Tuesday, September 12
Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
My wife and I always stay on the southern side of the strip near the end at a resort that is within walking distance of Damon's Restaurant. Beside Damon's Restaurant is a pier on one side that is excellent for fishing and on the other side is a rental area for: jet skis and sailboats and offers banana boat rides as well as parachute rides.
The shoreline is wide enough to walk on most hours of the day but the best time to walk is during low tide when the shoreline is at its widest. Throughout the day, you will see hordes of people walking up and down the shoreline, many of whom are carrying an alcoholic beverage with them. A lot is tolerated as long as you do not abuse the privilege of that tolerance.
My wife and I have been going to Myrtle Beach for thirty years now and have never gotten tired of what it offers, even though old stores close and new ones open the main attractions stay the same. We can typically spend 7 nights at a resort with ocean facing condos for about $1,500 during the season and about $1,300 on either side of the season. Not only do these condos face the ocean but have all the amenities of home.
The drive for us is a little over 6 hours and after stopping twice, usually get down to MB in a little over 7 hours. At our age, we stop every 2 hours to walk around for about 10 minutes.
There are several good places to eat dinner most of which will require a vehicle to get you there. Those that are within walking distance are the fast foods and pancake houses, except for Damon's as I mentioned earlier. We usually eat breakfast and lunch at the Condo and go out for dinner. Sometimes, we will visit the Malls, Outlet Stores, or other tourist attractions like Barefoot Landing.
If you don't like people don't go to Myrtle Beach because there are a ton of people there from May through the end of September. There are two Biker's weeks in May along with a PGA tournament.
If Myrtle Beach was more than 8 hours away, I doubt that we would go there twice a year or more like we have been doing.
Quantum Systems Defy Freezing Logic
Hotter quantum systems can cool faster than initially colder equivalents.
Does hot water freeze faster than cold water? Aristotle may have been the first to tackle this question that later became known as the Mpemba effect.
This phenomenon originally referred to the non-monotonic initial temperature dependence of the freezing start time, but it has been observed in various systems — including colloids — and has also become known as a mysterious relaxation phenomenon that depends on initial conditions.
What Is the Mpemba Effect?
The Mpemba effect is a counterintuitive phenomenon where hot water can freeze faster than cold water under certain conditions. Named after Erasto Mpemba, a Tanzanian student who observed this effect in the 1960s and subsequently brought it to the attention of the scientific community, the phenomenon has been a topic of curiosity for centuries, with references dating back to the likes of Aristotle. The exact cause of the Mpemba effect is still a topic of debate among scientists.
Recent Findings
Now, a team of researchers from Kyoto University and the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology has shown that the temperature quantum Mpemba effect can be realized over a wide range of initial conditions.
“The quantum Mpemba effect bears the memory of initial conditions that result in anomalous thermal relaxation at later times,” explains project leader and co-author Hisao Hayakawa at KyotoU’s Yukawa Institute for Theoretical Physics. READ MORE...
Illegal Immigrants
These potential terrorists will, once inside the USA, begin plotting an attack that could be just as devastating at the NINE ELEVEN attack. This next attack could be at a football stadium or at a musical concert. These terrorists could wait and plan something to take place around Thanksgiving or over our Christmas Holidays when we would least expect an attack.
If we put the potential threat of terrorism aside, let's look at the illegal immigration crisis.
Illegal Immigrant Children will be sent to American Public Schools but they do not speak English.
- Will they bring in Spanish teachers?
- Will they bring in Spanish interpreters?
- Will these new students slow down the educational process for the other students?
- Will these illegal immigrant children be taught gender transition issues?
- Will these illegal immigrant children be forced to use non gender specific pronouns?
Another concern...
Many of these illegal immigrant children are coming from countries that DO NOT REQUIRE IMMUNIZATIONS SHOTS.
What does that mean?
- As a result, American children could be catching diseases that have not been around for years.
- These illegal immigrant children could be infecting adults as well.
- When these illegal immigrant children get sick they will be taken to the ER at hospitals that accept patients without health insurance. Consequently, they will draw down inventories of medical supplies and drugs.
Another concern...
- These illegal immigrants do not have jobs.
- These illegal immigrants do not have money for rent.
- These illegal immigrants do not have money for clothes.
- These illegal immigrants do not have money for food.
- These illegal immigrants may have criminal records.
- These illegal immigrants may be addicted to drugs.
Are we going to spend money on AMERICANS or on ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS?
The Mesmerizing Atlantic Ocean
- Maine
- New Hampshire
- Massachusetts
- Rhode Island
- Connecticut
- New Jersey
- Maryland
- Delaware
- Virginia
- North Carolina
- South Carolina
- Georgia
- Florida
However, I am only speaking about my location at the southern end of Myrtle Beach, SC, specifically, the resort referred to as Holiday Sands South.
Even with one of the most powerful hurricanes of the year off to our east, the waves coming into the shoreline is gentle and calm.
There is an inevitability about the waves approaching the shoreline and the idea that they will never stop approaching no matter how long you wait and watch for that to happen.
The water that comes to us at Myrtle Beach, could be coming around Limpopo and Oranje on its way up to Kongo and Senegal before heading west toward North America.
As I sit her under my umbrella and beach chair with a pillow in it for comfort, I cannot help but wonder if at one time, South America was connected to Africa and Africa and Europe were connected to The United States and Canada.
But that fantasy subordinates itself to the mystery and the mesmerizing Atlantic Ocean as it rolls up the shoreline in front of me... and, I can just imagine how powerful the current must have been to bring it here to me.
For the entire day, I sat here listening to my audiobook and watching the constant encroachment of the water... and, never once did I want to leave my shade, to step into the water and feel its soothing coolness. In my heart, I am truly a voyeur... and make no apologies... the ocean is my therapist and I traveled 7 hours to be here.
An Alternative Picture of Particle Physics
All of nature springs from a handful of components — the fundamental particles — that interact with one another in only a few different ways. In the 1970s, physicists developed a set of equations describing these particles and interactions. Together, the equations formed a succinct theory now known as the Standard Model of particle physics.
The Standard Model is missing a few puzzle pieces (conspicuously absent are the putative particles that make up dark matter, those that convey the force of gravity, and an explanation for the mass of neutrinos), but it provides an extremely accurate picture of almost all other observed phenomena.
Yet for a framework that encapsulates our best understanding of nature’s fundamental order, the Standard Model still lacks a coherent visualization. Most attempts are too simple, or they ignore important interconnections or are jumbled and overwhelming.
A New Approach
Chris Quigg, a particle physicist at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Illinois, has been thinking about how to visualize the Standard Model for decades, hoping that a more powerful visual representation would help familiarize people with the known particles of nature and prompt them to think about how these particles might fit into a larger, more complete theoretical framework.
Chris Quigg, a particle physicist at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Illinois, has been thinking about how to visualize the Standard Model for decades, hoping that a more powerful visual representation would help familiarize people with the known particles of nature and prompt them to think about how these particles might fit into a larger, more complete theoretical framework.
Quigg’s visual representation shows more of the Standard Model’s underlying order and structure. He calls his scheme the “double simplex” representation, because the left-handed and right-handed particles of nature each form a simplex — a generalization of a triangle. We have adopted Quigg’s scheme and made further modifications. READ MORE...
Monday, September 11
Growing Up Outside
This neighborhood is full of retirees for the most part... I would say that about 80% of the people who live here are retired, which makes their age somewhere in the 60s or 70s. It is possible that we have some couples in their 80s but I have not met them yet.
Most of the residents do their own yard maintenance but for the rest, they have hired different outside crews to come in... and on any given day of the week, including Sundays, you will see a pickup truck and a trailer carrying lawn mowing equipment parked on the side of the road.
Other than the noise associated with lawn care tasks, this neighborhood is relatively quiet and it is seldom that you see anyone outside unless they are doing something in the yard. So, it seems that staying inside the house is common practice in this neighborhood.
In contrast, when I was growing up in the 1950s, I too was in a community about 5 miles outside of any city; Alexandria to be exact. Our neighborhood was similar to the size of Highland Hills, and was called Wellington Heights. The neighborhood was full of couples with children and on any given day of the week, most of the children would be outside playing.
I remember that the parents got together every year at Christmas time and agreed to buy similar gifts so that all the children would have the same toys with which to plays. Of course, there were boy toys nd girl toys back then which would be frowned at today.
Back then, we had television sets and cartoons were broadcasted on Saturday morning, but we were outside playing. We did not have cell phones, iphones, ipads, ipods, or any hand held electronic devices to distract us from playing. Back then, it was easy to socialize... and that socialization did not care what color your skin was... although, there were no blacks in our community.
Had there been blacks in our community, we all would have played together as there was no racism back then... at least not until you got to high school.
Uncertainty Abounds
Not even the weatherman (or woman) can accurately predict the uncertainty of the weather.
Each day that we are alive on earth, we have no idea if this is going to be our last day or not because of the uncertainty we have about tomorrow.
As a child and perhaps as a young adult that uncertainty does not seem to make much difference to us as we are concerned with other things... BUT, as we grow older, that uncertainty becomes more and more of a problem for us both mentally and physically.
I certainly had no idea that I was going to have a heart attack while walking on the treadmill at age 60 but I did. I had not smoked for 20 years. I had not eaten red meat for 20 years. I had not consumed alcohol for 20 years. I exercised 5-7 days each week without hesitation... and yet, I had the heart attack.
Talk about being surprised because of that uncertainty.
None of us know how long we are going to live nor do we know how we are going to die. We don't know what our careers will look like or if we will get married and have a family.
We live each day, one day at a time, but when you think about it, we live that one day actually one moment at a time.
With that in mind, I have no certainty that I will finish this article and post it, although the odds are in my favor that I will. Still, there is uncertainty even with that thought.
This uncertainty can work to our advantage. Let's say that we are in the Army and our unit has been sent into a war zone to engage in battle with the other side. Do we hide as much as possible or simply go about our business since we don't know when our time will come to die?
On the other side of the coin, if the enemy understands that logic, then they could wildly charge since nothing is certain that they will die and could possibly overrun our position.
Wealthy people continue to work and see how much money they can make, even though they don't need the money, simply because they have no idea when they are going to die.
We don't admit it and perhaps we don't want to admit it but we live with uncertainty EVERY MOMENT OF EVERY DAY.
Remnant Galaxies from Universe's Inception
Astronomers have identified an immense bubble, Hoʻoleilana, 820 million light years away. This structure, believed to be a remnant from the universe’s inception and larger than predicted, offers valuable insights into galaxy evolution and the universe’s expansion dynamics.
A University of Hawaiʻi-led discovery of an immense bubble 820 million light years from Earth is believed to be a fossil-like remnant of the birth of the universe. Astronomer Brent Tully from the UH Institute for Astronomy and his team unexpectedly found the bubble within a web of galaxies. The entity has been given the name Hoʻoleilana, a term drawn from the Kumulipo, a Hawaiian creation chant evoking the origin of structure.
The new findings published on September 5 in The Astrophysical Journal, mention these massive structures are predicted by the Big Bang theory, as the result of 3D ripples found in the material of the early universe, known as Baryon Acoustic Oscillations (BAO).
The Unexpected Find
“We were not looking for it. It is so huge that it spills to the edges of the sector of the sky that we were analyzing,” explained Tully. “As an enhancement in the density of galaxies, it is a much stronger feature than expected.
The very large diameter of one billion light years is beyond theoretical expectations. If its formation and evolution are in accordance with theory, this BAO is closer than anticipated, implying a high value for the expansion rate of the universe.”
Astronomers located the bubble using data from Cosmicflows-4, which is to date, the largest compilation of precise distances to galaxies. Tully co-published the exceptional catalog in the fall of 2022.
Astronomers located the bubble using data from Cosmicflows-4, which is to date, the largest compilation of precise distances to galaxies. Tully co-published the exceptional catalog in the fall of 2022.
His team of researchers believe this may be the first time astronomers identified an individual structure associated with a BAO. The discovery could help bolster scientists’ knowledge of the effects of galaxy evolution. READ MORE...
Owning a Home
Owning one's own home has its advantages and disadvantages... and I am wondering if the advantages outweigh the disadvantages...
- You own property and land.
- You can use your home as collateral.
- You are more trusted if you own a home.
- Your home is an investment that grows in value.
- You can use your home to trade up to a nicer more expensive home.
- Owning a home helps your credit score.
I am sure there are others but those are the main ones.
On the downside of owning a home, there is:
- mortgage that has to be paid
- furniture and appliances must be purchased
- home insurance that needs to acquired
- there are property taxes that must be paid
- home owners are responsible for all repairs
- home owners are responsible for maintenance, such as:
- lawn care
- window care
- cleaning
- plumbing
- electrical
- painting
NOTE: if you want to sell your home in 3-5 years so that you can upgrade to a better home in a better location, you have invest money in those improvements that you may or may not get back when you sell your home... there are no guarantees.
Improvements should only be made in the kitchen and bathrooms.
If you decide to purchase a home with a basement, then depending upon several factors, you now have to worry about water drainage when it rains and were your basement walls properly sealed... If the basement is unfinished, then there is that cost and labor these days is not cheap nor are building materials.
Bear in mind that new home owners need to take into consideration there annual income, and other expenses, and should create a budget that includes:
EXPENSES
Mortgage
Home insurance
Home Maintenance
Lawn Equipment
Car Payment
Gasoline costs
Car Insurance
Car Maintenance
Life Insurance
Food
Electric
Gas
Water
Taxes (IRS, City, County)
Health Insurance
Clothes
Cable or WIFI
Home Entertainment (Netflix, Hulu, etc)
Cell phones
Computers
Vacations
Holidays/Birthdays
Children?
- clothes
- medical
- school supplies
- clothes
- toys/games
MISC
- cigarettes
- alcohol
- out of pocket medical
- cost of pets (food, vet bills)
- cost of a divorce (50% of all first marriages in USA end in divorce)
One of the issues that first time homeowners miss when creating a budget is that they do not anticipate inflation and rising costs, illness, death of a spouse, being laid off, or getting sued because they caused an accident with injuries.
They also do not take into consideration items that are only paid once or twice a year and anticipating the cost of that expense each month so they will not get caught off guard. What I am thinking about here is car insurance is only paid twice a year.
Owning a home is a big deal and it takes lots of planning to take everything into consideration and have an alternate plan for just in case situations.
The Concept of Thirds in Photography
The camera came with a leather case and I was advised by one of the "lifers" to buy a metal strap because someone with a sharp knife could cut the leather and steal the camera off my shoulder. That is exactly what I did... however, no one ever tried to steal it from me that I knew about.
One of the first techniques you should learn is the concept of thirds. Study the photo above... notice the crisscrossing lines. These lines divide the frame of the lens into thirds... right to left and top to bottom.
You should also notice that there are four points where two of the lines go across each other. It is at these points that you should place the focus of the shot that you want to take.
This is illustrated in the photos below...
Quantum Universe Inside an Atom
In many ways, the quest for what's truly fundamental in our Universe is the story of probing the Universe on smaller scales and at higher energies.
By going inside the atom, we revealed the atomic nucleus, its constituent protons and neutrons, and the quarks and gluons inside, plus many other spectacular features.
It's through this investigation of the subatomic world that we've revealed the elementary building blocks of our Universe and the rules that allow them to bind together to compose our cosmic reality.
If you wanted to uncover the secrets of the Universe for yourself, all you’d have to do is interrogate the Universe until it revealed the answers in a way you could comprehend them.
When any two quanta of energy interact — irrespective of their properties, including whether they’re particles or antiparticles, massive or massless, fermions or bosons, etc. — the result of that interaction has the potential to inform you about the underlying laws and rules that the system has to obey.
If we knew all the possible outcomes of any interaction, including what their relative probabilities were, then and only then would we claim to have some understanding of what was going on. Being quantitative in precisely this fashion, asking not only “what happens” but also “by how much” and “how often,” is what makes physics the robust science that it is.
Quite surprisingly, everything that we know about the Universe can, in some way, be traced back to the most humble of all the entities we know of: an atom.
Quite surprisingly, everything that we know about the Universe can, in some way, be traced back to the most humble of all the entities we know of: an atom.
An atom remains the smallest unit of matter we know of that still retains the unique characteristics and properties that apply to the macroscopic world, including the physical and chemical properties of matter. And yet, an atom is a fundamentally quantum entity, with its own energy levels, properties, and conservation laws.
Moreover, even the humble atom couples to all four of the known fundamental forces. In a very real way, all of physics is on display, even inside a single atom. Here’s what they can tell us about the Universe. READ MORE...
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