Nature
The moving rocks of Racetrack Playa a seasonally dry lake located in the Panamint Mountains Death Valley NationalPark
The moving rocks, also known as sliding rocks or sailing stones, are a geological phenomenon found in Racetrack Playa, a seasonally dry lake (a playa) located in the Panamint Mountains in Death Valley NationalPark, California. The rocks move across the surface of the playa, leaving long tracks behind them Read more…
Science
A Lumpy Kurzweil like study of Velocity of Travel
1900 – peak velocity =~ about 40mph ( crude representative WAG ) 1940 – we could go about 400 mph 1970 – 25000 mph Just eyeball estimating it appears that every 50 years we are 10X velocity capable. I assume this is due to a random process of technological invention in Read more…
Future
Rigel Kentaurus – Someday we will send a probe
When I was very young I was interested in the moon landing programs. I quickly homed in on the problem of propulsion in space. I also quickly became discouraged. I felt as though physics may never give us the present of the possibility of interstellar travel. This was the late Read more…
Information-Theory
Derivation of the Normal Gaussian distribution from physical principles – Maximum Entropy
Research Links The Maximum Entropy Principle – The distribution with the maximum entropy is the distribution nature chooses Maximum Entropy Distribution for Random Variable of Extent [0,Infinity] and a Mean Value Mu Quantum Harmonic Oscillator: Wavefunctions Hermite polynomials In many physical systems the question arises what is the probability Read more…
Nature
Yellow Caterpillar on Creosote Bushes – White lined Sphinx moth – Hiles lineata
On my run today I noticed alot of yellow with black stripe caterpillars on the creosote bushes along the jeep trail at south mountain park. I found this photo on the web. It is a bit more green but is the caterpillar I saw. Common Caterpillars of SE Arizona ( Read more…
Future
Focus Fusion Google TechTalk Take Away Points
Research Links Additional notes Feb 2019: Google Video is long dead. You can see Lerner / Focus Fusion videos here. Youtube: LPPFusion Original notes from 2008 below. You can watch the focus fusion Google TechTalk here – ( the link died but I leave the text for old times sake. Read more…
Information-Theory
The Maximum Entropy Principle – The distribution with the maximum entropy is the distribution nature chooses
In a previous article entropy was defined as the expected number of bits in a binary number required to enumerate all the outcomes. This was expressed as follows: entropy= H(x)= In physics ( nature ) it is found that the probability distribution that represents a physical process is the Read more…
Engineering
D Wave Founders blog
I am currently researching if D Wave has a public interface where one can submit jobs to one of their quantum computers. I have not found if they have yet but I have found one of the founders blog here: http://dwave.wordpress.com/ Seems to be throwing one machine open to the Read more…
Engineering
Edward Farhi talk on Adiabatic Quantum Computing
Good presentation on adiabatic quantum computation. In information theory class I learned that by using the Laplacian form and maximizing entropy you can find the description of physical systems. The adiabatic minimization will work well in these scenario. Research Links Quantum Computation by Adiabatic Evolution An Analog Analogue of a Read more…