Today I had a better experience than yesterday teaching Algebra. Students can be a handful, almost bordering on the criminal. I am increasing the amount of homework, and requesting more attention in class. If by Friday they do not do the homework, I will send a select few to another location to be tutored on the homework.
I believe that a focus on the subject matter, can be my way out of a discipline problem.
I forgot that young people try to find out how much they can get away with. Now they are finding out the limits I impose. More academic work, and less monkeying around.
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
Mexican archaeologists find important Aztec ruins
Mexican archaeologists have found what may be the most significant Aztec ruin in decades, with the unearthing of an altar and a monolith in the busy heart of Mexico City, Mayor Alejandro Encinas said on Wednesday.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
How does the future look like?
I am among young people having fun in a photography class. Unfortunately not all my math classes are so gay. There is a product, students like to see the pictures they make, and they want to make better ones; -- "that is the prettiest one!" -- one says. The instructor is a graduate of this high school. I don't see any student that is here because he or she has to be here. They are motivated.
Mathematics is a required class, that is a blessing in disguise. It is up to me to make the students feel comfortable, so far I am not satisfied.
I already taught college students and older high school students. I even tried to work with grammar school children.
The future looks worrisome from my standpoint. It is not the students, it is more us and our parents and grand-parents. It seems to me that we abused our house; the Earth. The chemical composition of the atmosphere has changed since at least ten thousand years, when human culture started.
The children, all in all, seem to be calm. I am getting nervous because of the wars and environmental catastrophes I see, I hope I am wrong.
Mathematics is a required class, that is a blessing in disguise. It is up to me to make the students feel comfortable, so far I am not satisfied.
I already taught college students and older high school students. I even tried to work with grammar school children.
The future looks worrisome from my standpoint. It is not the students, it is more us and our parents and grand-parents. It seems to me that we abused our house; the Earth. The chemical composition of the atmosphere has changed since at least ten thousand years, when human culture started.
The children, all in all, seem to be calm. I am getting nervous because of the wars and environmental catastrophes I see, I hope I am wrong.
Saturday, September 30, 2006
"State of Denial": Woodward says Bush Ignored Urgent Iraq Warning
Bush ignored an urgent warning in 9/03 from a top Iraq adviser who said that thousands of additional American troops were desperately needed to quell the insurgency there, As late as 11/03 Bush is quoted as saying of the situation in Iraq: "I don't want anyone in the cabinet to say it is an insurgency. I don't think we are there yet."
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
The Constitution of the United States of America
Why not? Shouldn't we all be digging the the Constitution so we don't here "WTF is the Constitution" in the comment section again?
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Thursday, September 28, 2006
Wherever you are, there you are.
Introduction
This week we studied the Real Numbers in the high school math class. These are reflections about this experience.
Real Numbers
It was not until the middle of the eighteenth century that Richard Dedekind and Georg Cantor developed the theory of Real Numbers; as Leopold Kronecker said: “God created the integers, all else is the work of man.” I tried, not very consciously, nor successfully, to communicate this work to teen agers.
I remember how excited I got when I first learned these facts more than
forty years ago. To this day I consider this to be one of the deepest thoughts of the human mind. Is space like Cantor and Dedekind envisioned it? I did not do justice to these men this week. I am struggling just to get the students to pay attention, this reminds me of that other experience in the same city. The teachers did not like the way I taught the students. Something similar happened at another high school before. I live in an abstract world that not even the children’s parents or my teacher colleagues perceive. Here I try to analyze the events of this week.
I teach in a barrio school. Some of the students are either in Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps, or they belong to gangs. I want to make my own club, with a few dedicated students in pursuit of an intense mental life.
As backdrop to my experience, I can say that I did not stay teaching
college students in Mexico because I did not publish. My thoughts have not settled on something worth communicating to other theoretical physicists.
By all measures, leaving the University of Puebla and teaching very young underprivileged persons in Illinois, is not a smart move. But us Carl Frantz writes in “The Peoples Guide to Mexico”, wherever you are, there you are.
This week we studied the Real Numbers in the high school math class. These are reflections about this experience.
Real Numbers
It was not until the middle of the eighteenth century that Richard Dedekind and Georg Cantor developed the theory of Real Numbers; as Leopold Kronecker said: “God created the integers, all else is the work of man.” I tried, not very consciously, nor successfully, to communicate this work to teen agers.
I remember how excited I got when I first learned these facts more than
forty years ago. To this day I consider this to be one of the deepest thoughts of the human mind. Is space like Cantor and Dedekind envisioned it? I did not do justice to these men this week. I am struggling just to get the students to pay attention, this reminds me of that other experience in the same city. The teachers did not like the way I taught the students. Something similar happened at another high school before. I live in an abstract world that not even the children’s parents or my teacher colleagues perceive. Here I try to analyze the events of this week.
I teach in a barrio school. Some of the students are either in Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps, or they belong to gangs. I want to make my own club, with a few dedicated students in pursuit of an intense mental life.
As backdrop to my experience, I can say that I did not stay teaching
college students in Mexico because I did not publish. My thoughts have not settled on something worth communicating to other theoretical physicists.
By all measures, leaving the University of Puebla and teaching very young underprivileged persons in Illinois, is not a smart move. But us Carl Frantz writes in “The Peoples Guide to Mexico”, wherever you are, there you are.
Control of Social Behavior
Right now Mexico is in the middle of a political crisis. The people of the state of Oaxaca are going through a social confrontaion. School teachers started a strike more than three months ago, and now they want the Governor to resign. Before the presidential election the federal government did not intervene, once the election was over and the candidate from this same federal government won, there is a threat of use of force by federal troops.
It is possible that the party in power now, did not know how to control the social behavior of Mexicans since they never had the presidency of the country before, but in any case the people of Mexico are suffering one of their worse political crisis in the last thirty years. On the other hand, I see crises in other parts of the world as well. Darfur is at the brink of a genocidal event in the near future. Maybe the warming of the Earth is making people's lives unbearable, and we are starting to see a global collapse like never before.
I teach in a high school in Illinois, I feel that some of my students are restless; they are not paying attention, this can be caused by me, because I may be a bad teacher, but maybe there are other factors involved. Do they understand that basic mathematical knowledge is a key to their future lives, or do they perceive hidden messages in their immediate world that seem to offer them a better future? Maybe is just that they are young and it is my job just to get them enthusiastic about learning.
Am I loosing control of my class, is President Fox in Mexico loosing control of the state of Oaxaca, is President Bush loosing control of the world?
These are big questions; I am only trying to do something about the first one.
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
Educated Guess
Darfur is caused by global warming. Sub-saharan Africa has been getting hotter, and people either flee or fight. Mexicans are leaving the South and moving North. I want to guess that we are witnessing the beginning of one of the biggest human migrations in history.
Almost every week I have been receiving students from the South, of course since I teach math in Spanish, that is expected. Nevertheless I cannot stop thinking that something is happening and I don't know what it is, do you Mr. Jones?
You walk into the room
With your pencil in your hand
You see somebody naked
And you say, "Who is that man?"
You try so hard
But you don't understand
Just what you'll say
When you get home
Because something is happening here
But you don't know what it is
Do you, Mister Jones?
You raise up your head
And you ask, "Is this where it is?"
And somebody points to you and says
"It's his"
And you say, "What's mine?"
And somebody else says, "Where what is?"
And you say, "Oh my God
Am I here all alone?"
Because something is happening here
But you don't know what it is
Do you, Mister Jones?
You hand in your ticket
And you go watch the geek
Who immediately walks up to you
When he hears you speak
And says, "How does it feel
To be such a freak?"
And you say, "Impossible"
As he hands you a bone
Because something is happening here
But you don't know what it is
Do you, Mister Jones?
You have many contacts
Among the lumberjacks
To get you facts
When someone attacks your imagination
But nobody has any respect
Anyway they already expect you
To just give a check
To tax-deductible charity organizations
You've been with the professors
And they've all liked your looks
With great lawyers you have
Discussed lepers and crooks
You've been through all of
F. Scott Fitzgerald's books
You're very well read
It's well known
Because something is happening here
But you don't know what it is
Do you, Mister Jones?
Well, the sword swallower, he comes up to you
And then he kneels
He crosses himself
And then he clicks his high heels
And without further notice
He asks you how it feels
And he says, "Here is your throat back
Thanks for the loan"
Because something is happening here
But you don't know what it is
Do you, Mister Jones?
Now you see this one-eyed midget
Shouting the word "NOW"
And you say, "For what reason?"
And he says, "How?"
And you say, "What does this mean?"
And he screams back, "You're a cow
Give me some milk
Or else go home"
Because something is happening here
But you don't know what it is
Do you, Mister Jones?
Well, you walk into the room
Like a camel and then you frown
You put your eyes in your pocket
And your nose on the ground
There ought to be a law
Against you comin' around
You should be made
To wear earphones
Because something is happening here
But you don't know what it is
Do you, Mister Jones?
Copyright © 1965; renewed 1993 Special Rider Music
Almost every week I have been receiving students from the South, of course since I teach math in Spanish, that is expected. Nevertheless I cannot stop thinking that something is happening and I don't know what it is, do you Mr. Jones?
You walk into the room
With your pencil in your hand
You see somebody naked
And you say, "Who is that man?"
You try so hard
But you don't understand
Just what you'll say
When you get home
Because something is happening here
But you don't know what it is
Do you, Mister Jones?
You raise up your head
And you ask, "Is this where it is?"
And somebody points to you and says
"It's his"
And you say, "What's mine?"
And somebody else says, "Where what is?"
And you say, "Oh my God
Am I here all alone?"
Because something is happening here
But you don't know what it is
Do you, Mister Jones?
You hand in your ticket
And you go watch the geek
Who immediately walks up to you
When he hears you speak
And says, "How does it feel
To be such a freak?"
And you say, "Impossible"
As he hands you a bone
Because something is happening here
But you don't know what it is
Do you, Mister Jones?
You have many contacts
Among the lumberjacks
To get you facts
When someone attacks your imagination
But nobody has any respect
Anyway they already expect you
To just give a check
To tax-deductible charity organizations
You've been with the professors
And they've all liked your looks
With great lawyers you have
Discussed lepers and crooks
You've been through all of
F. Scott Fitzgerald's books
You're very well read
It's well known
Because something is happening here
But you don't know what it is
Do you, Mister Jones?
Well, the sword swallower, he comes up to you
And then he kneels
He crosses himself
And then he clicks his high heels
And without further notice
He asks you how it feels
And he says, "Here is your throat back
Thanks for the loan"
Because something is happening here
But you don't know what it is
Do you, Mister Jones?
Now you see this one-eyed midget
Shouting the word "NOW"
And you say, "For what reason?"
And he says, "How?"
And you say, "What does this mean?"
And he screams back, "You're a cow
Give me some milk
Or else go home"
Because something is happening here
But you don't know what it is
Do you, Mister Jones?
Well, you walk into the room
Like a camel and then you frown
You put your eyes in your pocket
And your nose on the ground
There ought to be a law
Against you comin' around
You should be made
To wear earphones
Because something is happening here
But you don't know what it is
Do you, Mister Jones?
Copyright © 1965; renewed 1993 Special Rider Music
Political Warming
October is a week from now. Elections in the US are in November. There is a high level of debate between Democrats and Republicans. In Mexico President Fox finally is trying to stop the brewing civil war in the state of Oaxaca. I wonder if the heat in this election year is related to the Earth getting close to the highest temperature recorded on Earth in one million years.
Antimatter discovery could launch new era of physics
The discovery that a bizarre particle travels between the real world of matter and the spooky realm of antimatter 3 trillion times a second may open the door to a new era of physics, Fermilab researchers announced Monday.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Earth nearing warmest point in a million years, may see rougher El NiƱos
The earth is the warmest it has been in the last 12,000 years and is within 1.8 degrees of its highest average temperature in the past million years, scientists report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Global Warming Near Critical Level
Global temperatures are dangerously close to the highest ever estimated to have occurred in the past million years, scientists reported today.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Monday, September 25, 2006
Video: Noam Chomsky - America Is NOT A Democracy
Chomsky explains the political theory behind the idea that America is not a democracy (as we all should know), but a poligarchy. He also goes into explaining the reason America was created this way and why it still persists as such. 7 minutes in length.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Sunday, September 24, 2006
Election Security Update for Mexico and the USA
It is important for us to bear witness to what is happening in Mexico, not only because it is an event of profound and unprecedented significance in the troubled political history of the country that shares the USA's southern border, but also because of what Lopez Obrador's laboratory of democratic resistance might tell us about our own future.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Canada set to apologise to man wrongly deported
Canada's Parliament said on Wednesday that it should apologise to a Canadian citizen for Ottawa's role in his wrongful deportation by the United States to what he describes as a hell-hole prison in Syria.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Politics and Science
So far I have received a few comments both on politics and science in this blog. I believe that all knowledge benefits from the scientific discipline, but not all political items in this blog have been so disciplined. The scientific worldview is a state of mind; to the extent that I posses that mindset these musings will live up to the expectations of my readers. Please feel free to comment on my pieces to request congruence with this goal of mine.
ChƔvez and Palast
Read this exclusive interview of President Hugo ChƔvez by investigative reporter Greg Palast
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Saturday, September 23, 2006
Chomsky and Mathematics
Noam Chomsky has written extensively on politics. Mathematics is a discipline to careful go through our thoughts. Young minds are more susceptible to change; in my position as a high school teacher in the United States I have responsibility to guide my students to clearly draw conclusions from given information. Chomsky's analyses are thoughtful, but more than politics his contributions are in linguistics, in my mind the most mathematized of the human sciences. I aspire to lead my students towards an understanding of the reality around them so they can choose wisely their future lives. I see at least three options for their future, one, they strengthen their minds and find the most rational paths towards our survival, two, they join a protective legal organization, or three, they join an illegal protective organization.
These options are not exclusive, but I pose that without a strong mind they are more likely to join destructive organizations.
These options are not exclusive, but I pose that without a strong mind they are more likely to join destructive organizations.
Putting his Math Where His Mouth Is
A billionaire ex-mathematician believes he has a simple formula for improving math education and making America more competitive.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
ChƔvez and Chomsky
The president of Venezuela broke diplomatic rules and advertised a book in front of the whole world. Noam Chomsky recently wrote a book, “Hegemony or Survival: America’s Quest for Global Dominance”. In this book professor Chomsky takes a critical look at the current unipolar state of the world political landscape. The American worldview is criticised from within, in the US there is a widespread assumption that this country cannot do harm, that it is a force for progress, but Chomsky thinks that in many cases US foreign policy only has served the purposes of an elite governing the United States of America. The members of this elite have their own agenda in Iraq, like they had it previuosly in Vietnam. That agenda is not the same, by a substantial amount, like the Vitnamese agenda then or the Iraqi agenda now.
Science allows us to make an objective worldview of reality, and Dr. Chomsky shows in this book that the statement that American Hegemony is good for the world, is not an objective statement; American Hegemony is good for the United States of America.
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Change Students Minds
I see my high school teacher's role as a mind changer. For reasons that I do not fully understand, that I only can guess, some students come to the classroom with me without really wanting to be there. I can take some actions like mark them absent or tardy; fail them so they cannot do what they really want to do, sports activities.
Obviously I prefer positive reinforcements as opposed to punishments. I remember a professor in college that was doing research. In Mexico that very fact, doing research, was an inspiration to me, I did not have other role models doing that. That changed my mind.
I want to change the minds of a few students so they see more options in their future. I believe I can change the minds of a fraction of my students, maybe 10%.
Obviously I prefer positive reinforcements as opposed to punishments. I remember a professor in college that was doing research. In Mexico that very fact, doing research, was an inspiration to me, I did not have other role models doing that. That changed my mind.
I want to change the minds of a few students so they see more options in their future. I believe I can change the minds of a fraction of my students, maybe 10%.
Sunday, September 17, 2006
The Revenge of Gaia
I have mentioned James Lovelock in RelevantScience.blogspot.com before. The subtitle of the book I refer to here is, "Earth's Climate Crisis & the Fate of Humanity". He is 87 years old; according to him his death may be more pleasant than his children and grandchildren's deaths.
Very hot days are coming to us during this century and we may die in the midst of civilization's collapse just like it is already happening in Darfur.
Very hot days are coming to us during this century and we may die in the midst of civilization's collapse just like it is already happening in Darfur.
Two Presidents in Mexico (Los Angeles Times story)
After the Independence Day Parade on September 16, the Mexican Democratic National Convention elected Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) as President of Mexico. Therefore there are two presidents in Mexico, AMLO and Felipe Calderon of the National Action Party (PAN).
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Two Presidents in Mexico
The Democratic National Convention elected AndrĆ©s Manuel LĆ³pez Obrador (AMLO) as the new president of Mexico yesterday. More than a million registered Mexicans in the Convention, decided in Mexico City's ZĆ³calo to be represented by AMLO instead of Felipe de JesĆŗs CalderĆ³n Hinojosa, from the National Action Party (PAN). PAN officially won the presidential election last Septemeber 6th by a decision of the Electoral Tribunal; nevertheless the Convention that started yesterday does not recognize this decision.
Therefore, there are two presidents in Mexico.
This is not the first time this happens in Mexico; in the middle of the nineteenth century there were two centers of power, Emperor Maximilian of Hapsburg, and President Benito JuƔrez, a Zapotec Indian of Oaxaca. At the end, Maximilian was executed in Queretaro, Mexico; and JuƔrez was one of the best presidents Mexico has had.
In this picture you can see the new president with his three sons under the ZĆ³calo in a subway tunnel yesterday.
Friday, September 15, 2006
High School Student Discipline
Today I talked with a new teacher still upset by an event yesterday. High school students are younger than eighteen; after high school they can register in the Army, so I say society considers them adults only after eighteen years of age. They are in the process of becoming adults and teachers sometimes do not know how to relate to them.
The problem that caused this sad moment for my friend is not solved with the few words written here. This is a small effort to try to make sense of human relations. All of us adults have adopted strategies to deal with the others. I remember many years ago feeling sympathy for my sister that was crying because she thought our mother was not going to like what she did. I told her that I was going to blame myself so she would stop crying.
That was not a right or a wrong solution but I learned how to relate to others. Many experiences like that, with good and bad consequences made me the adult I am. High school students have not had as many years to try solutions to the problems due to their relations with the others.
There is something adults can show young ones about how to go about our lives the best we can. I am afraid many times I do not feel I have done the best for the students on my charge.
The problem that caused this sad moment for my friend is not solved with the few words written here. This is a small effort to try to make sense of human relations. All of us adults have adopted strategies to deal with the others. I remember many years ago feeling sympathy for my sister that was crying because she thought our mother was not going to like what she did. I told her that I was going to blame myself so she would stop crying.
That was not a right or a wrong solution but I learned how to relate to others. Many experiences like that, with good and bad consequences made me the adult I am. High school students have not had as many years to try solutions to the problems due to their relations with the others.
There is something adults can show young ones about how to go about our lives the best we can. I am afraid many times I do not feel I have done the best for the students on my charge.
Thursday, September 14, 2006
Writing on Stone May Be Oldest in the Americas
A stone slab found in the state of Veracruz in Mexico bears 3,000-year-old writing previously unknown to scholars, according to archaeologists who say it is an example of the oldest script ever discovered in the Western Hemisphere.
read more | digg story
Monday, September 11, 2006
Thoughts
AndrĆ©s Manuel LĆ³pez Obrador asked his supporters to let the Mexican Army go through the streets of Mexico City as every year, and called for the beginning of the Democratic National Convention when the parade is over.
I do not know if the supporters are coming back with their tents after the army marches, but it seems to me that this is really going to be a peaceful movement. For all practical purposes it seems now that just as the Republicans in 2000, and 2004; in 2006 PAN is going to run Mexico six more years. I do not expect Felipe CalderĆ³n to accomplish much more than Vicente Fox in these coming six years.
On the other hand the Earth keeps warming up, Siberia snow is disappearing and it seems that in a hundred years or so, more people are going to move near the North Pole, because methane gas is being released to the atmosphere once this snow goes.
The price of gasoline is going down now that the summer driving season is coming to an end. The American middle class is going through hard times, some jobs they used to have are not available any more, the members of the middle class seem to want to limit immigration, but on the other hand people from warm climates are feeling the heat and moving north.
Interesting times are coming.
Sunday, September 10, 2006
Antonio Gershenson
Many years ago I met Antonio Gershenson, by now he may not remember me, he is a clear thinking mexican physicist. The mexican government has this description of him.
"Ficha 145: Antonio Gershenson Tafelov.Responsable de atentados dinamiteros en el Distrito Federal, durante el aƱo de 1967, en que coloca y hace detonar varios artefactos explosivos,entre ellos el de la estatua del licenciado Miguel AlemĆ”n ValdĆ©s en Ciudad Universitaria y un artefacto colocado en la Embajada de Colombia, que explota en el Laboratorio de la DIGEPOT, actualmente trabaja como fĆsico nuclear y sus actividades son checadas esporĆ”dicamente."
He was a leader of the student movement in the sixties, and later of the nuclear energy workers' union movement, SUTIN (Union of Nuclear Industry Workers); now he is a journalist in the Mexican newspaper "La Jornada".
Unfortunately the legally elected president, Felipe CalderĆ³n, does not have a tradition of interest and knowledge about nuclear energy. I do not expect his government to advance the state of the Mexican nuclear industry. I do not expect his future government to ask Mr. Gershenson about the future of electrical energy in Mexico.
Today he published in La Jornada that the electoral tribunal started a new precedent, now it is possible to have irregularities in the ballot boxes and the tribunal will accept the results. Given this sad decision of the tribunal, the Mexican National Democratic Convention about to start next week in the Mexico City ZĆ³calo, has to plan for a long process of democratic change in Mexico, according to Gershenson.
Monday, September 04, 2006
ComputĆ³logo mexicano explica los problemas con el conteo.
En la elecciones del 2 de julio en MĆ©xico hubo errores, Gerardo Horvilleur nos explica aquĆ como estuvo la cosa.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Fraud in Mexican Presidential Election
The Center for Economic And Policy Research in Washington did an analysis of the election results and a court ordered partial recount. They conclude that: "...this data may provide important statistical evidence
with regard to the question of fraud. It is difficult to think of a legitimate reason for withholding this information."
read more | digg story
with regard to the question of fraud. It is difficult to think of a legitimate reason for withholding this information."
read more | digg story
Sunday, September 03, 2006
Immanuel Wallerstein
``The mark of the modern world is the imagination of its profiteers and the counter-assertiveness of the oppressed. Exploitation and the refusal to accept exploitation as either inevitable or just constitute the continuing antinomy of the modern era, joined together in a dialectic which has far from reached its climax in the twentieth century."
Immanuel Wallerstein understands the world in terms of profiteers and oppressed. The quote above taken from Wikipedia, illustrates this view. At this very moment there is a movement in Mexico, the oppresed are saying no to the oppressor.
James Lovelock thinks in terms of the Earth as a system he calls Gaia, Wallerstein thinks of human societies and the world economy as systems also.
In this view of systems, I see Mexico as a system with feedback mechanisms that direct its evolution; it seems to me that AndrĆ©s Manuel LĆ³pez Obrador (AMLO) has the pulse of the Nation, and is leading a whole country in new directions, expressing the will of the oppressed.
President Vicente Fox planned a state of siege situation to stop the voice of the people, AMLO did not played that violent game and asked the representatives of his party inside the legislative chamber to stop the President from giving his State of the Nation speech. AMLO won this battle, the system is moving.
Immanuel Wallerstein understands the world in terms of profiteers and oppressed. The quote above taken from Wikipedia, illustrates this view. At this very moment there is a movement in Mexico, the oppresed are saying no to the oppressor.
James Lovelock thinks in terms of the Earth as a system he calls Gaia, Wallerstein thinks of human societies and the world economy as systems also.
In this view of systems, I see Mexico as a system with feedback mechanisms that direct its evolution; it seems to me that AndrĆ©s Manuel LĆ³pez Obrador (AMLO) has the pulse of the Nation, and is leading a whole country in new directions, expressing the will of the oppressed.
President Vicente Fox planned a state of siege situation to stop the voice of the people, AMLO did not played that violent game and asked the representatives of his party inside the legislative chamber to stop the President from giving his State of the Nation speech. AMLO won this battle, the system is moving.
Friday, September 01, 2006
Mexican President State of the Union Document
You can read the state of the Union speech in Spanish here
Mexican President Cannot deliver his State of the Union Speech
Mexican history has been made today. President Fox lost control of Congress.
You can read this story here also
read more | digg story
You can read this story here also
read more | digg story
Mexican President does not Have Power
It is almost night o'clock; Mexican President Fox could not give his State of the Union speech. He cannot even control Congress. These are hard times for the Mexican people.
Last State of the Union in Mexico
In about half an hour Mexican President Vicente Fox will address the Mexican Nation. As a Mexican living abroad I am not impressed with his performance, every day I see more Mexicans of different social classes trying to make a living in the US. At this point I do not see how going back will I see a better place to live. I am struggling here in the US, but at least I see more potential for my personal growth and that of my family, maybe in a few years that will change, but at this point I do not see it.
I am satisfied teaching Mexican students recently arrived to the US. We say the pledge of allegiance every morning, we accept the laws of this country. I do not see a burning desire from the Mexicans I know here to go enjoy the country that Fox made.
For me this is a sad day, Fox failed us.
Sunday, August 27, 2006
ConvenciĆ³n Nacional DemocrĆ”tica
El 16 de Septiembre empieza "La ConvenciĆ³n Nacional DemocrĆ”tica" puede visitar su lugar en la Red:
http://www.cnd.org.mx
Saludos.
http://www.cnd.org.mx
Saludos.
Present Mexican President Announces New Mexican President
In a traditional way in Mexico, the old President chooses the new President. Mexico was supposed to start a new era where the voters choose the President.
This week before the electoral tribunal announces the winner, Vicente Fox Quesada, present President, announced the victory of Felipe de JesĆŗs CalderĆ³n Hinojosa, to become the next President of Mexico; even though his announcement is not the law, it was clearly a message for the tribunal, if the tribunal heeds his announced preferences and makes it official we can expect a political backlash.
The opposition is not happy, keep tuned to find out the opposition's next steps.
This week before the electoral tribunal announces the winner, Vicente Fox Quesada, present President, announced the victory of Felipe de JesĆŗs CalderĆ³n Hinojosa, to become the next President of Mexico; even though his announcement is not the law, it was clearly a message for the tribunal, if the tribunal heeds his announced preferences and makes it official we can expect a political backlash.
The opposition is not happy, keep tuned to find out the opposition's next steps.
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Buchanan
I saw this week in the bookstore the new book of Pat Buchanan, "State of Emergency". During this week also I noticed in the media a campaign against illegal immigrants. I am not going to defend breaking the law. But I believe that some of the people in this campaign against illegals have and will break the laws.
I am on the side of the weaker.
I am on the side of the weaker.
Ordenadores mƔs potentes que el cerebro humano
la futura quinta Ć©poca de la humanidad verĆ” como trasciende la biologĆa los seres humanos y como en algĆŗn momento ambas se unirĆ”n
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read more | digg story
A third of the world population faces water scarcity today
Landmark study reviewing 50 years' practices calls for radical changes in water management
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read more | digg story
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Four Are Given Highest Honor in Mathematics
One of them was Grigory Perelman, who was given a medal for his solution to the Poincar
Ć© conjecture - but refused to accept it. He also refused $1 million from the Clay Mathematics Institute.
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Ć© conjecture - but refused to accept it. He also refused $1 million from the Clay Mathematics Institute.
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Fields Medal won by the man who solved the Poincare Conjecture
Russian mathematician Grigory Perelman has been awarded a Fields Medal, a version of the Nobel Prize, at the International Congress of Mathematicians.
You can read the NYT article here.
read more | digg story
You can read the NYT article here.
read more | digg story
Monday, August 21, 2006
Bilingual Education
I have a daughter and a son, one is bilingual and the other is not. Circumstances and habits produced this. I prefer bilingualism and biculturalism, it was just hard to provide a conducive environment for one of my children. Now I am applying to a bilingual program, if I get accepted I will try my best to get those students able to live productively in either culture.
Evolving Universes
Theoretical physicist Lee Smolin looked at the simple, functional elegance found in the the theory of natural selection, and thought that maybe such a concept could be applied on a universal scale. Thus the theory of Cosmological Natural Selection was born.
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read more | digg story
Sunday, August 20, 2006
Frontier
Tim Flannery from Australia wrote a book about the United Sates of America - "The Eternal Frontier: An Ecological History of North America and Its Peoples" - One conclusion of that work is that the environment in North America is fragile. There is a blog in Blogger with this name, http://eternalfrontier.blogspot.com/.
It is not an accident that the peoples of America did not conquer Europe but the other way around, as one can read in Jared Diamond's "Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed" and "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies", the reason is very likely the different geographies of the two regions. This part of the world where we live, North America, is more fragile than Euroasia.
The same is true for Australia. It is ironic that the two countries that will benefit more form the Kyoto Protocol, are among the four (Liechtenstein and Monaco are the other two) that refuse to ratify it. Maybe the fragility of these God forsaken lands makes us unsure of ourselves.
It is not an accident that the peoples of America did not conquer Europe but the other way around, as one can read in Jared Diamond's "Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed" and "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies", the reason is very likely the different geographies of the two regions. This part of the world where we live, North America, is more fragile than Euroasia.
The same is true for Australia. It is ironic that the two countries that will benefit more form the Kyoto Protocol, are among the four (Liechtenstein and Monaco are the other two) that refuse to ratify it. Maybe the fragility of these God forsaken lands makes us unsure of ourselves.
Math genius living in poverty
Grigory "Grisha" Perelman, the genius who won fame last week spurning a million-dollar prize after revealing his solution for Poincare's Conjecture. Is living with his mother in a humble flat in St Petersburg, co-existing on her $74-a-month pension.
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Jurisprudence and Mexican Elections
When a court has consistently voted in one way for a number of occasions it establishes precedent or jurisprudence. The electoral tribunal in Mexico consistently has considered illegal to have voting booth results with more ballots than the alloted ballots for the booth. In the past July 2 election for president if the tribunal follows its jurisprudence annuling the polling booth results of the cases already recounted the opposition wins.
Will the court follow jurisprudence?
Will the court follow jurisprudence?
Friday, August 18, 2006
Blogs and Newspapers
I lived in Puebla Mexico for over eighteen years. During that time I started using the Internet in 1994 and decided that the local paper, La Jornada de Oriente, should be online. Together with some colleagues from the Autonomous University of Puebla we offered the service to the director of the newspaper. We did that work for several years. The paper is still online even after I left town in 1998.
Today I found out that this newspaper, that I read from Illinois whenever I have time, has an article that also appears in Blogger!
I went to http://circulodeescritores.blogspot.com and sure enough, the Professors from another university in Puebla keep a Blog in Spanish of their writings online.
After more than twelve years now is very easy for anybody to make their thoughts known online. These are interesting times.
Today I found out that this newspaper, that I read from Illinois whenever I have time, has an article that also appears in Blogger!
I went to http://circulodeescritores.blogspot.com and sure enough, the Professors from another university in Puebla keep a Blog in Spanish of their writings online.
After more than twelve years now is very easy for anybody to make their thoughts known online. These are interesting times.
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
New Mexican Constitution
AndrĆ©s Manuel LĆ³pez Obrador (AMLO) in an assembly announced yesterday the program to change the Mexican Constitution. Here you can read the Spanish version of the official document.
This meeting is scheduled for September 16 of this year in the Constitution Plaza of Mexico City. By tradition the Mexican Army has a parade there, I do not know how are they going to resolve that conflict.
This meeting is scheduled for September 16 of this year in the Constitution Plaza of Mexico City. By tradition the Mexican Army has a parade there, I do not know how are they going to resolve that conflict.
Thoughts
I do not want this blog to be a series of news items.There are a series of new posts dealing with relevant science issues that do not get many diggs.
People Power Prof. Almond, rightly observes that if the American media defines a political event as a manifestation of "People Power", then it is, otherwise it is not. The Mexican political events of the last few days are historic, and the American media hass chosen to ignore them.Recommendation enginesEsther Dyson points out in her blog the present dilemma of too many good causes to spend our good intentions on. Which one is the right one? She offers a thoughtful answer to that question.Climate and Collapse This American Scientist article addresses the very relevant scientific problem of whether or not the Maya empire collapsed due to a drought? Our own present civilization may equally collapse like that, if you do not think that is relevant science, I have a hard problem bringing up a more important issue nowadays.
People Power Prof. Almond, rightly observes that if the American media defines a political event as a manifestation of "People Power", then it is, otherwise it is not. The Mexican political events of the last few days are historic, and the American media hass chosen to ignore them.Recommendation enginesEsther Dyson points out in her blog the present dilemma of too many good causes to spend our good intentions on. Which one is the right one? She offers a thoughtful answer to that question.Climate and Collapse This American Scientist article addresses the very relevant scientific problem of whether or not the Maya empire collapsed due to a drought? Our own present civilization may equally collapse like that, if you do not think that is relevant science, I have a hard problem bringing up a more important issue nowadays.
Esther Dyson Report from Foo Camp: goodness, IT and recommendation engines
Outstanding piece from Esther, on a discussion at Science Foo Camp (Stewart Brand, Sol Katz, Mitchell Baker, Sunil Paul & George Dyson). She discusses Morality vs Ethics and the impact of information/transparency on our inclination for "goodness." She links to ImportantGifts, a new nonprofit bringing IT & transparency to the nonproift sector.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Guardian Unlimited 'People power' is a global brand own
The US and the western media back protests over controversial elections when it suits them, but are silent over those in Mexico.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Report: Diversity growing in nearly every state.
Minority populations are growing in every state but one. West Virginia with its struggling economy and little history of attracting immigrants has seen an increase in the majority population.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Bush 'helped Israeli attack on Lebanon'
The US government was closely involved in planning the Israeli campaign in Lebanon, even before Hizbullah seized two Israeli soldiers in a cross border raids in July. American and Israeli officials met in the spring, discussing plans on how to tackle Hizbullah, according to a report published yesterday.
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read more | digg story
Monday, August 14, 2006
Emotions and Politics
When strong emotions are linked with politics I get nervous. In this picture you can see how a mexican girl cries while AMLO touches her face. Is she expecting salvation?
Lopez Obrador calls for years of protest
MEXICO CITY Apparently bracing to be declared the loser of Mexico's presidential election, contender Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador vowed Sunday to lead protests against the process for years to come if necessary.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Sunday, August 13, 2006
September 15 in Mexico City's Zocalo
I just heard the speech by AndrĆ©s Manuel LĆ³pez Obrador (AMLO) in Mexico City's Zocalo today. I looked for some news in English informing of AMLO's decision to be in the Zocalo by September 15. I am sure that some of the readers of my blog don't know what that means, so here is my interpretation of this historic speech.
If he wins the election by Septembers 6 that is his official obligation, to be in the Zocalo to celebrate the Mexican Independence Day. The war against Spain started that day in 1810. If he loses the Mexican army will have to take his people out of the Zocalo, because the elected president, his opponent, Felipe CalderĆ³n, has to be there.
Today this looks to me as a declaration of war; Mexico could be entering into a new civil war.
My family is there, I do not want a war there. I am worried.
If he wins the election by Septembers 6 that is his official obligation, to be in the Zocalo to celebrate the Mexican Independence Day. The war against Spain started that day in 1810. If he loses the Mexican army will have to take his people out of the Zocalo, because the elected president, his opponent, Felipe CalderĆ³n, has to be there.
Today this looks to me as a declaration of war; Mexico could be entering into a new civil war.
My family is there, I do not want a war there. I am worried.
Saturday, August 12, 2006
Video of philosopher Dan Dennett speaking at TED Conference.
"Dan Dennett is a Tufts philosophy professor and cognitive scientist, renowned for his books, Consciousness Explained and Darwin's Dangerous Idea. His most recent book, Breaking the Spell: Religion as a natural phenomenon calls for a rational examination of religion as a cultural phenomenon that has co-evolved over milennia to meet human needs."
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Gates Charity Races to Spend Billions ($3 Billion Per Year)
Largely lost in the June announcement of Buffett's gift of $31 billion to the foundation was its terms. For tax reasons, starting in 2009, the foundation must give away every nickel that Buffett contributed in the previous year. At the current price of the stock Buffett will be donating, the foundation will have to distribute $3 billion annually.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Friday, August 11, 2006
Now For Something Truly Bizarre
Variations in the prevalence of Toxoplasma gondii "may explain a substantial proportion of human population differences we see in cultural aspects that relate to ego, money, material possessions, work and rules." It sounds like an absurdly grand claim, but toxoplasma, a protozoan, is such strange organism that it might not be entirely crazy.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
The Damage in Lebanon and Beyond
The idea that you can solve social and political problems militarily from the air is, on the face of it, ludicrous. The historical record is filled with the dead dreams of air power solutions to ground-based problems. But that stops no one.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Nassan Nasrallah
I just watched a speech by Hassan Nasrallah in C-SPAN. He asked the people of Haifa to leave the City so Hezbollah could bomb it. Also the Israeli Air Force has dropped messages to Lebanese citizens to leave their towns so they can bomb them.
It is hard for me to imagine going to my backyard to pick up a letter dropped from an airplane telling me to leave so they can bomb my house.
I am very sad.
It is hard for me to imagine going to my backyard to pick up a letter dropped from an airplane telling me to leave so they can bomb my house.
I am very sad.
Lieberman
There is a new book by MIT Professor John Tirman "100 Ways America is Screwing Up the World". Prof. Tirman is a student of Howard Zinn the Emeritus History Professor of Boston University. Lieberman is not one of the 100 ways in the book, but he could have had a chapter in Tirman's book.
I do not like Lieberman because he followed Bush to Iraq almost as much as England's Tony Blair. I will feel more secure if both Bush and Blair, stop promoting war in the Middle East, by the unwelcome presence of American and British troops over there.
I expect terrorist attacks until the day I die. Most of the history of the world is filled with terrorist attacks. Whenever there is a people with less weapons than another, they fight terrorist wars. Maybe Americans forgot that a terrorist attack to the US was carried out by Mexico's Pancho Villa, like the bin Laden of his time he hid in the mountains of Mexico and General John J. Pershing could not find him. The world did not come to an end. To end terrorism is like ending the flu, you have to learn to live with it.
I do not like Lieberman because he followed Bush to Iraq almost as much as England's Tony Blair. I will feel more secure if both Bush and Blair, stop promoting war in the Middle East, by the unwelcome presence of American and British troops over there.
I expect terrorist attacks until the day I die. Most of the history of the world is filled with terrorist attacks. Whenever there is a people with less weapons than another, they fight terrorist wars. Maybe Americans forgot that a terrorist attack to the US was carried out by Mexico's Pancho Villa, like the bin Laden of his time he hid in the mountains of Mexico and General John J. Pershing could not find him. The world did not come to an end. To end terrorism is like ending the flu, you have to learn to live with it.
The Unmaking of a Senator: How Bloggers Pulled It Off
As much as it was a repudiation of his support for the Iraq War, Joe Lieberman's loss Tuesday in the Senate primary also signaled the ascendancy of a legitimate new power center in the Democratic party, the Netroots.
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read more | digg story
Monday, August 07, 2006
Full recount rejected
Mexico's electoral court yesterday rejected calls for a total recount in last month's bitterly contested presidential race and instead ordered a partial re-tallying - a ruling that could light a match under already massive protests by voters crying fraud.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Saturday, August 05, 2006
Media
Last night I was watching Charlie Rose on PBS. The Lebanese Prime Minister Faoud Siniora made a case for returning land to Lebanon. According to him that could stop the attacks on Israel, and one would assume the attacks on Lebanon as well.
Nevertheless if I read and listen to the media, all I see is more and more preparations for war, and war, with pictures in the New York Times of very likable Israeli soldiers after a long battle in Lebanon.
How am I supposed to understand?
I will say give those Shebaa farms back and stop the killing.
Here you can find the US-France proposal, they do mention the Shebaa farms, at least I understand that much, they are fighting over land.
Mexico to conduct recount hearing
MEXICO CITY -- Amid paralyzing street protests and rising concerns about damage to Mexico's democracy, the nation's highest electoral court will hold an open meeting Saturday to consider a recount of the July 2 presidential vote.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
More than a million Israelis are in bomb shelters.
There is war inside Israel. Militant islamists determination to fight even at the cost of their lives, makes me think of all soldiers that know they may die and go to the front anyway. Nevertheless there is something more disturbing to me, when I realize that suicide soldiers know they are going to die. When another person is in that state of mind my hopes for the survival of humankind go down.
Monday, July 31, 2006
Downtown Mexico City Semi-Paralized!
Many hundreds of thousands of people went downtown on Sunday (7/30/06) and many stayed even today Monday(7/31/06). What is going on? Read the LA Times.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Sunday, July 30, 2006
Why do you need one million people?
Saturday, July 29, 2006
Mexico City's Zocalo
The post below is about the ZĆ³calo. Your computer may not have the font, without accent the name of the place is Zocalo. This site is about relevant science, many of the readers may think that this is just politics, maybe relevant, but not science. I hope the following paragraphs give some perspective.
Before Christopher Columbus (CristĆ³bal ColĆ³n) came to America in 1492, Mexico City was called Tenochtitlan. The center of the huge Aztec empire was inside Lake Texcoco, and the center of town was the Zocalo. There were pyramids and other government buildings. This place has been important for mexican politics for more than four hundred years. Maybe only in PerĆŗ is there another plaza as old and as relevant for the human story. Tomorrow AndrĆ©s Manuel LĆ³pez Obrador is asking one million mexicans to protest at that historic place.
Right now his party, Partido de la RevoluciĆ³n DemocrĆ”tica (PRD), is in control of the police and the city government. I was in that plaza in 1968 protesting, and the police did not want us there; maybe americans can have an idea of what I mean if they know what happened in Lincoln Park in Chicago in the summer of 1968 during the Democratic National Convention. Then Mayor Daley from the Democratic Party did not want protests in his city.
Tomorrow a million mexicans will meet in that historic plaza to protest, but you know what, now the protesters control the police. Keep tuned.
Before Christopher Columbus (CristĆ³bal ColĆ³n) came to America in 1492, Mexico City was called Tenochtitlan. The center of the huge Aztec empire was inside Lake Texcoco, and the center of town was the Zocalo. There were pyramids and other government buildings. This place has been important for mexican politics for more than four hundred years. Maybe only in PerĆŗ is there another plaza as old and as relevant for the human story. Tomorrow AndrĆ©s Manuel LĆ³pez Obrador is asking one million mexicans to protest at that historic place.
Right now his party, Partido de la RevoluciĆ³n DemocrĆ”tica (PRD), is in control of the police and the city government. I was in that plaza in 1968 protesting, and the police did not want us there; maybe americans can have an idea of what I mean if they know what happened in Lincoln Park in Chicago in the summer of 1968 during the Democratic National Convention. Then Mayor Daley from the Democratic Party did not want protests in his city.
Tomorrow a million mexicans will meet in that historic plaza to protest, but you know what, now the protesters control the police. Keep tuned.
Next Mexican President?
AndrĆ©s Manuel LĆ³pez Obrador (AMLO) is asking a million people to protest tomorrow in Mexico City. He wants a ballot recount. Gore could have done this in 2000 and Kerry in 2004, maybe AMLO will succeed in 2006.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Friday, July 28, 2006
Free Education with RSS
Great RSS feed source to learn for free on a lot of different topics.
This is a good service.
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This is a good service.
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Sunday, July 23, 2006
No light in Queens?
NYT(07/23/06)NYT(07/24/06)NYT(07/25/06)NYT(07/26/06)
NYT(080106)There is no date for the restoration of electricity in a famous burough of New York City. The National Guard may be called. What is going on?
NYT(080106)There is no date for the restoration of electricity in a famous burough of New York City. The National Guard may be called. What is going on?
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
Monday, July 17, 2006
This, is how it's done America!
"900,000 protesters marched through the Mexican capital on Sunday to demand a manual recount in the disputed presidential election, led by a leftist candidate who says fraud cost him the presidency." Can't imagine what 900,000 truly is? Take a look at the photos.
According to Mexico City Police it was 1.1 million people.
read more | digg story
According to Mexico City Police it was 1.1 million people.
read more | digg story
Sunday, July 16, 2006
Information Processing Bound
http://xxx.lanl.gov/abs/hep-th/0607082
Prof. Hsu from the University of Oregon has recently made public a fundamental result.
This result states the deep connection between two foundational concepts of physics; Information and Size.
The rate of Information processing cannot be bigger than the size of the device times 1085.
This is a tremendously big number, but it is not infinite.
Any device, no matter how big, cannot perform more than a certain number of computer operations per second. According to Hsu's bound, the mind of the Universe only has performed 10100 operations so far.
Friday, July 14, 2006
Gaia
James Lovelock recently wrote the book
I write a few comments here.As I write I am listening the UN's debate on C-SPAN on the Israel-Lebanon War. I was born in 1949, one year later than the establishment of a new state in Palestine. Fifty seven years from then we are witnessing now the war between two semitic people, descendants of Abraham: the children of Ismael and of Isaac. When the children fight, the Earth, Gaia suffers. Our mother Gaia is sick. Lovelock does not think that she will die; but he is not so confident as to the future of the children of Abraham.
In more scientific terms the problem Lovelock's warns us about is relatively simple. The Sun is getting hot, the gases on the Earth's atmosphere are keeping more heat inside than is reflected back into space. The result is that most of us will be able to survive only moving North in the northern hemisphere, and South in the southern hemisphere.
Why should we believe Lovelock? He was the first or one of the first to recognize that the Earth-Sun system is more dynamic than previously thought. Once life starts on Earth it is unavoidable to establish feedback connections that control the temperature of the atmosphere. There is a balance between life, i.e. the biosphere, the temperature of the atmosphere and the Sun's temperature. There are indications that this balance is moving to a new point of equilibrium, that likely will make the Equator unhabitable.
We can choose to disregrad Lovelock's warning, I for one take him very seriously.
Triumph of the authoritarians
"CONTEMPORARY CONSERVATISM and its influence on the Republican Party was, until recently, a mystery to me. The practitioners' bludgeoning style of politics, their self-serving manipulation of the political processes, and their policies that focus narrowly on perceived self-interest." John W. Dean
I recommend Dean's book. I see some Relevant Science in Dean's ideas. Followers of authoritarians do not ask questions. If true, that explains partly why DeLay does not explain us why he effectively took away the vote of minorities by redistrictering Texas voting places in the middle of census results. The census is every ten years, the next one is 2010, why 2006 is a moment to define the districts?
read more | digg story
I recommend Dean's book. I see some Relevant Science in Dean's ideas. Followers of authoritarians do not ask questions. If true, that explains partly why DeLay does not explain us why he effectively took away the vote of minorities by redistrictering Texas voting places in the middle of census results. The census is every ten years, the next one is 2010, why 2006 is a moment to define the districts?
read more | digg story
Florida 2000, Ohio 2004, and Mexico 2006
It seems that Mexicans take vote counting more seriously than Americans. They want to do it twice. "Voto por voto, casilla por casilla". Vote by vote, ballot boot by ballot boot. Read Greg Palast note on the Mexican presidential election.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
Claims of Election Fraud in Mexico: Why Mexico Deserves Better
Story about how the current claims of widespread election fraud by the second runner Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador are failing behind the expectations they raised. The facts produced so far do not support the widespread fraud that is being claimed.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
Mexican Presidential Election
Greg Palast's expertise on the US presidential elections of 2000 and 2004 comes handy when one wants to analyze the Mexican presidential election of 2006.
read more | digg story
read more | digg story
General Breaks Down While Speaking of Immigrant Father
A hush fell over the auditorium at Miami Dade College as Pace, a Marine who was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., was overcome with emotion and struggled to continue reading from his statement as the opening witness at the field hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
General Pace, you are a man.
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General Pace, you are a man.
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Monday, July 10, 2006
Tesla: Master Of Lightning
10 July 2006 marks what would be the 150th birthday of the great inventor Nikola Tesla. For those who could make it, Tesla is immortalized as a statue at Niagara, New York depicting the master of lighting. Tesla's AC became the current used throughout the world's electrical grids today.
Now Tesla is the unit of magnetic field. One Tesla is 10,000 Gauss. Both were great men, one studied small fields, the other big fields.
read more | digg story
Now Tesla is the unit of magnetic field. One Tesla is 10,000 Gauss. Both were great men, one studied small fields, the other big fields.
read more | digg story
Sunday, July 09, 2006
Power in Mexico II
"Algunos de los ejemplos citados: la casilla bĆ”sica 2876 y sus tres contiguas, tienen 264 votos para CalderĆ³n cada una. La bĆ”sica 893 y sus 3 contiguas, tienen 179 cada una. Y la bĆ”sica 3177 y su contigua, 274 cada una."
http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2006/07/09/025a2pol.php
He is a physicist and a journalist. He believes that he uncovered a program used by the electoral comission in Mexico to fix the numbers, thus helping the government's party in the presidential election last Sunday.
The irregularity consists in having several polling sites with identical number of votes for the ruling party. These sites are related, but there is no reasonable explanation of why each has to have exactly the same number of votes for one candidate. One case is an acceptable accident, but the three reported by Mr. Gershenson, seem more like fraud than accident.
The last word has not been said. Yesterday there were hundreds of thousands of people in Mexico City's main plaza. The challenger asked them to bring ten friends and relatives next Sunday. We may have over a million angry voters in the Aztec capital. Every hundred years or so there seems to be restlessness in the land of the first people of this continent. Mexico did not start in 2000 when the current president took over, and will not end in this year of 2006.
Saturday, July 08, 2006
Power in Mexico I
This graph by the Federal Elections Institute in Mexico can be analyzed.
It does not show statistical fluctuations. The challenger candidate was winning and near the end the incumbent party's candidate overtook him for a final photo finish. That is exciting in sports but unreal for statistical data.
Thursday, July 06, 2006
Power in Mexico
"El polĆtico tabasqueƱo seƱalĆ³ que no hay duda de que se manipulĆ³ el PREP, y eso lo pueden demostrar, ya que tienen todas las pruebas. En una elecciĆ³n cerrada, "como aparentemente se estĆ” dando, cuando hablamos de 42 millones de votos, como en el conteo rĆ”pido, nunca hubo cruces de datos y siempre el candidato del PAN estuvo arriba, lo que estadĆstica y matemĆ”ticamente es imposible"."
For those that do not read Spanish, the opposition candidate in Mexico, states that it is statistically and mathematically impossible to have a situation where one party, never more than 1 % above, is always above and never comes down.
I agree with him, even though through most of the night the opposition was less than 1 % above, at the end, the elections authority, ended up giving the race to the current government's party.
It seems that there is not going to be a winner before early Septemeber; by law the elections authority has to resolve this election by then.
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
Power
There were elections in Mexico last Sunday July 2, 2006. Up to today it is a tie between the current president's party and the opposition. In Mexico the president cannot be reelected. The six year term is all one president has to implement his or her government plan. The decision on the next president must be taken before early September of this year.
Is there any relevant science here?
Is there any relevant science here?
Politics is relevant, that is how power is established. A president affects the lives of many people. The question is that if science is an issue in this important event of mexican life.
There are some technical issues related to the election, like the official count update stopped on monday night:
http://www.unam.mx/elecciones2006/
Today the electoral commission is counting the ballots to reach a definite conclusion.
From a technical point of view this shows that electoral processes have not used the most current technology for counting votes.
One scientific issue I can consider here is the statistical distribution of random processes, in most random events events follow the law of big numbers, leading to a bell-shaped curve. I do not have graphs for the election yet, but if there was tampering with the numbers, those curves could be one of the places where one can look for illegal intervention to modify the results.
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