MIT campus lost power!

MIT campus lost power! 39 minutes ago, I turned in a pset 2 minutes late (fortunately they hadnt been collected yet) and dashed to 10-250 (one of our big lecture halls) for the weekly Physics department colloquium. The speaker is a guy named Joel Moore from Berkeley, and his talk is on Topological Insulators and Their Implications for Electronic Order. Dont know what those are? I dont really know either, and its ben 35 minutes. That said, he just put up some tensor notation that Ive been learning recently in 8.05 (Quantum II) so thats kind of exciting. 17 minutes ago, Professor Moore was mid-sentence when the lights flickered and went off. The hundred+ physicists in the room went oooooooh! My laptop screen glowed at me and I shut it, since it seemed out of place. The lights flickered back on, and I happened to find myself looking at OH, WAIT! He just brought up Majorana fermions. Thats exciting, since the colloquium a couple of weeks ago was about them. This is what makes attending these colloquia rewarding; you start attending, and understand literally 0.01% of the words used, and gradually pick up on vocabulary as you make your way through physics classes and become exposed to new mathematical techniques and ideas from other talks. Its a nice way to learn about miscellaneous topics that you wouldnt necessarily have time to take an entire class on. And, SWEET! Now hes talking about two-level systems. I spent pretty much all of Thanksgiving break studying those. Theyre one of my favorite topics in quantum; we just learned about constructing a maser (a laser, but with microwave-frequency light in case you werent aware, LASER is an acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation) by, for example, passing a beam of ammonia molecules through a cavity. They deposit energy into their cavity on their way through, corresponding to a specific transition. Its very cool. Anyway, I was telling a story. -The lights  flickered back on, and I happened to find myself looking down the lecture hall at Wolfgang Ketterle, who works in the Center for Ultracold Atoms and won the Nobel Prize in 2001. Three rows in front of him is sitting Frank Wilczek, legs propped up on the seat in front of him, who won the Nobel Prize in 2004. The speaker looked a little flustered. The projector was off. A technician came down, fiddled, and determined that there was no power. A couple of people grabbed their coats and headed for the exits. Professor Moore, however, is a HERO; he rolled up the sleeves of his white button-down shirt, picked up a piece of chalk, and turned to the chalkboard. Those of us sitting at the back leaned forward. He struggled with the first drawing, explaining that he wasnt expecting to have to get up and teach. This earned him giggles from the physicists. The enormous wall of nine chalkboards dwarfed him he looked a lot bigger when he was standing at the podium. He used up all the space on the bottom board, reached for the one above it, and found out that these fancy shmancy 10-250 chalkboards operate electronically; he COULDNT bring it down, because of the blackout. Awkward. He took it like a champ, and picked up an eraser. It made me wonder what I would do if there was a blackout during one of my Splash classes. Another note about the situation the scariest part was that the MIT wireless network was temporarily gone. Before I could sink into utter despair, however, whatever system MIT has for this purpose kicked in, and my Facebook page opened up. It had been something like two minutes since the blackout, and statuses were popping up like daisies expressing excitement, demonstrating wit (or not), and quoting some odd MIT emergency speaker that apparently said you may want to evacuateIm not sure. The Internet has done a lot of very strange things to society. It was kind of fascinating to keep an eye on my newsfeed while watching the presidential debates. Another status just popped up,  a bit more applicable to me in my havent-slept-for-31-hours state*: power out. naptime. *Last night. Was. Not. Fun. But my oral exam this morning went well, and that was my last of the semester, so HOORAY! Alsois it really only 5pm? aaand an e-mail just came in from my dorms Area Director, saying as Im sure youve noticed, the power in the building is outits out for all of Cambridge and some of Boston. Not sure how quickly were going to get power back (fortunately I have nothing in the fridge at homean excessively busy week has not permitted any grocery shopping trips.) The talk just ended; a group has gathered at the front of the room to talk with the speaker and each other in more detail. Frank Wilczek is laughing with a theoretical condensed matter physicist who I remember from 8.044 recitation last spring, as well as a guy who I think is somehow involved with a NASA space telescope mission (I recognize him from past colloquia), and a fourth guy I dont recognize at all. Im sure Ill see him around. Another nice thing about these colloquia: faces become familiar. I just heard Frank Wilczek just say magnetic monopoles, cosmic strings. I love this place. And the theoretical condensed matter physicist just said: but the feeling I get when facing a problemI get dizzy, you know? Dizzy. Frank Wilczek responded with something I couldnt quite make out, and now hes talking about universality. According to Anonymous Fourth Guy, young people are terrified of entering this field. Interesting. Someone just made a joke about the third rail of condensed matter physics: touch it, and youre dead. Then, they all walked out together. Now Im the only person left in the lecture hall. Professor Moores chalk sketches are still up on the board, and the enormous blank white projector screen is still down. Theres a cavity with a magnetic field marked. An insulator, I think. Some Hermitian operators. A girl walked in, saw I was in here, and left whoops. Thats my cue to post this and head out. On the menu tonight: the last two problems of an 8.05 problem set, a science journalism essay, science journalism class, reading and poster-making for my UROP, a J-Lab paper, and beginning to study for the linear algebra exam I have on Monday. Isnt it wonderful to have such a selection? I should probably be a little embarrassed to admit that the moment the lights went off, my first thought was OH! COOL! A BLACKOUT! I SHOULD WRITE A BLOG POST! but there you are. Not every day does the chance come along to post a shoutout from a blacked-out MIT campus.

My Love Is Like To Ice - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 4 Words: 1153 Downloads: 7 Date added: 2018/12/29 Category Poetry Essay Type Analytical essay Level High school Tags: Poem Essay Renaissance Essay Did you like this example? The poem makes me sympathize with the persona as I read it through. The statement,Ice which is congealed with the senseless cold should kindle fire by wonderful device makes a revelation how much the persona struggles but he is still never understood. This part makes me feel the sadness that the author has due to moments of being let down despite his manifestation of love to her. When I relate all the struggles that the persona has, the sonnet makes me sad and full of sympathy. The poem was written during the Renaissance period; the age of the likes of Christopher Marlowe, William Shakespeare and Sir Philip Sidney among others. This period was characterized by significant minds who produced the best literary work in history. Their pieces of work especially the poem were masterpieces. The work of these writers in this era has however undergone severe alterations and changes thus the efforts to acquire the original information at that time has proved to excessively challenging. Various kinds of poems ranging from epic to ballad gained fame among writers and audience in the form of manuscripts, recitations and prints between 1509; the period when Henry viii reigned to 1660 when the commonwealth came to an end. The poets of this era observed the era of early modern history, how turbulent it was and measured it regarding glorious allegorical past. The poets then started focusing on human desires as well as the elementary matters of distinctiveness and prejudice. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "My Love Is Like To Ice" essay for you Create order The literary work devised at this period was characterized by various qualities such as detachment, play, mockery, disdain, entreaty and intense self-scrutiny among others. These qualities matured with time in the work of different writers. However, Renaissance poetry is divided into 2; the Tudor period of 1485-1603 and the Stuart period of 1603-1649. The boundary of Stuart and Tudor period poetry is critical in explaining the challenging epic and sonnet by innumerable poetic apprehensions such as devout poetry and satire. This helps in expounding on and accounting for the growing assertion onstrong lines existing in various minds and work of poets based on the writing styles employed. The dissections can, however, barricade the observation of similarities that exist between different writers who are said to share various correspondences as portrayed in the areas they explore in their work as well as the styles of writing employed. The poetic work of renaissance period is extraordina ry when we talk about its quality, emotional complexity, rhetorical genius, variety and depth. Spenser; the prince of the poet in his time travelled far and wide. He worked in various posts and was well educated. He also admired other peoples work. His best poet was Geoffrey Chaucer. This means that for a person to be a great writer, he must be able to express himself and also have experience with various issues in life that form the subject of his work. Just like Spenser, one must be willing to carry out his passion regardless of being involved in other duties. One must also be willing to explore areas of interest to the people in the best way possible to capture the audience interest, and attention since every work that one does is intended to impress the people. It would, therefore, be a great loss to explore areas that are never captivating. The theme of this poem is how uneven love can be. The pet has used various stylistic devices to bring out the theme in the best way possible. Being a Sensperian sonnet, the poem has a rhymes scheme of abab bcbc cdcd ee. The title of the poem is numbered sonnet since this is one of the many poems that Spenser made. The bit in parenthesis indicates a contrast that exists between words and even emotions. Spenser tries to deliver the message of how uneven love can be to the reader. Through the use of words and rhymes, he explains to the readers that despite the differences in feelings between two people, love will always shade your sanities of veracity and erroneous. Simile as a form of imagery is employed in the poem to convey the authors message. The figurative form of language is used to stress the disparity of ice and fire.My love is like to ice and I to fire is a direct simile that in imagery form tries to explain the disparity existing between the feeling and emotions of two persons (line 1). Consonance and assonance are found in the sounds that have been repeated thus being able to make an emphasis on the images that the writer desires to trail. There is the use of theth sound in line two that helps in penetrating through the fancies of the reader thus depicting the punitive aspects of the cold. A wide variety of emotions are expressed in the poem. The beginning of the poem is used to as a mien of exasperation that the writer has in his present state. The author in the second stanza wonders why he is not understood despite the efforts that he puts to make her happy. His worries are because, despite everything that he does, he is always let down. The final stanza shows a shift in emotions where he states the message of the poem. He states that love is strong enough to blind a persons senses of right and wrong. This statement is used to show the intense emotions that he has and indicates that despite what happens, he still loves her so much. This work is a masterpiece that should be admired by the present day audience. It should provide an insight into the fields that when explored capture the audience the most. The present-day audience should learn that the fields explored during the renaissance times are not so different from what is explored in the current era. The only variance is the disparity in the language used and the manner in which the message is communicated. However, this work is equally or even more attractive than the writings of the current era. Present day audience should therefore not ignore the work done at this time since it is rather more entertaining than they can even fathom. The work of Edmund Spenser is from the renaissance time. That alone made me despise the work so much. I thought the message in work would be rather vague and so archaic for me to understand. However, when I read the poem, I realized that this piece of work is one of the most entertaining poems that I have ever come across. The styles of writing are perfectly employed and the message communicated is flawless. The manner in which the message has been communicated is unbelievably touching. At the end of it, this work changed the way I viewed the work done at ancient times and made me gain interest in exploring more of this kind of work made in the renaissance and classical periods.

The Articles Of Confederation From A New Constitution

The aim of this paper is to talk about the different actions taken to replace the Articles of Confederation to bring about a new Constitution. I will first start out by giving some background on the Article of Confederation as to what it was and why it was important for the US? Secondly, I will provide the reader with some of the strengths and weaknesses of the Article of Confederation. Why did the Article of Confederation fail? Third, I will talk about the actions that were taken to replace the Article of Confederation and how these actions were worked out. Then, I will give some introduction about the new constitution that would be put in action in place of the article of Confederation. How was it different from the Article of†¦show more content†¦Finally, I will sum up the paper and restate my introduction in form of a conclusion. The aim of this paper is to talk about the different actions taken to replace the Articles of Confederation to bring about a new Constitution. The Articles of Confederation was the first written constitution of the United States that was adopted on November 15, 1777. It was sent out to the states to be ratified on November 15, 1777. The Articles of Confederation was ratified and They reserved to each state and not to the national government. The national government consisted of a congress with only one chamber that was elected by the state legislature in which each state had a vote. Congress had the right to request funds but could not put taxes on things without every state’s approval. Lastly, an approval was required by all states to ratify the articles. The articles gave the states all the freedom and United States just had few right overall. The Articles of Confederation only lasted eight years and was replaced by the US Constitution on March 4, 1789. There were many strengths and weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation. The Department of Treasury, the department of Postal Service and the Department of Foreign Affairs were formed under the Article of Confederation. Articles was the first written constitution of the United States. Under the

Argue On Hostile Takeovers Free Essays

Lisa Newton argues against hostile takeovers and has many rational reasons backing her point. Takeovers in the past overall have not proven effective nor have they been monetarily beneficial to either the company or the society involved. Corporations are ruined and people, even families, are hurt. We will write a custom essay sample on Argue On Hostile Takeovers or any similar topic only for you Order Now In this paper, I will argue against hostile takeovers for these reasons from the standpoint of a utilitarian. Utilitarianism is the â€Å"moral doctrine that we should always act to produce the greatest possible balance of good over bad for everyone affected by our action.† (Shaw Barry, 59) Actions are evaluated according to their consequences and look to maximize happiness. The view is long-term not just immediately. A hostile corporate takeover is not a positive thing through the eyes of a utilitarian for several reasons. To begin with, the idea of a possible takeover has degenerating effects on a company. â€Å"At the first level there is disruption and millions of dollars† worth of unproductive expense.† (Newton, 189) Effectiveness and productive activity at the upper levels of management comes to a stop and systematical planning disappears. Employees become apprehensive about the security of their jobs and end up spending a majority of their time speculating or searching for another job. It takes a toll on everyone involved in that they feel dishonored or belittled. Utilitarians would argue this is not a moral action since it harms the majority of the people. It is not the greatest good for the greatest number. It may immediately (short-term) benefit those who have done the takeover and those in higher up positions. However, in the long run it may not benefit even anyone. The early results of hostile takeover activity are combined with unnecessary and unwise business practices. The takeover has two destructive effects on corporate†s management. Equity is transformed into debt, leaving the company without protection. Being desperate, management may begin to look for short-term profits and impose by force aggressive actions not previously acted upon. This is deceiving to stockholders since they see high returns and stock prices even though the company does not have a good level of steadiness or security. It also harms the overall society since they usually depend on these large corporations for income and employment. Companies are willing to pay high takeover prices that they engage in severe cost-cutting at every level and at any cost. This sometimes even includes eliminating those who are important in maintaining operations, which is never a good move for the company as a whole. These people will probably have a problem finding other jobs since higher level positions are usually held by people who have been at the company for an extended length of time and are therefore older than others would want a new employee to be at a starting position. The basis of this issue revolves around money and does not consider those individuals involved. The corporate economy is at the mercy of the American dollar. People have become engrossed with making money that they sometimes forget they are dealing with other human beings. The takeover of a corporation may benefit those who are now in charge but not many others involved. Society winds up helping those newly unemployed and sometimes even the company itself. There are no laws to protect or help those who may one day be involved in a hostile takeover. These people have rights since they have contributed a lot of time, effort and even money towards the growth of the company. A corporation is nothing by itself; it is made up of the people with whom it employs. Human needs are not noticed by business practice and they hardly receive the justice deserved. Hostile takeovers are â€Å"harmful to corporate stakeholders, the economy, and the general public.† (Newton, 188) The law should restrict or even prohibit them, which is currently does not. There usually is no protection or justice for those involved. There are laws for anything and everything else to supposedly protect individuals, so why not this? Most often the result is not positive. Individuals are hurt and the corporation is usually killed in the end. More people must argue that the corporation is a moral individual just like others. The reality is that people frequently expect more from takeover defenses than they can deliver. It is rare that any defenses are backed by common sense and critical business strategy, which could help resist a pursuer and help control the terms of the deal. â€Å"As a matter of right, and as a matter of utility, the takeover game should be ended.† (Newton, 194) How to cite Argue On Hostile Takeovers, Essay examples

Talent vs Hardwork free essay sample

Natural talent vs hard work is a topic that has been debated on by people of all professions throughout history, but what exactly are these two extremely subjective terms. They are also known as Nature versus Nurture, and comprises of the differences between one’s innate ability against one’s ability affected by personal experiences. For soccer enthusiast, we often see teenagers, aged around 16, being scouted to play for big teams.Also, in the tennis world, we see the great Roger Federer being punished by mere 18 year olds. If we bring it back home, during our CCA lessons and class, we find that certain students adapt and adjust to concepts and procedures faster and with more ease as compared to others. Is this natural talent? I believe so. In my opinion, natural talent does exist and is not a myth. My statement is supported with the achievements of Mozart, Michelangelo, Einstein, Michel Jordan and many others. We will write a custom essay sample on Talent vs Hardwork or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page I believe some people are just born with more natural aptitude than others in certain fields of work. This is what I call Natural talent. However, the verdict of someone being naturally gifted is often skewed. For example, when we see a fine piece of art or music, we often conclude that the artist must be really gifted. We come to this conclusion because we’re judging the end result – the art work itself. We tend to forget about the process and the journey of getting there.The artist may have been practicing for many years to get to that point. In which case hard work plays a huge role, regardless of whether he/she is naturally gifted or not. The first major conclusion is that nobody is great without hardwork. It’s nice to believe that if you find the field which you are natural gifted in, you’ll be great from day 1, but that is surely not the case. So being great is not handed to anyone; it requires a lot of hard work, perseverance and many hours spent on deliberate practise.Yet this is still not enough, since many people work for decades without getting significantly better. One also requires the tenacity to consistently work hard towards ones goal, the right positive mind-set, and the passion to strive for improvement and excellence. So with the correct concept of hardwork, belief in oneself and support from the people around you, anything is achievable. To end of, I would like to conclude with a quote. Einstein once said, to achieve success, one requires 99% perspiration and 1% inspiration.

Impact of Mordern Civilization on Indigenous People Essay Example

Impact of Mordern Civilization on Indigenous People Essay Example Impact of Mordern Civilization on Indigenous People Essay Impact of Mordern Civilization on Indigenous People Essay Modern civilization has forced indigenous people to adopt their cultures, and beliefs. Because modern civilization has taken over traditional lands that are for indigenous people forces them to move further away or adopt the modern lifestyles techniques. Even some of the ways in which indigenous people use to worship has taken on a modern twist to it. From the articles I read my answer to the second question is yes indigenous religions re still practiced today even though some have taken on a modern twist to it while others still remain unaltered or changed. The ones that have changed are now using the internet to reach out to others and inform them of their religions while others still keep their religion sacred. Because of modern civilization taken over lands and traditional area some indigenous religions are not able to utilize their resources such as land and other resources hence are left no other option but to change are alter hey way the go about worshiping. For example in Japan Shinto is the indigenous religion, this religion has being going on for many years however since modern civilization has introduced Buddhism to Japan this practice has not being the same. It has taken on some of the more modern steps in order to reach out to people.

Calculating Torque With Examples

Calculating Torque With Examples When studying how objects rotate, it quickly becomes necessary to figure out how a given force results in a change in the rotational motion. The tendency of a force to cause or change rotational motion is called torque, and its one of the most important concepts to understand in resolving rotational motion situations. The Meaning of Torque Torque (also called moment - mostly by engineers) is calculated by multiplying force and distance. The SI units of torque are newton-meters, or N*m (even though these units are the same as Joules, torque isnt work or energy, so should just be newton-meters). In calculations, torque is represented by the Greek letter tau: Ï„. Torque is a vector quantity, meaning it has both a direction and a magnitude. This is honestly one of the trickiest parts of working with torque because it is calculated using a vector product, which means you have to apply the right-hand rule. In this case, take your right hand and curl the fingers of your hand in the direction of rotation caused by the force. The thumb of your right hand now points in the direction of the torque vector. (This can occasionally feel slightly silly, as youre holding your hand up and pantomiming in order to figure out the result of a mathematical equation, but its the best way to visualize the direction of the vector.) The vector formula that yields the torque vector Ï„ is: Ï„ r Ãâ€" F The vector r is the position vector with respect to an origin on the axis of rotation (This axis is the Ï„ on the graphic). This is a vector with a magnitude of the distance from where the force is applied to the axis of rotation. It points from the axis of rotation toward the point where the force is applied. The magnitude of the vector is calculated based upon ÃŽ ¸, which is the angle difference between r and F, using the formula: Ï„ rFsin(ÃŽ ¸) Special Cases of Torque A couple of key points about the above equation, with some benchmark values of ÃŽ ¸: ÃŽ ¸ 0 ° (or 0 radians) - The force vector is pointing out in the same direction as r. As you might guess, this is a situation where the force will not cause any rotation around the axis ... and the mathematics bears this out. Since sin(0) 0, this situation results in Ï„ 0.ÃŽ ¸ 180 ° (or Ï€ radians) - This is a situation where the force vector points directly into r. Again, shoving toward the axis of rotation isnt going to cause any rotation either and, once again, the mathematics supports this intuition. Since sin(180 °) 0, the value of the torque is once again Ï„ 0.ÃŽ ¸ 90 ° (or Ï€/2 radians) - Here, the force vector is perpendicular to the position vector. This seems like the most effective way that you could push on the object to get an increase in rotation, but does the mathematics support this? Well, sin(90 °) 1, which is the maximum value that the sine function can reach, yielding a result of Ï„ rF. In other words, a force applied at any other angle would provide less torque than when it is applied at 90 degrees. The same argument as above applies to cases of ÃŽ ¸ -90 ° (or -Ï€/2 radians), but with a value of sin(-90 °) -1 resulting in the maximum torque in the opposite direction. Torque Example Lets consider an example where youre applying a vertical force downward, such as when trying to loosen the lug nuts on a flat tire by stepping on the lug wrench. In this situation, the ideal situation is to have the lug wrench perfectly horizontal, so that you can step on the end of it and get the maximum torque. Unfortunately, that doesnt work. Instead, the lug wrench fits onto the lug nuts so that it is at a 15% incline to the horizontal. The lug wrench is 0.60 m long until the end, where you apply your full weight of 900 N. What is the magnitude of the torque? What about direction?: Applying the lefty-loosey, righty-tighty rule, you will want to have the lug nut rotating to the left - counter-clockwise - in order to loosen it. Using your right hand and curling your fingers in the counter-clockwise direction, the thumb sticks out. So the direction of the torque is away from the tires ... which is also direction you want the lug nuts to ultimately go. To begin calculating the value of the torque, you have to realize that theres a slightly misleading point in the above set-up. (This is a common problem in these situations.) Note that the 15% mentioned above is the incline from the horizontal, but thats not the angle ÃŽ ¸. The angle between r and F has to be calculated. Theres a 15 ° incline from the horizontal plus a 90 ° distance from the horizontal to the downward force vector, resulting in a total of 105 ° as the value of ÃŽ ¸. Thats the only variable that requires set-up, so with that in place we just assign the other variable values: ÃŽ ¸ 105 °r 0.60 mF 900 N Ï„ rF sin(ÃŽ ¸) (0.60 m)(900 N)sin(105 °) 540 Ãâ€" 0.097 Nm 520 Nm Note that the above answer involved maintaining only two significant figures, so it is rounded. Torque and Angular Acceleration The above equations are particularly helpful when there is a single known force acting on an object, but there are many situations where a rotation can be caused by a force that cannot easily be measured (or perhaps many such forces). Here, the torque often isnt calculated directly, but can instead be calculated in reference to the total angular acceleration, ÃŽ ±, that the object undergoes. This relationship is given by the following equation: ÃŽ £Ãâ€ž - The net sum of all torque acting on the objectI - the moment of inertia, which represents the objects resistance to a change in angular velocityÃŽ ± - angular acceleration