Murphy’s Law or a Cursed Machine?

07-11-07: Tragedy. Believe it or not my machine died again today now due to a totally different reason.

This time I was working when the display froze. After restarted it even the system it self was fine the display was full of green squares dots, code and symbols. Surely the hardware again. This time the graphics card.

After saving all my data as Root I was able to keep working in the lab’s Mac.

Just now i restarted it again  .. But now I can’t see a thing…  terrible disaster!

“Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong, at the worst possible time, in the worst possible way…”

A Western Culture adage.

Happy birthday Hagenauer!!

07-11-07: Today is our great friend Cristina`s birthday!

Congratulations!.

Greetings fom Minami Osawa directly to Austria! Have a Great Day!

Shadows of the Past

“Once again , shadows of the past are knocking to my door.

Shall I let them in??

It is an undecidable matter:

They are already in because they are part of me and they haven’t ever been out!”.

LaTeXfy me!

Recently more than being the mathematician I am playing the role of the writer, editor in chief and publisher…. Due to the death lines for my latest paper…. I am in a race against time LaTeXfing my paper at top speed!

No other activity during the day time, besides eating, sleeping and the other natural necessities*, the only I do is to typeset my document. Everything depends on that… its all or nothing.. there is too much at stake!

Equipped with my manuscript, pen and paper, coffee mug and water bottle I am spending days at Kile playing the writer role. My ass is totally flat. But the conviction is still strong even if recently I am getting repetitive and short of expressions.

Nevertheless there is no other way out, just 2 possibilities:

Either I finish it or I finish it.

Hence first things that matter first: I have to finish.

So form now on LaTeXfing, LaTeXfing and LaTeXfing for my Life!

Good luck and Godspeed!

[*not sure whether or not to include sex under this classification. ]

29~31-10-07: JAVA AND VISUALIZATION TUTORIAL

October 29-31: JAVA AND VISUALIZATION

TUTORIAL by Richard Palais (University of California) and Takashi Sakai (Osaka City University) at Tokyo Metropolitan University, Department of Mathematics and Information Sciences.

29-31 October 2007.

A brief introduction to some principles of mathematical visualization, using Java.

The tutorial was aimed at undergraduate and graduate students, and anyone who wishes to enter the subject.

The mathematical visualization software 3D-XplorMath was used to illustrate these principles, as well as the Java progranning software Eclipse .

The Java version of, called 3D-XplorMath-J, is currently under development. A preliminary version can be downloaded here.

The group in charge of the 3D-XplorMath software development project and the related Virtual Mathematics Museum website project is the 3DXM Consortium , an international volunteer group of mathematicians.

It’s working, Its working!

26-10-07: Yesterday, suddenly my machine stopped working… After I turned it on.. there wasn’t any response…no Bios no memory check, wasn’t nothing at all.

It was really frightening for me because right now my work is mainly typing and redacting my last paper.

You can judge from the previous entry.

Later after asking for advice to Valentin and to other friend I tried many things but still no response. Finally today Andy and me we went to the Toshiba Repair Center.

Finally they fixed at the same moment…I was so happy to have my machine back that…. well we went for dinner at my favorite Thai restaurant in Shinjuku!! to celebrate!

 

“Nadie sabe lo que tiene, hasta que ya no le enciende….” R.C.

 

The Most Frightining Moments

25-10-07:   Today  I am really writing you in my most desperate hours….

I need to cool down in order to think properly to act properly but I am still in a shock state..

Aaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrggh!! I didn’t really see it coming… I was not ready, not now… damn!

My machine is dead. Totally dead. An inexplicably death… I don’t know what to do..  All what I know is that I need to act immediately.

I was working normally this morning in my Kubuntu Linux,  I was even working in the train! as usual. I turned it off and walk to my office by the time I arrived my machine was gone.. it was unable to start… no hardisk activity, no system and even worse the Bios initial screen its gone, nothing, zero…nada.

With out the bios there was anything i could possible do.. very very strange….It was workig perfectly then nothing…shit. I  tried everything, removing the battery, the hardisk, checking the memory chips and slots, nothing…

My first  thought  was to remove the hard disk and put it into a case… then take my machine to the Toshiba service in Akihabara and come back to work.

I  wasn’t unable to believe that it happened at  the  most crucial time in my staying here in japan. Everything depends on my typing because  I need to finish before December! And just at this right  moment my machine is gone… I need to keep working at any cost this is a fact… But i need my machine back… all my programs and the configuration i use everything is in there!!

I feel so bad..

Am i very crazy if I start going to Akihabara now?

I must find the Toshiba Repairing Center first….

10 years of AdS/CFT. Updated

Prof. H. Nastase

Originally uploaded by Jedi.RC

October 20, 23, 27: In celebration of 10 years of AdS/CFT, the Department of Physics of TMU had the Series of Lectures :

“AdS/CFT Correspondence: relations between gauge theories and strings “

LECTURE NOTES AVAILABLE HERE

By Prof. Horatiu Nastase (Tokyo Inst. Tech.), organized by Prof. Sergei V. Ketov.

Being invited by Prof. Ketov himself it was an offer I couldn’t refuse!. It was a great experience though at the end I didn’t understand much, in fact I must admit I was lost.

Even so, I learned a lot not just about the interplay of Physics with Mathematics but also the way that the physicist work at the cutting edge hot topics. In particular it is very amusing for me all the slang used to define their concepts. I was also deeply moved to find everyday concepts for me – All about differential geometry, Riemmanian Metrics, Geodesics, Flows, etc.. – in their theory.

Nevertheless, there were things troubling me – maybe due to my ignorance- regarding the formalism of their actions… e.g. when they talk about Riemmanian metrics using differential forms, Do they really know what differential forms are? Do they know they are dealing with sections of the tangent bundle of the corresponding manifold? Do they care that alternative forms can be viewed as elements of the alternative algebra as well as elements of the exterior algebra?

Maybe yes, maybe no. My guess is that the Pro ones they know but they don’t care because they don’t really need to care to achieve the solution of what they are dealing with. Nonetheless what would happen if we really care about it? Would this possible imply a side effect profit for Math?

I don’t know, still a way to much to learn. But lets wait and see what happens. Suddenly I feel like doing mathematical-physics, I should start contacting again all my Physicist friends…

Time for me to sleep

“Mathematicians are like the Physicist’s Lawyers… The second ones are pragmatic while the first ones’ main concern is always about the proceedings of the formalism details…” R.C.

Red Leaves

24-10-07: Today after lunch in the way back from the university cafeteria to the office Achraf pointed out something quite interesting… “Have you seen the red leaves?” they are so beautiful… the seasson is changing.. He said full of passion and awe…

I felt shame…shame for being so foolish about missing such an intimate contemplation moment… I have been so busy so immersed pondering in my own work, in my own worries and ruminations that I missed to contemplate…

To contemplate the nature and to enjoy…

Don’t forget to contemplate! Remeber: Our life span is finite.

“We can spend hours talking about philosophy of living…its easy to talk. The real challenge comes when trying to really put all these thoughts in practice….

Abstract thoughts refuse to be pragmatic”

A.Hentati / D.Visan / R.C.

25-10-07: Update: The picture was taken afterwards to share with all of you!

On Commuter Adventures!

It has been 2 weeks since I moved to my provisional apartment. 2 weeks when I am being a commuter. . . in the Keio Line train to go to the University.

This is a whole new experience for me! It requires to improve the management of time while traveling in the train not just having some relax or listening to music but more serious activities like thinking, reading or even typing LaTeX in the computer!.

And, as you can expect… There have been quite some adventures while adapting to this life style…

16-10-07: I took my train but I didnt change in the proper station [Chofu] from the rapid train to the local train which stops in my station. Then the rapid train left me 3 station farther! Fortunatelly switching the line and taking the last train I had to travel backwards.!

18-10-07: This time I changed to the local train properly but, I kind of over slept and I missed my station. This time there wasn’t a train coming back, no other choice than to go out and to walk one station to come back home. It happened that in this case [unlike going from Chofu to my station] it was difficult to follow the track lines, and after asking twice I ended up in Chofu station i.e. I walked back 2 stations instead of one! I made it into my flat at 1 a.m. but it was a good chance to see the neighborhood.

And the most recent:

23-10-07: I was working typing in the train then I changed the train and arrived home, but as soon as I was walking back home.. I realized that my aditional bag was missing! 忘れ物!! [ wasuremono = lost/forgotten article] . It wasn’t really important..my bag had just bread and milk about 500 yen lose.

Nevertheless [half for fun half just to disturb] I went back to the station master and claimed my wasuremono. They called me next day at 8 a.m. inviting me to go to pick up my stuff in the lost and found section of the Shinjuku station!! … which it is probably more expensive than the belongings themselves! It was just for fun.

But now that I think about it .. maybe if borrow a 定期　[ ていき　(abbr) fixed-term commutation pass] from someone that travels to Shinjuku… I might … oh no forget about it!….

*Beware: Every link redirects to a different site!