Sadly, it was in it the Superconducting Supercollider in Waxahatchie, Texas (there is such a place), where Lederman suggested as "the mother of all colliders" where we were supposed to discover the Higgs...oh, well! 
R.I.P. Andy Griffith...
Homer Hickam's Amazon page
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| Higgs Announcement at CERN |
R&D: Media covering the story gave lots of credit to British physicist Peter Higgs for theorizing the elusive subatomic "God particle," but little was said about Satyendranath Bose, the Indian after whom the boson is named.
"He is a forgotten hero," the government lamented in a lengthy statement, noting that Bose was never awarded a Nobel Prize though "at least 10 scientists have been awarded the Nobel" in the same field.
The gentleman you see removing his glasses (expressing a lot of emotion for a theoretical physicist), is none other than Peter Higgs himself (~0:51 into the announcement). A primer on the Higgs Boson (the Boson we have Satyendranath Bose to thank for) will post tomorrow...
...I did not come up with the title.
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| Credit: Rice University |
The research, published last week in Nature, seeks a new approach to battery fabrication by using materials that can be spray-painted onto various surfaces. Combined with flexible printed circuits and research in spray-on solar cells, the technique offers the prospect of turning common objects into smart devices with computing power and storage. Another possibility is consumer electronics, such as cell phones or cameras, with a battery coating.
Technology Review: Spray-On Batteries Could Reshape Energy Storage
Phoenix Jones is a young Black man and self-proclaimed crime fighter in a socially progressive city ( Seattle ). He famously has a two-fisted approach to stopping urban crime.
To his credit he’s living proof that all young Black men aren’t what I call “chocolate klanmen” thugging their way through life.
As an older Black man who’s also in what the media calls the ” real life superhero ( RLSH ) ” community I’ve marveled at Jones’ color blind acceptance from the press, liberal and conservative. This argues well for where America is since its most famous costumed crusader is also part of the late Trayvon Martin’s generation.
I’d assume ( thank God ) Phoenix didn’t grow up under Jim Crow-lite like I did. His biography shows challenges in his upbringing which are indicative of our era.
My acute concern as a RLSH while Black is that Phoenix needs to be very, very careful during his interventions. Already arrested once ( case dropped ) local police are not exactly thrilled with his activities. While no racial angle has emerged it’s worth noting nonetheless.
He’s still a Black man using force and detaining White people- even in the liberal Pacific Northwest that’s risky. The same caveat applies to Black suspects he encounters. One biased cop; upset complainants plus one biased prosecutor equals life changing potential trouble for this young man.
My analysis might be a little too Old School for Phoenix reality but is offered anyway. As a Southern RLSH activist who began in progress-challenged Savannah, GA., being Black while wearing a mask ( “superhero” or not ) would have created more problems than it would have solved- like being mistaken for a criminal and shot by police! ( LOL ).
Phoenix Jones is the flip side of the Trayvon Martin tragedy: instead of a victim or too often for young brothers; a suspect, Jones is a self-appointed crime fighter or vigilante depending upon opinion. Should scores of other Black men follow his example will society be so accommadating?
Black while wearing a mask Jones isn’t a ” Black “activist vocally focused upon racial issues. He’s no cowled Al Sharpton and thus accepted much more readily. His brand is simple: red-blooded American male decides to do something about crime beyond fuming or dialing 911.
All I’m saying is, ” Be careful brother. ”
People have mostly accepted you for what you say you are but beware those who can’t accept America’s number one “real life superhero” being Black. Look at the grief President Obama gets in some quarters and learn.
My duty as a fellow anti crime activist while Black and male is to pass this unsolicited advice along to Phoenix Jones.
Phoenix Jones; race and being a real life superhero has yet to become a viral debate topic. Perhaps it never will.
But, you never know what direction this stuff can take- esepcially if people begin plotting against you for whatever reason.
NADRA ENZI AKA CAPT BLACK promotes creative crime prevention and homeless outreach. (504) 214-3082
NADRA ENZI AKA CAPT BLACK
ANTI-CRIME ACTIVIST
CHOCOLATE KLANSMEN ALERT! SPEAKER
http://moveonup.ning.com/profiles/blogs/chocolate-klansmen-alert-speaking-tour
By ALICIA MCCALLA
Rating: Not yet rated.
Published: June 29, 2012
Words: 5780 (approximate)
Language: English
ISBN: 9781476479491
Extended description
Flee: A Short Story is the prequel to the Soul Eaters: An African Elemental Novel. After the death of her grandmother, Shania Moore, a 27-year old African-American woman is tormented by her ex-boyfriend and a paranormal serial killer. When Shania falls into a dream realm and connects with an ancient African Goddess, her earth magic awakens. Shania realizes that in order to save her daughter’s magical soul, she must run into the arms of the white man that she lied to about having an abortion and stood up at the altar ten years before.
Here's the direct link: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/177278
If you'd like to discuss some of the themes in this short story, join the discussion on www.aliciamccalla.com
Artwork, comic books (that's where I come in, :-D. I wrote the "warning" at the very beginning, too), video games, a system to remix music and more- all African science-fiction themed! Watch the video and let it explain everything far better than I can...
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| Image: CERN |
However...
TECHIE BUZZ:
The Higgs announcement
The announcement is expected to a big one – especially with the predicted discovery of the Higgs by the end of the year. The status of the Higgs will not be changed to ‘discovered’, but we will get to know how far we have actually reached.
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| Source: Science Daily |
A new study published in Science examined a particular class of high-Tc superconductor, known as an iron pnictide. ("Pnictide" refers to an atom in the same column as nitrogen in the periodic table.) K. Hashimoto et al. found evidence of a quantum critical point (QCP): a place where the material's properties change radically due to quantum fluctuations rather than changes in temperature or pressure. While many physicists suspect the presence of a QCP in high-Tc superconductors, none have found unambiguous evidence for its existence. The current study is still not definitive, but the particular iron pnictide material the researchers used provides far cleaner data—and stronger hints that the QCP is actually there. Its presence would reveal a great deal about the inner workings of high-Tcsuperconductors, perhaps helping lead to even higher temperature superconducting devices.
In the case of high-Tc superconductors, the key parameters are temperature and doping. The iron pnictide superconductor in the recent study was BaFe2(As1-xPx)2, where "x" is the doping fraction. (In this case, the pnictide is the arsenic.) The researchers picked this particular pnictide due to the ease with which pure crystals of the material can be grown and how clean the resulting data is. For x values roughly between 0.2 and 0.7, BaFe2(As1-xPx)2is a superconductor; outside those values, the material isn't superconducting at any temperature.
A QCP—if it is present—marks another type of phase transition [beyond solid-liquid-gas-plasma], where quantum fluctuations at absolute zero change the superconducting behavior of the material. While absolute zero isn't experimentally achievable, the quantum fluctuations start at (relatively) higher temperatures, changing the behavior of the flow of the charge carriers.
Ars Technica:
Quantum fluctuations may uncover a clue to high-temperature superconductivity
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| Partnering Organizations |
Vector: National Alliance of Black Educators Endorses Physics First
Twilight Time
(an erotic tale)
~Excerpt
He said: “Baby you know what I like, and I love showing you time after time. Let me give you my lips— anywhere I want to put them on you. . . so romantic and very intimate.”
She said: “I love doing what’s right to you— giving you all of me—being freaky and naughty to make you happy...”
Unexpectedly, she lifted up her miniskirt: showing her thick, smooth thighs and fire-engine red panties and boots. She walked slowly over to him, and put her arms around his neck...
Copyright 2012 Quinton Veal all rights reserved
Available at amazon in print and kindle
and Barnes&Noble nook
also from author
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| Credit @ link below |
Wilczek and Shapere persuasively argued that there's no reason why similar periodic structures couldn't exist in time. And they said that finding them would give physicists a new way to study the process of symmetry-breaking and the laws of physics behind it.
There was just one problem, however. These guys hadn't worked out how to build a time crystal.
Physics arXiv: Space-time crystals of trapped ions
Writing dialogue can be challenging to new and veteran writers alike. However, if you are new to writing there are a few simple things to keep in mind when constructing dialogue for your short story or novel. Here are some things to keep in mind:
What Not to Do When Writing Dialogue Tip #3: Betraying your character
When writing dialogue, you must keep in mind the character you are talking about. I can’t stress enough the importance of keeping your character ‘in character’ as much as possible. Example: If your character is from the1800s, he will not use today’s slang to describe his thoughts and feelings. Now this may seem obvious to some writers, but I can’t count the times I’ve seen such an obvious mistake when reading a story.
Therefore, in order to keep your character ‘in character’, research, outline, and finalize your characters before you start writing. This may take more or less time depending on the type of story you are writing (if a short story only a skeleton is needed, but if a series – a key character development map is a must) , but it will make your writing a bit easier in the long run.
What Not to Do When Writing Dialogue Tip #4: Betraying your reader
Betraying your reader is one of the big no-no’s in writing! Whether you are writing fictional or non-fictional works, if you betray your reader, you are in big trouble. How can a writer betray their reader when writing dialogue? There is a way and that way is by creating dialogue that does not match your story’s plot procession, theme, or distracts a reader unreadily.
This is a tricky balance a writer must work with and be under no illusions – creating the right piece of dialogue and deploying it at the right moment is tough! Dialogue is a form of action and depending on the story can be the most important action your characters undertake (this is especially true for introspective or observational story pieces). Make sure that your dialogue matches your story’s overall themes; Your reader will notice if it does not.
More on Dialogue in the Next Post
If you have any questions, please post them below in the comment section!
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| National Research Council |
US research universities face serious decline unless the federal government, states, and industry take action to ensure adequate, stable funding in the next decade, says a new report by the National Research Council. Universities must work harder to contain costs, enhance productivity, and improve educational pathways for students to careers both within and outside academia, the report says.
Written by a 21-member committee chaired by Bank of America chairman Charles Holliday Jr., the report responds to a request from Congress to recommend 10 actions that the nation should take in the next five to 10 years to maintain top-quality US research institutions. Among those steps, the committee urged, was that of doubling the budgets of NSF, the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, and NIST that was called for in the 2007 America Competes Act. But for fiscal 2013, the administration requested just a 4.8% increase for NSF, and a 2.4% increase for DOE’s Office of Science. Only the relatively tiny NIST R&D programs got the magnitude of increase needed to keep it on a doubling trajectory.
You go to you're favorable design school, you get you're degree and/or certification, and then you finally start freelancing. But, how do you know how much you're worth? Some schools talk about this, others don't at all. You go around doing design after design, getting little in return for your work. Why? Because they can!!! If you don't know how much your worth as a professional designer, guess what? You want be professional very long!
Being a freelance designer is hard enough! You don't need you're profits being ripped from you as well! So what's the best resources to learn you're worth? First I would like to show you a powerful web site for the information standards for creative designers. It's called AIGA
Let's say for example your a Graphic Designer with a focus on print media. You have about a year experience doing this for a profession. For a quick over view of price range check out part of the site on this link @ http://designsalaries.org/. They have the info for print design rates and more. I would really like to recommend becoming a member here too, because of the wealth of information and the association benefits you gain also. There is a important document to download for contracts in design work @ http://www.aiga.org/standard-agreement/.
Do you need some some legal protections also? I'm not a law type guy myself, but as you can imagine it's greatly important just as the design work you're doing. To help with this, check out http://www.legalzoom.com.
They have good info and sales plans for LLCs, In-corporations, and so on. Remember to look for the essentials only when choosing your freelance business model. I would recommend keeping up to date with AIGA to match your legal needs. I would also recommend a book to help in conjunction with Legal Zoom called "Talent is Not Enough", it's a very formal but down-to-earth book on creative business practices.
Lastly, as a freelancer you will have very high feeling of loneliness as far as the support of doing this yourself. I will give my final site advice, and it is known as http://www.freelancersunion.org/.
This site is a great support structure for freelancers doing there thing! It's a vast community of freelancers with information on insurances and more!
So there you have it! Some powerful resources to help you on your quest to get bank! But, remember this is just the beginning. There so many unknown factors in freelancing that something wrong is going happen. But, remember to go step-by-step. Stay on the AIGA's site, go around other designers and build a relationship with them to learn much as possible. Do not just blindingly depend on your education in schools for vital information!
Links:
http://www.amazon.com/Talent-Not-Enough-Business-Designers/dp/0321702026
http://www.freelancersunion.org/
There's also a Sci-Fi Symposium. Astronaut Mae Jemison, M.D. is chair.
100 Year Starship invites you to participate in the journey of a lifetime! On this mission, everyone has a seat – Thought leaders, experts, trendsetters, space advocates and space enthusiasts, international space agencies, established businesses and start-ups, financiers and entrepreneurs, governmental and non-governmental agencies, universities and private industries, including entertainment, medicine, education, the arts and athletics – and, of course, the general public. You are all invited to join us on a journey to improve our world today as we explore the challenge, benefits, potentially enabling technologies, strategies and awesome potential of interstellar flight to another solar (star) system.
From exotic propulsion systems, exoplanets and “where do we go?” to the social, economic and cultural considerations of “why or should we go?” there’s a technical or academic session just for you. In addition, workshops, classes, networking venues, the Expo, entertainment, celebrities, speakers and guests will enhance your experience and ensure that you have an opportunity to consider and contribute to the wide range of space and related topics needed to chart the research, design, development, policy, outreach and aspirational activities from which long-distance space travel will be generated.
Dear Friend,
We are pleased to invite you to submit to the “Call for Papers” the upcoming 100 Year StarshipTM 2012 Public Symposium to be held in Houston Texas on September 13 – 16, 2012.
The 100 Year StarshipTM (100YSSTM) considers broad and in-depth public engagement critical to accomplishing human interstellar flight within the next 100 years. The 100YSSTM Public Symposium is central to gathering and sharing knowledge, aspirations, capabilities, as well as building advocacy, imagination and momentum. During the symposium space experts will participate in a platform for cutting-edge research, space enthusiasts will expand their knowledge, and the public will be engaged by an interactive exposition.
The Symposium’s technical session issues this open call to individuals and organizations from all disciplines—amateur and professional—to contribute to understanding, developing and building the solutions needed for successful interstellar flight.
The 2012 Symposium’s theme, Transition to Transformation...The Journey Begins, acknowledges the accomplishments of space exploration to date and calls for authors to consider what changes are needed in how we currently envision and “do space” to truly push forward humanity’s journey to another star. Papers should focus upon those transformative ideas and processes within each track—science, technology and paradigms— that facilitate the breakthroughs in space exploration.There are four technical tracks at the Symposium and a series of special sessions as described in the 2012 100YSS Call for Papers
Papers accepted will be included in the 100YSS 2012 Symposium Proceedings. Papers selected presented individually or as part of a panel as decided by each Track Chair. The Abstract Submission Deadline is June 30, 2012. Authors whose papers have been submitted for presentation will be notified by July 29; and final papers must be submitted by August 17th.
If you have any questions, please contact the 2012 Symposium Technical Chair, Dr. Richard Obousy at richard.obousy@100YSS.org. We look forward to your participation in our symposium and hope that you will submit a paper.
Sincerely,
Mae Jemison, M.D.
Chair, 100YSS Symposium
Richard Obousy, Ph.D.
Technical Chair, 100 YSS Symposium
