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Joined: Jun 2002
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Carpal Tunnel
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In reply to:

BTW, '-on' is just an ending to indicate a singularity, a thing, a noun. The '-ino' ending just means 'a small thing' as far as I know.


thank you, bell.

yes, a "b" section! just what everything needs once in a while. or at least a phrase with a different number of measures. When I listen to Philip Glass or Steve Reich, or better yet, John Adams, I enjoy the subtle transitions and developments of the idea. a b-section doesn't need to be abrupt.

here's to good form!



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That's to the best of my knowledge. Don't quote me.
I know P. Glass and S. Reich quite well, but J. Adams not so. What should I listen to by him?


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Carpal Tunnel
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this is my favorite:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00002473K/qid=1026209224/sr=1-47/ref=sr_1_47/103-4281073-7075856
(sorry for the long url...)
because of budget(!), I don't know as much of his stuff as I'd like... "Nixon in China" is fairly well-known, as is "Short Ride in a Fast Car". he's much more melodically based than Glass or Reich; and has taken Minimalism in the direction I think it ought to go, as a tool, rather than the whole package. let me know what you think.



formerly known as etaoin...
#75309 07/09/02 12:57 PM
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Knowing a little something on this subject (I like to read popularizations of theoretical physics) I can tell you that physicists would love to make it simple (as the Fermi quote in a post below indicates). They want a Grand Unified Theory (GUT). Nature has its own ideas, though.

Many things are based on energy conservation and symmetry - nature loves symmetry. Nature makes and breaks symmetry in all kinds of places (complexity theory delves into this extensively). Subatomic theory predicted that, for certain high-energy collisions to make sense, there had to be very short-lived, supermassive particles (many of the particles mentioned have lives so short that a computer cycle on an Itanium 2 is an eternity). That doesn't make them "theoretical" though - they are real.
(Aside: the sqrt -1 is not "unreal" - it is "imaginary" by naming convention but it is as real as a rock. Without it, there would be no radio, computers, TV's or even AC current.)
Bosons have been proven. Recently, all 6 quarks (strange, charm, colored etc.) were proven. They had 5 and were looking for the 6th to fulfill theoretical/symmetrical demands. It took some serious high-energy physics to find it, but they did. Many of these so-called "theoretical" particles are not "unreal" but they may be "virtual". The problem is that virtual particles are often counterparts of "visible/tangible" particles, with whom they combine in tiny multiples of Planck times to form other particles. This makes them extremely difficult to "prove" but are absolutely necessary, otherwise we have to assume that energy is created or destroyed in some reactions (this is the way the neutrino was first theorized). Since conservation of energy has served so long and so well, scientists are quite loathe to dispense with it until there are no other avenues of investigation. And we are a long, long way from having no other avenues of investigation.

Hope that helps.

Cheers,
Bryan

You are only wretched and unworthy if you choose to be.


Cheers,
Bryan

You are only wretched and unworthy if you choose to be.
#75310 07/09/02 02:03 PM
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the sqrt -1 is not "unreal" - it is "imaginary" by naming convention but it is as real as a rock

Yes, it belatedlty occurred to me that there probably had been some usefulness found in j, Bryan, so actually I was talking through my hat a bit there.

Many of these so-called "theoretical" particles are not "unreal" but they may be "virtual".
But does their existence always get proven eventually? And if not, do they get "uninvented"? I'd imagine there must be cases where what was once considered to be a (theoretical) single entity is actually identified as a composite that overlaps with neighbouring particles/wavicles or whatever.

I suppose we're taking issue a bit with what looks like indulgent and perhaps excessive "advance terminology". But I'm happy to admit talking from a position of almost complete ignorance.



#75311 07/09/02 05:56 PM
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Of course, there are always some particles that are invented but never mentioned because the theory is disproven(or the term is perhaps recycled into another theory that *is* proven). Chances are, we'll never hear about them unless we really dig for some old science papers. ;-)

Cheers,
Bryan

You are only wretched and unworthy if you choose to be.


Cheers,
Bryan

You are only wretched and unworthy if you choose to be.
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