Month: September 2013

Amplituhedron

Physicists have discovered a jewel-like geometric object that dramatically simplifies calculations of particle interactions and challenges the notion that space and time are fundamental components of reality. “This is completely new and very much simpler than anything that has been done before” Interactions that were previously calculated with mathematical formulas 1000s of terms long can now be described by computing the volume of the corresponding jewel-like “amplituhedron,” which yields an equivalent 1-term expression.

this is remarkable. usually these theories are only accessible to the most mathematically gifted (cf string theory / ed witten)

Real Estate lowers GDP

Less developed countries have consistently higher levels of homeownership, while more advanced nations combine higher levels of economic development with substantially lower levels of homeownership.

the reason for this is that real estate is very poor asset allocation: it takes investment away from productive things like lending money to companies, and it makes the workforce unable to go where the jobs are.

The first blog?

Today I would probably describe Archipelago as a group blog. It was a computer-based system that allowed ~12 members to regularly post short essays and whimsical observations. Each member had his or her own icon which appeared next to postings which contained pictures, sounds, and hyperlinks. All pretty standard except for 1 thing: the year was 1988.

Apostles Fanfic

Fanfic explains how the christian gospel was developed:

Way back when, there was a popular show called Jesus of Nazareth. Unfortunately it was canceled by the network after just 3 seasons, leaving behind a small but very devoted fandom. The fandom spread. Some of the fans told and retold all the episodes of the show that they had seen. Others copied out samizdat versions of the tie-in novels. Yet others wrote original fanfic.