Another Dilbert Post (video embed), and deep, DEEP geek...

20 Years Post the Fall of Babel: I grew up with "duck-and-cover" and Dr. Strangelove scenarios running through my young head. "The Day After" wasn't just a Sci-Fi movie based on a nuclear attack in Kansas. It was a very real, thought out M.A.D. scenario that still exists today. Now, those former enemies are our only means of getting astronauts to the International Space Station, and that ability is threatened by their technical failures and our retirement of the Space Shuttle Program.

The original description of the Drake Equation, a calculation for the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence was that the species survive long enough to communicate, and everyone then knew what "survival" meant.

Hither this cauldron, came Star Trek, and Gene Roddenberry with enough hutspah to put the first interracial (and as I've pointed out - interspecies) kisses on television, "Plato's Stepchildren" was summarily banned in some southern markets.

And, let's not forget: "Let This Be Your Last Battlefield" where two alien species annihilated each other for which side the other was black (or white) on. The irony: they were mirror images of the other, but that did not matter.

We could survive our madmen, our Hitler, our Khan Noonien Singh, and ride triumphantly into a tomorrow of our own making.

Our myths, ancient or modern, give us a reason to go on, press forward, hope for a future that is better than the present.

CERN is where the excitement is in particle physics, looking for the so-called God Particle. Now, I see there's a conspiracy theory on the God Particle and the Illuminati. Really? Don't we have Ron Paul/Alex Jones for that?

Really, this is a neat perspective on the LHC and its research. The rush to say something reminds me of the hulabaloo over "cold fusion," which if you just think about it, is in itself a contradiction of terms.

Scientists compete for funding, and in the Internet age, that funding is directly proportional to relevancy. Everyone that reads a story about the CERN collider will ask two important questions:

W-I-I-T-F-M: "what's in it for me?"
W-I-I-U-C-M: "what is it ultimately costing me?"

Those two questions, along with our current intractable political climate, is the reason scientific advancement in non-consumer areas has slowed to a snail's pace.

I actually gave Scott Adams a story back-in-the day that he replied to, and used within 24 hours. Pure humor post.

Beauty, Anti-Beauty and the LHC: my goal of blogging about physics is twofold - one, to have a "water cooler" conversation, albeit monologue about the physics around everywhere - your mobile phone, climate change, the Internet; to make it less exotic and more ordinary. Two, to expose people of color to physics, particularly young people, and the possibility of pursuing careers in the sciences. Par for the online interview I listened to on Blog Talk Radio (this site), our youth don't see themselves in such careers, just what is "programmed" for them to accept about themselves. That, is true "brainwashing."

Science Fiction has played a role in the world we currently live in, the link is a small list, as sliding doors in department stores were inspired by two guys following the cues of Gene Roddenberry.

Earth's resources are finite, and like Wall-E, we'll eventually have to become a space-faring species. Such a human adventure, need not be "whitewashed."

Alluding to Star Wars, and fathoming the sheer distance 12.9 billion light years is.

Merry Christmas! Time for basketball.

Nerd Christmas Trees: Godzilla, Darth Vader et al. Happy Holidays! Of course, you knew I had to embed a 50-year review of Godzilla, didn't you?

Positronium is a form of antimatter: the post I've created does a far job of explaining the implications of this technology, which could have far reaching impact in communications down to your cell phone you may be viewing this post with.

Vet creds: I was quite pleased the Air Force in Rome, NY is working on holographic sciences involving quantum computing and quantum teleportation.

Before you count solar out: scientists are working towards it being more efficient to manufacture and mass produce. Anything that can reduce our carbon footprint (ironic, since you kind of burn carbon to make solar), plus reduce our dependency on oil as a power source is forward-thinking I can appreciate.

I detect a hint of frustration in detecting the Higgs Boson. Once called the "God Particle" by Leon Lederman, he's "using the Lord's name in vain" expressing his frustration on the amount of money being (and been) spent trying to find the theoretical particle that if discovered, will change the fundamental understanding of physics and the universe (especially String Theory), which a professor friend at UT Austin compared to: (ahem) bull excrement!

Basically, the Higgs Boson is supposed to posit why anything in the universe has mass (photons for example, have a rest mass of m₀ = 0, as in zip, nada).

Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson: when you see the PDF of the first chapter of a very short, remarkable book, you'll peek into a remarkable life. She was the first African American graduate of MIT, and is the president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y. There are always "firsts": make sure you reach back so that it's not "only."

We all give ourselves time limits: there is "a time and a purpose under Heaven" according to Ecclesiastes (a pen name of Solomon). This examines the myth that anyoneed having not made a "discovery" before age thirty cannot possibly look forward to winning a Nobel Prize - science in particular, or literature especially. The article I post simply states it's not true, e.g., Octavia Butler started at 23; Issac Asimov at 38.

This is an embed of the chat concerning the Large Haydron Collider and its search for the so far elusive Higgs Boson. It will explain why mass has "mass." Mass/Stuff is a drag on the ability to on anything other than a photon (rest mass = 0) to go at the speed of light. This also lends itself to String Theory and other dimensions, so enjoy the information. Use it in your writing.

Einstein answering a question regarding his acumen at science, said God had allowed him born "as stubborn as a mule." The video from Ainissa Ramirez shows people of color exceling in the sciences - sister is a prof at Yale in Material Science!

The dilemma is the expected instantaneousness of any posed question. Google has sadly hindered our patience in problem-solving or storytelling. A student is more prone to say: "So...what's the answer?" versus "what's the next step?"

The quality of the question and the stubborness of the seeker determines the height of the outcome.

...just a girl's best friend. However, quantum entanglement has been used to justify the physics of faster-than-light communication, a Philotic Parallax Instantaneous Communicator, a.k.a. "ansible" in Ender's Game and other Sci Fi works.

Einstein called it "spooky action at a distance," and he was NOT being kind!

Quantum Matter: if you use your own adversion to colder temperatures, high angular momentum collisions at absolute zero seems counter intuitive, oxymoronic, and a contradiction if not in terms, at least of conventional wisdom.

Plants...photosynthesis...Stevie Wonder...nuff said.

Astronomy is the oldest known science on earth. The discovery of the fastest rapid spinning star may be to some "yawn" fodder. But this was by the European Southern Observatory, not McDonald Observatory (US). Things that make you go: "hmm!"

Plus, I used it as a double entendre mention of by box turtle (artist conception kind of reminded me of her shell).