Gone Walkabout

Pierce College where I work is unique among the campuses of the Los Angeles Community College District in that it is the agricultural campus. It is by far the larges campus with most of it being undeveloped or fields and grazing land. A few weeks ago I decided to take about an hour to go and enjoy it. So here are some pictures from my trip.

This is the first field closest to campus. The first barns and another part of the field pointing up towards the stadium.

Next I passed some cows luxuriating in the shade.


It's easy to forget how close to the urban environment we are sometimes. But the apartments in the background are a quick reminder.

The pond is a favorite place to go on a small hike or cross country run.

Finally a few pictures from the walk back. The valley is really a beautiful place. Especially when the smog drops down for a bit.

Assymetry

This sign was posted in the bathroom for the physics offices at Los Angeles City College. We didn't make it, but I thought the assymetry in the English and Spanish instructions was interesting.

If you can't tell, both English and Spanish start by saying "Please Keep the Restroom Clean." Both end with "Thank You", but the Spanish adds a the extra line, "Don't throw paper on the floor." And I keep asking myself, is that cultural, racist, or what gives?

The Big Bang Theory, Part II

Some time ago (and probably on a blog that is no longer operating) I did a review of the PBS commedy "The Big Bang Theory." A very funny sitcom about physics Ph.D.s. Like most commedies it makes accurate if exagerated play on various personalities typical of the subject.

Well recently I found out that the science advisor for the show is Dr. David Saltzberg who I TAed for in Winter of 2002. He is a great and funny guy and does an excellent job of keeping the physics on track. Not only that, but the actors came by UCLA to study how physicists act. So if I had stayed just a bit longer, some of their actions could have been based on me.

I wrote Dave about it and he said he'd be glad to get me into a filming some time. Maybe I'll get really lucky and meet one of the actors. More to follow I hope.

Tax Season

Many years ago, a relative mocked a former inlaw for having earned less than $2000 in a year on about 8 W-2s. I have to admit that I was nervous as to how much better I would fare as we came near tax season this year.

You see I was laid off in February of last year and spent the remainder of the year either underemployed or over/underemployed. (I'll explain that in a moment.)

I was lucky enough to have a solid second job at the time and I quickly managed to get on substitute teaching lists for both Long Beach Unified School District and Kelly Educational Services. This kept me busy and kept the morgage paid (though little else). With the help of family, tax returns, some severance pay, government, savings, and prayer we managed to make it through spring.

By summer I picked up a second part time teaching job and by Fall I had three. This is what I called over/underemployed. I had the teaching load of 2 full time instructors but was not full time anywhere. Still, I could finally feel self sufficient again.

So anyway, it came tax time and I was grateful to find that while I did in fact have six or seven W-2s the total was well over $2000 so I guess I can feel confident in my worth as a father and husband.

Staci took me to her accountant to do the taxes. I've always done mine myself, but I have to admit this was more enjoyable. In part because someone else was doing the nitty gritty and in part because he was really a delightful guy to hold a conversation with. Our supposed hour and a half appointment lasted nearly 3 and poor Natalie and Richard got stuck with our kids, but they were very sweet about it.

Oh, by the way, after one full year of scraping for whatever jobs I could find. I do once again have a full time position. In fact it is my first tenure track job. I am now the newest Physics Professor at Pierce College a part of the Los Angeles Community College District. I have actually wanted to teach here for a long time as they are working very hard to implement the best practices of physics teaching. On the other hand, when I was working several part time jobs I could justify doing a good enough job, now I truly need to do an excellent job. When you combine that with the fact that it is a new teaching style, the administrative and committee responsibilities, and the fact that it is on the far side of Los Angeles County I am still working my tail off. I finally rented a room over there because the commute home each night was too hard and I was in after everyone was asleep and out before they woke anyway.

Still I am excited and very blessed. I am grateful to family and friends and a wonderful wife who helped me pull through a challenging year. I am grateful that we live in a country that helps those who are struggling and hard work is still rewarded. And I am grateful to the Lord for his tender mercies.

All Alcohol Must Be Radioactive

It's true! At least in the united states all alcohol for human consumption must be slightly radioactive. You see, the law requires that alcohol for human consumption must be made from fruits and grains, but you can also make alcohol from petroleum. (Oh don't go eww, vanillin (artificial vanilla) is made from petroleum too.) So the question is how can you tell which is which?

Now purefication is good enough that you couldn't tell from chemical analysis, but fresh (as in less than a few thousand years old) plant matter has significant amounts of Carbon-14 in it which is radioactive. By contrast, fossile fuels are millions of years old and all of the carbon-14 has decayed out. So if your alcohol is radioactive, it is made from grains and fruits, if it is not it is made from petroleum.

Just one of the many facts I learned in "Physics for Future Presidents" which I'll review soon.

How many blades

I've always wondered how many blades are really necessary to shave. You can still buy razors with only one blade (more on that later) but most have at least 2 and 3, 4 and even 5 are now common. Gillet fusion actually has 6 (5 on the front and 1 on the back for precise trimming when you want a single blade.)

I never was much of one to go in for these fancy things figuring 2 blades were probably enough. But lo and behold here I am a convert to that ridiculous fusion mostly because of excellent marketing.

You see, I bought a reusable gillet sensor razor my first year back from my mission hoping that if I kept a closer shave my girlfriend would want to kiss me more often. (That soooooooo was not the problem.) I kept it for well over a decade (still have it in fact) and I would probably still be using it except for that excellent marketing.

You see I never bought the fusion razor. They sent me that for free in the mail. That is no small gift to get for free in the mail as they retail for nearly $10 (I'm sure wholesale is much less.) So now I could try it, FOR FREE. And I'll be darned if 5 blades aren't more comfortable than 3. So now while I will still use cheap disposables if that is what someone has or someone buys for me, I really like the gillete fusion. (And they do stick it to you on cartridges).

So the real question is, at what point does more blades become counterproductive. SNL (I think though it could have been MadTV) did a skit on a 15 bladed razor. I thought 4 was ridiculous, but I love 5. Where does it really end.

(On a side note, I shaved today with a single blade razor. I thought it had gone reasonably well if slightly less comfortable. Then I turned around and noticed about 50 tiny dots of blode coming from my neck. So maybe it is more than just minimal comfort.)

What A President Should Know (Book Review)

What A President Should Know: An Insider's View on How to Succeed in the Oval Office

This book is a collection Lawrence Lindsey's "notes to the president" on how to govern. He even starts the book with elaborate story about the lengths he went to so the President would get it just before inauguration so that it would not be subject to public inspection. But if he didn't want it to be subject to public inspection one must wonder why he published it and is selling it to the public.

In fact while the story of slipping it to the president is obvious fiction, the book as a whole was quite interesting and enlightening. Having served as a finance advisor to all of the last three Republican presidents his conservative bias is obvious, but he is what I would call a good conservative (and no that doesn't mean he's dead). Rather I mean he seems to be a straight shooter, gives honest explanations and explains the ambiguities and and trade offs of the office. He doesn't have any of that annoying (unfounded) certainty that so annoys.

As an example. He took some heat from the last administration for estimating that the cost of the Iraq war would be between 100 and 200 billion dollars. Admittedly the high end is still a factor of 3 less than current estimates, but it was much closer to reality than anything else coming out of the Whitehouse in 2003. He also compares it to the costs of Vietnam and WWII as a fraction of GDP. (He does make the case that the war was the right thing, and personally I found it to be one of the more compelling ones if only for the reason that he acknowledges the possibility that it might not have been. By addressing problems and uncertainties he makes his argument, in my mind at least, more credible.) He also makes some very honest statements about the failings of the Bush administration.

He does in fact make a number of good points about focusing on one or two major items. Controlling your controllers and your staff, and the realities of getting things done in Washington. But perhaps the most interesting in my view was a recommendation that the president approach his term in office from the assumption that he would not seek reelection.

If you're cynical (and I am) you might believe this was just because McCain might not live for 8 more years and he never really liked Obama anyway. But the book is written on the assumption of not knowing who the president would be and some of his talk about how a recession may begin early in the term he seems to have written most of it well before even the democratic primary was decided. So the recommendation may have just been honest.

His points were that second terms have not been wonderful. (Nixon Resigned, Clinton was impeached, Bush was weighed down by the war, Reagan was embroiled in the Iran Contra scandal and probably beginning to suffer from Altzheimers, I may have added that last note myself.) Being in only one term allows you great controll over your successor (T. Roosevelt chose Taft.) He does not recommend telling anyone else that is the plan, and in this way he seems to feel that you have the free hand that second term presidents have while having the (apparent) accountability of a first term president that keeps you from being a lame duck. Then as your 3rd year in office rolls around you can either choose to give it another go or go picking out the person to take it to the next level.

On the other hand I was annoyed at Obama for running so young not because I didn't like him but because so few former presidents return to public office/service and I hate to lose his talent before he is 60. So to lose him at barely 50 would really annoy me.

At any rate, it was a pretty good read and I would recommend it if your are interested in public policy whether it reinforces your world view or offers alternatives it is certain insightful.