The results don't always add up...

"Passion has a funny way of trumping logic." (Source: Nike ad)

Writing a resume

What needs to be done? Fill out the application and enclose the resume.

Regardless of the length of life, a resume is best kept short.

Concise, well-chosen facts are de rigueur. Landscapes are replaced by addresses, shaky memories give way to unshakable dates.

Of all your loves, mention only the marriage; of all your children, only those who were born.

Who knows you matters more than whom you know. Trips only if taken abroad. Memberships in what but without why. Honors, but not how they were earned.

Write as if you'd never talked to yourself and always kept yourself at arm's length.

Pass over in silence your dogs, cats, birds, dusty keepsakes, friends, and dreams.

Price, not worth, and title, not what's inside. His shoe size, not where he's off to, that one you pass off as yourself. In addition, a photograph with one ear showing, What matters is its shape, not what it hears. What is there to hear, anyway? The clatter of paper shredders.

--By Wisława Szymborska (Trans. By Stanisław Barańczak and Clare Cavanagh)

How familiar this sounds to many of us who have had to write resumes and write statement of purposes and what not. And the number of tips we have read and advices we have heard telling us the way we present ourselves is the most important thing. May be they don't say it, but it is implicit that how we show ourselves is more important than who we actually are! What a sad system.

Wo können, wo dürfen, wo wollen wir hin?

Where can we go, where are we allowed to go, and where will we be going?

This is from the opening of a speech by Rene Mayrhofer on his PhD graduation ceremony. Apart from the speech itself and his research work (which are interesting as well), it strike me as an interesting way of looking at the horizon when you are trying to set goals for your work (research or other). Its about knowing your ambition and weighing your limits.

Far as human eye could see

When I dipt into the future far as human eye could see;
Saw the Vision of the world and all the wonder that would be.
-- Tennyson (Locksley Hall)

Isaac Asimov has a book with the same name (Watch an old interview of his on World of Ideas).

Someone, Anyone

...
+ I could have been someone
* Well so could anyone
...
-- The Pogues (Fairytale Of New York)

I miss myself!

The two eaqually easy solutions

To doubt everything or to believe everything - these are two equally easy solutions, because both of them relieve us of the necessity of thinking. -- Jules Henri Poincaré

Cogito, ergo sum, so I guess there is no easy way out!

Swamps of Sadness

Words fleeing,
Images fading,
Sounds stifling,
Visions blurring,
Ambitions departing ...

It's the Nothing, swallowing my Fantasia, swallowing me. Where is my luck dragon?

Tell Me Why?

Tell me why, why, does it have to be like this
Tell me why, why, is there something I have missed
Tell me why, why, cause I don't understand...*

Just tell me why....

--
*From Tell Me Why by Declan Galbraith

The most dangerous assumption

"Nothing is so dangerous to the progress of the human mind than to assume that our views of science are ultimate. That there are no mysteries in nature, that our triumphs are complete, and that there are no new worlds to conquer" -- Humphrey Davy

Brian Cox finishes his brief talk on the LHC at this years TED with this quote. If you wonder what this LHC (The Large Hadron Collider) is, listen to this rap song, or visit its homepage at CERN.

This LHC is quite a fantastic adventure the world's scientists have embarked upon. It is huge, and there was a huge enthusiasm among almost everyone at the academia, especially in Europe and especially in Switzerland before the start of the tests. I was in Zurich last fall when the first tests were scheduled and when it had to be shut down due to the defects. I could feel the excitement in the air before the initial tests, and the disappointment after the defects were found. I hope that they would get it working soon. Not that I suspect a breakthrough to come out of the studies on the tests, but the mere fact that such a huge scientific project was put together with the collaboration of so many nations and so many scientists, and the huge budget that was allocated to prepare the technology that was required to build and maintain such a thing, is already a breakthrough.

Warm enough to trust...

با خودم فکر کردم٬ این طفلکی مال این‌جا نیس. نصف بهار این‌جاها براش هنوز زمستونه. هنوز وقت خوابشه. گرمسیریه. از سرما می‌ترسه. آفتاب باید خیلی گرم باشه که اعتماد کنه. ...

I though, this little thing does not belong to this region. Here half the spring is still like winter for her. It is still sleeping time for her. She is tropical, she is afraid of cold. The sun should shine very warm for her to trust....

(Source)

Fortunate

Dear reader,
there are people in the world who know no misery and woe. And they take comfort in cheerful films about twittering birds and giggling elves.

There are people who know that there's always a mystery to be solved. And they take comfort in researching and writing down any important evidence.

But this story is not about such people. This story is about the Baudelaires. And they are the sort of people who know that there's always something.
Something to invent,
something to read,
something to bite,
and something to do, to make a sanctuary, no matter how small.

And for this reason, I am happy to say, the Baudelaires were very fortunate indeed.
-- Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events

There is indeed always something. Something to invent, something to read, and something to bite. :)