Microsoft had me sitting next to a physics graduate when I was working at Microsoft here in the criminally rebellious State of Washington. He exclaimed to me one day, when we were working that Microsoft office in Issaquah Washington, not long after, that thanks to Microsoft, he and I never would have met, if not for Microsoft seating us in the cubicles next to each other.
One day he called me over to elaborate to him about some detail about some Microsoft product I was focused on, Visual Basic perhaps, but maybe something else, but we talked about some other details and that was the time I found some reason to write on his whiteboard that the speed of light equals 186,282 miles per second. I also wrote on his whiteboard that pi equals 3.1415926536 as that was a topic of conversation during that time.
I remember thinking about his facial reaction when the discussion turned to ballistics. My sense at the time was that he was watching me as I was watching him when the discussion turned to the distinction between physics and astrophysics. But who can really say. That was a long time ago. That was very probably the year 2003 during the discussion about physics. We had been seated next to each other since, I think confidently, the year 2001. Yeah, definitely. I remember working there at that location on September 11 2001. I remember the summer of 2001 I had made the bicycle trip by myself from Seattle to Portland by myself in one day, the well-known regionally STP bicycle course of 200 miles. In the year 2000, I covered that bicycle course with two women I worked with at Microsoft and one woman and I covered about seventy five per cent of that distance in one day. I don't recall the precise distance. The next year I covered the course by myself and I covered the full course of 200 miles in less than one day. The following year was Ironman Utah. I still remember thinking I was probably fortunate that the sudden wind storm hit the lake and as a result I didn't even bother to try swimming out in that muddy lake for the 2.4 mile swim course. The one known fatality from that 8 June 2002 was from Redondo Beach California and looking at it just now on the map, and just now for I think the first time understanding that is a part of Los Angeles I wonder about the probability of the other participants from Los Angeles.
Do you know what 'Bonneville' means? I really doubt that you do.
http://www.livedash.com/transcript/the_andromeda_strain/6120/AETVP/Friday_April_02_2010/242871
The Andromeda Strain
01:16:15 "Squeeze"?
01:16:17 The pink lady, red eye. you know, sterno.
01:16:21 Sterno, that's got methanol in it.
01:16:23 Is that bad? it can blind you or kill you.
01:16:27 Well, it didn't kill me.
01:16:31 They all died, but I di't.
01:16:36 (sobbing) Kyle. kyle, what happened in piedmont?
01:16:43 What happened to you and the others that night?
01:16:46 I-i don't want to talk about it.
01:16:48 It's very important.
01:16:49 Lots of lives depend on what you might know.
01:16:52 I don't want to talk about it!
01:16:56 Kyle, what did you see that night?
01:17:11 It was jeff megan and suzie travers.
01:17:14 They found the damn thing.
01:17:18 They're just kids, really.
01:17:20 They brought it to the fire station to the chief hank benedict, 'cause I hear he's an engineer and knows lots of stuff.
01:17:28 The only reason I know is 'cause I was playin' poker at the fire station-- me, hank and al ritter who runs the gas station, herbie block and-- and annie dillon.
01:17:40 You think it's from outer space?
01:17:42 (Herb) IT FELL FROM THE SKY, ANNIE.
01:17:44 You know what I mean. is it alien?
01:17:46 " on the side.
01:17:49 Do you think aliens can't spell?
01:17:51 Probably just a weather satellite.
01:17:53 Yeah, that's what they want you to think.
01:17:56 Have you ever heard of area 51?
01:17:57 You don't think that there aren't all these secret government things that goes on that none of us know about?
01:18:04 it's a satellite-- weather or communications or somethin'.
01:18:09 I'll make a few calls, and let you know what I find out.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euclid
Wikipedia
Euclid
Euclid fl. 300 BC, also known as Euclid of Alexandria, was a Greek mathematician, often referred to as the "Father of Geometry". He was active in Alexandria during the reign of Ptolemy I (323–283 BC). His Elements is one of the most influential works in the history of mathematics, serving as the main textbook for teaching mathematics (especially geometry) from the time of its publication until the late 19th or early 20th century. In the Elements, Euclid deduced the principles of what is now called Euclidean geometry from a small set of axioms. Euclid also wrote works on perspective, conic sections, spherical geometry, number theory and rigor.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geometry
Wikipedia
Geometry
Geometry (Ancient Greek: geo- "earth", -metria "measurement") is a branch of mathematics concerned with questions of shape, size, relative position of figures, and the properties of space. Geometry arose independently in a number of early cultures as a body of practical knowledge concerning lengths, areas, and volumes, with elements of a formal mathematical science emerging in the West as early as Thales (6th Century BC). By the 3rd century BC geometry was put into an axiomatic form by Euclid, whose treatment—Euclidean geometry—set a standard for many centuries to follow. Archimedes developed ingenious techniques for calculating areas and volumes, in many ways anticipating modern integral calculus. The field of astronomy, especially mapping the positions of the stars and planets on the celestial sphere and describing the relationship between movements of celestial bodies, served as an important source of geometric problems during the next one and a half millennia. A mathematician who works in the field of geometry is called a geometer.
Practical geometry
Geometry originated as a practical science concerned with surveying, measurements, areas, and volumes. Among the notable accomplishments one finds formulas for lengths, areas and volumes, such as Pythagorean theorem, circumference and area of a circle, area of a triangle, volume of a cylinder, sphere, and a pyramid. A method of computing certain inaccessible distances or heights based on similarity of geometric figures is attributed to Thales. Development of astronomy led to emergence of trigonometry and spherical trigonometry, together with the attendant computational techniques.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hendrik_Lorentz
Wikipedia
Hendrik Lorentz
Hendrik Antoon Lorentz (18 July 1853 – 4 February 1928) was a Dutch physicist who shared the 1902 Nobel Prize in Physics with Pieter Zeeman for the discovery and theoretical explanation of the Zeeman effect. He also derived the transformation equations subsequently used by Albert Einstein to describe space and time.
Early life
Hendrik Lorentz was born in Arnhem, Gelderland (The Netherlands), the son of Gerrit Frederik Lorentz (1822 – 1893), a well-off nurseryman, and Geertruida van Ginkel (1826 – 1861). In 1862, after his mother's death, his father married Luberta Hupkes. From 1866-1869 he attended the newly established high school in Arnhem, and in 1870 he passed the exams in classical languages which were then required for admission to University.
Lorentz studied physics and mathematics at the University of Leiden, where he was strongly influenced by the teaching of astronomy professor Frederik Kaiser; it was his influence that led him to become a physicist. After earning a bachelor's degree, he returned to Arnhem in 1872 to teach high school classes in mathematics, but he continued his studies in Leiden in addition to his teaching position. In 1875 Lorentz earned a doctoral degree under Pieter Rijke on a thesis entitled "Over de theorie der terugkaatsing en breking van het licht" (On the theory of reflection and refraction of light), in which he refined the electromagnetic theory of James Clerk Maxwell.
Professor in Leiden
In 1878, only 24 years of age, Hendrik Antoon Lorentz was appointed to the newly established chair in theoretical physics at the University of Leiden. On January 25, 1878, he delivered his inaugural lecture on "De moleculaire theoriën in de natuurkunde" (The molecular theories in physics).
During the first twenty years in Leiden, Lorentz was primarily interested in the theory of electromagnetism to explain the relationship of electricity, magnetism, and light. After that, he extended his research to a much wider area while still focusing on theoretical physics. From his publications, it appears that Lorentz made contributions to mechanics, thermodynamics, hydrodynamics, kinetic theories, solid state theory, light, and propagation. His most important contributions were in the area of electromagnetism, the electron theory, and relativity.
Lorentz theorized that the atoms might consist of charged particles and suggested that the oscillations of these charged particles were the source of light. When a colleague and former student of Lorentz, Pieter Zeeman, discovered the Zeeman effect in 1896, Lorentz supplied its theoretical interpretation. The experimental and theoretical work was honored with the Nobel prize in physics in 1902. Lorentz' name is now associated with the Lorentz-Lorenz formula, the Lorentz force, the Lorentzian distribution, and the Lorentz transformation.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorentz_transformation
Wikipedia
Lorentz transformation
In physics, the Lorentz transformation or Lorentz-Fitzgerald transformation describes how, according to the theory of special relativity, different measurements of space and time by two observers' can be converted into the measurements observed in either frame of reference.
It is named after the Dutch physicist Hendrik Lorentz. It reflects the surprising fact that observers moving at different velocities may measure different distances, elapsed times, and even different orderings of events.
The Lorentz transformation was originally the result of attempts by Lorentz and others to explain how the speed of light was observed to be independent of the reference frame, and to understand the symmetries of the laws of electromagnetism. Albert Einstein later re-derived the transformation from his postulates of special relativity.
http://www.livedash.com/transcript/the_andromeda_strain/6120/AETVP/Friday_April_02_2010/242871
The Andromeda Strain
02:01:20 How's Mancheck holding up?
02:01:24 I would say he's under a lot of stress right now.
02:01:27 We're going to take casualties on this, and mancheck may have to be one, but that doesn't necessarily apply to his staff, especially those who show boldness and initiative as we tie up these loose ends.
02:01:39 You can rely on me.
02:01:45 What do you know about wormholes?
02:01:47 try your best.
02:01:52 All I know is that speculation centers around two basic types-- lorentzian and euclidean.
02:01:57 Both are, in theory, potentially traversable.
