Alter (2004), Robert, The Five Books of Moses: A Translation with Commentary, W W Norton 2004 Through a distinguished career of critical scholarship and translation, Robert Alter has equipped us to read the Hebrew Bible as a powerful cohesive work of literature. In this landmark work, Alter's masterly translation and probing commentary combine to give contemporary readers the definitive edition of The Five Books of Moses. 
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Brown (2018), Kevin, Reflections on Relativity, 2018 ' . . . general relativity teaches us that the principles of special relativity are applicable only over infinitesimal regions in the presence of gravitation, so in a sense the general theory restricts rather than generalizes the special theory. However, we can also regard special relativity as a theory of flat four-dimensional spacetime, characterized by the Minkowski metric (in suitable coordinates), and the general theory generalizes this by allowing the spacetime manifold to be curved, as represented by a wider class of metric tensors. It is remarkable that this generalization, which is so simple and natural from the geometrical standpoint, leads almost uniquely to a viable theory of gravitation.' (page 700) 
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Amun - Wikipedia, Amun - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' Amun was a major ancient Egyptian deity who appears as a member of the Hermopolitan Ogdoad. Amun was attested from the Old Kingdom together with his wife Amunet. His oracle in Siwa Oasis, located in Western Egypt near the Libyan Desert, remained the only oracle of Amun throughout. With the 11th Dynasty (c. 21st century BC), Amun rose to the position of patron deity of Thebes by replacing Montu.
Initially possibly one of eight deities in the Hermapolite creation myth, his worship expanded. After the rebellion of Thebes against the Hyksos and with the rule of Ahmose I (16th century BC), Amun acquired national importance, expressed in his fusion with the Sun god, Ra, as Amun-Ra (alternatively spelled Amon-Ra or Amun-Re). On his own, he was also thought to be the king of the gods.
Amun-Ra retained chief importance in the Egyptian pantheon throughout the New Kingdom (with the exception of the "Atenist heresy" under Akhenaten). Amun-Ra in this period (16th–11th centuries BC) held the position of transcendental, self-created creator deity "par excellence"; he was the champion of the poor or troubled and central to personal piety. With Osiris, Amun-Ra is the most widely recorded of the Egyptian gods.
As the chief deity of the Egyptian Empire, Amun-Ra also came to be worshiped outside Egypt, according to the testimony of ancient Greek historiographers in Libya and Nubia. As Zeus Ammon and Jupiter Ammon, he came to be identified with Zeus in Greece and Jupiter in Rome. ' back

Anemon, Army of Lovers, Anemon is a member company of the Documentary Campus, based in Munich and Berlin
' This Greek army was formed by the city of Thebes in 379 BCE to end Spartan domination. Fighting for four decades undefeated, it was annihilated by the forces of Philip II of Macedon and his son Alexander in the Battle of Chaeronea. Buried on the battlefield where they fell, the 300 were forgotten by history, until a Greek archaeologist [Panagiotis Stamatarkis, qv] discovered the mass grave in 1880. The discovery was never made public and the grave was covered up, leading some historians to claim that the Sacred Band never existed. It was only in 2019 that a missing skeleton was found in the basement of the Athens Archaeological Museum, as well as the excavation logs with detailed drawings of the mass grave: it depicted an army of 300 men lying in pairs, their arms linked together. A team of international archaeologists and historians is re-examining the newly uncovered evidence, gaining unprecedented insight into the story of the Sacred Band. Their findings challenge us to rethink our understanding of Ancient Greece and our perceptions of heroism and masculinity across time. back

Ben Rhodes (2025_12_02, This Is the Story of How the Democrats Blew It on Gaza, ' Less than two weeks after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, President Joe Biden traveled to Israel and held Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in an embrace. The image captured the solidarity Americans felt with Israelis after they suffered such horrific violence. It also symbolized a political and governing reflex within the Democratic Party.
During the Biden presidency, it was short-handed the “hug Bibi” strategy — the idea that smothering Mr. Netanyahu with unconditional support would give the U.S. leverage to influence his actions. Over the final 15 months of the Biden presidency, this approach led the White House to provide a flood of weapons for Israel’s bombardment of Palestinians, veto United Nations Security Council resolutions calling for a cease-fire, attack the International Criminal Court for pursuing charges against Mr. Netanyahu, ignore its own policies about supporting military units credibly accused of war crimes and blame Hamas for not accepting cease-fire terms that the Israeli government was also rejecting.
This approach made Democrats hypocrites when defending a “rules-based order,” racial equality and democracy. It alienated elements of their base and placed them out of step with younger voters. And in an age of authoritarianism, fealty to an Israeli strongman who routinely humiliated them made Democrats appear weak: Mr. Netanyahu was hugged all the way into the arms of Donald Trump. Image
Today, with a tenuous cease-fire, it may be tempting for the party to memory hole what has happened in Gaza. After all, Democrats just won some resounding electoral victories focused on affordability, and there is no easy consensus on the Middle East. Yet this would compound the mistake of ignoring, or rationalizing, an intolerable reality.
In Gaza, Palestinians live amid mountains of rubble, Hamas remains entrenched and international journalists are still routinely denied entry to catalog the destruction. The Israeli Parliament has voted (again) in favor of annexing the West Bank, where brutal attacks by Israeli settlers are escalating. Israeli politics has drifted so far to the right that even the removal of Mr. Netanyahu is unlikely to usher in a moderate government that swiftly changes course.
Certainly, this is a painful and personal issue for many politicians and voters genuinely concerned about Israel’s security and Jewish safety around the world. Yet it is past time for Democrats to stop supporting this Israeli government. By letting go of an outdated approach, Democrats can reclaim their values, foster a bigger and more stable coalition and start building the world they want, rather than defending the indefensible.' back

Chaeronea - Wikipedia, Chaeronea - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' Chaeronea Greek: Χαιρώνεια Chaironeia, is a village and a former municipality in Boeotia, Greece, located about 35 kilometers east of Delphi. The settlement was formerly known as Kópraina (Κόπραινα), and renamed to Chairóneia (Χαιρώνεια) in 1916. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Livadeia, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of 111.445 km^2, the community is 26.995 km^2. Population 993 (2021). It is located near Mount Thourion in the Cephissus river valley, NW of Thebes.' back

David Blair (2025_11_30), Antony Beevor: For Russia, conspicuous cruelty is a necessary weapon of war , ' To write about 20th-century warfare is to describe the heights of folly, pitilessness and tragedy. Sir Antony Beevor has been doing exactly that for the last four decades, immersing himself in some of the greatest calamities of all time: the Battle of Stalingrad, the fall of Berlin, the Russian civil war. [. . .]
That country is now waging Europe’s bloodiest war for 80 years, striving to subjugate Ukraine at unconscionable cost. On the day I meet Beevor, Vladimir Putin declares that he is “ready” to “keep on fighting until the last Ukrainian dies”, exposing his willingness to kill millions out of zest for conquest and the likely futility of Donald Trump’s efforts to end the bloodshed. [. . .]
To write about 20th-century warfare is to describe the heights of folly, pitilessness and tragedy. Sir Antony Beevor has been doing exactly that for the last four decades, immersing himself in some of the greatest calamities of all time: the Battle of Stalingrad, the fall of Berlin, the Russian civil war. So as I go to meet one of Britain’s leading historians of war (he dislikes the term “military historian” because it neglects the ordeal of civilians in conflict) I am struck by how one country – Russia – has dominated so much of Beevor’s work. That country is now waging Europe’s bloodiest war for 80 years, striving to subjugate Ukraine at unconscionable cost. On the day I meet Beevor, Vladimir Putin declares that he is “ready” to “keep on fighting until the last Ukrainian dies”, exposing his willingness to kill millions out of zest for conquest and the likely futility of Donald Trump’s efforts to end the bloodshed. [. . .] . I begin by asking how much of a help history really is when it comes to understanding today’s crisis. “History is never a predictive mechanism,” replies Beevor. “Churchill actually was wrong when he said, ‘To understand the future we have to read about the past’. I’m afraid that was a little bit too glib.”
But history can explain the present. “It’s terribly important on the question of Russia and where the sheer brutality of the Russian army comes from,” he says. [. . .]
Russian conscripts, then and now, kill themselves because they are not merely bullied but relentlessly persecuted and tortured by their fellow soldiers. And their generals frequently approve of what is, in effect, a hallowed tradition of tormenting newcomers. [. . .]
Beevor predicts that Putin will press on with tormenting Ukraine regardless of any peace agreement. “He will certainly want to continue the war. Even if there is some form of ceasefire or peace negotiation, he will break that and blame it on Ukraine and the Europeans, and once again count on Trump wanting to be proved a peacemaker".' back

Emma Marris (2025_11_29), The Salmon That Surprised Everyone, ' When the last of four dams on the Klamath River in southern Oregon and Northern California was demolished in October 2024, everyone who knew the river well had a question: How long would it take for salmon to reclaim the upper reaches they’d been cut off from for more than 100 years?
About 10 months later, when they began their fall migration, Chinook salmon immediately took advantage of their new river access, looking for places upstream to lay or fertilize eggs. But the fish still faced two intact dams and no one was sure if the salmon would make it through the fish ladders, structures designed for trout, a smaller species, to bypass the dams.
Then in September, a video camera caught them leaping up the ladders like pros.
William E. Ray Jr., chairman of the Klamath tribes, whose people used to rely on salmon for about a third of their diet, told me he was stunned to see the fish make it all the way to Upper Klamath Lake in Oregon in October. And they are back in the hundreds. Mark Hereford, an Oregon state fish biologist, told me he didn’t expect this magnitude of fish to return for a decade.
Salmon are tough, and they’re a reminder that although nature is sometimes very fragile, decades of conservation rhetoric have perhaps overstated that fragility. Nature can bounce back, often quickly.' back

Fred Schwaller (2025_11_19), If the AI bubble bursts, what will it mean for research?, back

H. Beryl Rappaport et al (2025, A geothermal amoeba sets a new upper temperature limit for eukaryotes, 'The study of temperature limits has transformed our knowledge of the boundaries of life but has been largely focused on bacteria and archaea. We isolated a novel geothermal amoeba, Incendiamoeba cascadensis, that divides at 63°C (145.4°F), establishing a new record for the upper temperature limit across all eukaryotes. We demonstrated cellular proliferation with growth experiments and visualized mitosis via expansion microscopy. Using high-temperature live-cell imaging, we quantified movement up to 64°C. We assembled the genome of I. cascadensis and using comparative genomics found an enrichment of genes related to proteostasis, genome stability, and sensing the external environment. Taken together, our findings challenge the current paradigm of temperature constraints on eukaryotic cells and reshape our understanding of where and how eukaryotic life can persist.' back

Hamilton's principle - Wikipedia, Hamilton's principle - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' In physics, Hamilton's principle is William Rowan Hamilton's formulation of the principle of stationary action . . . It states that the dynamics of a physical system is determined by a variational problem for a functional based on a single function, the Lagrangian, which contains all physical information concerning the system and the forces acting on it. The variational problem is equivalent to and allows for the derivation of the differential equations of motion of the physical system. Although formulated originally for classical mechanics, Hamilton's principle also applies to classical fields such as the electromagnetic and gravitational fields, and plays an important role in quantum mechanics, quantum field theory and criticality theories.' back

John von Neumann (1929_05_10), Proof of the Ergodic Theorem and the H-Theorem in Quantum Mechanics, ' Abstract It is shown how to resolve the apparent contradiction between the macroscopic approach of phase space and the validity of the uncertainty relations. The main notions of statistical mechanics are re-interpreted in a quantum-mechanical way, the ergodic theorem and the H-theorem are formulated and proven (without “assumptions of disorder”), followed by a discussion of the physical meaning of the mathematical conditions characterizing their domain of validity. [. . .]
The object of the present paper is the clarification of the relations between the macroscopic and the microscopic point of view of complex systems; that is, the discussion of the question why the known thermodynamic methods of statistical mechanics make it possible to make statements about incompletely (viz., only macroscopically) known systems that are correct most of the time. In particular, first, how the peculiar, seemingly irreversible behavior of entropy arises, and second, why the statistical properties of the (fictitious) micro-canonical ensemble can be attributed to the incompletely known (real) system.1 And these questions shall be attacked with the means of quantum mechanics. back

John von Neumann (1932), Proof of the Quasi-Ergodic Hypothesis, ' The purpose of this note is to prove and to generalize the quasi-ergodic hypothesis of classical Hamiltonian dynamics (or “ergodic hypothesis,” as we shall say for brevity) with the aid of the reduction, recently discovered by Koopman, of Hamiltonian systems to Hilbert space, and with the use of certain methods of ours closely connected with recent investigations of our own of the algebra of linear transformations in this space. A precise statement of our results appears on page 79.' back

Kirchhoff's law of thermal radiation - Wikipedia, Kirchhoff's law of thermal radiation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'Kirchhoff's law states that: For a body of any arbitrary material, emitting and absorbing thermal electromagnetic radiation at every wavelength in thermodynamic equilibrium, the ratio of its emissive power to its dimensionless coefficient of absorption is equal to a universal function only of radiative wavelength and temperature, the perfect black-body emissive power. back

Martin B. Richards (2025_12_03), When did people first arrive in Australasia? New archaeogenetics study dates it to 60,000 years ago , 'The question of when people first arrived in the land mass that now comprises much of Australasia has long been a source of scientific debate.
Many Aboriginal people believe they have lived on the land since time immemorial. But until the advent of radiocarbon dating techniques, many western scholars thought they had arrived not long before European contact 250 years ago.
Now a new study by an international collaboration of geneticists and archaeologists, including myself, suggests that humans first arrived in Sahul – the “super-continent” that encompassed New Guinea and Australia during the last ice age – by two different routes around 60,000 years ago.
The research, led by archaeologist Helen Farr at the University of Southampton, also points to the earliest uncontested example of travel by boat – probably simple watercraft such as paddled bamboo rafts or canoes. The first people to arrive would have migrated into the region following a rapid dispersal from Africa around 10,000 years earlier. back

Nefertiti - Wikipedia, Nefertiti - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' Nefertiti (c. 1370 – c. 1330 BC) was a queen of the 18th Dynasty of Ancient Egypt, the great royal wife of Pharaoh Akhenaten. Nefertiti and her husband were known for their radical overhaul of state religious policy, in which they promoted an exclusivist and possibly even monotheistic religion, Atenism, centered on the sun disc and its direct connection to the royal household. With her husband, she reigned at what was arguably the wealthiest period of ancient Egyptian history. [. . .]
In the 20th century, Nefertiti was made famous by the discovery and display of her ancient bust, now in Berlin's Neues Museum. The bust is one of the most copied works of the art of ancient Egypt. It is attributed to the Egyptian sculptor Thutmose, and was excavated from his buried studio complex in the early 20th century.' back

Panagiotis Stamatarkis - Wikipedia, Panagiotis Stamatarkis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' In 1880, Stamatakis excavated the burial mound of the Theban "Sacred Band" on the battlefield of Chaeronea,[and in 1882 he began the excavation of the collective tomb (polyandrion) of the Thespian warriors who died at the Battle of Delium in 424 BCE.[ Most of his archaeological work remained unpublished at the time of his death: he also carried out excavations at Delphi, Phthiotis and throughout Greece.' back

Phase space - Wikipedia, Phase space - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, ' In mathematics and physics, a phase space, introduced by Willard Gibbs in 1901, is a space in which all possible states of a system are represented, with each possible state of the system corresponding to one unique point in the phase space. For mechanical systems, the phase space usually consists of all possible values of position and momentum variables. . . .' back

Qiu-Hong Hu (2005_12_29), The nature of the electron, ' Through investigating history, evolution of the concept, and development in the theories of electrons, I am convinced that what was missing in our understanding of the electron is a structure, into which all attributes of the electron could be incorporated in a self-consistent way. It is hereby postulated that the topological structure of the electron is a closed two-turn Helix (a so-called Hubius Helix) that is generated by circulatory motion of a mass-less particle at the speed of light. A formulation is presented to describe an isolated electron at rest and at high speed. It is shown that the formulation is capable of incorporating most (if not all) attributes of the electron, including spin, magnetic moment, fine structure constant, anomalous magnetic moment, and charge quantization into one concrete description of the Hubius Helix. The equations for the description emerge accordingly. Implications elicited by the postulate are elaborated. Inadequacy of the formulation is discussed.' back

Rolf Landauer (1991), Information is physical, Abstract Information is inevitably tied to a physical representation and therefore to restrictions and possibilities related to the laws of physics and the parts available in the universe. Quantum mechanical superpositions of information bearing states can be used, and the real utility of that needs to be understood. Quantum parallelism in computation is one possibility and will be assessed pessimistically. The energy dissipation requirements of computation, of measurement and of the communications link are discussed. The insights gained from the analysis of computation has caused a reappraisal of the perceived wisdom in the other two fields. A concluding section speculates about the nature of the laws of physics, which are algorithms for the handling of information, and must be executable in our real physical universe.' back

Sacred Band of Thebes - Wikipedia, Sacred Band of Thebes - Wikipedia, the free encyclopeia, ' The Sacred Band of Thebes (Ancient Greek: Ἱερὸς Λόχος τῶν Θηβῶν, Hieròs Lóchos tôn Thēbôn) was an elite heavy infantry of select soldiers, allegedly consisting of 150 pairs of male couples, 300 men total,[1] organized by age that formed the elite force of the Theban army in the 4th century BC,[1] it was first organised under commander Gorgidas in 378 BC and later Pelopidas, and played a crucial role in the Battle of Leuctra.[2] It was annihilated by Philip II of Macedon and young Alexander the Great in the Battle of Chaeronea in 338 BC. back

Staines, Markham, McGlade & Anthony (2-25_12_03), With a sneaky tweak, the government has made welfare recipients guilty until proven innocent, ' In the flurry of action in Parliament House in the final moments of the sitting year, the government passed a bill that escaped the attention of most.
New changes to social security law mean a person’s income support can now be cancelled because they are subject to an outstanding arrest warrant for a serious offence.
These are people merely accused of crimes, not found guilty of them.
The change raises fundamental questions about justice, human rights and the role of social security. It transforms welfare from a crucial safety net to a tool of law enforcement, with serious implications [. . .],
6. Another legal problem in the making? Australia should have learned from its Robodebt Royal Commission. Welfare cancellations without proper safeguards can be found unlawful and cause devastating harm.
Yet, the Benefit Restrictions Notice regime risks creating conditions for another scandal. [. . .]
While these laws are now active, their real-world consequences will take time to unfold.
It remains to be seen whether they will facilitate arrests. In the meantime, there must be rigorous public reporting, independent scrutiny, and formal review of how these powers are used, to ensure the serious risks outlined here do not materialise unchecked.' back

Steven Weinberg (1975_06), Light as a fundamental particle, ' Steven Weinberg is Higgins Professor of Physics at Harvard University and Senior Scientist at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. He gave an invited paper at the Washington meeting of the Optical Society of America, Spring 1974, and this article is an adaptation of a tape recording of that talk. [. . .]
The peculiar properties of the photon that allow us to go so far in deducing allof electrodynamics and optics on an apriori basis arise from the fact that it isa mass-zero particle with integer spin. In a 1939 paper, Eugene Wigner firstexplained how to analyze the states of aparticle with a definite spin in the context of special relativity and quantum mechanics, in terms of the so-called "little group." This is the subgroup of the Lorentz group that leaves the state of motion unchanged. The little group is, very simply, the set of all the Lorentz transformations that do not change the velocity of the particle. back

Vale of tears - Wikipedia, Vale of tears - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 'The phrase vale of tears (Latin vallis lacrimarum) is a Christian phrase referring to the tribulations of life that Christian doctrine says are left behind only when one leaves the world and enters Heaven. The term "valley of tears" is also used sometimes.' back