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One of the advantages of having taught at several different colleges over the past few years is that I got to see how colleges that may seem very alike are in fact very different in terms of their attitudes towards many social and political issues. Some have very strong and truly diverse culture of open dialogue and genuine inquiry in various topics (Wabash), some are more or less apathetic (Rhodes), and some are what has unfortunately become more or less a norm of what one thinks of colleges these days: not so much centers of learning and pursuit of truth, but rather training grounds for various loony-left activists (DePauw). As an example of these differences I take look at what on the surface of it would be the most bland and uncontroversial subject: water. More precisely, bottled water. As the image above suggests Rhodes has been a bit entrepreneurial in this department and has come up with its own brand of bottled water. In my opinion it's a smart move, it helps college raise money and it promotes its brand in a very inexpensive and efficient manner. On the other hand DePauw has recently been engulfed in an attempt by the student senate (and some faculty members) to ban bottled water altogether. Yup, that's right; it seems that bottled water is one of the most dangerous substances on college campuses. It is single-handedly destroying the Earth. Fortunately, as soon as it is banned we can expect the Earth to start healing itself, oceans to stop rising and the human race to live in harmony with nature once again. Except that the initiative doesn't go far enough. DePauw should go a step further and ban indoor plumbing as well. Only then will they truly signal that they are serious about the environment.

Coincidentally, DePauw is struggling under a burden of enormous debt that was incurred in large part by funding a lot of worthy forward-thinking causes. It's reassuring to know that they have taken a hard look at their spending habits and have learned from past mistakes. Unfortunately Rhodes has not been equally blessed with debt and will probably continue to operate with profit. Which will partly come from selling their water. Greedy, greedy Rhodes. Shame on them.

Posted by Bojan Tunguz at 08:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

There are a few individuals that so dominate their profession or field of activity that for generations after they cease to be active, or even pass away, their name remains synonymous with the highest level of accomplishment in that profession. Somehow what they are able to do does not fall on the regular continuum of proficiency, and they are in a category of their own. When I was a kid, the name Pele was synonymous with superhuman, almost divine, ability to play soccer, and at least until he was diagnosed with AIDS Magic Johnston was a veritable basketball superhero. Unsurprisingly most of these individuals are associated with popular culture, with the achievements that are highly conspicuous in the public conscience. Much more rare are those who transcend even the relative obscurity of their field and become household names. Perhaps no better example of this is Albert Einstein, who not only became a paragon of a brilliant Physicist, but someone who defines the absolute gold standard of what human intelligence is capable of achieving. However, if someone does call you “Einstein” you should most probably not flatter yourself: it is assumed that his level of intellectual brilliance was so rare that not many people (if any) are able to match it, and hence comparison to him is meant to be a ridicule.

When I was a budding Physics major I started to discount the perceived brilliance of Einstein’s genius. I thought it was mostly due to some sort of childish and naïve public perception, shaped mostly by the ignorance and the general inability to appreciate what theoretical Physics research was all about. At that time I equated the mastery of physics with the mastery of incredibly involved and sophisticated mathematical manipulations, and from everything I knew about him Einstein was not someone of whom you could say that he was a mathematical super wiz. However, when I started learning more about General Relativity and other very fundamental Physical theories, I started appreciating the unique and profound insights that Einstein had. His was never a search for yet another equation or law that can be added to the storeroom of similar important laws. He wanted to know the Truth with a capital “T,” and the truth he was pursuing was simple, yet incredibly subtle. It is this philosophical understanding of what the ultimate truth is about that has influenced me more than any particular thing that I had ever learned. From that perspective Einstein is indeed the greatest scientist of the 20th century, and perhaps ever.

Today, April 18, 2010, is the 55th anniversary of Einstein’s death. He died after suffering a heart attack at the age 76. I always found it rather poignant and sad that we’ll never know what his last words were – he was slipping in and out of comma, and said something in German, his native tongue. Unfortunately, the American nurse who attended to him spoke only English.

Shortly after his death, a young photojournalist for Life magazine named Ralph Morse took a few photographs of Einstein’s office at Princeton and other places and events surrounding that sad day. For whatever reason, those photographs have not been published until just recently. You can see many of them here. I find them incredibly touching.

Posted by Bojan Tunguz at 04:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Ten days ago, on April 3^rd, Sharmin and I got married. It had been a little over a month from the day when we got engaged, and in this relatively short time we managed to organize a very nice and fun reception. I am not trying to brag or anything, but I think that we can be justifiably proud of the work that we did and the way that we worked with each other to make this event happen. It confirmed in my mind something what I had known all along, and that is that in addition to being emotionally and intellectually extremely well connected, Sharmin and I make a great team. I feel that this aspect of our relationship is a great asset to have and something that we can rely on in all of the adventures and challenges that lay ahead of us.

Our wedding reception was made easier to organize and execute thanks to wonderful, talented and professional businesses and individuals who provided many important services. The Walden Inn is a wonderful hotel on DePauw campus that provided the facilities and the catering for our Wedding. I've had chance to attend many fun events there over the years, and have always enjoyed those occasions. Our wedding cake was made by Christy Glass and she made an absolutely most delicious and beautiful cake. The flowers were provided by Eitel's Flowers and we couldn't have been happier with the beautiful flowers that we got. Our DJ, Mike Welsh, was a true professional and was able to work with the indecisiveness we had for the longest time in terms of songs that we wanted to play. In the end, the music was truly fantastic, and everyone had great time dancing and singing until the whole party was over. For the wedding photography we had so much fun working with The Roxy Studio from Terre Haute. Their contemporary and artistic photography impressed me from the first time I came across their website, and their charm, winning personality and friendly attitude made the whole process of preparing for the photographs and posing throughout the day a lot of fun. We are still waiting for our "official" wedding photos to arrive, and when they do we'll make sure we post many of them online.

Even before the wedding we knew that we could count on our friends to help us in many small and not so small ways, and we are very grateful for all of them who did so. We are also happy that they seem to have enjoyed themselves so much, which made the whole wedding that much more joyful. Not least of all the help we got are all the wonderful memories of that day that will stay with us forever.

Unfortunately since the wedding Sharmin and I were not able to spend all that much time together. I had to go back to Memphis, and aside from her regular teaching duties at DePauw Sharmin also had a conference that she needed to attend this past weekend. Our separate lives are not going to last for too much longer however. I'll make a few more trips to Greencastle before the semester is over, and in early May I am moving there permanently. We have a long summer to look forward to when we can make up for all these months of separation.

As for the date of our wedding, I've already found a useful mnemonic for remembering it. It turns out that April 3^rd 2010 can be written out (with some coaxing) as 4-3-2-[0]-1-0. That ought to be easy to remember.

Posted by Bojan Tunguz at 09:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)