Principles of Classical Physics

Per Dean Radin's analysis, classical physics rests upon five principles, or beliefs about the nature of the 'real' world.  These principles held up quite well for several centuries, backed up by observations and mathematical predictions.  However, in the light of discoveries about the nature of reality in relativity theory and quantum mechanics, every one of these principles has been proven to be false.  I will go into more detail in later posts about these principles, but to name them now, they are: reality, locality, causality, continuity, and determinism.  Before relativity theory and quantum mechanics came along, imminent scientists were making arrogant statements about how scientists had wrapped up pretty much everything there was to know about the world, and from then on it would be just working out a few details.

Albert Michelson, the first American to win a Nobel Prize, delivered this message in 1894 in a dedication speech at University of Chicago's Ryerson Physics Laboratory: "The more important fundamental laws and facts of physical science have all been discovered, and these are so firmly established that the possibility of their ever being supplanted in consequence of new discoveries is exceedingly remote."

William Thompson, later given the title of Lord Kelvin, president of the Royal Society (the premier scientific organization of Britain), said in 1900:
"There is nothing new to be discovered in physics now. All that remains is more and more precise measurement."

Little did these and other imminent scientists know about what was just around the corner.  All that certainty was washed away in a few short years.
 

Kid Song Lyrics

I was going over some kid songs and came across these familiar lyrics:

"Sing polly wolly doodle all the day"

Upon doing some research the song first appeared in the 1880's.  While there is wide speculation about what it means, and no certainty on who authored it, many believe that the author was Daniel Decatur "Dan" Emmett, who was the founder of the first troupe of the blackface minstrel performers.  The song seems to be definitely southern and written from the viewpoint of a slave.  But exactly what it means is still a big polly doodle.

And then there is "With a Knick Knack Paddy Wack" from the This Old Man song.  Well this one popped up in the states in the 1870's (or before?) derived from an old Welsh tune.  A 'paddywack' is a strong elastic ligament in the midline of the neck of sheep or cattle which relieves the animal of the weight of its head.  The reference of 'playing' it appears to be talking about 'playing the bones', an old folk custom of making an instrument out of a pair of bones, or similar rigid materials.  The 'old man' in the song is adept at playing the bones in several positions including on his knee and shoe:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bones_%28instrument%29