Saturday, April 12, 2008

Open Lectures on Quantum Physics



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Harvard University
DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS

http://www.physics.harvard.edu/about/Phys253.html
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Physics 253: Quantum Field Theory
Lectures by Sidney R. Coleman
Recorded in 1975-1976.
54 video lectures.
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From the website noted above:
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The videos shown here were transferred to DVD in 2007 straight from surviving VHS tapes, which were, in turn, copied from the original source tapes. As such, the quality of the image has suffered and is as good as currently feasible without resorting to an expensive remastering process. Made in 1975-1976, the videos were shot using a black and white tube video camera. The black halo or vignette effect you see around the image is caused by the camera's Image Orthicon pickup tube. Please note that the version of the videos presented here are at a lower resolution so as to make them small enough for streaming. Harvard affiliates also have the option of borrowing DVDs of these lectures, which have somewhat better resolution, from Physics Research Library.

Professor Coleman's wit and teaching style is legendary and, despite all that may have changed in the 35 years since these lectures were recorded, many students today are excited at the prospect of being able to view them and experience Sidney's particular genius second-hand.
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Listening to the Einstein book from Audible.com I discovered this gem website searching for Quantum Physics on Google.com. What a treat.
http://www.amazon.com/Einstein-Life-Universe-Walter-Isaacson/dp/0743264738
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Friday, December 7, 2007

How Does the MAC and Linux Compare?

A pretty good multi-part blog/webpage I found is Mike Salsbury's Web Site found Here:

http://mikesalsbury.com/mambo/content/view/235/

It's a little dated, since it's talking about Fedora Core 4 and Fedora is up to 7 (I use Fedora Core 6). But basically. the comparisons still apply. All in all, a good read for those on the edge trying to decide if they want to try Linux.

More later, Wingman.

I also found a good explanation by John C. Dvorak about blogging. I think it was called, "How to Read A Blog.", I'll try and grab and post the link.

And Yes, I've joined the communities of myspace and facebook and I've been on Twitter and Flickr for some time now. What can I say about that???

Not Much, Leo and John C. pushed me over the edge.

Thursday, November 29, 2007

Links to ELO's Digital Story Blog on the Kindle...

Books from fullbooks.com I'm currently reading on the PSP:
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Trinity (Atomic Test) Site by the National Atomic Museum
http://www.fullbooks.com/Trinity-Atomic-Test-Site.html

Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll (Charles Dodgson) (3 parts)
http://www.fullbooks.com/Through-the-Looking-Glass.html

The History of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon (15 parts)
http://www.fullbooks.com/The-History-of-The-Decline-and-Fall-of-the.html

Twelfth Night; or, What You Will by William Shakespeare
(Collins edition) (3 parts)

http://www.fullbooks.com/Twelfth-Night-or-What-You-Will.html

How to Live 24 Hours a Day by Arnold Bennett
http://www.fullbooks.com/How-to-Live-on-24-Hours-a-Day.html

The Hounds of The Baskervilles by A. Conan Doyle (4 parts)
http://www.fullbooks.com/The-Hound-of-the-Baskervilles.html

Moby Dick; or The Whale by Herman Melville (12 parts)
(Great Movie Screenplay by Ray Bradbury)
http://www.fullbooks.com/Moby-Dick-or-The-Whalex8185.html
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Note: www.fullbooks.com was a "web site of the day" Pick by refdesk.com, and so is

Arts & Letters Daily - ideas, criticism, debate
http://aldaily.com/
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As for podcasts (internet radio talk/information shows) my favorite is done by
the Head TWIT himself, Leo Laporte. This xml link, Radio Leo, lets me tune in to the various TWiT.tv shows Leo podcasts on my Sony PSP. They are All good, but MacBreak Weekly, FLOSS Weekly, and especially TWiT are Top Notch, Must Hear podcasts, if you want to stay informed about Open Source, The Mac, and The PC.
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Saturday, November 24, 2007

How Beagle and RSS Works.





Kerry, the KDE Beagle is the Desktop Searcher similar to the MAC's Spotlight. (Top Screensave)
You type in a search phrase and the beagle goes a-searching your desktop, Files, Emails, Pictures, Online History sources and RSS Feeds snagged by RSSOwl. A setup file lets you pick how Deep you want the rabbit hole to go. Selecting "ALL" looks everywhere, which can take some time.
Screenshot 2 shows the Beagle Search results by location: Desktop, Files, Pictures etc.
The Beagle called "Kerry", works pretty much as advertised. So you don't need MAC's Spotlight.

RSS is Real Simple Syndication, which up to minute webpage INFO provided in RSS Format which is usually a Headline and a paragraph or less of TEXT information. Most RSS feed readers (like RSSOwl which is available for Windows, the MAC and Linux) display this a three-pane window. The left being a tree structure showing search categories and subcategories and a number showing how many offerings the reader picked up.
In the sample, I clicked on category BOOKS and Sub-category "Variety". In the top right panel, the reader displays the snagged "One-Liners" picked up from the subcategory. Clicking one of these one-liners and more description (as much as a paragraph or MORE) is displayed on the lower right panel.
Reading this more detailed paragraph usually tells you if you need or want to visit the "source" of the information. There are usually a few highlighted terms in this detail window that will link you to the souce.

See Screen Capture 3 and 4.

RSS was initially used to detail the web sites more changable or up-to-date information the site has to offer. But now, even more archiveal information from that site is is accessable.
Such as the "Bambi vs Goliath" article, which appeared in Variety a few months back, which was pretty good explaination about why movies have gotten So Bad.
The link to That page is Here:

Tuesday, November 6, 2007

Removing Totem Player from FC6

For some unknown reason Totem Player is the Default video/media Player in Gnome Desktop. The fact that it chokes on most online media makes me wonder why?

The Quick-Fix is to remove it, and most explainations on how to do this is quite Funny.

Do the following (as root): yum -y remove totem

And your headaches are over.

Install GXINE Player for web content, and you're good to go.

Later.

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Working with Synaptic and Yum...

The NEW ability to easily install New Open Source Software in Linux sometimes makes people think it's done with Mirrors.

Well, it is. Mirrors and Repositories.

What are Mirrors and Repositories?

Mirrors are the web servers that hold the various Repositories (which are pre-packaged RPMs built for unique Distros like Ubuntu or FC6 or OpenSuSE).

Debian users use command-line Apt-Get, as do dirivatives like FC and Ubuntu.

To use just type in: apt-get -y install .

But it's easier to use a graphical frontend called: Synaptic.

Red Hat, the originators of RPM's (Redhat Package Managers) in one form or other is used by most up-to-date distributions. Open SuSE and Fedora Core 4, 5 and 6 use RPM's and most-likely the upcoming FC7 will too.

Fedora also has a front-end and it's called YUM, which came from Yellow Dog Linux, the former Apple Linux OS.

Yellow Dog Linux is now the "New" OS for Sony's PS3.

Yum stands for Yellow-Dog Update Managers, and it's what I use on my copy of FC6.

Sure you can download tarred files from SourceForge or Freshmeat, but doing so sometimes leads you into the "PIT" of dependency HELL. Yum and Synaptic checks for dependecies first, downloads them to along with the needy programs and installs them easily.

Prime example is Videolan (VLC) video player that requires over 30-plus libraries to be installed before it will compile. Make sure the necessary repositories are listed in Yum or Synaptic's look-up list and the install is just a click of the Apply.

Neat... Sweet.

*****
New on My FC6 Machine.

A new install of a program called: Alexandria, gives you a way to keep track of your personal library.

A program I have on my Applications Accessories tab is Buoh Online Comics Reader, that gives you daily comics from the daily online newspapers to you Desktop. You pick the comics you want from a list and each day you read that day's comic by clicking on the name in you favorites List. Andy Capp, BC, The Fifth Wave, and Doonesbury are my favorites, but I still have access to 26 others.