Has the inner core of the earth stopped spinning?

Has the inner core of the earth stopped spinning? Check out this article. Though the matter is not conclusive, it's an interesting read.

Aluta continua

After a span, the following quotations are a breath of fresh air.


Nothing is certain but uncertainty

Now is the watchword of the wise

Old age, though despised, coveted by all

Persevere and never fear

Prosperity destroys fools and endangers the wise

When sorrow is asleep wake it not

Brevity is the soul of the wit

Amazing Quotes!

Below are some amazing quotes:

I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.

Albert Einstein

Never ascribe to malice that which can adequately be explained by incompetence.

Napoleon Bonaparte

Wars come and go, but my soldiers stay eternal

Tupac Shakur

Failure is simply an opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.

Henry Ford

Any man can make mistakes, but only an idiot persists in his error.

Cicero

African development

Check out this post.  Watch this space!

Great philosophical quotes!

A renewed focus

Check out this post. 2017 with a renewed focus. Talk less act more. That's the way to go!

Food for thought for sure!

Check out this refreshing quote from this post!

Motivational quote

Kant: a major influence?

Check out this article on Immanuel Kant. Interesting stuff.

Reality, Truth and Obligation

It will be folly for one to get confused between reality, truth and one's supposed obligations insofar as reconciling reality with truth.

Some shout on top of their mouths about their opposition to something being practiced by others

Reality should not be equated with the truth but the equality should hold only on certain instances. Like I said above, don't confuse reality with the truth. Analyse reality to decifer any inherent false concepts.

What are we obligated to do? (In general terms). There is a difference between responsibilities and obligations. Is it an obligation on our part to ensure that in any reality, the truth is clearly separated from the falsity? Maybe the discovery of the truth should be treated as a 'work in progress?'

There must be a balance between the above two ideas because in many instances many at times people claim to have the ingredients of the truth when that isn't so. Therefore in that regard, there is some acceptance of treating truth discovery as a 'work in progress.'

The expectation is that once the truth has been discovered, it must naturally eliminate the false ideas. That can be true in a sense but you have to understand that it takes a lot of effort to eliminate false ideas. That effort and the truth can be standalone issues on their own.

There is pressure for the discoverer to convince those who don't know on the truthfulness of their thinking. But is it a must? I think that at times tje effort has to be in both directions. Those with the false ideas must put an effort to reconcile with the truth when and where it is discovered.

Ideas must be dependent on a Person but must be independent on my person.

Alpha Centaurus back to Rigil Kentaurus

The nearest star system to our Solar System, Alpha Centaurus is reverting to its old name Rigil Kentaurus, which means “foot of the centaur” in Arabic. Let me admit, I had become attached to the name Alpha Centaurus hence this new (old by the way) is difficult to swallow.

Alpha Centaurus ( OK, Rigil Kentaurus) is 4.3 light-years away from the earth. A light-year is the distance travelled by light in one year.

New elements on the Periodic Table

The periodic table now has new elements. Read the following article below for greater insights:

Last December, four new elements—with atomic numbers 113, 115, 117, and 118—earned their spots on the periodic table. They were temporarily named ununtrium, ununpentium, ununseptium, and ununoctium until the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry revealed their “unofficial” names in June. Now that the period for public comment is over,those names arefinally official,The New York Times reports. Three of the elements were named after locations of scientists’ institutions: Tennessine (Tennessee), Nihonium (Japan) and Moscovium (Moscow). Yuri Oganessian, a nuclear physics professor at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, inspired the fourth, Oganesson. The four elements, synthetically created in labs, round out the seventh row of the table.

I just wonder how many more elements are going to be discovered and whether the nature of their properties will reveal greater insights not yet considered by scientists.

Travelling to Mars in 70 days

NASA has trialled an engine that would take us to Mars in 10 weeks. Though the results have not been peer-reviewed, either way it is mind blowing nonetheless. Recently estimates of the time to travel to Mars were about 2 years. Hence 70 days would be a great step forward. This article explains the whole mechanism involved. It's a good read.

Topology and the Physics Nobel Prize 2016

Sometime in October, The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced the recipients of this year’s Nobel Prize for physics: half went to David J. Thouless at the University of Washington, Seattle and half to F. Duncan M. Haldane of Princeton University and J. Michael Kosterlitz of Brown University for, in the Academy’s words, “theoretical discoveries of topological phase transitions and topological phases of matter.”

Here is an article explaining the concepts clearly and in depth.

Here is some 'crazy' quote:

"A topologist is a person who doesn't know the difference between a coffee cup and a doughnut.” (Anonymous)

Pluto: planet or not?!

Some time ago Pluto was declade not a planet qfter so many years being recognisef as one. The reasons proffered were that

But new evidence seems to turn the tide again suggesting Pluto could be a planet after all. A

Did you know #4

Freezing is the change in state from liquid to solid by reducing its temperature. The Freezing point or Melting point of a substance is the temperature at which a material changes from a solid to a liquid (or vice versa). The temperature remains constant until all of the substance has changed its state.

The Freezing point of nearly all liquids is lowered by adding another substance.

For example if you add an equal amount of antifreeze containing ethanediol (ethylene glycol) to an equal amount of water, the water which normally freezes at 0°C will now freeze at -37°C (the ethandiol freezes at -13°C).

Did you know #3

In 1936 Russian Andrei Nikolaevich isolated pure DNA for the first time

In 1936 Robert R Williams synthesizes vitamin B

In 1701 John Sauveur introduced the term acoustics when talking about the tones of a musical scale

In 1663 Blaise Pascal published a book that suggested that, in a fluid, pressure is exerted equally in all directions.

In 1935 Charles Richter developed a scale for measuring the strength of earthquakes based on seismograms. It's still known as the Richter scale.

In 46 BC Julius Caesar, that Roman dictator, acting on the advice of the Greek astronomer Sosigenes, introduced the Julian calender of three 365-day years, followed by one of 366 days.

In order to get the seasons straightened out, they gave the year 46 BC an extra 67 days. This was the longest year ever. It was 532 days long

Are the assumptions correct?

The perspective in which you look at some issues, sometimes makes any conclusion you make biased. Because of the perspective you are in, you end up ignoring some facts and realities at hand. These scenarios happen in most facets of life (science included). The list of examples is endless but that is not the focus of this post.

To develop your thinking at times it is vital to question the circumstances and assumptions underpinning your thinking processes. The problem starts when you do not know these circumstances and assumptions. This is because your mistakes won't be ubiquitous to you. Sometimes to notice one's mistakes you have to analyse the foundation of your thought. Looking at the outcomes is not enough. You have to be comprehensive at times. The novelty of human ideas has gone back and forth across time and in any age a lot of infallibility is assumed in the mainstream way of thinking.

To fight any inconsitensies and impersectness in ideas across time the development of an across the bode model sometimes referred to as a 'standard model' is sought after to channel any emerging idea into a uniform path. The 'standard model' now becomes the decider of true or false ideas which hence cometh. Many at times the 'standard model' is fraught with limitations and cannot seem to explain every issue, something expected of it. Think about the standard models in economics and physics. The 'standard model' suddenly becomes 'unstandard' after all.

I am not saying the exercise of searching for and using 'standard models' is futile. Developing human thought is a work in progress. Considering where we come, scholarly effort should be applauded. What I find fault in is being unreasonable with the truth, that is, refusing to relook at your assumptions and circumstances and having a biased assessment of the outcomes at hand.

Many areas of what people refer to as science today are fraught with issues raised above. At times this inhibits to enrichment of thought because people what others to view their faulty ideas as the truth when they are just nothing but tje truth.

I mentioned above that at times some are unable to decifer the assumptions and circumstances underpinning their ideas. How can one overcome that? My suggestion is that read widely to obtain varied perspectives, be analytic and try to separate (in your mind) your ideas and what you perceive as your 'greatness.' If you view yourself as a very 'great person' (interpreted in a subjective sense!), you equate anything you do with that greatness especially if there are others around to review your ideas in your presence. Such scenarios happen to many of us but what's important going forward is to become a better person (in living by and discovering the truth). We can improve ourselves and our minds are more than willing to assist and permit such improvements because they are very adaptive. Hence don't inhibit that potential adaptibility.

Nobel Season 2016

The time is nigh again. The Nobel Week is upon us. I will soon post my thoughts on the Nobel Prizes and to what extant they should be considered as important. Meanwhile congratulations to those being awarded Nobel Prizes in their respective fields.

Rich Politicians?