there arent any more surprises left in life, not when it comes to dealing with others at least, and it all seems so fake.
electrons are much better, they surprise you even when you think you've seen it all...
i'm completely convinced that psychohistory is doable. unfortunately we dont have a large enough perspective, and its going to be very error prone given the very small numbers we have.
the results am sure will provide no more information than a good guess would give regarding a situation - but it must be admired that asimov could use this to create an extremely famous series of novels...
Monday, September 25, 2006
Longer days and slower planets
could i increase the length of a day?
its pretty easy to do. Stretch your arms wide and spin yourself in the opposite sense than in the direction in which the earth is rotating and suddenly jump and stop spinning. if you were spinning really fast, and you are really heavy the difference the length of day will increase by 10^-37th of a second.
if you take a disk 1 km in radius, and weighing a 1000 tons, and start spinning it at like 50 radians per second and then lift it off the face of the planet, you'll do a little better, you'll have increased the length of day by 10^-18th of a second.
of course the assumption is that there is no tiny meteorite, pebble rather, that is hitting the earth somewhere else in a way that it can cancel out your action....
i wonder how much force superman was applying on the earth by taking off at that tremendous velocity! if he's as heavy as the rest of us(bad assumption since he wouldnt be able to fly) but takes off, say, at half the speed of light, and then he's a little sluggish so takes a second to actually take off, then he's applying a force enough to speed up the earth by 10^-25th of a second if he's headed in the opposite direction. he'll slow it down by the same amount if he heads in the same direction the earth is headed...
if he has to take off 10^25 times and take off in the same direction everytime, and he lands very gently, the length of a day will change by a second.
guess he is isnt super after all...
its pretty easy to do. Stretch your arms wide and spin yourself in the opposite sense than in the direction in which the earth is rotating and suddenly jump and stop spinning. if you were spinning really fast, and you are really heavy the difference the length of day will increase by 10^-37th of a second.
if you take a disk 1 km in radius, and weighing a 1000 tons, and start spinning it at like 50 radians per second and then lift it off the face of the planet, you'll do a little better, you'll have increased the length of day by 10^-18th of a second.
of course the assumption is that there is no tiny meteorite, pebble rather, that is hitting the earth somewhere else in a way that it can cancel out your action....
i wonder how much force superman was applying on the earth by taking off at that tremendous velocity! if he's as heavy as the rest of us(bad assumption since he wouldnt be able to fly) but takes off, say, at half the speed of light, and then he's a little sluggish so takes a second to actually take off, then he's applying a force enough to speed up the earth by 10^-25th of a second if he's headed in the opposite direction. he'll slow it down by the same amount if he heads in the same direction the earth is headed...
if he has to take off 10^25 times and take off in the same direction everytime, and he lands very gently, the length of a day will change by a second.
guess he is isnt super after all...
Saturday, September 23, 2006
the dark side
fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering, suffering leads to the dark side...
by popular demand, i've had to change the background on this, because it was supposed to be too dark-side-y...
(Actually only one person opined)
by popular demand, i've had to change the background on this, because it was supposed to be too dark-side-y...
(Actually only one person opined)
Monday, September 18, 2006
friction and the nucleus
I cant think of any qualitative statements to make about the world.
what is the world? is there any meaning to life?
we work day and night.... for what? security i suppose. but is it really worth it?
i'm sick of the lack of purpose around you. do people consciously know what they are doing?
nature is beautiful. but we dont stop to think about it. there are sooo many mysteries!
there is nothing more pleasurable than uncovering the truth, and knowing you are right.
thats whats keeping me alive, i guess.
think about an atom, isnt it intriguing that almost the entire mass should be concentrated in such a tiny space. we are all made of mostly empty space then(in terms of volume). but then that's not entirely true is it?
the stuff that i called empty space isnt always empty, there's a always a probability that an electron occupies it.
but then i could argue that technically the electron could be absolutely anywhere in the universe. we limit our definition to be the sphere within which there is a 99% probability of locating its electrons...
if you want to chew this point, the entire universe is in every atom...
this picture, i personally believe, isnt painted in school because they wouldnt expect all teachers to know this.
which comes back to my point about too many people being around.
i know i didnt mention this explicitly but the world is a little too full of people right now. dont get me wrong, i only mean that whenever you discover something new, a million other people would have already.
the more the people, the more the competition, at the end of which, people do things just because others are (or arent) doing them.
look at me right now, am writing this blog, you are reading it. is there any purpose to this?
why did i write this blog, i wonder?
its like friction, it makes its presence felt in almost everything, and spoils the beauty of equations/laws. its mindless action, someone probably cooked it up in boredom.
at least my eyes are open, so am going to log off right now.
what is the world? is there any meaning to life?
we work day and night.... for what? security i suppose. but is it really worth it?
i'm sick of the lack of purpose around you. do people consciously know what they are doing?
nature is beautiful. but we dont stop to think about it. there are sooo many mysteries!
there is nothing more pleasurable than uncovering the truth, and knowing you are right.
thats whats keeping me alive, i guess.
think about an atom, isnt it intriguing that almost the entire mass should be concentrated in such a tiny space. we are all made of mostly empty space then(in terms of volume). but then that's not entirely true is it?
the stuff that i called empty space isnt always empty, there's a always a probability that an electron occupies it.
but then i could argue that technically the electron could be absolutely anywhere in the universe. we limit our definition to be the sphere within which there is a 99% probability of locating its electrons...
if you want to chew this point, the entire universe is in every atom...
this picture, i personally believe, isnt painted in school because they wouldnt expect all teachers to know this.
which comes back to my point about too many people being around.
i know i didnt mention this explicitly but the world is a little too full of people right now. dont get me wrong, i only mean that whenever you discover something new, a million other people would have already.
the more the people, the more the competition, at the end of which, people do things just because others are (or arent) doing them.
look at me right now, am writing this blog, you are reading it. is there any purpose to this?
why did i write this blog, i wonder?
its like friction, it makes its presence felt in almost everything, and spoils the beauty of equations/laws. its mindless action, someone probably cooked it up in boredom.
at least my eyes are open, so am going to log off right now.
Saturday, September 16, 2006
Memo
I mean, after all, you have to consider we're only made out of dust. That's admittedly not much to go on and we shouldn't forget that. But even considering, I mean it's a sort of bad beginning, we're not doing too bad. So I personally have faith that even in this lousy situation we're faced with we can make it. You get me?
motion and matter
thats the latest astronomy course i've signed up for.
its at the AMNH every thursday, and the first three lecutres have been delightful.
am not talking in terms of learning new things about the universe, i'd like to think i'm well versed with that. but rather the way science is being taught.
in contrast to the education that i've undergone this is a vast improvement.
let me talk about my latest read: "confessions of a crap artist".
i've only halfway through it, but its a damn good read so far!
i can kind of identify myself with the lead character. he's in a completely different world, invulnerable to anything that goes on here...
its also a little depressing in pieces, but thats part of what makes it such a good read - typical PKD!
classic gold is playing "jealous guy" - great song, i'd like to try it on the keyboards sometime.
and, by the way, i saw "mamma mia". it was more than worth it.
am not embarassed at all when i say that when the girl playing the lead started "i have a dream" it brought tears to my eyes. great performance! her mom was belting out song after song, requiring huge variations in pitch, and simultaenously acting!
this is a million times better than anything hollywood has to offer. Its kind of marvelous how no one makes a mistake. here there's 2.5 hours of performance, so scope for editing or rollback...
hats off to all of the cast!
i cant wait for phantom of the opera!
its at the AMNH every thursday, and the first three lecutres have been delightful.
am not talking in terms of learning new things about the universe, i'd like to think i'm well versed with that. but rather the way science is being taught.
in contrast to the education that i've undergone this is a vast improvement.
let me talk about my latest read: "confessions of a crap artist".
i've only halfway through it, but its a damn good read so far!
i can kind of identify myself with the lead character. he's in a completely different world, invulnerable to anything that goes on here...
its also a little depressing in pieces, but thats part of what makes it such a good read - typical PKD!
classic gold is playing "jealous guy" - great song, i'd like to try it on the keyboards sometime.
and, by the way, i saw "mamma mia". it was more than worth it.
am not embarassed at all when i say that when the girl playing the lead started "i have a dream" it brought tears to my eyes. great performance! her mom was belting out song after song, requiring huge variations in pitch, and simultaenously acting!
this is a million times better than anything hollywood has to offer. Its kind of marvelous how no one makes a mistake. here there's 2.5 hours of performance, so scope for editing or rollback...
hats off to all of the cast!
i cant wait for phantom of the opera!
Sunday, September 10, 2006
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