With the spread of printing and literacy, spelling became standardized. Samuel Johnson’s A Dictionary of the English Language (1755) led to one standard for British English, while Noah Webster’s An American Dictionary of the English Language (1828) led to another standard for American English. Johnson’s preference for Norman (French) spellings preserved the -re ending of […]
This post continues the topic of the previous post here. This is a post about two kinds of people. First a warning: There may be said to be two classes of people in the world; those who constantly divide the people of the world into two classes, and those who do not. – Robert Benchley
Let us distinguish between observer-receivers and traveler-transmitters. Although observers can travel and travelers can observe, insofar as one is observing, one is not traveling, and insofar as one is traveling, one is not observing. The main difference is this: traveler-transmitters have a destination but observer-receivers do not (or at least not as observers). Compare the
See also the related post on the Center of vass. Relativity has been addressed before, such as here. Isaac Newton called mass “the quantity of matter”, which is still used sometimes, although Max Jammer points out how it has been criticized for centuries (see Concepts of Mass in Classical and Modern Physics, 1961). Other definitions
One question is how to translate from time rates to space rates and vice versa. Consider the scalars base and time, and designate the stantial position, s, initial stantial position, s0, temporal position, t, initial temporal position, t0, velocity, v, initial velocity, v0, acceleration a (assumed constant over time), lenticity, w, initial lenticity, w0, and
One of the characteristics of post-modernism is the overlap between facts and theories. In modern science theories were based on facts, theories explained facts, and theories connected facts together. But post-modernism blurs the distinction between facts and theories. For example: In science, a “fact” typically refers to an observation, measurement, or other form of evidence
Among the instruments on a vehicle there may be a speedometer, an odometer, a clock, and a compass, which provide scalar (1D) readings of the vehicle’s location. But what is the location of the vehicle in a larger framework? The compass shows two dimensions must exist on a map of this framework, but of what
The 19th century physicist Ernst Mach is known for his view that all motion is relative, which influenced Albert Einstein. Mach is also known for his book The Science of Mechanics (1883 in German, 1893 in translation), from which the following excerpts about physics and theology are taken (Open Court edition, 1960): Consolation, [Pascal] used
We need to distinguish between scalar (1D) and vector (3D) versions of both time and space. Motion in scalar (1D) time and scalar (1D) space is measured by clocks and linear references, respectively, and apply throughout the associated vector space or vector time (in Newtonian mechanics). Scalar time is what a clock measures, which is
A previous post here gave a summary of the Gospel. The following comes from Rev. David Harper’s blog entry, The power of story: Here’s a synopsis. 1. God created humankind in His image for fellowship and partnership, entrusting to us stewardship of His earth. (Gen. 1:28) 2. Because of sin, in which we all
