'TBH Politoons'
Baron Dave Romm
Einstein
By Baron Dave Romm
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In the meantime, let me leave you with some heavy physics.
2005CE is the 100th Anniversary of Albert Einstein's earliest papers, including the Special Theory of Relativity, and has been declare the World Year of Physics. Einstein is most popularly known for Relativity and E=mc2. He's so much more. Here is a list, compiled by my uncle Lee Grodzins, MIT Prof of Physics Emeritus, adapted from Subtle is the Lord, the Science and Life of Albert Einstein by Abraham Pais
Birth
of Quantum Physics March, 1905
(This work wins Einstein the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics.)
Size
of Molecules April, 1905
(Einstein's most often cited work in modern literature.)
Atoms Are Real May, 1905 (Theory of Brownian motion convinces skeptics.)
Merger of Time and Space June, 1905 (Special Theory of Relativity)
E = mc2 Sept., 1905 (The most famous equation)
Quantum
Theory of Specific Heat 1906
(First Quantum Theory of Materials)
Principle
of Equivalence 1907
("Happiest Thought". Foundation Principle of General Relativity)
Gravitational
Red Shift 1911
(Confirmed in 1960's. Basis of theory of Black Holes)
Gravity
Due to Curvature of Space 1915
(General Theory of Relativity)
Induced and Spontaneous
Emission 1916
(Basis of the laser, invented in 1950's)
General
Theory Applied to Cosmology 1917
(Introduces Cosmological Constant; now interpreted as Dark Energy)
Gravitational
Waves 1918
(Intense searches are underway in labs worldwide)
Quantum
Statistics 1924
(Einstein extends Satyendar Bose's seminal paper)
Bose-Einstein
Condensate 1925
(Einstein's prediction, confirmed in 1990's)
More reading: History of Physics, Einstein, Anniversary of
Special Relativity:
Einstein and
Radiation; Einstein
1905: The Standard of Greatness;
World
Year of Physics 2005;
Five papers
that shook the world;
NASA's
World Book entry on Gravitation.
Quick review: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is a superb series entry. The fourth book is much longer than the first three, and the movie has to strain to fit it all in, which it mostly does -- Largely by skipping introductions and the boring muggle beginning. You're plunged into the story, which is fast moving and dark. Lots of black humor. Not for small children, but any kid who's read the books (and, presumably, seen the movies) will need to see it. On the Shockwave Radio Theater scale of 9 to 23, I give Goblet of Fire about a 20 if you've seen the first three movies: Add one if you've read the books; subtract two if you haven't seen the other movies or read the books.
Baron Dave Romm is a conceptual artist and a noble of Ladonia with a radio show, a Live Journal demi-blog, a very weird CD collection and an ever growing list of political links. Dave Romm reviews things at random for obscure web sites. You can read all his music recommendations from Bartcop-E , and you can hear the last two Shockwave broadcasts in Real Audio (scroll down to Shockwave). Thanks to everyone who has sent me music to play on the air.
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Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Standing Up to Christian Fundamentalists (afterellen.com)
If gays are so bad, where's the proof?
Keith Boykin: Be strong, be proud (Advocate.com)
This is the speech not given. The author was scheduled to deliver these remarks in October at the Millions More March in Washington, D.C. But at the last minute he was barred from the stage.
Abu Ghraib, aka Abu Ghurayb, Abu Grhaib (rotten.com)
The White House really wants you to know all about the atrocities that happened at Abu Ghraib... all of the ones that happened before 2003.
ROGER EBERT: Crumb (A Great Movie)
Crumb's art and career would define the limits of this film if it had been made by someone else. What deepens Zwigoff's work are the scenes with the family members. There is in Charles such a gentle sadness, such a resigned acceptance of his emotional imprisonment, that we sense how Robert's art has saved him from a similar destiny. In the fondness of his wives and girlfriends, there is a redemption to be sensed. As the film ends, Crumb is moving with his family to the south of France, where in the last 10 years he has not produced so much, perhaps because, let us speculate, he is happier.
Roger Ebert: 'Crumb': How Comic Kept On Truckin'
He spent nine years on his film while averaging an income of "about $200 a month," and "living with back pain so intense that I spent three years with a loaded gun on the pillow next to my bed, trying to get up the nerve to kill myself."
Laura Sheahen: Life Lessons From Harry Potter (beliefnet.com)
The books can help kids navigate relationships, disappointments, and loss.
Which Harry Potter Character Are You? (beliefnet.com)
Beliefnet Soul Quizzes and Trivia Challenges
Another Rant
Avery Ant
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Hot and dry, but the winds have died down.
Was bumped by developing local news from Erin Hart's Show on
710 KIRO last night.
Probably will be on next Saturday or Sunday.
Return To Radio City
Musicians
Members of the orchestra for Radio City Music Hall's "Christmas Spectacular" approved a contract deal Sunday that allowed them to return to work following a bitter labor dispute.
The contract was approved late Sunday afternoon, according to Shawn Sachs, a spokesman for the union representing the musicians. He declined to disclose any details of the approval.
Neither the union nor Radio City Entertainment has released details of the long-term deal, which was reached earlier this week with the help of a mediator and the encouragement of Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Musicians
Founders Part Ways
Shortlist Music Prize
The Shortlist Music Prize appears to have come to an end. Artist manager and Shortlist co-founder Tom Sarig is planning a like-minded new award for next year.
Sarig and Greg Spotts founded the Shortlist in 2000 to bring exposure, and a handsome cash prize, to lesser-known acts. But it appears the two have grown apart.
"It's nothing acrimonious," Sarig says. "We mutually decided not to continue."
Shortlist Music Prize
Germany Marks 60th Anniversary
Nuremberg Trials
Germany marked the 60th anniversary of the start of the Nuremberg trials on Sunday with a ceremony in the oak-paneled courtroom where World War Two allies came together to prosecute Nazi leaders.
The United States was the driving force behind the groundbreaking trials, which set standards for holding government leaders accountable for human rights abuses and war crimes. Its legacy reverberates in international human rights law today and in the trial of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
The first trial of 22 top Nazis -- including Hermann Goering, Rudolf Hess and Joachim von Ribbentrop -- began on November 20, 1945, in the Bavarian city, picked because it had been a Nazi hotbed and the courts building was undamaged by the war.
Nuremberg Trials
Rising On Prime Time TV
Body Count
The body count in prime-time television these days rivals that of a war zone. The popularity of CBS' "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," its spinoffs, imitators and other crime or supernatural shows has made network TV home to an astonishing amount of blood 'n' guts, which has attracted little notice due to a preoccupation with sex.
During the last week of September, there were 63 dead bodies visible during prime time on the six broadcast networks. That's up sharply from the 27 bodies counted during the same week in 2004.
This year, channel surfers in that one week could spot:
• The lead character in Fox's "Bones" discovering a badly decomposed body hanging in a tree, crows picking on the remains. The maggot-covered head falls off and lands in Bones' hands.
• A man preparing dinner on the WB's "Supernatural" when his sink suddenly fills with water. He reaches in and something grabs him, pulls his head in the water and drowns him.
• On CBS' "CSI: NY," a man falling after trying to climb the outside of a skyscraper. He hits a ledge, and a large chunk of bloody flesh falls to the street.
• A driver speeding up to hit a woman coming out of the clinic on NBC's "Inconceivable." She's shown hitting the windshield, flying through the air and lying on the ground with blood dripping from her mouth and nose.
• The victim of an auto-erotic asphyxiation on CBS' "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation."
Then there's the gunshot victim with blood spurting from his chest, the man screaming as he's being burned alive, the murdered woman whose eyes had been removed and eyelids stitched shut and the medical examiner using pliers to pull a diamond from a dead man's chest.
Body Count
Go On The Attack
Unions
US unions, weakened by public apathy and internal splits, are fighting back with an online database that accuses corporate supremos of lining their own pockets while grinding down their employees.
Business leaders are deeply unhappy at the online initiative of the AFL-CIO workers' federation, accusing union bosses of taking a cheap shot when complex issues are at stake.
But the AFL-CIO affiliate behind the site, Working America, says there is nothing cheap about the pay packages on offer to the favoured few while millions of blue-collar Americans fret about losing their jobs and benefits.
The site at www.workingamerica.org has information on more than 60,000 US companies, detailing their violations of health and safety legislation, their outsourcing of jobs overseas and the pay deals for chief executives.
Unions
Detained In Vietnam
Gary Glitter
Former British rock star Gary Glitter has been taken into custody in a southern Vietnamese resort city following allegations that he indulged in lewd acts with a minor, police officials confirmed Sunday.
Immigration police officer Nguyen Van Phuc said that Glitter was stopped by officers checking his passport as he was preparing to board a flight to Bangkok from Ho Chi Minh city on Saturday.
A police officer in Vung Tau confirmed that Glitter, whose real name is Paul Francis Gadd, had been detained for further investigation, but gave no further details.
Glitter, who rose to fame with a glam rock act in the 1970s, is perhaps best known for "Rock and Roll (Part 2)," which is still frequently played at sporting events.
Gary Glitter
Can Buy Happiness
Money
Japanese women are cheerier than men, people grow glummer as they age, and money can buy happiness -- up to a point.
Those were among the findings of a recent survey on what makes Japanese people happy, the researcher, Osaka University professor Yoshiro Tsutsui, said Friday.
Happiness rose along with per capita income until earners reached the highest bracket, at which point it dipped somewhat.
Money
Sippy On The Barbie?
Kangaroo
How do you like your kangaroo -- medium rare? Doesn't sound too appealing, does it?
So in a bid to make Australia's national icon more palatable, Food Companion International magazine and the Kangaroo Industry Association of Australia are running a competition to find a more palatable culinary name for the meat of the hopping marsupials.
More than 300 entries have already been received from around the world including marsu (taken from marsupial), marla and wallagang (derived from the Aboriginal language), agaroo and the more unlikely Cyril, Skippy, yummy and roadkill.
Suggestions for a culinary name for kangaroo can be made at www.foodcompanion.com.
Kangaroo
Cozumel, Mexico
Occidental Grand
Mexicans have set up a shrine at a plant pot on the grounds of a beach resort on the Caribbean island of Cozumel after an image said to depict Jesus appeared on it following Hurricane Wilma a month ago,
A receptionist at the Occidental Grand resort noticed the image likened to Jesus' face as shaken guests emerged from a storm shelter after huddling for three days while the hurricane hurled rain and debris.
Local media are calling it a miracle and draw a link between the apparition and the fact that none of the 200 guests had suffered so much as a bruise during the storm, which tore up other beach resorts on Cozumel, bit holes in concrete buildings, ripped up sections of highway and flattened trees.
The image stands out clearly as a Jesus-like face on the side of the enamelled terra cotta planter -- whose plants also survived the storm despite being outside for its duration.
Occidental Grand
In Memory
Pamela Duncan
Pamela Duncan, an actress who starred in the cult classic "Attack of the Crab Monsters" and later appeared in an Academy Award-nominated documentary, has died. She was 73.
Duncan, who had numerous roles in television and film throughout the 1950s and the early 1960s, suffered a stroke and died Nov. 11 at the Lillian Booth Actors' Fund of America Home in Englewood.
She had lived at the home for 10 years and was one of several entertainers who appeared in "Curtain Call," a documentary made in 2000 that focused on the lives and careers of the home's residents.
A native of New York, Duncan won several local beauty pageants as a teenager before heading to Hollywood in the early 1950s. Her first role came in 1951, when she appeared in the film "Whistling Hills," but she was best known for her role in "Attack of the Crab Monsters," a 1957 science-fiction release directed by Roger Corman.
On television, Duncan primarily had roles in westerns, including "The Roy Rogers Show" and "Maverick," but also appeared on shows such as "Perry Mason" and "Dr. Kildare."
Pamela Duncan
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