Time for a rant
Thursday, March 30, 2006
When did time decide to rewind itself back to stoneage? I seem to have missed the transition. Wait...what do you say...it has NOT gone back to stoneage? Then why the F#$% is my "Modern controls" professor hellbent on giving midterms that do not allow a calculator. No, not just graphing calculators (which I understand are more powerful than your average computer sometimes ) but *any* calculators.
Im mad because this is a course that I had previously done in AUS and it wasnt a least bit of trouble because I had the company of my trusty calculator. For the uninitiated in Electrical Engineering, "Modern Control" deals in electrical systems in general and their stability. The problem is that most of the course depends on complex trigonometric calculations along with magnitudes, arguments and manipulation of complex functions.
I believe that with all the genius of mankind, if there is a simple invention that helps people do these computations in a fraction of a time than it would take to do them manually, then why make them sit and scratch their head over something as simple as 'tan 50' (yes I was trying to figure this one out in my exam). While studying for the exam and doing the HW not once did I have to sit there thinking about such trivial things because the course is not MATH or TRIG, its fricking CONTROL and should just test us on those concepts.
Ok, he gave us some common trig angles as a supplementary sheet, but why do that? In a pressure cooker situation, the brain sometimes picks out the wrong value from the table and there goes your two page long solution because your answer to part (a) was just off by some tenths of the degree. Does the real world offer no calculators when doing this stuff as a job?
My other gripe over this same exam is probably a case of weak mindedness, I think. Fighting an oncoming headache from all the number crunching, I was barely finishing the paper on time (yup, the bastard made sure we had no time to revise) when my eye just caught a glimpse of the solution of a particular problem (a graphical one, root locus, if anybody asks) of the person in front me (no I wasnt trying to look, just cracking my neck) . Needless to say it was different than mine. Now I wouldnt care two hoots if it was somebody else, but this guy was Chinese and knowing their track record, my feeble mind couldnt help but doubt my half hour's hard work. Luckily (as I found out later that I was right) I didnt have enough time to even glance over my solutions as a revision so I had to leave it unchanged (although at that time I felt all hope was lost).
If you fell asleep half way through my rant or my atrocious grammer offends you, heres the low down on this post, **I effing hate my Controls professor, bloody stoneaged bastard.**
Thank you for bearing with me.
P.S: On a cheery note, the temperature hits the 20C/70F mark today. Time to bring out the summer clothes :D
Fruits of Boredom
Saturday, March 25, 2006
Its official, Indiana has some wierd weather. Since morning it has rained, flurried, snowed and then become outrageously sunny, all while maintaining a temperature of about 5C, in a span of couple of hours. WTF!!
Cleaned up the apartment good (vacumming n all :D) yesterday since Vivek has all but moved out. Well he hasnt completely but he doesnt stay/sleep here anymore for some reason. Im not complaining.
Now for the main news..ok Im kidding about the 'news' part, as you know I never have news. It is only the justification of the post title...behold the power of Photoshop (combined with a lazy Saturday afternoon):
After
bah..50-50 for life
Thursday, March 23, 2006
You Are 50% Left Brained, 50% Right Brained |
The left side of your brain controls verbal ability, attention to detail, and reasoning. Left brained people are good at communication and persuading others. If you're left brained, you are likely good at math and logic. Your left brain prefers dogs, reading, and quiet. The right side of your brain is all about creativity and flexibility. Daring and intuitive, right brained people see the world in their unique way. If you're right brained, you likely have a talent for creative writing and art. Your right brain prefers day dreaming, philosophy, and sports. |
Suits me as an engineer/photographer perfectly actually. However, a counter-argument comes to mind, namely, 'Jack of all trades and master at none'. Oh well cant win 'em all.
Horses for courses
Sunday, March 19, 2006
I am working on this photo and some of the results look equally pleasing to my eye, thus for the first time (of many most probably) I ask *you* to help me choose the best style for the following photograph.
1. Original
2. Black/White - high contrast
3. Color - high contrast
4. Color - ambient
100 blog posts yay!
