Maybe that writing down what all needs to get done will help me do it asap. Here I go:
Numerical Linear Algebra Program 100% - DONE
Colloquium Paper 10% - Due Wed.
Kinetics Take Home 75% - Due Wed.
Laundry 0% - 3 pairs of underwear left...
Taxes 0% - Due April 15th
Math Presentation 5% - Due March 22
Senior Thesis Intro 0% - Due earlier than it seems
Vacuum the room - almost aggravating
P.S. I love "The Hero Factor". Me and my roommate decided to order their two CD's. The second one is coming out tomorrow. Their live stuff from the first album sounds unbelievable. So far this is my favorite song.
Monday, February 28, 2005
Friday, February 25, 2005
The Hero Factor
Let's face it. I am musically challenged. Despite this minor detail, I am a big fan of music and I am easily impressed by any noise making, beat keeping, heart soothing kind of music. So I enjoy music, but because I don't fully understand it, it takes a lot to get me addicted to some song. Well, last weekend in Austin I happened to stumble upon a band that it has become almost addicting. They are called The Hero Factor and they are really good. The live sound is incredible, the songs are very catchy, and the lead singer's voice is one of the best I have heard so far. (in an alternative/rock/pop band, at least) They have a new album coming out in March and they posted a few songs on their myspace.com page. Get addicted!
Sunday, February 20, 2005
Fresh, fresh Austin
So yeah, I am in the hotel in Austin. I figured I should make myself write something about this visit while it's still fresh, so I won't end up the last school I visit. So how's Austin, you might ask?
Well, first of all it's a city. I thought I'd never want to go back to a real city, with traffic, beggars, tall but crappy buildings, parking problems, etc. Austin however, seems to have a bunch of other things to compensate these urban disadvantages. The social life of this city is just amazing. I can't believe it's a southern city, not to mention that it's the capital of Texas. How does that work, anyway? It seems like every night there are a gagillion bands playing, theater plays or dance shows running. The number of restaurants and options for food is also quite remarkable. The interesting part is that the city was planned to have a technological boom about 10 years ago, so a lot of development took place: apartments, restaurants, bars, office buildings. It turns out that the boom in population never actually happened but the development itself created a greater offer than demand so a lot o people decided to come over here for the affordable living and awesome social life.
If I couldn't visit the other schools (Boulder and Illinois) I say that I would chose Austin, just because it seems like the perfect balance between work and fun.
Well, first of all it's a city. I thought I'd never want to go back to a real city, with traffic, beggars, tall but crappy buildings, parking problems, etc. Austin however, seems to have a bunch of other things to compensate these urban disadvantages. The social life of this city is just amazing. I can't believe it's a southern city, not to mention that it's the capital of Texas. How does that work, anyway? It seems like every night there are a gagillion bands playing, theater plays or dance shows running. The number of restaurants and options for food is also quite remarkable. The interesting part is that the city was planned to have a technological boom about 10 years ago, so a lot of development took place: apartments, restaurants, bars, office buildings. It turns out that the boom in population never actually happened but the development itself created a greater offer than demand so a lot o people decided to come over here for the affordable living and awesome social life.
If I couldn't visit the other schools (Boulder and Illinois) I say that I would chose Austin, just because it seems like the perfect balance between work and fun.
Saturday, February 12, 2005
Hotel Rwanda
I am shaken. I hurts to even start thinking about what to write in here.
I have just watched Hotel Rwanda. I cried. I knew about the massacre that took place between the Hutu's and the Tutsi's but being immersed in it, picture and sound for 2 hours, was very emotional. In less than 100 days 800,000 Tutsi and Hutu moderates were killed by the Hutu militia. Young and uneducated Hutus were manipulated in this fabricated ethnic conflict to kill their neighbours and friends using machetes and clubs in probably the most gruesome human slaughter. More than 10% of the population was killed. This genocide was carefully organized and instigated using the national public radio. The UN troops on the ground informed their superiors about what was going to happen. The UN Canadian general had the location of the machete chaches but his hands were tied. The only response from the western "civilization" was to call all whites and UN troops out and let the poor bastards die.
I felt a personal shame at the end of this movie. I am ashamed of being a part of this "civilization" that goes around the world, fucks things over and then closes it's eyes, turns away, like nothing happened. In this respect, US is one to be condoned because it many times accepted its responsability as world leader and helped more than anybody else. But Europe... oh... I have no words. A bunch of cowards that will never learn from history, and that's why I feel so ashamed.
I will be sorry for writing such a pessimistic post.
I have just watched Hotel Rwanda. I cried. I knew about the massacre that took place between the Hutu's and the Tutsi's but being immersed in it, picture and sound for 2 hours, was very emotional. In less than 100 days 800,000 Tutsi and Hutu moderates were killed by the Hutu militia. Young and uneducated Hutus were manipulated in this fabricated ethnic conflict to kill their neighbours and friends using machetes and clubs in probably the most gruesome human slaughter. More than 10% of the population was killed. This genocide was carefully organized and instigated using the national public radio. The UN troops on the ground informed their superiors about what was going to happen. The UN Canadian general had the location of the machete chaches but his hands were tied. The only response from the western "civilization" was to call all whites and UN troops out and let the poor bastards die.
I felt a personal shame at the end of this movie. I am ashamed of being a part of this "civilization" that goes around the world, fucks things over and then closes it's eyes, turns away, like nothing happened. In this respect, US is one to be condoned because it many times accepted its responsability as world leader and helped more than anybody else. But Europe... oh... I have no words. A bunch of cowards that will never learn from history, and that's why I feel so ashamed.
I will be sorry for writing such a pessimistic post.
Thursday, February 10, 2005
Travel, money, metaphysics and math
So far, today has been a very eclectic day. I have received my flight schedule from UT Austin. I leave Friday morning and come back on Sunday evening (Feb18-20). I can't wait to see the campus everybody is raving about, and more importantly to meet the chemistry professors and see what they have to offer.
Today I have also received the confirmation of being offered one of the Honors College research grant. Finally.!!!! It comes with $1200 for me and $1000 for Dr. Pulay. It's a little weird because Dr. Pulay requested $0 and expressely told me not to put anything down for him. I was getting worried that I wouldn't have enough money to subsist this semester with all the travelling I am supposed to do, but in the end it looks like it all turned out well.
The discussion in the Quantum Chemistry colloquium was very upsetting for me today . I guess that I am a little skeptical and not yet convinced that pure information can influence a system. Information is not immaterial, like we defined in class. When he hear something, the sound waves interact with our ear membranes, which create neurological impulses that are passed down chemically to the brain, usw. The same thing happens with any other senses, so we cannot obtain information in any other way but through physical interaction. The thinking process itself exists within our brain, so it's embedded in the physical world. We talked about information affecting the outcome of an experiment, but what should be said is that our attempt to get the information perturbs the system and changes the outcome of the experiment. The Heisenberg principle is very clear. I don't know why we have to make it more complicated than it is. Anywhoo, it's the kind of philosophical clash that doesn't produce anything useful but mind exercise and enjoyment for the winner.
In the math seminar we discussed a paper by Halmos about what Mathematics really is. Especially here in the US, regular but rather educated people put a big equal sign between high school remedial algebra and mathematics. It's like equating turkey carving with being a surgeon. Halmos splits up math in Mathology and Mathophysics and argues that the first is done for no immediate purpose. It's one of the two original academic endeavors and it's done just for the fun of Mathologists themselves, just like Philosophy. His main point is that Mathematicians are some of the most creative people and Math is actually a creative art. Or black voodoo magic if you want, as one of my favorite teachers said. Next time you see some mathematician, please don't think of adding numbers, x's, y's, log's or square roots. It's an insult. Think of somebody who can think in a very different and hard to pick up language. Think of somebody who is very rigorous and creative in what he's doing. Most of the scientists use Mathematician as an insult anyway, so don't insult them again, pphhlease.
Today I have also received the confirmation of being offered one of the Honors College research grant. Finally.!!!! It comes with $1200 for me and $1000 for Dr. Pulay. It's a little weird because Dr. Pulay requested $0 and expressely told me not to put anything down for him. I was getting worried that I wouldn't have enough money to subsist this semester with all the travelling I am supposed to do, but in the end it looks like it all turned out well.
The discussion in the Quantum Chemistry colloquium was very upsetting for me today . I guess that I am a little skeptical and not yet convinced that pure information can influence a system. Information is not immaterial, like we defined in class. When he hear something, the sound waves interact with our ear membranes, which create neurological impulses that are passed down chemically to the brain, usw. The same thing happens with any other senses, so we cannot obtain information in any other way but through physical interaction. The thinking process itself exists within our brain, so it's embedded in the physical world. We talked about information affecting the outcome of an experiment, but what should be said is that our attempt to get the information perturbs the system and changes the outcome of the experiment. The Heisenberg principle is very clear. I don't know why we have to make it more complicated than it is. Anywhoo, it's the kind of philosophical clash that doesn't produce anything useful but mind exercise and enjoyment for the winner.
In the math seminar we discussed a paper by Halmos about what Mathematics really is. Especially here in the US, regular but rather educated people put a big equal sign between high school remedial algebra and mathematics. It's like equating turkey carving with being a surgeon. Halmos splits up math in Mathology and Mathophysics and argues that the first is done for no immediate purpose. It's one of the two original academic endeavors and it's done just for the fun of Mathologists themselves, just like Philosophy. His main point is that Mathematicians are some of the most creative people and Math is actually a creative art. Or black voodoo magic if you want, as one of my favorite teachers said. Next time you see some mathematician, please don't think of adding numbers, x's, y's, log's or square roots. It's an insult. Think of somebody who can think in a very different and hard to pick up language. Think of somebody who is very rigorous and creative in what he's doing. Most of the scientists use Mathematician as an insult anyway, so don't insult them again, pphhlease.
Monday, February 07, 2005
Toga man.
I felt like doing nothing today. Some days are just like this and I don't know why.
I just got back from a lecture about clothing in the Roman world. More speciffically, the lecture was about togas, and of course, the spiel was given by the toga man. Here are some pictures from the lecture. He was quite a character and reminded me perfectly of my grandpa: had a grandeur in his speech, was very articulate and didn't hide from being offensive and funny. I found the lecture very healthy for me because I realized how many of the roman traditions are still present in Europe, and how Americans are a little sheltered from this spartan culture.
The toga man was talking about how Romans took pride in being disciplined because they considered it to differentiate them from animals. They had to bear cold, heat, hunger, or any physical discomfort without even acknowledging it. You couldn't afford to be called a whiner or a sissy by saying: oh, my balls are cold, let me get another cloth around my waist. In a similar sense the education that people experience in Romania, and from my knowledge everywhere in Europe (especially spartan places like Germany or Britain) says that being spoiled is bad. You wouldn't see anybody whine about how bad the food at the cafeteria is, or how cold the Swedish winters are, or how empty the pockets are. Kids endure playing soccer on concrete and getting their knee caps crushed, or playing rugby without any padding. (Notice, I didn't include the French and the Italians here. They are a total different breed)
Here in the US people are taught to be spoiled. Choice is the foundation of the American society. You have to be spoiled, because as an individual you are a customer in all aspects of life and so you can make any decisions that concern you. Discipline is not an American value. Discipline can actually have a negative conotation, falling in the category of abuse. Kids can do whatever they want and parents can't have any control over them since they have no way of punishment available. This can have a very positive impact on people, helping them become very individual, but in a weird kind of way. What I mean is that people are individual, but becuase they don't have the discipline to rationalize what their options are, they fall into the smallest traps. Everybody dresses the same, but voluntarily. Everybody gets fat, but voluntarily. Everbody buys stuff that they absolutely don't need, just because they can and they want to be individual. Everbody does these things so everybody ends up being IDENTICAL.
I remember clearly how my mom use to educate me by making the same comparisons used by the Romans. In everything we do we should ask ourselves if we are acting as animals or as humans. There is a certain pride in being a human, this biped animal, very cocky and vertical. And how else can we match this pride, other than acting as a vertical being: with verticality. If we're giving in to the smallest discomforts, pleasures and gimmiks laid out in front of us, we might as well go back crawling on four limbs like animals. Sounds pretty radical to me, but I believe it to some extent, and it served me well so far.
My lazy ass roommate just got up, so I guess it's time to do something useful now.
I just got back from a lecture about clothing in the Roman world. More speciffically, the lecture was about togas, and of course, the spiel was given by the toga man. Here are some pictures from the lecture. He was quite a character and reminded me perfectly of my grandpa: had a grandeur in his speech, was very articulate and didn't hide from being offensive and funny. I found the lecture very healthy for me because I realized how many of the roman traditions are still present in Europe, and how Americans are a little sheltered from this spartan culture.
The toga man was talking about how Romans took pride in being disciplined because they considered it to differentiate them from animals. They had to bear cold, heat, hunger, or any physical discomfort without even acknowledging it. You couldn't afford to be called a whiner or a sissy by saying: oh, my balls are cold, let me get another cloth around my waist. In a similar sense the education that people experience in Romania, and from my knowledge everywhere in Europe (especially spartan places like Germany or Britain) says that being spoiled is bad. You wouldn't see anybody whine about how bad the food at the cafeteria is, or how cold the Swedish winters are, or how empty the pockets are. Kids endure playing soccer on concrete and getting their knee caps crushed, or playing rugby without any padding. (Notice, I didn't include the French and the Italians here. They are a total different breed)
Here in the US people are taught to be spoiled. Choice is the foundation of the American society. You have to be spoiled, because as an individual you are a customer in all aspects of life and so you can make any decisions that concern you. Discipline is not an American value. Discipline can actually have a negative conotation, falling in the category of abuse. Kids can do whatever they want and parents can't have any control over them since they have no way of punishment available. This can have a very positive impact on people, helping them become very individual, but in a weird kind of way. What I mean is that people are individual, but becuase they don't have the discipline to rationalize what their options are, they fall into the smallest traps. Everybody dresses the same, but voluntarily. Everybody gets fat, but voluntarily. Everbody buys stuff that they absolutely don't need, just because they can and they want to be individual. Everbody does these things so everybody ends up being IDENTICAL.
I remember clearly how my mom use to educate me by making the same comparisons used by the Romans. In everything we do we should ask ourselves if we are acting as animals or as humans. There is a certain pride in being a human, this biped animal, very cocky and vertical. And how else can we match this pride, other than acting as a vertical being: with verticality. If we're giving in to the smallest discomforts, pleasures and gimmiks laid out in front of us, we might as well go back crawling on four limbs like animals. Sounds pretty radical to me, but I believe it to some extent, and it served me well so far.
My lazy ass roommate just got up, so I guess it's time to do something useful now.
Friday, February 04, 2005
What's happening...
New posts on this blog come in lumps, just like anything in our life. So here's a brief update with what's news for me:
- I got the offer I wanted from UC Boulder. I don't know the financial details yet, but I am really excited about this oportunity. I can't wait to visit and meet the people.
- I started working on my research project. I haven't done any calculations yet, but I found some good starting points. I hope it will all come together before the deadline.
- I looked into my math senior project and I think it's going to be a lot of fun. I am doing the Brouwer fixed point theorem, although I haven't had a topology class, so I am going to learn along the way the concepts needed for the proof.
- Traian Basescu, the Romanian president, has been excelent so far. This guy really looks like he has a vision and his message and actions so far have been very clear. In a month of presidency he visited Brussels, Moldova, and Great Britain and "shook hands" with all the Romanian public institutions giving them at the same time clear warnings for not doing their jobs.
- The Romanian Academic Society analyzed the Romanian society, government, economy and foreign policy and produced some sort of prognosis for 2005. It's a very well written document with many pertinent arguments. Here's a link to the pdf. Unfortunately it's only in Romanian for now, but they might have the English version soon on this page.
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