Links for 2011-02-14

"In the July issue of APS News we pointed out that Einstein's field equations for general relativity appear unexpectedly under the opening credits of the animated feature film "The Triplets of Belleville," directed by Sylvain Chomet of France.
We asked our readers for their interpretation, and offered copies of the book "Physics in the 20th Century" for particularly convincing explanations.
We received many intriguing replies. We reprint some of them here, and, at the end, a communication that may, in fact, resolve the mystery of how those equations came to be featured in the film."

"The bravery and persistence of Tunisians inspired subjugated people around the world to rise up. The bravery and persistence of Egyptians will inspire people to rise up, and not give up, even when dictators prove difficult to dislodge. This is an exciting and wonderful thing. It's also potentially very dangerous.

I don't mean dangerous in terms of "threatening regional stability", or the other nonsense that's dominated much of American television news regarding Egypt. I mean dangerous for the people brave enough to take to the streets.

When people take to the streets and the army is called out to stop them, at least two things can happen: Tunis, or Tiananmen. When the world is watching, a peaceful outcome is more likely. A threatened regime, when they think they're immune to scrutiny, is a very dangerous thing."

"There are lots of points in artistic/literary history where allegedly unbridgeable divides open up that, in retrospect, look humorously easy to step across: if you like Brahms, you can't like Wagner. If you like The Sex Pistols, you can't like The Who. You get these eruptions of authenticity as sectarianism, sytlistic balkanization, or generation gaps - anxiety of influence - lots of ways it can happen. Mostly it just burns itself out after a while and a more pan-appreciative tolerance reasserts itself. I'm tempted to say that something of the sort happened with fantasy and science fiction, and that gradually the two have grown back together. "

"After the collection of very short, very abstract stories in its first 11 chapters, Genesis shifts tone a bit with the introduction of Abram. Here the stories become a bit more grounded in history than in prehistory, but they are still Genesis stories -- origin stories.

To me, the oddest of all of these Genesis stories -- and that's saying quite a bit -- is the one involving the 11th of Abraham's grandson's, Joseph. This is a famous story, well-known from children's books and even Broadway, but get past the familiarity and you'll find something strange and disturbing. If this were a Just So story, it might be titled something like "How Egypt Got Its Tyrant." The story of Joseph is, in part, the origin story of Pharaoh as absolute ruler and oppressor."