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The House Judiciary Committee held a hearing yesterday to address the complex issue of how to retain foreign-born technology talent that�s educated here and that stands to spark innovation that creates jobs, without undermining job opportunities for Americans. A parallel issue is how to do that without encouraging the growth of a diploma-mill industry in which unscrupulous academic institutions would lure revenue with the promise of a shortcut to a green card.
The hearing was titled, "STEM the Tide: Should America Try to Prevent an Exodus of Foreign Graduates of U.S. Universities with Advanced Science Degrees?" The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Lamar Smith (R-Texas), did a good job of encapsulating the debate. Here�s an excerpt from the statement he submitted to the hearing:
Talented students from around the world contribute to the graduate STEM programs of our universities. In 2009, foreign students received nearly 4 out of every 10 master�s degrees awarded in STEM fields and about the same percentage of all doctorates.
These students have the potential to come up with an invention that could save thousands of lives or jump-start a whole new industry. They also have the ability to start a company that could provide jobs to tens of thousands of American workers.
But what happens to these foreign students after they graduate? They are in great demand by the universities themselves and by American industry. That is why more than 6 out of every 10 science and engineering doctoral graduates from 2002 were still here in 2007.
However, our immigration system does not always put American interests first. We have the most generous level of legal immigration in the world. Yet we select only 5% of our immigrants based on the skills and education they bring to America.
Many people make a compelling argument: Why don�t we simply offer a green card to any foreign student who graduates from a U.S. university with an advanced STEM degree and wants to stay in the U.S.? After all, why would we want to educate scientists and engineers here and then send them home to work for our competitors?
But we should keep several points in mind. First, all graduate degrees are not the same. It takes an average of over seven years in graduate school for STEM students to receive a doctorate. A master�s can be earned in two years.
And when it comes to the proportion of persons who have applied for patents, those with doctorates far outpace those with bachelor�s and master�s degrees. Sixteen percent of scientists and engineers with doctorates working in STEM fields have applied for patents, compared to only two percent with bachelor�s degrees and five percent with master�s degrees.
Second, a visa �pot of gold� could create an incentive for schools to aim solely to attract tuition-paying foreign students with the lure of a green card.
As the former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Visa Services at the State Department has warned, �A school in the United States can be found for even the poorest academic achiever � Unfortunately, schools that actively recruit foreign students for primarily economic reasons, and without regard to their qualifications or intentions, may encourage such high-risk underachievers to seek student visa status as a ticket into the United States.�
It�s clear that the answer does not lie in stapling a green card to the diploma of every foreign student who obtains a master�s or doctorate degree in a STEM field. So what is the answer? Perhaps it lies in suggestions submitted to the hearing by the American Council on International Personnel, a Washington-based advocacy group that lobbies to advance employment-based immigration for highly educated professionals:
I especially like the �Trusted Employer� idea, and I would be in favor of limiting the issuance of temporary work visas to employees of companies that earn that status. I�m also in favor of approaching this issue with a level head and an open mind. The greater our collective will to do that, the greater our chances of resolving the debate in a way that serves the best interests of our country.
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I would agree everything but "Implement a �Trusted Employer� registration system that would streamline processing for American employers with proven track records of compliance and a commitment to hiring Americans."
IMHO employer should not be given any special treatment when giving Green Cards to STEM graduates. It should be tied to specific universities (mostly real university with good track record of 2 decades).
Employer tie-up would end up creating pool of companies that would attract those STEM graduates which will be unfair for other companies who didn't make it to such elite group.
In my experience Fortune 500 generally (not all the cases) are not good in utilizing real potential of employees (or innovation...except few companies which live only on innovation), they tend to have regular 9-5 job with predefined set of works which anyone with bachelor degree can do.
Also, this elite group of company would use this Green Card as bargain chip to pay less and also use it as retention tool which will be side effects of having special treatment given to companies.Reply
"I especially like the �Trusted Employer� idea, and I would be in favor of limiting the issuance of temporary work visas to employees of companies that earn that status."
This is not a good idea because employers should have no role in the immigration process. Immigration needs to be an agreement between an immigrant and our elected government with no more corporate middle-men.
Corporation's only role in immigration should be to verify that employees or potential employees have a legal right to work.
Universities should also have no direct role except in the confirmation of a degree and validating credentials they have granted the student/graduate.
When Lamar Smith talks about what's "Good for America" he is really talking about what is good for "Corporate America". I've followed him throughout this debate and he has entirely ignored the impact of immigration on the domestic workforce and has shown no concern for those who are unemployed or forced to compete with workers paid below market wages under a host of employer-based immigration programs.
Finally, I want to repeat where these "ideas" came from: a Washington-based advocacy group that lobbies to advance employment-based immigration.
Their objective is EMPLOYMENT-based immigration. Meaning EMPLOYER based immigration. They represent corporations - you know those who have a long track record of fraud and abuse of employer based immigration laws that our government rarely enforces.
At the end of the day we are going to welcome immigrants to our country, and we should do that smartly. The real debate should be on how many, what qualifications, and under what conditions. Any program that provides additional leverage to corporations (or universities) is BAD and should be opposed.
Just to clarify, I support stapling a (non-employer based) greencard to select graduates in a program that is competitive, ranks applicants based on education and experience (not a lottery), and there is a cap that automatically adjusts given unemployment and other economic factors. I also think we should consider nation or origin and favor our allies.
Now is certainly not the time to discuss increasing immigration - in fact we should be reducing immigration until unemployment levels stabilize.Reply
Um, what about the underemployed and unemployed Americans with degrees and experience, who are also ready, willing, and able to contribute to America's economy? Last I heard, these folks numbered in the 10's of millions. Why is it ok to flush American brains and skill down the john, but the foreigners are all precious? Besides, don't their countries need them more? Isn't it a form of theft for us to lure and keep them? And a shame to do this at the expense of our own brainy people.Reply
My last paragraph addresses that:
Now is certainly not the time to discuss increasing immigration - in fact we should be reducing immigration until unemployment levels stabilize.
We need to support a program that fairly considers the local labor force and economic conditions.Reply
Two of my sons have STEM degrees, both in grad school right now in fact. Yes, they are working, but pay, conditions, and prospects for advancement are threadbare compared to what they were in the 90s. And a lot of our new grads have to move home, wait tables, serve coffee. That ain't right.Reply
"That ain't right."
I agree. We need to be smart about immigration - and from purely a political standpoint there are two vocal groups: the "kick-em all out" and the "let-em all in" camps.
I'm in a camp that appreciates immigrants and immigration, but feel it is wrong to make the goal of immigration subsidizing labor (to reduce costs) and it is wrong to set immigration at levels that cause real pain to American workers.
The goal of immigration should be to increase the quality of life for the vast majority of Americans. People have corrupted something that should be sacrosanct with profits the driving motivator.Reply
Rather than staple a green card to their diploma, charge these foreign visa students with the full cost of their tuition minus the cost of a suitcase to send their belongings home, and apply it to pay for American students unable to get seats in these STEM programs because they are filled by foreign visa students.
It is dispicible that the USA subsidizes college tuition for foreign students who take valuable resources away from the students and families who paid for them in the first place - American taxpayers.
I suspect this program is even more fraud filled than its evil cousins, the H-1b and B-1 visa programs.
If foreign students want to attend college here - great. Make them pay full out-of state tuition to attend. There is ZERO obligation for the USA to help these entitled students to find careers in the USA.. There is 100% obligation to ensure that American students, first and foremost have the opportunity to education and a career in our own country.Reply
Here is a novel idea.
Simply reduce the number of graduate schools and cut enrollment of graduate students.
No one wants to admit that an MIT PhD is worth a lot more than a PhD from a lower ranked college. The lower ranked colleges fill up the schools with foreign students as Americans want to go to MIT before a podunk university.
Not only should we not even try to stem the mass exodus of the average foreign graduate, we should encourage it as well as we have too many Americans that are out of work even with STEM degrees.
No doubt some true geniuses exist but we are talking about a couple of thousand.Reply
Did anyone notice that the Nobel Prize winners in the sciences this year are almost all America-born Americans? So much for all the noise about Americans needing foreigners to do their science for them.Reply
Hey Don, you'd better read up on Federal law: ALL foreign workers are illegal and can't work here if qualified Americans are out of work - regardless of how educated or smart the foreigners are:
TITLE 8 > CHAPTER 12 > SUBCHAPTER II > Part II > � 1182 � 1182. Inadmissible aliens
(a) Classes of aliens ineligible for visas or admission Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, aliens who are inadmissible under the following paragraphs are ineligible to receive visas and ineligible to be admitted to the United States: ... (D) Immigrant membership in totalitarian party (i) In general Any immigrant who is or has been a member of or affiliated with the Communist or any other totalitarian party (or subdivision or affiliate thereof), domestic or foreign, is inadmissible. ... (5) Labor certification and qualifications for certain immigrants (A) Labor certification (i) In general Any alien who seeks to enter the United States for the purpose of performing skilled or unskilled labor is inadmissible, unless the Secretary of Labor has determined and certified to the Secretary of State and the Attorney General that� (I) there are not sufficient workers who are able, willing, qualified (or equally qualified in the case of an alien described in clause (ii)) and available at the time of application for a visa and admission to the United States and at the place where the alien is to perform such skilled or unskilled labor, and (II) *** the employment of such alien will not adversely affect the wages and working conditions of workers in the United States similarly employed. ***Reply
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Farm telifsiz stok videosu
506.946 farm telifsiz stok videosufarm stok görsellerine bakın
4k00:10Male IT Technician Working on a Laptop Standing Before Open Server Rack Cabinet in Big Data Center. Shot on RED EPIC-W 8K Helium Cinema Camera.
4k00:14Servers close up. Modern datacenter. Cloud computing. Loopable 8k 4k UHD Server in datacenter. Cloud computing data storage 3d rendering. 8k 4k closeup loopable animation
4k00:204K Aerial view of Solar Panels Farm (solar cell) with sunlight.Drone flight fly over solar panels field renewable green alternative energy concept in Thailand.
4k00:31Aerial view of Wind turbines Energy Production- 4k aerial shot on sunset. 4k drone footage turbines at sunrise with clouds
hd00:09Portrait of young farmer in hat standing at field of organic farm with the tractor on the background. Man looking at camera and smiling in beautiful sunset light.
hd00:10Modern farm barn with milking cows eating hay/Cows feeding on dairy farm/Cows in cowshed/Calf feeding on farm/Livestock on farm/Tractor in farm barn/Agriculture industry/Milk farm
4k00:17Drone scanning farm, Analyze the field, Smart agriculture, 4K size movie, internet of things. 4th industrial revolution.
hd00:14Turkey with white feathers and red small appendage looks at other turkeys in confusion around room at poultry farm
hd00:14Two businessman farmers shake hands with each other firmly. They talk on the field against a beautiful sunset, they use a tablet. Deal
4k00:14Beautiful Sunset Over Solar Panel Farm Aerial Drone Footage Ecology Power Conservation Concept
hd00:20Corn Harvest. Farmers Work Corn Field. Agriculture Corn Farm Harvest. Golden Corn Growing. Ecological Farmer, Organic Horticulture, Producing Food And Crops, Organic Farming, Agricultural Land Area.
4k00:19Aerial view of farmer using digital tablet and monitoring centre pivot irrigation on large scale vegetable farm
4k00:144K Aerial view of Solar Panels Farm (solar cell) with sunlight.Drone flight fly over solar panels field renewable green alternative energy concept in Thailand.
4k00:19Aerial view of windmills turning at sunset, wind power turbines generating clean renewable energy
hd00:06Majestic view of sun light shines on tea plant leaves. Nuwara Eliya plantation fields on hill slopes. Beautiful Sri Lanka nature landscapes
4k00:32Solar Panels, Alternative energy / One of the biggest Solar Farms in the World / Aerial, Drone Shot (Slow motion)
4k00:12Aerial desert view large industrial Solar Energy Farm producing concentrated solar power. Around the mountain and the sun sets at sunset
4k00:184K Aerial view of Solar Panels Farm (solar cell) with sunlight.Drone flight fly over solar panels field renewable green alternative energy concept in Thailand.
4k00:14Aerial View. Beautiful windmill turbines , wind energy turbines . Aerial drone shot. 4K 30fps
hd00:14Ripe Vineyard Grapes. Grapes Vineyard Sunset. Tuscany, Italy. Italian Wineyard: Ripe Grapes On Vine For Making White Wine. Wine Grapes Harvest In Italy. Italian Countryside Beautiful Farms Vineyards.
hd00:18Young farmer in hat picking carrots on field of organic farm in sunset light. Man holding in hand harvest of carrot and folding it in a wooden box.
4k00:10Everyday life for farmers with cows in Latin American countryside. Peasants work with livestock in family country ranch. Manual job and people in farm. Happy grandfather, dad and child smiling
hd00:34Steadicam shot: Farmers - a man and a woman walking across the field at sunset. Carry a tree seedling, a watering can and a shovel. Concept - work in the garden, volunteering, a new life
4k00:24Two workers in a uniform and hardhat install photovoltaic panels on a metal basis on a solar farm
4k00:15Servers racks walkthrough in Modern data center. Cloud computing datacenter server room. Cloud computing data storage 3d rendering. 4k UHD animation
4k00:15Close up portrait of senior man with beard looking to the camera in the golden field on the sky background.
4k00:114K Aerial view of Solar Panels Farm (solar cell) with sunlight.Drone flight fly over solar panels field renewable green alternative energy concept in Thailand.
4k00:09Happy Farmer Walks with Box full of Tomatoes Through Industrial, Brightly Lit Greenhouse. There's Rows of Organic Plants Growing. Shot on RED EPIC-W 8K Helium Cinema Camera.
hd00:18Aerial Flyover Over Wild Horses Running Slow Motion Through Meadow Iceland Summer Colors Freedom Liberty Travel Destination
4k00:16Friendly salesman working with his wife in farm market giving fresh produce to customer and holding terminal while he swiping credit card to pay for products
hd00:35Close-up of woman's hand running through lavender field. Stabilized shot SLOW MOTION 120 fps. Girl's hand touching purple lavender flowers. Plateau du Valensole, Provence, South France, Europe.
4k00:25Everyday life for farmer with cows in South American countryside. Peasant work in Latin America with livestock in family country ranch. Manual job and people in small farm, man walking with cattle
4k00:18Close-up of woman's hand running through wheat field, dolly shot. Slow motion 120 fps. Filmed in 4K DCi resolution. Girl's hand touching wheat ears closeup. Sun lens flare. Good harvest concept.
4k00:08Group of three elderly Japanese farmers going through tea leaves in a tea plantation during a bright fall day with Mount Fuji in the background. Wide shot on 4k RED camera on gimbal.
hd00:12Windmill / Wind power technology - Aerial drone view on Wind Power, Turbine, Windmill, Energy Production - Green technology, a clean and renewable energy solution
hd00:09Close up fresh cow milk pouring in bucket on dairy farm. Milk factory. Dairy products. Rural farming. Farming
4k00:11Modern farming concept, advanced technology in agriculture. Male farmer with portable tablet computer in a field using specialized app. 4K UHD 60 FPS
4k00:14Solar Panels Farm Green Energy Aerial Flight At Sunset Orange Colors Mountains Nature Ecology Concept
hd00:31Offshore Windmill farm in the ocean Westermeerwind park , windmill green energy at sea on a beautiful bright day Netherlands Flevoland
hd00:16Clip of Holstein Friesians often shortened as Friesians, dairy cattle cows used to produce milk and other dairy products on a lush green farm during a spectacular sunset
hd00:12agriculture industry, farming, people and animal husbandry concept - young man or farmer with herd of cows in cowshed on dairy farm
hd00:27The farmer is holding a biological product of potatoes, hands and potatoes stained with earth. Concept biology, bio products, bio ecology, grow vegetables, vegetarians, natural clean, fresh product.
4k00:19Aerial shot of solar panels - solar power plant, Nevada desert, 2016. Concentrated solar power tower, center of solar farm
4k00:12Male Server Engineer Walks with Laptop Through Working Data Center Full of Rack Servers. Shot on RED EPIC-W 8K Helium Cinema Camera.
4k00:14Grandfather with grand son working in the garden riding the wheelbarrow. Old man helping little boy outdoor. 4K
4k00:17Agriculture Aerial Of Tractor Spraying Farm Land With Pesticides Farming Equipment Food Modification Crop Farming Concept
4k00:12An Alpine cow is smelling the camera, than turns to its herd, licking its nose, amazing covered with snow mountain peaks and large stones on the background. Farming activities. Animal portrait.
4k00:12Wind turbines and agricultural fields on a summer day - Energy Production with clean and Renewable Energy - aerial shot
4k00:18Hand picking tomatoes from the plant and sorting in a wooden box at a greenhouse, close up, low angle view, daylight.
hd00:20Farmer examining young soybean plants growth in cultivated field, agricultural soy field rows in sunset.
4k00:11Portrait of a handsome young farmer standing in a shirt and smiling at the camera, on a tractor and nature background. Concept: bio ecology, clean environment, beautiful and healthy people, farmers.
4k00:22Aerial view of cattle group of cows walking slowly over beautiful pasture farm landscape bright green grass from sunshine drone following Aberdeen Angus cows slowly from the right side of group 4k
hd00:15Yong farmer in hat with children harvesting organic carrot crop on the field of eco farm. Son and daughter helping their father working in the field. Man clears carrot via knife.
4k00:12SLOW MOTION CLOSE UP DOF: Caring chicken protecting her small fluffy yellow and brown baby chickens walking freely on meadow field outbuilding on animal ranch. Cute happy livestock bird family on farm
4k00:17AERIAL, CLOSE UP: Flying next to beautiful colorful rows of flowering tulips on big floricultural farmland in front of traditional antique wooden windmill at Keukenhof gardens, Amsterdam, Netherlands
hd00:23Wind turbines create renewable energy in Germany. Cooling tower of nuclear power plant in background.
4k00:13Automating the process of planting. Agriculture farming technology, artificial intelligence concept. Farmer use smart farm automation robot assistant image processing.

subset: commoncrawl


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My Favorite Flirts is a feature that lets you reach your favorite Flirts easily from My Account or on 1-800-TO-FLIRT.Manage My Favorites
Mistress Liza
$0.69 per volley.
(15 Reviews)
You will become my little trained sissy slave, always following orders, and always completing my tasks. You'll wear what I say, walk as I say, and perform as I say! Perform? What will this Mistress make you do? Ha! Lots, little whore! First off, you'll lose your man clothes, and you'll dress up as my little sexy bitch. Then you'll orally worship me, and my friends, and my male friends. You will become a cum slut. You will serve my guests. You will do a fashion show. You will be owned by me, and me alone.


text:
It was a very tiring day, to say the least, my legs felt like melting wax after hours of walking/some running/and more walking in 4 inches heels. Then there's psychological stress when you can't decide which of Camille Co's stuff you'd want to get. Well, I wanted all of them, but I needed to choose only a thing or two. And of course, there's emotional struggle, when you have to accept the fact that you just can't have all the beautiful clothes/bags/shoes and accessories. haha Nevertheless, my aching feet and sore back was all worth it (?) because I had a lot of fun at the bazaar. Aside from scourging through racks and racks of good finds, I was able to satisfy my unyielding craving for milk tea because there was Mang Cha-a and Taco parlors as well. I also scored Camille Co's belt which she wore here and a neon yellow necklace (couldn't find her entry for it). I got her awesome snakeskin waist belt for only Php 150 and the necklace for Php 100! I get so kilig to think that these were Camille Co's! I just love that lovely girl so much ♥ Anyway, let me show you what I wore. Earlier today, I dropped a hint that I'll be wearing Cartoon Network. Well, I did, literally :)
This dress was, as I've mentioned in my post this morning, a hand-me-down from my boss! There's a little dramatic story to it, and if you want to know a bit more about that, you can read it here. Anyways, it was a good thing she's got great taste too and that it doesn't fit her anymore. lol I think the checkered print is so cute. It maybe a little on the stereotype side, you would agree I guess, but I honestly loved it! It also has an empire cut, which is quite visible on the photos, but I didn't feel wearing it that way so I cinched a waist belt to put a bit of shape to it ^_^ .
I decided to wear minimal accessories since I thought I would be hoarding at the event. Well, I thought I was early enough. NOT! Apparently, my ensemble strictly adhered to blacks and whites. Simple but put together, so to speak.
This thrifted bag was my miracle. I was already putting the "black studded, fringed, sling bag" on the top of my wish list for this Christmas' monito-monita when lo and behold! I found one at a nearby thrift store and I got it for Php350! It was still a bit pricey since it was included in the new arrivals. Nonetheless, I fell in love with it the moment I saw it and I knew I had to get my hands on this baby!
I'd like to thank my ate Nadia for this neck piece. She gave it to me 4 years ago and this is so dear to me. I've overused this piece and will abuse it more in the coming years. By the way, I wanted to show you my new hair color! Sadly, the shade is only ocular under the sunlight. So I'm still pondering whether I need to visit the parlor again for another shade :p
Look at the stamp! BFAD approved :D
I love the windy effect on my bangs here lol. My boyfriend and I still can't believe that all these shots were taken via his Samsung Galaxy S3. Gosh I love that phone. Its camera is quite astounding!
checkered dress ; Jewels (hand me down)
waist belt ; random from SM North Edsa
Wedges ; Rusty Lopez
studded fringe sling bag ; thrifted
studded leather brazer ; random from the Landmark
wooden and pearl bangles ; gift from a friend (Patty Lopez)
necklace ; gift
And of course, the boyfriend has to have some outfit shots too :D
Look! He's a fan of thrift stores too. Hooray for Ukay goods! (Overcoat and pants both thrifted)
..."look at these legs" ...
Cute cupcakes from The Pastry Project at The Bargain Doll's booth. These cupcakes were made by my highschool classmate Bebay :p
And of course, The Bargain Doll herself, my highschool classmate as well, Rovie Divinagracia. Isn't she pretty? ♥♥♥
And a this blog post will not end without a plead to have a hype for my look haha


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November 2012
« October 2012 | Main | December 2012 »
November 30, 2012Rasmussen: 68% Prefer Capitalism
Barack Obama Replaces 'Hail to the Chief'! (Video)
#My2K Response Shows President Obama Why Taxing The Rich Won't Work (Video)
Obama's 'Cure' For The 'Fiscal Cliff': Whistle Past Our Graveyard
'Good Night, And Good Luck, CNN'
India's Growth Rate 'Slows' To 2 Times U.S Rate
November 29, 2012Re: 'Well, I think we have a final verdict on the Obama stimulus'
How An Unpopular President Got Re-elected
'Socialists Outline Democrat's Agenda for Next Two Years'
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Democrats Push To House Islamo-Terrorists Among Us
ABC's Jake Tapper's Simple Idea To Improve White House Briefings
November 28, 2012Obama In August 2009: "You Don't Raise Taxes In A Recession"
Re: Obama's secret Pell Grant cuts
Welfare Nation: For Every 1.65 Persons In The Private Sector - 1 Person Receives Welfare Assistance.
Gallop: Majority In U.S. Now Against Gov't Healthcare Guarantee
The Deficit/Debt Problem In A Nutshell, And Why Increasing Taxes To Solve Our Deficit Problem Is An Exercise In Futility
November 27, 2012Glenn Beck Dunks Obama Bobblehead in Urine ... Calls It Art
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Now Obama Is After Your 401(K) and IRA
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Hamas Music Video: "Killing Jews Is Worship That Draws Us Close To Allah"
Please Say It Ain't So
Lindsey Graham: 'Benghazi Comments Sound More Like a Smoke Screen'
Hurricane Sandy Victim Upset After Being Played By Obama For A Photo-Op (Video)
November 26, 2012Right Wing Christian Extremist to Execute 12 Homosexuals
Jamie Foxx at 2012 Soul Train Awards: "Give an honor to God and our lord and savior, Barack Obama"
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Why Walmart's Critics Are Wrong ... In Just 17 Tweets
Iran Rapidly Rearming Hamas
Communism vs. Capitalism In One Image
November 23, 2012The WH's Cover-Up Of The Cover-Up
U.S. Leads World In Carbon Reductions ... And It Has Nothing To Do With Obama's Green Energy Initiatives
Must-Watch Bill Whittle, On A Genuine Conservative Candidate For President
November 22, 2012Happy Thanksgiving From Ronald Reagan
November 21, 2012Happy Food Stamp Thanksgiving
Hamas TV After Tel Aviv Bus Bombing: "God Willing, We Will Soon See Black Body Bags"
Video: Palestinian Islamic Jihad leaders admit missiles came from Iran
November 20, 2012CNBC Analyst Says Obamacare Will Increase Individual Rates by 20% to 100% in 2014
Must-See Video: French Youth Declare War on Multiculturalism and Collapse of Western Society
Obama Administration To Immigrants: Come To America For Our Free Stuff
Is IDF Incursion Into Gaza Imminent?
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A Glimpse of the
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November 19, 2012The 'Real' News On Gaza
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Nanny State Update: Homeland Security Is Promoting Welfare to New 'Immigrants'
Precise IDF Bombing of Missile Site in Mosque Yard (Video)
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The Jerusalem Post 'Gets it'
November 18, 2012Steven Crowder Video Defends Israel Against Haters Of 'Evil Jooz': 'Israel vs. The World!!'
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Today Is National Papa John's Appreciation Day
Pallywood Update: CNN Uses Video Footage Of Faked Palestinian 'Injuries'
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November 15, 2012CNN: Petraeus To Testify He Knew Libya Was Terrorism 'Almost Immediately' (Plans to 'Amend' Previous Testimony)
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Washington Times: Libya Timeline Suggests Cover-Up in Attack
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Weekly jobless claims rise to 439K ... Highest Level Since April 2011
The Biggest Reason Obama Won?
Fox News' Special Report Panel on Susan Rice, Benghazi, and Taxes
November 14, 2012Email From An Obamanist Commenter (Updated)
The Hill: 'Obama to open 'fiscal cliff' talks with call for $1.6T in new revenues'
Re: 'Obama Gears Up to Crack Down on Being White'
Israeli Airstrike Kills Leader of Hamas Military Wing (Video)
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Breaking: Former CIA Director David Petraeus to testify on Benghazi attacks
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November 13, 2012Charles Krauthammer: 'White House 'Held Affair Over Petraeus's Head' For Favorable Testimony On Benghazi'
'How exactly did national-security and military affairs come to resemble Keeping Up with the Kardashians?'
Ronald Reagan on Balancing the Budget
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Union Workers Were Forewarned That If They Went On Strike The Plant Would Close ... They Went On Strike Anyway ... Now They're Out Of Work And P*ssed Off At The Company
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Teachers Flock to 'Marxist Conference' At Northwestern University
November 12, 2012Eric Holder Is Obviously Lying About the Petaeus Affair!
Fox News Confirms US Was Holding Prisoners at Benghazi Annex (Video)
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November 9, 2012CIA Director Petraeus Resigns Over Extra-Marital Affair
Nanny State Strikes Again: NYC Bans Food Donations To The Homeless
Nanny State Strikes Again: NYC Bans Food Donations To The Homeless
Companies plan massive layoffs as Obamacare becomes reality
Following Obama's Reelection, Ohio Businessman Reads Prayer to Staff ... Then Lays Off 156 Employees (Result of Obama's war on coal)
America Committed Suicide On November 6, 2012
Why I Voted Democrat
'Lucky' Obama Won Dozens of Cleveland Districts with 100% of the Vote
November 8, 2012Surprise?? Fraud in PA: Obama Got Over 99% of Vote at Polls Where GOP Inspectors were Removed; Turnout Somehow "30%"Above Gov't Numbers
'Fun Fact: Obama Lost in Every State with a Voter Photo-ID Law'
Stock Market Tumbling ... Again
A Chart Showing Just How Clueless America's Electorate Is And Conservative Voters Aren't Going To Like But Have To Find A Way To Deal With
Major Demographic Shift? (Updated)
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"Democrats win elections by rejecting the advice they give to Republicans"
November 7, 2012Rush Limbaugh: 'In a Nation of Children, Santa Claus Wins'
Obama supporters celebrate no more Israel (Video)
There is, after all, a bright side
Dow drops 343 points following Obama's re-election
Getting Back To Benghazi-gate
"It is profoundly disturbing to watch a once-great power commit suicide in real time."
The Startling Puzzle of Obama's Second Chance
They're Excited He's 'Got More Leverage After The Election'
Re: 'Doomed Beyond All Hope of Redemption'
November 6, 2012Ohio Early Vote Looking Good for Mitt Romney
Cover of the New York Post: All this Office Needs is a Leader
Dem Dirty Trick Update: GOP inspectors reportedly kicked out of multiple Philadelphia polling places (Updated)
Loonyness defined: Geraldo Rivera endorses Romney/Ryan but is voting for Obama/Biden ... or something
Rasmussen's Final Presidential Tracking Poll Of Election 2012: Romney - 49, Obama - 48
Must-see Inspirational New Romney Web Ad: 'The Moment'
Vote Today Like Your Nation's Survival Depends On It
November 5, 2012GOP Internal Polls Show Good News For Romney
Loony Lefty Bloomberg Blocks National Guard Because ...
Loony Lefty Bloomberg Blocks National Guard Because ...
'Like a thief with good tools'
Spengler on 'Barack Obama and America's decline'
Breaking: Gallup Final to Show 49-48 Romney Lead
Sandy Survivors Report Crapping in Hallways, Rape In Stairwell, No Food, No One To Help (Video)
The Wisconsin Journal Switches From Endorsing Obama to Endorsing Romney
Obama Claims He Means What He Says
Rasmussen's Final Virginia Poll: Romney 50, Obama 48
CBS Held Damaging Segment of Tape On Obama Benghazi Interview
Obama's EPA planning major post-election anti-coal regulation
Drudge: Rasmussen - Romney 49, Obama - 48
Vote for Moral Degenerate Martin, Felon Malcom X, and well dead Hoodlum Trayvon?
Oh, The Hypocrisy!
November 3, 2012Armed Forces Ballots Mailed From Afghanistan Are - 'Lost'
New Mitt Romney Ad: "Revenge or Love of Country?" (VIdeo)
November 2, 2012New American Crossroads Ad: "Debate"
Fox News: 'Sources, emails point to communication breakdown in Obama administration during Libya attack'
Rasmussen: Romney 50, Obama 47 ... In Colorado
Video: Obama's Associations -- Election 2012
CIA Benghazi Timeline 'Nothing More Than Misdirection'
Enthusiasm Deficit Update: Only 2,800 Turn Out to See Obama at Ohio Rally (Video) (Updated)
Team Obama ... Not So Classy
Video: Obama Supporters Think His Policies Are Crazy And Immoral When Attributed To Romney
October unemployment rate jumped to 7.9%
Hugh Hewitt: The Curse of the Photo Op President: "Millions Stuck In Dark, Cold"
Benghazi Lead Investigator Appointed By Obama Administration Slams America and 'Islamophobes'
NBC: Staten Island Abandoned By FEMA, Red Cross (Updated)
November 1, 2012Leaked Photo Of Obama Looking Especially Presidential While Touring Damage From Hurricane Sandy
New Revelations reveal US government's senior counterterrorism group was not convened during the attack on the US consulate in Benghazi
Las Vegas Review-Journal calls President Obama an "embarassment", "unworthy", a "narcissistic amateur"
Bill Whittle: Those Who Cast a Vote "For Principle" For a Third Party Candidate Are Casting a Ballot in Fact For A Statist And An Unprincipled Tyrant
Arab TV Report Reveals Documents Gathered At Consulate Following Attack That Expose Lax Security At U.S. Consulate In Benghazi Prior To Ambassador Stevens' Arrival And Security Breach Prior To Attack
Karl Rove: It's Romney 51, Obama 48
(Bombshell) Fox News Report: Cable Shows Benghazi Personnel Were 'Sitting Ducks'
Fox News' Special Report Panel on the Benghazi Attack (Video)
History Holds Its Breath
New Mitt Romney Ad: Obama''s 'Solution to Everything Is to Add Another Bureaucrat'
Mark Steyn on Covering All the Bases


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Criminal Justice
The Criminal Justice Financial Crimes Course (CJ 3330) is designed to accomplish three
(1) To give students a solid background in Financial Crimes, Money Laundering, Terrorist
Financing and Tax Evasion and to provide them with the ability to identify and investigate
these crimes, making them more marketable for employment with law enforcement agencies
and financial institutions;
(2) To acquaint students with banking procedures and federal banking and finance regulations;
(3) To provide students with enough background in financial crimes, money laundering
and financial institution compliance and financial crime investigations, that will
help them prepare for the Association of Certified Financial Crime Specialist (ACFCS)
certification exam**.
Our partnership with ACFCS provides the following benefits for students: Online access
to the ACFCS course material (to be utilized during the CJ 3330 course); access to
ACFCS webinars, podcasts, financial crime news and analysis resources and online exam
preparation material; one year of ACFCS student membership and, for those who complete
the course and take the certification exam within a two year period, a discounted
exam fee of only $750.
1. The National Money Laundering Risk Assessment - 2015 (NMLRA) (Free on the internet but is required for class. Duplication cost is about
$7 at the UVU Copy Center
2. The Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money Laundering Examination Manual-2014(BSA/AML) (which is free on the internet, however the duplication fee is approximately
$18 at the UVU Copy Center) AND
3. The Association of Certified Financial Crime Specialist Manual-2014 (ACFCS). The ACFCS manual is required class and can be obtained from the UVU
Copy Center (GT-516d) for approx. $14.00.
4. There is also a mandatory charge of $100.00 which must be paid directly to ACFCS for the use of their certification manual (Payment
instructions will be provided to students only). This is in addition to tuition and
regular fees.
**There are three other certification programs available. Each has a different emphasis.
They are:
(1) Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (ACAMS)
(2) Certified Fraud Examiner's (CFE) certification, which UVU's Accounting 312G helps
prepare for; and
(3) Certified Internal auditor's (CIA) certification, which UVU's Accounting 2010
helps prepare for.
We selected the ACFCS certification course because we believe it most closely meets
the needs of Criminal Justice students.
For more information on the benefits of this class and when it is offered please contact
Matthew Duffin at 801-863-6896 or firstname.lastname@example.com.
Office of the President
Inclusion & Diversity
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Useful Links
Helping individuals tackling drug and alcohol problems. www.drugaidcymru.com.
If you are worried about money problems. www.cccs.co.uk.
We are committed to providing affordable, low-cost financial services to everyone within our local community. www.mtbcu.org.uk/
Age Concern Wales. www.accymru.org.uk.
Citizens Advice Bureau. www.adviceguide.org.uk.w
Welcome to the Merthyr Valleys Homes Website. ww.mvhomes.org.uk/
The Welsh Government is the devolved Government for Wales with responsibility for the economy, education, health and the Welsh NHS, business, public. www. gov.wales/?lang=en
Information and services for residents, businesses and tourists. On-line services and information on Council Tax, Planning, Rubbish Waste & Recycling, Leisure .. Merthyr Tydfil County Borough council. www.merthyr.gov.uk


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- Community Education
- Family Support and Strengthening
- My Voice Matters
- Period of PURPLE Crying
- Strengthening Families
Strengthening Families
Strengthening Families Approach
Every family has its strengths, but all families can thrive when protective factors are fostered in their lives and communities. Parents play an important role in advocating for their children and improving their communities, and professionals who work with children and families can help get parents involved by engaging them in protective factors that strengthen their families and improve their children's development. NH has many family support programs and resource centers that work to help strengthen the State's diverse families and communities. Many of these programs belong to a statewide network called Family Support New Hampshire.
Five Protective Factors are the foundation of the Strengthening Families Approach:
- parental resilience
- social connections
- concrete support in times of need
- knowledge of parenting and child development
- social and emotional competence of children
Download the FAMILY CHECKLIST.
According to the Center for the Study of Social Policy, research studies support the common-sense notion that when these Protective Factors are well established in a family, the likelihood of child abuse and neglect diminishes. Research shows that these protective factors are also "promotive" factors that build family strengths and a family environment that promotes optimal child and youth development.
Every year the New Hampshire Strengthening Families Leadership Team hosts a Strengthening Families Summit. Visit our events page to learn more.
Strengthening Families funded in part by:
FREE Protective Factors Online Training
Find a Strengthening Families training near you!
If you are a professional whose work touches families, there are trainings available to help you promote these protective factors in the families with whom you work. Trainings are available online or in-person workshops. For more information about the online training email Julie Day. To see if we've scheduled a training near you, consult our Trainings Page"


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In a major step to improve career mobility, to fulfil aspirations and to achieve combat effectiveness by bringing down age profile of commanding officers, the Union Cabinet today approved the Ministry of Defence's proposal for effecting upgradation of 1896 posts in the Services.
Popularly known as Phase-II of the Ajay Vikram Singh Committee Report, the proposals approved today would result in reduction in stagnation. The Defence Minister Shri A K Antony had taken a personal interest in the implementation of the proposal and played a crucial role in evolving a consensus among the Services. The measures taken today will also lead to progressive promotion of junior batches without adversely affecting promotional aspects of senior batches, thereby reducing the age profile of officers in select ranks.
The upgradation will be carried out in the Army over a period of five years, in the Navy over the next ten years and in the Air Force over a period of five years. The total number of posts to be upgraded will be 1051 in the Army, 342 in the Navy and 503 in the Air Force. Of the 1051 posts in the Army, 20 are at the level of Lieutenant General and equivalent, 75 at Major General and equivalent, 222 at Brigadier and equivalent, and 734 at Colonel and equivalent. The corresponding figures in the Navy will be 4 at Vice Admiral and equivalent, 14 at Rear Admiral and equivalent, 324 at Commodore, Captain and equivalent. In the Air Force upgradation will be effected for 6 post at Air Marshal and equivalent, 21 at Air Vice Marshal and equivalent, 61 at Air Commodore and equivalent, 415 at Group Captain and equivalent.
The Cabinet also approved the proposal for the reduction in the regular cadre and corresponding increase in the support cadre consisting of Short Service Commissioned Officers and re-employed officers (for Army) as envisaged in the Ajay Vikram Singh Committee (AVSC) Report and as per requirement of the three Services irrespective of gender.
It may be recalled that the Ministry of Defence had set up a Committee on 16th July, 2001, under the Chairmanship of Shri Ajay Vikram Singh, the then Special Secretary with representatives of the three Services with an aim to achieve 'combat effectiveness' by bringing down the age profile of battalion / brigade level commanders. The Committee submitted its report on February 2003 and the Raksha Mantri accorded in principle approval to the report in September 2003. AVSC Phase-I in respect of non-select ranks i.e. Lieutenant Colonel and equivalent and below was implemented in December 2004.


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Lobster Joint Brands 201 East Houston
This image has been archived or removed.
In the wake of its recent closure, ladder-bound contractors scrubbed away the remnants of Lina Frey last weekend with their handheld sanders. The pseudo al-fresco dining concept called it quits in early October amidst news that a Lobster shop had pincered 201 East Houston Street. It was a slow fade-out, beginning with listings of the business on the open market earlier this year. Nevertheless, work on the replacement followed shortly thereafter, and seemingly with brisk progress.
Now the Greenpoint-based Lobster Joint has officially planted its flag onsite – tacky red marquee lettering on white backdrop. Its arrival marks the 23,455th seafood spot to open on the Lower East Side within the last year. The trend is showing few signs of slowing.
Meanwhile, proprietors are holding an open call for house staff. According to a recent Craigslist ad, pretty much all positions are sought for the restaurant (kitchen crew, bartenders, waiters, etc). And apparently the Lobster Joint will open sometime in December.


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Bono, Ashley Greene, and Taylor Swift Give To Charity — And Your Holiday Gifts Can, Too!
Check out these great gift ideas for the celebrity-obsessed girl in your life!
Are you looking for a last minute gift for the celeb-obsessed person in your life? I've been spending the last week pulling together gift ideas that give back to charity, at prices anyone can afford. And many of them also involve your favorite celebs!
I found a really cute necklace that supports Mariska Hargitay's "The Joyful Heart" Foundation, a place to bid on iPods downloaded and signed by mega-artists like Bono, and thought up a creative way to donate your dresses like Ashley Green and Taylor Swift did this year!
So check out this Holiday Gift Guide that Gives Back on Maria Shriver's Women's Confrence blog for even more ideas on gifts that give all around.
And please tell me — what great celebrity charity gifts have you discovered this season? —Corynne Steindler


text: There's nothing like waking up to a fresh baked muffin! A fresh muffin is convenient, wholesome, and gets your morning off to the perfect start. Our Strawberry Cheesecake Muffins can do just that. These 6 over sized Texas muffins are approx. 3" high and 2-1/2" diameter. The nice thing about these muffins is that the strawberries and cream cheese are mixed with the batter and baked together. Really gives that strawberry cheesecake flavor throughout the muffin.


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History Wiz is a source for history with original content. This includes multimedia exhibits, as well as links to other sites. Topics include world history, American history, and current events.
From the site:
The mission of this site is to promote an interest in history, to help us understand where we have been so we can know where we are going, and to provide high-quality history materials free of charge to everyone. We believe that history is more than a compilation of facts - it is the stories of the great and small, the causes and the effects. It is not just the political, but the social, religious, economic, and philosophical development of humankind. We try to bring this to life through exhibits. In addition, we provide a geographical, chronological, and topical interface which provides a basis for research. Although this site is based in the United States and American history is well represented, the focus is on an inter-connected world free of nationalistic bias.
The director of HistoryWiz is Jennifer Brainard, BA, MAT, JD. Much of the information and recommendations found on these pages are based on her knowledge and experience as an educator and history journalist. This experience includes teaching in college and high school and authoring many articles on history. All materials on this site are copyrighted.


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FUE hair transplant is also known as stitch less and scar less technqiue. In FUE doctors pick healthy hair follicles from donor area (back of the head) and insert them one by one into the bald area of head of patient.
Follicular Unit Extraction method is helping hair loss patients to get more attractive and younger look. Advancements in the technology have done many additions in the FUE procedure for obtained the refined results. Bio FUE is also one such advancement in the regular procedure which has improved the results of hair transplant
Hair loss occurs due to several reasons such as medical treatment, stress, anxiety and injury in head. As Hair are an essential part of body, a wide reduction in hair density affects your overall appearance and is a sign of a medical trouble.
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Best Hair Transplant Technology for Hair Surgery: We offer best and affordable Hair transplant in Ludhiana. We have clinic in Ludhiana, you can Consult our doctor to know what technique suits you and your budget. There are constant offers and discounts released from the clinics, so please get in touch with receptionist as and when you decide to get Hair Transplant done.
Are you one of those males living with baldness on their facial hair? Indeed, on the off chance that it is not by alopecia, then it can be reasonable through Hair Transplant. For facial hair transplant, dynamic hair unions are required that can be taken out from thickly hair developing parts of it or body. Every follicle contains a dynamic hair root from which hair leaves the skin and develops. This method begin showing up results following maybe a couple weeks. The most vital angle in this strategy is giving right and suitable bearings to transplanted follicle with the goal that hairs can develop in same heading like normally ones.
FUE (follicular unit extraction) Hair Transplantation is one of the most recent procedures for hair transplant surgery. Basically, it is a simple technique to develop regular hairs on one's scalp. In this methodology each follicular unit is independently separated leaving the donor area for all intents and purposes scar less and then the FUE surgery unions are implant and arranged with the goal that they can be transplanted in the thinning up top zones
PRP stands for platelet rich plasma which is taken from our body and then specially processed in high concentration which is then again injected into our scalp for hair implant. PRP therapy is totally a natural treatment which is non-surgical and is suitable for both men and women.
The body hair transplant is the procedure in which body hairs are taken from the abundant donor hair present on beard, chest etc. for transplant to the scalp. This is done by scarless FUE technique as day care procedure .There is about 1 million hairs present on the body.
AMS Hair Transplant
Hair Treatment


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Fangraphs' Draft Review
Marc Hulet over at Fangraphs breaks down our big picks over the last three amateur drafts. Feel like getting depressed? Well, check it out here.
Frankly, it's not as bad as I make it sound. All teams are hit-and-miss when it comes to the draft. I heard someone once equate the MLB first-year draft to playing darts with a blindfold. Yeah, I think that's about right.
Still, here's the cliffnotes of our minors:
Great: Josh Vitters, (Starlin Castro, but he's not featured in the article)
Good: Andrew Cashner, Ryan Flaherty, Jay Jackson
We Can Only Pray for Ben Zobrist* II: The rest.
Again, maybe I'm being too hard, but the Cubs are a big market team, which for some reason means we must trade away any developed talent in the hopes of wins now.
*Yes, he was more valuable than Albert Pujols in 2009. Of course, Joe Mauer might have been more valuable, but who can quantify catchers' defense?


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Recently I signed as a speaker with Soapbox Inc. and was asked to write for their SoapVOX blog. Being that October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month the video surfacing recently that showed Ray Rice knocking out his now-wife, my first post was about how to talk to boys about domestic violence. Check it out here:
I work at a University and one of the campaigns we do every year for Relationship Violence Awareness Month is the Red Flag Campaign (which I helped to create along with other interpersonal violence prevention advocates from various Virginia colleges and universities). You don't have to be a college student to find this campaign helpful. Last year I wrote a piece about healthy versus unhealthy relationship behaviors referencing the content from the Red Flag Campaign.
Check it out here:
If you feel that your relationship is unhealthy, there are advocates out there ready and willing to help.
October always reminds me just how important it is to raise my boys to be good men. Have you talked to your kids about healthy and unhealthy relationships?
|I love it when my boys hug!
(Yes, that's an Elmo bucket on Myles' head. LOL)


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The theory that escaped Einstein
By Rodney A. Brooks
By Rodney A. Brooks
PREFACE iii
People like you and me, though mortal, of course, like everyone else, do not grow old no matter how long we live. What I mean is that we never cease to stand like curious children before the great Mystery into which we are born. – Albert Einstein (E1979, p. 82)
When I was 14, I read Arthur Eddington's The Nature of the Physical World. I remember how excited I was to learn that a desk is not a solid piece of furniture. If you could look closely enough, said Eddington, beyond the power of any microscope, you would see that it is made of atoms so tiny that we can hardly grasp their tinyness. These atoms are made of even tinier nuclei, and these in turn are made of particles called neutrons and protons, while little electrons whiz around them in orbits like miniature solar systems. So that is what the world is made of, I thought, and this was the first step in my eventual decision to make physics my career. Of course it didn't occur to me then to wonder what electrons, protons and neutrons are made of.
Some time later, as a graduate student, I attended a three-year lecture series at Harvard University by Julian Schwinger. The timing was perfect. Schwinger's development of Quantum Field Theory (QFT) had matured and he was about to publish a monumental work, "A theory of the fundamental interactions". I sat mesmerized, as did others.
Attending one of [Schwinger's] formal lectures was comparable to hearing a new major concert by a very great composer, flawlessly performed by the composer himself… The delivery was magisterial, even, carefully worded, irresistible like a mighty river… Crowds of students and more senior people from both Harvard and MIT attended… I felt privileged – and not a little daunted – to witness physics being made by one of its greatest masters. — Walter Kohn, Nobel laureate (M2000, p. 593-4)
As Schwinger stood at the blackboard, writing ambidextrously and speaking mellifluously in well-formed sentences, it was as if God Himself was handing down the Ten Commandments. The equations were so elegant that it seemed the world couldn't be built any other way. From the barest of principles, he derived the equations of QFT, even including the gravitational field. Not only was the mathematics elegant, but the philosophic concept of a world made of properties of space seemed to me much more satisfying than Eddington's mysterious particles. I was amazed and delighted to see how the paradoxes of relativity theory and quantum mechanics that I had found so baffling disappeared or were resolved.
Later on, I must admit, things got more complicated as the number and variety of fundamental fields grew, and quarks entered the scene. But to my knowledge, QFT remains as the true fabric of which the world is made. What's more, I believe it is the only fabric of which the world could be made.
Unfortunately, Schwinger, once called "the heir-apparent to Einstein's mantle" by J. Robert Oppenheimer, never had the impact he should have had on the world of physics or on the public at large. Instead, the more colorful and outgoing Richard Feynman came to the fore. It is his image, not Schwinger's, that is enshrined on a postage stamp. It is possible that Schwinger's very elegance was his undoing.
Julian Schwinger was one of the most important and influential scientists of the twentieth century… Yet even among physicists, recognition of his fundamental contributions remains limited, in part because his dense formal style ultimately proved less accessible than Feynman's more intuitive approach. However, the structure of modern theoretical physics would be inconceivable without Schwinger's manifold insights. His work underlies much of modern physics, the source of which is often unknown even to the practitioners. His legacy lives on not only through his work, but also through his many students, who include leaders in physics and other fields. – J. Mehra and K.A. Milton (M2000, p. v)
In the 50 years that passed since my student days, I have seen very little mention of QFT in its true fields-only sense. Instead I have seen a bombardment of books and articles that keep repeating the paradoxes that people are expected to accept. Physical intuition has disappeared or, worse yet, is sneered at. Far from bringing to the public an understanding of nature, these popular books and articles have brought confusion and chaos. This hit me hard one day as I was reading Joseph Heller's memoir, Now and Then. Heller is the author of Catch 22, one of my all-time favorites, and when I read that he tried to understand quantum mechanics and had to give it up (see quote in Chapter 1), I knew that something was badly wrong. And so I decided to write a book.
My mission soon turned into a labor of love, with emphasis on labor. I had not anticipated the breadth and depth of the subject, or the drama as our greatest minds waged what I think is our greatest battle: to understand the world we find ourselves in (a far more worthy battle than the wars we are so good at waging against each other). By drama, I mean not only the philosophic struggle to wrest nature's secrets from their most hidden recesses with only the flimsiest of evidence. I also mean the human side of the story — stories that are sometimes tragic, sometimes nettlesome, but always fascinating.
This book is my attempt to bring to the public the same satisfaction and understanding that I felt in Schwinger's courses, and to dispel the paradoxes of physics that prevent so many people from understanding the natural world. The book is aimed at two audiences. The primary audience consists of those who, like Heller, have made some attempt to understand modern physics and found it to be incomprehensible. The other audience is those people who have not read much about physics, but who would like to learn about it in a way they can understand. I hope that my efforts will bear fruit and that the reader will come away from the book feeling that nature is not mysterious or paradoxical, but is understandable and indeed makes perfect sense.
Rodney Brooks
Wanaka, New Zealand, 2010
The second edition brings Fields of Color up-to-date with a description of more recent developments in the standard model, otherwise known as Quantum Chromodynamics. Of particular importance is the calculation of hadron masses from basic field equations, which has been called "one of the greatest scientific achievements of all time" – an achievement of which the public is largely unaware! A discussion of dark matter is also included, along with other clarifications and improvements.
Rodney Brooks
Prescott, Arizona, 2011
The third edition is a major rewriting. Among the new features are an explanation of gravity waves and their detection, and solutions to the measurement problem (Schrödinger's cat), the Ehrenfest paradox, and the mystery of dark matter.
Rodney Brooks
Silver Spring, Maryland, 2016
Chapters 1-9 are not shown
In this chapter we present an overview of Quantum Field Theory. We will describe its structure and some of its many successes. Also, out of fairness, we will describe the gaps in the theory. But first we will start with the three pillars on which this amazing edifice rests, as presented by Julian Schwinger in his lectures at Harvard University in 1956-59.
The field principle. The first pillar is the assumption that nature is made of fields. A field is a set of physical properties that exist at every point of space. However, the concept of a field as a property of space does not come easily. It eluded the great Newton, even though he couldn't accept action-at-a-distance. It wasn't until 1845 that Faraday, inspired by patterns of iron filings, conceived the idea of fields, and it took another 50 years before the concept was accepted without invoking an imaginary ether. QFT comprises seven fields — five force fields and two matter fields.[1] The force fields include gravity, electromagnetic forces, strong and weak nuclear forces, and the recently-discovered Higgs field. The matter fields include lepton and baryon fields. Two of these fields — strong and baryon — are effective fields that are made of more basic but "invisible" fields called quarks and gluons. The use of colors is my attempt to make the field picture more palatable.
The relativity principle. The second pillar is the assumption that the field equations are the same for all uniformly-moving observers. This is Einstein's Principle of Relativity, famously enunciated in 1905. QFT is the only theory that successfully combines the relativity and quantum principles.
The quantum principle (discretization). The quantum principle was introduced in 1900 by Max Planck, who showed that EM radiation emitted by hot objects consists of discrete chunks that he called quanta (Chapter 3). Discretization was demonstrated experimentally in 1922 by Otto Stern and Walther Gerlach. Their classic experiment showed that the angular momentum (or spin) of the electron can have only two values — nothing in between (Fig. 10-1). In Schwinger's QFT all physical properties are treated as discrete (S2001). Even field strengths, whose values are continuous, are treated mathematically as the limit of increasingly finer discrete values. It is discretization that leads to the use of Hilbert algebra as the language of QFT.
Fig. 10-1. The Stern-Gerlach experiment. A beam of atoms is deflected when it enters a non-uniform magnetic field. Classically one would expect that the atom's magnetism (which arises from the spin of its electrons) could have any magnitude and that the beam would be deflected into a continuous band. Instead, the beam separates into two distinct parts as shown, corresponding to discrete spin values of +½ and -½ in Planck units. (www.upscale.utoronto.ca)
Occam's Razor. I'm tempted to add another principle, but it's really more of a wish than a rule. I'm referring to Occam's razor, which states in essence that all other things being equal, the simplest explanation is the best. Einstein put it somewhat differently: "A physical theory should be as simple as possible, but no simpler." The last phrase is important because, as Schwinger said, "nature does not always select what we, in our ignorance, would judge to be the most symmetrical and harmonious possibility". If the theory were as simple as possible, there would be just one field (or perhaps none!), and the world would be very uninteresting — not to mention uninhabitable. I think it can be said that the equations of QFT are indeed about as simple as possible, but no simpler.
The move from a particle description to a field description will be especially fruitful if the fields obey simple equations, so that we can calculate the future values of fields from the values they have now… Maxwell's theory of electromagnetism, general relativity, and quantum chromodynamics all have this property. Evidently, Nature has taken the opportunity to keep things relatively simple by using fields. – F. Wilczek (W2008, p. 86)
On these pillars rests the most successful theory ever constructed. Except for a few gaps, this theory explains everything from the tiniest atomic nucleus to the most remote star. Not only that, but most of the explanations emerge from the theory as easily and naturally as raindrops falling from the clouds, or better yet, like presents appearing under the Christmas tree. Following are some of the more attractive and accessible of these presents. Some have already been mentioned and some will be pleasant surprises.
Quanta. Quantum fields exist in three different forms: quanta, self-fields, and vacuum fields. A quantum is a separate, indivisible chunk of field that lives a life and dies a death of its own. For example, the photon is a quantum of the EM field, and protons and neutrons are quanta of the baryon field. Quanta are sometimes called excitations in a field, but that term doesn't do them justice. Excitations can have any magnitude and can diminish as they travel and slowly die away like water waves, whereas quanta are indivisible and act as a unit. They may be free and travel through space on their own, or they may be bound, as an electron in an atom, but each quantum keeps its own identity. If it is absorbed or changes its spin state, it does so as a unit. Because of this all-or-nothing behavior, quanta act like particles, making it difficult for many physicists to give up their belief in particles.
Self-fields. Self-fields do not have a life of their own; they are created by a source and are permanently attached to that source (see Fig. 3-1). Examples of self-fields are the gravitational field of the earth, the electric field around an electron or proton, and the strong and weak fields around a nucleon.
The vacuum field. Finally, there is the vacuum field. The equations of quantum field theory do not permit the field strength ever to be zero. Even in regions where there are no quanta or self-fields, there is a background field called the vacuum field. The vacuum field is especially important in the case of the Higgs mechanism (see below).
Hilbert algebra. Quantum fields are not described by simple numbers. They are described by vectors in what mathematicians call Hilbert space and their dynamics are described by operators that obey partial differential equations. Thus, while classical field intensity is described by a simple number in QFT we talk about the expectation value of field intensity. However, since my aim is to avoid mathematics, I will not go into this any further. You do not need to understand Hilbert algebra, or even to know the field equations, to grasp the basic concepts of QFT. Just remember that Hilbert space is not real; it is a mathematical tool and is not to be confused with the physical fields that exist in real three-dimensional space.
Mass. In classical physics mass is a measure of inertia (see Chap. 2), but in QFT mass is a number that appears in the field equations. The effect of the mass term is to slow down the speed at which a field evolves and propagates, so mass plays the same inertial role in QFT that it does in classical physics. But this is not all that mass does. This same term also causes the fields to oscillate, and the greater the mass, the higher the frequency.[2]
Energy. In classical physics, energy means the ability to do work and work is defined as force exerted over a distance. This definition, however, doesn't provide much of a picture, so in classical physics energy is a rather abstract concept. In QFT, on the other hand, the energy of a quantum is represented by oscillations in its field intensity: the more energy, the faster the oscillations. In fact Planck's famous relationship between energy and oscillation frequency (see Chap. 3) follows directly from the equations of QFT. In our color analogy, we might say that the oscillations cause the color to "shimmer"; the faster the shimmer, the greater the energy of the field.
e = mc2. I know, I promised there would be no equations and, except for a few footnotes, I've kept my promise. But I think you will forgive me for making an exception for the world's most famous equation — the only equation to have its biography written (B2000). And the thing is this: e = mc2 pops right out of QFT. Einstein had to work hard to derive it; it was published in a separate paper that followed his first breakthrough paper on relativity theory in 1905, but in QFT this equation follows as a simple consequence of the two previous results. Since both mass and energy are represented by oscillations in the field intensity, it doesn't take an Einstein to see that there is a relationship between the two. In fact, any schoolboy can combine the two equations and find (big drum roll, please) e = mc2.[3] Not only does this equation tumble right out of QFT, its meaning is seen physically in the oscillations of the fields. (This simple derivation only occurred to me as I was writing this book.)
Field components. Each of the seven fields in QFT is actually a group of interrelated "sub-fields" that share a set of equations. For example, what we call the EM field is a combination of electric and magnetic fields that are described by Maxwell's equations. Another example is the lepton field, which consists of four component fields to accommodate the two possible spins and charges
Spin (or helicity). In QFT there are no particles, so there is nothing to spin on its axis and the concept of spin is not easy to picture. Because of this, the term helicity is sometimes used in place of spin. Helicity is a mathematical concept related to the number of field components and how they change when viewed from different angles. Helicity gives rise to angular momentum, just as does a spinning particle.
Exclusion principle. The exclusion principle states that two field quanta with half-integer spin (called fermions after Enrico Fermi) cannot be in the same quantum state. This explains why matter quanta (electrons, protons, etc.) are seen only as separate entities. It also explains why each electron in an atom must be in a different quantum state (as described in Chapter 6) and why there is a limit to the number of neutrons in an atom (see "A delicate balance" in Chapter 4).
When the exclusion principle was introduced by Wolfgang Pauli in 1925, it was only a guess — an empirical postulate. It is only in QFT that this important principle is given a theoretical basis. It is a consequence of the spin-statistics theorem.
In my original paper I stressed the circumstance that I was unable to give a logical reason for the exclusion principle or to deduce it from general assumptions… If we search for a theoretical explanation of this law, we must pass to the discussion of relativistic wave mechanics. – W. Pauli (Nobel lecture, 1945)
Classical limit. The exclusion principle does not apply to force field quanta (called bosons after Satyendra Bose), which have integer spin. They can overlap and build up. Even though each quantum acts individually, if there are many present the effect is the same as a classical field.
Quantum collapse. If fields evolved only as described by the field equations, nothing of significance would happen because the equations do not describe the transfer of energy or momentum. For example, they don't describe how a photon transfers its energy to a photoreceptor in your eye. I call this process quantum collapse because after a quantum transfers its energy it can't continue to exist; it must disappear from all space. Like Schrödinger's cat, it can't be in a state of half dead and half alive. Even though we have no theory to describe quantum collapse, we know that it happens; indeed, it is an essential part of QFT.[4] As Art Hobson wrote, referring to the two-slit experiment:
The entire spread-out field… must deposit its quantum of energy all at once, in a single instant, because the field cannot carry some fraction of one quantum – it must always contain either exactly one or exactly zero quanta of energy. When the field deposits its quantum of energy on the viewing screen, the entire spread-out field must instantaneously lose this much energy. — A. Hobson (H2007, p. 303)
Quantum collapse is similar to collapse of the wave-function in QM, but the concepts are very different. In QM the wave-function describes the probability that a particle is in a given place or that the system is in a given state, and when a measurement is made the probabilities "collapse" into a certainty. In QFT the collapse is a physical process that actually happens. It may not be what we expected, but neither did we expect that the earth is round or that matter is made of atoms. Just as we learned to live with those concepts, so we can learn to live with quantum collapse.
Not only is quantum collapse a necessary part of QFT, it provides solutions to two of the most vexing problems in physics today: the measurement problem and entanglement, as described in Chapter 9.
Quarks and gluons. Quarks and gluons are the basic fields that constitute the strong and baryon fields, but they do not exist in free form. This is known as the Principle of Confinement. Indeed, we would not have known about them if not for the large number of hadrons (quanta of the strong and baryon fields) that were discovered in the latter half of the 20th century – the so-called "subatomic zoo". It was Yuval Ne'eman (an Israeli physicist) and Murray Gell-Mann who saw a pattern in the zoo that Gell-Mann dubbed "The Eightfold Way". This pattern led Gell-Mann to predict a new particle (the omega-minus) that was observed in 1963 with the predicted properties. Then in 1964 Gell-Mann and George Zweig showed that this pattern would result if hadrons were made of more basic fields that Gell-Mann (quite the wordsmith) called quarks, a word taken from Ulysses by James Joyce.[5] Later gluons (again, Gell-Mann's term) were introduced to hold the quarks together. The field theory that describes quarks and gluons was given the name (by guess whom) quantum chromodynamics (QCD), because arbitrary colors are used to describe certain properties of the quarks. (These colors are not to be confused with the equally arbitrary colors I have used to help visualize fields.) While QCD has its own name, it still is part of Quantum Field Theory.
"One of the greatest scientific achievements of all time". In a recent calculation it was shown that the field equations for quarks and gluons account for the mass and spin of all the hadrons in the sub-atomic zoo.[6] The basic parameters of the quark and gluon fields were first determined from three of the known masses. The field equations were then used to calculate stable and quasi-stable excitations of these fields. Fourteen such excitations were found with mass and spin in close agreement with the fourteen known hadrons, ranging from the proton and neutron to the exotic charmonium. Equally important is that there were no excitations corresponding to the quarks and gluons themselves, thereby providing a theoretical basis for the Principle of Confinement. As Frank Wilczek wrote:
Through difficult calculations of merciless precision that call upon the full power of modern computer technology, [we have] shown that unbendable equations… account convincingly and in quantitative detail for the existence of protons and neutrons, and for their properties… I believe this is one of the greatest scientific achievements of all time. — F. Wilczek (W2008, p. 122-127)
An achievement, I might add, that very few people are aware of.
The Higgs field. The Higgs field is the newest field in QFT; its quantum (called the Higgs boson) was detected in 2012. It interacts with all other fields and, because it has a large vacuum expectation value, it generates the effective mass of these fields. It was the final ingredient that made electroweak unification possible (see Chapter 5).
Dark Matter. As early as 1933, astronomical observations showed that there is more matter in the universe than was previously thought. In fact, astronomers now believe that ordinary matter constitutes only about 5% of the total mass of the universe, while something called dark matter makes up 27% of the total mass. (The rest is made of a related substance called dark energy, which we won't go into.) This conclusion is based on its apparent gravitational influence on other objects.[7] Dark matter is found primarily around galaxies and is believed to be a million times less dense than normal matter. It is not "seen" because it doesn't emit or absorb light — that is, it doesn't interact (or interacts very feebly) with the EM field.
QFT offers two possible explanations for dark matter. One possibility is a field suggested by Steven Weinberg and Frank Wilczek, with quanta called axions. Attempts have been made to detect axions with an apparatus called DAMA (for DArk MAtter.) that is buried under the Gan Sasso mountain in Italy. According to the DAMA scientific team, a signal was detected that is consistent with dark matter, but other scientists have treated this finding with skepticism and new experiments are underway. The other possibility is a field suggested by an approach to QFT called supersymmetry. Either of these hypothesized fields would be sufficiently stable and interact feebly enough with normal matter to qualify. To go further into dark matter, axions, and supersymmetry is beyond the scope of this book (and its author), but I would like to quote the delightful Frank Wilczek as to the origin of the name axion:
I'm very fond of axions, in part because I got to name them. I used that opportunity to fulfill a dream of my youth. I'd noticed that there was a brand of laundry detergent called "Axion", which sounded to me like the name of a particle. So when theory produced a hypothetical particle that cleaned up a problem with an axial current, I sensed a cosmic convergence. The problem was to get it past the notoriously conservative editors of Physical Review Letters. I told them about the axial current, but not the detergent. It worked. – F. Wilczek (W2008, p. 203)
Now we will take a look at what is not covered by QFT — the gaps in the theory.
Renormalization. The most obvious gap is that QFT does not describe the interaction of a quantum with its self-field—an interaction that Richard Feynman called a "silly" idea (Chapter 6). The problem is that according to QFT the result of this interaction turns out to be infinite, which is obviously not correct. The problem was solved for EM fields by the simple expedient of replacing the infinite quantities by their experimentally-determined values. However, the fact that the infinities occur in the first place shows that something is going on at the single quantum level that is not described by the QFT equations. As we saw in Chapter 8, this problem is more serious for the gravity field because its equations do not allow for the renormalization solution.
Quantum collapse. While quantum collapse is an essential part of QFT, it is not described by the field equations. Besides this lack of theory, there are several aspects of it that bother many physicists. One is that the collapse is instantaneous and occurs at the same time at widely separated points.[8] This is especially bothersome in the case of two entangled photons. Physicists call such a process non-local because it involves communication faster than the speed of light. Now it is true that the field equations include a number c that limits the speed of propagation, but quantum collapse is not described by these equations, so there is no reason it can't occur. In fact, quantum collapse is necessary if quanta are to act as indivisible units. Since it does not lead to any paradoxes or inconsistencies, there is no reason not to accept it. In any event, non-locality has been experimentally documented. Even those who believe in particles as the ultimate reality acknowledge that something collapses.
The other problem is that, so far as we know, quantum collapse is random. QFT does not explain when or how it happens. All we know is that the probability of collapse is related to the field intensity at a given point. The idea of randomness was troubling to Einstein:
I find the idea quite intolerable that an electron exposed to radiation should choose, of its own free will, not only its moment to jump off, but also its direction. In that case, I would rather be a cobbler, or even an employee in a gaming house, than a physicist. – A. Einstein (letter to Max Born, 1924)
However, 25 years later Einstein softened his stand. In a 1950 speech to the International Congress of Surgeons, after describing the "overwhelming evidence" for giving up causality, he concluded by saying:
Will this credo survive forever? It seems to me a smile is the best answer. – A. Einstein (Physics Today, June 2005, p. 47-48)
While the problem of randomness is not solved by QFT, at least it has been pinned down to a specific event. It is no longer a vague phenomenon related to the role of the observer, as in QM; it is a physical event that happens with or without an observer. Maybe someday we will have a theory to describe it, but even if it is truly random there is nothing inherently contradictory about that. It may not be what we expected but, like Einstein, we can always smile.
A speculation. Quantum collapse and renormalization both involve something that happens at the single quantum level – something not described by QFT. Renormalization is needed because QFT doesn't explain how a quantum interacts with its self-field. Quantum collapse is a mystery because QFT doesn't describe when or how a quantum transfers energy or momentum. It is possible that these two problems are related, and that if one gap is filled, the other will also be filled.
The next two gaps are not unique to QFT; they are present in every theory.
Whys and Wherefores. QFT does not explain why the numbers that appear in the equations have the values they do. The most famous example is the so-called fine structure constant that describes the interaction between matter fields and the EM field. This constant was once thought to have a value of 1/137, and this, as you might imagine, led to some numerological attempts to explain why nature had chosen this particular integer — and such an unusual one at that. Sir Arthur Eddington claimed that the number could be obtained by "pure deduction", but these attempts were abandoned when more precise measurements showed that the actual value is 1/137.04.
Many physicists still wonder why the masses and coupling constants are what they are, and there are attempts to find explanations that are more sophisticated than the 1/137 saga, including something called superstring theory. There are also less sophisticated attempts, such as the so-called anthropic principle, which states that if the values were different from what they are, the human race could not exist. QFT does not supply answers, nor does any other theory. QFT does an amazing job of explaining the world we live in, but why the constants are what they are is, in my opinion, a teleological, if not theological, question.
Consciousness. Finally we come to the grand-daddy of mysteries. How dare physicists talk about "theories of everything" when they can't explain what goes on behind their very noses! But please understand, by consciousness I don't mean simple information processing, such as can be done by any computer. I mean the sense of awareness, the sensations, the feelings that human and other minds experience every day – from the color red to the beauty of a Mozart sonata or the pain of a toothache. Such sensations are known as qualia. Most physicists don't want to be bothered with the question, and it is left to philosophers like Charlie Chaplin to worry about it:
Billions of years it's taken to evolve human consciousness… The miracle of all existence… More important than anything in the whole universe. What can the stars do? Nothing but sit on their axis! And the sun, shooting flames 280,000 miles high. So what? Wasting all its natural resources. Can the sun think? Is it conscious? — C. Chaplin (film "Limelight")
I see consciousness as a more pressing problem than the question of why the field constants have the values they do. My concern began when I was thinking about pain. Pain surely cannot be explained by fields or particles or relativity, or even quantum field theory, I thought. Nor can pleasurable sensations, like the enjoyment of music or the intense pleasure of an orgasm.
Then one day we had a visitor – a young computer hot shot. As we were sitting down for dinner I asked him "Do you think a computer can ever experience a sexual orgasm?" Well this young fellow began to tell me how you could create an orgasm by putting 0's and 1's into the right memory banks. Of course this was nonsense, so I told him he had flunked the test and couldn't have any dinner. I didn't really; we fed him, but it gave me the idea to write a book about consciousness with the title "Do Robots Have Orgasms?" (The illustration shows the cover designed by my nephew Roger L. Brooks.) I eventually abandoned the book because I figured that a book that boiled down to one word ("no") wouldn't sell. However, I had already written or sketched chapters that I called "dead ends" — three explanations that have been proposed for consciousness: Artificial Intelligence, Religion, and Quantum Mechanics. As I was working on the chapter about Quantum Mechanics, I realized that all the quantum mechanical explanations ignored QFT. In fact, I became aware that QFT is ignored almost everywhere — as if it never existed. And that's why I wrote the book that I wrote.
Is there any prospect that the consciousness mystery will ever be solved? Ambrose Bierce didn't think so. To quote from his Devil's Dictionary:
Mind, n. A mysterious form of matter secreted by the brain. Its chief activity consists in the endeavor to ascertain its own nature, the futility of the attempt being due to the fact that it has nothing but itself to know itself with. – Ambrose Bierce (B1958, p. 87)
Among physicists there are many different approaches to understanding reality. Some physicists believe that reality consists of particles, despite the many inconsistencies and absurdities, not to mention questions like what the particles are made of. Some believe in wave-particle duality, which is neither fish nor fowl, and some just don't worry about reality (see Norsen and Hawking quotes on p. 4). As Steven Weinberg said,
It is truly surprising how little difference all this makes. Most physicists use quantum mechanics every day in their working lives without needing to worry about the fundamental problem of its interpretation. Being sensible people with very little time to follow up all the ideas and data in their own specialties and not having to worry about this fundamental problem, they do not worry about it. — S. Weinberg, (W1992, p. 84)
But for those who believe there is a reality and who want to understand it, the choice was described this way by Robert Oerter:
Wave or particle? The answer: Both, and neither. You could think of the electron or the photon as a particle, but only if you were willing to let particles behave in the bizarre way described by Feynman: appearing again, interfering with each other and cancelling out. You could also think of it as a field, or wave, but you had to remember that the detector always registers one electron, or none — never half an electron, no matter how much the field has been split up or spread out. In the end, is the field just a calculational tool to tell you where the particle will be, or are the particles just calculational tools to tell you what the field values are? Take your pick. — R. Oerter (O2006, Chap. 6: "Feynman's Particles, Schwinger's Fields", p. 128)
But before you take your pick, let us take a look at some of the things QFT has accomplished:
Well, that's quite a list of accomplishments! With all that, you must surely wonder why QFT hasn't been accepted, if not embraced, by the physics community and the public. Well, there is a downside. To reap those benefits, we must accept that:
And so, dear reader, I hope that, like Frank Wilczek, Steven Weinberg, Sean Caroll, Julian Schwinger (and me), you will choose QFT: the only theory that offers a picture of reality that is understandable and makes sense. And perhaps one day the physics community will finally abandon the QM ship made of particles floating on a sea of paradox for smoother sailing on the seas of quantum fields.
[1] As we will see later, the discovery of dark matter may add an eighth field to the mix.
[2] It is straightforward math to show that the frequency of oscillation is given by f = mc2/h, where h is Planck's constant.
[3] Planck's Law says that the energy of a quantum is given by e = hf, where f is frequency and h is Planck's constant. Combining this with the equation in footnote 2 gives e = mc2.
[4] The reader should be warned that many physicists do not accept quantum collapse. They believe that a superposition of states continues until a later time. For example, Roger Penrose suggested that collapse occurs when the gravitational energy exceeds a certain amount (P1994, p. 339).
[5] Zweig had used the word ace to describe these quanta, but Gell-Mann's "quark" prevailed.
[7] The planets Neptune and Pluto were discovered for the same reason.
[8] The advanced reader, knowing that "at the same time" depends on your state of motion, may ask which reference frame is being referred to. Although there is no experimental evidence, I would suggest that the frame of the absorbing atom is appropriate, or at least a good possibility.


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