Modern Physics is really a strange science!

When you read about modern physics in, say, Scientific American, you see some really strange ideas float by. They can be mesmerizing.

Take these quotes from an article on the SciAm Web site recently, in the article "Do Naked Singularities Break the Rules?", discussing a piece of exotica revolving around black holes. In a black hole situation, a star collapses in on itself as it runs out of nuclear fuel, and as it collapses, gravity becomes stronger and stronger, until it reaches the point where even light can't escape -- which is why they call it a black hole. Ultimately, at least in theory, even the black hole (which may be the mass of a star in a space the size of a Manhattan townhouse) collapses in on itself, into a single-dimension point, if you can imagine such a thing -- the point is called a Singularity -- mainly because it is unique in its physics; quantum mechanics and Relativity are thought to break down at this point. But nobody knows because nothing escapes the "event horizon" beyond which nothing can escape the black hole. This introduces a number of oddities physicists are trying to think through.

"The breakdown of general relativity at such a location [the singularity] may not be a failure of the theory per se, but a sign that space and time have an edge. The singularity marks the place where the physical world ends. We should think of it as an event rather than an object, a moment when collapsing matter reaches the edge and ceases to be, like the big bang in reverse."

IN other words, if everything can arise out of nothing, then it can return to nothing.

If that doesn't give you pause, you have no sense of wonder and should avoid the sciences as an area of study. And check your pulse.

Another quote explains why string theory and similar far-advanced guesses as to the ultimate nature of reality need some smidgen of evidence to support their speculations -- they currently have none at all. "Quantum gravity theories in the making, such as string theory and loop quantum gravity, are badly in need of some kind of observational input, without which it is nearly impossible to constrain the plethora of possibilities." Too many speculative options.

Isn't that amazing?

Credit Crisis--How We Got In This Mess--Illustrated

The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis on Vimeo.

Click to view a surprisingly solid explanation of what the heck went wrong to create the credit crunch we're all experiencing now -- it will help clarify a lot for you!

Economic Crisis--How We Got In This Mess--Illustrated

 
The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis on Vimeo.

Watch this excellent cartoon explaining what the heck went wrong to create the credit crunch, housing crisis, and market crash we're still living with -- it's three years old, but still highly relevant, and it will clarify a lot for you!

Enjoying retired life so far....

After two years at it, I am indeed enjoying retirement, and also keeping busy -- magic club, arts committee, watercolor and oil painting classes, music lessons, and trying to launch a Web business with wine advice. 

My to-do list is lengthy--but it's all stuff I'd like to accomplish, rather than stuff I need to do to make money (though I could use some freelance writing/editing work, with the market killing my retirement funds).

It's easy to spend a lot of time not doing a lot of anything. My target this year (2009) is to make some serious progress on my blogs (posting regularly, so I can justify marketing them to my friends), figuring out how to get good info and real answers for the newly retired in my site, BoomersRetired.com, and developing SavvyTaste.com, with my partner Lew Perdue.

To which end I just received the book, "Self DIscipline in 10 days," which just MIGHT let me make more effective use of my time. Its initial chapter makes it seem promising. I'll keep you posted....

Need an artist's studio? In Alameda (San Francisco CA)

An artist looking for studio space? How about some nice rooms in the lovely island community of Alameda, near Oakland, in the San Francisco Bay Area?

Contact Debra Owen, Executive Director, Frank Bette Center for the Arts. 1601 Paru St, Alameda, CA, 510-523-6957.

(www.frankbettecenter.org)

$500 a month -- good deal.

Definition of "Reality"

"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. "

Philip K. Dick (1928 - 1982) 

"How to Build a Universe That Doesn't Fall Apart Two Days Later" 1978.

Google's Latitude--great software GPS on your cell phone!

Google's new location feature for cell phones, Latitude, has been getting lots of press, good and bad.

Because one of its features--the one they talk about most--is that you can invite friends to know where you (or your cell phone) are at, exactly, I've seen a number of the usual "my privacy is being invaded--arrrgh!" blog postings. Idiots. You can choose who to let know where you are, how accurately they find you, and you can turn it off selectively any time you want. Sheesh.

But the "find a friend" function, for all the publicity, is not the Cool Feature. Latitude is --> afree GPS on your cell phone!Its most widely useful (but non-Social Web2) feature is, no doubt about it, the fact that it will give you turn-by-turn instructions (with map if you like) to any destination on Google Maps. For free.

It works with any smart phone -- mine is a nearly obsolete Palm Centro -- and your phone does NOT have to have GPS features enabled! Google Latitude uses 'cell-tower triangulation,' rather than GPS satellites, to figure out where your phone is. 

It's not the most feature-filled GPS -- no voice speaking turns aloud, and the accuracy of the location feature is less than that of a GPS satellite -- but - did I mention it's free? And you don't have to have carry around a second device.

This is a *great* light-duty GPS-in-your-Cell Phone product. Free. (Except you have to have data services enabled on your cell phone, so you'll pay data charges if you use it heavily.)

I personally like it plenty! Go to Google.com/Latitude, put in your cellphone number, and download the software to your phone from the message they send you. You'll be glad you did!

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