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This week I finished the audio book
 "Einstein’s Relativity and the Quantum Revolution: Modern Physics for Non-Scientists"
(2nd edition)
by Professor Richard Wolfson.
First of all, I do not recommend the audio-only version of this course, as Professor Wolfson uses many visuals, and only a few of them appear in the printed course guide.
This course is a good overview of relativity and quantum science. The test of a good scientific theory is threefold: It explains what we observe, it helps us make predictions about future observations, and it gives us more control over our environment. Both of these theories qualify in this regard.
Dr. Wolfson is interested in philosophy, and he starts with the Newtonian concept of a clockwork universe, where past causes can absolutely predict future effects. He then explains how quantum theory upset this view with its uncertainty principle and probabile nature.
I was a little uncomfortable with his salesman-like approach to some topics. 'New! Improved! This theory solves quandry X for you!' is often used. It may be my modern science education talking, but before relativity was it _really_ considered a problem that 'gravitational mass' and 'inertial mass' both act the same way when a force is applied?
I did learn that the "weak force" has already been unified with the "electromagnetic force" and is now called the "electro-weak" force. Of course, gravity is still considered the weakest and most mysterious force. But according to the General Theory of Relaltivity, it is not really a force at all, but a bending of space-time. This is a difficult concept to accept.
I think that this course is now almost ten years old, and it only has one lecture about string theory. This theory attempts to make a new model which can describe all of the forces and particles.
Modern physics has still not explained the wave/particle duality. It appears that our best solution is like the old Certs commercial. Is it a candy or a breath mint? It's both! It's two things in one. With this bit of hand-waving, the issue can then be ignored. Like the Queen of Wonderland, we simply regard it to be what we want at the moment.
Of course there are many intractable problems which science has not solved. What is dark matter? Is is anything like the matter that we know? (This course made no mention of dark energy.) Einstein solved many problems simply by thinking long and hard about them. He was one mind, working without a staff or a laboratory, but staying informed about the work being done by other people. I look forward to continue learning more every day about the amazing universe that we live in. |
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 The theme for the 2012 Native American Dollar Coin is "Trade Routes in the 17th Century." Its reverse design features a Native American and horse in profile with horses running in the background, representing the historical spread of the horse.
Low demand for the dollar coin means that this issue may only be available in mint collector sets. |
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This week I finished the audio book:
 Early Christianity: The Experience of the Divine
Taught By Professor Luke Timothy Johnson, Ph.D., Yale University,
Emory University
This is not the first course from Professor Johnson (a former Benedictine monk) that I've listened to. I've already heard "The Apostle Paul" and "Jesus And The Gospels".
Johnson has an unusual speaking style--a friendly, non-offensive voice, which he presumably perfected during his career in the ministry.
This course examines the practices and experiences of early Christians, while minimizing theology. The first 10 or the 24 lectures defines terms and explain the Jewish and Greco-Roman cultures from which Christianity emerged.
He examines the tension between religious authority and charismatic faith, and how this conflict continues to this day. And I learned a new word--glossolalia, which means "speaking in tongues." Professor Johnson likes to use it in his lectures.
This course is good for those who want to better understand the religious practices and cultures of the Greco-Roman empire, but Professor Johnson is just as lost as other scholars to describe the practices of the early Christians. There is just not enough source material, and the early Church fathers mostly concerned themselves with disputes about doctrine. |
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Today the 20th in a series of United States presidential dollar coins was released. Today I was able to get some of these coins at Think Bank, after a little bit of difficulty.*
Garfield was an Ohio Civil War veteran, and an anti-slavery Republican. He opposed paper currency, and advocated a hands-off approach to economic regulation. After serving nine terms in the House of Representatives, and having been elected to the Senate, he was nominated in 1880 as a compromise candidate for president by the party.
As president, he sought civil-service reform, and supported full civil rights for black Americans, but opposed the polygamous marriage practices of the Latter-Day Saints in Utah. His term of office was short, being shot by a deranged office-seeker in July, 1881.
* I've been getting presidential dollars at Think Mutual Bank (formerly the IBM credit union) for the past two years. Today they told me that with their 'new system' only customers will be permitted to make 'cash exchanges'. The branch manager mentioned that "the Federal Reserve charges us for shipping on these coins".
An on line search reveals this page, which indicates that the federal reserve ordering fees are waived for "Commemorative Issues" and that the presidential dollars qualify as such.
If I have to, I will open an account, just so I can buy rolled coins there, but it seems to be a silly policy. Is it really in the bank's interest to force people to open accounts with a balance of a few cents, just to reduce the number of cash exchanges they make?
More comments from coin collectors here.
In the past, I have advocated ordering coins direct from the mint.
Unbelievably, the U.S. Mint had a program which would ship 10 rolls of dollar coins, paid by credit card, with no fee at all!
As of November 15, they are now charging a fee of $12.50 for each box of coins. Now if only the rest of the government will show the same kind of fiscal responsibility ...
Here is the U.S. Mint web page... |
| » Who says that the Mormons belong to a non-Christian cult? |
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First, let's identify what we are talking about. The name of the Church is "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints". Not the Mormon Church, because there is no such organization. Members of this Church have often been called "mormons" because they accept The Book of Mormon as the word of God.
Let's not beat around the bush -- I am one of these Mormons. And by some of the dictionary definitions, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints can be called a cult. But by those same definitions, so could every other mainstream Church or belief. The word cult is used because of its negative connotations. Any person who refers to my Church as a cult is just attempting to give insult.
Long ago the non-believing Jews used similar epithets when they accused the apostle Paul:
'we have found this man a pestilent fellow, and a mover of sedition among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes"
(New Testament | Acts 24:5)
But our detractors have historical and doctrinal reasons why those Mormons are heretics! I can summarize their primary historical/doctrinal objections as follows:
- The Mormons do not accept the creeds which establish the doctrine of the trinity.
- Since these creeds date from the 4th century, they are quite historical, and most Christian churches accept them. But they are also quite non-Biblical. *
- The Mormons accept other books besides the Bible as scriptural. They even believe that the spirtual gifts of prophecy and revelation are still operative in the Church today.
- On this point, there is not as much unity of belief in the Christian community. Since the Protestant churches cannot claim priestly authority from Christ, they claim the Bible to be their sole authority. This dogma was first formulated in The 2nd Helvetic Confession" of 1566. While many Christians accept the spiritual gifts of prophecy and revelation, others do not.
We Mormons proclaim the original doctrine of Christ--free from the creeds of men. These 'doctrines of men' were condemned by our Lord:
"This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.
But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men."
(New Testament | Matthew 15:8 - 9)
So how does one decide who the "true believers" are? Our detractors say that you must rely on the Bible--as they interpret it, of course. We say that God is willing to reveal the truth to every sincere person:
"when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost."
(Book of Mormon | Moroni 10:4)
I am one of millions of persons who have found this promise to be true. God has provided evidence of His work in the Latter-days. The Book of Mormon is the proof, and it proclaims that Jesus is the Savior of all the world.
* For an interesting talk which goes into this in detail, read this by Dallin H. Oaks , former member of the Utah Supreme Court, and current member of the LDS Church's Quorum of the Twelve--its 2nd highest governing body.
Oct. 12th, 2011 @ 12:40 am
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| » How to Listen to and Understand Great Music |
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 How to Listen to and Understand Great Music, 3rd Edition
Taught By Professor Robert Greenberg, Ph.D.,
University of California, Berkeley,
San Francisco Performances
Wow! Finally finished the 48th lecture of this long course...
This course focuses on the history of western music from the Middle Ages to about 1920, as opposed to the much shorter "Understanding the Fundamentals of Music", which talks about the elements of music, the instruments of the orchestra, the the construction of the various scales and tuning systems.
But even with 48 lectures, he seldom spends more than one or two lectures on a single composer. If you have a favorite, you should get the individual course which covers that composer. Still, it is a good survey of western music, and Professor Greenberg does cover the basics forms of orchestral music: through-composed, rondo, theme-variations, minuet-trio, sonata-allegro.
I am now feeling much more comfortable at understanding orchestral music, beyond the "that's a pretty tune" level.
If you have any interest in concert music, you owe it to yourself to go your public library and listen to one of his courses. 'Professor Bob' is clearly passionate about music (he is himself a composer), and he delivers these lectures in a straigtforward, colloquial manner.
Each time I listen, I learn a bit more that helps me to better appreciate music that I have loved for years.
Oct. 11th, 2011 @ 04:07 pm
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| » Constitution Day (observed Friday) |
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 Constitution Day commemorates the signing of the U.S. Constitution by thirty-nine brave men on September 17, 1787.
This document is significant in human history because “we the people” gave the federal government certain powers. In fact, James Madison didn’t think that we needed a bill of rights, since we people kept all other powers to ourselves.
When the Bill of Rights was finally passed into law, it contained these two stipulations:
“The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.” (Amendment 9)
“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” (Amendment 10)
This is very different from the Magna Carta, where the all-powerful King John granted certain liberties to the freemen of England.
But old habits die hard, and today many politicians do not recognize any limits to federal power. This has resulted in a new constitutional crisis, which was described by Chief Justice John Marshall as follows:
“There is no middle ground. The Constitution is either a superior, paramount law, unchangeable by ordinary means, or it is on a level with ordinary legislative acts, and, like other acts, is alterable when the legislature shall please to alter it.
If the former part of the alternative be true, then a legislative act contrary to the Constitution is not law; if the latter part be true, then written Constitutions are absurd attempts on the part of the people to limit a power in its own nature illimitable.” (John Marshall, Marbury v. Madison)
Now is the time for a new generation of people to decide – Do we want to retain our rights and liberties, or do we want a government with unlimited power to trample them? I suggest that we choose peaceably, by voting for people of like mind on Election Day, instead of rioting in the streets on a ‘day of rage’.
Crossposted to Conservatism
Sep. 15th, 2011 @ 09:31 pm
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| » U.S. Al-chemist turns CO2 into gold! |
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Alchemists have been trying to transmute common elements into gold for hundreds of years.
Recently an American Al-Chemist claims to have succeeded where so many have failed.
"The secret is that you need a special catalyst to turn common elements into gold," confided Al Gore, former senator from Tennessee and vice-president to Bill Clinton. "My method is to force the sale of carbon credits through a huge steaming pile of what I like to call climate science."
"The hardest part is to get people to exchange precious metals like gold and silver for worthless carbon credits. To do that you need a lot of junk science, but it becomes a real gravy train when combined with government mandates."
Mr. Gore declined to elaborate further about how he was able to manipulate this market for private gain, but Mr X, an old college roommate, gave us some hints. "Yeah, ‘Crazy-Al’ was always talking about some get-rich scheme or another. Back in the 80s he was sure that he was going to make a lot of money on new technology. He said that if his patent for the internet was approved, he would charge half a penny for each web page, and he would never have to work again".
"I said, 'Al, you're already in Congress--you don't have to work!' He didn't think that was very funny. But when he became unemployed back in 2000, he decided to take his chance. He told me that his mentor George Soros had once told him the secret to easy money: You can be as rich as you want--you just have to make a whole lot of other people poorer."
Note: This article is in honor of tomorrow's day of propaganda, where Mr. Gore and his friends will once again proclaim that "the science is settled" and that "deniers" like myself should be silenced so they can implement their radical policy of government control over energy, food, water and other natural resources.
Cross-posted to talk-politics.
Sep. 13th, 2011 @ 07:43 am
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| » How to Listen To and Appreciate Great Music |
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This is not the first audio course by Professor Greenberg that I have taken, but it is by far the longest one (48 lectures in total), and I'm only half-way through it.
After covering medieval and baroque music, I'm now learning more about the sonata-allegro classical music form.
How to Listen to and Understand Great Music, 3rd Edition
Taught By Professor Robert Greenberg, Ph.D.,
University of California, Berkeley,
San Francisco Performances
If you have any interest in concert music, you owe it to yourself to go your public library and listen to one of his courses. 'Professor Bob' is clearly passionate about music (he is himself a composer), and he delivers these lectures in a straigtforward, colloquial manner.
Each time I listen, I learn a bit more that helps me to appreciate music that I have loved for years.
Aug. 26th, 2011 @ 11:21 am
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