the longest part of the day i'm awake for is the first three minutes (:03). the period right after my cell phone sings the alarm & i thumb the snooze. those few moments take forever to pass, & i'm always astonished when i roll out of the tomb that it has only been such a short period. relative, baby. & hey, close touches quite a bit on einstein's theories of general & special relativelity.
talking about nothing is tricky. there is an obligatory period of discussion on the history of the subject-- greeks, the rig vedas (the most interesting, but then, you already know i rock the hindu philosophy look), & then plenty of talking about the aether. you know, for a book that then goes on to talk about vaccuum fields so much, he's a little snide about the aether. everyone is pretty snide about aether anymore (except the steampunkers) & it is weird, since the theory still has legs on the energy side of the equation.
this was actually a very, very helpful little book, this guy here. he managed to answer two (2) riddles that had been gnawing at my brainstem for quite a while. one, how come the speed of sound is mach one (1,225 km/h)-- it turns out, an increase in energy just messes with frequency, & that waves move at the same speed always, determined by the medium. other people probably knew that, but i never did. the other big spot it helped with was electron shells. that is just about where my brain always crapped out in chemistry & physics: memorization doesn't do it for me, & nobody could explain it correctly, not even the excellent instructer & frequent nobel nominee doctor rose (or was it bose)? anyhow, close described the shells using wave-overlapping, & a couple of simple diagrams, & it clicked for me.
it was nice to gain a better understanding of zero point field energy & the vaccuum point collapse. i also really enjoyed the "pencil falling" description of the universe. basically, it is a readable text for the educated layman, as i like to fancy myself. i learned a bit & had the corners on a lot of my understandings sharpened. these are the sort of troubles you have to concern yourself with when you are a mordicai. i've got to toe the line when it comes to existential stuff, guys-- didn't you read my wedding vows?
