On Time & Relativity - Part 1

The Theory of Relativity provides a sense of fascination for most thinkers, Me Thinks.

But similarly, it is often regarded as abstract, and difficult to understand. Part of that challenge is due to the fact that relativistic effects contradict everyone's, everyday experience.

When an object (of mass) moves at a velocity approaching the speed of light, it's inherent properties are changed in surprising ways. There are three relativistic effects that occur on objects with mass. These are:

1. length contraction
2. time dilation
3. mass increase

Relativistic effects occur on any object with mass (moving at any speed), but these effects are infinitesimally insignificant (largely, very small - giggle) unless the object is moving at a noticeable fraction of the speed of light (approximately 3.0 X 10^8 m/s).

AKA: any form of motion.

It's our most familiar process - one that we all know "from experience". Motion (as we "experience" it) is comprised of neither time dilation nor length contraction. A displacement at half the speed of light could correct this misjudgment (but it's not on offer just yet, I shall let you know).

Q. What is the minimum speed for relativistic effects?
A. There is no minimum speed for relativistic effects.

(Imagine that an Indy car is your 'time machine'. Your subjective elapsed time is shorter in a fast loop around the track, than it would have been if you had remained at the starting line. The catch is that at such speeds, the effect is very small - your relativistic clock would read [perhaps] slower by a couple of trillionths of a second. Eureka! Must one specify the degree of the desired relativistic effect? Yes.)

A possible alternative to an actual relativistic experience is simulation: i.e. cinematographic imagery (virtual reality). It allows us to conceptualize relativistic flight, gravitational collapse, compact objects (collapsed stars, for example) and other extreme conditions. Extreme?

Well yes, extreme to-the-extreme (very small, but large? giggle)!

The general Theory of Relativity is also a theory of gravitation. Its peculiar predictions (like the deflection of light) are not part of our everyday life (the gravity of the earth is simply too weak to impress mere mortals). Nope, there's nothing THAT extreme happening anywhere nearby, albiet our Sun does a nicer job of it. Let us look into Space. That's where the everyday experiences of even mortal men will reach those extremes. And in no time (pun).

I've yet to provide my readers (as promised) with "time words" - redefined or invented. Patience (is going to be one of them)...

At the beginning of the 20th century, the theory of relativity was considered to be one of the most difficult and abstract theories in science. This is expressed (e. g.) in Herr Einstein's famous question, "Why is it that nobody understands me and everybody likes me?" Or, in the anecdote on Sir Arthur Eddington, who (when someone remarked that he probably was "one of the three men in the world who really understood relativity theory") replied, that he did "not know who might be the third"...

I suspect that there are a few more than three today. Were it that everyone be so enabled, alas. Onwards. Why does time appear to run slower near a gravitational field?

General Relativity - The geometric theory of gravitation developed by Albert Einstein, incorporating and extending the theory of special relativity to accelerated frames of reference and introducing the principle that gravitational and inertial forces are equivalent. The theory has consequences for the bending of light by massive objects (the nature of Black Holes) and indeed, the fabric of space and time.

General Relativity - Predicts that time should pass more slowly when near a massive body. This is because there is a relation between the energy of light and its frequency: the greater the energy, the higher the frequency. As light travels upward in a gravitational field, it loses energy and so its frequency goes down. This means that the length of time between one wave crest and the next goes up. To an observer high up, it would appear that everything below was taking longer to happen. (This prediction was first tested in 1962 using a pair of very accurate clocks mounted at the top and bottom of a water tower. The clock at the bottom, i.e. nearer the Earth, was found to run slower, in exact agreement with General Relativity.)

Life for folks in New York (when compared to) life for folks at Denver - is INDEED a march to the beat of a different drummer! Let us not compare the "Big Apple" to a "Mile High" city, but rather to a somewhat smaller, Orange ...do citrus trees grow in Colorado?

Did you know (relatively speaking), that the surface of the Earth (proportionately scaled) is FAR smoother than the wrinkles of an Orange peal?

And so it is...

Never give up, Never give up, Never give up!

Happy Father's Day!
To all the Dads
(And other unsung heros AKA, meritorious Step-Dads)...

See [link]:
Every Day is Father's Day

WI State Governor underwrites "Me Thinks", thinking.
See [links]:

2009 Wisconsin State Fatherhood Week

Official Gubernatorial Proclamation

From the White House, about Responsible Parenthood...
See [link]:

On the 100th anniversary of Father's Day.

Every day is Father's Day - yes, it takes a MAN to be a Dad!

Yerkes Observatory (Williams Bay, Wisconsin USA)

My son and I revisited Yerkes Observatory yesterday (yet again). It's a shrine (of sorts) to knowledge itself, Me Thinks. To maintain a father-son "tradition", we always breathe deep, and take-in an extra breath (or two), for good measure - just in case a few molecules of the air once-inhaled by Albert Einstein, yet linger...

Upon arrival in America, the celebrated German scientist was asked about his plans, to which Einstein responded, "I want to go to The Observatory!" He did quite exactly, that...

Links:

1) Yerkes Observatory (World's largest refractory telescope).
2) Albert (During his Geneva Lake visit of May 6, 1921.)
3) Theory of Relativity (casual reading for the reading casual).

After all, I did tell you (dear readers) that we would eventually engage a dicussion of, "Time" (it's being prepared, and shall be published in "due course" [pun]... ).

The same photo (of the Yerkes star-studded [pun] group) hangs on the wall of my dining room, under a clock, whereupon it is written (most suitably), "Tempus Fugit".

R.I.P. (Requiescant In Pace)

P.S. In that cherished photo, find: Herr Albert, Mr. Charles. T. Yerkes, astronomer Geo. E. Hale, and others... I am offering a prize to whomever can name EVERYONE who figures in that ever-so-historical shot. The original is preserved as a glass-plate negative (part of the archives of the University of Chicago). My copy was produced directly from that negative ...by the curator (bragging is obliged and allowed here).

Millions of Billions (not talk about mere money)...

Millions and Billions, (not "McDonalds"), indeed Billions of Trillions... countless Quadrillions! Let us talk about the "Digital Revolution".

Credit where credit is due, "kudos" go to Silicon Valley! I was a priviledged participant during its earliest days... The Digital Revolution is still changing "life as we knew it".

Increasingly, we live in a world of (technological) moving targets which have no moving parts. They move fast. It has also become a world of superlatives, because World Records change almost "faster" than CHANGE, itself. Literally? (At "light speed" that is provably true, albeit that I may have to "invent" the language of "time" itself to do so ...but we shall speak of "Time & Relativity" another day).

"Personal Computing" has become a truly great gift to all Humanity (having come to useful fruition in less than a lifetime). One has to wonder about the past... How did motivated people (for whom passion, was an omni-present thirst for knowledge) keep-track of their work-in-progress? Anyone who "hungers" for KNOWLEDGE also has a gigantic "data management" problem to solve. Such can be a daunting organizational task.

For the sake of this dialogue - just imagine what the most celebrated "Minds" of the past could have done with computing devices placed at their disposition (24 X 7)! The comparison renders their myriad accomplishments all the more amazing.

I shall pause in silence, momentarily humbled by that thought...

[p-a-u-s-e]

I've been PRIVILEDGED to know quite a few people who "thirst" and who "hunger"... Almost all of them have seen their lives become inexorably intertwined with a daily usage of computing machines.

My first contact with digital computation was back in 1970-71. I was an undergrad at a private college. The Physics Lab had just taken delivery on a "table-top" calculator. SHARP had just produced a unit that had a 16-digit, alpha-numeric display in the form of "Nixie" tubes (those formed orange-colored characters: 0-9, A-to-Z, +, -, /, *, and a "period" to represent decimal displacements). It weighed-in at about 30 pounds (14 kilos). The cost in 1970's US Dollars, was about $18,000.

Everyone who was mathematically inclined, wanted to try-out the Physlab's "new", "brain-toy". In no time, students were obliged to sign-up and stand in line, to get a "time-slot" (the machine was very much in-demand - at saturation over-night). Digital computation at a personal level, was an instant success all around the World.

Philosophically, in my lifetime (age 58, Sep'09) we've gone from a society of the HAVES and HAVE-NOTS - to a society of THOSE-WHO-KNOW and THOSE-WHO-KNOW-NOT. Sadly, we still have an Elite, the dwindling Middle-class, and many more Poor. But we have a growing number of people "who know"! Power to the People?

Knowledge empowers. Knowledge is power.

Most importantly: to remember, is to know!

Those who have access to knowledge (and LOTS of it), can be profoundly EMPOWERED by it. This has held true for the knowledge itself - MASSIVE amounts of KNOWLEDGE! The creators of the ancient Library of Alexandria, Egypt would certainly revel at the formidable amount of information that has become available: from almost anywhere, to almost anyone (e.g. GOOGLE and its competitive peers). The experience has expanded as an exponential, thanks to the dynamics of binary engines.

To Mr. Babbage, a hats-off... To Mr. Boole, a bow.

From a purely economic perspective: it is an AMAZING fact that ANYONE can purchase (at almost ANY consumer electronics store), powerful computing machines for under $1000 (2009 US Dollars). The consumer can easily add data storage, in 1, 2, or 3-Terabyte increments (and for under $250 retail). That reality is utterly STUNNING by the standards of 1970. Such capability was literally unimaginable, back in those days. Indeed, no one foresaw what was coming in its entirety. More is on the way.

Speaking of Terabytes, is the "Hubble" telescope back on-line? A whole Universe awaits us!

We can all be pleased to be alive at this time in the history of mankind. The experience leaves the mind to wander and to wonder, "What will come next to revolutionize our world?" What will be the REALITY in 10, or 100, or 1000, or even 10000 years? How long will we endure as a species? Or, will all of mankind's endeavors be for naught? Excuse me, I've diverged...

Who wouldn't like to live on? Who wouldn't want to see MORE of what is "yet to come"? Would we be overwhelmed? Would we recognize that world? Me Thinks that all of us alive today, would be overcome with awe... Nothing of our world would remain. Nothing would still be recognizable. We are certain to be superseded.

It's in the cards...

My almost "100-year-young" Mother has seen incredible change, and yet...

I for one, think FORWARD in terms of POSITIVES. I foresee almost unlimited progress (KNOWLEDGE) ahead - to satiate those who thirst onwards within a mindset of the intellectually famished.

Notradamus was wrong, and Armageddon is NOT coming (well, not just yet).

As some of my readers know, I operate two hi-tech businesses [1] [2] from a home office (with "Greening" in mind, I go to the cities as little as possible). My primary MEDIA SERVER is as much of a "play-thing" as it is a "work horse" - a dray, a "French Percheron"? It's VERY "paperless" ...all muscle!

Across the past few months, I've transferred volumes of binary data from 1100 (legal) music CD's (I've about 250 more to go.) There are now 8,275 MP3 music files online. I'm now looking forward to a similar "mini-project" -- that of, transcribing aging 33-RPM records, Then I plan to repair and replicate my father's (far older) 78's -- converting those into WAV files (so I can burn CD's of the 78's for family). Then, I shall treat myself to a "retro"-fest, listening to my 33's (digitally corrected) as MP3's, of course.

That server (one of several in my home) now has 375,000 files of PIX, photos, music (MP3, MIDI, sheet music, S3M, MOD, etc), references, navigation maps, antique maps, e-Books, dictionaries, encyclopedias, bi-lingual dictionaries, thesaurus, books on math, physics, biology, anthropology, astronomy, chemistry, botany, paleontology, and more... including a "backup" (duplicate) of my 20,000-name genealogy -- and all the related (pun), accumulated documents.

The data can be accessed by ANY computer recognized (as "safe") within my network. The files can be READ (only), not WRITTEN. The only way to "write" to the server, is to TRANSFER files into a TEMP folder, or to add them directly from CD's or DVD's. It's a SUPER secure setup, as you would imagine. Firewall, anti-spy, anti-virus, anti-SPAM ...a "meal" in and of itself?

What is AMAZING is that (of the 1.0 Tera bytes available from that server), only 168 Gigs have been used. If I combine ALL of the storage that I have on my network (adding-in the storage of computers that are turned-off, or stored), I have about 2.75 Tera bytes -- all to myself (and my 11-year old son). That's 2.75 Thousand Billion! or Two Trillion, Seven Hundred and Fifty BILLION.

The BIG numbers cease to sink-in at some stage... ("whopper" sounds good, or "gigantic").

My network is composed of about 20 Million files. I had to become very organized, to say the least.

For the GEEK in you (my reader), a new world record was set in November last year (2008): the first computing machines in the world broke the PETA-flop boundary. The IBM "Roadrunner" barely managed to cling to the top spot, fending off a challenge from the Cray "Jaguar". But both competitors broke Peta-flop speeds, performing 1.105 and 1.059 QUADRILLION floating-point calculations per second, the first two computers to do so.

A quadrillion? Yes. If I had that many pennies, I could (literally) buy the USA and most of the planet. That's one thousand-million-million (or, one-million-billion) -- i.e. ten to the fifteenth power. Mere pocket change? No mere talk about money. It's called, "number crunching".

Back in 1970, I had just "aced" a college course in "Slide rule". As a backup, I need to locate my "counting frame" (abacus)? It's here -- somewhere... in the meantime, my 1974 Hewlett Packard, HP-21 still serves me quite nicely. Whereas, my all-magnesium, "Pickett Scientific" (slide rule) has become an antique...

Just like like me.
Me Thinks.

P.S. My first true "personal computer" was one of my own manufacture ...a "home-brew" machine built upon "Cromemco" electronic S-100 "guts". That was way back in 1975-78. As of this writing, I have more than 75 modern computers at my beck 'N call. Four of the fastest, run GIMPS calculations all day, every day ...to discover new Prime Numbers (number theory), just for fun! Doesn't everybody? Dih-dih-dih-dah! The the letter "V" in Morse Code (the Roman Numeral for "5"), the opening phrase to Beethoven's 5th, or 0001, as per Boole - and the "Rain Man" knows all of that. "Hi Kim!"

As-Salāmu `Alaykum (السلام عليكم)

"Salam", to my readers and friends around the World.

When I was a child (of Norwegian, German Saxon & Bavarian origins), I grew-up in Illinois, within a Protestant Methodist, Christian household. As a family, we maintained a tradition of reciting this prayer (whenever we sat down together for meals):

"God is Good, God is Great.
And we thank Him for this food.
By His hands we all are fed.
Thank you God, for our daily bread."
"Amen."

The wording of that benediction parallels the (same) prayer in many languages. Indeed, once translated, the concepts conveyed by those words are components of the tenets of several World religions. I am thinking of: "God is Good", "God is Great" - in particular.

The takbīr or takbeer (تَكْبِير) is the Arabic name for the phrase Allāhu Akbar, الله أكبر. Usually translated as, "God is great" or "God is [the] greatest," it is a common Arabic expression, used as both an informal expression of faith and as a formal declaration. Note that (in the spoken language of Jesus Christ), the word for God, is "Allah".

As-Salāmu `Alaykum (السلام عليكم) is an Arabic spoken greeting used by Muslims, as well as Arab Christians and Jews.

That greeting was used today by US President, Barak Obama.

I for one, am PROUD to have this fine gentleman representing the American people abroad. His pronunciation was correct. His usage was one of respect. He did honor to his hosts, and to himself. While it is true that Obama has stated (during public speaking engagements) that his African, Muslim father was "agnostic", his father's past was deeply rooted in Islam. Mr. Obama has been wise to draw upon his intimate familiarity with customs and language.

Admittedly, I have a bias in this matter.

Three of my children are half-American. One is married to an African. They (like Mr. Obama) have parents who share two nationalities and two belief systems. Those two sets of values stem from two very different ethnic cultures and two very distinct political systems.

My daughters, their mother, and I invested the time and energy to learn and KNOW more than one language (fluently) - several, in fact.

I am doubly PROUD to have a US President whose international savvy includes a diverse knowledge of culture and language - moreover, to such a degree that he could (and did) quote passages from the Holy Koran. In addition, he was apt (and able) to greet his "hosts" (abroad), in THEIR language. BRAVO!

At last! America has a intelligent, broad-based knowledgeable, and worldly person in the White House. (Thomas Jefferson MUST be pleased ...smiling, from the hereafter.)

Mr. Obama is distinguishing himself as a class-act statesman, an intellectual, but also a man sensitized to the needs and values of grass-roots folk in this great land, and the World.

Were it that he could speak a dozen languages, or more (so as to best articulate the message of Peace and sane international dealings), that would be wonderful! The world needs competence from its leadership...

May "His will be done." Or (again), in Arabic language, Inch'Allah (arabeg: إن شاء الله in šaʾ Allāh), "As God would will it".

What an irony, that some Americans make ridicule of cultures (about which) a sad majority know little to nothing - too often by, misquoting, mispronouncing, misrepresenting, stereotyping, and misunderstanding the peoples for whom they formulate mindless slurs. (I am most impressed by their stupidity, not by their ignorance.)

Too many Americans have remained intellectually lazy - all those who have remained ignorant of the great diversity and profound interest of this vast, wide world. Those who seem to value their personal status quo far more, than knowledge.

As-Salāmu `Alaykum (السلام عليكم) Mr. President!

The term "Salam" in Arabic means "Peace".
Me Thinks (do you?)

P.S. The salutation, "Salam" is used throughout the world (by approximately, 1.7 billion Muslims) to greet each other daily. It is the greeting which is truly the most universal of greetings used by Mankind.

P.P.S. Today, I choose to describe myself as: Spiritual, not Religious - I seek to practice a "religion" of mutual respect.

Loving deserving...

A loving, deserving man harbors not misogyny, nor does he teach the contempt of women.

A loving, deserving woman harbors not misandry, nor does she teach the contempt of men.

Being a RAGE wright is not a right, a rite, nor Right.
"He was a well good wright." (Christ was a fine carpenter.)
--Chaucer

The Demagoguery of Greed...

Its a shame that CREDIT CARDS aren't "land-fill" friendly ...because that's where I'd like to send mine (dead, buried, and a'moldering-in-the-grave).

JP Morgan CHASE just jacked-up my rate to 29.24% -- despite the fact that I pay on time, have never been late, delinquent, or over my assigned balance limit.

The medias have reported that this sort of NONSENSE was (suddenly) imposed upon millions of card-holders. Gee! Aren't we surprised? Did everyone take note of the fact that such gentile changes to the "TERMS and CONDITIONS of USE" occurred - just before President Obama signed the "common sense" CreditCard legislation into law? Very jokie...

The card companies "claim" to offer the consumer "an option". You 'may' pay IN FULL (if you don't like their demagoguery)...

So wazzup?

This NONSENSE is staunch proof (all of it, negative) of GREED! We Americans have become THE premier "me first society of the planet". Corporations who behave like this should be subjected to mandatory refunds and HUGE fines (likewise payable in full). Didn't we, the citizenry of this "free" country, just "bail-out" these ass-holes?

Memo to myself: time for a "Balance Transfer" to another card company. Like most of working America, I'm too BROKE to pay off my balance in full...

And you?

The Anonymous Point of View...

The horizon of most people, is a circle with a radius of zero.

They call it their point of view.
-Albert Einstein

Execs TWITTER (your) time away?

If you run a business, you probably (also) OWN all of the servers and workstations at your company. Here's a simple (and virtually cost-free) suggestion for your I.T. SysAdmin: BLOCK all of the following websites...

TWITTER, FACEBOOK, LINKEDIN, eBAY, CRAIGSLIST, YOUTUBE, FLICKR, MYSPACE, BEBO, IMDB, ROTTENTOMATOES, FARK, POGO, MOOLA, HOTORNOT, PATENTLYSILLY, DEL.IC.US, FURL, DIGG, REDDIT, SLASHDOT, SNAPFISH, MATCH, eHARMONY, MATE1, YAHOO PERSONALS, NETFLIX, BLOCKBUSTER, BESTBUY, TARGET, WALMART...etc.

It's HIGH TIME that your employees get down to business! Are your Execs "twittering" their time away (at YOUR expense)? Clearly, the rules of social networking engagement are still evolving, but does time spent at any of the above websites enhance your BOTTOM LINE? Either these tools are shedding light on business issues, or are they're just a distraction ...and I assert that all "distractions" ARE a total waste of time.

It's your call. Me Thinks.

The genetics of death: H1N1

The W.H.O. (World Health Organization) escalated the ongoing pandemic to a LEVEL 5 alert status, just yesterday (in an attempt at containment).

"Influenza A virus subtype H1N1", also known as "A(H1N1)", or simply "H1N1" - is a subtype of influenza virus A, and the most common cause of influenza in humans.

Discussion: In each time and each place, mankind has always sought to avoid disease. Historically, we've tried to limit the diffusion of diseases.

Surely, I am not alone to have taken notice of the fact that ALL of the deaths attributed to H1N1 (to date) have occurred in persons of Hispano American origin.

Let us also take note of the ethnological fact, that a very large percentage of the human populations alive today (from the Hispano American region)... is genetically speaking, descended from the aboriginal peoples who lived in isolation (from the balance of planetary populations) for at least 12,000 years, and possibly longer...

Genetic studies conducted by the NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY have produced "genographic" mappings which describe the genetic-geographic origins of the peoples of the world (based upon DNA samples obtained from humans, all over the planet). Their statistical results connect (and disconnect) the "families" of the Planet, and span a sea of time...

It is clear, that all of Mankind has ties to the most ancient of the "Out of Africa" genealogies. Since anthropological times, the descendants of those "men" have bound all humans alive today to a common ancestry. But that same expanse of time served to produce the divergences of race, and the geographic isolation of entire populations. Both have fostered the evolution of immunities (and vulnerability) to specific types of disease.

Could it not be, that the H1N1 victims (Mexican descendants of ancient American peoples), have an inherent genetic predisposition (vulnerability) that other genetic groups may not share (carry)?

Are the "purest" aboriginal, Hispano Americans alive today, not part of a remnant population - the result of the varied geographic isolations of time? And does not such an inheritance, make them who they are today (from an immunology perspective)? And perhaps, particularly vulnerable?

Time will tell, and history is a wondrous teacher.

As the first Europeans arrived in meso-America (during the XV, XVI, XVII, and XVIII centuries), they also introduced an entire array of communicable diseases. Some of those ailments ultimately ravaged the indigenous aboriginal populations. Indeed, entire cultures were virtually obliterated.

Is it not true that disease became the most efficacious "Conquistador"?

The practices that were used to avoid disease (those 500 years ago), were derived from observation. And the only control measures were to stand clear from the contagious places, and to isolate sick persons (by means of the simplest of quarantines). There was merely implied epidemiologic surveillance.

The supply of safe drinking water, sewage disposal, and sanitary control of food were not habitual practices, as they are today. Food residuals - waste collection were not opportune. Those were the practices of ignorance. They favored the existence and proliferation of many parallel vectors that serviced to spread the tides of disease (including insect-borne ailments and through various animals).

Domestic waste did not simply disappear in a timely fashion. Society allowed an accumulation of excreta and waste near to dwellings. In some places, there were measures related to water supply, excreta disposal, handling of dead bodies, and environmental sanitation - but there was no knowledge of the risks, as we know them today.

It was believed that (through) ceremonials, sacrifice, processions, and prayers to various gods - prevalent diseases could be avoided.

It is certainly true that hygiene (or lack of same) is still a contributor to endemic illness across the Hispano American region, but that the larger more logical vulnerability may simply be tied to the acquired genetics - that is to say, the mere genealogical make-up of the victims. Logically, all descended from native peoples who were present 500 years ago (and perhaps as much as 20,000 years ago).

A genetic predisposition (vulnerability) to specific, albeit evolving flu strains, may well explain why the deaths are occurring inside of selected populations, but not in others...

Me Thinks