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The rich, biographical stories of Feynman and Wheeler in Halpern’s “The Quantum Labyrinth”

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John G. Cramer. Department of Physics. University  of Washington.:  http://www-users.york.ac.uk/~mijp1/transaction/TI_30.html#3.2 Wheeler-Feynman absorber theory (a.k .a. Wheeler-Feynman time-symmetric theory): In layperson terms, imagine you push on a wall. However, the wall can sense that you are going to push on it, and so it pushes you before you even start to push it, thereby canceling out any force you exert. Mathematically speaking, it means that the results of the electromagnetic field equations must not change even in time-reversal conversions. Paul Halpern, a professor of physics at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia and the author of  The Quantum Labyrinth , describes it as tying one end of a clothesline to a rocking chair and the other end to a wall. Once the chair begins to rock, a signal will go from the chair to the wall and back to the chair to hinder its movement. Now, consider that the wall sends an “advanced” signal through the clotheslines to t
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History Teaches Us Everything

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It is in history that we understand who we are as a collective and who we are as individuals, it is whom we seek to be and whom we become. What value do we place on history? I could not think of a better time to honor the importance of historical preservation than in July, the month that honors Julius Caesar. By Wikimedia (Wikimedia commons) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons For the past year, I have been conducting Hellenistic research, which has led my studies down the corridors of the great Alexandrian Library. As many may know, this library and museum once held between 400,000 and 700,000 scrolls. Many individuals often equate the destruction of the library with Hypatia’s murder in 415 A.D. However, this tremendous source of knowledge began its decay in 48 B.C., over four hundred years before the religious uprisings, because of Julius Caesar. In a civil war with Ptolemy XIII, Caesar started a fire in the docks, which spre
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Julius Caesar Month

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If it weren’t for Julius Caesar, we would now be enjoying the dog days of summer during the months of Quintilis and Sextilis. However, the Julian calendar, designed by mathematician and astronomer Sosigenes, turned a 10-month calendar into a 12-month calendar. In 44 B.C. the Romans renamed Quintilis as Iulius (July), in honor of Julius Caesar. Then in 8 B.C., they renamed Sextilis as Augustus (August), in honor of his Julius’ nephew, Augustus. That said, Happy Quintilis! By Nicolas Coustou — Marie-Lan Nguyen (2006), Public Domain,  https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=895638 In 48 B.C. Julius Caesar, a tremendous military man and political leader, chased his son-in-law, Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (Pompey), into Alexandria. After Caesar’s daughter, Julia, passed away, Pompey sided with the conservative faction of the Roman Senate. Unhappy with his son-in-law taking liberties and combatting him for the leadership of the Roman state, Caesar entered into a civil war with
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Dress Like a Woman

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A Greek alabastron depicting a Scythian Amazon woman, circa 480 BC. British Museum Ancient Greek art from 300 B.C. depicts Scythian Amazon women as male equals, clad in pants and armory. In 1200 A.D., though Mongol women wore dresses for ceremonies and weddings, they dressed like men so that they could ride their horses and fight in battle. In 1600 A.D., though women were discreet with wearing pants under their skirts, they persisted with their pantalettes. In 1851, Amelia Bloomer advocated for the “Turkish dress,” which included a short skirt and trousers, eventually to be called “bloomers.” In 1931, Katherine Hepburn rocked the Hollywood scene wearing pants, and in 1969, Republican Representative Charlotte T. Reid showed up for work in a bell-bottom pantsuit. Kate Mulgrew as Captain Kathryn Janeway of the Starship Voyager. Circa 2267.  Where have we gone wrong that in 2017 we are even having a conversation about how women should dress? Two hundred and fifty years fr
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My Twitter withdrawal is not going well...

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This is me, having Twitter withdrawal. It's only been 37 hours, 50 minutes and 33 seconds since I left...
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Thirty Days to Look Back

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As of today, I have 30 days to look back. Yesterday evening, after eight years of dispensing thousands of Tweets, I deactivated my Twitter account. I left four personal tweets thanking my 11,000 followers. This, according to my teenage boy and the Season Twenty South Park writers, is known as a Twitter suicide note. I committed Twitter suicide. The first 4,000 to 7,000 of those followers were those who watched my show, who watched my pundit videos, who watched my stand up, and who read my political rants. They either laughed along with me or laughed at me as I interviewed irrational protestors, grass-root organizers, fake celebrities, and up-and-coming politicians. They supported me, commented, and always had my back when trolls would attack. And, most importantly, they came to my live shows. Then there were those who stood by me when I quit comedy. After dealing with an unhinged producer, who was dumb enough to threaten the safety of my children in an email , I walke
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