Just busy.
Last night I sat myself down at around 10:30 PM, having just finished and entire week's worth of 6.01 online homework problems. I peered down onto the plain, flat, single sheet of paper that held my entire night in its hands. What lay embossed behind the black and white barcode was an encryption, some sort of secret code which held a specific, esoteric meaning. With a straining eye, I read:
Consider Euler's Representation:
e^((a+bi)t) = e^(at)(cos(bt)+isin(at))
For what values of a+bi is e^((a+bi)t) a circle?
My stomach ached. My head pounded. I had not slept long in days, I hadn't eaten on schedule in weeks. In fact just that morning I had to write the last 400 words of a 1200 word essay in 45 minutes because I had overslept my alarm. Every conceivable complaint that had been floating in my consciousness bubbled to the top of my head and collected. Why the hell would anybody ever need to know "For what values of a+bi is e^((a+bi)t) a circle?"
I gathered every angry thought, every frustration, and simply set it free. I looked down at my paper, and began to work.
11:00 came and went, 12:00 was gone in a flash. 1:00 came slowly, allowing me to get a huge chunk done. As 1:30 rolled around, I could see the end in sight. Finally, by 2:00, I scribbled my last note and set my pencil down. After 3 1/2 grueling hours, I had finally finished. Part A.
Part B, worth twice as many points as part A, took a comparable length of time.
Suddenly, finally, mercifully, I was on my way home. I rode my bike across the frozen, deserted road as the sun began to hint at rising. As I turned the last corner, without even seeing it, I grazed the surface an ice patch that effortlessly, gently tugged my bicycle right out from under me. As I stood there, having been deposited neatly on the sidewalk's curve, I gaped childishly ahead as my bike slid directly into a lamppost.
I climbed into bed while the sun climbed the steep horizon, and had time for one beautiful, glorious hour of sleep, an affair with the angels, before waking up to start the process anew. 9 AM physics, across campus. Time to go.
Laboriously did we crawl through our packet of in-class problems. Electric potential, field lines, forces: all perfused the room, penetrating our beings. The Earth now has a net negative charge. 500,000 Coulombs. Mind = blown.
A break for food comes and goes. 6 more hours of lab are to follow. Life seems hard.
But you know what? Life is amazing. In five minutes I'm going to dinner with the brothers over at Women's Independent Living Group, and after that I'm going to party like mad until I literally cannot party any more. There is a party here at ADP on saturday night. Rachael is even coming in from Cornell to visit! Hopefully even my dad and sister will come visit soon.
And to top it all off, there is a hidden beauty in that code I found.
e^((a+bi)t) is a spiral. A logarythmic spiral. This piece of math, which looks hollow and meaningless on paper, actually represents one of the most important shapes in our universe. This spiral is what hurricanes look like from above, it is the path that birds of prey follow as they swoop in for a final kill. It is the shape of a nautilus' shell. It even describes the shape of our entire galaxy, and every other spiral galaxy in the universe. Nothing could conceivably be more beautiful. Thank God e^((a+bi)t) is only a circle if a=0 and b!=0.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Amazing memories of MIT so far (part 1)
(Originally posted by me on Facebook, on Wednesday, January 14, 2009 at 8:12am)
It is 7 AM. I have been up all night. I can finally make a real post about MIT. Here are some of MANY highlights of the past few months, not really in chronological order.
I was rollerblading back to Simmons one night, at 3:30 AM after an amazing party. I had no shirt on, was wearing a black, pinstriped fedora, and my shorts were covered with chocolate frosting. As I bladed down the infinite corridor, not only were there OTHER PEOPLE in that particular hallway, but as we passed, they didn't even give me a second look! I was not doing anything unusual. That was the exact moment I realized: MIT is where I belong.
Alpha Delta Phi, the fraternity, took freshman indoor skydiving during rush. If you are not familiar, indoor skydiving is where you stand in a vertical wind tunnel, and they shoot air at you fast enough for it to lift you right off the ground, keeping you suspended. My father and I have wanted to do this for years and years, and let me just say that it was everything I'd hoped it would be. He and I are of course going to go whenever he comes up to visit.
My amazing roommate Chrisantha and I were coming back from somewhere and as we passed the Simmons lobby, we saw little tiny blocks of wood. A whole bucket full. We immediately set out to build a 20 foot tower, freestanding, in the middle of the room. After more than an hour of work, no glue no connectors, only blocks and stacking, we managed to get within about 6 inches of the 2-story ceiling. It was a masterpiece, a true triumph of engineering. I stood on the ground and marveled at its beauty while Chrisantha worked on the last few blocks. Then, as swift as a breath, it started shaking, swaying, oscillating...What came next can only be described as an explosion. It was absolutely glorious.
I had fallen behind on my reading in class, and I soon stopped reading altogether, knowing I could never catch up with it. The essay got assigned, and yet I never got time to work on any of it. I faced a terrible decision on the night before it was due: to quit the class or perform the miracle that would be necessary to pass. At 10:00 I began skimming. By midnight I had an argument. At just over an hour a page, I finally pressed submit the following morning at 9:00 AM. Sore, depleted, yet proud, I swore I would never put off an essay until the last night again. I got an A- on my essay. I did the same thing two more times.
I had already failed a Calculus test, and I was determined not to let it happen again. Megan and I studied for hours, literally HOURS for the next test, and I felt I had a good handle on the material. I confidently strode into that test, having prepared more for it than I did for the AP calc BC test, and I got my ass handed to me on a plate. I couldn't even grasp half the questions. I have never before been so harshly beaten by math! 40% on a midterm. Second failure in a row. Pain.
The night before my Calculus final, my entire grade was riding upon it. Snow fell and stuck for the first time all winter. All the southerners were so cute! Their young, unfrozen eyes glistened, entranced by the soft, virgin blanket of snow. Snow fell from midnight to 2 AM. At 3 AM they begged to go outside. We went. Instead of sleeping or studying more, we ran outside and carved a giant 9A in the snowy field, along with a giant awesome-face. Then, we built a HUGE snowman. I would estimate that he weighed in total around 900 lbs. We perched him up against Simmons so he could greet people walking in and out of Simmons as they went to meet their finals. Bad News: I got and F on my calc final. Good News: It was a high enough F for me to still do well in the class. Pass/No Record is awesome.
I was giving a little tour of MIT when I saw through a window, a robot. These are not uncommon but I was still surprised, so I moved in to inspect. Through the window I saw a head, two arms, and a body, normal robot style. But as I peeked lower, I found not legs, but a frickin' segway. A segway robot. Just sittin' in a room there. My tour subjects didn't appreciate it nearly as much as I did.
AND OH MY GOD I CAN'T BELIEVE I ALMOST FORGOT ABOUT THIS
It's near the beginning of the year, I sleep with my room door open. Around 10:30 one morning, I awake to a light, gentle scratching at the top of my head as I hear a cherubic female voice sing, “Matt, hey Matt? Matt wake up...” Stunned, I turn over in my sheets and see Lucy, a chinese girl, standing beside my bed. She extends a plate on her arm and says “I just baked some cookies, would you like one?” Those of you who know me will understand why a little bit of my soul actually effervesced and ascended from my chest as a small white cloud into heaven itself. (Lucy claims the cookie incident was not even a big deal)
There are hundreds more moments like these, in the next 3 weeks I will record them as I think of them. Please relate any similar stories you have right here in the comments, I'd love to hear em. It is now 8:10 AM
It is 7 AM. I have been up all night. I can finally make a real post about MIT. Here are some of MANY highlights of the past few months, not really in chronological order.
I was rollerblading back to Simmons one night, at 3:30 AM after an amazing party. I had no shirt on, was wearing a black, pinstriped fedora, and my shorts were covered with chocolate frosting. As I bladed down the infinite corridor, not only were there OTHER PEOPLE in that particular hallway, but as we passed, they didn't even give me a second look! I was not doing anything unusual. That was the exact moment I realized: MIT is where I belong.
Alpha Delta Phi, the fraternity, took freshman indoor skydiving during rush. If you are not familiar, indoor skydiving is where you stand in a vertical wind tunnel, and they shoot air at you fast enough for it to lift you right off the ground, keeping you suspended. My father and I have wanted to do this for years and years, and let me just say that it was everything I'd hoped it would be. He and I are of course going to go whenever he comes up to visit.
My amazing roommate Chrisantha and I were coming back from somewhere and as we passed the Simmons lobby, we saw little tiny blocks of wood. A whole bucket full. We immediately set out to build a 20 foot tower, freestanding, in the middle of the room. After more than an hour of work, no glue no connectors, only blocks and stacking, we managed to get within about 6 inches of the 2-story ceiling. It was a masterpiece, a true triumph of engineering. I stood on the ground and marveled at its beauty while Chrisantha worked on the last few blocks. Then, as swift as a breath, it started shaking, swaying, oscillating...What came next can only be described as an explosion. It was absolutely glorious.
I had fallen behind on my reading in class, and I soon stopped reading altogether, knowing I could never catch up with it. The essay got assigned, and yet I never got time to work on any of it. I faced a terrible decision on the night before it was due: to quit the class or perform the miracle that would be necessary to pass. At 10:00 I began skimming. By midnight I had an argument. At just over an hour a page, I finally pressed submit the following morning at 9:00 AM. Sore, depleted, yet proud, I swore I would never put off an essay until the last night again. I got an A- on my essay. I did the same thing two more times.
I had already failed a Calculus test, and I was determined not to let it happen again. Megan and I studied for hours, literally HOURS for the next test, and I felt I had a good handle on the material. I confidently strode into that test, having prepared more for it than I did for the AP calc BC test, and I got my ass handed to me on a plate. I couldn't even grasp half the questions. I have never before been so harshly beaten by math! 40% on a midterm. Second failure in a row. Pain.
The night before my Calculus final, my entire grade was riding upon it. Snow fell and stuck for the first time all winter. All the southerners were so cute! Their young, unfrozen eyes glistened, entranced by the soft, virgin blanket of snow. Snow fell from midnight to 2 AM. At 3 AM they begged to go outside. We went. Instead of sleeping or studying more, we ran outside and carved a giant 9A in the snowy field, along with a giant awesome-face. Then, we built a HUGE snowman. I would estimate that he weighed in total around 900 lbs. We perched him up against Simmons so he could greet people walking in and out of Simmons as they went to meet their finals. Bad News: I got and F on my calc final. Good News: It was a high enough F for me to still do well in the class. Pass/No Record is awesome.
I was giving a little tour of MIT when I saw through a window, a robot. These are not uncommon but I was still surprised, so I moved in to inspect. Through the window I saw a head, two arms, and a body, normal robot style. But as I peeked lower, I found not legs, but a frickin' segway. A segway robot. Just sittin' in a room there. My tour subjects didn't appreciate it nearly as much as I did.
AND OH MY GOD I CAN'T BELIEVE I ALMOST FORGOT ABOUT THIS
It's near the beginning of the year, I sleep with my room door open. Around 10:30 one morning, I awake to a light, gentle scratching at the top of my head as I hear a cherubic female voice sing, “Matt, hey Matt? Matt wake up...” Stunned, I turn over in my sheets and see Lucy, a chinese girl, standing beside my bed. She extends a plate on her arm and says “I just baked some cookies, would you like one?” Those of you who know me will understand why a little bit of my soul actually effervesced and ascended from my chest as a small white cloud into heaven itself. (Lucy claims the cookie incident was not even a big deal)
There are hundreds more moments like these, in the next 3 weeks I will record them as I think of them. Please relate any similar stories you have right here in the comments, I'd love to hear em. It is now 8:10 AM
MIT is numbers
We speak, think, and breath numbers. In our sleep we dream of them.
What I'm referring to here is our system of naming absolutely everything with a number. For those of you new to this, I shall explain:
So when somebody asks me what course I am, I reply with "16, 6, or 2A with a specialization in 16."
Since our majors all have numbers, it only fits that our classes should have numbers that correspond. In general, the higher the number the more in depth the class.
18.01 for example, is the first course in mathematics, which is Calculus of a single variable.
18.02 = Multivariable Calculus
Right now I'm in
18.03 - Differential Equations
8.02 - Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism
6.01 - Intro to EE and CS
16.00A - Fundementals of Engineering Design: Explore space, sea, and earth
21M.011 - Introduction to Western Music
for a total of 57 credits.
But that isn't where our numbering ends. You see, even our buildings have numbers:
The most well known of which is probably Lobby 7:
But probably the most awe inspiring is Lobby 10:
And as any MIT student knows, the most important number of all is your student ID. This is a 9 digit number that grants you access to pretty much everything important.
That's all for now folks. Good luck on all your own adventures.
What I'm referring to here is our system of naming absolutely everything with a number. For those of you new to this, I shall explain:
Course 1 Civil and Environmental Engineering
Course 2 Mechanical Engineering
Course 3 Materials Science and Engineering
Course 6 Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Course 9 Brain and Cognitive Sciences
Course 10 Chemical Engineering
Course 11 Urban Studies and Planning
Course 12 Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
Course 16 Aeronautics and Astronautics
Course 20 Biological Engineering
Course 21F Foreign Languages and Literatures
Course 21M Music and Theater Arts
Course 21W Writing and Humanistic Studies
Course 24 Linguistics and Philosophy
So when somebody asks me what course I am, I reply with "16, 6, or 2A with a specialization in 16."
Since our majors all have numbers, it only fits that our classes should have numbers that correspond. In general, the higher the number the more in depth the class.
18.01 for example, is the first course in mathematics, which is Calculus of a single variable.
18.02 = Multivariable Calculus
Right now I'm in
18.03 - Differential Equations
8.02 - Physics II: Electricity and Magnetism
6.01 - Intro to EE and CS
16.00A - Fundementals of Engineering Design: Explore space, sea, and earth
21M.011 - Introduction to Western Music
for a total of 57 credits.
But that isn't where our numbering ends. You see, even our buildings have numbers:
The most well known of which is probably Lobby 7:
But probably the most awe inspiring is Lobby 10:
And as any MIT student knows, the most important number of all is your student ID. This is a 9 digit number that grants you access to pretty much everything important.
That's all for now folks. Good luck on all your own adventures.
Friday, February 6, 2009
The Most Beautiful Song I Have Ever Heard
"Praan" is a poem which was written in Bengali by Rabindranath Tagore around 1910, published in a book of poetry called Gitanjali. Fortunately for the western world, an english translation was made around 1912 which was an immediate hit in many countries. Another translation, with a preface by Yeats himself, was published soon afterwards and was met with much acclaim.
Gitanjali is composed of the words "Git" meaning song, and "anjali" meaning offering. It should be noted that "anjali" has a highly devotional connotation making the title something closer to "Offering of Prayer Songs."
Tagore's work was so deep and metaphorical, so beautiful and concise, so philosophical and metaphysical, that in 1913 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. In doing so he became the very first non-european ever to win the award.
The lyrics are as follows:
Praan
Bhulbona ar shohojete
Shei praan e mon uthbe mete
Mrittu majhe dhaka ache
je ontohin praan
Bojre tomar baje bashi
She ki shohoj gaan
Shei shurete jagbo ami
(Repeat 3X)
Shei jhor jeno shoi anonde
Chittobinar taare
Shotto-shundu dosh digonto
Nachao je jhonkare!
Bojre tomar baje bashi
She ki shohoj gaan
Shei shurete jagbo ami
(Repeat 3X)
With the english translation:
Stream of Life
The same stream of life that runs through my veins night and day
runs through the world and dances in rhythmic measures.
It is the same life that shoots in joy through the dust of the earth
in numberless blades of grass
and breaks into tumultuous waves of leaves and flowers.
It is the same life that is rocked in the ocean-cradle of birth
and of death, in ebb and in flow.
I feel my limbs are made glorious by the touch of this world of life.
And my pride is from the life-throb of ages dancing in my blood this moment.
And it can be heard at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiwpsKfFpoU&feature=PlayList&p=422F887FC16B9259&playnext=1&index=1
And it was used in the background of the most popular youtube videos of the past year:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlfKdbWwruY&feature=related
which has 17,701,752 views at this moment, and gets a new comment roughly every 8 minutes.
Gitanjali is composed of the words "Git" meaning song, and "anjali" meaning offering. It should be noted that "anjali" has a highly devotional connotation making the title something closer to "Offering of Prayer Songs."
Tagore's work was so deep and metaphorical, so beautiful and concise, so philosophical and metaphysical, that in 1913 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. In doing so he became the very first non-european ever to win the award.
The lyrics are as follows:
Praan
Bhulbona ar shohojete
Shei praan e mon uthbe mete
Mrittu majhe dhaka ache
je ontohin praan
Bojre tomar baje bashi
She ki shohoj gaan
Shei shurete jagbo ami
(Repeat 3X)
Shei jhor jeno shoi anonde
Chittobinar taare
Shotto-shundu dosh digonto
Nachao je jhonkare!
Bojre tomar baje bashi
She ki shohoj gaan
Shei shurete jagbo ami
(Repeat 3X)
With the english translation:
Stream of Life
The same stream of life that runs through my veins night and day
runs through the world and dances in rhythmic measures.
It is the same life that shoots in joy through the dust of the earth
in numberless blades of grass
and breaks into tumultuous waves of leaves and flowers.
It is the same life that is rocked in the ocean-cradle of birth
and of death, in ebb and in flow.
I feel my limbs are made glorious by the touch of this world of life.
And my pride is from the life-throb of ages dancing in my blood this moment.
And it can be heard at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiwpsKfFpoU&feature=PlayList&p=422F887FC16B9259&playnext=1&index=1
And it was used in the background of the most popular youtube videos of the past year:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlfKdbWwruY&feature=related
which has 17,701,752 views at this moment, and gets a new comment roughly every 8 minutes.
Monday, February 2, 2009
6.270
6.270 (six two seventy) is a competition here at MIT where teams of 3 each receive a $1500 lego kit, complete with sensors and microprocessors. The task changes every year, but your goal always involves building an autonomous robot that senses its environment and behaves accordingly. A good example would be:
"build an autonomous robot that picks up pegs and drops them into a box."
Then they always spice it up a bit:
"your robot must differentiate between two types of pegs: the blue ones are the only ones that get you points. Red ones are negative."
And they keep building from there:
"Also, there are two boxes in the room. One is a cube, the other is just a rectangular prism. Pegs must be put ONLY in the cube."
And then, the kicker:
"Your robot won't be doing this alone. You will compete against another robot which will be in the same room at the same moment, fighting for those same pegs."
This year our competition involved red balls which had to be pushed, and blue balls which had to be lifted over a corner, while a flag in the background could be raised to double your points, but the idea is essentially the same.
The game board this year was as follows:
Most teams made some effort to cross the field quickly, gather balls quickly, and return them quickly to their goals before heading to the flagbox to double their points, as indicated below:
There were different variations of how to pick up the balls, how best to store them, and how to move most efficiently, but the basic idea was always the same, and the winner was the bot that picked up more balls. We decided to change that all, by being complete jerks.
our plan:
We sent a second bot, which deployed from the top of our vehicle, to run directly into the enemy's goal and block it. Then we extended an arm towards the balls, and drove straight. We swung the arm back in and bam! 2 points and a blocked opponent. Atrophy Express, as we called it, worked very effectively.
Me with the bot:
Bot with runner:
Oh and the bots all had to fit within 1 foot cubes when the rounds began. To get it to fit, we had to fold the runnerbot on top of our main bot
folded:
After a month of preparation, we headed into battle, and faced many opponents, including
Mr. Tuftypaws:
GLaDOS:
The Ascender (aka Thats What She Said)
Pearbot (my personal favorite):
and many others:
Eventually, through many victories and defeats, the dust settled and how did we do?
FOURTH PLACE! (wish I had a picture)
In the end, we each won big boom-boxes aka ghetto-blasters, (will insert picture later) and I could not be happier.
Congratualtions to everybody who participated and kudos no matter how well or how poorly you placed. Making a robot is indescribably difficult and very few people out there could have done as well as you did.
MUSIC FOR NOW:
City of Devils - Yellowcard
Major and Minor - The Procession
"build an autonomous robot that picks up pegs and drops them into a box."
Then they always spice it up a bit:
"your robot must differentiate between two types of pegs: the blue ones are the only ones that get you points. Red ones are negative."
And they keep building from there:
"Also, there are two boxes in the room. One is a cube, the other is just a rectangular prism. Pegs must be put ONLY in the cube."
And then, the kicker:
"Your robot won't be doing this alone. You will compete against another robot which will be in the same room at the same moment, fighting for those same pegs."
This year our competition involved red balls which had to be pushed, and blue balls which had to be lifted over a corner, while a flag in the background could be raised to double your points, but the idea is essentially the same.
The game board this year was as follows:
Most teams made some effort to cross the field quickly, gather balls quickly, and return them quickly to their goals before heading to the flagbox to double their points, as indicated below:
There were different variations of how to pick up the balls, how best to store them, and how to move most efficiently, but the basic idea was always the same, and the winner was the bot that picked up more balls. We decided to change that all, by being complete jerks.
our plan:
We sent a second bot, which deployed from the top of our vehicle, to run directly into the enemy's goal and block it. Then we extended an arm towards the balls, and drove straight. We swung the arm back in and bam! 2 points and a blocked opponent. Atrophy Express, as we called it, worked very effectively.
Me with the bot:
Bot with runner:
Oh and the bots all had to fit within 1 foot cubes when the rounds began. To get it to fit, we had to fold the runnerbot on top of our main bot
folded:
After a month of preparation, we headed into battle, and faced many opponents, including
Mr. Tuftypaws:
GLaDOS:
The Ascender (aka Thats What She Said)
Pearbot (my personal favorite):
and many others:
Eventually, through many victories and defeats, the dust settled and how did we do?
FOURTH PLACE! (wish I had a picture)
In the end, we each won big boom-boxes aka ghetto-blasters, (will insert picture later) and I could not be happier.
Congratualtions to everybody who participated and kudos no matter how well or how poorly you placed. Making a robot is indescribably difficult and very few people out there could have done as well as you did.
MUSIC FOR NOW:
City of Devils - Yellowcard
Major and Minor - The Procession
Introduction
Greetings all,
My name is Matt Ferraro, I am a freshman at MIT. I have recently been told that I lead an interesting life, so I figured I might as well document it. I'll try to post a few times a week with descriptions of what I'm doing and what I've done. I will post pictures whenever I can. Flowery language aside,
let's get it started
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
