A lesson learned for young voters

For all young voters, looking to Obama for change. You may be disappointed. I'm not saying you shouldn't have voted for Obama, but politics is about promises often not kept. Us "old people" know this and are not surprised by the following.

Excerpt from Lionel Beehner (italics are mine)
Pardon the metaphor, but Obama is trying to put lipstick on the pig that is US foreign policy. His national security team looks no less hawkish than the team assembled during Bush's second term. If I may ask, how is Hillary Clinton signing a communiqué or Robert Gates asking for more defense funding a "new dawn" exactly?
Ah, but the buck stops not with them but with Obama. The 3am call is his, not Clinton's, to make (even though one can almost hear her rehearsing Alexander Haig's famous "I'm in charge now" line in her head). Still, Obama's familiar-looking team of national security fixer-uppers does not inspire confidence. Nor do his vague answers to detailed questions on specific policies. "We're going to have to bring the full force of our power, not only military but also diplomatic, economic and political, to deal with those threats not only to keep America safe, but also to ensure that peace and prosperity will exist around the world," he told reporters. Obama seems to think he can wish away the world's evils with his eloquence and charm.
But his statements to date, whenever issues of substance are involved, have been lacking in specifics -- the kind of fluff that goes good with peanut butter but not with issues of war and peace. To wit: He says he will close Guantanamo. Great, a symbolic blow to terrorism recruiters' kneecaps, but what about Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, which is even larger (with over 1,000 detainees), more secretive, and even houses juveniles? Obama promises to send more troops to Afghanistan but to what end: What are our goals there? And more troops will do nothing to improve the aid-distribution mess there or rid Kabul of corruption.
and it goes on ...
I hate to say it, but in terms of U.S. foreign policy, I don't see a whole lot changing under Obama, especially with the national security team he has assembled. The biggest thing I fear is that when Obama gets that 3am phone call, his voice will sound an awful lot like Bush's.

This is what us "old people" already knew. A lesson learned for the young.

Happy Birthday to me

I recently had a birthday. My immediate family recognized it and, although the importance of birthdays has lessened over the years, it is still enjoyable to be recognized.

It is dissapointing that other extended family members, as they call themselves, cannot bring themselves to remember, and if they do, said nothing; with the exception of one person(of a dozen or more people). Thanks to that one. It was an email and it meant a lot. A kind gesture. That person gave away nothing and enhanced someone else's life. I think that is great. It's like a compliment: "thanks for living one more year." It means no more and no less; no hidden agenda.

Others claim to care, but when even a simple birthday does not get honored by a card, email, phone call, whatever; that is saying something other than caring (actions matter.) They are thinking of self only. I've been guilty of that myself so I recognize it. That does not excuse it. And believe me, one can come up with all kinds of lame excuses if one tries.

Shame on those people. But more importantly shame on them for not even trying to change their behavior.

I guess for them, other things are more important. But I will tell you, it sure does not feel that way on the receiving end, no matter the reason.

P.S. What's even more ludicrous is some of these people are saddended by the fact we are growing apart -- big surpriser there uh!

Oh well. Happy birthday to me and thanks to the three who cared.

P.S.S: A recent study showed a direct correllation to the number of birthdays and length of life. In short, the more birthdays you have the longer people tend to live.

Three Legged Chicken

A man was driving along a freeway when he noticed a chicken running alongside his car. He was amazed to see the chicken keeping up with him, as he was doing 50 mph. He accelerated to 60, and the chicken stayed right next to him. He sped up to 75 mph, and the chicken passed him. The man noticed that the chicken had three legs. So he followed the chicken down a road and ended up at a farm. He got out of his car and saw that all the chickens had three legs. He asked the farmer, "What's up with these chickens?" The farmer said "Well, everybody likes chicken legs, so I bred a three-legged bird. I'm going to be a millionaire." The man asked him how they tasted. The farmer said, "Don't know, haven't caught one yet." (Molly - Ohio/USA)

Child Abuse

Those are words no parent wants to hear. There is a type of child abuse though called covert child abuse. We have to be careful because many times this is associated with "Munchhausen by proxy". However, there is another form. This other form has the form that the child is ignored, totally. Lets take an example. Suppose Johnny was in first grade and did not do his first home work assignment. What does that really mean. Nothing. It means Johnny did not do his first home work assignment. No more; no less. Now add in the following. No parent even knew there was home work, no parent asked to look at it, check to see if it was done, or anything. How does Johnny feel? Good question. I do not know. He's six. He feels but does not know how to analyze feelings or even what to do with them. It's covert; no overt like "I feel hungry." He does not know enough to go to his parents and say "parent me." Now Johnny goes to school, does not have his homework so he lies, my dog ate it or whatever. The lying worked, or so he thinks - it does not matter, it now becomes a tool for his covert life. "If I'm ignored, I can lie and no-one will know, I can do things and no-one will pay attention and know, I can become whoever I want (falsely)" plus a host of other behaviors.
Now fast forward a few years to a project Johnny is working on. It's been a few years, Johnny developed an interest on his own in third grade and learned what he could. But of course no-one else knew, why bother even telling them at this point. As a matter of fact, the thought does not even cross his mind. He tells other children but they do not understand. That's okay though, they are not his parents. He is disappointed but associates "with a child's mind" that no-one, even his peers care. No-one asks, cares or inquires in anyway about it. Johnny by this time cares but does not care. He has learned to manufacture a bubble around him so that even if someone cared, he would not trust it.

However, Johnny's feelings are not totally dead, at the school wide showing of the projects, his parents go through the motions of attending, but they are just the required motions and the minute they can leave they do. Maybe Johnny gets asked a question about his project which he answers incorrectly. Although he knew a lot and had interest, this is met not with parental interest in explaining the mistake, and patience; but simply criticism. Now Johnny feels stupid too.

Of course these are two things which Johnny remembers. There are probably hundreds; but the mind can't handle that as a child or adult and rolls it in to a form it can remember best; a couple of instances. But the baggage: slews of learned or figured or behaviors-real or not; correct or not.

So by the age of 10 Johnny feels others do not really care, he feels dumb and he has learned to trust the covert world of lying and distrust others. Through watching his peers, he starts to understand that this is not what other's lives are like and that it must be him. He sees the overtly abused child and feels bad about himself for having his feelings; he is not beaten. He feels shame and self loathing. He must be wrong and bad; why else would no-one care?

It does not really matter why Johnny's parent's are so ignoring of Johnny. Why they only care about themselves. What matters is what Johnny is learning. Maybe they are alcoholic, recovering alcoholics, maybe they are over compensating for their childhood; whatever. But they do not have time for Johnny; not real time. They might fake it. By now Johnny can see right through, does not trust it, and it simply reinforces his feelings; which are no longer feelings; they are beliefs that really he is a piece of sh_t. It's okay though (not really). He has a covert life and can pretend all is okay. He can lie and make others believe what he wants (actually just those who don't really pay attention.)

At some point in a child's life, 14 or so, when they start to become their own person they begin to understand that something is not right. Two paths are typically taken. One path leads to the child who acts out by getting in trouble to force attention and caring; positive or negative. The other simply recedes in to the shadows and has learned how to make everything appear okay.

What happens to that child when they grow up? I do not have an answer other than to say that grown up Johnny is still the 6 year old who did not do his first home work assignment and no-one knew, cared or paid any attention.

Johnny, being the "okay" teen may even be put in charge of the ignored other sibling who took a different path. Johnny learns fear and power. More tools. If he succeeds, it is because he faked it (at least that is what he believes deep down inside.) He is praised but he knows it he faked it and it reinforces his feelings (which have now become behaviors) of his own "covertness". If he fails, that's even worse. Now he knows he cannot fail. He fears failure. He fears the loss of control that he has learned to embrace.

What happened before 6? Between 6 and 10; and thereafter. Many things I'm sure. I do not have answers.

This is all just food for thought; fraught with gaps and questions but also of the beginning of important understanding.

None of us is perfect parents (I don't think) but we need to parent as best we can. At least let our children know that we know about them, what they are doing and give them the attention that steers them towards what we feel is correct behavior. They need to know we know.

Johnny did not have that and probably still does not. Even if he does, he has learned to not trust it.

Sleep Disorders

It is interesting. In the latest issue of Discover magazine (Dec. 2008) they discuss a sleep disorder called REM sleep Behavior Disorder (RBD). Some indictation of this disorder is activity during REM sleep such as vivid dreams that result in bodily movement, dreams of choking so real that the person wakes up coughing and in some cases may even try to hurt their bed partner if the dream invokes it. During REM sleep the body is supposed to be essentially paralyzed. The solution to RBD is a simple medicine called Clonazepam.

Advice to the president

Not from me but I endorse it (no matter who is president):

Read The Origin of Species and understand evolution.
This is an excerpt by Jack Horner in Discover Magazine.


Lincoln read Euclid's Elements. He did this not to widen his knowledge of Geometry but sharpen his logical thinking skills. Of course, I'm sure he learned some geometry too.

Work on Primes-a work in Progress

No. No headway yet. Hard work and persistance is the key; and, of course, it's fun.

As Edison said: I did not fail 2000 time (approx.) to create a lightbulb, I learned 1,999 ways not to create one.

Primes

Among several of my mathematics research projects, I am, like most mathematicians, venturing in to the world of Prime Numbers.

For those not in the know, Prime Numbers are those that are divisible by only the number 1 and the number itself. For example, 17 is only (evenly) divisible by 1 and 17.

The long standing problem is a "formula" for predicting primes. There isn't one (yet).

Since Primes are the building blocks of all other natural numbers (every number is the product of prime numbers), I see them as important.
As an example, the number 15 is the product of 3 and 5, both prime.
The number 26 is the product of 13 and 2 - both prime .
and so on for all Natural numbers.

Oh No...Politics is creeping in to my blog

I do not want politics on my blog but I have to say, regarding Obama's plan of extra taxes for those over $250,000 and "Spread the wealth", the following:

Spreading the wealth is a socialist idea. Although many countries employ socialism, it does not work very well. Ask yourself, "who is going to spread their wealth to you anyway? and who is doing the spreading?

The $250,000 idea is ridiculous. In some states that's a lot of money, in others, it's the bare necessity. How is he reconciling this fact?

Well, that's my two cents worth (am I taxed on two cents?). I'm not telling who I am voting for because, as always, their are positives and negatives. We seem to always have to choose "the lesser of two evils". But I do see one as much less capable of "evil."

We really need a third party for checks and balances (that our government is so proud of) and to offer a 3rd party perspective. Maybe this 3rd party would take the best of both parties.

Evolution Conundrum

Evolution to me is just plain obvious. However, there is an oddity that keeps me thinking. Humans do not manufacture vitamin C. We have to get it or die of scurvy. Most animals manufacture it in their bodies. But focusing on just humans I would think that we would have evolved to create our own vitamin C. In other words, during the process of evolving, I would think that the group that could not manufacture vitamin C would have die out in favour of those who could manufacture it. So this begs a couple of questions. Has the mutation to create vitamin C just never occured in humans so it never became a factor in the evolutionary process? Or maybe at one time we did manufacture vitamin C and evolved out of it as vitamin C bearing foods became abundant and other evolutionary survival traits became more important.

Maybe this is what happened to the Neandertals. Maybe they all died of scurvy in the end while the cro-magnon was able to gather the necessary foods to survive.

Teaching Experience

I've been wondering how much I'd get paid by teaching semester courses at the local community college. Seems weird but they are not required to let you know more than the base amount per credit hour (for new instructors)

I got my contract today and to my surprise I'm getting $132.00 per credit hour more than the base. I should not be surprised since I have many years of teaching experience, but it was good to have it confirmed. With seven credit hours this semester, it gives an acceptable boost in income over a beginning instructor.

LHC Set back - a poem

Read the following like the "Night before Christmas"

Twas the night before LHC start up , the tension was king
Not a proton was stirring, none flying around the ring

The magnets were placed in the ring with care
In hopes that the physicists soon would be there

The technicians were awake, not cozy in bed
While visions of Higgs particles danced in their heads

Joanna in her lab coat and mine in my lap
Were taking a respite from checking a magnets correct gap
...

It ran a few for a few days, when a magnet gave out
I sprang from my computer screen and gave an angry shout

Away to the ring, I went in a scurry
Checked all the monitors and shut it all down in a hurry

The hum gave way to a silence all around
Gave way to a chatter of what had been found

When what a thought to my wondering mind should appear
A "squelch" in the system brought all the fear

More rapid than eagles we all got to work
To test various theories it was acting like a jerk

Oh crap, oh damn, sh_t and f_ck
We need to get to work and hope for some luck

To the top of the ring, the top of the magnet
We scampered and checked every little gadget


As theories for a new particle fly
The physicists were throwing their hands in the sky
So to the white boards and computers they went on their way
Hours and hours of computations they spent, their moods not gay


As I punched the enter key and looked at my screen
Up popped the reason we all had not seen

It was all right there, clear as day
I knew it could be fixed, we'd figure a way

The others who had worked hard, looked over my back
as the director verified I wasn't a quack

His eyes -- how they twinkled! his smile quite merry!
His cheeks were getting rosy and his nose like a cherry

His pleasant smile took up his whole face
and he stroked his goatee with a measured pace

The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth
as he looked at my result and checked piece after piece

He had a broad face and a little round belly,
that shook, when he typed like a bowlful of jelly

He was smart and keen, a right jolly old director
I laughed when I saw him, look at my answer

A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread;

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
checked all my calculations; then turned with a jerk

And laying his down glasses and pinching his nose,
he pushed back his chair and slowly arose.

He sprang to his computer, and emailed our calculated guesses
that the failure was caused by internal mechanical stresses

But I heard him exclaim, as the last email was out of sight,
we'll be back on-line soon, so have a good-night.


"Always make new mistakes"

If the Auto Industry.......Microsoft

If the auto industry had developed technology like Microsoft, we would be driving cars with the following characteristics:

1. For no reason whatsoever, your car would crash...twice a day.

2. Every time they repainted the lines in the road you would have to buy a new car.

3. Occasionally your car would die on the freeway for no reason. You would have to pull over, close all windows, shut the car off, restart it, and reopen all windows before you could continue. For some reason you would simply accept this.

4. Occasionally, executing a maneuver such as a left turn would cause your car to shut down and refuse to restart, in which case you would have to reinstall the engine.

5. Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, was reliable, five times as fast and twice as easy to drive but would only run on five percent of the roads.

6. The oil, water temperature, and alternator warning lights would all be replaced by a single "This Car Has Performed An Illegal Operation" warning light.

7. The airbag system would ask "Are you sure?" before deploying.

8. Occasionally, for no reason whatsoever, your car would lock you out and refuse to let you in until you simultaneously lifted the door handle, turned the key and grabbed a hold of the radio antenna.

9. Every time a new car was introduced car buyers would have to learn how to drive all over again because none of the controls would operate in the same manner as the old car.

10. You'd have to press the "Start" button to turn the engine off.

LHC Facts

* The £4.5 billion machine has a circumference of 27 km (17 miles) and lies an average of 100 metres (330 feet) under the ground, straddling French and Swiss territory.


* At full power, trillions of protons - subatomic particles - will race around the LHC accelerator ring 11,245 times a second. It is capable of achieving 600 million collisions every second.


* The machine counts as the world's largest fridge. All the magnets will be pre-cooled to -193.2°C (80 K) using 10,080 tons of liquid nitrogen, before they are filled with nearly 60 tons of liquid helium to bring them down to -271.3°C (1.9 K).


* The LHC is the emptiest place in the Solar System too. To avoid colliding with gas molecules inside the accelerator, the beams of particles travel in an ultra-high vacuum - the internal pressure of the LHC is 10-13 atmospheres, ten times less than the pressure on the Moon.
* When two beams of protons collide, they will generate temperatures more than 100,000 times hotter than the heart of the sun, concentrated within a miniscule space.


When the experiments get running at the LHC, the four great "eyes" of the machine start observing collisions, they will generate 15 million gigabytes of data every year, that is equivalent to one thousand times the information printed in the form of books annually.


* A network of around 80,000 computers worldwide is being readied for a deluge of data that could fill a stack of CDs more than 12 miles (20 kilometres) tall.



So in our spare time maybe we will schedule some time at the LHC (not!)

Do the Math!

Just don't divide by zero!

It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine.

The Large Hadron Collider will be turned on this Wednesday (9/10/08), with the first proton being shown down the collider.

There is no collision that will take place this Wednesday, as the start of the process will only have the machine running at 1/10 its full capacity.

Scientists are definitely on edge though, as many against turning on the Large Hadron Collider are making their voices heard.

CERN scientists have been receiving death threats, among other things.
The fear is that the collissions created by the Large Hadron Collider may create a black hole, and could result in the end of the world.

I do not think this will happen but other than being directly hit by an asteroid, CAN YOU THINK OF A BETTER WAY TO GO?

Go LHC!!!

(by the way, the title of the post can be positive or negative. No matter what, the world as we know it is probably about to change -- maybe only from a scientific perspective.)

Rational and Irrational Numbers

We are all familiar with rational and irrational numbers. For example 5/4=1.25 is rational,
the square root of 2=1.41421356237309504880168872420... is irrational, 11/4=2.75 is rational, PI=3.1415926535... is irrational.

So here is my question for which I have not worked on a proof one way or another.

Are there ever two irrational numbers where one comes right after the other or is there always at least one rational number in between?

Similarly, are there ever two rational numbers right together or is there one or more irrational numbers in between?

Basically. If we could draw an actual number line with all the numbers, what would it look like?
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The answer looks like NO. Thanks with a little help from my friends...

Is it always possible to find a rational number between any two irrational numbers.
Is it always possible to find an irrational number between anytwo irrational numbers.


The desired rational can be constructed by "truncating" the decimal expansion of the larger irrational at a certain point and then considering the average of the two rational numbers.

or for the other,

if the average of the two irrational numbers is rational, an irrational number satisfying the requirement is the average of one of the irrationals and the rational average of the two irrationals. The desired irrational between rational numbers can be found by adding a sufficiently small irrational number to the smaller rational number.

Positive Things

My JTCC teaching feels good. Esh got a job at his School as a grader for a professor (tough for first years), and October's class looks like it's going to work.

We helped Esh with Tax forms last night by phone, they can be hard to understand. Because of that not everyone reports their income, but Esh will.

As Will Smith say in Independence Day: "we got to work on our communication skills." I'm working on mine.

For some, it's almost time to sign up for selective service--go USA, but hopefully it will not be needed. But you still got to sign up -- or go to Jail!

Feeling Good

Today was my first semester-length class (teaching) at JTCC. It felt really good to be back in the college environment and and classroom. It is very different than the short courses I have been doing and it felt great.

Thanks to October for the suggestion!

Backwards In Time

I have always been fascinated by the concept, mathematics and physics of time travel. I would love to believe we can do it. However, I hit on a show stopper.

Antimatter particles are the same (mathematically) as particles traveling backwards in time. Therefore, if we were to travel back in time, our particles would become antiparticles. The "anti us" would undoubtedly meet up with regular particles and we all know what would happen -- blam!

Google Olympics

Second class

I'll be pretty busy but it should be fun. JTCC asked last minute if I'd teach an Algebra I class also. So this semester I have two semester length classes: Introduction to Mathematics and Algebra I. Semester teaching is not a financially advantageous as the short training I do but part of doing this is to get back in to teaching math because all the short courses are computer related.

The Joy of computing and Microsoft

I needed to swap two columns in a listview. No big deal, one line of code:

listView1.Columns(1).DisplayIndex = 0

Well. That was with Microsoft's .NET Framework 2.0. I needed Framework 1.1. In 1.1 I had to figure out a way to do it. Microsoft did not provide a way. Not a lot of code but low level and not obvious:



Public Declare Function SendMessagelong Lib "user32" Alias "SendMessageA" _
(ByVal hWnd As Integer, ByVal wMsg As Integer, _
ByVal wParam As Integer, ByVal lParam As Integer) As Integer
Private Const LVM_FIRST = &H1000
Private Const LVM_GETCOLUMNORDERARRAY = (LVM_FIRST + 59)
Private Const LVM_SETCOLUMNORDERARRAY = (LVM_FIRST + 58)

Dim success As Long
Dim i As Integer
Dim colCount As Long
Dim colArray(2) As Long

colCount = Me.listView1.Columns.Count
ReDim colArray(0,colCount) As Long
success = SendMessage(Me.Handle.ToInt32, LVM_GETCOLUMNORDERARRAY, colCount, colArray(0))



If success <> 0 Then

colArray(0) = 1
colArray(1) = 2
colArray(2) = 3


success = SendMessage(Me.listView1.Handle.ToInt32, LVM_SETCOLUMNORDERARRAY, colCount, colArray(0))

Me.listView1.Refresh()
End If

Introduction to Math

My precalculus and several others do not have enough people to make. But the college asked me to teach an Introduction to Mathematics class. They thought they would have to sell me on it, since I like higher level math but I jumped at the chance and said yes.

It's not about how much I know, it's about sharing information and the helping others get it. The challenge of multiple way of presenting something to meet everyones needs.

The joy of teaching!

Topics:

Arithmetic, Calculators, Sets of numbers, Basic algebra, Percents, Sets and logic, Basic statistics,
and Problem solving.

Precalculus

I have not accepted the class but I was offered a precalculus (and possibly a second one) as an Adjunct as JTCC. I'll wait a week or so before deciding.

We will cover cool stuff like linear, non-linear and higher degree polynomials, complex numbers, matrices and much more.

Building worlds and discovery

I enjoy computer programming, math and physics, archaeology and many other things. However, focusing on programming, math and physics. In comparing these, I find that in programming one gets a chance to build a small world, to make an object behave as desired. You have a vision of an end result and then get to build the objects needed to realize it.

Math works in a similar way. Starting with simple objects like numbers, sets or abstract spaces; along with rules or axioms, one can build new objects. Whether we are discovering the new objects or inventing them is open to debate but again, one gets to start with a vision of something to prove (Theorem, etc.) and then build the steps to do so. In the process sometimes constructing or discovering new mathematical techniques and objects.

Of course in math, we can also choose to solve problems. Given a problem, construct a solution. Still a building process.

Physics I have to classify differently. In the physics world I feel like we are discovering and modeling our very existence. We are not building a new world, but through modeling and experiments, we are slowly discovering our world. I do doubt, however, that we will ever understand it all. I think we may think we have, and even come up with a Theory of Everything, but my guess is there is more out there than our minds can imagine and eventually the Theory of Everything would break. But it sure is fun discovering and imagining.

History

So someone wants to know your past history. Sounds normal right? Well, what other history is there? Show me your present and future history just do not sound right. So why do we qualify with the word "past" when referring to history? Food for thought.

Interview with a Vampire

No. Wait. That was a movie.

Interview with JTCC.
The interview and teaching demo went really well. As a matter of fact, one of the first things they talked about was possible open classes for me to teach; even before I did anything. They are leaning towards a pre-calculus class which is right down the road.

The teaching demo went better than expected. The Dean of Arts and Sciences, Dr. Alexander, was there. Apparently she had no idea what my topic was going to be. It was graphing rational functions. I started off with a review of linear functions and was planning to review non-linear quadratics as well to show establish rigorous steps and then add more rigir for the ration functions (I planned out my approach well in advance.)

However, when I was doing linear functions, Dr. Alexander had lots of questions (thinking I had skipped a lot of stuff--not knowing my topic). The way I addressed her questions; in a patient, desciptive way, made it all the better. When she was told this was a review, she apologized, thinking I had skipped a lot of information. However, my approach and patience turned out to be a virtue.

Although I have not interviewd for a job in 18 years, I knew enough to be prepared to answer questions like my teaching philosophy, worst and best things that have happened, mistakes I have made, and so on. I even did the typical preparation of having questions to ask them.

I spent bits of time over several days working on this part, and, other than the teaching demo, none of it was used. Better prepared than not though. The teaching demo appeared to be the main thing they focus on. Each organization is different (I know I have written interview questions for clients and helped them choose who to hire.) By the way, this is good information for anybody thinking of a job (google interview questions or something like that in your field. Research the company. They want to know you know what they do.)

Things look very good. They have one of two classes lined up for me. Although I do not want to petty, I do not know the pay. It is "commensurate with experience." I have lots of experience from High School, College and my business. However, I do not know what they will count. Hopefully it is enough to make what would be a joyful experience worth my time. If not, I may not do it. I'll be positive for now and assume it is worth it and push forward. All the paper work (gobs of it for State Jobs) is done, they have to check references and do a background check, but the wheels have been set in motion and hopefully the wheel will stay on a straight path (a metaphor, obviously).

Who knows where this will lead. I don't. Exciting!

Trying something old as new

Although working with computers has been my bread and butter for 20 years, I am a mathematician. Not applied math but what is called "pure math". But to the point, I have been training as adjunct faculty (short 2-3 day classes in computer related topics) off and on for 18 years but have not taught a semester length course since my days as Adjunct Faculty for VCU.

I am giving a teaching demonstration on graphing rational functions this coming week as part of an interview for an Adjunct Faculty position at JTCC. I have been wanting to get back in to teaching math at the semester level and hopefully this will work out.

Teaching is a wonderful way to keep up with a topic and help keep skills honed. Of course it is also wonderful to see students learn; to spread knowledge. I love to pass on knowledge.

Of course I will continue with my computer work which I enjoy but am looking forward to the opportunity to teach math again.

A Criminologist Repave (an anagram)

This is a new course being offerred by CCPS (Comparative Religions). It will be taught by a social studies teacher. As one interested in the theory of religions this sounds neat. However, the course will almost certainly be subjective and have a bent toward Christianity -- as that teacher practices it. Even Christianity varies among denominations, not to mention the others. Unless we had a clear expert for each religion who can teach completely objectively, the course is doomed to fail or teach falsley. If the course happened to be taught by a Muslim, it would require an Imam and have to be done in Arabic to be done correctly (for the Quranic part.) then is it Shii or Sunni? Get the point. Too Many Variations (A Visionary Ottoman); or with all religions (Setec Astronomy.)

I think it is better just to keep religion out of the public schools altogether.

Maybe a course in Comparitive Worms would be better.

LHC

The Large Hadron Collider is set to come online soon. There are pundits who are concerned about mini black holes and the such; distruction of the world stuff. But what a way to go! How many people can say their world was wiped out by a black hole? (none I guess since if they were wiped out they could not talk about it--that's besides the point)

I am not that excited about the Higgs, Dark Energy, etc. that we may find but that which we may not find. I want more questions, more problems, things to keep physicists and mathematicians going for a long time. Of course the discovery of Higgs, etc. would be great but these are objects we name to model what we experience; and there is so much more.

We are an animal, on a small planet, orbiting a medium sun, on the edge of a medium galaxy, slowly rotating and traveling through the vast universe. There is so much more.