DiscWorld

In my lifelong quest to continue to do fun things and collect nerd/geek cred, I recently was introduced to Terry Pratchet's fantastical DiscWorld series. It's one of the few fiction works that I've read recently, and I enjoyed its snarky commentary on human nature.

I have found that the fiction works that I do actually enjoy tend to be ones with grand orchestrations behind them. Virtual worlds that have so much background and context that it's like a masterpiece painting. I tend not to enjoy fiction works that are just 'normal.' If it's set in the past, then I think I have trouble allowing for that strange combination of the real and the imaginary. If it's a poor work in an imaginary setting, I tend to feel like I'm missing parts of the world. But stories with a map, with a culture, with a context... those have more promise.

(Narnia, LOTR, star wars, etc.)

I guess, in summary, there's more to a story than the story.

There are a million things that can go wrong...

As I was reading a certain article online (linked at the end), I came across a quote from a NASA engineer working on super-cool next gen mars rover. The quote was particularly interesting, and I thought of how other people might finish the quote. I have to admit that I'm only an engineer, and not one of these others, so feel free to tell me how wrong I am. (*laughs to self at the implicit suggestion that people are still reading this blog.)

Art major: "There are a million things that can go wrong; fortunately, I can decide that each one is an artistic statement, and it is no longer really 'wrong.' "

Business major: "There are a million things that can go wrong, so we shouldn't invest too much into this."

Music major: "There are a million things that can go wrong; so keep practicing."

Political science major: "There are a million things that can go wrong. Most of them already have."

Theatre major: "There are million things that can go wrong, but with a good ad lib the audience will forgive you. Just make sure the stage crew get it right for the next show."

Nursing/Premed: "There are a million things that can go wrong. If it is this, this or that, someone dies."

Finally, the real quote which inspired this post:
NASA Rover Engineer: "There are a million things that can go wrong, and our job is to identify all of them and make sure they don't happen."

And, the article:

"NASA previews its sexiest Mars Rover yet"

http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/news/ci_16096017

Other interesting facts about the Curiosity rover include that James Cameron, of TITANIC and AVATAR fame, is "in the loop" on this NASA project, since the rover sports 3D cameras. He might be using the 3D footage to make a documentary picture, similar to ones that have been made about the Astoundingly successful Spirit and Opportunity rovers.

(Of course, the James Cameron publicity doesn't hurt NASA's "cool factor" PR...)

You can follow the curiosity rover on twitter:@MarsCuriosity and spirit and opportunity: @MarsRovers

On Dreams

Dreaming... it's a crazy thing. In fact, just sleep is pretty crazy.

Exhibit A (from when xkcd was better than it is today):

http://xkcd.com/203/

Besides xkcd's great take on the absurdity of dreaming, it's a topic that has caused much wonder and interest pretty much since ... the beginning of man.

There's an interesting podcast from Radiolab that has a few sleep topics.

I know at times sleep has seemed to be an obstruction to me, when you're having fun or getting things done and don't really have any desire to sleep. One such time was when we were working on a deadline for compiling the massive Solar Splash Team Report, and all the Figures and Captions etc had to be reformatted. In the process of finishing that document, I stayed awake for some 40 hours. While working on it, I didn't really feel tired, just sitting there, getting water and some snacks, plugging away. However, once I stopped... boy was that a loopy feeling. Dazed, confused, wandering. It's a really unique experience.

I find that it's not too terribly difficult to stay up all night (for me) if the situation is right. In general, some sort of hypnotic source of visual stimulation helps a lot to pass the time. I remember a time in High School where I had recently fixed a garage sale lava lamp, and just sat up till sunrise watching the lava lamp. You have a really interesting perspective on things the next day... things that wouldn't normally seem so connected are linked in strange ways.

And this post wouldn't be complete without mentioning Lucid Dreaming, where you're conscious and in control of your dream, or without mentioning the scariest dream I ever had, which was a fever-inducing hyper-realistic dream which challenged my ability to define reality. Or my second most terrifying dream (which has recurred, always exactly the same), a terrible tale of helpless and lonely struggle. Maybe more on those sometime else...

Dreaming is a mysterious event that is a nearly universal human experience, transcending (to some extent) cultures. The experience of a dream is a strong counter-example to how people perceive reality, or, in the parlance of "Worldview Questions:"

What is real?

I know my answer, and it has been tested to its limits. Do you know yours?

To hug you when I cannot reach.

I dreamt last night I saw you

in Cedarville, behind a door.

Awake, I dreamt it could be true

and hoped to hold you more.

Asleep, it seemed not so clear

that between two apart, a hug can't be.

but maybe words can make us near--

be arms across the sea for me

To hug you when I cannot reach.

-For Joanna, by Mordecai.

Facebook and Relationships

After talking with each other and some friends, Joanna Taylor and I have decided that it would be most clear if we display our relationship status on Facebook. We both believe that this makes it
more clear to others around us that we are not interested in pursuing romantic relationships with anyone else at this time.

Although we believe that because we are both Christians our dating is motivated by different values and goals than what maybe an average person would consider for
dating, we have come to the conclusion that we can avoid confusion with others by being very public about our continuing process of getting to know one another to discover if we are who God has for each other.

January

Ok, I'm not going to apologize for not posting anymore, b/c it is everytime.

I went to Bethlehem for Christmas. It was interesting, and not at all like I expected.

Highlights:
--holding a boa constrictor in manger square on Christmas night.
--seeing "Solomon's pools" (not at all related to Solomon. Thanks again, crusaders)
--seeing the Herodyon
--finding this one awesome door somewhere in the city of Bethlehem.

More recently, I saw "Avatar" in 3D.
In an interview with Popular Science, the dude who made the movie said that the story had to be compelling, since people wouldn't go see a 3 hr movie just for the technology it showcases. He was wrong. The movie is so-so. Predictable plot, stereotypical characters, etc. The only reason I went to see it was because of how awesome the 3D technology is. super-cool.

and nearly 1 month later...

Ok, so this blog post won't be quite as happy as some of the others...

As it turns out, I did a good thing when I set expectations for this part of my life. Coming to Israel on a few month's notice, studying in Hebrew, beginning a Master's Degree, while learning the language... my expectations were explicitly set at "this being both the hardest thing I've done and something that I will never forget." You may notice that there are no "have a good grade percentage" or "ace all my classes" mentioned in those expectations.

And... that was a good thing when my midterm came around. The course is Analytical Methods I, and is basically an Advanced Differential Equations course where we derive the Bessel Function, and use Legendre Polynomials and all manner of crazy mathematical tricks to solve differential equations.

-The exam turned out to be over a week further into the material than I thought it was.
-I made an early mistake in an infinite sum expansion in the first section of the first problem.
-The later sections of the first problem bulit upon the (correct) answer to the section I knew was not coming together. This therefore had me freaking out and spending nearly all my time working on trying to get the infinite sum correct.
-The second problem, while quite straightforward, required the use of approximately 4 specific equations that I had neglected to put on my equation sheet. Therefore, a few of my answers were along the lines of "here, you would make a certain substitution... which I don't remember."

This was the ONLY test I've taken in my life where I experienced the feeling of despair, and a true sense of failing. As it turns out, my sense was faily accurate... final percentage below:

my percentage: 37%
class average: 57.8%
median: 59%
mode: {69,82}
my distance from average: -1.23 standard deviations
my percentile: 15.4

stem and leaf plot of reported class grades on the midterm:
0|
1|
2|3,9
3|3,3,4,4,7
4|2,3,4,5,8
5|0,3,4,4,5,6,8,9
6|1,1,2,2,5,6,9,9,9
7|0,2,4,6,7
8|0,2,2,2
9|1

Obviously, to anyone familiar with my academic record to date, this will probably be somewhat surprising. I'll be really honest: failing a test is a terrible experience, but it is one that I am glad that I have now had. I've never been able to relate to people very well who have struggled academically, since I myself have in the past had nearly no difficulties. Especially since I eventually see myself as a professor, probably writing exams which people will fail, this is a particularly valuable experience to me from a life-long/ relate to people viewpoint.

(A little-known fact is that I actually took two attempts to pass the amatuer radio operator test, failing the first attempt by 1 pt. However, this didn't really count, since I took the test with no preparation, and it was just for an extra-curricular activity).

(and, yes, I am a technician class ham radio operator. massive nerd points.)