Edgar Gaspar's Links
software engineering... that's a pretty good place to be right about now, isn't it? we're in the middle of the tech boom, after all. some of the things I do in the lab brush up on some programming, and I know a little bit of C++, but I can only imagine how in the weeds you must be.
It's a great place to be, really. I never foresaw it blowing up as much as it did-- certainly not when I was a child, and certainly not now. It's amazing, the things that we've created to make life easier, aren't they? I may not be as much of a teacher as you are, Professor, but maybe I can help you learn some more, sometime.
haha. wow! sure. I guess I can... agree with that. suppose I don't consider that the point, to learn and comprehend everything at once. moreso, to understand enough to learn what's important to us, and take what we can from that. otherwise, sure. it's overwhelming. it can be a bit crushing. the gravity of it. but... I guess that's why I don't teach philosophy, huh? haha... uh... anyway. I teach, physics? (is that... a good thing... or...?)
do you ever feel as though your teachings can't keep up with the true knowledge that the world possesses? once i became overwhelmed with the truth that even combining the knowledge of every single human on the earth wouldn't be enough for us to understand why we exist, and then i held a gun and reminded myself that it only takes one pull to completely wipe someone's conscious, knowledge, and emotion from the universe. every life taken is its own library burning, and the library still isn't enough for us to know everything in the world. anyway, i just thought that was interesting. and i need to know what you teach, hehe. i don't want to play with you.
ohh, security analysis... I'm afraid that kind of thing goes a little bit over my head, haha. I can't say I'm usually in charge of anything people would be particularly interested in stealing. is it exhausting, trying to keep up? the world is changing so quickly... I can only imagine that just as soon as you find a solution to one problem, someone else finds three other ways to get around your defenses. (at least, that's how I feel with trying to prevent cheating on some of my exams...)
Students would do anything to get the answers for upcoming tests, so you DO hold something that desperate people could try to steal! Though I believe your students would not go to that extent and rather stick to cheating on tests or trying to get answers from previous years.
For your question... technology is constantly changing, most people have a personal computer, older generations are trying to grasp the concept of the world wide web... and there are plenty of security breaches. It is very exhausting, but rewarding nonetheless. That's why I'm excited to see new problems showing up, because I get to use my brains to solve it. A battle of wits between the attacker and the defender until one of them remains.
a lab tech! you know, without people like you, I don't think anyone would be able to get anything done at all. I've spent my fair share of time in the lab--but, probably not much like yours, if I had to guess? more... lasers, maybe. though, we might both work with stuff that's pretty small. anyway--I'm sure the people working with you appreciate what you do. that's all I mean to say.
Ta-Ta-Technology.. Lab.. Technology...? You think I'm... important..? Hhhh... th-that's nnn-nice to... hear? You have been in a.. a lab...? wh-whhhh.. what kind...? I.. hhh.. work.. in a.. hospital..hah... my.. colleague.. are.. hhh
You're a teacher..? that's.. nice.. very.. v-very nice..
there might be something to be said about the security of a tenured position, with time, but you’re not exactly wrong. still, that's alright. I couldn't do what you do, ma'am, so it's alright if you don't want mine, either. after all, all of us doing the same things wouldn't get us very far in the end, would it?
Teachers are such a big part of our lives, but they don't make much money, do they? A terrible salary, right? Hah! I think that's enough to take me down the job, teach, I don't think it's very remarkable if you're only makin' a dime on my dollar! 'Sides, I couldn't do something so *slow*.
actuary, huh? I'm afraid financial analysis like that is a little bit outside of my purview. I know a thing or two about, say... failure analysis? you have to have an idea of what could go wrong during any sort of experiment, after all. but putting a number to it has never been my expertise—it always seems much higher than what I'd expect. though, with some of this equipment, suppose that isn't too strange...
Actuarial sciences is a pretty niche thing, so I don't blame ya. A lot of it revolves around crunching numbers and making sure that, if something goes wrong, you make sure that you can properly calculate the costs of everything that results from it. Having a good professor or two while in university helps a lot with learning the concepts of how that stuff generally works, but they can be hard to come by.
hahah, yeah, you're right. I deal with kids, sometimes, but not as a part of the professor-ing. I guess they sort of feel like kids, too... but not little ones, no! computational physics tends to go over their heads, I'm afraid. and your work goes a bit above mine! I can do some of the simple stuff, connections here, soldering there, but I think it'd be easy to get my... wires crossed? you could say? (is this anything.....)
So… professor—like, you aren’t dealing with all the little kids? Not that it’d be bad if you were or anything! Just, uh, wondering at the distinction. Difference?
…same thing…? Aaah…
you know, some of my family works in construction! it feels like the work never really ends for them; I can imagine you might feel the same. especially down here in georgia, right? things always growing, changing, especially nowadays... feels like a shame, though, some of the things that get torn down, just so something else can come up.
Steady workflow means I keep my job. Can't keep holding onto everything back then--especially in Georgia. Speaking of family, though...what do you teach as a professor? My brother, he works studying all sorts of shit. You two got that in common. Guess that means we have something in common, right.
did you know the web as we know it today was originally developed so that particle physicists could more easily share data? I just think it's interesting—how our disciplines are almost... siblings, in a way. certainly, though, the things you do have gone way beyond just data sharing! it's something special, I think, making something that's both useful and pleasing. do you consider yourself much of an artist, or is it all just function to you? it's all gotten pretty out of my scope!
I d-did know that, I picked it up from ssome book I read... I think you're right, in, in a manner of sspeaking, b-but, the innternet is still very mmmuch, about information sharing. The information is just g-getting more complex. Like a million textbook-ks, all... mushed up t-together. That being said, though... I do c-consider mmyself an, artist of ssorts.
prosthetics are something special, aren’t they? you can do a lot of direct good with something like that. helping people... well, quite literally get back on their feet, huh? I know people who have to do all sorts of risky business just to get by; I'm sure a prosthetic like yours could change their lives, someday.