A Physicist

 Particle Physics

                Phil Yager, Dr. Yager, a physics PhD, and a friend, died some years ago. I did not know of his death until a considerable amount of time had passed. I missed him and still wish he were around. I knew him well enough to know that he had drive talent, and luck. I also know that his life was not easy.

                His physics was experimental particle physics. Experimental physics can be demanding an "elemental particles" seem more so. Phil's math was up to it. I feel sure that he found pleasure and satisfaction in his career.

                In a early explanatory paper he wrote in part, something very like the following: the physics of elementary particles is explored by colliding particles together and observing the results. He quotes Feynman as describing it something like: "this process of colliding particles as like colliding watches (fine mechanical Swiss watches), picking up the pieces and trying to find out how they worked." 

                Feynman was not only an accomplished physicist, but, I am late to discover, an author of works we can enjoy and benefit from.

                Phil was like many of us and liked by many. Still he spent an important part of his life with creative math and in observing a beauty almost none of us have seen.

                  One beauty has been called an elementary particle. Elementary particles have been called the smallest building blocks of our universe. They have been thought to no internal structure(so how divisible?). Their researchers think about them as zero dimensional "points," which take up no space. There seems to be about a dozen of them, even so they take up no room. They do take time. I am yet at a loss as to why they have not been called happenings rather than particles.

                It seems physicists have been working on the outer edges of human understanding. At least on the edge of mine.

                       

                I remember having been told of electrons, but remember little. They seem to me to be closely related to elemental particles. That may be a case of poor memory combined with ignorance. You who know more, even just a bit more come and share some of what you have learned. You can begin by using the comments add just below this post.

                I hope that I am not slipping into an intellectual swamp. I am coming to believe that for important and practical purposes there is no such thing as things. I have forgotten the those practical purposes, except that they have something to do with an approach to reality. Doesn't it seem that each thing is really a happening so everything is happening. Still, I probably write, speak, or think of the term "thing" daily.

                I remember Phil showing two different colliders, but I don't remember their names well and am not sure how to spell them. One was something like Cyclotron and the Bevatron. Spell Check seems to agree that my spelling is OK. Now, I understand, their are new and speedier colliders. I expect that a lot good physics and good engineering as well as wealth has gone into their creation and use. Many important people have considered them important. Early on they help us to atomic and hydrogen weapons. I need someone with more up to date  knowledge to provide us with a list of the some of the other benefits they provided. They exist.

                So, to stop claims about me not providing information, here is a list of elementary particles. I lack knowledge of their nature, but I can name them:

~ fermion -- reminds me of a famous physicist

~ neutrino -- doesn't participate in the strong reaction. Who can remind us of the nature of the '''strong reaction?" The neutrino does come in three flavors, electron neutrino, muon neutrinos and tau neutrinos.

~ kaons

~ pions

~ protons -- sounds a bit familiar

~ anti protons

~ photons -- sounds a bit more familiar

~ charm quark

~anti charm quark

There must be a quark. What about a charm? and What about a beauty?

                I am embarrassed at demonstrating so much ignorance. I think my father told me to keep it to myself. This is probably be my last dip into elementary particles. I may live long enough to visit the topic of  physics again.

                Good bye Phil. My sister Gerry remembers you as Butch. Hope your mother knew that you were an early full professor.

                                                                                        Rich

Trinidad - Tobago

Island Country 7 Miles From Venezuela

Trinidad is a large island, 846 sq mi. about seven miles from Venezuela, near the mouth of the great Orinoco River. 

The people of Trinidad are from Black Africa, East India, and everywhere else. 

You can learn to bathe in glass there. You can also get a biodegradable coffin of hallucinogenic nutmeg on this interesting island.

The food is varied. The curried goat satisfying.

There  is an 85 foot tall red statue of the Hindu monkey god Hanuman. Its the tallest one outside of India.

The Maine Ridge Forest Reserve is the oldest protected forest in the Western Hemisphere. The 14,000 acres of forest were declared a reserve in 1776 while the island was under British rule.

Pitch Lake a 100 acre, La Brea Tar Pit like place, has been mined to pave roadways around the world. 

There is a beach where you can better your love life, do a sand exfoliation, and listen to Syrian music. 

Tobago is the smaller of the two caribbean islands which make up the nation of Trinidad and  Tobago.

Tobago has great ample sandy beaches.

The capital of Tobago is the village of Scarborough.

Kayak through the mangrove swamps of Tobago. 

If you are getting the idea that Tobago is more touristy of the two islands of this Island nation you are on the correct track.

Port of Spain is the big city of the nation and it is on Trinidad.

In Trinidad and Tobago you may begin to feel you are in the real Caribbean an you would be right. It is not all of the Caribbean, but it is a lot of it.

On the two islands there is magic, it comes down the great Orinoco, 
it comes from India, it comes from Africa, and it has found a home there.

Still, It pays to be a bit careful there. Some say that there too many birds. Many say one can get wet and dirty there.



                                                                                                             by Richard

Considerations for Parents

 Each mother and father may find it good to let each daughter and son expect:

~ to be fearless in facing things like snakes, mice, and ghosts.

~ each disobedience to lead to an appropriate punishment. The punishment ought to fit each parent and child. For one such pair a frown might suffice.

~ remorse of conscience for ill-treatment of an animal.

~ to avoid making parents or teachers sad or angry.

~ Joy in being content with what one has.

~ to feel sorry at the loss of the good will of another.

~ to patiently endure pain and hunger, but nor onto death.

~ to strive from early on to earn one's bread.

                It is okay for a son or daughter to consider the eight expectations above.

                Short and, I hope, sweet enough.

                                                                                                    rcs

The Limits of Our Responsibility

We can learn and adapt. We can govern ourselves. We have even begun to understand rules and laws of Earth and beyond. But our control over the movement of and changes of the Universe, the Solar system, and our very Earth. We have begun to gather evidence of happenings of perhaps 5 million years ago, but our interpretations of it sometimes seem like silly guesses.

                Scientists have been helpful. They have learned that is difficult for humans to understand everything at once. They also find that we can learn a lot from samples of reality. They have also learned that we have a lot to learn about the quality of  samples. They have also learned that we are capable of many slip-ups in our interpretation of the information we gain from our samples.

                Even so we have the ability to learn and do have the will to learn correctly, truly, and even approach reality. Knowledgeable scientific interpretation of high quality is becoming available and we can learn to judge it, but it does take learning. Learning form which we may benefit. 

                We have learn that some happenings are cyclical in nature. Not perfectly so, but recognizably so.

                We have learned that we are sensitive and are beginning to learn just how sensitive trees are.

                We are learning that we have a lot responsibility. We know that our responsibilities are not infinite, but seem to have plenty to learn about the limits of our responsibility.

                                                                                                                 rcs