Quote of the Day: Differential Equations and Star Wars Robots

"You know you're in trouble if the different cases for your differential-equation solutions start sounding like the names of Star Wars robots."

(That is my spontaneous gem from today's lecture. We're doing Frobenius series.)

"The Solution is Trivial"

This SMBC Comics gets at the truth and a particularly obnoxious thing that most of us have seen in lectures at some point (perhaps at many points).

Also, I love the mouse-over: "Oh, woops, I meant to write 'The solution is trivial.'"

What Happens in San Pedro (Costa Rica) Stays in San Pedro (Costa Rica)

I am off the Costa Rica to give some lectures on dynamical systems, networks, and combinations thereof.

(Thanks to my buddy Fabio Sanchez for making this happen!)

Update (8/15/16): I originally described the location as "San José", which is technically correct, but that is the name of the province. The name of the city is San Pedro, which is the capital of Montes de Oca Canto in San José.

Note: This is not the "San Pedro" from one of Madonna's best songs ever.

What Happens in Lake Como Stays in Lake Como

Today I'm flying to Italy to participate in the second Lake Como School on Complex Networks. I'll be giving a tutorial on mesoscale structures in networks.

What Happens in Florence Stays in Florence

Late last night, I made it to Florence, Italy for the COSMOS workshop on complex oscillatory systems, where I was asked to give an introductory talk on networks and dynamics. The talk took place at the Galileo Galilei Institute for Theoretical Physics. (Perhaps it is the queen of theoretical-physics institutes? At minimum, I am sure it is mercurial.)

My hotel is located on Viale Machiavelli, and the GGI is located on Largo Enrico Fermi.

What Happens in Malfa Stays in Malfa

I am on the airport and making the circuitous trek to the remote Mediterranean island of Malfa to give a lecture in a summer school on networks, otherwise participate in the school, get some math done in a peaceful environment, and have some granitas. Bring it on!

My Network Course: 2015 Edition

You can follow the escapades of my networks course on this website. Well, technically you possibly can follow only a subset of its escapades (such as what I write on the course blog and the review articles to which I link) unless you have an Oxford account, as some of the links probably want you to have an Oxford account. But this will give you some idea of what is going on.

What Happens in Selangor Stays in Selangor

I am off to Selangor, Malaysia (the hometown of one of my best friends from my undergraduate days) to give three lectures in the Expository Quantum Lecture Series (EQuALS) 2013, whose theme this year is on complex systems. I've got a long flight there, and in a few days I'll have a long flight back. I still have some work to do on my slides. The trip should be tiring but fun.

Quote of the Day

"The lecture, to me, was like finally catching the name of someone who I felt attraction at the first sight but never had chance to talk with, so thank you."

This was part of an e-mail from an Oxford student who saw my public lecture on networks. The effort to prepare that lecture was definitely worthwhile... (Well, I thought that already, and I think so even more strongly now.)

Public Lecture on "The Physics of Social Networks": Part 2

My public lecture at Oxford now has its own web page. It takes place Monday 9 May at 6pm. See you there!

I gave some details on an older blog entry. The physics website no longer indicates needing to e-mail to reserve a spot, and I have confirmed with them that one can just show up.

Public Lecture on "The Physics of Social Networks"

Booking information for my public lecture on "The Physics of Social Networks" can be found on the public-relations home page for Oxford's physics department.

Attendance is free, but one has to reserve tickets in advance. It takes place Monday 9 May starting at 6pm.

In case you don't want to look at the web page, you can book by e-mailing the following address: schools.liaison@physics.ox.ac.uk

You must be age 14 or older to attend. (And when you see one of my slides, you'll find out why.)

Update (4/7/11): One can just show up. There is no need to reserve a spot.

What Happens in Shanghai Stays in Shanghai

At about 1:30 pm or so, I'm going to get on the bus to Heathrow airport, from which I'll be flying to Shanghai! This will be my first trip to China, and probably the trip to which I have most been looking forward among any trip I've taken in the past several years. It's going to be awesome. I'll be working hard---I am teaching a 2-week summer school on network science---but it will also be a lot of fun. Even the hard work should be eminently worthwhile, as my lecture notes will basically be the first draft of what will eventually be an introductory book at the level of first-year applied math graduate students. I have one from high school who lives in Shanghai, and also one friend from Caltech who lives there. Plus, one of my Somerville students is from there, so I think the plan is for her to show me around. Two of my other Chinese students from Somerville also plan to be Shanghai during my trip, so I'll hang out with them as well. I also will try to visit other places in China as well during my trip. (My students were each trying to convince me to visit them in their hometowns.)

Update: According to the weather report about an hour ago, it was 97 degrees Farenheit in Shanghai and the overnight lows for the next few days are around 79-80 degrees. I knew this was coming. I am crossing my fingers that my place there will have air conditioning! There are also supposed to be thunderstorms, so we'll see how things go. But it certainly looks like I am going to transition from trying to be outside as much as possible to wanting to spend quality time inside...

Like ping pong injuries, except even more manly

Sadly, my hands have been horribly savaged by the British winter this time.

The cold has lingered a bit longer than usual, and at many times, the winter has actually been quite dry, so the skin on my hands has nicely cracked, become rough, and developed a couple of open sores. It's rather unpleasant, actually.

I realized today that one of the things that has been exacerbating the problem is that I have been lecturing this term with chalk rather than with whiteboard markers. I forgot to make my usual request in advance to get a room with a whiteboard, and I am paying the price. Giving my lecture was literally physically painful today. (I warned by students at the beginning of lecture that my writing would be worse than usual, which is unfortunate given that my writing is messy anyway, and I indicated the reason why; upon hearing that, one of them actually sneered. That's pretty insensitive, Dude!)

Lifting the boards, which are very stiff and require some effort, was unpleasant, and it turns out that chalk dust and open sores really don't mix.

It's now gotten to the point that I can barely lifting my cutlery to eat, carry my plate to the table to start eating, etc. (And it hurts a lot to do all of these things.) Ugh. I have one more lecture tomorrow, and then maybe I can start recovering.

Update: After I pressed the button to publish the post, blogger gave me an advertisement for whiteboard markers. Now that's service! :)

Update 2 (3/11/10): I just noticed (because the website was still up) that after the update, I received an advertisement for Vaseline for chapped skin. I guess I can sometimes rely on responses to my blog entry not just from my readers but also from automatic advertisement. I'm amused. :)

One of my best blackboard slip-ups ever?

In the latest installment of 'the mouth is faster than the chalk,' I managed in B568a (intro to applied math and mathematical modelling) to [correctly] say "Assumption: No spatial dependence" but write "Assumption: No assumption" on the board. (In the British applied mathematics community, such things are known Colemanballs. They work kind of like "House quotes.")

There must be something deep contained in that statement. Surely. If nothing else, one should appreciate what I wrote for its metaphysical content.