Actually, if you read the different articles, you would have seen that Lax has been working with problems important in physics. I don't know if physics is practial enough for you, but it is hard to deny the influence on modern technology from break-throughs in physics in the last century.
Here is Lax's advive to young mathematicians:
"I heartily recommend that all young mathematicians try their skill in some branch of applied mathematics. It is a gold mine of deep problems whose solutions await conceptual as well as technical breakthroughs. It displays an enormous variety, to suit every style; it gives mathematicians a chance to be part of the larger scientific and technological enterprise. Good hunting!"
Thanks for that link! Have been looking for something similar. Have you suggested to OpenOffice developers to include the package? (Actually, don't even know where to suggest this, I will have to lurk around openoffice.org web site...)
Britain if it did ever leave would be a huge blow, because it is the only country other than Germany which makes significant net contribution to the budget.
Brits seems to believe that, but I actually think the EU would gain from England leaving, due both to the unfair rebate that Tatcher got from the EU and from the anti-EU nonsense that dominates the EU debate in England. I am not sure that Skotland and Wales would want to leave though, so that would be a problem for the British parlament when the time comes. It would anyway be interesting to see how the british economy will handle leaving the EU. It is a strong economy on its own, so it would be much to learn both for the EU and for the English.
Approval for the treaties, when they are voted for, runs around 50% even in France and the Netherlands.
Yes, but for different reason than the little britten reason to voting no. France usually likes to protest against their government in "less important" elections, which is why Le Pen suddenly did well even though noone wanted him as president. Similarly, the Netherlands are angry at the way Germany and France have gotten away from the strict rules on budget for the euro-countries, and people in the Netherlands are considering to send a message to the big two when voting for reforming the constitution of EU. Neither of the countries have voters that live under the illusion that the EU is some bad beast or that being a part of the EU hasn't been a very good thing for both countries.
So, we'll have a vote on a EU constitution later this year and unless someone convinces me otherwise, i'll assume that the system is fucked up and vote 'no'.
So you will vote no to reforming EU because your government f*cked up and let a chance to stop software patents (which your parliment explicitly wanted the Danish representative to do)?
It would make more sense to get out of it by leaving the EU. If two countries were to leave, the whole edifice would probably collapse.
The EU is more stable than that. If some smaller, less significant countries leave there will be no problem. Probable candidates are Denmark and Sweden (which are fairly nationalistic and anti-EU). If bigger countries leave, there will be more problems. But it is not too far fetch to see England leaving the Union in some years into the future (the conservatives are fairly anti-EU and can get rid of Bliar already next election in a few months). Actually in the new EU constitution there has been made explicit mechanisms for countries to leave the Union, since it will be more likely to happen now that there are 10 new member states. The stability of EU depends mostly on the euro-countries being happy together and most importantly on Germany and France and the BeNeLux-countries.
I don't agree with the sentiment that it is all over when talking about software patents. The EU parliment has a last chance to make a difference. The problem is more that people (and therefore MEP's) don't seem to know too much about the dangers of software patents. If the EU countries truely wanted to say no to software patents, it would have been stopped long ago (and the process was delayed by half-harted measures by smaller nations like Poland and Denmark). Even if the software patents gets through parliment, the EU countries still can reverse the decition later on, if the effect of the new EU laws have a negativ effect. It would only be a bit extra work for the burro-crates.
this would also seem to peripherally support the idea that the entire universe is made up on a single electron.
Great minds think alike and all; actually Feynman and co-workers was seriously thinking about this possibility once. If there is only one single electron it would explain why all electrons are exactly similar, with exactly the same charge , mass etc, because all the electrons we observe are just the same one (Bob if you like).
Now why did Feynman consider this wild hypothesis; well, because one valid mathematical representation of a positron (the anti-particle of the electron) is as an electron traveling backwards in time. It is still unresolved if there exist any fundamental particles that actually travel backward in time instead of in the same time directions as we experience. The attitude in theoretical physics is always if the fundamental equations don't disallow it, one has to consider it a possibility to check for. One argument against such particles would be if they could be used to communicate with the past with all the possible paradoxes such a time communications would create (just like time travel).
Anyway, Feynam was considering if the electron Bob would sometimes become the positron anti-Bob, travel back in time and then after a while return back to normal Bob. To us, these events would look like anti-matter matter anihilation, with the creation of a gamma-ray to preserve momentum.
The reason Feynman dropped the idea is not because it was too wild, but because the hypothesis had a serious deficit since it could not explain why there were so little anti-matter around.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES Mrs. CLINTON (for herself, Mrs. BOXER, Mr. KERRY, Mr. LAUTENBERG, and Ms. MIKULSKI) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on
The problem is that the changes has gone faster in the last century than in any of the milleniums before.
This sudden acceleration follows quite closely the sudden increase in the amount of CO2 that humans produce (due to the industrial revolution, invention of cars etc). And this sudden acceleration seems to go exponential. Measurments from ice cores on Greenland, fossile threes etc show that the last decade is the warmest that has been in the last 1000 years. So where does this growth stop?
Check out expontential growth, chaotic systems (i.e. our climate) and then draw your own conclusions why some climate scientist are worried. The last decade has also had more "extreem" weather than what has been reported the last two centuries. Again, scientific models indicate that this is not a coincident, but that global warming also gives more extreem storms, floods etc. Scientific/engineering community is now starting to consider what can be done now that sea levels are rising, temperature levels rising (with the impact on wild life and plants) and more storms are coming. The prevention that can be achieved by starting to cut CO2 now will do little for the next decade and some politicians doesn't seem to realize yet that the greatest threat to humanity is not terrorism but this global warming that is happening at the moment.
Napoleon when getting a copy of Laplace's Celestical Mechanics complained that there was no reference to God in it. Laplace answered Napoleon that God was a hypothesis he did not need. When Lagrange heard of Laplace's reply said he did not agree; God is a hypothesis that can be used to prove many things.
I don't think it is minor news that one of the world's most important languages is now finally available in a professional office suit. Personally, I think this is an important step for making computers a more useful tool for people on this planet, and should not be measured in possible short-term profit.
Isn't it Bill Gates that like to talk about bridging the digital divide?
...embryonic stem cells can change into anything, including a nasty teratoma, which seems to occur quite frequently.
That is why one should fund research on embryonic stem cells. Much more potential for cures for a range of medical conditions but need to be used with much more caution. Only solution, much more research.
For all the whining and complaining about how the US should have joined the Kyoto accord, it's very easy to see that China is the #1 offender, and that Europe is not doing so hot itself.
No, Europe isn't doing so hot. That is why they signed up for the Kyoto accord.
So, how hard do you think the Chinese would laugh if the Bush administration tried to convince China about the need to reduce their pollution? This after Bush has worked hard ("it is hard work") for four years to lower environmental standards in the US (and the world in the process). Now consider again why working together internationally is important for everyone.
And how would an international court, made up of say, France, Libya, China, Germany, Turkey, Spain, Canada and Greece, be necessarily so much more impartial?... but I'd trust a US federal judge any day of the week over any international court, which these days would almost necessarily be comprised primarily of countries not friendly to us and in many cases openly sympathetic to bin Laden's cause.
None of the countries you mention are sympathetic to bin Laden's cause. If you believe that you are a Bushite. Heck, I can't even think of one country that is sympathetic to bin Laden, not even Syria, Iran or Saudia Arabia. And most definitely not Saddam Hussein in Iraq, but that is another story.
I can understand that people in the US want to see bin Laden face a trial in the US. And I don't think the International Criminal Court in the Hague would mind if the US held such a trial, as long as the trial keeps up to the standard of international law. Of course, ICC does not approve of the ancient tradition of the death penalty, but that is just them being old-fashioned.
But what if bin Laden is captured by a country that does not believe that the US courts have a high enough standard or the ability for bin Laden to get a fair trial? Even a mass-murder has the right for a fair trial in a democratic society. Then the International Criminal Court should be a good compromise, and has shown itself in trials like Milosowitch to be fair (if slow). The down side for the Aschrofts is of course that bin Laden then would spend the rest of his life in a prison instead of frying in the chair.
Stalingrad and the US entry into the war both came in 1942. Still the German army was not defeated until 1945. Both France and UK knew that the Nazis controlled the strongest army in the world in 1939, but still declared war since they saw that the Nazi treat had to be challenged head on. That is real courage. A lot of French and British soldiers together with the other allied countries had to give their lives because Hitler had to be stopped. France (and almost UK) had to suffer years of harsh occupation and bombing both from allies and foes. It is a disgrace when the AWOL Bush tries to compare bombing a third world country for all kinds of phony reasons to fighting the horrors of the Hitler war machine.
France was a friend in the Revolutionary War and a friend in advising against the failed invasion of Iraq, and has been a close ally in the years between those two wars. Think about that next time you eat your freedom fries.
France (and Germany) have been exceeding the EU's limit of deficit spending which is 3% of GDP.
Well, under Bush the surplus under Clinton has turned into a deficit that increases with 4.2 % of GDP a year. Much of this deficit is caused by tax cuts for the rich, and the deficit is basically a tax increase for everyone (through weaker dollar, higher inflation, cuts in government programs, etc etc) which of course hits the poor and the middle classes hardest.
In addition, it doesn't look like Europe's education system is fairing too well either, and it's generally agreed that education is required for a healthy economy.
It is hard to compare directly education between different countries, but it seems like Europe and the rest of the world has catched up a lot when it comes to science after US has dominated in science since WW II (for understandable reasones). And you do realise that even for top universities in Europe the students don't have to pay much or anything in tuition fees, so that even middle class families can send a bright kid to a top university (something like Bush being sent to Yale because he was so bright).
I heard Donald Rumsfeld is going to go over to educate "old Europe" how to keep their military and police from mistreating their prisoners. The Germans with their Nazi past don't know what liberty and freedom really means, that is why they are not in the coallition of the willing.
It is funny how the German and French gets so much slack here on slashdot because they have laws restricting the expression of nazi propaganda and lies (which one could maybe understand because of the German and French history of being ruled/invaded by a nazi dictator?)
This from the same American kids who accepts that their president don't allow showing flag draped coffins because it is bad for the president re-election campaign. The re-election campaign of a president and vice-president who ran away from their change to serve their country last time young kids like them came home in flag draped coffins in large amounts. How can one justify to silently accept such a partisan censorship and then blame the general German attitude (supported by all the political parties) on having some bonds on what nazis can claim in public (no holocaust and all that)?
I don't necessarily agree with the German's fright of letting the nazis saying their lies, of course knowing the problem of hate-speech leading to hate-crime. But when we critize other nations, one should usually have in the back of our minds our own nations short comings.
"given to younger mathematicians (belove the age of 40)"
That's young??
Well, you can notice that Atiyah got the Fields Medal at the age of 37 (he was born in 1929) while Singer never got the prize (he was born in 1924). I guess one can draw ones own conclusions, but it takes time before one are sure that a new result in a scientific field is valid and profound...
The Abel Prize is named after the brilliant Norwegian mathematician Niels Henrik Abel that died at the age of 26, after living a life with little money and little support. It is quite amazing that at that young age Abel was able to produce results that put a lasting mark on modern math. Another of the "young dead" in the history of mathematics is Galois, who died at the age of 21 and is remembered for results that expanded on earlier work of Abel. Because of these two and also many other mathematicians who did their best work at very young age, math has got the reputation of being the young man's science (or young woman for that matter, even if there seems to be a male dominance in math still in these days).
The Abel prize is introduced as a sort of "Nobel Prize of math" where people are rewarded for results and achievements that have shown themselves to be of lasting value in the field. Alfred Nobel did not want there to be a Nobel Prize in math, since he himself saw little scientific value of math! The most prestigious prize in math before the Abel came into being is the Fields medal, but this prize is only given to younger mathematicians (belove the age of 40) that has made break-through results and also show promise for the future. The Fields medal is handed out every 4 years while the Abel will be handed out every year (first prize was handed out last year).
Must have been ironic for Abel if he were to know that such a huge money prize is to be given out in his name, when his whole life he had to live in poverty and fight to get time and money to do his scientific work. The irony of Abel's life is also that Abel himself finally got a professorship in Berlin but too late; the letter was sent to him two days after his death.
Slashdot Mirror
Here is Lax's advive to young mathematicians: "I heartily recommend that all young mathematicians try their skill in some branch of applied mathematics. It is a gold mine of deep problems whose solutions await conceptual as well as technical breakthroughs. It displays an enormous variety, to suit every style; it gives mathematicians a chance to be part of the larger scientific and technological enterprise. Good hunting!"
Thanks for that link! Have been looking for something similar. Have you suggested to OpenOffice developers to include the package? (Actually, don't even know where to suggest this, I will have to lurk around openoffice.org web site ...)
Brits seems to believe that, but I actually think the EU would gain from England leaving, due both to the unfair rebate that Tatcher got from the EU and from the anti-EU nonsense that dominates the EU debate in England. I am not sure that Skotland and Wales would want to leave though, so that would be a problem for the British parlament when the time comes. It would anyway be interesting to see how the british economy will handle leaving the EU. It is a strong economy on its own, so it would be much to learn both for the EU and for the English.
Yes, but for different reason than the little britten reason to voting no. France usually likes to protest against their government in "less important" elections, which is why Le Pen suddenly did well even though noone wanted him as president. Similarly, the Netherlands are angry at the way Germany and France have gotten away from the strict rules on budget for the euro-countries, and people in the Netherlands are considering to send a message to the big two when voting for reforming the constitution of EU. Neither of the countries have voters that live under the illusion that the EU is some bad beast or that being a part of the EU hasn't been a very good thing for both countries.
I heard the Aussie prime minister was so far up W.'s ass that he could see the feet of Tony Bliar ...
So you will vote no to reforming EU because your government f*cked up and let a chance to stop software patents (which your parliment explicitly wanted the Danish representative to do)?
You Danes are really strange sometimes.
The EU is more stable than that. If some smaller, less significant countries leave there will be no problem. Probable candidates are Denmark and Sweden (which are fairly nationalistic and anti-EU). If bigger countries leave, there will be more problems. But it is not too far fetch to see England leaving the Union in some years into the future (the conservatives are fairly anti-EU and can get rid of Bliar already next election in a few months). Actually in the new EU constitution there has been made explicit mechanisms for countries to leave the Union, since it will be more likely to happen now that there are 10 new member states. The stability of EU depends mostly on the euro-countries being happy together and most importantly on Germany and France and the BeNeLux-countries.
I don't agree with the sentiment that it is all over when talking about software patents. The EU parliment has a last chance to make a difference. The problem is more that people (and therefore MEP's) don't seem to know too much about the dangers of software patents. If the EU countries truely wanted to say no to software patents, it would have been stopped long ago (and the process was delayed by half-harted measures by smaller nations like Poland and Denmark). Even if the software patents gets through parliment, the EU countries still can reverse the decition later on, if the effect of the new EU laws have a negativ effect. It would only be a bit extra work for the burro-crates.
Or even better, buy the games.
Great minds think alike and all; actually Feynman and co-workers was seriously thinking about this possibility once. If there is only one single electron it would explain why all electrons are exactly similar, with exactly the same charge , mass etc, because all the electrons we observe are just the same one (Bob if you like).
Now why did Feynman consider this wild hypothesis; well, because one valid mathematical representation of a positron (the anti-particle of the electron) is as an electron traveling backwards in time. It is still unresolved if there exist any fundamental particles that actually travel backward in time instead of in the same time directions as we experience. The attitude in theoretical physics is always if the fundamental equations don't disallow it, one has to consider it a possibility to check for. One argument against such particles would be if they could be used to communicate with the past with all the possible paradoxes such a time communications would create (just like time travel).
Anyway, Feynam was considering if the electron Bob would sometimes become the positron anti-Bob, travel back in time and then after a while return back to normal Bob. To us, these events would look like anti-matter matter anihilation, with the creation of a gamma-ray to preserve momentum.
The reason Feynman dropped the idea is not because it was too wild, but because the hypothesis had a serious deficit since it could not explain why there were so little anti-matter around.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
Mrs. CLINTON (for herself, Mrs. BOXER, Mr. KERRY, Mr. LAUTENBERG, and Ms. MIKULSKI) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on
Take a look at these graphs.
This sudden acceleration follows quite closely the sudden increase in the amount of CO2 that humans produce (due to the industrial revolution, invention of cars etc). And this sudden acceleration seems to go exponential. Measurments from ice cores on Greenland, fossile threes etc show that the last decade is the warmest that has been in the last 1000 years. So where does this growth stop?
Check out expontential growth, chaotic systems (i.e. our climate) and then draw your own conclusions why some climate scientist are worried. The last decade has also had more "extreem" weather than what has been reported the last two centuries. Again, scientific models indicate that this is not a coincident, but that global warming also gives more extreem storms, floods etc. Scientific/engineering community is now starting to consider what can be done now that sea levels are rising, temperature levels rising (with the impact on wild life and plants) and more storms are coming. The prevention that can be achieved by starting to cut CO2 now will do little for the next decade and some politicians doesn't seem to realize yet that the greatest threat to humanity is not terrorism but this global warming that is happening at the moment.
Napoleon when getting a copy of Laplace's Celestical Mechanics complained that there was no reference to God in it. Laplace answered Napoleon that God was a hypothesis he did not need. When Lagrange heard of Laplace's reply said he did not agree; God is a hypothesis that can be used to prove many things.
I don't think it is minor news that one of the world's most important languages is now finally available in a professional office suit. Personally, I think this is an important step for making computers a more useful tool for people on this planet, and should not be measured in possible short-term profit. Isn't it Bill Gates that like to talk about bridging the digital divide?
That is why one should fund research on embryonic stem cells. Much more potential for cures for a range of medical conditions but need to be used with much more caution. Only solution, much more research.
No, Europe isn't doing so hot. That is why they signed up for the Kyoto accord.
So, how hard do you think the Chinese would laugh if the Bush administration tried to convince China about the need to reduce their pollution? This after Bush has worked hard ("it is hard work") for four years to lower environmental standards in the US (and the world in the process). Now consider again why working together internationally is important for everyone.
None of the countries you mention are sympathetic to bin Laden's cause. If you believe that you are a Bushite. Heck, I can't even think of one country that is sympathetic to bin Laden, not even Syria, Iran or Saudia Arabia. And most definitely not Saddam Hussein in Iraq, but that is another story.
I can understand that people in the US want to see bin Laden face a trial in the US. And I don't think the International Criminal Court in the Hague would mind if the US held such a trial, as long as the trial keeps up to the standard of international law. Of course, ICC does not approve of the ancient tradition of the death penalty, but that is just them being old-fashioned.
But what if bin Laden is captured by a country that does not believe that the US courts have a high enough standard or the ability for bin Laden to get a fair trial? Even a mass-murder has the right for a fair trial in a democratic society. Then the International Criminal Court should be a good compromise, and has shown itself in trials like Milosowitch to be fair (if slow). The down side for the Aschrofts is of course that bin Laden then would spend the rest of his life in a prison instead of frying in the chair.
France was a friend in the Revolutionary War and a friend in advising against the failed invasion of Iraq, and has been a close ally in the years between those two wars. Think about that next time you eat your freedom fries.
It is hard to compare directly education between different countries, but it seems like Europe and the rest of the world has catched up a lot when it comes to science after US has dominated in science since WW II (for understandable reasones). And you do realise that even for top universities in Europe the students don't have to pay much or anything in tuition fees, so that even middle class families can send a bright kid to a top university (something like Bush being sent to Yale because he was so bright).
The US contains 4 % of the total world population and is behind 25 % of the world's total green house gases production.
Probably a bit rough reading for your average bible hugger.
I heard Donald Rumsfeld is going to go over to educate "old Europe" how to keep their military and police from mistreating their prisoners. The Germans with their Nazi past don't know what liberty and freedom really means, that is why they are not in the coallition of the willing.
This from the same American kids who accepts that their president don't allow showing flag draped coffins because it is bad for the president re-election campaign. The re-election campaign of a president and vice-president who ran away from their change to serve their country last time young kids like them came home in flag draped coffins in large amounts. How can one justify to silently accept such a partisan censorship and then blame the general German attitude (supported by all the political parties) on having some bonds on what nazis can claim in public (no holocaust and all that)?
I don't necessarily agree with the German's fright of letting the nazis saying their lies, of course knowing the problem of hate-speech leading to hate-crime. But when we critize other nations, one should usually have in the back of our minds our own nations short comings.
While Bush again supports his friends the Saudis by stating that "there ought to be limits to freedom".
Well, you can notice that Atiyah got the Fields Medal at the age of 37 (he was born in 1929) while Singer never got the prize (he was born in 1924). I guess one can draw ones own conclusions, but it takes time before one are sure that a new result in a scientific field is valid and profound ...
The Abel prize is introduced as a sort of "Nobel Prize of math" where people are rewarded for results and achievements that have shown themselves to be of lasting value in the field. Alfred Nobel did not want there to be a Nobel Prize in math, since he himself saw little scientific value of math! The most prestigious prize in math before the Abel came into being is the Fields medal, but this prize is only given to younger mathematicians (belove the age of 40) that has made break-through results and also show promise for the future. The Fields medal is handed out every 4 years while the Abel will be handed out every year (first prize was handed out last year).
Must have been ironic for Abel if he were to know that such a huge money prize is to be given out in his name, when his whole life he had to live in poverty and fight to get time and money to do his scientific work. The irony of Abel's life is also that Abel himself finally got a professorship in Berlin but too late; the letter was sent to him two days after his death.