simongarlick

astrodidact: Planck Time What is the smallest unit of time you...

Fri, 24 May 2013 13:11:09 +0930

Planck Time

What is the smallest unit of time you can conceive? A second? A millisecond? Hard to say seeing as how time is relative. Under the right circumstances, hours can fly by and seconds can feel like a lifetime. But unfortunately for physicists, time is not something that can be delt with so philosophically. And since they deal with cosmological forces both infinitesimally large and small, they need units that can objectively measure them. When it comes to dealing with the small, Planck Time is the measurement of choice. Named after German physicist Max Planck, the founder of quantum theory, a unit of Planck time is the time it takes for light to travel, in a vacuum, a single unit of Planck length. Taken together, they part of the larger system of natural units known as Planck units.

Originally proposed in 1899 by German physicist Max Planck, Planck units are physical units of measurement defined exclusively in terms of five universal physical constants. These are the Gravitational constant (G), the Reduced Planck constant (h), the speed of light in a vacuum (c), the Coulomb constant(ke or k), and Boltzmann’s constant (kB, sometimes k). Each of these constants can be associated with at least one fundamental physical theory: c with special relativity, G with general relativity and Newtonian gravity, with quantum mechanics, with electrostatics, and kB with statistical mechanics and thermodynamics. They were invented as a means of simplifying the particular algebraic expressions appearing in theoretical physics, especially in quantum mechanics.

Ultimately, Planck time is derived from the field of mathematical physics known as dimensional analysis, which studies units of measurement and physical constants. The Planck time is the unique combination of the gravitational constant G, the relativity constant c, and the quantum constant h, to produce a constant with units of time. They are often semi-humorously referred to by physicists as “God’s units” because eliminate anthropocentric arbitrariness from the system of units, unlike the meter and second, which exist for purely historical reasons and are not derived from nature. Some challenges to Planck’s Time have been mounted. For example, in 2003 during the analysis of the Hubble Space Telescope Deep Field images, some scientists speculated that where there are space-time fluctuations on the Planck scale, images of extremely distant objects should be blurry. The Hubble images, they claimed, were too sharp for this to be the case. Other scientists disagreed with this assumption however, with some saying the fluctuations would be too small to be observable, others saying that the speculated blurring effect that was expected was off by a very large magnitude. A unit of Planck Time can be expressed (in the third picture).

Read more: http://www.universetoday.com/79418/planck-time/#ixzz2U4Nz4Ov1

"It is only you versus many people, you are going to lose."

Thu, 23 May 2013 09:52:06 +0930

“It is only you versus many people, you are going to lose.”

- Ingrid Loyau-Kennett

There’s this British wartime poster that’s moved from historical artifact into commercialized meme; a red background with words “Keep Calm and Carry On” block printed in white below the Crown of the United Kingdom. If you’ve spent any time online in the last few years you’ll be familiar with it, but it once had a purpose beyond the basis for countless remixed image macros.

In the 1940 the German Air Force (the Luftwaffe) unleashed a 267 day bombing of England and Scotland, killing 40,000 people in 8 months, dropping 100 tonnes of explosives across all the major cities in Britain, including 57 consecutive nights over London. The British, we, stood firm against the attacks, eventually turning the tide and defended Britain once again. The poster, produced a year earlier at the start of the war, was one among many that helped wage the cultural war on home soil in the face of an enemy who was using the most sophisticated and deadly weapons of the time to defeat us.

You see, resolution in the face of danger is the most British characteristic, keeping calm and carrying on isn’t just a catchphrase, it almost fundamentally encapsulates what it is to be British, resolute, calm, determined, unwavering.

When a 48 year old Cub scout leader Ingrid Loyau-Kennett stares down a cleaver wielding murderer and attempts to reason with him in the middle of a London street on a sunny Wednesday afternoon, it’s not just a solitary act of incredible bravery (which it is) but its something that I couldn’t imagine happening anywhere else, at least not by anyone else but the British.

It’s who we are. We keep calm. We carry on.

(via oliyoung)

Quick, someone teach Marissa to count to 140.

Mon, 20 May 2013 23:19:28 +0930

Quick, someone teach Marissa to count to 140.

Tumblr Staff: News!

Mon, 20 May 2013 22:22:25 +0930

Tumblr Staff: News!:

oliyoung:

As always, everything that Tumblr is, we owe to this unbelievable community. We won’t let you down.

Don’t fuck this up Yahoo!

I’m sure this time, seriously, this time they won’t. Not like every other time. Ever.

NRL better off without Waterhouse | smh.com.au

Mon, 20 May 2013 21:39:07 +0930

NRL better off without Waterhouse | smh.com.au

Johnyongyang? | The Dim-Post

Mon, 20 May 2013 18:02:46 +0930

Johnyongyang? | The Dim-Post

wolfcrown: “I’ll never forget the day Marilyn and I were...

Mon, 20 May 2013 13:10:35 +0930

wolfcrown:

“I’ll never forget the day Marilyn and I were walking around New York City, just having a stroll on a nice day. She loved New York because no one bothered her there like they did in Hollywood, she could put on her plain-jane clothes and no one would notice her. She loved that. So as we we’re walking down Broadway, she turns to me and says ‘Do you want to see me become her?’ I didn’t know what she meant but I just said ‘Yes’- and then I saw it. I don’t know how to explain what she did because it was so very subtle, but she turned something on within herself that was almost like magic. And suddenly cars were slowing and people were turning their heads and stopping to stare. They were recognizing that this was Marilyn Monroe as if she pulled off a mask or something, even though a second ago nobody noticed her. I had never seen anything like it before.” - Amy Greene, wife of Marilyn’s personal photographer Milton Greene

NSW bill to ban ’anti-vax’ kids | smh.com.au

Sun, 19 May 2013 14:17:57 +0930

NSW bill to ban ’anti-vax’ kids | smh.com.au

ilovecharts: Things Yahoo! Has Made Better

Sun, 19 May 2013 12:04:11 +0930

ilovecharts:

Things Yahoo! Has Made Better

renlybaratheeon: you don’t know true agony unless you’ve gone from watching 5 seasons in 2 days to...

Tue, 14 May 2013 23:56:53 +0930

renlybaratheeon:

you don’t know true agony unless you’ve gone from watching 5 seasons in 2 days to 1 episode a week

climateadaptation: jtotheizzoe: 400. For the first time in...

Sun, 12 May 2013 15:20:15 +0930

climateadaptation:

jtotheizzoe:

400.

For the first time in human history, carbon dioxide levels reached an average daily level of 400 parts per million, as reported this week. The last time the atmosphere contained this much carbon dioxide was 3 million years ago.

This new data comes from the Mauna Loa observatory and a set of data continuously collected since 1958: The Keeling curve. This represents almost a 50% increase since the beginning of the industrial age. Although there is some seasonal variability (that little jagged edge) due to seasonal vegetation sucking up a bit of the CO2 every year, the trend is clear … and it’s not good.

So what does that mean? The effects are not something to look forward to. The last time the CO2 level was this high, way back when, here’s what the world was like:

Back then, it was a different world. Global average temperatures during the period were between 5.4 and 7.2 degrees Fahrenheit (3 to 4 degrees Celsius) higher than today, and sea level was as much as 131 feet (40 meters) higher in some places.

While the average (which is calculated from levels over the past several days) has since dropped back to 399 (as of today), the saddest part is that both of those numbers are unacceptable. 400 is just a little more catchy. With 401 and beyond right around the corner, what now? We must cut emissions as fast as humanly possible.

Because we are mighty humans, and it is possible.

We need to take care, because we all share this air. Read about the science of our CO2 contribution here. Watch this episode of It’s Okay To Be Smart to gain some hope maybe.

What do you think is the #1 thing we can do to change? What are YOU willing to do?

This milestone got some buzz this week. These articles don’t show the harsh reality that billions of people are going to buy cars, laptops, cell phones, homes with lightswitches, heat, and A/C, and all the luxury goods we westerners enjoy.

Countless tens of millions of miles of roads, power lines, fiber optic cable, drinking water and sewer pipes, gas pipelines, and other infrastructure are slated to be built for decades on end.

There is no way emissions will stop growing. Every projection shows this (see the preeminent IEA’s ‘Fact Sheets’ to sober up).

The question is not, What are you willing to do? No, it’s Who is going to deny billions and billions of people in China, south Asia, Africa, India, South America, and eastern Europeans from accessing these goods and services in the coming years? Who’s going to stop growth?

Quora! Quora! Quora!?

Sat, 11 May 2013 17:18:12 +0930

jesuschristsiliconvalley:

This is the first in my new series, “Financially Augmented Posts” (FAPs). Quora has paid a substantial fee to appear relevant for the brief moment in which you are reading this, and to have their name mentioned a minimum of fifteen times.

They have also received favorable coverage.

Read More

harsh/true

A nice piece of Glass

Wed, 08 May 2013 10:09:07 +0930

jesuschristsiliconvalley:

TL;DR: Fuck you.

Manufactured in China. Designed by douchebags.

The world — by which of course I mean tech “journalists” who earn a living making the Valley feel like it deserves reportage — seems to care about Google Glass, the idiotic new wearable computer from Mountain View.

Read More

Former FBI Agent: All phone calls and emails are recorded by the US Govt

Mon, 06 May 2013 13:21:17 +0930

Former FBI Agent: All phone calls and emails are recorded by the US Govt:

Glenn Greenwald: A former FBI counterterrorism agent claims on CNN that this is the case

U-S-A! U-S-A!

Overheard: Steven Soderbergh | Film Comment | Film Society of Lincoln Center

Fri, 03 May 2013 22:49:25 +0930

Overheard: Steven Soderbergh | Film Comment | Film Society of Lincoln Center

Photo

Wed, 01 May 2013 21:36:04 +0930

Measles epidemic: Outbreak in Wales tied to Andrew Wakefield’s discredited work

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 10:42:57 +0930

Measles epidemic: Outbreak in Wales tied to Andrew Wakefield’s discredited work:

So much stabbing.

"Bostonians don’t love easy things, they love hard things — blizzards, the bleachers in Fenway Park,..."

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 10:20:55 +0930

“Bostonians don’t love easy things, they love hard things — blizzards, the bleachers in Fenway Park, a good brawl over a contested parking space. Two different friends texted me the identical message yesterday: They messed with the wrong city. This wasn’t a macho sentiment. It wasn’t “Bring it on” or a similarly insipid bit of posturing. The point wasn’t how we were going to mass in the coffee shops of the South End to figure out how to retaliate. Law enforcement will take care of that, thank you. No, what a Bostonian means when he or she says “They messed with the wrong city” is “You don’t think this changes anything, do you?””

- Moving piece in The NYTimes, “Messing With the Wrong City.”

I was fortunate enough to call Boston home for a time back in the twentieth century. Big up.

before-series-three: there’s this unspoken law in britain that you’re not to phone anyone while...

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 20:18:03 +0930

before-series-three:

there’s this unspoken law in britain that you’re not to phone anyone while doctor who’s on, and it was on and the phone rang and my brother was the one that had to pick it up, and he didn’t even say ‘hello’ or anything, he just picked it up and went, “WHO THE FUCK IS RINGING WHILE DOCTOR WHO’S ON?” and the person on the other end went, “DOCTOR WHO’S ON? I’LL CALL YOU BACK!”, and hung up.

We don’t even know who it was, I just—

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you: the Joomla user experience.

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 14:33:24 +0930

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you: the Joomla user experience.