Small update

So I’m in Bulgaria at the moment.  This won’t be a long post, I’m just writing to let anyone who visits this blog know that’s what I’ve been up to.  I’ll be back mid-August, and then I go to Princeton at the beginning of September.

European Union

Right now there are political shock waves going through the country.  The European Union is poised to release a very critical report about the country.  The report is expected to freeze up to 640 million euros of aid to the country this year, bringing the total of frozen aid to 1 billion euro.  The bad part is that many small businesses have already taken out loans to cover their expenses for their projects (the aid was supposed to reimburse them).  On top of that, the President of the country is being accused of collusion with underworld figures by the European Union anti-mafia group (OLAF), mainly having received illegal funding for his electoral campaign. 

But I’m still getting the feeling that the country is moving in the right direction.  Hopefully with external pressure from the EU, the government and judiciary will manage to clean itself up.  Hopefully.

renovatio.wordpress.com vs. renovatio.freepgs.com

Well, it seems I made the move to wordpress.com from my own webspace. Logically, it makes sense. Here I have 3 gigs of space, all the themes that I could ever want, and no hassles with upgrading and worrying about security. Great. My pride, though, doesn’t like being dependent on a blogging service. Oh well.

What I am going to use my web space for is something a little different. An actual website. I think I’m going to set up an online community for me, my family, my friends, friends of my friends, etc. Something where we can all keep in touch. I know facebook is already out, I’m not behind the times. The point of this is, how well can you really carry out a conversation on facebook? It’s impossible! Maybe on a forum it won’t be so tough…

Anyway, this migration is eating up my time. I have two midterms after my break ends, and both of which will require at least a couple days of studying. On top of that, I need to actually finish my resume, send it to my uncle, and see if I can find something to do over the summer. Oh, and I need to finish the switch from MAT 204 to MAT 202…<br/>

Yes, I did switch down. Why? Because I got a C on my midterm. And I can’t afford to have another bad final grade in a class, especially because Princeton doesn’t let you retake classes to get a better grade. Weird policy if you ask me. Then again, I’m in the position where I want to retake a class. Hmm..

A Princeton math professor

Throughout the course of my first semester, my math professor, Alex, said a few memorable quotes. I wrote them down, and now I feel like sharing them.

“If you can parametrize this equation you can prove that all of 20th century mathematics is bullshit.”

“It’s like saying God exists, saying that a particle goes to its lowest energy.”

“I don’t know much about screws; I screw something once every three years.”

–

Student: “After we take the midterm, do we still have classes?”

Alex cocks head: “I suspect so.”

–

Alex: “How will this one [problem] look?”

Student: “The same way…?”

Alex: “Are you sure? Are you really sure?”

Student: “Yea…”

Alex: “Yeah okay, you’re right.”

–

Alex: “Just put your surveys here, I actually have to run away today.”

Student: “Run away!”

–

Student: “Hey Alex, where are you going for fall break?”

Alex: “Boston and then Chicago.”

Student: “How come?”

Alex: “I’m going to give talks on string theory.”

Student: “Oh that’s cool! So you think strings exist?”

Alex: “I don’t really care.”

–

“Aristotle once said everything goes to its natural position; a stone falls and for man his natural position is his grave.”

“It’s called z simple, but they should say z not so simple.” (When talking about triple integration)

Opportunities? Do we get them?

Since I was walking home from school at around 5:30 today, I happened to pass by the Opportunity Center just as it was letting out. The Opportunity center is, for those non-Upper Darby kids out there, the shack given to educate those deemed too dangerous and disruptive to learn in a normal environment.

As I was walking by, about 20 kids came out of this two room building. One seemed like he should still be in middle school, a little blonde boy who had a pretty nasty expression on his face. He looked at me. He looked back at the Opportunity Center. He reached inside his pocket, pulled out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter, and started smoking. I glanced inside the actual building, and saw a security guard along with the teacher there.

This was my first experience with the Opportunity Center kids. But it made me think: What kind of incentive do these people have in order to achieve more? The reason I was walking home so late was because of the World Affairs meeting and Acorn work. These kids don’t have a chance to participate in after school curriculars, they’re still in school during that time. Nor do they have any peer role model, they think they’re punks, they’re fine with it, and they probably don’t see or interact with anyone doing well in school.

They aren’t on the path set by society. You know, the path that says, “If you walk me, you’ll be successful!” In short, do well in school, load up on extra curricular activities, make lots of friends, get into college, make lots of friends who’ll become influential, become influential yourself after college, and then make lots of money.

Yeah, ok.

What kind of path is that? I think we’re losing a bit of ourselves every time we’re too stressed out to even talk to those we care about. Yeah, we need to do well in school and college to get a good job, and, consequently, money. Money makes the world go round, and we need it. Or do we? I told Phil a day or two ago, “You need money to live.” He said, “No you don’t, you can just steal food.” I don’t believe in redistribution of wealth, but rather, in redistribution of education quality.

I don’t understand why we have to basically sell ourselves as a commodity, in order to further our own interests.

The kids in the Opportunity Center probably don’t get the same calibur education as kids in the regular school. And maybe students at Harvard get a better education than at Villanova. Why? Because you can afford more? But if you can’t get a good education, you can’t raise enough money to help send your kids to such a prestigious school. It’s a cycle, and, some measly scholarships, which barely ameliorate the need for funds, is keeping people satisfied with the current way of things.