Category: facebook

March 14 2018, 19:33

A follow-up on Hawking. I read one of his books and was very interested in the topics he worked on – black holes, the Big Bang, and the like. The guy is extremely cool and smart.

However, almost one hundred percent of the people who have heard his name are unable to understand the essence of the issues he dealt with, and what he contributed to physics. “Unable” means that even if they spend about fifteen years studying all the areas of physics and mathematics he touched upon, they will still have more questions than answers about the theory itself. And I am among them.

Secondly, almost everything Hawking is valued for, such as the theory of black hole radiation, is a mathematical model that provides answers to some questions but raises a million others, with no answers in sight. It would probably be more accurate to say that this is not exactly physics yet, but rather more like 21st-century philosophy multiplied by 21st-century mathematics. No practical application for these findings has been found yet, nor is likely to be.

A good example here is another scientist, Leonard Susskind, one of the creators of String Theory, the author of the holographic Universe concept, and many other highly intricate consciousness-expanding ideas. He is also quite a solid figure in science, quite close to Hawking in terms of coolness. Interestingly, he is regarded as Hawking’s most worthy opponent. Susskind managed to prove Hawking wrong, and then wrote a book about it. It was really a clash of the titans. Yet all that they have come up with is just mathematical abstraction, explaining one thing but due to its far from perfect nature, confusing another even more.

In general, the thought is that you can’t really tell where the boundary between science and philosophy lies in cosmology.

In general, the best way to understand how little you know, having virtually any level of knowledge in physics and mathematics –

is to delve into the details of the discoveries of Hawking and Susskind. I really hope to live to see the days when I can write that I have finally understood at least at the level of principles, to which I have no questions. But, I am sure, it will require the birth of a few more Hawkings and Susskinds to resolve the inconsistencies and to devise a simpler model that reconciles things with each other. Most likely, half of what they have come up with will be deemed incorrect, while the other half will be a major breakthrough and a basis for the next steps, which we are currently unable to appreciate.

UPDATE: related interesting topic https://cosmos.d3.ru/chto-to-ne-tak-s-sovremennoi-fizikoi-971821/?sorting=rating

March 12 2018, 11:50

Many years ago, I conceived the idea of a special office that one could visit, say, in Moscow, San Francisco, Washington, and New York simultaneously, and hold a fully immersive, well-equipped meeting: numerous high-quality cameras behind an interactive 4K mirror/screen displaying the video feed from cameras on the other side with minimal distortion, a shared whiteboard, clear sound, microphones for everyone, high-speed internet, Microsoft Surface, the ability to send documents via express mail right away, easy parking and access, 24/7 availability, catering. Companies could “book” such rooms for important negotiations. Theoretically, a network of such centers could be established over time. Interestingly, what’s stopping this concept from being implemented?

March 11 2018, 13:49

I scanned a portion of my paper notes to have them all in digital form as one collection, ready for printing or opening on an iPad. I don’t mind sharing.

Here are about one hundred and fifty pieces of various beautiful+well-known+relatively simple music. I’ve compiled the notes suitable for musical school levels from second to sixth grade. The PDF is large, 263 megabytes. To download from Scribd, you need to register there (for free). You can view it without downloading as well.

https://www.scribd.com/document/373545138/Rauf-s-Collection-Sheet-Music

What’s included in my collection (unordered, varying quality):

Bistro fada (from Midnight in Paris), Stephane Wrembel

Doga’s Waltz

Chopin’s Prelude op.29 #4 in E minor

The Lark, Glinka

Song from the Secret Garden

Speak softly, love (from The Godfather), Nino Rota

Melody from “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg”, M. Legrand

Padam, Padam by Édith Piaf

The entertainer, Scott Joplin

Yesterdays, Jerome Kern

Amélie’s Waltz, Yann Tiersen

Hallelujah from Shrek, Leonard Cohen

Crave, Jelly Roll Morton

When the love falls, Yiruma

Moon River, Mancini

Two Nocturnes (op.55), Chopin

New Orleans Blues, Palmer

Forest Castle Waltz, Norrbak

Autumn Leaves, J. Kosma

Good Bug (from Cinderella), Spadavecchia

Our Land, Kabalevsky

Smile, Shainsky

Blue Wagon, Shainsky

Winged Swing, Krylatov

Cruiser Aurora, Shainsky

Snowflakes, Shainsky

Let’s do it, let’s fall in love, Cole Porter

Simple Solution, Pamela Wedgwood

Moscow Nights, Solovyov-Sedoy

Town, Varum

Little Prince, Tariverdiev

Waltz from “Sleeping Beauty”, Tchaikovsky

Lullaby, Mozart

Symphony No.40, Mozart

Ballade pour Adeline, Senneville

My Way, François and Revaux

Memory (from the musical Cats), Webber

Shadow of Your Smile, Mendel

If It Weren’t For You, Dassin

Strangers in the Night, Kaempfert

Melody, Gibb

Wanderers (from “In the Wildlife”), Ramirez

Lullaby, Shering

Melody (from “Love Story”), Lai

To Elise, fragment, Beethoven

Sherlock Holmes, Daschkevich

Waltz (from Children’s Album), Tchaikovsky

The New Doll (same source), Tchaikovsky

Mia & Sebastian’s Theme, from LaLaLand, Hurwitz

City of Stars, likewise, Hurwitz

Another day of sun, likewise, Hurwitz

Autumn Leaves

Elegy for the Victims of the Earthquake and Tsunami, Nobuyuki Tsujii

Fargo, theme from the movie, Jeff Russo

Romance from the movie Gadfly, Shostakovich

Melody from the movie The Professional, Morricone

Et Si Tu N’Existais Pas, Dassin and Baudlot

Smoke, Kern

Girl, Beatles

To Jazzy, my dog, Pamela Wedgwood

Soldier of Fortune, Deep Purple

Lonesome (Si Tu Vois Ma Mere), Sidney Bechet

Georgia On My Mind, Carmichael

Caravan, Duke Ellington,

Prelude in C Minor, Bach

Jazz Waltz, Norton

Michelle, Beatles

Hijo de la luna

Porz goret, Tiersen

Sherlock’s Theme (BBC Sherlock’s)

The Lark (from “In the Wildlife”)

Ragtime, Joplin

Paris. A Paris, Lemar

Lieberstraum No.3, Ab Major, Liszt

Thirty-three Cows (From the movie Mary Poppins)

Bad Weather (From the movie Mary Poppins)

The Lion and the Barber (From the movie Mary Poppins)

Winds of Change (From the movie Mary Poppins)

Jean de Florette

Lara’s theme (from Doctor Zhivago)

Theme from Romeo and Juliet, Nino Rota

Theme from Schindler’s List, Williams

Canon in D, Pachelbel

Caprice by Paganini

From Concerto in A Minor, Grieg

Chopsticks

From Concerto No. 1 by Tchaikovsky

Nothing Else Matters

The Sound of Silence

L’Arrivee sur l’ile, Tiersen

Étude, Dvořák

Comptine d’un autre ete : l’apres midi, Tiersen

Comptine d’ete #2

Le Moulin, Tiersen

La Dispute, Tiersen

La Valse d’Amelie, Tiersen

Nocturne op.9 no 2, Chopin

March 09 2018, 20:49

Imagine if someone tried to create a Chrome mod that made the color of the tabs show how long ago they were visited. That is, you open a tab and it’s vibrant, and as you do nothing, it darkens. This would make switching between active tabs much easier: inactive ones would stand out significantly. If something happened on the inactive ones (like a message on FB), then the brightness would sharply increase.