Vladimir Rojansky: Electromagnetic Fields and Waves

Vladimir Rojansky served in the White Army during the Russian Civil War. His regiment retreated across Siberia. Rojansky continued his journey across the Pacific to America.

He was one of the first students of quantum mechanics; his thesis advisor was Nobel Prize winner, John van Vleck.

Rojansky taught for many years, and then worked on communications satellites and other projects at TRW.

This book, from Dover Publications assumes only a basic background in physics and calculus, but leads all the way up to the Maxwell equations. It is an excellent text, reflecting Rojansky's academic background and practical industry experience.

Apple OS X Lion

I finally made the transition to OS X Lion. Once the download was complete, it took about an hour.

I did not like the "new" look of Mail, so I'm very happy you can still use the "classic" look.

Many of the "changes" appear to be user interface issues, but others, such as enhanced security, go well beyond that and are worth further examination.

All of my key applications run without any problems, though not all of them support certain Lion features, such as the "full screen" view (this will probably come in time for most of the applications, and even if it does not, it is no big deal).

I do like the enhancements to Preview, which is underrated-it is much more than an "image viewing" application.

Apple OS X *is* the world's most advanced operating system, and this upgrade is well worth the price!

Review and commentary (c) 2011 by Patrick Jost

Mouse Tales

It is no secret that I love Apple products.

Their mouse (on the right) may be an exception. I have gone through two of them in as many years. What goes wrong? The little trackball stops working. The trackball is a wonderful idea, and if you fiddle with it (rub it on a piece of paper, etc.) sometimes it will work-for a while.

So, when the second one died, I looked for a replacement (sorry, Apple). I selected the Macally IceMini (on the left).

Nice little mouse, and it is little. Right and left buttons and a robust scrollwheel. You can only scroll up and down, not back and forth, but that is not a huge problem.

Review and commentary (c) 2011 by Patrick Jost

ThinkGeek: The Bag of Holding

It was time for a new shoulder bag, and, after much deliberation, I chose this one, the Bag of Holding from ThinkGeek.

It is named after a "gaming item" with (supposedly) infinite capacity. This bag WILL hold a lot of stuff…

It has several nice features:

1. A handle. The strap is nice, but there are times when you just need to grab the back and pick it up.
2. The zippers. You may not be able to tell by the picture, but they are metal and should last for a long time (unlike nylon zippers).
3. The bag uses magnetic clasps. You can see the "female" part of one to the right. These work very well, and do not seem to be magnetic enough to damage electronic equipment.

The bag has several compartments. My only complaint, such as it is, is about the front compartment, which has many small pockets in it. The pockets are almost too small to be useful (I have a flashlight in one). Heavy objects might fall out. I might have preferred more slots for pens.

All in all, though, a very nice bag, and I suspect it will last for a while.

Review (c) 2011 by Patrick Jost

Cyber Spying: Tracking Your Family's (Sometimes) Secret Online Lives

Cyber Spying, by Ted Fair, Michael Nordfelt, Sandra Ring and Dr. Eric Cole is really all about the subtitle "Tracking Your Family's (Sometimes) Secret Online Lives."

This book serves as an excellent introduction to spying and counterspying on computers.

The vast majority of the techniques described in the book, however, require what the authors honestly refer to as "intimate access" to the machine of potential interest. Some of the techniques described require the installation of additional hardware (keystroke loggers) or software in order to accomplish the task at hand.

If such access cannot be obtained, much of what is in this book is useless.

But, in cases where it is necessary to "spy" on a family member, such as a spouse or child, this book may be for you.

Interestingly, the last section of the book contains a detailed discussion of countermeasures applicable to many of the techniques appearing in the rest of the book!

Calculus: A Modern Approach by Karl Menger

It is an unfortunate reality many textbooks are quite expensive-often over $100.

Karl Menger's Calculus: A Modern Approach is a welcome exception.

This book costs less than $20 (available from Dover). It has the advantage of having been written by a noted Vienna Circle mathematician. One of Menger's areas of expertise was the "explication of [mathematical] concepts" and he also trained US military personnel in mathematics during World War II.

The book suits the needs of the absolute beginner: you can start on page one and proceed with a "miniature calculus" (which is developed into a "full calculus" in the course of the book), or, if you are using the book as a reference or refresher, the book can be used for that as well-note that it includes an entire chapter on scientific applications of calculus.

Necessary Madness?

If there is one criticism of John Monahan's They Called Me Mad, it is the length-it is not long enough.

The book begins with a discussion of Archimedes (who is probably the first person to conceive of, and maybe attempt to implement a "death ray"),it then moves on to alchemy (misguided efforts to transmute lead into gold that laid the foundations for modern chemistry), dissection (from grave robbery to modern medicine), and the work of Nikola Tesla (which includes but is not limited to radio, remote control, and alternating current; Tesla, like Archimedes, had ideas about "death rays").

The book concludes with two related discussions: nuclear energy (with an emphasis on the work of Albert Einstein and Robert Oppenheimer) and and the development of missiles, summarizing the "space race" between the United States and Soviet Union, and the pivotal role played by Wernher von Braun.