Phasing

DISCLAIMER: I am not a physicist. I’m not even a physics theory major. I’m just a bored college kid who watches too much LOST and spends too much time listening to music. This is merely how I interpret it. If you’re a quantum physicist trying to prove me wrong, first of all, don’t waste your time- I’m probably wrong. Second of all, why are you on my blog? Go disprove string theory or something.

Sometimes you find knowledge in the most unlikely of places. Like the music video of an otherwise-innocuous pop-rock band’s moderately successful 2005 single.

I’m looking at you, Relient K.

The video for “Who I Am Hates Who I’ve Been” presents an important thesis- “Eb Major is the key of time travel!”
No?
How about “Matt Theissen’s piercing blue eyes right all wrongs”?
Not even close?
Let’s try to figure it out, then.

If you watched the video, you’ll understand what’s going on- moderately attractive video girl (let’s call her Ellie, just because I feel like it.) awakes to face the day and leaves her apartment. She’s frolicking down the street until she stops to stare at the sky- AND ALL LIFE AROUND HER CEASES! Any normal person would freak out, but Ellie skips this step and goes straight to the second thing any of us would do- she starts playing around with it. If she walks backwards, time goes backwards. If she walks forwards, the timeline progresses as usual. Fun, right? So after she plays Little Miss Time-Travel DJ for a while, she walks forward a bit, only to see Mr. Asian-reading-a-book about to get hit by a car. She freaks out and runs forward to stop him (forgetting that SHE CONTROLS TIME WITH HER FOOTSTEPS!) and the guy gets Fender Bender’d. She catches herself, and starts walking backwards. Once she’s moved far enough backwards, she takes a step SIDEWAYS (!!!) and begins to walk forward. Where in the previous timeline she caught the fruit that the creepy street vendor threw at her, she doesn’t catch it now. And when she reaches the point in the timeline where the Asian guy WAS hit by the car, he manages to be safe this time. And then she keeps walking forward, hoping all is well with the world (did you not see that smug smile on her face?) and continues about her day. WHAT? I’m pretty sure they made a video game about this.

Yes, it’s okay if your reaction is merely:

Let’s start with what’s going on here- let’s call it time travel, because that’s honestly the simplest way to look at it. There are three basic theories as regards time travel:

1. There is a single fixed history, which is self-consistent and unchangeable., AKA “Whatever happened, happened.”

This says that, should we travel through time, that was predestined, and anything we do in the past was something that we already would do, and that we can’t change anything. It’s what Daniel Faraday told us was true in Season 5 of LOST… before he was shot by his own mother. Whoah. Anyway, this theory posits that a time traveler, in trying to change the past, is merely executing the events that had to take place to create the present-as-we-know it.

In the WIAHWIB video, this would mean that Eloise was always meant to experience the Asian guy’s almost being hit by the car, back up, and then step sideways, making all “right” with the world.

First of all, I don’t like how this theory applies to the video because it really seems like a waste of time. If she was meant to save the Asian guy, why wouldn’t she just save the Asian guy rather than walk down the street, walk backwards, step sideways, and THEN walk forwards? Fate sure likes to waste time, huh?

So I’m throwing out that theory in relation to the video, which leaves us with the conclusion that you CAN change the past. Which gives us the two other options: (Well, there’s also Primer’s Calvin-and-Hobbes version of things, but I’m not convinced that actually makes any sense.)

2. The Parallel Universe Phenomenon AKA “The many-worlds theory”

This posits that, in her changing of events, Ellie created a new timeline. So bear with me here:

Ellie’s first trip down the street, before and after she discovered that she controlled time, will henceforth be TIMELINE 1.

The trip down the street in which she DOESN’T catch the fruit and the Asian guy DOESN’T get hit by the car is TIMELINE 2.

So, when Ellie ran backwards down the street and STEPPED SIDEWAYS, she literally created a new timeline that coexists with Timeline 1, but has a completely different course of events. Timeline 1 is untouched, Asian guy would still get hit by the car, but in Timeline 2 he is safe.

This is what’s (apparently) going on in LOST Season 6 right now- (I’m trying really hard to keep LOST out of this, by the way) the executive producers of the show are literally calling the alternate timeline “SIDEWAYS FLASHES.” Relient K… secret influence on my favorite show? Perhaps. But nonetheless, in this theory we have two seperate timelines- Ellie, by changing the past, created something new.

And furthermore, who’s to say which is right and which is wrong? Ellie’s pleased that she “saved” the the bookworm, but why should she have created a new timeline? What are the ramifications of him surviving? Maybe he’s the next Hitler? But Ellie didn’t think of that. Because she’s just a girl in a music video.

I think this theory is valid in relation to the video, but I don’t entirely buy it as the director’s thesis. (I’m of course assuming it was the director. Someone else could’ve developed the treatment, but I’ll probably never know.) I like the third theory of time-travel best:

3. History is flexible and subject to change AKA “The Doc Brown theory”

This says that time travellers are interfering with the line of history. It’s basically everything Christopher Lloyd was yelling about in the Back To The Future trilogy. So if you go back in time, anything you do will affect the present you came from. But if you believe Ashton Kutcher, then anything you do will screw everything up, etc. etc….

Basically, this is incredibly confusing (as if all time travel isn’t!) and probably doesn’t make much sense with a real-life application. But as for the video? It’s perfect.

After Ellie executed the actions taking her to the point in the street where the Asian guy was getting hit by the car, she was at what we’ll call POINT B in the timeline (there’s only one timeline this time, remember?). And then, she travelled back in time to POINT A, which is where she stepped sideways. She CHANGED something in the timeline- in this case, where she was located on the sidewalk and that she didn’t catch the fruit – and this time the Asian guy survived at Point B. All is well, right? WRONG. She has NO IDEA what the ramifications of her stepping sideways are. She could’ve changed everything. But we don’t know, because we’re on the song’s outro and the feedback conveniently ends the video. So it makes the most sense for this to be the proposal they’re offering up, especially considering the song- you can CHANGE. The lyrics have all kind of weird tense choices that I could go into, but the crux of the biscuit would just be this: you can change. Whether it be history, or yourself, or your socks, or whatever.

Whew.

In summation, time travel never really makes perfect sense in continuity, so suspend your disbelief next time you watch Doctor Who. and don’t take this blog post too seriously. I’m not sure which theory I subscribe to in real life, But it sure is fun. And makes for a cool music video.

—

Yes, I’m quite aware that most people don’t typically think of these things while they watch MTV.

While we’re at it, The Click Five try and teach the lesson that watching boy bands on the roof are a more valid way of spending your school day than studying Hemingway, (FALSE!) and not what those kids should have been learning- what his first novel was (The Torrents Of Spring) and why they should care (because satire is brilliant, and Hemingway is brilliant, and that the motif of impotency features so much in Hemingway’s works from around that period that it seems worth noting, especially when compared to the rest of his oeuvre). But I’ll save that for another rant.

For the time being, just watch closely- sometimes things are more complex than they seem.

            Field-sequential electro-stereoscopic displays require a selection device to alternately occlude and transmit successive fields to each eye.  A sequence of images is  written  using  a technique  which  is  similar to that used for  planar  video  or electronic  displays. Today such displays are typically produced by DLP projectors or fast LCDs that are part of TV sets now arriving in retail stores. For a flickerless stereoscopic system, the images  need  to  be  written  at  twice  the  usual  planar   60 fields/second  refresh  rate, because  each  eye,  independently, needs  to see 60 fields/second.  Therefore, in most stereoscopic video or computer graphics systems the refresh rate is about 120 fields/second.  Read the rest of this entry »

It is interesting to see how artists of science viewed creativity. Albert Einstein was an artistofscience and he said visualisation was more important to him than mathematical ability, citing that this main ability lied not in mathematics but in the visualisation of concepts. However, mathematics involves visualisation as well as the ability to reason logically.

Largest quantum state created | TG Daily

Physicists have created the largest ever quantum state, allowing an object large enough to be seen by the naked eye to be in two states at once.

They started by cooling a mechanical resonator to the quantum ground state – the lowest level of vibration allowed by quantum mechanics.

I am a huge Rocky Horror Picture Show fan. Today in physics theory we had a lesson on Ultrasonic Transducers and IMMD!

Submitted by: Crash

Heres a short paper I just wrote for my intro philosophy class. The part part I actually cared about is the 50% in the very middle. The rest is mostly just filler to make it look like I paid attention in class more than I really did…

Central in early philosophy was the desire to find and isolate the fundamental essences which make up the natural world. Early cosmologists from city-states all over the ancient world in places like Greece, India, the Middle East, and China, all came to similar conclusions early on. They reduced the world into four major essences, Fire, Air, Earth, and Water, which all had counterparts in the human psyche. Fire represents the human soul, burning bright with the eternity of the heavens. Air represents the the spirit, Earth, strength and the body, and Water, desire and destruction. Before modern science could provide any tools to the great rational minds such as those of Heraclitus and Plato, these philosophers broke the world down as objectively as they could, with all the logic available at the time. What today remains so surprising, is not that this approach was shared by so many cultures, almost universally, for it described a framework for both mind and matter that seemed to fit the world quite well; rather, it’s almost astounding how, after centuries of deviation from this age old system as hard scientists, the so-called experts, slowly pieced together a modern view of the world, one that was based on math and theory instead of blind speculation, cutting edge science has just begun to take a step back, realizing that the fundamental questions it sought to answer are in fact, one and the same with the fundamental questions people have been looking to answer since the first primitive humanoids had the nerve to ask, how did we get here? Heraclitus for one would be likely to point out that these “experts” have just gotten caught up in questioning their own schema for describing the world, while really they likely just know a great deal more about something the average person wouldn’t care about. On the other hand, skepticism of knowledge can only get one so far. Both the proponents of knowledge to put forth new ideas, and the skeptics weeding out the bad ones have allowed humanity’s wisdom to evolve and shape the world around us with marvelous new technologies. The double edge’d sword is that this opens up new branches of desire, making it increasingly easier to affiliate oneself among material goods and personal gain instead of getting any closer to the real order of the universe, the mysterious Oneness, or purity of soul, often symbolized by the lotus in India and in the East, and everywhere by the eternal burning Fire of the heavens.
What everyone seemed to be coming back to, however, was the four tiered model of fire, air, earth, and water. These proved to be powerful symbols used to represent four major forces in the universe. First, there is fire, the all eternal essence. According to Plato, everything is made up of this element in its purest form. The core of all that exists and ever could exists is represented by fire – the energy which fuels our world. Second, air, the spirit of the universe. This wind is the means behind all the action in the world. This pathos, or passion, is the puppet-master of the universe – the force which derived from the fire moves the world. Third, there is Earth, the substance out of which mountains as well as our homes, tools, and even our bodies are made. Solid and dense, this matter carries with it much gravity, or weight. Is the building material of which semi-permanent objects are comprised – those puppets, including the manifestation of our physical being. But nothing physical in the world is permanent. Subject to the law of entropy, everything decays, and eventually dies. Water is the most temporal of the elements, responsible for erosion and destruction, as well as the brevity of pleasure found in fulfilling a worldly desire, for that feeling too wanes over time. The point of this last paragraph was not to simply be a reiteration of one of the most common themes in early philosophy. Amongst the passage I threw in a few key terms drawn from modern physics theory. Energy, Force, Matter, and Entropy. It is these four concepts which exclusively create everything we experience in the universe.
Energy is all eternal. Since the moment of the big bang, there has always been, and always will be the same amount of energy in the universe. It’s astonishing how insightful early thinkers were in coming up with the concept of something eternal which makes up everything, shifting from one form to another, and later having modern science prove this is indeed how the universe works. Matter is made purely of energy, everything we experience is a signal caused by a flow of energy, and even our thoughts are nothing but energy flowing through nearly infinitely complicated networks in our brains. Energy alone however, is only part of the picture. A rock on a hill may have a lot of potential energy compared to one in a valley, but unless some force acts upon it, there is no movement. Force provides that push which makes us able to say something happened. Derived from energy (literally the second derivative w/ respect to time), force is entirely analogous to air in the metaphor of fire heating up the breath and causing action to occur. Force is what drives the puppets, and what allows the universe to take on structure. Pretty much everything we see and interact with is made of matter, which Einstein famously derived was in fact, just a highly dense form of energy. It seems eerily appropriate that Plato had also suggested that all mater was made of those little triangle fire atom thingys which represented elemental fire, when in reality, we know for a fact that matter does not really exist in any sort of “real” physical way. Once thought to be made of tiny atomic units of matter, it was later discovered that the atoms themselves were made of even smaller particles, and that those were made of even smaller more fundamental particles which have no mass and take up no space. Then quantum mechanics comes in and tells us that even this view is flawed. These point particles may or may not even exist at any given time or place, and exist more or less as a sort of cloud smeared out across both time and space. (Though, even clouds are made of “stuff”. “Stuff” itself isn’t even made of stuff!) Although possibly getting more esoteric, but still prudent to the point I’m trying to make, one cosmologist was quoted saying that everything we have ever known or loved is nothing more than eigenvalues in a wave mechanics equation. Essentially nothing exists as more than blips of energy waving in and out of existence. In other words, fundamentally, what we are made of are things like the amplitude, frequency, and phase, of an oscillating chord or spring, not the springs or chords themselves. The notes played by a cosmic symphony, but not the orchestra. At the very most basic level, everything is made purely out of information and ideas, which goes back to the idea of Fire being the universal root of everything from mind to matter. Fundamentally, information and matter/energy are the same thing.
Lastly, after defining what everything fundamentally is comprised, and how everything interacts with itself, a giant question remains: why should everything always be in motion and in constant flux? Fortunately, there is one element left: Water! This constantly flowing substance is the perfect metaphor to describe entropy. Just as water always flows from higher to lower ground, seeking out the path of least resistance, and usually gaining speed becoming more and more chaotic, kicking up mud and silt as well as eroding the land to make new riverbeds, entropy always goes from high to low, or from high order, such as a tranquil mountain lake, towards chaos, like the volatile rapids and waterfalls downstream. This natural tendency things have for scattering into a million pieces when dropped rather than reforming to the original ceramic before your eyes as you reach for the dustpan and broom, is another fundamental feature of our universe which early philosophers were quick to point out. Nothing is permanent, everything changes, and it is through this experience that we found our notions of time (before/after, cause and effect). Though some philosophies and religions disregard Water as something to always get away from (especially like the Jain metaphor of plugging and bailing), others like the Taoists realized they could use the watery aspect of fluidity and flexibility to their advantage. If not for those mountain lakes, there would be no hydroelectric generators, and similarly, without heat constantly flowing away from the sun, there could be no life here on Earth.
Over the past two millennia, human technologies have evolved in ways early people could likely never have imagined. Conversely, human thought has stayed very much the same, with the same models and techniques of analysis prevailing only to become finer in scope as we gather more technology. As Confucius said, “Yin borrowed from the ritual of Xia: we can know what was dropped and what was added. Zhou borrowed from the rituals of Yin: we can know what was dropped and what was added. If Zhou has successors, we can know what they will be like, even 100 generations hence.”

I was sitting on the grass, the sun warming my back while the trees murmured to each other. A gentle breeze caressed my cheek and the droning of bees filled the air. Although, I noted all of this on one level, I didn’t really notice it at all. The book in my lap occupied my complete attention, holding me, captivating me. Fascinated, I clung to every word.

It wasn’t a romance or mystery, not even a thriller or horror story–although, it did have some of all those elements within in it. No, this book was different, completely different from anything I had ever read before. It wasn’t put out through some regular publishing house; it wasn’t an e-book, or paper book. When I say this book was different, I truly meant it.

As I read through it, I felt rightness about the world and universe. It was as if each word only confirmed what I already knew. There was so much truth and wisdom packed into this thin, white volume, that I was amazed. How could this little book contain so much?

I couldn’t stop reading. Each word was a delight. Each sentence was a treat that filled my senses and teased my mind. Each page filled my mind with a million thoughts and ideas. They flooded through me, rolled over me, and barreled on past as I tried desperately to hang on to them. Every unique idea burst through me like a barrage of sky rockets, and I felt as if I were soaring high above the world.

My eyes moved down the page, and my mind continued to buzz and thrum with all the delightful insights that each sentence called forth from my being. Where had this book been hiding. Why hadn’t I found it until now? Everyone needed to read this book, I thought as I pulled my eyes from the page and smiled up at the butterflies soaring above me. 

I thought of all the people who could be helped just by reading any portion of this magnificent writing; of all the wars and other violent situations that could be averted if people would just read from this book. It was dumbfounding that more people hadn’t learned what I had simply from the few moments I had spent reading this book. Every person should have their own copy, I murmured to myself. Just think how wonderful the world would be if we all read from this book and were awakened to the knowledge and understanding of how things worked–a secret that hides within all of us.

Each of us carries the knowledge, the wisdom to do no harm. Yet every day we ignore that wisdom and go out and do as we please, regardless of who or what we hurt. Yet, I knew that if we all read even just a few pages from this book, that the rate of hurtfulness would drop significantly. How could it not? The information was all right here–all anyone had to do was read the first page and they, too, would see the truth, both within themselves and within the book.

I stood, my finger caught in the book, holding my place, and I looked toward the house. I needed to make as many copies of this book as possible, so everyone would have a chance to see what I had seen. As I glided through the grass toward the house, I suddenly awoke. Finding myself in the darkness of my bedroom, I cried out.

I sat up in the bed and searched frantically for the book I had moments before been holding in my hands. But, of course, it wasn’t there. It had just been a dream. There was no actual “book”, there was only the information that each of us carries within ourselves. Not that this makes the information any less valid, but it does make it harder to share. After all, a physical book can be copied, or given away, or read to others. But how does one share the information that is “written” only on their own soul?

Each of us carries within us their own version of this “book”. The “trick” is finding the key to unlock that information ,thereby making it available to yourself (and, if you like, to others). You see, everyone is different. While some people will never look inside and recognize that they have a copy of this “book”, others may see it and never “read” it. 

This book of knowledge is hidden away within the library of your soul, but the librarian is adept at inducing fear, because she doesn’t want you to know the secrets within this book. For some people, she is so fearsome that they will never enter the library, let alone check out the book hidden inside there. Others may sneak into the library and find the book, but then be frightened away by the librarian before they can figure out what the book says. Some others may actually get a glimpse inside that book and know that it holds great wisdom and truth, but still be too afraid of the librarian to stay very long. But a few, like me, will brave the librarian, proving to themselves that she is not as fearsome as she would like you to think; and in doing so, manage to remove the book long enough to read the entire thing–cover to cover. And once read, they will find that life will never be the same, because they have discovered something wondrous–about themselves, about the world, and about everyone they know.

Whichever one of these you may be is fine, because not everyone needs to seek out their book of knowledge, nor does everyone need to read every passage within the book. Everyone is different, and everyone is on different paths, so when the time is right, you will find your book and you will read whatever passage or page you need to in order to continue on with your life. But if you’re lucky (because I consider myself lucky to have read the entire book and to have remembered most of it), you too, will read and remember every morsel of that book, and you, too, will find your life changed because of it.

It’s a fascinating and enlightening read, and I hope each of you gets the chance to at least sample some of the writings in your own book of knowledge some day.

If you are one of the three million British citizens are now working from home, you will know the importance of maintaining computer equipment, compact as possible. A simple all-in-one printers, scanners and copiers, as well as his own life a lot. Six of these printers come under the spotlight for the individual all-in-One printer Reviews.

The Canon Pixma MP520 is an attractive, all-round printer. The printing and scanning speeds are high, running costs are low, and photo-sharpeningalso made in the All-in-One Printer Reviews. With a compact design, two drawers and 2.4 in. color display is usually at 95 euro or 80 euro prizes.

The Lexmark X4550, printer wireless work everywhere in the house with your Wi-Fi. Produces high quality, sharp images and color printing. All-in-One Printer reviews, however, the rates are bad for the grainy, low resolution scanning and photocopying slow and sometimes distorted. The cost isUsually 75 euros.

The results HP Photosmart C5280 known for its fast, high quality printing of photos and text. It also produces excellent scans at high resolution, despite a problem with straight lines. However, it is strong and has the outline photocopies and color problems. In general, prices at £ 100, is available for 62 euros.

Brother MFC-465CN is a network printer, the Ethernet port allows for printing on a Wi-Fi-enabled laptop, even if the main computer is not enabled.Added the attraction of working as a fax. Low speed, but it is a problem. In general price of € 130, is available for £ 112 °

Epson Stylus DX8400 is the print speed slower than those photos in All-in-One Printer Reviews. Text printing is slow, there are problems with color scanning and copying, printing, and the cost is twice that of its competitors. In general, prices at £ 75 is available for 62 euros.

LexmarkX2550 is an acceptable text and color printing and running costs are reasonable, but the process is slow. Scans are grainy and low resolution. Suitable for those whose requirements are minimal pressure and usually at £ 55 prizes, the Lexmark is available for EUR 38.

Recommend : Computers Laptop

This is my first official blog post. I’ve been tossing the idea of blogging around for quite some time, but never put any action behind it. I’m still not quite sure what I’m going to blog about. physics theory is one of my loves but I might make this into a serial fiction blog, posting a chapter of a story a week. I’ll let you know as soon as I find out blogger world.

Geekdom is good. Books are good. The combination is even better.

Having moved into a new apartment, I had the pleasure of reorganizing my geek shelf.

(Sorry for blur)

In order, from left to right:

- Icon Design, Steve Caplin

Gives a good look at icons in computer interfaces. Very interesting, looks at different types of icons, styles, examples. Also provides interviews with designers. Very good book.

- The Web Designer’s Idea Book, Patrick McNeil

Provides examples of well-designed websites in different categories and styles. Inspiring, in the non-cheesy sense.

- Web Design: Portfolios, Ed. Julius Weidemann

Similar to the above, but not divided into categories.

- The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, Edward Tufte

Covers the visual… well yeah… and the use of statistics. A must have for anyone interested in information display and design. Excellent book.

- 50 mathematical ideas you really need to know, Tony Crilly

Self-explanatory. Covers everything from the basic to the more complex.

- 50 physics theory ideas you really need to know, Joanne Baker

Ditto.

- Java (All-in-one Desk Reference) For Dummies, Lowe & Burd

Extensive, in detail, and easy to understand. Excellent both as a guide and as reference material.

- Building Web Sites (All-in-one Desk Reference) For Dummies, Sahlin & Snell

Provides information not only on designing and creating the website but on planning it and hiring employees for it.

These are all great books and I heavily recommend them to anyone. Likewise, if any of you have any recommendations for me, please let me know.