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Monthly Archives: August 2012
Pushing the Speed of Light
There is a filk song by this title that has been around for at least a couple decades, and several SF stories as well, all about the issues that the time dilation of near lightspeed travel will pose for human interactions. These are a long way in our future, but our money is “pushing the speed of light” today:
How Wall Street Got Addicted to Light-Speed Trading
From Slashdot,
The ancient Olympics
… rife with prostitution, sacrifices, doping—and legendary athleticism.
How popular were the male athletes?
They were as close as you could get to being a demigod in the mortal world. You would gain incredible prestige and wealth from an Olympic victory. You never had to work again.
Officially, the winner was given an olive wreath. But your home city would give you piles of money, honors like front seats at the theater, lifetime pensions, vats of olive oil, maybe even priesthood. Your name would be passed down from generation to generation. You became part of the very fabric of history.
If you think security at the London Games is tough…..
Schrödinger’s equation
Nice set of tutorial articles:
Schrödinger’s equation — what is it?
Schrödinger’s equation — in action
Schrödinger’s equation — what does it mean?
From Steven Strogatz.
Peter Pan
Life Imitates Art
Tom Lehrer: “I’ve often thought I’d like to write a mathematics textbook someday because I have a title that I know will sell a million copies; I’m gonna call it Tropic of Calculus.” (1965)
Steven Strogatz, The Joy of x (2012)
From Hilbert Space to Dilbert Space, and beyond 