Reginald L. Goodwin's Posts

Keeling Curve...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on August 28, 2014 at 7:20am

As told by the American Museum of Natural History (went there two weeks ago for my birthday):

Related sites:

Climate Central: Keeling Curve
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
NOAA: Earth System Research Laboratory
Scripps CO2 Program: Home of the Keeling Curve
Scripps Institution of Oceanography: The Keeling Curve

Quantum Physics and Breathing...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on August 27, 2014 at 6:10am

Image source: Renewing All Things

(Inside Science) – Why don't we suffocate whenever we try to take a breath? An international team of scientists has used quantum mechanics – the science that usually deals with events at the level of the ultra-small – to solve this human-sized mystery.

Quantum mechanics has long proved its value in understanding such phenomena as the behavior of electrons and in classifying subatomic particles. But in recent years theorists have increasingly shown how it applies to all facets of life, large and small.

The new research, led by Cédric Weber of Kings College, London and reported in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, confirms that point.

"This work," said team member David O'Regan, a physicist at Ireland's Trinity College, Dublin, "helps to illustrate the fact that quantum-mechanical effects, which may sometimes be viewed as somehow very exotic or only relevant under extreme conditions, are at play in the day-to-day regimes where biology, chemistry, and materials science operate."

The paper's titled: "Renormalization of myoglobin–ligand binding energetics by quantum many-body effects." That's a mouthful, I know but you're a sharp crowd knowing you've read this far.

Side note: this is the National Academy of Sciences, started March 3, 1863 by President Abraham Lincoln.

They use a technique - Density Functional Theory, or DFT, which won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1998, and its extension Density Mean-Field Theory. Some excerpts:

"DFT has been the standard tool for simulating electronic properties of materials and molecules for a number of years," O'Regan said.

The team used the technique to study reactions between the iron atom inside myoglobin and a molecule of oxygen or carbon monoxide. These reactions involve electrostatics, the arrangement of electric charges in atoms and molecules. When the iron atom transfers negative electric charges to an oxygen or carbon monoxide molecule, it enables the molecule to attach itself to the entire myoglobin protein.

Unfortunately, the theory consistently predicted that carbon monoxide should bind to myoglobin much more readily than oxygen.

"Using DMFT, we showed that, in fact, close to one electron is transferred to the oxygen molecule," Cole explained. "This provides much greater electrostatic stabilization than previously thought. It means that our estimate of the relative binding of oxygen and carbon dioxide is now in excellent agreement with experiment."

The analysis revealed that an effect called entanglement plays a critical role in binding oxygen molecules to the protein. Entanglement is a quintessential characteristic of quantum mechanics that links pairs of electrons so strongly that they no longer act independently. The process also involves Hund's exchange, another quantum-mechanical property that previous simulations had ignored.

The research has potential uses beyond understanding the molecular basis of breathing. According to Cole, the better understanding of how molecules bind to iron-containing proteins could help the drug-development process and possibly facilitate the design of artificial photosynthesis devices that would capture and store energy from the sun.

Impact: Supplying oxygen to the International Space Station would be a good low-orbital beta test platform. We could terraform our own planet, that we seem determined to do with the burning of fossil fuels anyway - our photosynthesis devices could remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and supply us with oxygen as its byproduct - we kind of need that. If we could do that, settling the Moon, Mars or any other planet would be a lot simpler once we engineer faster propulsion systems than we have currently. On Earth, "Green Tech" could literally mean converting solar energy into chemical energy useful to us as farmed (as in food) or mined resources. These are inevitably a dwindling supply and the basis for our current inequality hierarchy and scarcity economics. Please read the rest of the article at the link for more information.

Inside Science: How Quantum Mechanics Helps Us Breathe, Peter Gwynne

The EmDrive That Wasn't...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on August 26, 2014 at 6:29am

The EmDrive produces propulsion without propellant, according to its inventor. (Credit: SPR, Ltd)

Physicist John Baez has another, more colorful word to describe the spate of recent reports about a breakthrough space engine that produces thrust without any propellant. The word starts with “bull–.” I won’t finish it, this being a family-friendly web site and all. Baez himself has softened his tone and now calls it “baloney,” though his sentiment remains the same: The laws of physics remain intact, and the “impossible” space drive is, as far as anyone can tell, actually impossible.

The story begins several years back with a British inventor named Roger Shawyer and his EmDrive, a prototype rocket engine which he claimed generated thrust by bouncing microwaves around in an enclosed metal funnel. Since no mass or energy emerged from the engine, Shawyer’s claim was another way of saying that he’d found a way to violate the conservation of momentum. In Baez’s words, “this is about as plausible as powering a spaceship by having the crew push on it from the inside.” Shawyer argued that he was exploiting a loophole within general relativity. Baez calls his explanation “mumbo jumbo.”

I'd read about the EmDrive, and didn't blog about it, thankfully. Something about it didn't "smell right," and it put me in the mind of the whole "cold fusion" boondoggle of the late 80's - early 90's. Plus, I ran into some links that gave a "404" error, which if you're trying to convince someone to fund your project is probably not a good sell! Surprisingly, a few courageous ones are still doing work in the area. As my Air Force JROTC instructor was apt to say to disavow responsibility or knowledge in any subject: "not the kid!"

This is not to be confused with warp drive. That science is actually being done painstakingly, and the reporting as accurate as possible. Meaning: as science goes, one must report the failures as well as the successes and subject your study to ruthless peer review. It's the science equivalent of a gauntlet at a bar fight. Even 1/10th the speed of light would be a significant accomplishment, and get us to at least Alpha Centauri in a human lifetime. It would at least reduce Mars to a matter of minutes (I'll leave space tourism to the visionary).

The author, Corey S. Powell, ends his article with an appropriate Latin metaphor. The rest of the article is at the link below:

"Ad astra per aspera: through hardship, to the stars."

Discovery: Did NASA Validate an “Impossible” Space Drive? In a Word, No.
Cory S. Powell

Spin Symmetry...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on August 25, 2014 at 7:07am

Illustration of symmetry in the magnetic properties—or nuclear spins—of strontium atoms. JILA researchers observed that if two atoms have the same nuclear spin state (top), they interact weakly, and the interaction strength does not depend on which of the 10 possible nuclear spin states are involved. If the atoms have different nuclear spin states (bottom), they interact much more strongly, and, again, always with the same strength.
Credit: Ye and Rey groups and Steve Burrows/JILA

Just as diamonds with perfect symmetry may be unusually brilliant jewels, the quantum world has a symmetrical splendor of high scientific value.

Confirming this exotic quantum physics theory, JILA physicists led by theorist Ana Maria Rey and experimentalist Jun Ye have observed the first direct evidence of symmetry in the magnetic properties—or nuclear “spins”—of atoms. The advance could spin off practical benefits such as the ability to simulate and better understand exotic materials exhibiting phenomena such as superconductivity (electrical flow without resistance) and colossal magneto-resistance (drastic change in electrical flow in the presence of a magnetic field).

The JILA discovery, described in Science Express,* was made possible by the ultra-stable laser used to measure properties of the world’s most precise and stable atomic clock.** JILA is jointly operated by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of Colorado Boulder.

“Spin symmetry has a very strong impact on materials science, as it can give rise to unexpected behaviors in quantum matter,” JILA/NIST Fellow Jun Ye says. “Because our clock is this good—really it’s the laser that’s this good—we can probe this interaction and its underlying symmetry, which is at a very small energy scale.”

NIST: JILA Team Finds First Direct Evidence of 'Spin Symmetry' In Atoms, Laura Ost

If You Meet The Buddha...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on August 24, 2014 at 10:00am

Source: Ha Ha! Funny! LOL!

Question:

I have heard the phrase “If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him!” many times. Can you explain this?

Answer:

It actually comes from an old koan attributed to Zen Master Linji, (the founder of the Rinzai sect). It’s a simple one:

“If you meet the Buddha, kill him.”– Linji

I’m sure you already realize that it’s not being literal. The road, the killing, and even the Buddha are symbolic.

The road is generally taken to mean the path to Enlightenment; that might be through meditation, study, prayer, or just some aspect of your way of life. Your life is your road. That’s fairly straightforward as far as metaphors go.

But how do you meet the Buddha on this “road?” Imagine meeting some symbolic Buddha. Would he be a great teacher that you might actually meet and follow in the real world? Could that Buddha be you yourself, having reached Enlightenment? Or maybe you have some idealized image of perfection that equates to your concept of the Buddha or Enlightenment.

Whatever your conception is of the Buddha, it’s WRONG! Now kill that image and keep practicing. This all has to do with the idea that reality is an impermanent illusion. If you believe that you have a correct image of what it means to be Enlightened, then you need to throw out (kill) that image and keep meditating.

Most people have heard the first chapter of the Tao, “The Tao that can be named is not the eternal Tao.” (So if you think you see the real Tao, kill it and move on).

Source: Bryan Schell

Science: "the intellectual and practical activity encompassing the systematic study of the structure and behavior of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment" (Oxford); also defined succinctly with subject examples here.

For the record: I am not a Buddhist. My fascination in this quote stems from the old "Kung Fu" series with David Carradine, (who was great, but I think in all fairness should have been the show's concept originator - Bruce Lee, oh well). It's also how this "Buddha murder" coincides with the scientific enterprise, and may explain the stress felt by this contradiction in other human endeavors.

This statement, however captures the "messiness" and disturbing protocol of science: what was a scientific accepted norm, theory or "truth" can with further (and, hopefully better-controlled) experimentation can be thrown away, discarded like previous theories regarding the speed of light (the Michelson-Morley Experiment). Science in the 19th Century looked at the universe as a mechanical, physical balance. Thus, Michelson and Morley tried to measure this balance, the stationary luminiferous aether: waves were transmitted in water; sound in air; light must be in the "aether wind." They "failed" to find it, but found something else; they "killed the [previous] Buddha."

From the site of Sci-Fi writer Peter Watts, he writes:

Science follows the creed of disproof, after all. The whole edifice is founded on the admission that everything we know might be wrong, that any of today’s "facts" might tomorrow be tested and found wanting. Science is pretty straightforward as a concept; in practice it’s messy as hell, full of arguments and counterarguments, noise and statistical filters. It’s a perfect target to those who crave certitude and simplicity: every dispute over detail can be twisted into an indictment of the entire process,...

Part of the enterprise is to learn something today you didn't know yesterday. If it is written down, and you want to refer to it as "science," then you have to lend the subject to scrutiny, criticism, relentless peer review and if found in error: disproving. If you require "steadiness," science can be a little disturbing, especially if its discoveries "kills" sacred Buddhas.

Michelson-Morley set the foundation for Einstein: first the Special Theory of Relativity (speed of light), then the General Theory (gravity). Einstein reluctantly contributed to Quantum Mechanics, which leads to modern micro-to-nano electronics and the laptops, flat screens, I-pads et al we now all enjoy. This set the stage for François Englert and Peter Higgs. They have hopefully, set the stage for those who will inevitably follow, making still new discoveries in their intellectual wake.

I watched the following TED Talk from Naomi Oreskes a while back. I initially didn't quite know then where to place it for a blog that promotes science curiosity and literacy - not that I didn't agree with it, but I now see as an appropriate denouement. Sourced from Physics Database, ending this discourse (and I am off to, of course "killing Buddhas"):

TARDIS...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on August 23, 2014 at 8:11am

Source: Fan Pop

For Time And Relative Dimensions In Space, of course! I was introduced to The Doctor in the 80's by fellow Air Force Lieutenant Beth Richards: she hooked me on it. (If you're reading this Beth, I'm still a big fan.) The eleventh Doctor appears tonight, I think it's the same actor as in the other BBC series I follow, The Musketeers. I need to visit England again. Haven't been since 2000.

Although, "freezing" the TARDIS chameleon circuit in the shape of a London phone box/booth in the age of I-phones is complete nostalgia...most kids probably wouldn't know it if it materialized in front of them, landing on their foot! It used to make sense, trust me.

Found this Dr. Who special on Daily Motion. Enjoy!

Doctor-Who-7x98-Special-The-Science-of-Doctor-Who by jose-hita-9

BBC America: Doctor Who
Twitter: #newtowho

Tomorrow: If You Meet The Buddha

Midsize Rarity...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on August 22, 2014 at 6:39am

An image of the starburst galaxy, Messier 82 (M82). (Courtesy: NASA, ESA and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA))

Astronomers in the US have used the flickering of X-rays to pin down the mass of a black hole in the nearby galaxy M82, finding the black hole to be about 400 times as massive as the Sun. This means it is of the rarest, mid-sized black-hole type, and raises the question of how these odd objects arise.

Mass is a fundamental property of any black hole, which has so much gravity that nothing can escape its grip. Black holes come in two main types: stellar-mass black holes that are roughly 10 times as massive as the Sun, such as Cygnus X-1, and supermassive black holes, which are typically millions or billions of times as massive as the Sun and inhabit the centres of large galaxies.

But there is a big gap between the two types. Intermediate-mass black holes "are much, much less studied compared with stellar and supermassive black holes," says Dheeraj Pasham, an astronomer at the University of Maryland in College Park. That is because intermediate-mass black holes are rare, with only one firm example ever identified.

Physics World: Nearby galaxy harbors rarest type of black hole

Deep #Ferguson History...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on August 21, 2014 at 1:21pm

"Just miles away from the scene of the protests in Ferguson lies the grave of Dred Scott at the Calvary Cemetery on West Florissant Avenue. Born a slave in Virginia, Scott sued in a St. Louis court for his freedom. The case went to the Supreme Court, resulting in a landmark 1857 decision that African Americans were not citizens of the United States and therefore had no rights to sue in federal courts. The court described blacks as "beings of an inferior order, and altogether unfit to associate with the white race, either in social or political relations, and so far inferior that they had no rights which the white man was bound to respect." The Dred Scott Decision is considered by many to be the worst decision in the Supreme Court’s history."

My take: "Citizen's United" might give it a run for it's money!
Democracy Now!:
Ferguson Protests Erupt Near Grave of Ex-Slave Dred Scott, Whose Case Helped Fuel U.S. Civil War
PBS: Dred Scott case: the Supreme Court decision

Kilobot...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on August 21, 2014 at 12:46pm

Science: How Stuff Works

Fish gotta school, birds gotta flock, and robots, it seems, gotta swarm. At least, that’s what they’re doing on the workbench of Harvard University computer scientists Michael Rubenstein and Radhika Nagpal and Massachusetts Institute of Technology computer scientist Alejandro Cornejo. Each of their 1024 robots, called Kilobots, is a three-legged disk the size of a U.S. quarter, sporting a single curl of metallic hair. En masse, they form a mechanical multitude an order of magnitude larger than any robot swarm ever built—a possible precursor to future robot work squads choreographed for chores such as cleaning up oil spills.

“That is a beautiful accomplishment,” says Hod Lipson, a roboticist at Cornell University who was not involved with the work. “Really getting a thousand robots to perform in sort of perfect synchrony.”

The idea for swarms of robots working together comes from nature. Army ants link themselves together to form rafts and bridges, and neurons in a brain fire off signals that collectively create intelligence. They do it all by following collective algorithms—shared sets of rules and instructions—and taking their cues from what’s going on around them. Each individual is “just doing its own thing, locally. But fantastic things emerge out of their collective behavior,” Lipson says.

Science: Heads up for the gathering robot swarm, Angus Chen

A Century of Quantum Mechanics...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on August 20, 2014 at 6:28am

In this lecture, Prof David Gross talks all about quantum mechanics. Today quantum mechanics is one of the cornerstones of modern physics. But how did it all start? Gross discusses the roots of quantum mechanics and the problems that lead to the creation of the theory. This inevitably turns into a discussion of the work of the early quantum pioneers such as Bohr, Einstein, Pauli, Dirac and others. Finally, the present status of quantum mechanics is introduced in the light of the outstanding problems that modern physicists face. PhysicsDatabase.com

Carbon Inside...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on August 19, 2014 at 6:30am

The structure of the carbon nanomaterials employed, where the diameter of the semiconducting SWCNTs is in the 0.8–1.2 nm range. (Courtesy: Nano Lett.)

A new solar cell made from carbon nanotubes (CNTs) that is twice as good at converting sunlight into power than the best previous such cells has been unveiled by a team of researchers in the US. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has already independently certified the performance of the device – a first for a CNT-based solar cell.

Thin-film photovoltaic materials are better than conventional solar-cell materials (such as silicon) because they are lighter, more flexible and cheaper to make. They work by absorbing photons from sunlight and converting these into electron–hole pairs (or excitons). To generate electric current, an electron and hole must be rapidly separated before the two particles have a chance to come back together and be reabsorbed into the material. In solar cells, the exciton must quickly travel to another layer in the device (where the charge separation will occur) for the best light-absorption efficiencies.

Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) are ideal as thin-film photovoltaics because they absorb light across a wide range of wavelengths from the visible to the near-infrared and possess charge carriers (electrons and holes) that move quickly. However, most thin-film cells containing SWCNTs have so far suffered from limited current and voltage, and therefore poor power-conversion efficiencies.

Physics World: Making better solar cells with polychiral carbon nanotubes

Ferguson and Barney Fife...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on August 18, 2014 at 5:30am

Enough said: source, Facebook

Michael Brown should have finished his first week in college. I am not elevating him to apotheosis, just stating a fact. He was likely going to a community college, perhaps learning a skill as a technician. Or, he may have had higher aspirations and shoring up his study skills and academics in a less challenging setting. The problem is, we'll never know the answer.

Instead, he was gunned down, left in the streets for approximately four hours for apparently the lethal crime of jaywalking. Yes, Chief Barney Fife - over a municipality of approximately 21,000 citizens - released a video no less than the Department Of Justice advised he not release, publicly trying a dead teenager that can't object; alluding his video taped guilt of shop lifting cigars from an convenience store was the motive for stopping him (the incidents were separate events). Then, disavowed all knowledge of the story in his second televised interview (then suggesting his officer might have known after all), leaving shocked reporters figuratively with their mouths wide open at the level of their feet. Michael’s democratic governor was feckless and useless during public rebuke Saturday. Senators Claire McCaskill and Elizabeth Warren (D); Ted Cruz and Rand Paul (R) all decried the excessive force of the Missouri Police Department. The irony is this impressive display of militarism wasn't used at the Cliven Bundy Ranch where militia pointed weapons at Bureau of Land Management agents – a federal offense that ended in no dead bodies, an avoided standoff and the tax-evading $1.2 million dollar moocher still on his ranch.

Since the election of the country’s first African American president, we've seen the ugly side of this country that can be illustrated in this faux-related pattern recognition (attributed to Dr. Frances Cress Welsing, “The Isis Papers”):

AMERICA

A-M-E-R-I-C-A…

I-A-M-E-R-C-A…

I-A-M-R-E-C-A…

I-A-M-R-A-C-E…

“I AM RACE.”

The first African American president (representing a 2.3% probability of "other-than-white-male" since Washington to W) and attorney general are essentially being sued and presumably impeached – individually and/or respectively - for the crime of “president while black”; “attorney general while black” a clear escalation of the “uppity” charge in southern parlance:

Uppity: Taking liberties or assuming airs beyond one's place in a social hierarchy. Assuming equality with someone higher up the social ladder - Urban Dictionary

Michael Brown did the “right things,” though obviously no angel - what teenager is? He “pulled himself up by his own boot straps” which is the usual escape for “we’re NOT going to help you get to whatever your dreams are.” Now he’s the inspiration for the mantra “hands up; don’t shoot!” It is a hash tag; it is a movement in New York, Boston, New Orleans, Howard University and Austin. The veracity of it is currently being investigated as the identity of the officer that shot Michael Brown in the incident report – a public record – has finally been released days after his death – Darren Wilson.

Suddenly, jaywalking can result in lethal force applied to the walker. A video is produced supposedly showing Michael taking cigars from a convenience store. If that is a requisite for deadly force, then the four teenagers that kleptomaniac-ed sneakers as I was being frisked decades ago by the now defunct King's Department Store "defective detective" (inept of logical reasoning, devoid of courtesy and simple police procedure) all should have been shot on sight. The KKK is raising money for the officer that shot Mike Brown as they did for George Zimmerman. And like the case of Eric Garner (“I can’t breathe”) this goes before a Grand Jury, the majority-at-this-point-MAJORITY Grand Jury.

I am angry as an African American male...I am angry as the father of African American males that have never committed a misdemeanor or felony, working in education and engineering respectively to UPLIFT society. I am angry at a society that has made us targets for a rage that is disgusting. I am angry that the six shots - 2 in the head - to subdue Michael Brown for jaywalking were six more than the zero it took to bring Jeffrey Dahmer, James Holmes and Jared Lee Loughner into custody - all mass murderers and the first named a cannibal! They walked into a police office - they were not rolled into a morgue!

Carl Sagan once asked - regarding the environment and somewhat rhetorically: “what are conservatives conserving?”

Answer: the status quo that reactionary minds usually defend. Note this description of the book by author Cory Robin, “The Reactionary Mind” (2011):

Late in life, William F. Buckley made a confession to Corey Robin. Capitalism is "boring," said the founding father of the American right. "Devoting your life to it," as conservatives do, "is horrifying if only because it's so repetitious. It's like sex." With this unlikely conversation began Robin's decade-long foray into the conservative mind. What is conservatism, and what's truly at stake for its proponents? If capitalism bores them, what excites them?

Tracing conservatism back to its roots in the reaction against the French Revolution, Robin argues that the right is fundamentally inspired by a hostility to emancipating the lower orders. Some conservatives endorse the free market, others oppose it. Some criticize the state, others celebrate it. Underlying these differences is the impulse to defend power and privilege against movements demanding freedom and equality.

Uppity…Jaywalking…“Let’s see the birth certificate!” Then, when they actual see it in long form, not believing it…“I want my country back!”…Uppity.

For the liberal/logical, science-based mind, the election of the first black president in the history of the republic was the “Moses moment”; the culmination of King’s “I Have a Dream” exploited by both liberal and conservative politicians and theologians. On the 2008 election, the recently departed Dr. Maya Angelou reflected: “America has finally grown up!” The only time I will ever disagree with the great lady: 150 years later, we're still fighting the Civil War, as if the outcome is still under contention.

For the conservative, reactionary mind, Barack Obama is “the other,” the usurper: Antichrist in some extreme conspiracies. He's faced continual, relentless opposition that has never been seen for any president and never will after his well-deserved retirement. His youth has been sapped by real and contrived crises; internal and external. He looks 80. He didn't need a Supreme Court to decide the count in the same state as his Governor Brother, but he was illegitimate from the aspect that he’d “left his place”; he got the nuclear codes and didn't start Armageddon; he had the audacity to order the kill shots for Somali pirates, Qaddafi and “The Boogie Man” Osama Bin Laden. Couple that with doubling the Dow Jones since the "Great Recession" of 2008; 40+ months of positive job growth, an unemployment rate of 6.2% and you as opposition have a distinct problem with "message." The reactionary opposition is an anti-government movement (that somehow got elected) with the laughable acumen in civics lower than second graders, and a congress with the low confidence score of 14% only means their schemes for “limited government” is about 86% - a successful score once your perspective is flipped.

The threats started in 2007 when he was Senator from Illinois…CANDIDATE, as also Herman Cain experienced in 2012. His first audacity was to win (2008), and then win again (2012) after the opposition meant his defeat even at sacrifice of the democratic republic. The acceleration of age is in the grey in his hair; the lines in his face. He has to balance the complete anarchy of Iraq spiraling out of control after executing the “Status of Forces Agreement” negotiated by his predecessor. He’s being sued in a carnival circus for not implementing the Affordable Care Act – based on a 1989 position paper by the conservative Heritage Foundation – FAST enough, the same act they voted to DE-fund 52 times and suggest impeachment for: following all that?

“I AM RACE.”

No less than the UN is publishing a study at the end of August on our compliance with the elimination of all forms of racism - I'm guessing our "grade" will be below a C-. The ugly underbelly of American bigotry/hierarchy is being exposed to the world via Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, all new mediums as transformative to political engagement as television was to world opinion on the brutality visited upon marchers in the Civil Rights Movement; the opposition to the Vietnam War generated at home. The militarization of policing in communities of color by Barney Fife with MRAPs, tear gas, and sub-machine guns with rubber bullets originated in '72; accelerated in '94, and especially after 9-11 with the "global war on terror," like the "war on drugs" designed as never-ending. In this regard, Barney doesn't shoot the floor inches from his toes and an eye-rolling, groaning Andy Griffith takes his one bullet - his substantial armory is for the battlefield. Otis – the Mayberry town drunk – still staggers in on Friday nights to let himself in his cell; he has nothing, NOTHING to worry about from MRAPs, machine guns, rubber bullets or tear gas…he’s not "the threat" Barney’s likely to react violently to. I don't know how long the global economy will tolerate this until the Dollar is replaced by the Yuan and Euro, and for our reaching back to an "Ozzie and Harriet" utopia that never existed - seals our irrelevance in the pages of history.

The wretchedness of racism is as evident in 2014 as was in 1914 or 1864. Renisha McBride, Michael Brown, Jonathan Ferrell, Trayvon Martin, Jordan Davis are the president and attorney general in effigy; they are accessible targets of Barney's et al delusional psychopathic hatred...they will eventually find other targets not based on melanin.

"We The People" all are.

Commander William Adama - Battlestar Galactica (Sci-Fi series)

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

Martin Niemöller, US Holocaust Memorial Museum

Added:

Democracy Now!: Ferguson Protests Erupt Near Grave of Ex-Slave Dred Scott, Whose Case Helped Fuel U.S. Civil War

PBS: Dred Scott case: the Supreme Court decision

Iie Seppuku...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on August 17, 2014 at 8:06am

I had a wonderful birthday. I visited the American Museum of Natural History, the Hayden Planetarium and Central Park. I got many well-wishes on Facebook and other social media. This seemed a strange post so soon after one's 52nd birthday, but...

I lost a friend of my college youth in Winston-Salem: she was to have turned 50 in one week from August 14. A heart attack, so young...an adult male child and 12 year-old-daughter left behind.

We all lost Robin Williams and Lauren Bacall...an ironic, coincidence of "threes," until Wednesday, Trekkie's everywhere lost Arlene Martel - T'Pring. I would be remiss not to mention the heartbreaking tragedy of Michael Brown in Missouri (I will speak more on that tomorrow). Robin sadly, chose to end his life abruptly, as another part of memories of my youth slips away.

As I thrilled at the action in "The Last Samurai," seppuku loomed large in one of the first scenes. Before the subject could experience pain (and thus show "dishonor" in facing death), his second-in-command (Kaishakunin). would "dispatch" him quickly - you can see how at the link. I sat in the theater, and wondered if the warrior class had masked what we'd now know as anxiety; depression; post-traumatic stress disorder and made it "noble," masking our fears of failure. Even in the armed services, we talk about the "noble sacrifice," sending soldiers, sailors and airmen to meat grinders without thought of treating them for the aftermath (if they survive) and reintegrating them into a populace hopefully less violent than the battlefield, though that sadly is slipping away from civil society.

I am reminded also of a dark time when my thoughts were invaded by depression, and what Robin Williams accomplished, I briefly contemplated. It was not cowardice, as some inane television pundits quipped like verbal Tourettes (at least with social media pressure, he apologized), but an almost calculated - albeit twisted - "logic" at the end of despair; made "noble," similar to the Samurai, even though the people that would survive your deed would be burdened with "why?" with no clear answers or ritual dogma to comfort them. In dark tunnels, you must continually reach for the light no matter how dim or (its candle perceived) far away, and cry out your pain - silence is a foreboding familiar that will crowd away all else but echos...echos...echos, that only get louder and eventually crowd out all else.

I am 52, not 25. Though I'd love to have my old body with its speed, its strength, its stamina and endurance the only thing I can pass on that I hope is of benefit is the wisdom to talk; to share with others how you're feeling, or in my case how I felt to my family. It's a mental/emotional check on my current condition and a guard against slipping into it again.

Like many engineers during the early 2000's, the industry downturn affected me deeply. I suddenly found myself without a definition. I tried many things; failed at many things until I found myself in the mirror I tended not to look deeply at: I, nerd...still had value and a contribution to give.

Now, with more years behind me than ahead of me, I face eventual oblivion working towards being the best ME I can be; doing what I am in this instance to do before I expire. Someone stated to me what's said at your wake and funeral is the narrative you've written on the papyrus of your life.

Robin Williams, Lauren Bacall, Arlene Martel, Michael Brown and Crystal Phelps have written quite beautiful poems of their existence. I hope to pen as well when my time eventually comes.

Until then, I'll try to stay as mentally and physically healthy as I possibly can and enjoy this life and opportunities given me.

I hope my words help others avoid their own dark place; their own seppuku considerations (Iie Seppuku - "no")...seek counsel; hug your loved ones passionately. They deserve your life lived with them to its fullest.

1-800-273-8255

Peace.

Simply Put...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on August 14, 2014 at 6:30am

Celebrating my 52nd birthday. Resuming Sunday.

Sidestepping Uncertainty...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on August 14, 2014 at 6:00am

This apparatus at the University of Rochester uses "compressive sensing" techniques to take minimal measurements of laser light's position, thus preserving the abilty to measure its momentum, too.
Gregory A. Howland

A novel way of measuring a photon’s location allows physicists to measure its momentum, too — a feat once thought impossible.

Quantum mechanics imposes a limit on what we can know about subatomic particles. If physicists measure a particle’s position, they cannot also measure its momentum, so the theory goes. But a new experiment has managed to circumvent this rule—the so-called uncertainty principle—by ascertaining just a little bit about a particle’s position, thus retaining the ability to measure its momentum, too.

The uncertainty principle, formulated by Werner Heisenberg in 1927, is a consequence of the fuzziness of the universe at microscopic scales. Quantum mechanics revealed that particles are not just tiny marbles that act like ordinary objects we can see and touch. Instead of being in a particular place at a particular time, particles actually exist in a haze of probability. Their chances of being in any given state are described by an equation called the quantum wavefunction. Any measurement of a particle “collapses” its wavefunction, in effect forcing it to choose a value for the measured characteristic and eliminating the possibility of knowing anything about its related properties.

A very GOOD video explanation of Quantum Mechanics at the link, an episode of "Instant Egghead." I promise your hat will still fit after viewing it.

Scientific American:
Particle Measurement Sidesteps the Uncertainty Principle, Clara Moskowitz

Terahertz Pumping...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on August 12, 2014 at 6:30am

Source: Technology Review

TECHNOLOGY REVIEW: One of the more significant practical challenges currently occupying molecular biologists is to find better ways of identifying short strands of DNA. Called oligonucleotides, these strands of nucleotides are hugely useful in processes such as genetic testing, forensics and DNA amplification.

But identifying the strands is a somewhat laboured business. Almost every detection method relies on fluorescent dyes and markers that can be picked up by optical sensors providing a useful but indirect indication of the molecules that are present.

But molecular biologists would like a better system that measures the characteristics of the molecules involved and so provides direct evidence of the sequence of nucleotides. Indeed, various research teams are working on such systems, some with significant success.

Today, Andrey Chernev at St Petersburg Academic University in Russia and a few pals say they have invented an entirely new way of identifying oligonucleotides using terahertz radiation. “Our results demonstrate a new method for label-free, real-time oligonucleotide characterisation,” they say.

An oligonucleotide is a short single-stranded DNA or RNA molecule usually consisting of fewer than a hundred or so bases. The sequence of these bases determines the type of oligonucleotide. So the ideal detection mechanism would reveal this sequence.

Abstract

Our results demonstrate a new method for label-free, real-time oligonucleotide characterisation by their self-resonant modes, which are unique to their conformation and sequence. We anticipate that our assay will be used as a starting point for a more detailed investigation of the aforementioned mechanism, which can be used as a basis for oligonucleotide detection and analysis. Furthermore, this technique can be applied to improve existing modern genetics technologies.

Physics arXiv: DNA Detection By THz Pumping
Andrey L. Chernev, Nicolay T. Bagraev, Leonid E. Klyachkin, Anton K. Emelyanov, Michael V. Dubina

Seeds and Carbon Nanotubes...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on August 11, 2014 at 8:52am

This illustration shows how a seed molecule on a platinum surface (left) will accumulated carbon atoms by growing upwards to create a single-walled carbon nanotube with a specific structure. (Courtesy: Juan Ramon Sanchez-Valencia)

The first effective technique for growing a batch of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) that all have the same molecular structure has been developed by scientists in Switzerland. The new process involves using "seed molecules" on a platinum substrate to grow SWCNTs with the desired structure. The breakthrough could be extremely important to those developing electronic devices based on SWCNTs because nanotubes with different structures can have very different electronic properties.

An SWCNT can be thought of as an atomically thin sheet of carbon that has been rolled up to form a tube about 1 nm thick, resembling a drinking straw. The carbon sheet always has the same honeycomb structure, which it shares with graphene. However, there are about a hundred different ways that the edges of the sheet can join together to make a tube, and this defines whether an SWCNT conducts electricity like a metal or a semiconductor. In the case of semiconducting nanotubes, the size of the electronic band gap also depends on how the edges are joined.

Electronic devices based on SWCNTs could, in principle, be used to create transistors and other components that are smaller, faster and more energy efficient than those based on silicon. But before that can happen, scientists have to come up with reliable ways of producing batches of SWCNTs with identical structures.

Physics World: Molecular seeds sprout identical carbon nanotubes

Chaos Theory...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on August 10, 2014 at 7:28am

Perhaps we should re-evaluate who was really "stupid"; the birds or the people who allowed the complete extinction of the birds to take place. Word Info

By Simon Powers, University of Lausanne

For hundreds of thousands of years humans lived in hunter-gatherer societies, eating wild plants and animals. Inequality in these groups is thought to have been very low, with evidence suggesting food and other resources were shared equally between all individuals. In fact, in the hunter-gatherer societies that still exist today we see that all individuals have a say in group decision making. Although some individuals may act as leaders in the sense of guiding discussions, they cannot force others to follow them.

But it seems that with the beginning of agriculture around 10,000 years ago, this changed. An elite class began to monopolise resources and were able to command the labour of others to do things, such as build monuments in their honour. So how was it that egalitarian societies, where all men were equal, transitioned into hierarchical societies where despots reigned? See: Raw Story

Once upon a time: hunter-gatherers in small bands had no leaders. We all ate a paleo-diet because that's all that there was - fast food chains hadn't been invented yet. We lived short lives, our vocabularies were limited, but we were ripped to shreds for our brief time in the sun. It was like a John Lennon song.

Then, along with agriculture, cities, finance, commerce, bread and reading, we birthed assholes. The bread made us fat and sedimentary, and since the saber tooth tigers died out - well before the Dodos - we had no natural predators that flexed our muscles or our minds. Couple that with remote controls, home computers, the Internet and flat screens with propaganda-as-news and [non] reality-TV and we were really screwed. The anus-class justified their existence by entrepreneurial genius; "divine right" ('cause, no one can argue with that), and suppression of anyone's rights other than their own. Most of them - like modern psychopaths - rose to prominence in positions of high authority, because they "sounded" like they knew what they were talking about even if they didn't. Keeping us divided through racism, sexism, xenophobia, etc. were and are tactics similar to the cynical observations of LBJ.

Nowadays, the royal anuses finance obfuscation on climate change (as their class previously did on the dangers of leaded gasoline and smoking); bribe politicians obviously addicted to crack cocaine, and buying elections. Speaking of lead, solving it may have remedied a myriad host of issues had the lying not taken place. But again, they excel at convincing everyone they have the answer to everything in simple soundbite philosophies spouted by their uneducated parrots in owned media to their under-educated minions, making John Steinbeck more prophet than author. A salient, poignant sign at the start of the Occupy Wall Street movement stated: "Satan runs Wall Street! One day, the poor will have nothing left to eat BUT the rich!" Never an advocate of cannibalism, but I observe in this case, they will at least be recycled into a usable compost contributing to new hunter-gatherer crops.

Despite Malcolm X's farm metaphor, it is the Dodos that have come home to roost. The birds were slaughtered for meat by the stupid humans that allowed them to perish. We obviously can't solve the problems in the Near East nor problems at our own borders, healthcare or funding the government at home, the Venn diagram intersection being their genesis from US policies that can be summed as "kicking the can down the road" and "whistling in the wind" without the calculation of blow back. Now, "eating our own" - usually, a political metaphor - is applied to the human species, and WHO will pen the image of our remains (at, if it comes to that, our demise)?

Seeking Vision...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on August 9, 2014 at 9:59am

Dr. Z - MySciNet

I had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Z at the joint NSBP/NSHP conference in Austin, Texas. Also met Dr. Hakeem Oluseyi, who you see Saturdays on "Outrageous Acts of Science."

From MySciNet: Aziza Baccouche—Dr. Z, as she calls herself—has made a career connecting scientific research to the people it could affect, such as informing patients about medical developments and getting more minority students interested in science. Her medium is the screen, and she tells the stories of science through documentaries. But Baccouche, a Ph.D. physicist-turned-filmmaker, will likely never clearly see any of her finished products: She became legally blind at the age of 8, and ever since she's relied on her wits, passion for science, excellent memory, and what she calls her vision to achieve success.

"We know power is work over time, that strength is endurance over time. So I endured a lot of obstacles, but at the same time I created strength and vision and wisdom and endurance."

You may/may not get the following "warning":

As the meme says, "remain calm" and open her Ted Talk in You Tube. I assure you it's inspiring and worth it.

Tomorrow: Chaos Theory

Origami Robotics...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on August 8, 2014 at 6:45am

Source: Fold Ed Fun

With its own soundtrack no less...

And yes, I got nostalgic as life imitates comic art (intro)...

Science Mag: Robot folds itself - and walks away, Jia You