A crazy German's blog: February 2013

Monday 25 February 2013

News: "Higgs data indicates finite life of universe"

My last post is going to be short and straightforward. I mean, this is an innovation for my blog. So you can't say it's something bad :P

If you want to check if I simply invented the news by myself (because I often do... not), you can click just right here, okay, actually you have to click here and then you can read what the journalist wrote about the topic.

Don't worry, I won't talk about the complex physical details behind these news, even though it has actually a small relation to my research project. But maybe I'm going to write about that next term or maybe next year (sure we'll have to do another blog next year), when I will have progressed a bit and there will be more to explain.

One of the things that enchanted me most since my childhood were the universe and it's origins. I always asked myself the big questions, like "Where do we come from?" or "Why is our world the way it is?". You see, I was a child with difficult questions to answer, my parents must have had a rough time with me on some days... I did not only ask "Mummy, daddy, where do they babies come from?" knowing exactly the real answer (I was so evil), no, I also asked for things which were even a mystery for the people we consider to have been the most intelligent ones, like Einstein.

Now, this piece of news explains that basing this theory on some important discoveries about the Higgs field (which is a currently still hypothetical, invisble field that is believed to modifiy the behaviour and the properties of elemental particles) from last year, some physicists now state that our universe will possibly be "consumed" by another new universe. It will probably emerge from some point in our universe and then expand like a bubble and erase our universe while it grows.

No, don't worry, the world is not going to end the 21th of December next year..

If this really happens, we will already be history. And I mean the really far history, like, some billions of years in the past.

Anyway, it is an interesting theory. Because this could mean that our universe is not the first one. Maybe there was another one that existed before ours and it was annihilated by our universe in the same way?

This would mean that, even if we discover the origins of our own universe, we still would have to know what happened before...

Maybe you think this is kind of frustrating, perhaps we will never know everything that happened, but as I said earlier: "The human's curiosity will never have limits". And so won't mine.

If the dimensions of time and space were initialised with our universe, then we have better chances to get closer to the beginning of the beginnings. But who knows...?

Finally, I wanted to advert you that, if you are reading this post first... STOP!

You should read my posts in the chronological order because I tend to match the ideas or sentences I used in each post with other ones.

So, that was it, I've done my last post this term. God.. eh sorry... Big Bang, what a relief!

I hope you enjoy my posts and you have a good time reading ;)

The ways

Ok, let's go for the final posts! One your-say and one piece of news left. Hopefully, this is not going to take too much time.

I'll try to gather my last forces to leave you with a good final impression! So then, have your drink by your side, sit down or lay on your bed, just try to relax and let the heavy thoughts go away... Because my thoughts are going to reserve a little place up there in your thinking machine... Maybe.

We live in a society with many rules and we are more than aware of that. It is not only the mode we should interact with other individuals what we're being told, they also try to arrange our way of life.

I can't remember how many times I heard sentences like "Today, practically the only possibility to have success in life is to have good studies."

But not everyone fits in this plan. Not everyone is able to obtain a title of a higher level. Or not everyone wants to. I'm quite sure there are many people who can't find the proper career for what they really like to do. There may be many people who just don't want to study because they can't find the sense in doing it.

Most of us likely have/had/will have problems in choosing our way in life. Right now I'm going through this age. Me and, presumably, the majority of students in my school grade.

I'm quite a lucky boy as for this issue, I never had big problems with school and I think there are many things we're learning right now which are of my interest. But how to decide?

There are so many possibilities... And at the same time, there are so few ones...

I mean, I could choose between many different things, but then, if I really think more accurately about it, just a few ways are really of my interest to immerse myself completely into them. And then there are other ways which strike me with a double-edged sword. They seem so exciting, so interesting, so big, so important that they start to frighten me.

But you know something? I don't care.

Nobody can tell what I can't do. I am the only one to determine whether I am able to do something.

I am the only one to decide the way I'll follow eventually. And what's best, it's never too late to change your mind! Our society tries to tell us that we have to decide well in the first place, because we will have a very hard time to change afterwards.

However, we mustn't allow them to tell us what we have to do!

That doesn't mean we have to go around like an animal and do just, you know, everything we want. We men would go very crazy in that case...

What's important, we need to have faith in ourselves that we're able to do anything we want. Some of us are fortunate and have very good friends or other important people who always support us in our way. But if we believe in ourselves, we can move mountains (but please don't go to the next mountain and try, just a metapher... I think metapher is nominated as my new favourite word).

No matter what way we choose, we choose the right one.

In the end, our life is nothing more than a long journey, with happy moments and sad ones. A journey where, in the best case, we see so many different things of the world, of our surroundings. And this, ironically, leads us to finally know ourselves, who we really are.

A long journey we should enjoy, because if the afterlife theories are wrong, we only have one life to live. And this life is more precious than any money we could ever posess.

So go out and face the challenges, if you really want to be happy, you will be happy. Make use of the things you learn for yourself and attract the luck! Do what you like, there are so many different ways of living... And if you don't find the right one for you between the ones they recommend you, then invent your own one! Nothing is impossible.

And as you may know, I'm none of these creepy hyper-religious cult guys who always tell these brainwashing things to melt your neurones down.

I tell you these things because we always look for something to give us a little piece of strength, the piece we need to go on for the next few day or weeks. And maybe I could give you some strength and hope.

And now do yourself a little favour, go to your preferred restaurant or do your favourite sport or whatever you like to do, you deserve it ;)

News: "Smartphone fired into space to see if screams can be heard"

In space no one can hear you scream.

Naturally, this is speaking like we are assuming there is someone to hear you screaming... Besides the aliens.

So if you want to read the original article, follow this link, preferential with your smartphone: Let's go to space!

Science is great. And I'm an expectant scientist. But don't you think it's astonishing how ordinary simple things like a smartphone can contribute to science?

I mean, we're always joking about smartphones and some of their overly useless apps.

Hmm.. I think this is funny, where is my Laughing App...? Siri?

But now they're telling us they want to send a smartphone into space to realise some experiments, among them if there is really no sound in space.

Okay, it's really no big deal. I mean, it's supposed to be an undeniable fact that there is no sound. In a vacuum like in space, there are no molecules (but other smaller particles, for example the photons, the particles which transmit light which have no mass), so no sound waves can be transmitted from one place to another.

Even though, it's so strange to know that the little piece of computer engineering you hold in your hands daily can be used for supposedly complex stuff like measurements in the space.

Science is progressing with such a speed these days, it's simply exciting!

With all its disciplines, it affects our life in so many different ways. Thanks to the devenlopment of computers, very complicated calculations and previsions can be done nowadays. The humanity hasn't progressed so much like in the last few decades.

Obviously there are also the bad sides of this progress. There will always be people who abuse of science for their intrigues. But it will be always like that, everything has a good and a bad part and it would be unwise to not make use of the marvelous possibilities the science offers us. As I already explained in another post, there have to be limits, but there will never be any limits to human's curiosity.

As I read somebody saying the other day:

"It's such a great time to be alive!"

Film review: How I was Spirited Away from the real world

...and how I got access to the wonderful world of Chihiro. Every single person should have experienced this movie at least one time. We accompany Chihiro to a wonderful but dangerous journey where she will make some really strange acquaintances and where she will mature together with us!

The young girl Chihiro and her parents move from their old residence to a new neighbourhood and during the trip, they find themselves taken away into a magic world of spirits and monsters. In order to rescue her parents Chihiro will have to learn to work for her objectives and to know how to treat the people who surround her, helping her new friends and distrust the ones who want to damage her.

Spirited Away is an outstanding film in every sense. The perfection of the setting, the magic world with all the strange creatures will make you get accostumed to it quicklier than you expect. But nonetheless, at no point you will lose the enchanting feeling, which is as well produced by the wonderful soundtrack and the pleasently peculiar characters. Rather than watching a film you will feel like if yourself are living the adventure.

If I had to talk about the negative points of the movie I would have to lie.

So all in all, whatever you think about animated films and whatever the people may tell you about this masterpiece, it actually surpasses everything. Give it a chance, you really won't regret it, especially if you are having a hard time and need someone to give you some courage.

**** out of 4, I highly recommend this film to anyone!

Not Fair...

It's not fair to have three exams in one week (among them a biology and a philosophy test...), a certain Tirant to read for next Monday and so many other little things to do...

However, this blog is not a place for the anonymous involuntary workaholics, it's a place to take the stress and the bad thoughts, put them into a converter machine and transform them to posts which are hopefully enjoyable for the (few) reader(s).

So why this title? Well, there is a song I hope you don't know yet... It is "Not Fair" by Lily Allen and a part from traducing the song, I will do a little interpretation proper for a blog for students (which still are under 18...)

By the way, the singer was born on my birthday ;D

Not Fair by Lily Allen

Oh, he treats me with respect, he says he loves me all the time / Oh, er behandelt mich mit Respekt, er sagt die ganze Zeit er liebt mich

He calls me fifteen times a day, he likes to make sure that I'm fine
/ Er ruft mich fünfzehn Mal am Tag an, er mag es sicherzustellen, dass es mir gut geht

You know I've never met a man who's made me feel quite so secure / Du weißt ich habe nie einen Mann getroffen, der mich so gänzlich sicher fühlen lässt

He's not like all them other boys, they're all so dumb and immature / Er ist nicht wie all die anderen Jungs, die sind alle so dumm und unreif

There's just one thing that's getting in the way / Da ist nur eine Sache, die in die Quere kommt

When we go up to bed, you're just no good, it's such a shame / Wenn wir ins Bett gehen, du bist einfach nicht gut, es ist eine Schande

I look into your eyes, I want to get to know you / Ich schaue in deine Augen, ich möchte dich kennerlernen

And then you make this noise and it's apparent it's all over / Und dann machst du dieses Geräusch und es ist anscheinend alles vorüber

It's not fair and I think you're really mean / Es ist nicht gerecht und ich denke du bist echt gemein

I think you're really mean, I think you're really mean / Ich denke du bist echt gemein, ich denke du bist echt gemein

Oh, you're supposed to care / Du solltest dich eigentlich darum kümmern

But you never make me scream, you never make me scream / Aber du bringst mich nie zum schreien, du bringst mich nie zum schreien

Oh, it's not fair and it's really not okay / Oh, es ist nicht gerecht und es ist echt nicht okay

It's really not okay, it's really not okay / Es ist echt nicht okay,
es ist echt nicht okay

Oh, you're supposed to care / Du solltest dich eigentlich darum kümmern

But all you do is take, yeah, all you do is take / Aber alles was du tust ist nehmen, ja, alles was du tust ist nehmen

Oh, I lie here in the wet patch in the middle of the bed / Oh, ich liege hier im nassen Fleck in der Mitte des Bettes

I'm feeling pretty damn hard done by, I spent ages giving head / Ich fühle mich verdammt ungerecht behandelt, ich... "gebe ewig lang meinen Kopf"

Then I remember all the nice things that you ever said to me / Dann erinnere ich mich an all die netten Dinge die du jemals zu mir sagtest

Maybe I'm just overreacting, maybe you're the one for me / Vielleicht bin ich auch am überreagieren, vielleicht bist du der eine für mich