adelante siempre va

Ray Barretto ha estado en un hospital en estado critico durante los ultimos dias.

Blenda Ramos dijo que los próximos tres días son cruciales para el llamado "Rey de las manos duras", quien fue sometido el domingo a una nueva intervención quirúrgica del corazón en Nueva Jersey.

El personal de Jala-Jala le desea una pronta recuperacion al Indestructible y Rey de las Manos Duras.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but it used to be a quark

It is said that those who can't do, become critics. In an interesting twist of events, this two sided argument became mobius-like, wrapping and twisting around a higher dimension and becoming one sided.

This left everyone confused.

An artist has decided to have an art exhibit on the most beautiful mathematical and physical equations. A physicist has becomed the art critic.

First, I have to applaud the spirit of the exhibit. The selection of equations was a pretty good one being both representative and meaningful. The font was also carefully chosen, having that crisp and classical LaTeX look. And it is generally accepted that the standard document LaTeX font was made to the image of God's word, being both practical and beautiful.

Beauty

Euler's equation is beauty in its simplicity and elegance. Combining trigonometry, complex numbers, the natural numbers, and the identity for both addition and multiplication, it would be hard to imagine an exhibit without this one as its main piece.

Godspeed

Lagrange's equations of motion are to mechanics what Michelangelo's David is to the human body. Once you see it, you know you have seen all there is to perfection. All the conservation laws (ie. Momentum, Position) can be derived from it, and with them, all of Newton's Laws. The excellent choice of canonical variables makes it as general as possible.

Let there be light

Maxwell's equations of light were one of the biggest achievements of unification of physical phenomena, combining the nature of electricity, magnetism and light. It is shown in its differential form, showing the careful taste of the artist. Terms related to magnetic monopoles are missing, suggesting the lack of understanding of the priviledged position of quantized electric charge.

Entanglement

Quantum Entanglement is one of the most misunderstood and central concepts of the last 100 years of physics. Einstein introduced it in his famous EPR Paper as his attempt to destroy quantum mechanics; now it has becomed the resource of quantum computation, what unites everything in the universe in what seems to go faster than the speed of light, and what gives rise to the classicality of the perceived nature. My only gripe is, why a triplet? Why not the singlet Bell State?

Music

Fourier's transform feels a little out of place in this exhibit that has achieved so much by trying to be as general as possible. Fourier's transform is a very useful integral transform, but why not show a more general integral transform? What about Hilbert's transform, connecting dual spaces with analytic continuation?

Quantum Healing

Last night, somehow, I got dragged to a birthday party. I didn't know anyone there, and after observing the candles, the bong, and in particular, the way everybody talked to me, it was easy to guess that they were hippies. I have a lot of friends that are hippies, but these were hippies: New Age, postmodernism, everything-is-true, pot-will-bring-peace hippies. They felt that science is a dogmatic, narrow-minded, faith-destroying, rich-white-men's cult that kills and poisons. I'm not trying to defend science from these attacks, I'm just trying to give you an idea of the way they think about it. In fact, they constantly talk about how they understand things qualitatively and how they hate quantitative. I don't understand why would anyone hate the natural numbers, much less counting, but that is the way it is.

That is the way it is.

I feel I did pretty good about having small talk with people and somehow dodging the topic. But, that is a Poissonian exercise, and eventually the topic came up:
"So what do you study?"
The question was asked by the birthday girl, who was getting a masters in Spiritual Psychology.

Shit. Spiritual Psychology. Shit shit shit. Diarreic Elephant shit.

"Physics." I coughed. I knew what she was going to say before she said it:
"Oh, really? So, what do you think about Quantum Healing?" See? I knew it!
"I'm sorry, I don't know what that is."
"Well, it is that quantum mechanics says that things aren't really there, they are everywhere, and..."
"I know a bit of quantum mechanics..." And that isn't what is says, I wanted to say.
"... you can use that for healing people. So, what do you think about that?"
"I don't really have an opinion; I don't understand Quantum Healing."

This seemed to annoy her, she wanted to get reinforcement of her ideas with the authority that quantum physics carried in her mind. Then she proceeded to describe an experiment, I don't know how it is related to Quantum Healing, but it was about this guy who could change the pattern in ice crystals with his mind. I have read about that guy before, and how he was never able to repeat his results when there were scientific observers. In other words, a ton of bullshit.

"So what do you think about it?" she asks.
"Well, I've read about it, the guy who performed it wasn't able to reproduce his results."
"So, what do you think about it?"

That is so post-modern.

The only thing that is important to them is how do you feel about things. Not the data, not the evidence, those are useless. Only your opinion. That is the truth to the post-moderns. I've been called a modernist before. I still don't quite understand what it is, but I know it was meant as an insult.

I was trying to explain the data that I used to form my opinion, and with that, soften the message that Quantum Healing is a ton of bullshit. But, she really didn't care, and we were going in circles when I finally said:
"Look. Physics has limitations that we understand very well. One of them is that if a claim can't be reproduced under certain controlled conditions, with the tools of physics you can't reach any conclusions."

This seemed to satisfy her, and she left to smoke some weed, or as she referred to it, "slow down time". I guess she is really into physics.

puertorican pokemon

Puerto Rico is home to a small number of endemic animals which we feel strangely proud of. Obviously, they should be crafted into one of the most popular collectible animals franchises ever. Here are my suggestions as to what the Puertorican Pokemons should be:

Morivivi #12
Praying Pokemon

This pokemon closes its leaves when touched. It stands motionless waiting for someone to touch it and then attacks with its thorns.

Coquitirit #56
pest Pokemon

This pokemon lives in fregaderos and between the trees. Its characteristic song can be heard many miles away. Their colonies can grow to millions, damaging crops in their non native places.

Conchotoad #89
Sapo Pokemon

Considered by many to be ugly and repulsive, this pokemon is a farmer's best friend since it eats insects and other animals.

Cotorra #32
Endangered Pokemon

Hunted by the indigenous tribes of Puerto Rico, the number of cotorras has greatly diminished in the last years. It has a bright green plumage with some red and blue feathers.

Manatimon #42
Stupid Pokemon

Slow and heavy, this pokemon hardly does anything. It stays still when threatened, hungry, attacked, angry or frightened.

Chevy #65
Charro Pokemon

Mistaken by many to be human, this pokemon can be easily taught to perform many tricks.

Lagartijox #21
Small Lizard Pokemon

Very territorial, this pokemon will fight any other of its species that comes into its territory. It can grow its tail and specimens with up to three tails are known.

Carrucho #90
Big Shell Pokemon

Hunted for their delicious meat. The shell can be used in cheap crafts and sold.

El Guaynabito

Anoche tuve una cena en mi casa y entre los invitados vino un guaynabito veterinario especialista en cirugía en peces. Resulta que él no conoce ningún puertorriqueño aquí, y en mi afán de crear una comunidad boricua en la ciudad, insistí que lo invitaran. Tan pronto se presentó, me alegré de saber que ambos éramos de Guaynabo. El, con retórica ninja, se distanció de mí, pues yo era de "uno de esos barrios" mientras que él era de "la casa de los helicópteros".

No estoy jodiendo.

En 3 minutos ya él me había explicado como su tío era billonario, y que era el dueño del helicóptero que yo veía volar por Los Filtros cuando yo visitaba a mi primo pa' correr bicicleta cuando era chiquito. El se sentía que me entendía muy bien, pues aunque eramos diferentes, él había visto todos "esos barrios" cómo el mío cómodamente desde el helicóptero de su tío.

Que me toquen los huevos de tal forma no me gusta, y para evitar agolpear a mi invitado, me escapé a hablar con una chica. La chica resultó ser muy interesante, y más importante aun, interesada en mí. Ya me estaba frotando las manos como mosca en mangó, cuando el guaynabito se sienta junto a mí y a la chica. Sentí como el flujo sanguíneo bajó en mis zonas erógenas: mi cuerpo prediciendo que ese guaynabito me dañaría todo con la muchacha.

El se dio a la tarea de explicarle a la chica de cómo el siente una conexión conmigo por ser de Guaynabo, asumo que tratando de arreglar las expresiones ofensivas anteriores. Es que en Guaynabo hay familias muy buenas, le decía a ella. Y procedió a explicar como su familia eran directos descendientes de gente de España, sin mezclarse, y como eso no se ve en municipios menos buenos, como Bayamón. Luego me miró a mí, y tratando de arreglar le explicó que aunque también hay gente como yo, que somos marrones y más mezclados, pero eso es lo lindo de Guaynabo, que hay de todo.

La conversación fue en picada de ahí, y mientras más el trataba de defenderse de las preguntas de la chica, cuando trataba de arreglar sólo decía cosas peores y peores. Yo ni podía creer lo que escuchaba y me dediqué a mirarlos a él y a ella con ojos de pescado anestesiado cómo los que él opera en su consultorio. El tipo se fue en un monólogo larguísimo para tratar convencernos (o más bien convencerse) de que él no es racista, pero siempre terminaba hablando mal de los dominicanos y justificaba sus opiniones diciendo que él si estaba bien informado ya que en su casa tenía una señora de Republica Dominicana limpiaba. Yo aburrido, y habiendo perdido el mojo me entretuve con una plasticina que tenía en la mesa.

Ya todos se habían ido de mi casa, y la chica me miraba nerviosamente mientras el monólogo abordaba temas de cómo las Ivy son las mejores universidades pues tienen muchas tradiciones, y de los carros costosos que él ha tenido en su vida. Yo sabía que todo se había arruinado con la chica. Así que esculpí un hermoso manatí en plasticina que puse en la mesa, ambos ignorábamos el monologo, y mientras la chica lo contemplaba le di un fuerte golpe con mi puño aplastando parte del manatí. "Una lancha le dio." dije, mientras el guaynabito me miraba asustado por mi acto violento. Le entregué el manatí machacado, y le dije "Señor veterinario, podría arreglar mi manatí mientras yo hablo con la dama aquí presente?". La chica se empezó a reir descontroladamente. El guaynabito se terminó su cerveza, se disculpo mucho por hablar demasiado, y se fue. Hablé un poco con la chica, pero ya era tarde, y ella decidió irse luego de quejarse de el guaynabito.

Lo que me duele no es la ironía de que las expresiones de discrimen que me tocaron fueron dictadas por un guaynabeño en Estados Unidos, si no que en el proceso me espantó una jeva. Maldito guaynabito.

Show some fucking adaptability!

I have talked a lot about Cryptonomicon. In fact, it is probably the book I have mentioned the most in this blog. Not only is one of my favorite books, but it has turned into an obsession to really understand this book. The author himself said how he wanted to make historical-fiction extremely realistic, historically and technically. Stephenson went ahead, did his research on both World War II and the history of computing, and used it as the background for his story of hidden gold, encryption and math. The first time I read the book my impression was that it was a hilarious hack and slash, intelligently written adventure. The author wouldn't shy away from spending dozens of pages explaining the proper way to eat Captain Crunch or the effects of horniness during war.
I read the prequels, The Baroque Cycle, and after finishing the whole business, I decided to do some research, and re-read the whole series.

My opinion of the book has changed. Cryptonomicon is a historical-fiction work of genius. The pace and exposition of the books was made assuming that reader had thorough knowledge of the technology and history of the eras; reading it this time through it was a lot more interesting.
What is it about? Well, during WW2, there was a guy named Lawrence Waterhouse, a mathematician, organ-pipe player, friend of Alan Turing and cryptographer for the Allies. Bobby Shaftoe is the gung ho, morphine-addicted, nipponese-killing Marine of the act-first-think-later kind. "Show some fucking adaptability!", he would say. With the mysterious Enoch Root, they get involved into a complicated adventure revolving around submarines, German gold, prime numbers and the Leibniz Archives. Braided in that story there is the mid 90's timeline revolving around Randy Waterhouse and his start-up company trying to connect the South Pacific with bits, data havens, e-money and the treasure hunter Amy Shaftoe. Its themes and characters are all related to the prequel The Baroque Cycle in a very strong manner, and will make you wonder how does a creative process that spans more than 4000 pages among all four volumes (Cryptonomicon + All three volumes of The Baroque Cycle) could be so tightly connected.

I'm not going to pretend that the book isn't a challenging read, but if these topics are of some interest to you, and you can make the commitment required, get your brain busy with history and even some equations, do it. You will not regret it.

Now, I'll have to start to do my research for the prequels: Quicksilver, The Confusion and The System of the World.

Semper Fidelis
Dawn star flares on disk of night
I fall, sun rises
-Bobby Shaftoe

Pitorro en el Campo

Hubo una reunión de mi circulo de amistades en la casa de campo de uno de ellos. En el lugar crecían chinas, toronjas, platanos y hasta flores famosas por su té. Fue un fin de semana de comer, beber (el pitorro que trajeron estaba riquísimo), jugar dominó, poker y hablar mucha mierda. Cuando nos cansabamos de eso, nos metiamos al río.

El agua era de temperatura puñeta^10, al punto que al saltar al agua siempre se me olvidaba la razón que pensé para meterme en primer lugar.
La pasamos brutal.

Las Tinajas

Mi hermano me llevó junto a sus amistades a un río en un area bastante virgen. Fue toda una aventura llegar al área de bañarse, llamada Las Tinajas: unas chorreras naturales que dan a una piscina natural.

El agua era fría (puñeta^2), las chorreras divertidas, y el panorama hermoso. Fue todo una aventura atravesar la densa vegetación y escalar rocas; alguien del grupo tuvo múltiples lesiones muy graciosas que luego fueron una prueba a mis habilidades de cirujano cogiendole puntos de mariposas.

Flor Marie

Para el día de noche buena, mi papá hizo a la varita un puerquito bebé. Lo compraron congelado, y a medida que se desconjelaba se puso bien lindo y suavesito y tuve que hacerle topi-topi-topi. Le pusimos de nombre Flor Marie. Su cuerito estaba muy bueno, y disfrutamos de una fabulosa jartera familiar.

Chicken Lavatore

Chickens and volcanos typically don't get along. But, with some banana leaves, the possibilities are greatly expanded from 0 to 1.

How to cook a chicken using hot lava.

Step 2: Prepare Oven
With a shovel you don't plan on using again... gather a good amount of 2000F Lava. Try to find Lava from a recent breakout, where the Lava is fairly fluid.

The Land of the Dial-up

I'm back. I had a great winter break: beach, rain forest, parties, hiking, more parties, family, food. But now I'm back from the land of the dial-up, and you will be enjoying (like it or not!) my posts.