Modern Physicist: Stephen Hawking

When i was recently watching the news on http://aljazeera.net/english live on air,there appeared a special program called "Rizkhan", which on that day introduced a very special person of the current day universe. Yes he was Stephen Hawking. I wouldn't have known him unless I saw him on that program. He was interviewed by the program presenter on the aftermath of the GAZA Holocaust earlier this year. He was one of the many people who strongly rejected the Israeli offensive. This man is a genious from Britain, who could be called the next Albert Einstein of the universe. The following is a short description about his life and mission:

Stephen Hawking was born on the 300th anniversary of Galileo's death. He has come to be thought of as the greatest mind in physics since Albert Einstein. With similar interests -- discovering the deepest workings of the universe -- he has been able to communicate arcane matters not just to other physicists but to the general public.

Hawking grew up outside London in an intellectual family. His father was a physician and specialist in tropical diseases; his mother was active in the Liberal Party. He was an awkward schoolboy, but knew from early on that he wanted to study science. He became increasingly skilled in mathematics and in 1958 he and some friends built a primitive computer that actually worked. In 1959 he won a scholarship to Oxford University, where his intellectual capabilities became more noticeable. In 1962 he got his degree with honors and went to Cambridge University to pursue a PhD in cosmology. There he became intrigued with black holes (first proposed by Robert Oppenheimer) and "space-time singularities," or events in which the laws of physics seem to break down. After receiving his PhD, he stayed at Cambridge, becoming known even in his 20s for his pioneering ideas and use of Einstein's formulas, as well as his questioning of older, established physicists.

In 1968 he joined the staff of the Institute of Astronomy in Cambridge and began to apply the laws of thermodynamics to black holes by means of very complicated mathematics. He published the very technical book, Large Scale Structure of Space-Time but soon afterwards made a startling discovery. It had always been thought that nothing could escape a black hole; Hawking suggested that under certain conditions, a black hole could emit subatomic particles. That is now known as Hawking Radiation. He continued working on the theory of the origin of the universe, and in doing so found ways to link relativity (gravity) with quantum mechanics (the inner workings of atoms). This contributed enormously to what physicists call Grand Unified Theory, a way of explaining, in one equation, all physical matter in the universe.

At the remarkably young age of 32, he was named a fellow of the Royal Society. He received the Albert Einstein Award, the most prestigious in theoretical physics. And in 1979, he was appointed Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge, the same post held by Sir Isaac Newton 300 years earlier. There he began to question the big bang theory, which by then most had accepted. Perhaps, he suggested, there was never a start and would be no end, but just change -- a constant transition of one "universe" giving way to another through glitches in space-time. All the while, he was digging into exploding black holes, string theory, and the birth of black holes in our own galaxy.

In 1988 Hawking wrote A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes , explaining the evolution of his thinking about the cosmos for a general audience. It became a best-seller of long standing and established his reputation as an accessible genius. He wrote other popular articles and appeared in movies and television. He remains extremely busy, his work hardly slowed by Lou Gehrig's disease (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a disease that affects muscle control) for which he uses a wheelchair and speaks through a computer and voice synthesizer.

"My goal is simple. It is complete understanding of the universe, why it is as it is and why it exists at all."

Abortion: waste of Life

An open letter to the newly Elect US president. The original post can be found at:

http://www.letters2president.org/letters/4139-abortion-waste-of-life

Dear Mr. President,

            Abortion is murder-plain and simple. In an abortion individuals terminate their pregnancy killing the baby. A baby, no matter how young, has a heart; therefore. the doctors performing these procedures are stopping a heart from beating, a child from living, and a life from being lived. Abortion should only be performed in extreme cases as decided by a court, judge, or certified doctor. Nonetheless, some people are having abortion performed as birth control and it's not.

            Every year in America 1.37 million murders are committed. These murders all happen inside the womb. When doctors perform an abortion, they are killing a baby. The court systems give murderers 25 years to life, so why do we let the doctors get away without any consequences? Some believe the baby isn’t alive, but yet it has a heart; anything that has a beating heart is alive. There is absolutely no reason why some of these babies can’t be carried through full term and adopted. A life of adoption with loving parents and a  nice home is better than no life at all.

            Abortion should not be a choice left up to the public. Only under very extreme circumstances should an abortion ever performed and abortion shouldNOT just be a choice that anyone gets to be able to make. What if some irresponsible teenagers or drug dealers are wasting lives getting abortions? Why do we let them if they are ruining their lives anyway? The only people who should get the choice are the women who will die if the baby is born due to a terminal illness or the women who will pass on a disease that no human should have to suffer. The women who fear for their health or lives, and the terminally ill pregnant women should also have the option to abort. This choice, however, should not be taken lightly and should be discussed and recommended by a doctor.

            Unfortunately, women are having abortions because they purely don’t want the baby. Abortion is not a birth control method. In fact, abortions have an excruciatingly painful list of side effects including impacted grieving, suicidal thoughts, anxiety, and self-destructive tendencies that no one who is sane should suffer through. If a woman really doesn’t want her baby, then she can ask for an emergency birth control pill. These pills don’t abort the baby; they stop the egg from being fertilized, meaning simply that no heart is stopped. Overall, the side effects of an abortion aren’t worth the loss of a life ,and there are other options. Thus, people need to think more about what they are doing.

            I realize abortions are a touchy subject to discuss, but someone has to do something. Mr. President, you should have health clinics that openly carry these emergency birth control pills and pass a law that only those in need of an abortion should get one. Without these alternative methods, like emergency birth control pills, that we keep inventing  people will resort to “back alley” abortions and hurt themselves and the babies inside of them. Therefore, Mr. President, you have to do something about the 1.37 million American babies that are killed each year.

 

Sincerely,

JD

Microsoft SDKs

On this page you will find links to Microsoft Software Development Kits (SDKs), which provide documentation, code samples, tools, headers, libraries, and other files that developers can use to create software applications and libraries.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/dd299405.aspx

A satanic, genocidal Israel

[ 08/01/2009 - 01:32 AM ]

By Khalid Amayreh in Occupied Palestine For years, I have been warning that Israel is psychologically and morally  capable of carrying out a holocaust or a genocide against the Palestinian people. Needless to say, the  horrible events of the past two weeks in Gaza seem to have  enforced and vindicated  my convictions in this regard. Israel, government and people,  seem to possess the psychological propensity  that would make her  embark on such a monstrosity. Yes, there is a minority of Israeli Jews and non-Israeli Jews who say "No" to all the evils and crimes Israel is doing in their name. However, let us be honest and realistic. These people are a small minority and have very little influence if any on the Israeli government and army. Today,   what many people  had thought would be unthinkable or far-fetched  in terms of the extent to which Israel would be willing to  go in savaging  the Palestinian people  seems  quite possible in light of  the Jewish state's  Nazi-like behavior in the Gaza Strip. Given the Israeli mindset,   Israel may well be hoping the latest genocidal onslaught could have a certain desensitizing and de-mystifying effect on people's perceptions and attitudes. The logic is quite simple. If the world can be bullied or cajoled into  silence  and apathy  when Gaza is ravaged and thousands of its inhabitants are slaughtered en mass in full view of humanity, the same world can  likewise be manipulated in similar fashion to come to terms with a greater genocide. On Tuesday, 6 January, one Israeli official, Eli Yeshai,  called for the total extermination of Gaza . The leader of the ultra Orthodox Shas party argued that "extermination of the enemy is sanctioned by the Torah." Other Israeli political and religious leaders have lately spoken enthusiastically of the  need for "wiping off Gaza from the face of earth" and "annihilating of every moving thing there." Interestingly, this is by no means a minority opinion in Israel.  Indeed, one could safely  argue that the "ideology of annihilation"  now represents the mainstream in the Israeli society. As we all know, Israel  heavily employs mendacity, deception and disinformation to conceal, or at least blur, its criminality and barbarianism. The Israeli hasbara machine's main job has always been and continues to be to turn the black into white, the white into black and the big lie into a "truth" glorified by millions, especially in the west. To effect these obscene  lies and "virtual realities," the Israeli government counts heavily on the Jewish-controlled or Jewish influenced media in the western world, especially in North America where telling the truth about Israel is the ultimate taboo. In truth, what has been happening in Gaza  is a huge massacre of genocidal proportions  as many conscientious Jews have testified. What else can be said of this  wanton, deliberate and  indiscriminate blanket bombing of densely-populated neighborhoods and refugee camps? I believe  terms such as "huge massacres" and "genocidal onslaught"  used  in reference to the Gaza nightmare  cannot be dismissed  by Israel and her supporters as  merely overstatements or rhetorical exaggerations. This is unless Israel views  non-Jewish pain and suffering  as disingenuous, probably because non-Jews  or "goyem" are actually considered "human animals" by a large and growing class  of fanatical rabbis, politicians and military leaders. So far, more than 4000 Gazans have been mercilessly killed or badly mutilated  or incinerated  in less than two weeks of intensive  indiscriminate aerial and artillery bombing targeting everyone and everything. Mosques, homes, public buildings, shelters, schools, colleges, dormitories, factories, cultural institutions, businesses, even hospitals and drug stores as well as the entire civilian infrastructure have been bombed and reduced to rubble. The rabid bombing  from high altitudes  has  exterminated  numerous whole families and  destroyed entire neighborhoods. This is probably what Israeli leaders had in mind  when they spoke earlier about a "shock and awe" campaign against Gaza . On 6 January, Israeli tanks fired several artillery shells at a school at the Jabalya refugee camp, killing more than 40 civilians, mostly children and women, who had sought shelter at the UNRWA-run facility. Dozens others were injured, many critically. Israeli army spokespersons, who are actually professional liars, claimed that Palestinian fighters were seen in the vicinity of the building and that some of these actually fired on Israeli troops from the school. However, UN officials in Gaza strongly denied the Israeli account, with one UN official saying that he was "99.99%" that the Israeli army was lying. Earlier, the Israeli air forces hit a mourning reception, killing 15 members of the same family. The pornographic killing of civilians has no explanation other than the ostensible fact that Israel is adopting a no-holds-barred approach toward Gaza , which is still under effective Israeli occupation despite the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the coastal enclave more than three years ago. Well, if we are to accept this logic, namely that everything is fair in war, then Jews should stop complaining about what the armies of Hitler did to them during World War II. It is just unacceptable to apply two standards of morality, one for Jews and another for non-Jews. For if what Israel is doing in Gaza is right, as Israel and her supporters maintain, then what the Nazis did in Europe several decades ago must have been right as well. And vice versa. After all, crime doesn't become kosher when committed by Jewish hands. Colossal crime The enormity of the present holocaustic assault is undoubtedly a colossal crime against humanity. In proportion to the size of population, the murder and maiming of 4000 Gazans (the number keeps rising) is like the US having at least a million of its citizens killed or badly injured as a result of a foreign aggression. As to the utter destruction of Gaza , it is equally shocking. Some American expatriates here in occupied Palestine have spoken of a double holocaust in Gaza , one targeting humans, and another targeting civilization. Facing their crimes, pornographic and outrageous as they are, many  Israelis, probably the majority, are simply so gleeful that they think Israel is doing the right thing and that God is standing on the side of Israel in this war and every war. Some religious Israelis have become so euphoric, thanks to the Gaza blitz, that they think the Messiah's coming imminent. Other "religious" Israeli Jews,  including rabbis, readily justify the wanton slaughter by quoting biblical verses justifying genocide. One Israeli settler leader recently argued during a conversation with a visiting American peace activist  that "if it was right to commit genocide during Biblical time, why can't it be right to commit genocide now .  Has God changed his mind," the settler wondered sarcastically. As to Israeli leaders and officials, they simply indulge in what they have always been indulging in, namely "denial" and "self-righteousness" or simply playing  the role of victim. Thus behaved Shimon Peres, the Israeli President, when he told al-Jazeera during a live interview on Monday, 5 January. " We don't kill and we have not killed any children in Gaza . We are the victim of Hamas aggression," said the pathological liar and certified war criminal  rather shamelessly. Peres's pornographic lies don't need any further comment. They speak for themselves. Zionist Jews may very well think that might is right, and that morality is unneeded and unnecessary as long as they possess overwhelming material strength. They may think that the rivers of blood the "only democracy in the Middle East " has been shedding will strengthen Israel and terrorize its neighbors. Well, it may in the short run. However, in the long run,  Israeli criminality and evilness will  make it sterile from within to the point of death. Like evil people, evil states shall not prosper.

SOA gets an Obituary

Burton Group analyst Anne Thomas Manes has declared SOA dead but says that offshoots like mashups and cloud computing remain alive and well

By Paul Krill

January 05, 2009 

SOA is dead but services remain alive, according to a prominent analyst who published an obituary for SOA in a blog post on Monday.

In her blog, Anne Thomas Manes, vice president and research director at Burton Group, pronounced SOA dead.

[ For more about SOA, check out David Linthicum's Real World SOA blog ]

"SOA met its demise on January 1, 2009, when it was wiped out by the catastrophic impact of the economic recession. SOA is survived by its offspring: mashups, BPM, SaaS cloud computing, and all other architectural approaches that depend on 'services,'" Manes wrote.

Instead of becoming a savior, SOA "instead turned into a great failed experiment -- at least for most organizations," Manes said. SOA failed to deliver on promised benefits and after the investment of millions, IT systems are not better than before. In some cases they are worse, with costs higher and projects taking longer, she said.

Interviewed Monday afternoon, Manes said successful SOA implementations have resulted from major IT transformation efforts rather than just slapping a bunch of interfaces on applications. "Those companies have seen spectacular results from these efforts, but in those circumstances, SOA was part of something much bigger," Manes said.

Companies need to become more in tune with what businesses require and understand what the problems are, she said. What is required is an examination of application architecture rather than project-by-project integration, Manes noted, but with the difficult economy, funding for SOA has dried up, she said.

"All these guys intent on pursuing [an] SOA initiative, they're not going to have any money to do it because the business is not going to continue to fund it," Manes said. In conducting research, she found that the failure of SOA to deliver on initiatives has soured those holding the purse strings.

Still, Manes does emphasize a continuing need for services, such as cloud services. She advised against using the acronym SOA, which has generated a backlash. Instead of people talking about architecture and services, they have focused on such matters as ESBs (enterprise service bus).

"SOA has become a bad word. It must be removed from our vocabulary," she stressed in her blog.

"The demise of SOA is tragic for the IT industry. Organizations desperately need to make architectural improvements to their application portfolios," she wrote. Service-orientation is a prerequisite for rapidly integrating data and business processes and enabling situational development models like mashups. It also is foundational for SaaS and cloud computing, Manes said.

"Although the word 'SOA' is dead, the requirement for service-oriented architecture is stronger than ever," she said. Successful SOA requires disrupting the status quo and redesigning the application portfolio as well as a shift in how IT operates, said Manes.

She cited Bechtel as a company that has had success with services but does not even use the term "SOA." 

Two vendors prominent in SOA, HP and IBM, could not be immediately reached Monday to comment on Manes's blog.