the Void

Who are we? What defines us?

Just like atoms are built out of smaller particles, human beings are a bushel of traits grouped together in a physical form. These traits define how you will act in a given situation and this is what makes you different from others.

Put a couple of atoms together and they will build a higher physical form - a molecule. Some electrons will orbit the molecule freely and, if the bound is broken, atoms will come out seemingly unchanged.

Now think of high forms of human interaction, this being one of them. You and I engaged in a conversation, we bounded and we are exchanging an idea. After you finish reading, you will be affected by these lines, and your set of traits will be slightly changed. Yes, you will adopt a part of me. But, to be honest, it is not me! You will get a part of my prior interactions with people.

Imagine a Void of traits somewhere out there if you wish. Just like atoms are built out of smaller particles, human beings are a bushel of traits grouped together in a physical form. Everyone gets born with a small subset of the Void; with each interaction this set changes and you grow. 

You may not know me, but I wish to thank you! Thank you for helping me grow.

If I were a pigeon

You know when a bunch of pigeons circles someone who has food in the park? Well, this time it was only one. It kept a mean distance of 2 feet, but was constantly moving towards me, until my sudden move scared it away. I was thinking: "You can find food somewhere else, do something about it, don't just wait for it to fall from the sky." (I was higher than the pigeon was)

This kept happening for few minutes. When the pigeon realized this approach was not going to work, it frowned, started making noises and was spinning around. I was like: "OK, if you want it that much, you can have it!", so I broke off a piece of sandwich and dropped it down. The pigeon ate it, and wanted more. I realized how few crumbs mean nothing to me, but they apparently meant a lot to the pigeon, so I kept feeding this pigeon.

In the mean time, a pigeon much skinnier than the first one showed up, and something interesting happened. The first one immediately started forcing the new one away, and was not allowing him to approach me any closer. Food was not important to him any more, as long as the new one was not benefiting from His food source. While I finished the sandwich I succeeded in throwing just few more crumbs to the skinny pigeon. I ended up having more of the sandwich than I planned, because instead of eating, pigeons were fighting. Eventually, I stud up and went to work.

Now you tell me - will you share your crumbs with someone tomorrow?

"The end is just a new beginning"

At the airport, half an hour before leaving the western hemisphere, probably the last words written in United States for the period to come. I dedicate this post to all my friends, teammates, classmates, and what the hack, all the mates who made my U.S. experience memorable.

9 months ago I started this blog in a similar fashion. I was looking forward to living and studying in another country, and what a country it is. For a 22 years old fellow, it was indeed a land of opportunities.

I could write about how happy I am to finally go back home to my friends and family, or how sad I am for parting from my friends and those who became like family to me. But I won't. Instead, I will summarize my U.S. experience. Someone once said "The only source of knowledge is experience", and this one was really unbelievable. If you recognize yourself in any of the activities, I would like to thank you for being part of it and you should know I will never forget you.

BTW, I will be back!

Think!

When there is no inside or outside and everything is oneside, it's not the box that matters any more.

Monday merged with weekend

Have you read the news today?

String theory

I guess you have all heard of the expression Think outside the box. It means approaching the problems in new, innovative ways. By doing this, you may not be stuck with a problem because of looking for a conventional solution.

Here is a great example:

Once a political science student was doing very bad on the oral exam, and the professor offered a passing grade for the drawing of the flag of Djibouti. Student drew a picture shown on the right and said: "Here is a bird's-eye view of the the flag of Djibouti". Very clever, would you say?

So for the birds flying, all the flags are the same. I know what you think - what a revelation when they land, ha! Now, stop for a minute and think of your perception of the world.

Isn't it intriguing how if two entities have confronted opinions, it is more probable the one being right is actually the one you belong to!? Yes, you are stuck (don't be offended, I was too) in the environment you live in and you perceive the world from only one point of view (just like you closed one of your eyes). One of the best things of my study abroad program is I got the opportunity to perceive the world from another perspective. It opened my closed eye and I can see all the beauty (am I sarcastic?) of our world in 3D now!

Here we come to the part where string theory comes in. String theory is one of the contenders for a theory of everything, and introduces an interesting consequence - the Universe has 11 dimensions. By the analogy introduced above, you should change your environment at least 9 times in order to completely (?) understand the world (each change adds an extra dimension to your perception).

Is this something you want to do? Think twice and start your journey. My fingers are crossed for you. Au revoir!

The Help

Have you seen movie "the Help"? Not a kind of movie I like, but it gave me a more detailed insight into black people life in the mid-20th century in U.S. I was not surprised African-American maids and white people they worked for had separate bathrooms. Some white families actually believed they will get a disease if it was not different. And, it is very well known black were riding in the back of the bus. Hmm, if I was afraid of someone, I would rather keep an eye on him. Wouldn't you?

So, here goes the story.

I was flying to San Francisco, listening to my favorite Serbian band and planning some romantic walks on the Hawaiian beaches. It has been a long trip and naturally, at one moment I needed to go to the toilet. I looked in the rear of the plain and I saw both restrooms are occupied and there are five more people waiting in addition. Then I looked to the front and noticed the only restroom is unoccupied. How strange! It become more strange when I realized I am approaching the curtain that separates first from economy class. You guessed, a stewardess told me in a polite manner to go to the rear of the plane.

I am sure there is a word describing situations when the members of one group are excluded from the opportunities available to another group. It is on the tip of my tongue. D-, dis-, d-, ... Oh, I remembered, it is "privilege"! Wouldn't you agree rich people are privileged in many ways in the world we live in? And in a way, rich own this planet and the rest are just being their help, doing all the dirty/boring jobs. It turns out money is the new race. It doesn't matter who is white or black anymore, are you green or not is what makes the difference. Well, at least it is easier to get rich than to change the skin color. Right?

Anyways, Beatles and "(money) Can't buy me love" started on my mp3 player. Wish me a safe trip.

“To be, or not to be?”

Introduction

Life equals to the series of choices you make and every choice has its own story [1]. A proposed model of life is a network of roads intercepting each other. Crossroads represent nothing else but possible choices and life is one of the possible paths in this chaotic network. We all have the same starting point, and the same finish line [2]. Some people have pole position [3], but this is the race you do not want to finish first. People’s paths cross, sometimes they continue their journeys together, sometimes they split.

The fundamental concept of the model is - you cannot stop moving in the crossroads domain (you cannot stop making choices). It makes them really important then. Right?

One of the most famous choices someone ever faced is the question: “To be, or not to be?” I bet you used this sentence many times too. But what is the answer?

Solution

In theory of Communication Systems the concept of amplitude modulation [4] is widely used (e.g. in AM radio stations). If we have a base-band signal whose bandwidth is B (for voice it is 3.4kHz) and we modulate it for radio show (operating frequency is around 1MHz) what is the bandwidth of a modulated signal? 2B or not 2B?

The Figure above shows that the correct answer is 2B.

Conclusion

To be, that is the answer! It is your journey, choose your path and enjoy it. I know I will.

Acknowledgments

Thank you Lindsey for the conversations that led to the model.

Thank you prof. Kirsch for the joke during the lecture that gave me inspiration for the post.

Literature

[1] name of the blog

[2] circle of life

[3] expression used in many races (i.e. Formula One)

[4] theory of AM modulation

Theory of FORECAST

Half an hour before leaving to the airport, probably the last words written in Serbia for the period to come. I dedicate this post to all my friends and colleagues from School of Electrical Engineering, Belgrade.