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A Line in the Sand...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on September 25, 2014 at 6:52am
Please Do Not Spin the Moon

...rather than our heads. Although, I think this might be an Emu.



The National Academies - Science, Engineering, Medicine, Research - has a page called "America's Climate Choices." I feel our coy obfuscation for the moneyed has reduced our time necessary to respond. As a democratic republic, we should demand more of our elected officials and the sacred trust of representative government.



Especially in this country, there's obviously a litmus test on how much science one can deny. There was a People's Climate March in New York City last Sunday, and you wouldn't know it from most corporate-owned media. Google (the owners of Blogger) had to be embarrassed at a shareholder's meeting by climate activists to finally sever ties with ALEC - responsible for not only climate change denial and deniers, but the authors of "Stand Your Ground" legislation that has resulted in fostering a frontier climate in (at least on the calendar) a modern republic; a modern trail of tears and blood beyond Oklahoma's Native American history.



The Sociological Quarterly published a riveting study of the politicization and polarization of climate change in America in 2010 by Aaron C. McCright and Riley E. Dunlap. It's more than that: it's now whether we accept reality represented as data gathered and analyzed, or unicorns.



When someone asks me "do you believe in global warming"; "do you believe in the Big Bang"; "do you believe in Evolution" they are expressing articles of faith, which the Constitution freely allows. My response is usually: "Do you believe in the Pythagorean Theorem?" Blank stare...crickets..."of course I do!" Or the other one: "that's avoiding the question." I calmly state, no it's not. Not in any particular order:



A Belgian priest named Georges Lemaître first suggested the big bang theory in the 1920s when he theorized that the universe began from a single primordial atom. The idea subsequently received major boosts by Edwin Hubble's observations that galaxies are speeding away from us in all directions, and from the discovery of cosmic microwave radiation by Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson. National Geographic



Science never takes places in a void and evolutionary thought is no exception. Although Charles Darwin is considered to be by many the "father" of evolutionary thought, he was in fact aided and guided by the works of many scientists before him. The theories and ideas proposed by his predecessors were limited to the information available at the time. Darwin himself had no knowledge of genetics and therefore, his theory of natural selection as an explanation of evolution was based solely on what he observed and knew at the time. AAAS Science Net Links



Even though Pythagoras' name is on the theorem, several other people - the Babylonians (now Iran and Iraq), China and India - all had possibly discovered it well before his birth in Samos, Greece.



I present an embed (a link in some platforms) I fetched from the National Academy's site. Once opened, start with the formula bar, education for those open to it.

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Luis Ernesto Miramontes Cardenas...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on September 24, 2014 at 8:37am


Luis Ernesto Miramontes Cardenas -- Mexican Chemical Engineer



At age 25, he co-discovered the synthetic compound norethindrone, which formed the chemical basis for the first oral contraceptive, or birth control pill.



Luis Ernesto Miramontes Cardenas was just a 25-year-old undergraduate chemistry student when he began at Syntex Corporation, a fledgling biochemical company in Mexico City, where he joined the research team of senior chemists Carl Djerassi of Austria, and Hungarian-born George Rosenkranz. Luis would later make science history with them.



Other Achievements: For his role in the development of the birth control pill, Luis (who as a chemical engineer also made his mark in other areas of his field -- from organic chemistry to petrochemistry and atmospheric chemistry) was bestowed with numerous awards and honors. Among them: Receiving the Mexican Prize in Chemistry; being elected as one the world's most influential chemical engineers of all time by the Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE), and named among the three most important Mexican chemists of all time.


Carl Djerassi, George Rosenkranz, and Luis Miramontes were granted US patent 2,744,122 for "oral contraceptives" on May 1, 1956. *

Education: He obtained his Degree in chemical engineering at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), and was a founding researcher of the Institute of Chemistry of at UNAM. In addition, Luis served as professor on the Faculty of Chemistry at UNAM, director and professor of the School of Chemistry at the Universidad Iberoamericana, and deputy Director of Research at the Mexican Institute of Petroleum.


USA Science Festival: Luis Ernesto Miramontes Cardenas

*About.com: Top List of Mexican Inventors, Mary Bellis

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Zero-Friction Quantum Engine...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on September 24, 2014 at 8:29am
Scientists have devised a way to run a quantum cycle based on the use of quantum shortcuts to adiabaticity, where friction-like effects are quenched. Shown are the four steps of a quantum Otto cycle, where heat enters (exits) the working medium and those where work is performed by (done onto).
Credit: A. del Campo, et al. ©2014 Nature Scientific Reports

(Phys.org) —In real physical processes, some energy is always lost any time work is produced. The lost energy almost always occurs due to friction, especially in processes that involve mechanical motion. But in a new study, physicists have designed an engine that operates with zero friction while still generating power by taking advantage of some quantum shortcuts.



The laws of thermodynamics successfully describe the concepts of work and heat in a wide variety of systems, ranging from refrigerators to black holes, as long as the systems are macroscopic. But for quantum technologies on the micro- and nano-scale, quantum fluctuations that are insignificant on large scales start to become prominent. As previous research as shown, the large quantum effects call for a complete reformulation of the thermodynamics laws.

What a quantum version of thermodynamics might look like is not yet known, and neither are the limitations or possible advantages of the quantum devices that would be described by such laws. However, one intriguing question is whether it may be possible to build a reversible quantum engine—one in which the engine's operation can be reversed without energy dissipation (an "adiabatic" process *).



In the new paper, the physicists have shown one example of a quantum engine that is "super-adiabatic." That is, the engine uses quantum shortcuts to achieve a state that is usually achieved only by slow adiabatic processes. This engine can achieve a state that is fully frictionless; in other words, the engine reaches its maximum efficiency, while still generating some power.



* See:

 Hyper Physics: Adiabatic Processes
Princeton Wiki: Adiabatic process

 Phys.org: Physicists design zero-friction quantum machine

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Dr. Angel Alcala...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on September 23, 2014 at 8:30am
Dr. Angel Alcala. See Famous Scientists link below

Angel Alcal has more than thirty years of experience in tropical marine resource conservationa. Angel Alcala is considered a world class authority in ecology and biogeography of amphibians and reptiles, and is behind the invention of artifical coral reefs to be used for fisheries in Southeast Asia. Angel Alcala is the Director of the Angelo King Center for Research and Environmental Management.



Angel Alcala - Degrees:



Undergraduate degree Silliman University

Ph.D. Stanford University [1]



Angel Alcala was born on the first of March in 1929. He and his family were from Cauayan, Negros Occidental. His mother Crescenciana Chua and his father Porfirio Alcala were residing in Caliling, a coastal village in Negros Occidental. Because of his exposure to a coastal setup, it is no wonder where Angel Alacala’s awareness and love for marine life came from. While they lived in a humble and rural setup, their simple living had always been supported by the bounty of the sea.



His early years in school had been indicative of his thirst for knowledge and desire to excel. He finished his high school years in Kabankalan Academy where he was one of the scholars. He had also been an active member of the academy’s debate team, and had taken part in their Boy Scout troop as well as other extra-curricular activities.



It was in 1948 when Angel Alcala took his pre-medicine course. He had his courses which made him earn his undergraduate degree in Silliman University, the oldest American building and institution in the Philippines, and the oldest university in Asia that was founded by the Americans. Because of his promising potential and evident intelligence, he was later on accepted to be a student of the University of the Philippines’s College of Medicine.



However, Alcala decided not to let the opportunity go due to the financial circumstances that his family faced. In 1951, he had finished the biological studies he started at the Silliman University and he graduated as the magna cum laude of his batch. Despite having given up the opportunity at the University of the Philippines, Angel Alcala was marked to make a change in history after his graduation from the Silliman University.



Walter C. Brown who happened to be one of the Fulbright professors of Stanford University arrived at Silliman University. He had then taken Alcala as one of his protégés and their partnership paved the way for numerous scientific researches concerning biology in the Philippines. They worked together on several publications and went on numerous field trips to come up with data for their researches and publications.



Through the support of Walter Brown, Alcala was granted a well-deserved Fulbright/Smith-Mundt Fellowship which was what had helped him earn his master’s degree. In 1964, Alacala went back to Stanford to finish his doctorate and two years later, he became one of the associate professors of Silliman University. [2]



 1. Filipino inventors: Angel Alcala - Filipino Biologist, Mary Bellis
2. Famous Scientists: Angel Alcala, PhD

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Polonium-209...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on September 23, 2014 at 8:29am
Credit: Irvine/NIST

Scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have determined* that polonium-209, the longest-lived isotope of this radioactive heavy element, has a half-life about 25 percent longer than the previously determined value, which had been in use for decades.



The new NIST measurements could affect geophysical studies such as the dating of sediment samples from ocean and lake floors. They often employ Po-209 as a tracer. Because sediment cores are used for determining human impact on the environment over the past century, the new measurement could impact these studies as well as other environmental measurements and biological assays.


 NIST: Polonium's Most Stable Isotope Gets Revised Half-Life Measurement, Chad Boutin

 *R. Collé, R.P. Fitzgerald and L. Laureano-Perez. The half-life of 209Po: revisited. Journal of Physics G: Nuclear and Particle Physics 41 (2014) 105103, doi:10.1088/0954-3899/41/10/105103

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Sword and Soul Lives...

Posted by Winston Blakely on September 23, 2014 at 7:15am

      Its starting to be count down time for my art book.

             

       I wanted to show this image of Azana,again.

             

        She will be featured several times in the full
            
             

         coffee table version of the book.

          her story will be told in an upcoming

           anthology, along with other heroes to fit

           the magazine that should be a most interesting

            read.  Yep, all of this and more in...


                 Aura- The Art of Winston Blakely


                   Coming October 14

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Dr. Ellen Ochoa...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on September 22, 2014 at 8:15am


1st Hispanic Female Astronaut: text source here

Originally September 26, 2013 with update embeds below...

 Ellen Ochoa was born on May 10, 1958 in Los Angeles, CA. She received her bachelor of science degree in physics from San Diego State University, and a master of science degree and doctorate in electrical engineering from Stanford University.



Ellen Ochoa’s pre-doctoral work at Stanford University in electrical engineering led to the development of an optical system designed to detect imperfections in repeating patterns. This invention patented in 1987, can be used for quality control in the manufacturing of various intricate parts. Dr. Ellen Ochoa later patented an optical system which can be used to robotically manufacture goods or in robotic guiding systems. In all, Ellen Ochoa has received three patents most recently one in 1990.



In addition to being an inventor, Dr. Ellen Ochoa is also a research scientist and astronaut for NASA. Selected by NASA in January 1990, Dr. Ellen Ochoa is a veteran of three space flights. She has logged over 719 hours in space, her most recent mission was a 10 day mission aboard the space shuttle Discovery in May of 1999.


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Dark God's Gift Season 2

Posted by H. Wolfgang Porter on September 21, 2014 at 3:35pm

Dark God's Gift short story anthology season 2 jumps off in 1 week!

Read dark tales by some of the BSFS most prolific authors and contributors; K. Ceres Wright (COG), Ronald T. Jones (Warriors of the Four Worlds), H. Wolfgang Porter (Book of Dragon's Teeth) and William Hayashi (The Darkside Trilogy.) 

Be transported to dark exotic streets teeming with techno-gangsters, battles amongst the gods, deep inside a dark matter cloud and to the desert during the atomic age! All coming September 29th. Woe unto those who possess the Dark God's Gift!

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Narciso Monturiol...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on September 21, 2014 at 10:42am
SellosMundo.com

Narciso Monturiol was a Catalonian physicist and inventor who researched underwater navigation and designed an early submarine. In 1856, Narciso Monturiol built a submarine called the "Ictineo".



Despite popular folklore, Narciso Monturiol did not build the very first submarine. (Our "Timeline of Submarine History" illustrates that submarines were being built as early as 1620.) However, Narciso Monturiol did build one of the most advanced submarines available at the time.



Narciso Monturiol was inspired to invent a device to aid the Spainish coral divers who fished off the coast of Cadaques. His submarine was intended to save the divers manual labor and reduce their exposure to diving risks. In 1859, Narciso Monturiol's Ictineo submarine was first launched from Barcelona and proved to be submergable for up to two hours. The Ictineo was manually powered by sixteen men turning the propeller. By 1864, Narciso Monturiol had redesigned the Ictineo adding a steam generator for power. The Ictineo could then reach depths of up to thirty meters, and stay submerged for up to seven hours.
Poster Lounge



One interesting fact about the Ictineo submarine is that Jules Verne, the famous writer of "20,000 Leagues Under The Sea" based his fictional Nautilus submarine after the Ictineo.



 Hispanic Inventors: Narciso Monturiol

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Farpoint...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on September 21, 2014 at 10:30am


Every now and again, I watch "Encounter at Farpoint," the inaugural two-part episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, and marvel at how well the story line was written, specifically the back story was fleshed-out; the acting mature and impeccable. I, like a lot of Trekkie fans at the time gave the series a broad brush of disappointment, especially at seeing a 137-year-old cranky Admiral Leonard "Bones" McCoy - we were lamenting our old Trek and not being fair to the then "new" one. It makes me miss good television.



The above somewhat "Nazi-like" banner hung in the kangaroo court the entity Q conjured Captain Picard and crew into. Q stood as judge, jury and presumably executioner, but also witness and soothsayer: who but the Q-continuum knew the Federation would eventually make contact with The Borg? Captain Picard's defense in a nutshell: yes humanity was once quite barbarous; we were guilty of discrimination and inequality, but we were in that fictional "then" as far from the depiction of a 21st century court post WWIII as he and his crew was far from Earth.



The Optimum Movement was a political movement that came about during the mid-21st century on Earth, and spread to a number of nations—including Great Britain and the United States of America. They are believed to be one of the instigators behind the Third World War, and the following post atomic horror. Memory Beta (please forgive the annoying embed commercials). The story was further "made flesh" in the novel Federation by Judith-Reeves Stevens, which I've read - an excellent Kindle read.



En route to Farpoint, Captain Picard and his crew first meet "Q." The mysterious and powerful being denounces the human race as barbarians and challenges the crew of the Enterprise to disprove his belief. If Picard and his crew are not persuasive in their arguments, they will be sentenced to death.



It's interesting in the 21st century, another author I've read - Naomi Klein - has written "This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate." (I'd also recommend her book "The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism.")



Star Trek in the mind of Gene Roddenberry was born on the back of the Cold War with the former Soviet Union possibly becoming a hot nuclear one, and on the heels of the Civil Rights Movement, thus projecting forward a positive, more accepting of science, less xenophobic, survivable future.



Nuclear war would be a fool's errand - whether as in Federation we established colonies on off worlds, the conflagration would leave swaths of Earth clearly uninhabitable for thousands of years. Corpses would have no care who actually "won" such an insane engagement. The Trek universe alludes to the discontinued existence of Washington, Moscow and other global capitals, hence the location of the fictional United Federation of Planets in San Francisco.



Ms. Klein's treatise seems to share a similar concern (book description):



In "This Changes Everything" Naomi Klein argues that climate change isn't just another issue to be neatly filed between taxes and health care. It’s an alarm that calls us to fix an economic system that is already failing us in many ways. Klein meticulously builds the case for how massively reducing our greenhouse emissions is our best chance to simultaneously reduce gaping inequalities, re-imagine our broken democracies, and rebuild our gutted local economies. She exposes the ideological desperation of the climate-change deniers, the messianic delusions of the would-be geoengineers, and the tragic defeatism of too many mainstream green initiatives. And she demonstrates precisely why the market has not—and cannot—fix the climate crisis but will instead make things worse, with ever more extreme and ecologically damaging extraction methods, accompanied by rampant disaster capitalism.



In Escape From Freedom, Eric Fromm makes an excellent case that the Renaissance and the Protestant Reformation cooperated in strange, significant ways: The Renaissance came after the fall of European hierarchies/caste systems, i.e. if your father was a carpenter, you were likely to be as well as your sons, etc. This gave rise to the individual and capitalism, but isolated the individual from the familiar; the safe. Luther and Calvin appealed to the poor and middle class respectively: the former for a better hereafter life, but disdain for opposing the status quo; the latter a fatalism of being born predestined to either going to heaven or hell - saved or condemned. The mental gymnastic escape is if you were "doing good work," you were probably going to heaven, and thus part of the "chosen." This mentality coupled with the rise of wealth in the hands of a moneyed few that ultimately primed the populace for rule by a single Fuhrer and totalitarian, authoritarian rule. He spoke of the rise of inequality, concentration of wealth with [that then] 1%; their influence on politics, religion, education - I could swear I was reading current headlines.



We may or may never, even with great research - achieve warp drive. Nor possibly not ever encounter omnipotent watcher beings like the Q-continuum. But we could - here - make mature decisions as a species, to reduce inequality - thus the crime and terrorism it inspires - and avoid our own failings without going through painful lessons and casualties - caused by, climate, inequality, nuclear or otherwise.



We don't have to go far from home to do that.

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." George Santayana (16 December 1863 in Madrid, Spain – 26 September 1952 in Rome, Italy) was a philosopher, essayist, poet and novelist.

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Clatonia Joaquin Dorticus...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on September 20, 2014 at 6:48am


Cuban born, Clatonia Joaquin Dorticus of Newton, New Jersey invented an improved photographic print and negative wash machine (see patent drawing). During the process of developing a photographic print or negative, the product is soaked in several chemical baths. The print wash neutralizes the chemicals in each bath process, so that the time the chemicals effect a print can be exactly controlled. Clatonia Joaquin Dorticus believed his method would eliminate over washing that could soften the photograph too much.




Clatonia Joaquin Dorticus also invented an improved machine for embossing photographs (see patent drawing left). His machine was designed to both/either mount or emboss a photographic print. Embossing is a method or raising parts of a photograph for a relief or 3D look.



Clatonia Joaquin Dorticus's other inventions included an applicator for applying color liquid dyes to shoes and heels, and a hose leek stop.

 List of patents:

#535,820, 3/19/1895, Device for applying coloring liquids to sides of soles or heels of shoes
#537,442, 4/16/1895, Machine for embossing photographs
#537,968, 4/23/1895, Photographic print washer
#629,315, 7/18/1899, Hose leak stop



 Clatonia Joaquin Dorticus - invented an improved photographic print wash machine and method,
Mary Bellis

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Secession...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on September 20, 2014 at 6:44am
Know Your Meme

noun

the action of withdrawing formally from membership of a federation or body, especially a political state.

"the republics want secession from the union"



historical

the withdrawal of eleven southern states from the Union in 1860, leading to the Civil War.

singular proper noun: Secession; noun: the Secession



Scotland almost seceded from the UK. 1 in 4 Americans want to, or are at least open to seceding from the US. Kind of goes hand-in-hand with the paint job of the current Chief Executive in the "White House."

In Europe, particularly Scotland and Barcelona, the secession desire is born primarily from the recent economics of the Great Recession. There is a romanticism about secession without a clear appreciation of its history - at least in the US - and the logistics required to pull it off is daunting, if not quite simply impossible:



- The South developed their own currency;

- They had products to trade - agriculture, cotton, import/export, shipbuilding;

- They had slavery, i.e. free labor to leverage based on inhumane, brutish psychopathy longed for as "southern tradition."


Since the election and reelection of the country's 1st black president, I've heard wild Utopian fantasies about southern states forming "independent nations," yet asking them what their main product to trade on the global market, the answer amounts to...crickets. Scotland wanted "out" of the UK, yet wanted the luxury of continued usage of the British pound - see "bullet one" above.



"Some of the secessionists in these movements are charmingly idealistic do-it-yourselfers in a long American Utopian tradition. Others are disturbing-sounding provincials hostile to the diversity of large societies. Some are community-minded folks who think smaller polities do better at serving their own needs. Others are ornery individualists who don't want the community butting into their affairs at all. Under normal circumstances, these interesting assortments of free-thinkers don't attract much support." The Economist



Politicians have fostered a tribalism and partisanship that only functions to ensure they keep their seats. The British Prime Minister David Cameron is relieved he still has a job. Rick Perry really was pandering to his crowd as he suggested secession, coincided with running for president in a red state. It helps to dumb down the population - eliminating AP history; fostering creationism in science classes - so constituents are so confused, so bewildered they can't question what you're doing. Any real technological advances are funded - endowments and think tanks to make the rich richer still.



For the rest: scraps from the opulent table...for Lazarus.



Tomorrow: Farpoint

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Maven...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on September 19, 2014 at 6:46am
Source: NASA.gov, Image Credit: NASA/GSFC

NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft is nearing its scheduled Sept. 21 insertion (this Sunday) into Martian orbit after completing a 10-month interplanetary journey of 442 million miles.



Flight Controllers at Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Littleton, Colorado, will be responsible for the health and safety of the spacecraft throughout the process. The spacecraft’s mission timeline will place the spacecraft in orbit at approximately 9:50 p.m. EDT.



“So far, so good with the performance of the spacecraft and payloads on the cruise to Mars,” said David Mitchell, MAVEN project manager at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “The team, the flight system, and all ground assets are ready for Mars orbit insertion.”



The orbit-insertion maneuver will begin with the brief firing of six small thruster engines to steady the spacecraft. The engines will ignite and burn for 33 minutes to slow the craft, allowing it to be pulled into an elliptical orbit with a period of 35 hours.



Following orbit insertion, MAVEN will begin a six-week commissioning phase that includes maneuvering the spacecraft into its final orbit and testing its instruments and science-mapping commands. Thereafter, MAVEN will begin its one-Earth-year primary mission to take measurements of the composition, structure and escape of gases in Mars’ upper atmosphere and its interaction with the sun and solar wind.



 NASA.gov: NASA Mars Spacecraft Ready for Sept. 21 Orbit Insertion
Dwayne Brown

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Dr. Franklin Ramón Chang Díaz...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on September 19, 2014 at 6:30am
Official NASA photo


Modified/Excerpted from the original posting October 13, 2013.

FRANKLIN R. CHANG-DÍAZ (PH.D.)


NASA ASTRONAUT (FORMER)



PERSONAL DATA: Born April 5, 1950, in San José, Costa Rica, to the late Mr. Ramón A. Chang-Morales and Mrs. María Eugenia Díaz De Chang. Married to the former Peggy Marguerite Doncaster of Alexandria, Louisiana. Four children. He enjoys music, glider planes, soccer, scuba diving and hiking. His mother, brothers and sisters still reside in Costa Rica.



EDUCATION: Graduated from Colegio De La Salle in San José, Costa Rica, in November 1967 and from Hartford High School in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1969; received a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Connecticut in 1973 and a Doctorate in Applied Plasma Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1977.



SPECIAL HONORS: Recipient of the University of Connecticut’s Outstanding Alumni Award (1980); seven NASA Space Flight Medals (1986, 1989, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2002); two NASA Distinguished Service Medals (1995, 1997) and three NASA Exceptional Service Medals (1988, 1990, 1993). He is honorary faculty at the College of Engineering, University of Costa Rica. In April 1995, the government of Costa Rica conferred on him the title of “Honorary Citizen.” This is the highest honor Costa Rica confers to a foreign citizen, making him the first such honoree who was actually born there. Recipient of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics 2001 Wyld Propulsion Award for his 21 years of research on the Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket (VASIMR) engine.



 NASA bio: Franklin Ramón Chang Díaz, PhD
Personal Page: Franklin Ramón Chang Diaz

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Plasmonic Nanolaser...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on September 18, 2014 at 8:00am
See description *

A new design for a cavity-free nanolaser has been proposed by physicists at Imperial College London. The design builds on a proposal from the same team earlier this year to reduce the group velocity of light of a particular frequency to exactly zero in a metal–dielectric–metal waveguide. The laser, which has yet to be built, makes use of two such zero-velocity regions, and would achieve population inversion and create a laser beam without the need for an optical cavity. The researchers suggest that the design could have important applications in optical telecommunications and computing, as well as theoretical implications in reconciling the physics of lasers with plasmonics.

* Diagram of how the nanolaser would work: light is trapped in the stopped-light region (curved gold arrows) and this leads to the stimulated emission of light (upward-pointing arrows). The system is pumped by slow light (the large gold arrow) and the laser is confined to a region denoted by h and w, where the group velocity of the light (Vg) is zero. (Courtesy: A Freddie Page and O Hess/Imperial College)



 Physics World: New plasmonic nanolaser is cavity-free, Tim Wogan

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Pedro Flores...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on September 18, 2014 at 8:00am
Image source: Yo-Yo.net (link below)

The word yo-yo is a Tagalog word, the native language of the Philippines, and means 'come back.' In the Philippines, the yo-yo was a weapon for over 400 hundred years. Their version was large with sharp edges and studs and attached to thick twenty-foot ropes for flinging at enemies or prey. People in the United States started playing with the British bandalore or yo-yo in the 1860s.



It was not until the 1920s that Americans first heard the word yo-yo. Pedro Flores, a Philippine immigrant, began manufacturing a toy labeled with that name. Flores became the first person to mass-produce yo-yos, at his small toy factory located in California.

The Philippines was a Spanish colony for over 300 years, leaving what can now be called Filipino culture and people semi-Hispanicized. Under Spanish rule, most of the Filipino populace embraced Roman Catholicism, yet revolted many times to its hierarchy. Due to a colonial program, almost all inhabitants adopted Spanish surnames from the Catálogo alfabético de apellidos published in 1849 by the Spanish colonial government.

Wikipedia



 Inventors: Pedro Flores, Hispanic Inventors by Mary Bellis
Yo-Yo.net: History of the Yo-Yo

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Beauty Of The Cosmos

Posted by Winston Blakely on September 17, 2014 at 9:00pm

       Aura is an exciting introduction to my work. Featuring spectacular full color sections in
       each chapter of this book. I personally have invited you to my world and the selected images
       from the archives of Blakelyworks Studio.

        Shown here is Sh'tange the wife of Pozitron.

       She is also the mother of Scorpia aka Little Miss Strange.
       Sh'tange is a lone survivor from a distant universe in which she
       was a High Priestess with the ability to control the souls of
       her people called The Nagaye into a massive swarm of warriors
       for protective purposes. 
       All of this and more in  Aura- The art of Winston Blakely

     

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IXS Enterprise and Alcubierre...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on September 17, 2014 at 8:25am

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

 Dylan Thomas, 1914 - 1953


The central theme of November's "Interstellar" and space exploration in particular...

If we even get 1/10 c (say, via a fusion or antimatter drive - more conceptual for physicists. I suspect the "exotic matter" as the star ship would require is possibly dark matter, and for now hard to define, find or manufacture). That technological leap will be for society energy-liberating, and we'd owe that to Dr. Miguel Alcubierre Moya (see link below).

Images sourced from: Daily Mail Online


Caption:
Pictured is an illustration of Dr White's IXS Enterprise, an interstellar ship drawn by artist Mark Rademaker that could be an accurate representation of what the first mission beyond the solar system will look like. The IXS Enterprise is a theory-fitting concept for a faster than light (FTL) ship.

#P4TC:
Miquel Alcubierre Moya
Speaking of Warp Drive

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SiTC...

Posted by Reginald L. Goodwin on September 17, 2014 at 8:22am
Source: Gotta Love Science, Dr. Scott B. Goldscher

The University of Washington’s Biology 220 course serves hundreds of students in a massive lecture-hall setting, but a related science-writing course—enhanced by Science in the Classroom resources—helped a subset of those participants better understand core concepts, educator Greg Crowther reported.



By analyzing, annotating, and reviewing two Science papers as part of a Science in the Classroom (SiTC) exercise, Crowther’s students also improved their scientific vocabulary and critical-thinking skills. For their contributions to the growing SiTC stockpile of study materials, they will all get bylines on the Science website, too.



“Working on the Science in the Classroom project was a great opportunity for meta-cognition by the students in my science-writing course,” said Crowther, a faculty member at UW as well as South Seattle College. “It encouraged them to think about how they learn most effectively. With their homework, they had to answer questions like, `How did this aid your understanding of the paper, or not?’ They were prompted to think about how they approach learning, and going forward, that will help them in all of their courses.”



 AAAS: Science Offers New Tools for Educators and Students, Ginger Pinholster

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