I'll leave you something to imagine

Symphonyofscience has brought quite an interesting music video (made with the auto tunes).
The latest video is named "The Quantum World".
It examines the nature of the atoms and subatomic particles that make up everything we know. Watch the video, have fun!




They feature the followings:
Richard Feynman - Fun to Imagine
BBC Visions of the Future - the Quantum Revolution
Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman
Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking
Brian Cox TED Talk
BBC What Time is it
BBC Wonders of the Universe
BBC Horizon - What Is Reality

I loved the last punch line...

The Lyrics:

[Morgan Freeman]
So, what are we really made of?
Dig deep inside the atom
and you'll find tiny particles
Held together by invisible forces

Everything is made up
Of tiny packets of energy
Born in cosmic furnaces

[Frank Close]
The atoms that we're made of have
Negatively charged electrons
Whirling around a big bulky nucleus

[Michio Kaku]
The Quantum Theory
Offers a very different explanation
Of our world

[Brian Cox]
The universe is made of
Twelve particles of matter
Four forces of nature

That's a wonderful and significant story

[Richard Feynman]
Suppose that little things
Behaved very differently
Than anything big

Nothing's really as it seems
It's so wonderfully different
Than anything big

The world is a dynamic mess
Of jiggling things
It's hard to believe

[Kaku]
The quantum theory
Is so strange and bizarre
Even Einstein couldn't get his head around it

[Cox]
In the quantum world
The world of particles
Nothing is certain
It's a world of probabilities

(refrain)

[Feynman]
It's very hard to imagine
All the crazy things
That things really are like

Electrons act like waves
No they don't exactly
They act like particles
No they don't exactly

[Stephen Hawking]
We need a theory of everything
Which is still just beyond our grasp
We need a theory of everything, perhaps
The ultimate triumph of science

(refrain)

[Feynman]
I gotta stop somewhere
I'll leave you something to imagine

---

Happy g (9.8) day!

Sept 8th is written as (9.8.YYYY).
When I was trying to update my lab-book, I realized that today is 9.8.2011. The first two numbers represent the acceleration due to gravity (g). Since we started celebrating pi day, tau day and what not day... why not celebrate a g day!

In the context of "g", I remember one incident as told by my close friend (happened in Nepal).
He was teaching a lab and one of his strict instruction was to write down the title of the lab report in ALL CAPS!!!!
Then the next day the report came back which read...
A STUDY OF SIMPLE PENDULUM TO ESTIMATE THE VALUE OF G.

Hilarity ensues


---

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning @Stanford

Stanford is offering free online classes under computer sciences department.

There are three free online classes being offered this semester. The  online registration is free. With the help of high-speed internet, anyone who is enrolled can watch the lectures and participate in the   assignments, homework, and tests.

• Machine Learning taught by Professor Andrew Ng
• Introduction to Artifical Intelligence taught by Professor Sebastian Thrun and Dr. Peter Norvig
• Introduction to Databases taught by Professor Jennifer Widom

With thousands of students enrolled, this is one of the massive experiment too, which will serve as the stand post for the next generation of education system.

 http://robots.stanford.edu/cs221/



The text books used for the AI classes are:
a

Sungazing and Stargazing @AlbanyStarGaze

Phil is organizing two programs at the telescope observatory at the Earth Science rooftop (access by staircase in middle of 3rd floor):

Sun-gazing THIS AFTERNOON, Thursday, Sept. 1, at 1:00.

Tomorrow MORNING, Friday, Sept. 2, 4:30-6:00 AM. Jupiter, Mars, Mercury &
Orion nebula. Take tunnel if podium entrance is locked.

Stargazing / sun-gazing is always weather permitting. Rain or clouds may
cancel a program without further notice.
 
Follow @AlbanyStarGaze  for future events



tt

My Favorite Nine Blog Posts by Nepali Bloggers

I missed the Fifth Online Blogger Bhela (see पाँचौं अन्तर्राष्ट्रिय नेपाली ब्लगर भेला समिक्षा तथा Archive).  

As a guilty pleasure, I am posting my favorite nine blog posts. Here are they not arranged in any particular order...

1. http://www.aakarpost.com/2011/07/tfcnepal-smile-face-school.html
   I have to say, when I encountered few many Nepali tweetpals, I thought these guys are here just for fun. However, among the zigery-pokery, a nice thing emerged: Tweet For Cause Nepal (TFC-Nepal). Now the tweets by Nepali tweetpals are being directly used for helping children. Neat!
   (Not to mention: I also liked the travel diary by Aakar.)
2. http://archanashrestha.blogspot.com/2011/02/blog-post_9239.html
   This one by Archana G is good one. Culture in 21st century. Do we ask enough questions?
3. http://dacharya.blogspot.com/2011/03/blog-post.html
   Although written lightly, it touches the deeper subject of Nepali culture on punctuality and timelessness. If we can not get the time right, where do we go from there?
   (Not to mention: the helpful posts by Dilip G for new and old bloggers.)
4. http://www.dautari.org/2011/01/nepali-blog-wall.html
   I like this collection of Nepali blog walls by Nepalean G. While people take pleasure in claiming to be the pioneer in Nepali blogging and put the self-pride, I ask them: what have you done to really better Nepali Blog-o-sphere?
   This is the one stop for new or old bloggers to take references from.
5. http://dhaiba.blogspot.com/2011/05/blog-post_20.html#more
   Dhaiba G, has done a great work in bringing the face of the creators. Hats off to his dedications!
6. http://gautambasanta.blogspot.com/2011/07/blog-post_29.html
   Against the flow: Basant G is one of the example in recent history where he returns to Nepal and faces the question: "kati lyais ta?"
   Well, it still needs to be highlighted: what academicians  brings to country is bigger than the paisa...
   You can not buy gyan by paisa. Wishing him all the best.
7. http://bednath.blogspot.com/2010/07/blog-post_31.html
   ... देश चलाउनेहरु एउटा कन्ट्रयाक्टमा सचेत बर्गलाइ विदेश पठाएर आफु बलेको आगो ताप्न खोज्छ. Why do we need to sell the labor to other country? This needs some serious attention
8. http://merasirjanaharu.blogspot.com/2010/10/blog-post_15.html#more
   Language is not my subject. However, this post in interesting and seems the author has done some nice research in the topic. I like this as an example of how a blog post can be good if it is well researched/written.
9. http://www.blog.krishnathapa.com/2011/05/blog-post.html
   Among lots of post about being aboard, this one touches you. If you are aboard, this will put you in the frame. 

Please do share yours. Getting Nine out of so many was a hard problem. I was very much tempted to get few more, but I disciplined myself on the (already decided) number.