31 OCT 2018 by ideonexus
Bumper Sticker Computer Science
A few of my favorites, not found in the linked article:
"There are two ways of constructing software. One way is to make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies. The other is to make it so complex that there are no obvious deficiencies." C.A.R. Hoare
"The purpose of software engineering is to control complexity, not to create it." Dr. Pamela Zave
"The most important single aspect of software development is to be clear about what you are trying to build." Bjarne Stroustrup
"T... 1 
notes
notes15 MAR 2013 by ideonexus
Einstein's "Biggest Blunder"
For much of the modern era, scientists followed Nicolaus Copernicus, Galileo Galilei, and Isaac Newton in believing the cosmos to be eternal and unchanging. But in 1917, when Albert Einstein applied his theory of relativity to space-time as a whole, his equations implied that the universe could not be static; it must be either expanding or contracting. This struck Einstein as grotesque, so he added to his theory a fiddle factor called the "cosmological constant" that eliminated the implicatio...
1 The story of how Einstein's belief in a static Universe prompted him to introduce a fudge-factor in his Theory of Relativity, the Cosmological Constant.
19 JAN 2013 by ideonexus
Why Cell Phone Radiation Does Not Cause Cancer
Physics explains why no links were found. The microwaves used in cell phone transmissions do not have enough energy to break the chemical bonds of DNA, which is how cell mutations occur and cause cancer. How do we know this? Light and other parts of the electromagnetic spectrum, including microwaves, radio waves, infrared waves, and ultraviolet light waves, are all forms of radiation. A single unit of radiation is called a photon. A photon can be thought of either as a particle or as a wave. ... 1 notes
notesAn explanation of radiation, it's different wavelengths, and why microwave radiation cannot damage a cell because it cannot break molecular bonds.
14 APR 2012 by ideonexus
Energy from the Sun to Earth
It is a feature of the way the world is made that two protons together have less mass than two protons separately. This is a startling but indisputable fact. Weigh two protons separately, then weigh them together: the numbers don't match. The numbers differ by about 1 percent. This curious difference is not to be explained by some law of nature; it is a law of nature, as basic to the way the world works as any fact in our possession. The mass discrepancy is equivalent to an amount of energy g... 1 notes
notesStarting with the LAW that two protons together have less mass that two apart.
08 JUN 2011 by ideonexus
Everything Comes from Stars
What gravity is and why it is, no one knows. Albert Einstein spent most of his life trying to figure it out, but the secret eluded him. it is simply a fact that everything in the universe with mass pulls on everything else. If it weren't for the initial outward impetus of the Big Bang, gravity would have caused the entire universe to collapse into a heap. (Indeed, someday the cosmic collapse may happen, if and when the initial impetus is expended, although the best evidence suggests that the ... 1 notes
notesThe Big Bang to the formation of stars, which formed the elements crucial to life. It takes 1,000 calories of sunlight to evaporate one thimbleful of water.
18 MAY 2011 by ideonexus
We Must Interrogate Nature
Greek mathematics was a brilliant step forward. Greek science,
on the other hand - its first steps rudimentary and often uninformed
by experiment - was riddled with error. Despite the fact
that we cannot see in pitch darkness, they believed that vision
depends on a kind of radar that emanates from the eye, bounces
off what we're seeing, and returns to the eye. (Nevertheless, they
made substantial progress in optics.) Despite the obvious resemblance
of children to their mothers, they believed ...Folksonomies: superstition free inquiry
Folksonomies: superstition free inquiry
1 notes
notesBeing non-superstitious isn't enough.
23 MAR 2011 by ideonexus
Albert Einstein Clarifies What He Means By "God"
It seems to me that the idea of a personal God is an anthropological concept which I cannot take seriously. I also cannot imagine some will or goal outside the human sphere.... Science has been charged with undermining morality, but the charge is unjust. A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties and needs; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward aft...
1 Einstein is not referring to a personal, anthropomorphic god when he uses the word.
