Sound of silence / New courses / Surgery / A good question / Daily cronos

Sound of silence

I have been lazy blogger lately. Somehow, having S here, having new semester with surprisingly tedious courses, and suffering a little from the heat (hard to sleep), has prevented me from writing. And when I do not write, but study, I cannot sleep. Which then prevents me from having time to write, since studying is too slow. Therefore, if only for getting a better sleep, I have decided to write something. I hope my blogging is a sleeping aid only for me.

New courses

Some short notes of the new courses, which have started this week. I have 4 courses this semester. In addition, I intend to start my thesis, but I am not yet sure how much time the courses really will take.
Systems engineering course has started in a bit confusing manner. I have not yet understood what the course is about. First lecture was just general background, and the second was about epistemology, philosophy of science, Brooks, and some make-shift analogy between systems engineering methodologies and testing new drugs. The course seems to lack focus: it tries to cover too large set of issues and frameworks, in addition to presenting some formal methods for whatever common tasks in systems engineering. I hope the professor Frey will focus the course more. This course reminds me of PDD in the spring semester: in both cases the course is a mandatory core course. The professor teaches something he is not that enthusiastic about, and which is not directly his research. This is not the way of getting high quality. But let's see, maybe the course get better soon. ( But it always hurts when diletants try to speak of philosophy of science. It is really a hard topic, and most diletants just do not get it. I did make some comments during the lecture today, and even started a lively argument about the ways of evaluating new methodologies. The older professor, which whom I argued, enjoyed the argument (discussion), and we spent some 15 minutes after the class discussing and drawing on the whiteboard. It was fun, and I do appreciate his experience very much)
Finance and accouting is quite different. It is very much focused, and the professor Plesko is really enthusiastic. I am a bit worried about my ability to learn this kind of detailed issues, but I will try my best. Today, I spent some 7 hours in reading the book and doing the first assigment. I was not too trivial for me. I think I need to read some more. Anyway, I should do well, if I just use enough time and effort in doing the homeworks.
Operation management and supply chain is a very good course, as all courses by professor Simci-Levi seem to be. He is just so good lecturer, engaging and fun. And appreciates discussion a lot. But he did assign a large homework for next Monday. Furthermore, finance homework is due on Monday, and system dynamic on Tuesday. No time to drink beer, at least not too many.
System dynamics by professor Lineus (?) is fun. We have just one lecture per week, 4 hours, and lots of homework. But the topic is interesting, and one of the classical MIT-courses, something that everyone here should study just to be able to participate in some discussions. And to be able to see beyond the fist discipline by Senge and other.

Surgery

I have hardly ever been more scared than I was yesterday at the dental surgeon's office. I panicked big time. Fortunately, the surgeon was able to calm me down. When I wondered whether he will break me down, he encouraged me by saying that "you look virtually indestructible". In the end, he was right. The surgery was not painful at all. He just gave me local anesthesia, and after letting it numb me for 10 minutes, too a huge pliers, and just pulled the wisdom tooth away. It did not come easily, and the sound inside my head was rather terrifying. After 1 minute of applying brute force, the tooth gave up and came out in one piece. Rather big one it was: indeed, the surgeons hope of getting someone with huge jaws to operate on came true. Afterwards, I came home (S took care of me) and read the whole evening. Not that bad after all.
The war on drugs has its ugly tentacles also in MIT Medical. I asked the surgeon for Tramal (painkiller) and told that in Finland I got it after surgery. He was really surprised and said "You must have different laws in Finland". But in China, I could buy Tramal in any pharmacy. Great painkiller. It is a pity, that the idiotic war on drugs (lost some 30 years ago) prevents efficient pain medication. By the way, the Supreme Court just decided that the use of marihuana for pain treatment in California is illegal. So, soon we will have someone with terminal cancer doing time behind bars (for smoking pot, which he has grown himself).
If I had more time, I would write an essay on the war on drugs. It seems that the situation is very similar to 1920s, when the moronic prohibition was in force. Back then, there were huge criminal gangs smuggling alcohol from Canada to USA. These gangs were involved in murders, corruption, prostitution, etc. Now, it seems that the situation is similar in Mexico. Lately, there has been several articles (in New York Times, Guardian Weekly, and Foreign Affairs at least) documenting the murders, corruption, violence, and abuse of women in Mexico. In all stories the culprits have been drug lords. So, not only does the "war on drugs" cause USA have the highest incarceration rates in the world (or almost) with all the not-so-positive effects on the society, the war is destroying the neighboring countries. Not waging the war would reduce the amount of suffering drastically. But I assume the fundamentalists cannot see the light, even if the light shine them on the face.

A good question

Mr Rumsfelt gave a talk on China's defense budget, which has been increasing fast and is now the 3rd biggest after USA and Japan. Rummy said: "No country threatens China. What is the reason for them to spend so much on arms?". I would say "s/China/USA".

Daily cronos

Today, systems engineering lecture from 8.30 to 10.30 am. What a time. Starting at 9 would make a huge difference for me at least. Then, surprise lunch with S in the Kilmore court, some idling in MIT, and then working on finance. Yesterday, lecture on operation management, and then being operated on in the MIT dental. Then at home. On Tuesday, lectures from 8.30 am to 5 pm, some rest at home, then some work on the system dynamics homework with at Kumar's. Well, it seems that the routine is raising its nice head.
There will be pictures tomorrow. I have some new nice flowers captured, and you will see them soon. Now, too lazy to do the work.

Alun perin julkaistu kuukausikoosteessa "Blogs from May to June 2005".