QED

Sometimes I go off on tangents. I'll start wondering what little things, used regularly in language, actually mean. In the future I will probably do little posts on interesting items such as "i.e" and "e.g.", or phrases like "drinking-the-koolaid". But this is not one of those posts.

Hmm... Of course I'm also not like those evil people out there who dangle an idea, and then totally leave you hanging. "Q.E.D" A latin abbreviation for "quod erat demonstrandum" which literally means "that which was to be demonstrated". Here, go to Wikipedia and read the rest for yourself, I want to get back to the original purpose of this post. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Q.E.D.

What was the original purpose of this again? Oh, yeah. I remember now.

FEYNMAN!

That probably is 'nuff said for those of you out there who follow science and/or science fiction. For those of you who don't...

QED stands for quantum electrodynamics, which is a field that Richard P. Feynman achieved great reknown in (like nobel prize level reknown).

QED also happens to be the title of a book containing a collection of lectures by Feynman on the topic. In classical Feynman style it starts off humorous, is easily understandable, and very enjoyable to read. For example (perhaps I should use e.g. or i.e. in here somewhere 'eh?) this excerpt is from the second paragraph in lecture one:

"I prepared some lectures , and I went to New Zealand to try them out--because New Zealand is far enough a way that if they weren't successful, it would be all right! Well, the people in New Zealand thought they were okay, so I guess they're okay--at least for New Zealand!"

And that has nothing to do with QED (or does it? One can never tell exactly which direction Feynman is going to come from during a lecture).

I'll probably put up a mini review once I've finished. Hopefully this will capture the interest of a few people out there and we can push the bounds of the Feynman meme.

Anyhow, let's finish this off with a list of books I'm reading:

Bone Crossed. Patricia Briggs

Agincourt. Bernard Cornwell

QED: the strange theory of light and matter. Richard P. Feynman

"Surely you're joking Mr. Feynman", adventures of a curious character. Richard P. Feynman

Ender in Exile. Orson Scott Card

Kill Zone: A sniper novel. Gunnery Sgt. Jack Coughlin, USMC (ret.) with Donald A. Davis