sometimes friendship means to leave

On Supernovae and Assholes

on January 15, 1934, the journal Physical Review published a very concise abstract of a presentation that had been conducted by Zwicky and Baade the previous month at Stanford University. Despite its extreme brevity-one paragraph of twenty four lines- the abstract contained an enormous amount of new science:it provided the first reference to supernovae and to neutron stars; convincingly explained their method of formation; correctly calculated the scale of their explosiveness; and , as a kind of concluding bonus, connected supernovae explosions to the productions of a mysterious phenomenon called cosmic rays, which had recently been found swarming through the universe. the ideas were revolutionary to say the least. neutron stars wouldn't be confirmed for thirty-four years. the cosmic rays notion, though considered plausible, hadn't been verified yet. altogether, the abstract was, in the words of Caltech astrophysicist Kip S. Thorne, "one of the most prescient documents in the history of physics and astronomy".

interestingly, Zwicke had almost no understanding of why any of this would happen. according to Thorne, " he did not understand the laws of physics well enough to be able to substantiate his ideas". Zwicky's talent was for big ideas. others- Baade mostly- were left to so the mathematical sweeping up.
Zwicke also was the first to recognize that there wasn't nearly enough visible mass in the universe to hold galaxies together and that there must be some other gravitational influence- what we now call dark matter. one thing he failed to see was that if a neutron star shrank enough it would become so dense that even light couldn't escape its immense gravitational pull. you would have a black hole. unfortunately, Zwicky was held in such disdain by most of his colleagues that his ideas attracted almost no notice. when, five years later, the great Robert Oppenheimer turned his attention to neutron stars in a landmark paper, he made not a single reference to any of Zwicky's work even though Zwicky had been working for years on the same problem in an office just down the hall.
(Bill Bryson, *A Short History of Nearly Everything)

what, oh what makes the world go round?
no really- i have a good idea of what makes the world orbit around the sun, but what causes it to spin around its axis?
anyone knows?

IDEAS

i just came home from a fabulous talk by Paul Kennedy- a veteran broadcaster for CBS and host of the show IDEAS. really, he does not strike me as much of a veteran. he is neither an particularly old, crumpled fellow, nor does he seem to be an advocate for the great things we accomplished by war (this said not to diminish the good deeds and sufferings war veterans have endured).
Au contrair- he seems rather a very fresh mind, witty, deliciously funny and young at heart. maybe it is a certain gift, to not only speak about IDEAS and why IDEAS matter, but to make people think while listening, coming up with great new ideas just by themselves.
what is an idea i wonder? a sudden thought, or understanding? a glimpse into your own mind? sometimes it is the fascinating feeling when you suddenly seem to understand a deeper underlying truth, just like an epiphany that suddenly hits you. in any case, it generally leaves you refreshed, no matter what time of day (and after 5pm i rally am not a fresh thinker), eager to go and Google all kinds of things, starting with the guy who invented a computer who could convert writing into speech ( and is apparently a little bit of a nutter) to Kierkegaard's philosophical believes, from Machiavelli's history of Florence to whether the golf stream really stopped running for almost a week sometime in 2005...
Those were only some of the ideas Mr. Kennedy touched upon but they all leave me with a feeling of 'i cant wait' till i finally download the podcast for his show to be able to bath in more entertaining fresh ideas i might or might not have thought about myself, listen to more thoughts about 'the catcher in the rye' (admittedly, i am actually quite proud that i have read the book and it makes me grin with a fond memory of the young Master Walker who lend it to me). I am looking forward to reading about the 5 historically grand meals in Mr. Kennedy's Book that he will hopefully finish soon, and wonder if an hour long speech could have any sustained impact on the handful of university people that went to listen.
yet more, i wonder, who is Mr. Kennedy? who is that person who could deliver an hour of insight with only three very well hidden 'aehms' , attentively watching his audience and not once looking down onto his one pager script of a thoughtful filled evening?

Shantaram
Vinyl Cafe
Siddhartha

Love the truth, and be true to love.