Hell Week!

Oh man, it was! This past week was very exhausting. On Tuesday and Thursday I presented some demonstrations about Electromagnetism to kids from junior high through high school. It was fun though. I had a great time telling kids about the Electric and Magnetic Field. On Wednesday night we saw the documentary The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene. I think it is pretty good, but to some point it sells the ideas of String Theory as something like a new religion or dogma. I want to learn this and know where all those crazy membranes come from. Today, Friday, my fellow SPS members drove to the center of the Puerto Rican island, to a town called Morovis. There we gave lots of demonstrations to high school students.

It is a dirty job, but someone has to do it...

Scientology? Whatever!!!

Lately I have been reading a lot about Scientology. There is a controversy going on now about Scientology and South Park. I find all this Scientology stuff so cool. My friends and I have had such a great time reading all the Wikipedia articles about this religion and its doctrine.

I believe that it can be shown, mathematically, that a scientologist is equivalent to a Star Wars believer.

(Since Scientology is so serious about their stuff, maybe I just became one more of its enemies...)

Electromagnetic Field Quantization

One of my Quantum Mechanics professor did a really nice derivation last week. He started with the four Maxwell's Equation and applied the Coulomb Gauge. Then he develop this long process aiming at the quantization of the electromagnetic field. It was pretty nice. Sadly, this coming week I may not be able to go to class since I have to work on the preparations for the Physics Week.

(I saw this professor in the beach surfing on Wednesday... They too have lives!)

The 2006 Physics Week

Next week (March 27 through 30) the SPS in Mayagüez is celebrating the Physics Week. We are getting lots of school visits on Tuesday and Thursday. On Wednesday night we are watching the documentary The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene. On Thursday night we have the Physics Awards. I am in charge of some of the preparations and I also have to do some demonstrations to the little kids. Should be pretty good.

Julio

Julio is my Math of Modern Science II professor.

There are everyday humans beings, and there are special persons. Some special persons are good, kind persons that one will always remember for their help and support. There are also jerks and assholes, that one will also remember for their pain and work they brought to one lives. Julio is kinda a neutral medium. Let me explain.

In my opinion Julio cannot be measured by this. His class cannot be understood in any way. He talks and sometimes mumbles. His "handwriting" is very bad. His handouts are poorly prepare. Julio does not have a good, clear way to communicate with students. He lives in a very different and far away world.

He graduated from Stony Brook University. This is the place I will go for my Ph.D. Julio is also one of the few who works with Geometry in my college. And he appears to know a lot about the history of mathematics. Sadly, nowadays he just reads the textbook. Maybe old age has made him forget all that he learned someday, since he just copies, word by word, the textbook on the board. He was lecturing one and got stuck in a problem. He realized the textbook had different notation and decided to stop the class cuz he had to prepare the problem again.

For me it is sad to see Julio. His office is very disorganized. Nobody in his classes pays attention to him (including me...). He also has a lot of health problems, hence he often misses work. Rumor has it that he lives alone. It is sad, because I can sense some enthusiasm in his part to teach mathematics. Is sad that the way he tries to communicate it is not the best. I guess that after all, he tries.

Julio will always be an example and will always be remembered.