Sunday, January 30, 2011

Let him boast

Take yourselves for instance, brothers, at the time when you were called:
how many of you were wise in the ordinary sense of the word,
----- how many were influential people, or came from noble families?

No, it was to shame the wise that God chose what is foolish by human reckoning,
and to shame what is strong that he chose what is weak by human reckoning;

Those whom the world thinks common and contemptible
-----are the ones that God has chosen
----- -- those who are nothing at all to show up those who are everything.
The human race has nothing to boast about to God,
but you, God has made members of Christ Jesus
and by God's doing he has become our wisdom,
----- and our virtue, and our holiness, and our freedom.
As scripture says:
----- if anyone wants to boast, let him boast about the Lord.

1 Corinthians 1:26-31

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Freshman Journal 1.2.3

Analysis
I've started to refer to this subject colloquially as "Gay Maths" for obvious enough reasons.
Some things (other than class topics) they taught this week:
1. Good mathematicians always cover their tracks. This is why proofs are so inscrutable.
2. Direct proofs are preferred over contradiction proofs.


Started on practices in the textbook because I've been lagging behind. It turns out that I had been too complacent for the first two weeks. Never mind, I will catch up. Watch out, PRCs!

Yesterday, I proudly produced my first contrapositive proof. My first! And to think that now we are at limits!

Differential Equations
Zhuo Min said: Your lecturer probably taught differential equations as little more than a bag of tricks to solve specific equations (variable separable, those amenable to funny substitutions, etc.), many of which do not arise in practice. Such pedagogy will never convey the beauty of the subject.

THAT WAS EXACTLY WHAT WAS HAPPENING
although later on, we would be entertained to death with cute Java applets.


Physics / Electrical Engineering
These subjects are still the least of my worries, but please, don't go the way of MA2108 such that I have to panic later!

O Mastering Physics, Wherefore Art Thou Always Lagging?

Programming
Lab assignment was conducted through Vim, a compiler interface developed in 1990, which contrasted strongly with the futuristic setting where tutors can open windows on your desktop and mess with your screens remotely and with capricious glee.

German
I am in need of a German sänger to accompany me through this ongoing Deutschkurs.
The German folk music scene seems sadly stunted... Apparently, it has never been through a revival stage, like what they had in Ireland or Sweden.
Also, the only German classical composer I really listen to is Hildergard of Bingen, the 12th century polymath genius who wrote her songs in freakin' Latin.


It should be time to warm up to my old flames, 1. Philosophy and 2. the avant-garde Art world (with a capital A)
How are you, documenta!

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Freshman Journal 1.2.2

Analysis
Real Numbers was rounded up pretty peacefully this week. Analysis is straightforward FOR NOW.

Differential Equations
"On the other hand, if y0 is a solution of (2) and y1 is a solution of (1), then clearly y1 + y0 is again a solution of (1)."

I have no better way to express my feelings than


Physics / Electrical Engineering / German / Programming
How can these subjects turn out to be so simple!

Guitar Ensemble
2 new songs have been added to the concert repertoire since the last entry. They are:
CASTEELS Robert: The Garden of Life and Death
Gabrielee and Alvin: The Phunk Experiment


You might have seen it coming, but the original composition by our musical director also prominently features this:


Elsewhere
I always love it when La Niña comes to Singapore and wishes it would stay a bit longer, but not absolutely.

Friday, January 14, 2011

Freshman Journal 1.2.1

Elsewhere:My 2006 painting has found its third resting place, this time in one of the new principal's offices. For some strange reason, Temple Hill has had much better publicity than my more recent and better delivered works. Now I have to wait for him to get tired of the painting before I can take it back, fix it and put my signature on it.

This is how it looks like at the moment:


MA2108 Mathematical Analysis I
The semester was kick-started by this introduction on how to make Calculus rigorous mathematics i.e. more kickass.
Only 3 topics are covered in the module: real numbers, sequences and series, and limits and continuity of functions.
The plan for my math minor modules are dominated by Analysis rather than maths of any other sort. I'm not too sure if it is a good plan to do this in terms of variety and wtfness of subject matter.

MA1506 Mathematics II
The semester's second lecture was on Differential Equations, something rather more inscrutable, technical, and reliant on rote learning than Calculus. I shall see what I can do about it!
In summary,
MA1505: Calculus
MA1506: Differential Equations and Linear Algebra (Also prerequisite to MA2101)

EG1108 Electrical Engineering
A brief foray into the subject my dad teaches.

PC1432 Physics IIE (Engineering Physics part II)
The first lecture is basically the same thing as that of EG1108

CS1010E Programming Methodology
Sitting in the first rows didn't prevent me from falling asleep. Sorry Lecturer

LAG1201 German I
First serious attempt to learn a foreign language after halfhearted attempts at Hungarian, Russian and French.
Herr Döpel took over from our lecturer, who was absent that morning, and there we recited the German alphabet to the rising sun.

Sunday, January 02, 2011

Barroca and Waltz


Title: Barroca - Mil e uma Noites (Arabian Nights)Music: (composer unknown)
As performed by: Uakti (Brazil) / 1982
Code: T02.br


Title: La Valse des Belugas (Waltz of the Belugas)Music: André Marchand
As performed by: La Bottine Souriante (Canada) / 1988
Code: T03.ca