Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Great power

I believe this dialogue between two men was in some Tom Clancy's book I read in secondary school and it goes something like that:
- With great power comes great responsibility.
- Churchill?
- No, Spiderman...
Jokes aside, today I was put in the position of great responsibility. For the first time, I alone was responsible for students in the physical laboratory, twice. In short, the first time I was totally ready, but the second time... My scientific supervisor had an emergency, so I had to replace him. The classes start in 5 minutes and I don't even know what exercise that are supposed to do. Somehow, I come back victorious from this trial, having understood, properly explained and supervised exercises. Although it wasn't a big deal, it made me feel good :) And it made me think. If responsibility is an indication of power (at least according to Spiderman), what kind of power are we talking about in my case? In general, when you teach someone, you gain power over one's development. It is in your power to shape them, push them in the right direction, to some extend of course. If you think this power is not so strong let me ask you a question. Did you like particular subject in school because the teacher was cool? Lets try the other way. Did you not like a subject because the teacher was horrible? Now think. For example, your math teacher was an old, mean lady, who yelled a lot, talk to fast and was surprisingly never ill. You associated her with what you learnt and in result you despised math. You never wanted to have anything in common with it, never took an interest in what is beyond of what you've learnt in class. In a way, she is responsible for you not studying finances/economics and not becoming the owner of a large bank. It is not all her fault, but she made it this much harder for you to go in that direction. That is why, in my opinion, teachers are powerful. And much like Spiderman, with this power they can be superheroes. However, if they don't realize the responsibility they have they become supervillains. I know this outlook can be deemed as naive and, since expressed by someone with little experience, disregarded, but maybe someone reading this will reflect on their teaching methods, or maybe someone will take an extra interest in physics even though the teacher makes the classes a living nightmare.

Saturday, October 27, 2012

Time travel

I couldn't resist to title this post differently. Sorry, but it is a little bit misleading. I'm not going to talk about the complexities and nuances of time travelling, mostly because I don't feel like and it's pointless, since it is not possible (well, not yet). What I want to talk about is how much time can be wasted when you travel. This last few months I have spent countless hours in journey. The situation would be different if I had a companion, but a vast majority of this travels I spent alone. Unfortunately, I slept through most of the trips. I wouldn't go as far as to say that all this times sleep was a waste, but in some cases for sure. That is why, I have recently started to read books, as simple as that! But still this thought appears that I could be doing something else, more productive, like read not... lets say... casual books but academic ones, or scientific publications. Not to mention I could study the Scripture, or learn verses by heart. I hate the feeling that the time is wasted, either because of me or due to reasons I have no control over. In the first case I can do something about it, hence the book reading and hopefully something more, but from time to time - I got to give myself a beak once in a while. Insomuch in the second case, since I'm powerless, my frustration grows. To end on a more cheerful note, staying at home doing nothing is surprisingly more often NOT time wasting.

Friday, October 26, 2012

Techinical issue

This post addresses some technical issues. So, Techorati here is the claim token: 7QUDDK33DMT5.

Somewhere

If someone would ask me what a rainbow isas a physicist, I would answer that it is nothing more than light refracting on water. Physically the rainbow has no beginning and no end... you could say it only exists in a moment (when the right conditions are met). Then you hear a song Somewhere over the rainbow. Rainbow symbolizes a good moment in your life - grab and hold on to them! Rainbow also symbolizes a promise.
Someday I'll wish upon a star,
wake up where the clouds are far behind me
Where trouble melts like lemon drops, high above the chimney top
That's where you'll find me


Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Big news

My best friend J. texted me that his wife A. just gave birth to a healthy boy. Congratulations to both of them and my God bless their newborn child! They are both 25 and already married for 2 years. What is my general outlook on this? To be honest, there is a part of me that envies J. because he is already at this point in his life, where there are more 'knowns' than unknowns. I mean who wouldn't want a certain stability in their life? Sure, there are still surprises before him and first months with a toddler are going to be anything but stable, but in the big picture he already made most of the important choices and is at peace with his decisions. I am one year younger than him and will never have what he has at his age. On the other hand, I have more options than he does. For example, I can leave Poland and pursue scientific carrier abroad. I don't need to divide my time between so many things, I have less responsibilities, I can stay late nights, go for a beer whenever I want, don't need to save the money for family vacations and spend them on something else. Both situations have pros and cons, they both can make a man/woman happy. There is one more thing, common for J. and me, although we are on different paths. We consult our decisions with JCh and fulfill His will in our lives. It won't guarantee that happiness will magically come knocking at your door (although it might and JCh can surprise you in ways you couldn't imagine), but helps to keep your eyes on the prize.

Foretaste of things to come and personal detour

There is another reason behind this blog. More often than not, I have the tendency to think too much, analyze past situations, predict wildest, future scenarios. Using physical metaphor, I'm like an electron that has been excited to a higher state. But this state is not stable (actually it is meta-stable, which means it can easily be knocked out of it) and the electron recombines (comes back) to ground state (much more stable) releasing the excess energy (in a form of photon - not important for this metaphor). The same concerns me, when I think too much I'm "excited to a meta-stable state" and have this irresistible urge to "recombine" back to the "ground state". And this blog is where the excess energy goes (making the recombination possible), where it finds its outlet, where I blow off my steam.
I also have a need to explain a lot of things, not because people mistakenly presume I think they don't understand, but due to the fact that I simply like explaining things. Right now, I need to explain the template. This is tightly connected to the second part of the headline. The template is red, because certain someone goes through the phase of liking this color.

Basic info

Here is some fundamental staff you should know about me. First of all, I'm a born anew christian. I would like this to be the first thing to define me as a person. The next piece of information is an order of magnitude lower in importance, but still crucial. I have a Master of Physics diploma and currently pursuing my PhD. I don't mean to brag, I just think it will help you understand me better. Sports also play a role in my life, mostly snowboard, swimming and basketball (although I'm not tall). Last but definitely not least, I am very passionate about U2 music. More information will reveal itself naturally in the next posts. Bye!

Monday, October 22, 2012

First one out

Welcome to my blog! The first question is: "why it is in English, when I'm Polish?" And the answer to that question is: "Because, in this way, it's a challenge and it will help me improve my writing skills and develop the habit of thinking in other than native language". So please, bare with me, although I'll make a lot of mistakes (mostly in punctuation - feel free to correct me in the comments). The second question is: "why this blog is called <<General outlook>>?". This time the answer is simpler: "Because I'll try to present you what my thoughts are on: the things that can happen in life, things that we need to deal with, some events,... and why you should read this or watch that (you know - to make this blog not so serious)". I feel like I have written enough for know. Until next time!