Prometheus98876

gave his first math class today (finally!). It was a little bit awkward due to some technical issues and the fact it started at 5:30AM. But considering it was a test-run to test a few things out and to gauge the ability of my first student : It went well. My student enjoyed it as much as I did, so its a good start I think

memo to Linear Algebra lecturers : If someone asks you to explain what it "the angle between functions" means : DONT simply draw two arbitrary vectors on the whiteboard and say "Thats the best I can explain it, its very abstract.". Thanks

"3,000,000 gamers cant be wrong" - by that logic no dictator with popular support has even been evil.

1 billion iterations of my function to find definite integrals by Reimann Sums and I am only accurate to about 10 decimal places, as far as I know. Damn you computer!

thinks that math is like a glowing spiderweb of reasoning, linking everything together.

***** Make sure you log off your uni computers. Don't save your password to sign in automatically ****** Friendly reminder =] from Mark

heard that World War II was a "public works program" which cured the Depression. By that "logic" dropping bombs on our own people should be enough to lift depressions.

thinks that this about sums up the facts behind the (not-so-recent) Harriman-McCaskey-Peikoff debate: http://thecoldvoiceofreason.blogspot.com/2011/04/in-defense-of-logical-leap.html

is watching a "historical documentary film" called "Hitler : Rise of Evil". Hitler has an English accent in this one. Could not find a good actor with a German accent ah?

Calculus is everywhere. From the movements of a dust mote fluttering in the breeze, to the revolutions of enormous galaxies. From the movement of the sun as it is pulled in its dance around the center of the Milky Way, or to finding the work done by streams of electrons coursing through a wire thinner than a human hair.

Space : It is not the final frontier at all. It is an unbounded positional relationship between any number of objects which one wishes to consider. Also unbounded, is the set of magnificent objects we continue to discover out there in Outer Space.

Time : It is not a dimension, it is not a pupil, it does not dilate or contract. It is a relationship between motions. Your time on this Earth is however finite, so you should make sure that your motions are related to each rationally.

The contradictions of dictatorship strike again : Dictatorships ultimately require war, yet the arbitrary will of a dictator usually makes it difficult for his generals to take the actions required to fight effective campaigns. Case in point : Hitler and his interferences which resulted many military initiatives required for his generals to fight as well as they cold have , being impossible.

context dropping : When you claim that Britain was essentially as socialist as Nazi Germany and that Hitler was correct to think that Britain was essentially in accord with his Germany.

String theory : So called because physicists are like kittens randomly playing with the mysterious wooly thing that they have no actual comprehension of , but which they find endlessly amusing.

To be able to watch not just a sun rise over the horizon of an alien world, but a cluster of 400 billion spherical nuclear infernos rising up from the horizon. To run a gloved finger over the oil fields covering the surface of Titan and to take some home to power an antiquated oil fueled vehicle, for just a day. If either is to be possible : Then we must save the future from today, before it is too late.

my TI nSpire CAS calculator now performs 3D graphing ( albeit in only two variables it would seem). All is right in the world again...

modern philosophy : That which is fine with people replacing definitions with an epistemological label-maker

There are those that give me odd looks when I walk around smiling just because I am happy. The same do not comment when I give them disapproving looks. I dont live in their world I guess, and I would never want to.

Mother: Why are you placing a tablecloth with the word "truth" on it on the study table? Daughter: Mom, I'd like to make this a "truth table." What does the math student say when he steps on a spider? -R3->R2! What does he call the spider? -Orthogonal projection! If you get the last one, it is a good sine that you are a nerd.

Apparently removing IP laws will cure AIDS. Not only is this extremely misguided (at best), I have to wonder how many lives it would cost.

Why did the stick figure go to the mathematician for cosmetic surgery? Cause it heard that mathematicians are good at linear transformations. What do you call an angry child? A cross product. What does a pirate call 3-D space "The Arrr 3 Plane!"

The Phantom Menace : 3d is due out next year, apparently. Seroiusly Lucas? Now you are too lazy to even TRY do anything new, even though you are not ready to stop inflicting Star Wars upon us (though the original trilogy is still great). Well, at least we wont receive NEW idiotic plots and characters.

"Hey guys! I killed a Stormtrooper! Its their leader too!" "Oh yeah? They all look like interchangeable people to me. Got any evidence it was this leader guy?" Surely the US government realizes that we cannot simply take them at their word.

Sphericial Astronomy lecture and then a date of sorts. Not a bad evening.