Things I miss (Movie Edition)

1) Technicolor: The last American movie made in Technicolor was the Godfather: Part 2. The remainder of the Technicolor machines were sold to China and were subsequently dismantled within 5 years. Therefore, no one could make a movie by the Technicolor process today, even if they wanted to. I blame Robert Rodriguez. Not because he dismantled the machines, but because he wears the mantle of the visionary and has other people contruct the shots he needs.

2) Stop-Motion: Ray Harryhausen. I grew up loving stop-motion. Sure it looked fake, but those were still the days when you could question how special effects were made and the answer wasn't so simple.

3) Matte Paintings: Just watch Mary Poppins.

Alright, enough bitching. My point is only that there is no reason for these staples of the past to be replaced entirely by the methods of the future.

What's the matter?

What is the nature of mass?

I know it may seem trivial to any of you who have never given deep thought into the subject, but think about it. We know next to nothing about what actually causes the property of mass in matter. Mass can be defined as a measure of inertia: the resistance to force or change in the state of motion. In principle, it's the most fundamental concept on Newtonian physics and yet the actual nature of the thing is a virtual mystery.

So where is the theory now? Excepting string theory, the quantum idea (in my understanding) is that at a certain point, all matter can be subdivided into a set of several essentially massless, subatomic paticles that react with each other in the Higgs field to produce mass. The actual particle responsible for mass is the Higgs Boson. Now, this is only a predicted particle that produces a field which interacts with massless particles to give them the property of mass. The problem with identifying these types of particles (I mean quantum particles in general, not just bosons)is:
a) they're inconceivably small and do no occur isolated in nature and
b) they are only discernable from similar particles at ludicrously high energy states

so we require particle accelerators to blast apart atoms in order to expose the particles and to exctied them enough so they can be told apart from other particles. Because of this, the higgs boson has not yet been identified and in all liklehood, there is something much more bizarre at work that we haven't even begun to fathom.

The mass-filed idea is where the concept of zero point energy also derives. Zero point energy is supposedly a property of empty space:L An energy field of unfathomable power that all things intereact with to produce their mass qualities.

I think this is a compelling theory that, if proven could produce an elegant and relatively simple answer to these questions and lead to a lovely little universal theory of physics. Of course, the chances of a zero-point field are nearly zero. Its a theory with absolutely no evidence. BUt, a man can dream.

And that is where I leave it for tonight. Hope the knowledge didn't hit you too hard.

I have been remiss in my duties

Forgive me.

I've been busy, so I haven't been posting.

I've been tired because I've been so busy.

But I'll be back.