Kongarl-ol Ondar - private performance at the Kraft House

It's been too long since Kongar-ol Ondar passed away... here is a video taken by Robert Kraft, of an impromptu private performance.   Near the end the song he shifts the rhythm of the guitar accompaniment in way I've not heard on other recordings, and then I think there is a segue into another song.

"The Quotable Feynman" now available for pre-order

"We are so used to looking at the world from the point of view of living things that we cannot understand what it means not to be alive, and yet most of the time the world had nothing alive on it. And in most places in the universe today, there is probably nothing alive.”

--Richard P. Feynman

If you are reading this news item, you don't need to be informed of who Richard Feynman was, or convinced of his quotable character.  However, you might not be aware of the forthcoming publication of The Quotable Feynman,  a treasure-trove of profound, provocative, humorous, and memorable quotations on a wide range of subjects.

Here is a description of the book cadged from the Amazon website:

Carefully selected by Richard Feynman's daughter, Michelle Feynman, from his spoken and written legacy, including interviews, lectures, letters, articles, and books, the quotations are arranged under two dozen topics--from art, childhood, discovery, family, imagination, and humor to mathematics, politics, science, religion, and uncertainty

The book features a foreword in which physicist Brian Cox pays tribute to Feynman and describes how his words reveal his particular genius, a piece in which cellist Yo-Yo Ma shares his memories of Feynman and reflects on his enduring appeal, and a personal preface by Michelle Feynman. It also includes some previously unpublished quotations, a chronology of Richard Feynman's life, some twenty photos of Feynman, and a section of memorable quotations about Feynman from other notable figures.

Features:

• Approximately 500 quotations, some of them previously unpublished, arranged by topic
• A foreword by Brian Cox, reflections by Yo-Yo Ma, and a preface by Michelle Feynman
• A chronology of Feynman's life
• Some twenty photos of Feynman
• A section of quotations about Feynman from other notable figures

Available for pre-order now at your favourite local bookseller, or online at the usual places - search on "the Quotable Feynman", ISBN 978-0691153032


 

Feynman Van to feature in the Big Bang Theory

Entertainment Weekly has broken the news that an episode of Big Bang Theory will feature Richard Feynman's van.  From Spoiler Room we take the following quote:

“There will be a fun road trip to Mexico for the guys early on,” EP Steve Molaro tells me. “The road trip will be taking place in [the late theoretical physicist] Richard Feynman’s van and it will actually be Richard Feynman’s real-life van that we have access to — his actual van from the ’80s with the equations that he had painted on the outside of it.”

More news to follow!

The Fantastic Mr Feynman

This documentary is a great BBC Scotland / Science Channel / Open University co-production from 2013.

https://youtu.be/LyqleIxXTpw

Hidden cameras catch pics of snow leopards on Tuva's borders

In this great article from The Siberian Times, we see photos of a snow leopard taken by a camera hidden on the Chikhacheva Ridge, on the border between the Altai Republic and Tuva

See http://siberiantimes.com/ecology/casestudy/features/f0124-more-images-of-rare-big-cat-captured-by-hidden-cameras/ for the full story.

You have to love the images where the cat is staring right into the camera - there's no fooling her!