I attended the SLVSEF today. I had to judge Science and Engineering projects of high school kids in Electronics and Mechanics(Physics and Math would have been more fun!). Needless to say that I did a sordid job grading but I did speak to one interesting person who is a PhD in a Biology related field. She said that maybe this country should grant residency to all scientists.
At this point, i felt terribly guilty and admitted to being a nameless masters grad in ee. After she got the hint, she enquired if i am interested in pursuing a phd. i felt even worse.
One thing she did point out was that she often wonders if it would be necessary to go back to school and learn things for things are becoming competitive and that she has a lot to learn. I can't tell you how this thought seemed to resonate as i was walking around these kids and their posters. if i was feeling helpless and lost and ashamed of myself, i can't imagine how terrible it would be when i'm her age.
(i should mention, you knew this was coming, she was ever so pretty however old she was(she would have been extremely smart and pretty when she was younger). then i found myself wondering cheese, alcohol intake should reduce! I need so spend more time actually paying attention to NR's ideas on "preservation after 25". )
@Projects: Well, needless to say that kids here have great mentors. Some projects were too complex even for us students to comprehend. The bio-related ones with proteins and cancers left me clueless. For 45 minutes, i avoided carefully all bio-related posters(which actually seemed like fun). I did manage to land myself before a couple of folks doing something on computer vision.
@vision: They had a working code!!! Working demo!!! They were 14!!!
But they did not know how convolution worked or how time series data was collected.!
I felt bad at this point because the one poster that I should have understood, i did not follow what was happening because people were so good at mugging and rehearsing their talks. Actually it was because i'm stupid.
i was there when i was 14 wrt the mugging and rehearsing part, not academically though. What they've done surpasses my pursuing a masters as well!!. Hopefully i will do better in the years to come.
Science and Engineering should be about discovery and solving problems. Awards are always messy. There was this one girl who I think was the second best in my group of people. She had done the best soldering on a tiny PCB. Even NAM does not solder that well! (well lets just say I know a professional soldering job when I see the board) (she did say that she's been soldering for 6 years! (she's 13))
well, i did grill a few kids. i was careful to not ask stupid questions.
thats when i had some unpleasant thoughts about my schooling, me and my awesomeness. then i had some even more stupid thoughts about raising the next generation of people (i can't imagine how irrelevant this is currently, bloody get thesis working da goobae). Then about why and how i have'nt come up with interesting ideas as such for my own projects!!! then a hundred different thoughts.
that is exactly when i tried to also point out to a girl that her math equations were incorrect. yes i was wrong. but she atleast distracted me from my earlier follies. you see preparation is what we all need to set us apart. and preparation is something that will make us confident and strong. conceptually. therefore preparation is something we should all spend time doing. because it will pay off eventually.
so become awesome i say, before the next generation washes us aside like the tides wash aside bits of dirt and junk.
i can't trust anyone anymore. i prayed to god for three people. three things happened. i am happy and grateful!
i should be (happy and grateful), no regrets! come on! lets do it!
(read this at a later time: http://rama-says.blogspot.com/2012/03/coming-from-india-1.html)
(yes, i really can think of so many things at the same time. of course coffee aids in my doing so. i had fresh fruit today!!! that was the real reason! did I mention that I bought a "lot" of walnuts (to be read as > 1 pound of walnuts!!!!!! (you should also know by now that one pays exorbitant amounts for things like dry fruits)) )
I hate it when people think they share everything with you and you never respond or reciprocate. i dislike people who use shortforms in their messages.
I am forming opinions of people again. I keep going back to my older opinions of people. that never changes. once an opinion is formed, it rarely changes. stupid memory of mine. forget will you.
Yes I love Audrey. and Kax was right about Pandora's Dubstep radio.
At this point, i felt terribly guilty and admitted to being a nameless masters grad in ee. After she got the hint, she enquired if i am interested in pursuing a phd. i felt even worse.
One thing she did point out was that she often wonders if it would be necessary to go back to school and learn things for things are becoming competitive and that she has a lot to learn. I can't tell you how this thought seemed to resonate as i was walking around these kids and their posters. if i was feeling helpless and lost and ashamed of myself, i can't imagine how terrible it would be when i'm her age.
(i should mention, you knew this was coming, she was ever so pretty however old she was(she would have been extremely smart and pretty when she was younger). then i found myself wondering cheese, alcohol intake should reduce! I need so spend more time actually paying attention to NR's ideas on "preservation after 25". )
@Projects: Well, needless to say that kids here have great mentors. Some projects were too complex even for us students to comprehend. The bio-related ones with proteins and cancers left me clueless. For 45 minutes, i avoided carefully all bio-related posters(which actually seemed like fun). I did manage to land myself before a couple of folks doing something on computer vision.
@vision: They had a working code!!! Working demo!!! They were 14!!!
But they did not know how convolution worked or how time series data was collected.!
I felt bad at this point because the one poster that I should have understood, i did not follow what was happening because people were so good at mugging and rehearsing their talks. Actually it was because i'm stupid.
i was there when i was 14 wrt the mugging and rehearsing part, not academically though. What they've done surpasses my pursuing a masters as well!!. Hopefully i will do better in the years to come.
Science and Engineering should be about discovery and solving problems. Awards are always messy. There was this one girl who I think was the second best in my group of people. She had done the best soldering on a tiny PCB. Even NAM does not solder that well! (well lets just say I know a professional soldering job when I see the board) (she did say that she's been soldering for 6 years! (she's 13))
well, i did grill a few kids. i was careful to not ask stupid questions.
thats when i had some unpleasant thoughts about my schooling, me and my awesomeness. then i had some even more stupid thoughts about raising the next generation of people (i can't imagine how irrelevant this is currently, bloody get thesis working da goobae). Then about why and how i have'nt come up with interesting ideas as such for my own projects!!! then a hundred different thoughts.
that is exactly when i tried to also point out to a girl that her math equations were incorrect. yes i was wrong. but she atleast distracted me from my earlier follies. you see preparation is what we all need to set us apart. and preparation is something that will make us confident and strong. conceptually. therefore preparation is something we should all spend time doing. because it will pay off eventually.
so become awesome i say, before the next generation washes us aside like the tides wash aside bits of dirt and junk.
i can't trust anyone anymore. i prayed to god for three people. three things happened. i am happy and grateful!
i should be (happy and grateful), no regrets! come on! lets do it!
(read this at a later time: http://rama-says.blogspot.com/2012/03/coming-from-india-1.html)
(yes, i really can think of so many things at the same time. of course coffee aids in my doing so. i had fresh fruit today!!! that was the real reason! did I mention that I bought a "lot" of walnuts (to be read as > 1 pound of walnuts!!!!!! (you should also know by now that one pays exorbitant amounts for things like dry fruits)) )
I hate it when people think they share everything with you and you never respond or reciprocate. i dislike people who use shortforms in their messages.
I am forming opinions of people again. I keep going back to my older opinions of people. that never changes. once an opinion is formed, it rarely changes. stupid memory of mine. forget will you.
Yes I love Audrey. and Kax was right about Pandora's Dubstep radio.
