``...Trying to see a photon at the end of the tunnel.'' Ian
``...My fave physics prof in grad school had a machine that will actually count single photons. We used to joke, Look, there goes one now!'' jks
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By non-commutative paths I am reminded of Cornelius Tobias (Biophysics, UCB) whom I met a long time ago (as a notetaker/reader), that a stream of high energy particles passing through the eyes and optical neutrons are sensed/perceived as flashes and points of light. Toby sat in front of a particle accelerator and had the cyclotron shoot him in the head to `see' the effect. (See photo with particle beam gun and black hood):
http://www.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Archive/cornelius-tobias.html
So, Ian and Justin, those points of light at the end of the tunnel might just be the bevatron shooting you in the head. Cheer up.
I say cheer up because despite Ashcroft's machinations, the underlying conceptual and legal framework of a democratic state is already embedded in the collective/public mind in clear enough principles to outlive anything the current US Attorney General, the jack-off Supreme Court or the pathetic US Congress is capable of doing. That isn't to say that some people might not collectively suffer perhaps a large degradation in the concrete and short run. If that happens in any publicly measurable way, it will probably become a rally point or catalyst for protest across a whole spectrum of issues. I suspect these jerks know that and are being very secretive and cagey about the use of their new and old police-state powers.
As Lincoln was supposed to have said, you can fool all of the people, some of the time. You can fool some of the people some of the time. But you can't fool all the people, all the time.
Chuck Grimes