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Hontas FarmerRSS Feed of this column.

My research focuses on astrophysics from massive star formation to astroparticle physics. Born and raised in Chicagoland I have lived in Bellwood, IL since 1984 and attended public schools here... Read More »

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It seems that one Toby Cubitt,  a quantum physicist, has done research which proves mathematically that physics is hard.  Well no duh.  Physics is the subject sane people avoid in college.  Compare the conceptual complexity of Louis DeBroglie's work on the wave nature of "solid" material particles to a study of Dr. Shaquille O'Neal Ed.D. on how bosses use humor in the workplace.  

Windows 8 will be the biggest thing in the world of Windows since Windows 95.   That is my prediction based on months of using it in virtualization and now natively on my convertible tablet PC.  In short it is a marked improvement over Windows 7.   The metro application framework, I predict, will lead to the old desktop paradigm being obsolete in the next  5 years.    (Other operating systems are moving towards this too.  Mandriva Linux and it's  ROSA desktop are a step in the same direction.) 

Occupy Hilbert Space is a quirky event proposed by a Facebook friend of mine.   A Hilbert space is a formal mathematical construct in which the information about a physical system is represented by vectors.  In physics we most often encounter the concept of Hilbert spaces in Quantum Mechanics.  They are not limited just to quantum mechanics.  For my submission I will show that we are all occupying a Hilbert space right now.   

Niel Bates describes it like so. 

News like today's new evidence for a standard model light* (~125 Gev) Higgs particle does much for theoretical physics.  In one fell swoop many theories can be ruled out.  While at the same time other theories gain direct support.  Still other theories, and the theorist who propose them, are vindicated for putting their faith in the standard model.  This model that has worked perfectly in every test it has had for 30 or so years.  One area which this will affect in the latter way is that of quantum gravity.

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 is my 24 year old Nephew's favorite game.  In it Russians invade Manhattan.  When I was a kid, suffice it to say, the Russians were not to be played with...except in games featuring nuclear war.  People not that much younger than me are totally disconnected from that reality.  At the beginning of Call of Duty's story mode New York City has been invaded by Russian forces.   As my father and I watched him we could not help but comment at how unrealistic that was.  Far less provocation than that would have lead to us nuking Russia, not a fire fight.

If we can produce neutrinos at the same time as photons,then detect which arrives first the question of neutrino speed vs light speed would be settled.    CERN – OPERA measured neutrinos arriving faster than light would have, astronomers have measured neutrinos and light arriving at about the same time from supernovae.  How can we verify the CERN – Opera experiment,reproduce the supernova result, and settle this question once and for all?  We can do this by repurposing one of the most destructive things ever created by the hands of man, a atomic bomb.