Paddled for Prom Dress Code Violation?

The article I read said 17 of the 18 students who were in violation of prom dress codes opted for a paddling... What a ridiculous event. What kind of grown person would feel comfortable paddling a bunch of 17/18 year old girls? And more, what kind of 17/18 year old chooses to get paddled? This is why I don't pay much attention to these things... people are crazy. Both sides, crazy.

To Switch or Not to Switch...

I have recently picked up a copy of The Elegant Universe as suggested by Jennifer, the subject of my profile. It's a book that outlines the struggles in modern physics to explain the universe, and to unify the theories found in relativistic physics and quantum physics. And it supposedly does all this in layman's terms. I've begun reading it, and it's very well written. I have been thinking about math, how it's interesting to play with numbers, but at the same time I find quantum physics to be very alluring as well. It's a lot of theory, but I think there are answers out there that are much simpler than we can imagine right now. For instance, Einstein's general theory of relativity was absolutely revolutionary in the world of physics, yet the concept itself isn't all that complicated. It basically says that there is no specific vantage point for the universe. For instance, planet A might be traveling 5,000 mph through space relative to planet B, but in relation to another planet it's only traveling 2,000 mph. There is no set "stationary" in space, movement can only be defined relativistically. Then throw in the simple concept that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light. So now there's an insanely simple concept that has so many complex implications. I think it's that sort of thing that the new research in physics is looking for.

So I've been wondering if turning back to the first instinct for a major I had would be a good idea. That was seven years ago when I decided I wanted to go the quantum physics route. I suppose I could go after a double major possibly. Either way, I won't have to set anything in stone at least for a couple more years since physics and math pretty much go hand-in-hand for a while.

Shooting at University of Alabama in Huntsville!

Yesterday, a Biology professor opened fire during a Biology faculty meeting at the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH), killing three and injuring three more. My wife and I found this out on Facebook. I was a student there myself for a year straight out of high school, my wife has a diploma from there, my brother and his girlfriend are students there, and a friend is faculty. Fortunately they're all okay, but I do feel for those who lost loved ones. It's a horrible thing that people can snap like that and that it's so easy for them, with a gun, to take someone else's life, this precious gift we have no matter how bad it may seem at times.

A Welcome Break from Routine

Ah so a bit of snow was good as well as getting to leave work at 12pm. It was a greatly needed break from routine. I'll have to study a bit for my upcoming history test over the weekend. History has never been my strong point. It just comes down to motivation. I really don't have any enthusiasm to learn history, although at times I will get curious about something and google it, which is really how I think a lot of people learn these days. That's great that it's so easy for people to really get answers to things they're really curious about.

Argh, Essay Question...

Just had my first essay question since I've been back in school. You must remember I've been out of school for 7 years and this is my first semester back. Having been rather active online, in forums, writing blogs and stories and the such, I don't mind writing, but it's just that I'm so used to having as much time as I need to finish something I'm trying to say. If I am asked to write five paragraphs to answer a question, I wish to write the best five paragraphs I can possibly write, for better or for worse. How can you do that in less than 30 minutes?! It's not possible! It drives me crazy to leave holes. Oh well...

"Dawn of civilization"?

In my World History class, we were speaking about this, the so-called "dawn of civilization". Now, it's taught as fact in that class (and I also remember this from high school), that the dawn of civilization began roughly 12,000 years ago. 12,000 years... Now on top of this, it appeared to be happening within the same few thousand years all around the world in groups that had been disconnected from each other. This was a question in this second class on world history. Why development now? What could cause these disconnected groups around the world to take off exponentially all of a sudden? There were several hypotheses given, but to me none of them made any sense at all. The "oasis" hypothesis which states that people gather near water; the "social" hypothesis which states, more or less, that people are social (duh?); and a couple other hypotheses that basically explain why one group might begin to develop. But why in the same period of time did human beings begin to develop? There is no explanation for it as I can tell, not without incorporating concepts from other areas of study.

First of all, a history major needs to really look at the question here. We're talking about in a few thousand year window that separate groups began to develop... the question is not why one group might develop, but why several groups might develop at the same time although seemingly disconnected. We're talking about bipeds who have arguably been around for at least six million years. Six million. That is a big number. So why then, after six million years of animal life, did bipeds make the jump globally to develop in a different way? To me, it's a mystery, although I see no reason to assume that just because we don't have records of civilization earlier than 12,000 years ago means that none existed earlier than that. I see no reason to omit the possibility that entire civilizations could have been wiped out many thousands or millions of years ago in natural disasters, leaving virtually no record.

I suppose this is the original purpose of such studies, to dive into the unknown and to look into possible reasons for what we do know. But I find that many times in the educational system the line is forgotten. Teachers tend to state theories as facts, and then their students become teachers and do the same thing. The line is lost between theory and fact, and in my world it is imperative to differentiate the two.

In my first math class, the teacher was explaining that testing this certain equation, the solution seemed beyond all shadow of a doubt to be a certain number. But, in math, 'seems' is not good enough. An answer must be definite to be an answer. And so, to me, it remains an interesting uniqueness about math, that it deals with definite truths, and when it doesn't it makes clear the line between theory and fact.

Writing blogs? School? Really?

So I just spent my first class of the day on Blogger writing blogs, which is right up my alley :) And there I was in my last post dogging on English classes. If it wasn't for English classes and being forced to read and write throughout the years, then I wouldn't have the skills at all to write in my own time.

Regardless... I might make exceptions for some composition classes. It's the reading big texts, big research papers, etc., that really turn me off.