Finite Simple Group of Order Two

Apologies in advance for the high nerdiness content of this post.

Someone forwarded me this video, which brought back memories of my years studying math...



Some people find something in adolescence that engages them, gives them order and saves them from the banality of the world (and from themselves). For me, it was mathematics. I attended math camp for a summer during high school, and became enamored with number theory, where powerful proofs followed from simple axioms. We were taught to think deeply about simple things, as we explored the world created by Euclid, Fermat, Gauss, Galois,...

I studied math in college and then continued to math "boot camp" (the first year graduate program) at the University of Chicago. It was a small but highly academic and cohesive program. One of the highlights of the U. of C. math program was a tradition in which second-year graduate students put on "beer skits", a collection of skits and musical parodies. One song I remember was a parody of "Simple Gifts" called "Simple Groups":

There are groups that are simple,
There are groups that are free,
There are groups that have order exactly thirty-three

For the non-math majors: In group theory, groups have ordinary-sounding mathematical properties such as being "simple" and "free" and having "order".

Bonus: Here are "New Math" and assorted math songs by Tom Lehrer.

Happy Year of the Pig!

Piled Higher and Deeper

My years at Stanford are captured in this insightful comic strip by Jorge Cham on graduate student life (housing, advisors, the thesis, etc)... "Piled Higher and Deeper"

FLOWmarket

When I was in Taipei, I went to the Museum of Tomorrow, which is a new exhibition space near 光華商場 (which has been dismantled and moved to a new building).

The main exhibit was FLOWmarket, which consists of plain white packaging of various shapes and sizes, similar to those found in an ordinary supermarket. Each item has a somewhat abstract phrase printed on it, such as "clean air", "collective consciousness", "a feeling of safety", "sustainable innovation", "balance"... By placing these concepts into a commercial package, the piece raises questions of our commercial society --- what can and cannot be bought.

What's interesting is that each of the items is actually for sale too at the exhibit!

Above the exhibit, there is a large banner with a quote from Marshall McLuhan: "There are no passengers on spaceship earth. We are all crew."

Shanghai Maglev Train

Photo album and video
Google video



I put together a short video of the Shanghai Maglev train.

The ride was a little bumpier than I would have thought, and it felt different than a normal track-bound train. Perhaps it was my imagination, but I could almost feel the train bouncing up and down as it whooshed along the magnetic tracks.

The contrast between the super high technology of the train and the misty farmland and crumbling structures (perhaps soon to be rebuilt as new apartment complexes) was striking.

Here is the official Shanghai Maglev promo video (in German):
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5648185659206490564

Some more videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weWmTldrOyo (detailed explanation)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0I1_5lZ2mU (good background music)

Taiwan High-Speed Rail

http://www.johnfan1.com/Public/2007-01-11_hsr.html

The Taiwan High-Speed Rail (a.k.a. Taiwan “shinkansen”) was finally completed, and I took the train after 1 week of operation. Surprisingly there were tickets available and the tickets (half price right now) were inexpensive -- only NT$500 (about USD $15).



It took me 1 hour and 30 minutes to go from Banchiao (near Taipei) to Chiayi, Despite the problems presented in the media, it was a smooth ride and a good experience. Inside, the car felt like a Japanese shinkansen. This will make the south of Taiwan much more accessible for tourists.

As another example of a “last mile” problem, it took almost as long to get to my destination (by bus and taxi) after I arrived at the Chiayi high-speed station, which is a distance away from the city center.