Friday Morning News And Links

Active rigs: 186 (steady)

RBN Energy: TransCanada's Mainline conversion to oil, part I.

The proposal involves converting approximately 1865 miles of TransCanada’s existing Canadian Mainline to crude oil service and constructing up to 870 miles of new pipeline. If approved by Canadian regulators, the Energy East pipeline will have the capacity to transport between 500,000 bopd and 850,000 bopd. The Open Season closes on June 17, 2013 and if there is sufficient shipper interest, TransCanada will proceed with applications for regulatory approval. If those approvals are granted then the project is expected to be in-service to Montréal and Québec City in 2017 and to St John in 2018.

WSJ Links

Section M (Mansion): seldom read

Section D (Arena):

• The completely awesome San Antonio spurs.

Section C (Money & Investing):

• Buffett's safe bet on Vegas.

Section B (Marketplace):

• America is running out of Subarus.

Section A:

• Driver's-license dilemma: more states are giving them to illegal immigrants but some say fraud is an issue. Well, duh.

• Op-ed: a double-trouble scandal for Obama -- the Justice Dept scandal has outraged two of the president's reliable allies: the press and liberal activists.

• Op-ed: don't blame Ireland for America's tax blunders.

• Teen-agers don't know how to mail a letter. I can't make this stuff up. And neither can Brian S. Hall. 

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A Note To The Granddaughters

While attending her high school graduation, our niece recommended a book her dad had given her: The Age of Entanglement: When Quantum Physics Was Reborn.

This is a very challenging book to read. The author revisits the history of the development of the theory of quantum mechanics through transcribed interviews of the key players as the theory is being developed. Of course, the conversations are imagined, but based on notes, letters, and interviews and copiously sourced with end notes.

It is extremely "wordy" with an incredible amount of unnecessary, or so it would seem, descriptions of the settings and tangential conversation. It is difficult to stay focused in many cases.

It is best to simply press on, not get bogged down while reading. Of course, the subject matter contributes to the difficulty in reading the book.

It is the author's first book. She was 25 years old when the book was published; it seems I read somewhere she spent eight to nine years working on the book. That means she might have been as young as 16 years of age when she was inspired by a high school teacher to really try to understand quantum mechanics.

Two takeaways from the book. First, one learns that unlike some theories or scientific discoveries, quantum mechanics was the product of dozens of mathematicians and physicists. The process was messy and the results messier. More than 80 years after much of the original work was done, the theory seems as difficult as ever.

The second takeaway was the answer to my question: when was quantum mechanics "discovered." Unlike calculus which we can narrow down to a specific year and mathematician (or two), or the structure of two-stranded DNA which we can narrow down to an exact month, if not day, and specific "scientists," that is not true for quantum mechanics. The tipping point was the Solvay conference in 1927, which is considered one of the most famous conferences ever. Over the next five years, the theory was "developed" by multiple individuals.

And I forget who first used the phrase, quantum mechanics. It will be a hard book to outline for my literature blog.

This book should not be read unless one has a good background in the pop literature of quantum mechanics.