Working on fiction. Relativity in trouble?

View 701 Saturday, November 19, 2011

 

I’m still doing hard research on a new character and some background for our novel, and I‘m grinding a bit on recording the subscriptions and renewals. I’m way behind on that, and my apologies to everyone for taking so long in doing it. I really appreciate the subscriptions and renewals, and actually I read and try to answer any comments that come with them, but data entry isn’t my favorite activity. I probably ought to work out a more automated way to do this, but nust now I certainly haven’t time for that. Ah well. And I do thank you all for your support of this place.

Regarding Chaos Manor Reveiws and my old BYTE columns, I do intend to get that going again. It hasn’t been my most energetic summer, and this is in some ways the hardest novel we’ve ever done.

A good part of this new novel will address a lot of contemporary political problems. I hope to keep it realistic, but it’s not a manual on political action.

 

 

 

For those who asked, no, I am not endorsing Newt Gingrich as the Republican candidate. I have my preferences on candidates, but like Newt, I am convinced that anyone on that stage is far better qualified to be President than the current occupant of the White House. Newt is an old friend and remains so. I’m on record as saying that he’s likely to be the smartest man in any room he’s in. I have no explanation for some of the odd things he seems to have done, but none of them approach the level of disqualifying him from holding the office of President. I hope that whoever does become President will listen to his advice.

News keeps coming in about the FTL neutrinos. Apparently we have several confirmations of some of the neutrinos definitely arriving 50 or more nanoseconds faster than the lightspeed travel time. Admiral Grace Hopper used to hand out nanoseconds at her lectures: a piece of wire a bit more than 18 inches long, which is how far light travels in a nanosecond. Sixty nanoseconds is a fair distance. I have yet to see a report of actual information travelling faster than light in these experiments, but that would be the obvious next experiment. If information is sent faster than light, the theory of evolution is in need of drastic revision, and theories like Petr Beckmann’s entangled gravitational fields as a form of aether bear examination. I suppose that relativity is still the way to bet, but the amounts you should be willing to bet are getting smaller and smaller.  It’s exciting. I’m rooting for the neutrinos…

 

 

 

For those looking for something to do:

I saw this and recalled that you have been collecting similar links about online educational lectures.

"Sixty Symbols

SIΧTΨ SγMBΦLS is a collection of (currently) 143 videos on a number of physics topics, from cosmology to quantum mechanics, from the University of Nottingham. Each video is typically five to ten minutes long, and features one to a half-dozen professors discussing the topic …"

http://sagaciousiconoclast.blogspot.com/2011/11/60symbols.html

P

 

 

Even more interesting:

Afghanistan strategic projections  Dear Dr. Pournelle,

I call this paper to your attention. I believe you will find it interesting.

https://csis.org/files/publication/111115_Afghanistan_at_End_2011.pdf

Respectfully,

Brian P.

Sorry to be both brief and late.