I am not ashamed of being called a Filipino despite the fact that the country where I was raised is headed towards somewhere I don't know.
However, I don't feel the responsibility to contribute to the growth of a nation when that nation has the means but those who control its distribution lack the courage to share it to others outside their circles.
I believe that I have to provide my own basic needs first before I can provide for the basic needs of others. The basic needs are food, clothing, shelter (in that order). You can tell me "You can have food if you produce crops..." How I wish I can say what Mel Gibson said in the movie Braveheart "I came home to raise crops, and God willing -- a family. If I can live in peace I would." We are not in war where heroes are needed to lead an army and martyrs are slain so that in the end their names will be carved in stones and their memories will last for generations.
I will tell you now the hardest part. I am in a better position because I have used my God-given ability and because there was an open door waiting for me to come in. It's sad to say but that open door was not in the Philippines. I just hope that one day, I will be back. Then, I will not not only be an educator but a job generator -- to muster the power to raise the flag of my country once again.
Thursday, November 18, 2004
Tuesday, November 02, 2004
Why I Flunk at Interviews
In the world that you can see and feel, how many dimensions can you represent? One? Two? Three? I can forgive you if you can only think of three dimensions.
It is a fact that the earth moves in space. If you don't accept it, DROP DEAD! Now suppose you were standing at the bus station waiting for your morning ride and you have a box with you. You got tired and you put the box on the ground where it looks "still". Good thing the bus isn't late and you only waited five seconds.
The simplest dimension that you can represent your box with is a 3D vector (length, width, height). However, since the earth is moving in space, you can add time as another dimension wherein you can compare the location of your box in space with every tick of the clock. It is also a fact that your box has weight (caused by the gravitational pull of the earth) and there are some boxes wherein the weights are the same but the sizes are different (e.g. S, M, L, etc.). The amount of matter that it occupies in space (relative to size) is also known as mass. Now, is it possible to append these three attributes that your box has to the vector I just introduced a while ago? The answer is affirmative and thus an ordinary box can be represented as a vector with dimensions (length, width, height, weight, mass, time). Now, that's six dimensions for crying out loud. That's 6D!!!
During interviews, I am always asked "So what was your research all about and how is it applied?" How am I going to impress my interviewer about vector spaces of dimensions 40, 42, and 44 when my interviewer's knowledge is locked up in a 3D world?
It is a fact that the earth moves in space. If you don't accept it, DROP DEAD! Now suppose you were standing at the bus station waiting for your morning ride and you have a box with you. You got tired and you put the box on the ground where it looks "still". Good thing the bus isn't late and you only waited five seconds.
The simplest dimension that you can represent your box with is a 3D vector (length, width, height). However, since the earth is moving in space, you can add time as another dimension wherein you can compare the location of your box in space with every tick of the clock. It is also a fact that your box has weight (caused by the gravitational pull of the earth) and there are some boxes wherein the weights are the same but the sizes are different (e.g. S, M, L, etc.). The amount of matter that it occupies in space (relative to size) is also known as mass. Now, is it possible to append these three attributes that your box has to the vector I just introduced a while ago? The answer is affirmative and thus an ordinary box can be represented as a vector with dimensions (length, width, height, weight, mass, time). Now, that's six dimensions for crying out loud. That's 6D!!!
During interviews, I am always asked "So what was your research all about and how is it applied?" How am I going to impress my interviewer about vector spaces of dimensions 40, 42, and 44 when my interviewer's knowledge is locked up in a 3D world?
Monday, November 01, 2004
Heart-stabbing Pinch
My lovely wife takes care of our cute little baby girl everyday. However, due to my employment, they live in a city an hour and a half by plane (two hours and a half by bullet train) away. We somehow manage to communicate every now and then thru SMS or IP phone, and even emails.
Lately, our daughter was diagnosed of having asthma. That's a stab right through my heart. I went home last weekend to visit them (since that's the only time that I have). I had to comfort my wife since she's all alone taking care of our daughter. It breaks my heart to hear her cry but all I can do is hug her.
Last night one of our friends accompanied them to Fukuoka Emergency Medical Center. Our daughter is dehydrated since the only milk she drank for the day was 200 ml and I had to force her to drink it (she's having difficulty drinking because of her condition and she doesn't want to drink her milk). They went home at 4 am.
Lately, our daughter was diagnosed of having asthma. That's a stab right through my heart. I went home last weekend to visit them (since that's the only time that I have). I had to comfort my wife since she's all alone taking care of our daughter. It breaks my heart to hear her cry but all I can do is hug her.
Last night one of our friends accompanied them to Fukuoka Emergency Medical Center. Our daughter is dehydrated since the only milk she drank for the day was 200 ml and I had to force her to drink it (she's having difficulty drinking because of her condition and she doesn't want to drink her milk). They went home at 4 am.
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