The Hourglass

This is from David Baltimore's commencement speech at Caltech, 2006:

".....

The HOURGLASS
...

We start life with an insatiable and unfocused curiosity. We investigate our sandboxes, our bodies and our toys. We go to elementary school and learn about language and history and mathematics. We continue to high school, absorbing literature and chemistry and more mathematics. Then in college we start to specialize and in graduate school we may spend 4 years investigating something so particular that only a few in the world care about the results. But when you leave school, you begin to become reacquainted with the issues of the world, you become a voter, perhaps a reader of literature or history, a watcher of the Discovery Channel. I have often thought that this progression of life is like passing through an hourglass, starting wide at the top as a youth, flowing down through a tight neck of specialization and then spreading widely again.

Today many of you are leaving the neck of the hourglass. The graduate students, for sure, but those of you undergraduates who are going out into the working world will experience a broadening of your interests. For those just going to graduate school, you will pass the neck in a few years and then these remarks will be relevant. ...

...."

Facebook resolution

I just want to make it publicly known that I can only be on facebook on Wednesdays (unless I have to confirm friend requests). And yes it's an arbitrary choice of day; it just started out that way as a personal challenge after I realized I was checking it every day, sometimes BEFORE email! This is a resolution, so if anyone sees me on it any other day of the week please point it out. I've managed to keep it up for the last 3 weeks so I know it is possible.

Rant spot

The stupid lady in charge of fedexing at the Kinko's on Greenbriar is the definition of incompetent. If you ever come across some idiot blondish girl (I won't give race away) who doesn't know how to use a computer there, walk away very fast. All she could do is flirt with the idiot guy in front of me for 20 mins so they could learn each other's life stories. Then when it was my turn, she couldn't figure out how to find the prices on the computer. And what's more she told me what the two-day shipping price to my address was anyway - turns out she was WRONG and my CC charged me TWICE as much!!!@%$!@$@ ugh. Stupid incompetent imbeciles.

Definite articles

I just wanted to make note that in TX we say "take 59 south", instead of "the 59 south". Why the conservation of articles? I don't know! It doesn't sound jarring anymore but I'm pretty sure that elsewhere they use a "the" in front of the highway number. (and not just with the 101.)

a not-so-cheery post

I feel compelled to post something about the two Caltech-related suicides that happened over the last week. The first occurred on campus, and the second was an ex-techer first year grad student in SF. Read the letter from admins on this blog about the campus death. Very unfortunate. Maybe Caltech needs to step up counseling services? I dunno how much that would help. Maybe some though.

Besides the fact that a suicide is a death, which is always tragic, more unfortunate is the after-effect that every single person who ever encountered the victim will pause and wonder if (and how) they somehow influenced his decision. I almost think it is a more cruel form of vengeance than murder. Because if someone really does feel guilty about issue x then he has that to live with the rest of his life (assuming he knows how to feel remorse). But to those guilt-ridden people I have to say that (1) a suicide has to come from someone who is truly ill in the head and that has to do with the person, not you (2) chances are that it was more than one contributing factor to the depression that probly triggered such a drastic action. I mean usually even if you're down in one department in life, there are others that will keep you afloat. At least that's how I think normal people cope when the chips are down. That's why you have reliable friends and family.

Wow that was depressing! On a more cheery note we went to Johnson's ranch yesterday (75 miles each way!) for a Bremen-reunion and it was pretty fun. I was relieved that the dogs were relatively calm compared to the last time. There were barbed wire fences and buzzards and horses and mistletoe and a catfish pond. Next time I go to the Blue Bell creamery in the area.

Here read my sister's stories for more of a cheer-upper at her blog. I'm using a lot of url links today.

Child labor

I just read that in October the Indian govt passsed a law banning children < 14 from working as "domestic servants or at food stalls, teashops, restaurants, spas, hotels, resorts and other recreational centres." (supposedly a stricter version of one already in force since 1986). And while the 2 year prison sentence will deter some, I am certain that thanks to all the corruption and under the table dealings, its impact will not be fully felt. Ironically I think that the worst exploitation is in the larger cities than in the small towns and villages. In the villages having your 15 kids work to feed the family is just a way of life; harvesting rice(?) is not the same as being tortured by a rich city family that makes you sleep in the bathroom and kill yourself over housework. Anyone who has ever visited India knows exactly what the sad state of affairs re child labor is.

Anyway I am appalled that it took SO long for such a law to be enforced. Given that they made the caste system, the dowry system and sati (widow suicide) illegal at least 50 years ago (don't quote date), I would have thought an anti-child labor law would have been on the list then too. Anyway a weakly enforced law is better than no law. I wonder if there are similar laws in place in other developing countries.

See BBC for more.

Uh oh scary

I'll tell you what's scary. A guy from my undergrad class is getting his PhD in April. That's LESS than FOUR years. And he is just a regular guy. (all info is thru one particular grapevine). There are auxilliary factors that contribute to any PhD's length so this is not modulo those factors (eg no master's thesis, goal is industry). But still tis scary. And congratulatory.

Miss

I miss the days when I went to a school of nerds. I miss my nerds.