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Life is pleasant, death is peaceful. It’s the transition that’s troublesome.
– Issac Asimov // American Scientist
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History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamour of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people.
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– Martin Luther King Jr. // American Leader
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A scientific transition is an alteration of a physical system from one state, or condition, to another. In atomic and particle physics, transitions are often described as being allowed or forbidden (see selection rule). Allowed transitions are those that have high probability of occurring, as in the case of short-lived radioactive decay of atomic nuclei. In three-millionths of a second, for instance, half of any sample of unstable polonium-212 becomes stable lead-208 by ejecting alpha particles (helium-4 nuclei) from individual atomic nuclei. Forbidden transitions, on the other hand, are those that have a high probability of not occurring. A strictly forbidden transition is one that cannot occur at all. For example, a physical transition would be any change in the configuration of an atomic nucleus, involving either a change in energy level resulting from the emission if a gammaray photo, or a transformation to another element or isotope. Any change that results in an alteration of physical properties of a substance or system, such as a change or phase of molecular structure.
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Individuals approaching death often experience encounters with their dead relatives, who seem to welcome them to the next world. These deathbed visions are authentic & convincing; they are often followed by a state of euphoria & seem to ease the transition.
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– Stanislav Grof // Czechoslovakian Psychologist
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