the sense that everything pushes back with a force exactly equal to the force pushing it so we can understand the interaction to involve no net force. Newtons Laws of Motion - Wikipedia
Lost in space, but on the other hand always following a definite path defined by extremal Lagrangian function. Like flying. Hamilton's principle - Wikipedia
Thursday 5 December 2019
From emotion via music to physical theology. How does this geodesic approach reconcile with pain, death and misery [since we understand that a particle moving on its geodesic feels no force]? Life is not all roses - we receive plenty of feedback ([often] in the form of pain) to steer us through life. The Lagrangian is invariant when potential and kinetic energy add up to zero, the overall state of the universe. This is the case where insight occurs, ie the ducks all line up in a row and a step forward in time becomes possible. It is essentially political, the art of the possible, finding a consistent path from a to b as illustrated by Feynman's path integral method which basically relies on the idea of adding complex phases to find the path along which everything is in phase. Richard Feynman: Quantum Mechanics and Path Integrals
Lost in space on a new unknown course, wondering where I will get to this time.
The increase in entropy is the source of the potential that drives the world, but as the Cantor construction shows, entropy cannot increase without the construction of new structure, so the entropic
[page 43]
potential drives the emergence of structures which facilitate the emergence of increased entropy like the structure of gases. Does this make any sense? The first step toward the creation of entropy is the creation of particles in space, followed by the binding of particles to create, for instance, atoms, which have far more internal states than the [unassembled] gas of atomic components. How does this idea explain the notions of confinement and asymptotic freedom?
A simple example: lust and procreation.
Why does the gravitational potential make stars? Is the universe acting for an end [teleologically]? Is the only end maximum entropy, constrained by the need for consistent structure? I am crashing around in ignorance like the world that made me. How do I understand my entropy to be greater than if I was a high temperature gas rather than a cool structure? The answer lies in the transfinite numbers. My entropy is measured by the space of which I am a point, and that space, formed by many layers of structure within me, is in effect a high aleph. This idea has been with me for a long time but I still have trouble expressing / explaining it, although I have made many copies on the web.
Goethe, Faust line 3456: Gefühl ist alles: Feeling is all there is. Von Goethe: Faust Part I
David Luke page 164 note 9: ' . . . "feeling" stands in antithesis to "name" in the following line.
My ambition so far outreaches my ability that I feel chronically fraudulent, but I see my ambition to be a potential which may in a long enough run lead to some interesting results, rather like a universe starting from next to nothing and finishing up something like this [although I do not have 14 billion years to play with].
[page 44]
Friday 6 December 2019
We have a global problem of political polarization which seems to me to be a global problem of theological and religious polarization which is in turn a consequence of historical hypotheses about the origin and nature of the world for which there is no evidence but deeply entrenched belief, hence my search for the roots of a scientific theology. These are in fact very plain insofar as the modern story of cosmology and evolution is far more soundly based than say, the Book of Genesis, but it is very difficult to get people to change their minds because of the enormous social and institutional momentum of entrenched religions. [These] represent huge investments in social capital which people are very reluctant to recognize as [a] stranded asset and write off in favour of [an] evidence based theology and religion, whose root lies in the fact that we are totally dependent on spaceship Earth. With the notion of scientific theology in hand we are faced with a marketing problem which I wish instinctively to solve by the Einstein route: producing an irresistible hypothesis analogous to special relativity which is founded on a clear and distinct interpretation of the nature of the observable physical world, hence the title physical theology. This story may serve as a preface to the website [physicaltheology.com]
ε0 [electrical constant] and μ0 [magnetic constant] mean that space-time is already electric and photons use it as a medium for their propagation. Vacuum permittivity - Wikipedia, Vacuum permeability - Wikipedia, Fine-structure constant - Wikipedia
In other words, space-time might be in effect the ether, or perhaps time is the electromagnetic ether and 4D space-time is
[page 45]
the ether for quark and gluons, giving them a dimension each. Perhaps Wilczek is sort of on the right track, but it makes more sense if we think of it in the layered network system, generating complexity by permutations and combinations [of elementary logical processes (computations)].
Wilczek [page 113 sqq says they have got the proton all worked out with some perfect mathematical model [quantum chromodynamics, QCD], so it needs to be found and digitized.
Saturday 7 December
My feeling, reading Wilczek's chapter 9 and similar more detailed sources [Creutz, Rothe, Noyes] is that the physics industry is making a mountain out of a molehill by treating the submicroscopic world as a continuum, gridding and digitizing it, and performing very detailed computations on the grid to get approximations of the observed results (Wilczek, 124). On the hypothesis of cognitive cosmology, given the assumption that the fundamental structures of the universe are simple computational networks, we might be able to express all this in a much simpler way by finding the actual logical algorithms that the universe embodies to make it behave the way it does in compliance with the Hamiltonian approach to mechanics. This game has been afoot in my mind for a long time and I have circled around it many times without really getting much closer, but hope springs eternal, given the heuristic principle that the classical God and the initial singularity are omnino simplex. Creutz: Quarks, Gluons and Lattices, Rothe: Lattice Gaugee Theories (An Introduction), Noyes: Bit-String Physics: A Finite and Discrete Approach to Natural Philosophy
Photon carries one unit of angular momentum, energy and momentum, so it needs 1 + 1 space [in its own reference frame] to exist, or perhaps its existence creates 1 + 1 space. Our most basic feeling is feeling so we imagine this is fundamental
[page 46]
feeling of the universe, ie (once again) potential, the desire for god to create an image of itself, so become conscious, the procession of the word: en arche en ho logos, Am Anfang war die Tat.
Back to Zee Zee: Quantum Field Theory in a Nutshell
This little light of mine, I'm gonna let is shine Black Snake Moan (film) - Wikipedia
We begin the universe with a fact, a quantum of action, a pure act. Then we apply a fixed point theorem to get the construction started with the procession of the world since god and the initial singularity are continuous, convex and compact insofar as they have no structure at all and are only limited by local consistency insofar as any instances of local inconsistency annihilate. The only way the universe can have different elements without contradiction is by the creation of space-time. How often have I said this? But, like music, the more often I repeat it the truer it seems to get. This step is easy now, however, and I am looking for a way to take it further and map this development onto the current state of quantum field theory, so Zee.
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Further readingBooks
Click on the "Amazon" link below each book entry to see details of a book (and possibly buy it!)
Cohen, Paul J, Set Theory and the Continuum Hypothesis, Benjamin/Cummings 1966-1980 Preface: 'The notes that follow are based on a course given at Harvard University, Spring 1965. The main objective was to give the proof of the independence of the continuum hypothesis [from the Zermelo-Fraenkel axioms for set theory with the axiom of choice included]. To keep the course as self contained as possible we included background materials in logic and axiomatic set theory as well as an account of Gödel's proof of the consistency of the continuum hypothesis. . . .'
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Creutz, Michael , Quarks Gluons and Lattices, Cambridge UP 1983 Jacket: 'This book introduces the lattice approach to quantum field theory. The spectacular successes of this technique include compelling evidence that exchange of gauge gluons can confine the quarks within subnuclear matter. . . .
The treatment begins with the lattice definition of the path integral method and ends on Monte Carlo simulation methods.'
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Feynman, Richard P, and Albert P Hibbs, Quantum Mechanics and Path Integrals, McGraw Hill 1965 Preface: 'The fundamental physical and mathematical concepts which underlie the path integral approach were first developed by R P Feynman in the course of his graduate studies at Princeton, ... . These early inquiries were involved with the problem of the infinte self-energy of the electron. In working on that problem, a "least action" principle was discovered [which] could deal succesfully with the infinity arising in the application of classical electrodynamics.' As described in this book. Feynam, inspired by Dirac, went on the develop this insight into a fruitful source of solutions to many quantum mechanical problems.
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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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Neuenschwander, Dwight E, Emmy Noether's Wonderful Theorem, Johns Hopkins University Press 2011 Jacket: A beautiful piece of mathematics, Noether's therem touches on every aspect of physics. Emmy Noether proved her theorem in 1915 and published it in 1918. This profound concept demonstrates the connection between conservation laws and symmetries. For instance, the theorem shows that a system invariant under translations of time, space or rotation will obey the laws of conservation of energy, linear momentum or angular momentum respectively. This exciting result offers a rich unifying principle for all of physics.'
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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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Rothe, Heinz J., Lattice Gauge Theories (An Introduction), World Scientific 2012 ' This book provides a broad introduction to gauge field theories formulated on a space-time lattice, and in particular of QCD. It serves as a textbook for advanced graduate students, and also provides the reader with the necessary analytical and numerical techniques to carry out research on his own. Although the analytic calculations are sometimes quite demanding and go beyond an introduction, they are discussed in sufficient detail, so that the reader can fill in the missing steps. The book also introduces the reader to interesting problems which are currently under intensive investigation. Whenever possible, the main ideas are exemplified in simple models, before extending them to realistic theories. Special emphasis is placed on numerical results obtained from pioneering work. These are displayed in a great number of figures. Beyond the necessary amendments and slight extensions of some sections in the third edition, the fourth edition includes an expanded section on Calorons -- a subject which has been under intensive investigation during the last twelve years.'
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Von Goethe, Johann Wolfgang , and David Luke (Translator, Introduction and Nots), Faust Part I, Oxford University Press 1987 ' The present translation is from Faust, der Tragödie erster Teil which Goethe published in 1808. . . . Matters of detail and miscellaneous points requiring explanation are dealt with in the noted on pp. 149-76, to which asterisks in the text refer. The line-numbering of the English text corresponds to that of the German throughout.'
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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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Zee, Anthony, Quantum Field Theory in a Nutshell, Princeton University Press 2003 Amazon book description: 'An esteemed researcher and acclaimed popular author takes up the challenge of providing a clear, relatively brief, and fully up-to-date introduction to one of the most vital but notoriously difficult subjects in theoretical physics. A quantum field theory text for the twenty-first century, this book makes the essential tool of modern theoretical physics available to any student who has completed a course on quantum mechanics and is eager to go on.
Quantum field theory was invented to deal simultaneously with special relativity and quantum mechanics, the two greatest discoveries of early twentieth-century physics, but it has become increasingly important to many areas of physics. These days, physicists turn to quantum field theory to describe a multitude of phenomena.
Stressing critical ideas and insights, Zee uses numerous examples to lead students to a true conceptual understanding of quantum field theory--what it means and what it can do. He covers an unusually diverse range of topics, including various contemporary developments,while guiding readers through thoughtfully designed problems. In contrast to previous texts, Zee incorporates gravity from the outset and discusses the innovative use of quantum field theory in modern condensed matter theory.
Without a solid understanding of quantum field theory, no student can claim to have mastered contemporary theoretical physics. Offering a remarkably accessible conceptual introduction, this text will be widely welcomed and used.
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Links
Benchmark Capital, Benchmark, back |
Black Snake Moan (film) - Wikipedia, Black Snake Moan (film) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' Black Snake Moan is a 2006 American drama film written and directed by Craig Brewer, and starring Samuel L. Jackson, Christina Ricci, and Justin Timberlake. The plot focuses on a Mississippi bluesman (Jackson) who holds a troubled local woman (Ricci) captive in his house in an attempt to cure her of her nymphomania after finding her severely beaten on the side of a road.
The title of the film derives from the 1927 Blind Lemon Jefferson song. The film draws numerous references to the Mississippi Blues movement, particularly in its title and soundtrack.' back |
David Brown, Lust and Life, Vividly Rendered, The painting tells the story, borrowed from the ancient Roman poet Ovid, of a gathering of pagan gods, accompanied by nymphs and satyrs, in a forest glade. In their midst Priapus tries to seduce the sleeping nymph Lotis but is foiled by the braying of an ass, which alerts the company to his offense. The subject of Bellini’s painting, in other words, is an attempted sexual assault, and yet, thanks to his artistry, the lewd incident, on the right in the picture, is not at first apparent. Subtle, shifting primary hues of red, blue and yellow combined with creamy whites, in the figures’ garments, stand out against a lush green landscape. Nowhere is Bellini’s mastery of color and paint-handling more evident than in the red-and-green tunic barely disguising the fertility god’s arousal. [https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/72/Giovanni_Bellini_and_Titian_-_The_Feast_of_the_Gods_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg] back |
Einstein, Podolsky and Rosen, Can the Quantum Mechanical Description of Physical Reality be Considered Complete?, A PDF of the classic paper. 'In a complete theory there is an element corresponding to each element of reality. A sufficient condition for the reality of a physical quantity is the possibility of predicting it with certainty, without disturbing the system. In quantum mechanics in the case of two physical quantities described by non-commuting operators, the knowledge of one precludes the knowledge of the other. Then either (1) the description of reality given by the wave function in quantum mechanics is not complete or (2) these two quantities cannot have simultaneous reality. Consideration of the problem of making predictions concerning a system on the basis of measurements made on another system that had previously interacted with it leads to the result that if (1) is false then (2) is also false, One is thus led to conclude that the description of reality given by the wave function is not complete.' back |
Fine-structure constant - Wikipedia, Fine-structure constant - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' In physics, the fine-structure constant, also known as Sommerfeld's constant, commonly denoted by α (the Greek letter alpha), is a fundamental physical constant characterizing the strength of the electromagnetic interaction between elementary charged particles. . . . While there are multiple physical interpretations for α it received its name from Arnold Sommerfeld introducing it (1916) in extending the Bohr model of the atom: α quantifies the gap in the fine structure of the spectral lines of the hydrogen atom, which had been precisely measured by Michelson and Morley' back |
Francisco Toro, What would happen if we randomly gave $1000 to poor families? Now we know, ' Working in Siaya County, in rural western Kenya, researchers Dennis Egger, Johannes Haushofer, Edward Miguel, Paul Niehaus and Michael Walker spent five years and more than $10 million to find answers to these questions.
In partnership with GiveDirectly — a charity I’ve written about before — they carried out detailed surveys of thousands of people both in villages that had been randomly picked to receive cash transfers and in those that didn’t get them. This allowed them to do something no researcher had tried before: Use a randomized controlled trial to identify and measure the impacts of handing out cash on the entire area.
Their findings are significant: Cash transfers benefited the entire local economy, not just direct recipients. As money made its way through the area, both families who did and did not receive cash ended up substantially better off.' back |
Frank Wilczek, A Reality Check on Quantum Computers, ' The most profound issue, however, concerns the meaning of quantum supremacy. After all, it doesn’t take qubits to solve important quantitative problems faster than any classical computer. Any carbon atom can “calculate” the solution of a very important practical problem—how does carbon behave?—simply by doing its thing. We can, for instance, “calculate” how carbon emits and interacts with light by examining the spectrum that gaseous carbon emits when heated or after exposure to laser light.' back |
Goon Show, The Last Goon Show of All, back |
Guardian: Comment is free, How to believe, 'Join our experts as they blog great works of religion and philosophy' back |
Hamilton's principle - Wikipedia, Hamilton's principle - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'In physics, Hamilton's principle is William Rowan Hamilton's formulation of the principle of stationary action . . . It states that the dynamics of a physical system is determined by a variational problem for a functional based on a single function, the Lagrangian, which contains all physical information concerning the system and the forces acting on it.' back |
Institutional Venture Partners, Ten Reasons Why IVP Invested in Snapchat, 'tI’s no secret that Snapchat has yet to turn on its monetization engine. Despite this fact, the financing was intensely competitive – one of the most competitive financings we have been a part of in years.
So why did IVP choose to invest in Snapchat at this stage? The following ten reasons top our list: . . .
6. Follow the Smart Money – Snapchat’s early investors include Benchmark Capital and Lightspeed Venture Partners, two of the top venture capital firms in Silicon Valley. We’ve worked with both firms previously and can’t find enough good things to say about each. IVP co-invested in Twitter along side Benchmark in February 2009. That investment has proven to be one of the most successful in the history of our firm. We also co-invested with Benchmark in MySQL, which Sun Microsystems acquired in 2008 for $1 billion.' back |
John Fisher, Heroes Of Comedy The Goons (Series 2 Episode 4), ' The show's chief creator and main writer was Spike Milligan. The scripts mixed ludicrous plots with surreal humour, puns, catchphrases and an array of bizarre sound effects. Some of the later episodes feature electronic effects devised by the fledgling BBC Radiophonic Workshop, many of which were reused by other shows for decades. Many elements of the show satirised contemporary life in Britain, parodying aspects of show business, commerce, industry, art, politics, diplomacy, the police, the military, education, class structure, literature and film.' [Wikipedia, The Goon Show] back |
Lightspeed Venture Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners, 'Over the past two decades, Lightspeed has backed more than 200 companies, many of which have become leaders in their respective industries. We are currently investing out of Lightspeed IX, a $675 million fund focused on early and expansion stage investments in the consumer, enterprise technology and cleantech markets. Our team invests in the U.S. and internationally, with investment professionals and advisors in Silicon Valley, India, Israel, and China with Lightspeed China Partners.' back |
Natasha Kassam, China Has Lost Taiwan, and It Knows It, ' Taiwan is gearing up for a presidential election in January. On Nov. 17, Ms. Tsai announced that the pro-independence William Lai Ching-te, a former prime minister, would be her running mate. On the same day, China sent an aircraft carrier through the Taiwan Strait. (In July, China had released its defense white paper, and it stated, “By sailing ships and flying aircraft around Taiwan, the armed forces send a stern warning to the ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist forces.”) Joseph Wu, Taiwan’s foreign minister, reacted by tweeting: “#PRC intends to intervene in #Taiwan’s elections. Voters won’t be intimidated! They’ll say NO to #China at the ballot box.” ' back |
Newtons Laws of Motion - Wikipedia, Newton's Laws of Motion - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'Newton's laws of motion are three physical laws that together laid the foundation for classical mechanics. They describe the relationship between a body and the forces acting upon it, and its motion in response to said forces. . . . The three laws of motion were first compiled by Isaac Newton in his Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica (Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy), first published in 1687' back |
Nic Hopkins and Matthew Taylor, Guardian will not be intimidated over NSA leaks, Alan Rushbridger tells MPs, 'Editor tells parliamentary committee that stories revealing mass surveillance by UK and US have prompted global debate' back |
Polina (film) - Wikipedia, Polina (film) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' Polina (French: Polina, danser sa vie) is a 2016 French drama film directed by Valérie Müller and Angelin Preljocaj, based on the graphic novel Polina by Bastien Vivès. The film was screened as part of the Venice Days programme at the 73rd Venice International Film Festival.' back |
Robert Vilain, Obituary: David Luke, ' Luke's large reputation was as a translator. His 1964 edition for Penguin Poets of Goethe's selected poetry with prose translations is still in print, still the set text for the study of Goethe's poetry in Oxford. His 1997 translation of Mozart's Journey to Prague by Eduard Mörike is due for reissue early in 2006. During the more than 40 years that separate these two publications he produced the definitive English versions of the Grimms' fairy tales, Novellen by Adalbert Stifter, the stories of Heinrich von Kleist and a selection of short prose fiction by Thomas Mann, including Death in Venice. He revisited Goethe often, translating selected poetry into English verse, all of the Roman Elegies and both parts of Faust. Part I won the European Poetry Translation Prize in 1989.' back |
Sian Cain, Milan Kundera's Czech citizenship restored after 40 years, ' After more than 40 years in exile, Milan Kundera, the Czech-born author of The Unbearable Lightness of Being, has been given back the citizenship of his homeland.
Petr Drulák, the Czech Republic’s ambassador to France, told public television he visited the 90-year-old author in his Paris apartment last Thursday to hand deliver his citizenship certificate.
. . .
Kundera, author of internationally acclaimed fiction, was expelled for “anti-communist activities” from the Czechoslovakian party in 1950. He became a hate figure for the authorities and eventually fled to France in 1975. In 1979, his Czech citizenship was revoked and two years later he became a French citizen.' back |
Spike Milligan - Wikipedia, Spike Milligan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' Terence Alan "Spike" Milligan KBE (16 April 1918 – 27 February 2002), was a British-Irish comedian, writer, poet, playwright and actor. The son of an Irish father and an English mother, Milligan was born in India where he spent his childhood, relocating to live and work the majority of his life in the United Kingdom. Disliking his first name, he began to call himself "Spike" after hearing the band Spike Jones and his City Slickers on Radio Luxembourg.' back |
Vacuum permeability - Wikipedia, Vacuum permeability - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' The physical constant μ0, (pronounced "mu nought" or "mu zero"), commonly called the vacuum permeability, permeability of free space, permeability of vacuum, or magnetic constant, is the magnetic permeability in a classical vacuum. Vacuum permeability is derived from production of a magnetic field by an electric current or by a moving electric charge and in all other formulas for magnetic-field production in a vacuum.
As of May 20, 2019, the vacuum permeability μ0 will no longer be a defined constant (per the former definition of the SI ampere), but rather will need to be determined experimentally; The 2018 CODATA value is given below. It is proportional to the dimensionless fine-structure constant with no other dependencies.' back |
Vacuum permittivity - Wikipedia, Vacuum permittivity - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' The physical constant εo (pronounced as "epsilon nought" or "epsilon zero"), commonly called the vacuum permittivity, permittivity of free space or electric constant or the distributed capacitance of the vacuum, is an ideal, (baseline) physical constant, which is the value of the absolute dielectric permittivity of classical vacuum. . . .
It is the capability of the vacuum to permit electric field lines. This constant relates the units for electric charge to mechanical quantities such as length and force.' back |
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