Author: Gary

Expect a lot more updates over the next few months. From now until Aug 8, I have a five hour chunk of each day between classes where I have to sit on my ass.

I wish I had a locker on campus. I have a ton of heavy textbooks to lug around and it would be nice if I could dump them somewhere.

I’m taking a differential equations class pass/fail. I already have credit for the class I took at Macalester, but that was a long time ago and I want to take the class again. Here is the dilema: should I continue to take the class/pass fail, or take it A-F? If I get an A it will pad my GPA. If I get anything less than an A (including an A-), my GPA will drop. I took the class before, but honestly, it was one of my worst classes at Mac. I think I have a few weeks to commit to a grading scheme.

Their grading scheme seems a bit like a crap shoot. If you are going to offer a pass/fail option, I don’t know why it matters when you declare it. You should even be able to declare it post facto. Given you can’t take any classes in your major with the pass/fail option, and a limited number of credits total, it shouldn’t matter too much how they let you apply it.

Either eliminate the option, or don’t be stingy with its application.

My biology class will be interesting. Physics is pretty simple becuase its all just a small number of equations (so far) and simple vector addition. Biology has no real math or problem solving. Its memorization and concepts.

I’ve been informed by several people that the Riemann Hypothesis proof isn’t all its cracked up to be.

I know more about math than most people, but to be honest, I had to go way out of my way to even understand what the Reimann Hypothesis is. My understanding of it is such that I mostly get what it is and what its trying to prove, but I don’t know if I could explain it to other people in a way that could do it justice. Mind you, this isn’t solving it, its just understanding what the question is.

There are other great unsolved math problems that are pretty easy to understand. A good one is the Goldbach Conjecture: Every even number is the sum of exactly two primes. Simple to understand, simple to verify to any given even number you pick, so far impossible to prove for all evens. If you can find an even number that isn’t the sum of two primes, you’ll be famous.

Supposedly, the Riemann Hypothesis has been solved. A professor from Purdue has claimed to slove it. No word yet if anyone else has confirmed it.

This will be much more important to mathematics than the proof of Fermat’s Last Theorem was.

With all this Reagan stuff going on, I have to chime in on some other issues.

I’m a firm believer that the President (the office, not any particular one) doesn’t matter nearly as much as people think. People tend to attribute things to presidents that for the most part, they have no control over one way or another. Unemployment, inflation, crime, education, etc. Really. There is next to nothing the president can do to influence these things so long as they keep to certain parameters, which most presidents have to.

The recent recession wasn’t Bush’s fault, and it wasn’t Clinton’s fault. You can score some political points I guess in trying to assign blame, but it really is missing the root cause. A few punctuation changes, and the 1992 Clinton campaign slogan is much more accurate; “Its the economy? Stupid!”.

What are the root causes to most of the domestic things that people blame/applaud presidents for? Demographics, technology, and social trends. They usual effect each other as well. I’m sure you can think of examples using the Internet. These trends dwarf most any fiscal policy.

All that being said, while presidents are often give far more credit/blame than they deserve, they are not impotent, especially in the area of foreign policy. Foreign policy is one area where the personality of a president can make a lasting mark. There are certainly global trends that effect alliances and such, but things like wars and treaties are uniquely creations of the people that wage them.

It should come as no surprise that the presidents we view as being the “greatest” presidents usually were presidents during a time of war. Even Clinton at the end of his administration wished that there was some war or great event that had happened during his administration. Presidents have “greatness” thrust upon them. (I put greatness in quotes because I’m not the one claiming they’re great). Its one reason why there is so much outpouring of feelings for Reagan now.

So, temper your love/hatred for Ronald Reagan. Most of the things in the 80’s would have happened with or without him. If you want to place your love/hate on one person for the economy of the 80’s (and since) your man is Paul Volker.

Lets take presidents off our money while we’re at it.

In the process of surfing the Reagan funeral, I learned a bunch of stuff:

• The table that the casket is rested on while lying in state in the rotunda is called the Catafalque. It was built for Lincoln’s casket and has been used for everyone to lay in state in the capitol rotunda since.
• Directly under the capitol rotunda is “Washington’s Tomb”. It was literally built to be the tomb of George and Martha Washington. By the time it was built, the heir to Moun Vernon, Washington’s grandnephew, denied the goverment permission to move the corpse.
• Mount Vernon is on the Potomac, and his grave overlooks the Potomac. The Navy has regulations for what ships must do when passing Washington’s grave:
  

  When a ship of the Navy is passing Washington’s tomb, Mount Vernon, Virginia, between sunrise and sunset, the following ceremonies shall be observed insofar as may be practicable: The full guard and band shall be paraded, the bell tolled, and the national ensign half-masted at the beginning of the tolling of the bell. When opposite Washington’s tomb, the guard shall present arms, persons on deck shall salute, facing in the direction of the tomb, and “Taps” shall be sounded. The national ensign shall be two-blocked and the tolling shall cease at the last note of “Taps,” after which the national anthem shall be played. Upon completion of the national anthem, “Carry on” shall be sounded. (Art. 2185, U.S. Navy Regs., 1948)

• John Tyler died a non-US citizen. He was a member of the Confederate house of representatives.
• Grant died a coke addict.
• LBJ let his hair grow out after he left office.
• Jefferson’s tombstone doesn’t mention that he was president. It does mention that he founded the University of Virginia.