29 MAY 2014 by ideonexus
Organic Chemistry as a Tropical Rain Forest
Organic chemistry just now is enough to drive one mad. It gives one the impression of a primeval, tropical forest full of the most remarkable things, may well dread to enter. may well dread to enter. Folksonomies: analogy
Folksonomies: analogy
1 
notes
notesLetter to Berzelius 28 January 1885 Friedrich Woehler 1800-1882
08 JAN 2013 by ideonexus
George Washington Promotes Science and Literature
Nor am I less persuaded, that you will agree with me in opinion, that there is nothing which can better deserve your patronage than the promotion of Science and Literature. Knowledge is in every country the surest basis of public happiness. In one in which the measures of Government receive their impression so immediately from the sense of the Community as in ours it is proportionably essential. To the security of a free Constitution it contributes in various ways: By convincing those who are...
1 As the keys to happiness and to preserve liberty.
26 APR 2012 by ideonexus
Sir Eddington Doesn't Believe in Neutrinos
Just now nuclear physicists are writing a great deal about hypothetical particles called neutrinos supposed to account for certain peculiar facts observed in ß-ray disintegration. We can perhaps best describe the neutrinos as little bits of spin-energy that have got detached. I am not much impressed by the neutrino theory. In an ordinary way I might say that I do not believe in neutrinos... But I have to reflect that a physicist may be an artist, and you never know where you are with artists... 1 notes
notesBut he's not willing to bet against their existence, because a physicist might invent them through reason and experimentation. A fascinating thought that this summary cannot do justice.
13 DEC 2011 by ideonexus
Evidence in Geology is Overwhelming
The gradual advance of Geology, during the last twenty years, to the dignity of a science, has arisen from the laborious and extensive collection of facts, and from the enlightened spirit in which the inductions founded on those facts have been deduced and discussed. To those who are unacquainted with this science, or indeed to any person not deeply versed in the history of this and kindred subjects, it is impossible to convey a just impression of the nature of that evidence by which a multit... 1 notes
notesIn the layers of geological strata are written more evidence than any human witness could bare.
12 SEP 2011 by ideonexus
Theories are Always Overturned
The young specialist in English Lit, having quoted me, went on to lecture me severely on the fact that in every century people have thought they understood the Universe at last, and in every century they were proved to be wrong. It follows that the one thing we can say about our modern 'knowledge' is that it is wrong.
The young man then quoted with approval what Socrates had said on learning that the Delphic oracle had proclaimed him the wisest man in Greece. 'If I am the wisest man,' said S... 1 notes
notesYes, our modern view of reality is probably mostly wrong, but it is significantly less wrong than the views people held in the past.
02 JUN 2011 by ideonexus
Einstein on Being Raise Religious
When I was a fairly precocious young man I became thoroughly impressed with the futility of the hopes and strivings that chase most men restlessly through life. Moreover, I soon discovered the cruelty of that chase, which in those years was much more carefully covered up by hypocrisy and glittering words than is the case today. By the mere existence of his stomach everyone was condemned to participate in that chase. The stomach might well be satisfied by such participation, but not man insofa... 1 notes
notesWe are programmed by our parent's religion, and are freed from the burden of a personal god through rationalism and exploring nature.
18 MAY 2011 by ideonexus
Washington Promotes Science and Education
...there is nothing which can better deserve your patronage, than the promotion of science and literature. Knowledge is, in every country, the surest basis of public happiness. In one in which the measures of government receive their impression so immediately from the sense of the community as in ours, it is proportionably essential. To the security of a free constitution it contributes in various ways: by convincing those who are entrusted with the public administration, that every valuable ... 1 notes
notesIn order to ensure a strong democracy.
17 MAY 2011 by ideonexus
Ronald Reagan's Memory Problems
President Ronald Reagan, who spent World War Two in Hollywood, vividly described his own role in liberating Nazi concentration camp victims. Living in the film world, he apparently confused a movie he had seen with a reality he had not. On many occasions in his Presidential campaigns, Mr Reagan told an epic story of World War Two courage and sacrifice, an inspiration for all of us. Only it never happened; it was the plot of the movie A Wing and a Prayer - that made quite an impression on me, ... 1 notes
notesReagan recalled things as real that happened only in his movies, what does this mean for humans and major policy decisions?
12 JAN 2011 by TGAW
Malcolm X: Effects on Prison Studies
Many who today hear me somewhere in person, or on television, or those who read something I’ve said, will think I went to school far beyond the eighth grade. This impression is due entirely to my prison studies.
Malcolm X on how people would think he went to school far beyond 8th grade
