Physicists Resolve Confounding Paradox Of Quantum Theory

University of Toronto quantum physicists Jeff Lundeen and Aephraim Steinberg have shown that Hardy’s paradox, a proposal that has confounded physicists for over a decade, can be confirmed and ultimately resolved, a task which had seemingly been impossible to perform.

“For nearly a century, the widespread interpretation of quantum mechanics suggests that everything is uncertain until it is observed, and that observation inevitably alters reality,” says Professor Steinberg. “However, in the 1990s, a technique known as ‘interaction-free measurement’ seemed to promise the ability to ‘see without looking,’ as a Scientific American article put it at the time. But when Lucien Hardy proposed that one could never reliably make inferences about past events which hadn’t been directly observed, a paradox emerged which suggested that whenever one attempted to reason about the past in this way they would be led into error.”

Over the course of nearly two years of work, Steinberg and then-student Jeff Lundeen, now a research associate at the National Research Council of Canada, built a complicated quantum optical experiment and developed new theoretical tools. In essence, they combined Hardy’s Paradox with a new theory known as weak measurement proposed by Tel Aviv University physicist Yakir Aharonov, showing that in one sense, one can indeed talk about the past, resolving the paradox. Weak measurement is a tool whereby the presence of a detector is less than the level of uncertainty around what is being measured, so that there is an imperceptible impact on the experiment. “We found that all of the seemingly paradoxical conclusions in Hardy’s Paradox can, in fact, be experimentally verified,” says Steinberg, “but that the use of weak measurement removes the contradiction.”

“Until recently, it seemed impossible to carry out Hardy’s proposal in practice, let alone to confirm or resolve the paradox,” he says. “We have finally been able to do so, and to apply Aharonov’s methods to the problem, showing that there is a way, even in quantum mechanics, in which one can quite consistently discuss past events even after they are over and done. Weak measurement finds what is there without disturbing it.”

via Physicists Resolve Confounding Paradox Of Quantum Theory.

Does this mean there is a way to get around quantum uncertainty for current events?

Largest credit card data breach ever disclosed

While the majority of American media is glued to the quadrennial spectacle that is the Presidential inauguration, Heartland Payment Systems has uncovered a piece of malware hidden in their payment processing system. This has apparently lead to what may be the largest data breach ever.

Hearland Payment Systems, a credit card payment processor, apparently chose the completely innocuous day of January 20th, 2009 to inform the world that a data breach occured, and that it did not affect any “merchant data or cardholder Social Security numbers, unencrypted PINs, addresses or telephone numbers”. What possibly was affected, however, was every credit card number that traversed their payment processing system.

Anyone who used a Visa or Mastercard at one of a quarter of a million businesses may have been affected. For the small number of you who fall into this category, I recommend going through your old credit card statements just in case you were one of the victims. In all honesty, the probability of any one person being victimized by this is pretty slim, but vigilance is never a bad thing.

Heartland has apologized for the incident, and has put up a website at 2008breach.com to communicate with the public about the issue.

via It’s a good day to disclose the largest credit card data breach ever | Zero Day | ZDNet.com.

New deep sea creatures, one like a “huge underwater venus fly-trap”

Scientists said Sunday they had uncovered new marine animals in their search of previously unexplored Australian waters, along with a bizarre carnivorous sea squirt and ocean-dwelling spiders.

A joint US-Australian team spent a month in deep waters off the coast of the southern island of Tasmania to “search for life deeper than any previous voyage in Australian waters,” lead researcher Ron Thresher said.

What they found were not only species new to science — including previously undescribed soft corals — but fresh indications of global warming’s threat to the country’s unique marine life.

“Our sampling documented the deepest known Australian fauna, including a bizarre carnivorous sea squirt, sea spiders and giant sponges, and previously unknown marine communities dominated by gooseneck barnacles and millions of round, purple-spotted sea anemones,” Thresher said.

Using a submersible car-sized robot named Jason, the team explored a rift in the earth’s crust known as the Tasman Fracture Zone, a sheer two kilometre (1.24 mile) drop to 4,000 metres (13,200 feet) below the ocean’s surface.

Blogging on board the ship, researcher Adam Subhas said the team witnessed some “cool biology” as they descended the fracture, including the sea squirt, which he described as “basically an underwater Venus fly trap, but much bigger.”

The sea squirt, also known as an ascidian, stands 50 centimetres tall on the sea floor at a depth of just over 4,000 metres. It traps prey in its funnel-like front section if they touch it when they swim past.

via AFP: Scientists find new creatures of Australian deep.

Mind Hacks: Lycanthropy in Babylon

Lycanthropy is the belief in the capacity of human metamorphosis into animal form. It has been recorded in many cultures. Apart from historic description of lycanthropy, there has been several case reports described in the medical literature over the past 30 years. METHOD: We identified eight cases of lycanthropy in 20 years, mainly in the area of Babylon, Iraq. RESULTS: The most commonly reported diagnosis was severe depressive disorder with psychotic symptoms. The type of animal that the patients changed into were mainly dogs (seven cases) and only one case changed into a cow for the first time to report. CONCLUSION: Lycanthropy delusion is a rare delusion but appears to have survived into modern times with possible archetypal existence.

via Mind Hacks: Lycanthropy in Babylon.

Related, and image from wiki:

Werewolves, also known as lycanthropes from the Greek λυκάνθρωπος, λύκος (wolf) and άνθρωπος (human, man), are mythological or folkloric humans with the ability to shapeshift into wolves or anthropomorphic wolf-like creatures, either purposely, by being bitten by another werewolf, or after being placed under a curse. This transformation is often associated with the appearance of the full moon, as popularly noted by the medieval chronicler Gervase of Tilbury, although it may have been recognized in earlier times among the ancient Greeks through the writings of Petronius. Werewolves are often granted extra-human strength and senses, far beyond those of both wolves or men. The werewolf is generally held as a European character, although its lore spread through the world in later times. Shape-shifters, similar to werewolves, are common in tales from all over the world, most notably amongst the American Indians, though most of them involve animal forms other than wolves.

Couple fall down hole in pavement

The woman fell into a deep pit below Haiyan Street in Zhuhai but the man did not fall so far and managed to clamber out and call the police, reports Dayang Network.

Firefighters had to be called to rescue the woman when police officers realised the pit was at least 20 to 25ft deep and they couldn’t even see her.

A crane was brought in to haul the woman out and had to be stationed a distance away because of the danger of more of the pavement collapsing.

Throughout the whole rescue mission, the man talked with his worried girlfriend on the phone to keep her spirits up.

She was finally lifted out after being buried in the hole for nearly two hours. Her boyfriend gave her a big hug, but she was still shivering and too frightened to speak.

Residents suspect the hole, which was less than a metre wide, was caused by ground collapse linked to nearby construction works.

via Ananova – Couple fall down hole in pavement.

Calamities Wiped Out Early Civilization, Earthquakes, Floods And Sandstorms Wiped Away Peruvian Culture 3,600 Years Ago

Nature turned against one of America’s early civilizations 3,600 years ago, when researchers say earthquakes and floods, followed by blowing sand, drove away residents of an area that is now in Peru.

“This maritime farming community had been successful for over 2,000 years, they had no incentive to change, and then all of a sudden, boom, they just got the props knocked out from under them,” anthropologist Mike Moseley of the University of Florida said in a statement.

via Calamities Wiped Out Early Civilization, Earthquakes, Floods And Sandstorms Wiped Away Peruvian Culture 3,600 Years Ago – CBS News.

Indian artist shocked by art show full of fakes

An acclaimed Indian artist was stunned this weekend to find many fakes among an exhibit of his own work in New Delhi. S.H. Raza, 86, works out of Paris and had flown to India for the opening of an exhibit at the well-known Dhoomimal Art Gallery. The artist is known for his brightly coloured abstract work.

“When I reached the gallery and started looking at the canvases on the walls, I was stunned,” Raza wrote in India’s Mail Today newspaper.

“As I moved from one canvas to the other, I realized that the works were just not mine, they were all fakes.”

The gallery closed the exhibit, which was to have run for a month, after Raza’s discovery. Gallery owners Uma and Uday Jain said they had been duped and apologized to the artist. …

He said he is contemplating legal action and wants to find out how there came to be so many fakes of his early paintings. …

via Indian artist shocked by art show full of fakes.

On-Line Symptom Checker

This web site is at once brilliant and totally evil:

Based on my symptoms (red spots inside both of my lower eyelids), I may have Endocarditis caused by bacteria or fungi in my blood stream. This may have been caused by tooth bacteria getting into my blood. I did have a thick white discharge in one eye a week ago which went away with anti-biotic eye drops and a course of Azithromycin.

But my cough remains…

I also had some (undercooked?) crab a few days before I started having these symptoms, including the cough which I can’t seem to shake.

What is freaking me out is that the phrase, “And the worms ate into his brain” was going through my head this morning BEFORE I visited this site. I wrote it off as something that only happens after people die. I think it is from a Pink Floyd song. Another weird clue that I may have given myself psychically is that TWO DAYS AGO I posted something about a Crab Claw.  Keep in mind that I had never read the following before today…

In checking my symptoms and correlating the cough with the crab I ate for Chirstmas, I see that I may have Paragonimiasis. It is caused a lung fluke, a parasite which can eat into your brain. I had a fever, cough, spitting up blood and rust colored sputum, all of which fit. I may need the drug Praziquantel, which has some life-theatening side effects.

Superstitiously, I relate this to my search for proof of God. The Crab Claw joke was connected to a religious vision and I ate the crab for Christmas. Am I being smited for disbelieving? Am I being given visions and clues which defy coincidence?

God, I love crab and I eat a lot, but I don’t think I’ll ever eat another one again after reading this.

Perhaps the whole thing is paranoia not a parasite.

See what I mean about this being an evil web site?

Doctor’s appointment today. They are usually good at giving me the tests I request. I’ll ask for a blood test to check for bacteria and fungi, and also a test for the parasite… which is hard to detect even with tests.

Update: The Christmas crab I ate came to Safeway from Fort Bragg, CA. It comes in already cooked, so that should have killed any flukes. I’ll double check that with the people in Fort Bragg. Another odd connection to my life is there … nevermind, I’m just being superstitious again.

My doc says he’d have to send away to the UK to test for something like Paragonimiasis and it might cost me several hundred dollars. Would I pay that much just to find out I didn’t have it, he asked? Yes, if there are real reasons to think that I might have a fluke.   For now, however,  blood tests and chest x-rays.  Plus, I’m supposed to stay in bed for three more days, sleep and drink a lot.

The Onion: Bush Tours America To Survey Damage Caused By His Disastrous Presidency

The Onion is great satire. I was just watching this video: Bush Tours America To Survey Damage Caused By His Disastrous Presidency. I like the map graphic of the area of the disaster.

It has been eight long years where this kind of humor was the only way to deal with the frustration so many of us have felt.

I’m excited about the future. We may have to fight for our very survival if the elements turn against us and if  resources like food, oil, and fresh water dwindle, but at least we have a fighting chance now with an intelligent leader.

How to be in two places at once

I accomplished this one time in my life, but I did do it, so I know it is possible: I was in two places at once. During a lucid dream, I woke up very slowly, and for at least 6 seconds I could feel both my dream body and my waking body. In my dream body, right before I woke up, I got into my bed and I lay down where I really was sleeping. My dream body was on its stomach, but my real body was on its back. For those 6 seconds, the two were superimposed over each other, but in different positions. Thus, I experienced being in two places at once by being partly asleep.

Here is how to have an Out of Body Experience:

After you are settled and ready to go to sleep, tell yourself that you are going to catch yourself in the act of going to sleep and then lift out of your physical body. Just be clear about your intent. You are going to let your body go to sleep, but you will remain alert throughout the entire procedure. Tell yourself that you will retain consciousness even while your body is going into the “trance” of sleep.

Now, watching yourself go to sleep is kind of like watching a pot of water boil. Trying to stay too alert may interfere with your efforts. Therefore, a gentle sort of alertness is what is required. Just let yourself relax into sleep and observe the process. The idea is to learn to recognize the rather strange but distinctive sensations you feel as your body moves into the sleep state and stay aware as this unfolds. At a certain point you will realize that you are in the hypnagogic state, the state between waking and sleeping. A slight variation on this theme is to give yourself the suggestion that you are going to become aware in the middle of the transition to sleep. Instead of “watching yourself,” suggest that you will pay attention as soon as you feel your body starting to get numb, and then just let your mind drift. Your suggestions might go something like this:

I am going to have an out-of-body experience. I am going to become alrt and aware as soon as I start to fall asleep (or as soon as my body feels numb).
OR
I am going to become alert and aware in the middle of falling asleep, and then will lift out of my body.
2. Once you succeed in catching yourself in the act of moving through the early stages of sleep, you will be in the hypnagogic state. You will still be in your body, but definitely not in the normal state of consciousness. You may very well feel as though you’re paralyzed since you may no longer have control over your physical muscles. There are other, “inner” muscles, however, awaiting your direction. You may feel strange, tingling sensations and hear weird sounds. Your body may feel numb. After a few times, though, these feelings will become famililar and clue you in to what is going on. You may be able to see right through your eyelids. Just relax and simply will yourself to lift out. This is not difficult to do. You will feel a definite sensation of detaching. Just go with it and move out fast and easy. If you want, you can imagine you are as light as a helium ballon as you will yourself to lift out. … – link

After you are out, fly around, do something you’ve always wanted to do.  Meet your favorite celebrity, your soul mate, or some intelligent aliens, or find a cure for something, or visit another planet … the possibilities are endless.  Many people enjoy flying. I’ve tried shooting lightning from my fingertips, elongating body parts, floating through closed windows, turning on lights, using a telephone, reading, singing underwater, and at one point I found a friend whom I knew kept a dream journal to see if she would record my visiting her.

To stay in the dream if you feel yourself waking, hold your arms out and spin around. This stabilizes your dream body image.

To get out of a dream at any time, stop moving and stare at something for six seconds. This trick works because rapid eye movements are needed to keep dreaming.

That’s it!