Epic Begins

"Exploring the unknown requires tolerating uncertainty." • Brian Greene | #opportunityrover #marsrover #jpl #nasa (at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory)

Common Physics Misconceptions

Isn’t it time that we stop teaching our kids that the Earth is flat? Sure, we can’t exactly jump into special relativity in 8th grade science classes, but surely we can bring physics education into the 20th, or maybe 21st century?

A fine message by Henry from minutephysics, to go along with his open letter to the President on physics education.

mind blow (just a bit)

Behavioral mathematics is just magical! 

B O E I N G

calligraphy, calligraphy, and style

Ever wondered why some papers are so delightful to read? Well, there are many types of writing formats. Textbook style, MLA, APA, etc. The other type is calligraphy or painting. Style is the first impression that imprints in a reader’s mind, regardless of your content. It’s what lights the page and draws readers—it’s what earns their delight, and their tears, and their smiles, and their enlightenment (hopefully). I am not an expert writer, but I believe good style depends on simplicity. Furthermore, writing is not about having sentences filled with thesaurus. You must make simple sentences seem more interesting. Simple things - like “Impeccable sketching” instead of  “Nice drawing” - will make a long lasting impression. I believe, writing verbs should be used often than adjectives. Reducing alliteration and improving word choices always trumps your phrases. I have always wondered why some writings are more vibrant than others. For instance, Apple is the only operating system - as far as I know - with the most vivid combinations of fonts (calligraphy). Every text Apple writes is visually appealing. I had a sense of revelation when I realized how varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, and varying the intensities within the letter ultimately made a huge difference.

In context to grammar, I care about how it contributes to the structure, the flow, the tone, the meaning of the passage.  Naming grammar terms isn’t interesting.  Analyzing them is. Because calligraphy is never simply about fonts—they are about everything you want the reader to visualize. Beautiful typography is what that makes your writings distinct. It ultimately becomes beautiful, artistically subtle in a way that science can’t capture.

C O N S T A N T L Y

fiscal cliff

so what exactly is the Fiscal Cliff? I’m sure you seen the phrase - Fiscal Cliff - dominating the radio, TV, internet, etc. for the past month and days to come. Pundits (politicians) and economists at Harvard turned their attention to the dire predictions of the possible and theoretically outcome of “the fiscal cliff.” Overall, at its core, this event could leave a deep impact and dominate our lives for the foreseeable future. Think of it as the economic version of Hurricane Sandy that swarmed the Wall Street (the Northeast) few weeks ago. It all begins with the December 31, 2012 expiration of the Bush tax cuts. Originally, these tax cuts were schedules to end back in 2010; however, they were extended for two years in a horse trade between President Obama and the GOP (Republican Party) controlled Congress. If you can recall the 2010 election victory, wherein President Obama agreed to continue tax cuts for all Americans in an exchange for Congress agreeing to extend the unemployment benefits for ones out of work. So, if the Bush tax cuts is just allowed to expire - it will raise taxes for most Americans. And another godawful news is that the temporary, Obama administration’s two percent tax cuts, is also scheduled to expire on December 31st. Nothing done, on January 1st, millions of Americans will be paying $2k to $3k additional dollars in taxes each year - leaving them with $3k less to spend (on our Capitalistic consumer driven economy).   These cuts hit all areas of the federal budget, including the Medicare, the Education, the FEMA, and the Defense. When you add up the increased payment of taxes and the cuts in government spending, we are looking at taking somewhere around $800 billion out of the U.S. economy next year—producing the potential for devastating consequences. Now, Obama administration and the GOP have quite different thoughts on taxing the ones who earn more than $250,000 a year. The whole government is sort of polymorphic now. Although the media might make you feel cacophonous (or that this post is obfuscation) for the next week, the White House will soon release the economic road-map for the upcoming years.

Fav!

My mum always said things we lose have a way of coming back to us in the end, if not always in the way we expect.

delta(climate)

so a while back the U.S. Supreme Court demand quantitative rationales for regulatory decisions; hence, the scientific study on climate change goes beyond the facts and maintains fidelity by using economics ideas. Since the climate change study uses probability and uncertainty for risk predictions, they raise questions about the epistemology on how scientists know what they know, and what evidences are used to validate the study... basically what i’m saying is that looking at these presidential debates, it almost (well, certainly) feels like they are a mere chicanery onto discussing dogma and not the future of our humankind — say virtual reality or sending bots to alpha centauri. Its just kinda sad to see how gullible our society is. This just reminds me of the philosophical psychology of Sherlock Holmes. Essentially we, as evolving species, should be more mindful as in to be more aware — we must observe, not merely to see, that is with our eyes, but the rest of our senses (im just saying not to be ignorant and think critically [though this is such a generic term]) 

Happy Birthday Rocco!!