Fourier Front and Descarte theorem

Today Dr. Kammler discussed some neat examples on Fourier Series. I really need to get my act together and study generalized limits. In Geometry I did go over the distance and Metric Geometry theorem. Yesterday Dr. Kocik went over the cool application of Descarte theorem in Geometry. He has been discussing some real interesting problem and the neat ways to solve them. I love it.
I didn't realize that the Thale's theorem in Geometry is about the right angle inside the semicircle. Its only when I was trying to search for the Descarte problem he did in the class that I realized that. Hopefully before the coming test on Wednesday I will be prepared enough.
I have a class in next 10 minute and have to collect my w2 from miles too. Other than that I am enjoying my fruit diet and hope I will be able to Juice fast and become a fruitarian for some time.

Inversion

The inversion in geometry is a cool concept and a more general concept than reflection across a plane. The figure here I drew using KIG explains what happens when inversion takes place. If there is a line outside the inverting circle its inverse becomes a circle passing through the centre. Also if there is a circle passing through the centre of the inverting circle it becomes a line. Look at how the quadrilateral behaves. So line changes to circle unless its passing through the centre in that case line remains line. Circle inverts to circle unless it is passing through the centre of the inverting circle.

Morning exercise, KIG installed

Today I got up at 5 am in the morning and I decided to go out and breathe some fresh air. I have been able to dramatically change a lot of my eating and sleeping habit in past two months. It feels great to incorporate more and more fruits in my diet and knowing that I am eating them right. Yes by right I mean early in the morning with empty stomach and later in the evening (3 hr aftre dinner). I am now having dinner at 18 hrs or before.

Installation of new software using YUM is so easy. Just for the fun I typed in "yum install kig" and behold I had the latest version of kig on my Linux machine. Some of you might be knowing that I tried unsuccessfully to install KIG using the rpm. Yum did a clean install plus host of other edutainment softwares from KDE education software. I have now a KDE hangman, a function plotter, a constellation viewer, a vocab builder, a periodic table plus other softwares.

I loved KIG and have to admit that its the best Geometer Software at present. Simply because it has all the features of other softwares plus conic section, differential geometry, Tangents to conics, Osculating Circle, inversion, test functions (like in Cabri Geometry), it even promises to read the KSEG document, though I couldn't get my *.sec files loaded and all menu driven. I tried the internal reflection problem using KIG and did it in no time. Look at the pictures they were exported as jpg files.

Freedom of religion and Freedom from religion

Its funny to watch the Abdul Rahman's case in Afghanistan. The poor soul converted from Islam to Christianity 16 yrs ago. He faces a death sentence in his own country for insulting his former religion and the punishment for apostasy according to sharia law is death. This had me thinking what sharia laws have to say about apostasy and I came across this article on wikipedia about apostasy. Well the punishment is certainly death and this to any sane person would be laughable !! Just changing your religion could incite people to kill you ??? Recently Dalai Lama unequivocally said to be spiritual one doesn't need to be religious.
Now I read that Mr. Rahman is being released from the prison by only after the huge pressure from United states, Europe and non Islamic countries. These people found a loop hole and so now Mr. Rahman is being termed Demented and unable to stand trial. Going by what I am seeing on television I think Mr. Rahman should flee Afghanistan to some safe democratic and non Islamic country. But the sad truth is he will never be able to live in public anymore and chances of him being attacked by some religious zealot are very high.

Dalai Lama's Interview on CNN

Yesterday I saw Dalai Lama's interview on CNN. I been to Dharamshala, India twice but never had the opportunity to visit Dalai Lama in person. So the interview on CNN was of interest to me after having seen one of his other interview on Palin's Himalayas series. Compared to other holy man Dalai Lama is very down to earth and that's what make him a great spiritual leader. On a question on Anger the lama replied that he has been working on it and is now a better person than he was 10 yrs, 20 yrs and so on. He is improving and getting more in control of it. Ask that to most other religious head and they will give you a pompous monologue. The one question which not many spiritual leaders of organized religions will not tell you straight about the relation between spirituality and religion and here Dalai Lama scored an ace when he looked straight into the eyes of the interviewer and said one don't need a religion to be a spiritual and repeated the same when asked twice.

KSEG Rocks

After trying Cabri Geometry, GeoGebra and Geometer's Sektchpad, I feel KSEG is the best one with GeoGebra a close second. The reason KSEG stands out is
1. Its the fastest in drawing
2. Very intuitive and having the highlighted button features
3. ts free and robust on Linux
4. The points are easy to see and can be easily
chosen by the click of Mouse compared to other Geometric Softwares (GeoGebra is an exception)
GeoGebra is very close behind KSEG and it is just getting better. With applet feature and a promised funding it surely going to improve and become the number one choice for Geometry Softwares. Plus the best pt about GeoGebra is one doesn't need to install it. The figures you are looking is the solution to an internal reflection problem I solved using KSEG. I repeated that in GeoGebra but KSEG was faster. Meanwhile I have yet to take a look at the KIG but open software movement behind it and so I am sure it will be very good too.

Cabri Geometry, Geogebra and Generalized Functions

I came across Geogebra recently and loved it. Its free and Java based. The software is pretty intuitive and it has incited my curiosity in to the fascinating Geometry softwares. Unlike Maple and Matlab here you just sketch. Geogebra is fascinating because it generates the algebra on the side window. I have Cabri Geometry on my TI Voyage 200. The good thing is all geometry softwares look quite similar. If you know one its easier to migrate to other and you know what to expect from the other software. I now have the full user manual of Cabri Geometry and would explore more. I also have it installed on my computer and it works fine. It has macro facility so I am doubly excited.
On Fourier front I learned some more generalized functions and the book has one neat example on constructing Schwartz function. The amazing thing about generalized function is one can transfer the operation on generalized function to Schwartz function and Schwartz function are so benign they take anything that is thrown to them. Their derivative is again a Schwartz function and its a pretty neat theory.

Two movies

Today I watched two movies. "Teesri Ankh" and "Dude where is the party". Teesri ankh was a below average movie and I had to skip. The Hindi movies still put the burden of chastity on women so much that you wonder if they truly reflect the changes in the society that is taking place. In a way these stereotypes help to reinforce a image which is dangerous and that's what is regrettable. The other movie "Dude where is the party" is ok but its length could easily be cut by at least another 40 minutes. It was meant to be a satire and I think it was pretty much on the dot. Also today in the morning I drove all the way to Giant City Park and in afternoon went to "Jewel of India restaurant".

Learned Playing Uno

Today I learned playing Uno. The card game. My dad once told me that I will learn playing cards when I go to college. I didn't learn back in India so I am glad I learned it now finally. Uno is pretty simple and can get pretty interesting if your opponents play smartly. Tomorrow I should have my next digits of Pi crammed up taking it to 100.

Spring Break Begins

Its 15 hrs and the spring break has officially begun for me. I look forward to make the best use of it. Ofcourse getting hammered is not I would like to but then its spring break folks so you can excuse me if I do. Other than that I am pretty excited that now I could concentrate on Geometry too. Dr. Kocik has been giving interesting demonstrations and cutting down the Mobius stip was quite a revealation. I thought I knew what Mobius strip was until I did the cutting exercise. I was presumptious that I will get two pieces and when I didn't the aha.. did come out and its now pretty clear why it jarred the imagination of so many people. Also I found Dr. Parker's software for Poincare geometry and I look forward to try it out besides Dr. Kammler's Fourier Software. Other than that I am eagerly looking forward to learn the standard Generalized function, Dirac Delta, Comb, Inverse. In my plant biology class the teacher gave an extra 10 pts just for showing up !! That was pretty sweet after my take on Fourier exam. In a nutshell wonderful things to learn this week.

Venus Fly Trap Video

Recently I came to know about Venus Fly Trap in my Plant Biology Class and it was fascinating to learn about this carnivorous or I think we should say an insectivorous plant. My lab had this plant along with Pitcher plant and Sun dew. However Venus Fly trap is unusual compared to these because there is a mechanical movement the closing of it leaves almost gives the impression that it is swallowing its prey. I search got me to this amazing website www.arkive.org and here is the video of Venus fly trap catching its prey.

Unable to sleep

I am trying to sleep for past 1 and half hour but unable to do so. So I thought why not update my blog. Today I had a Plant Biology test and I only studied for last 3 hrs to cram and understand as much as possible. My entire focus has been Fourier Analysis for quite some time and I realize that I am ignoring too much my other class so this weekend besides Fourier I will be preparing for my other tests which are coming up next week. In Fourier we have started doing generalized function and some really cool concepts have been introduced like Schwartz function, Delta function, Comb function and their transforms.
In Geometry I still have to grapple with Ruler equation fortunately the speed of course is still manageable or may be its Dr. Kocik's way of teaching that makes it easy. Whatever it may be but I am looking forward to some very busy weeks ahead but then its fun to know that I am learning some great things and that is enough to stir the enthusiasm.

Update

I just came back from submitting my Philosophy homework (PHI -105). It was a lot of procrastination that almost got me in trouble. But ever since I left my job I have now more time to concentrate on my classes and it feels great. Dr. Kammler has been very encouraging through out his course so far. I like his energy of communicating and as well as appreciating the level of students in his class. His modus of using scritchy scratch to get away with trivial calculations in lecture and concentrating on big picture is very healthy. It keeps you focus on his lecture and thereby covering lot more material than a regular course does. I am especially enjoying this Fourier class than any other class at this moment. May be one reason is that I am not been able to spend enough time for other classes and its high time that I should start doing as midterms are coming up.
Yesterday I went out with Ayako and Pui to Thai taste. It was almost a year since the last I visited. This time I ordered 13 on their spiciness level and they have come to appreciate that their 10 (which used to be max) is still too sweet for people in Carbondale. I relish the Red Curry at 13 level, though it failed to get any expression of ohh--hot from my mouth. Its only in the morning that I realized that it had upset my stomach. I am now feeling good. But I guess a month of my wholesome fruit diet has encouraged me very much and I plan to continue with it now. The vitamin content of Cantaloupe was a surprise ! Never thought that Muskmelon packed so many healthy vitamins and minerals.