02 JAN 2014 by ideonexus
The Power of the Masses
The people, and the people alone, are the motive force in the making of world history. "On Coalition Government" (April 24, 1945), Selected Works, Vol. III, p. 257.* The masses are the real heroes, while we ourselves are often childish and ignorant, and without this understanding it is impossible to acquire even the most rudimentary knowledge. "Preface and Postscript to Rural Surveys" (March and April 1941), Selected Works, Vol. III, p. 12.* The masses have boundless creative power. T...Mao on the power and heroism of the collective.
27 AUG 2012 by ideonexus
Laws of Motion
LAW I. Every body perseveres in its state of rest, or of uniform motion in a right line, unless it is compelled to change that state by forces impressed thereon. Projectiles persevere in their motions, so far as they are not retarded by the resistance of the air, or impelled downwards by the force of gravity. A top, whose parts by their cohesion are perpetually drawn aside from rectilinear motions, does not cease its rotation, otherwise than as it is retarded by the air. The greater bodies...The original source of these laws from Newton.
20 MAY 2011 by ideonexus
An Origami Metaphor for Fetal Development
The sheets of tissue that fold, invaginate and turn inside out in a developing embryo do indeed grow, and it is that very growth that provides part of the motive force which, in origami, is supplied by the human hand. If you wanted to make an origami model with a sheet of living tissue instead of dead paper, there is at least a sporting chance that, if the sheet were to grow in just the right way, not uniformly but faster in some parts of the sheet than in others, this might automatically cau...Cells divide and fold into new forms, just as origami structures become other structures through new folds.