Unsolved Solutions on Varying Dimensions

Unsolved Solutions on Varying Dimensions

A mobius strip am I
what's inside, what's outside?
intrigue, a puzzle
disconnect

Klein bottle like
multi-dimensional...
limited by physical space

Solutions sought..
A Theory of Everything.
Inteference and Anamoly


The question of I


Why call ourselves I
I want this. I want that
I'll go my own way
I demand to be free

Who is the I?
Sum of many is our body
... Mind thinks, Feet walk
....Hands do, Heart beats
How can "We" be an "I" ?
I is in fact another collective entity


- Hari Srinivasan 6/4/11

The American Dream - Chasing Daisies

 A poem written for a Literature Assignment on the American Dream over different periods. The tricky part was incorporating 10 different types of literary devices into the poem . 

My Teacher's Comment:

Wow you are truly a brilliant student!  I am in love with your writing!!!! - Mrs M
 

Chasing Daisies

-Hari Srinivasan

A Dream of America - Canada to Mexico
Atlantic to Pacific -  coast to coast
Star Spangled Banner at the end of a pole
Lady Liberty, promises so much more

Indian tribes, Proud and free,
Living their American Dream
Spirits in the wind, prairies, trees
Paleface equaled crossroads
 

Puritans rode the waves on big boats
Mayflower Compact of 1620
Land gained - the Pilgrim Dream
New beginnings – piety, courage, industry

 

Jonathan Edwards thundered on
A wrathful God is at your heel
Fire and brimstone surround you,
American dream could end in hell.

Shake off the colonial yoke
Common Sense dictates that
Self-evident Truths – America’s Dream
Freedom, I demand thee

A nation born of founding fathers
blacksmith to mathematician
Courage, entrepreneurship, a vision
America is the land of endless opportunity

Freedom seems color white

Freedom is White as Bondage is Black

Dream should be color-blind
Locke’s law guarantees that
Bannekar writes to Jefferson

Slave ships cargo, Middle Passage
Dark Skin is mere traded commodity
Death preferred to chained slavery

The Torch Lady blindfolds her eyes
Whence the American Dream

Années folles at Great War’s end
Economic prosperity and disconnect
Flappers strangers at Gatsby’s Party

Common Sense turns NonSense

Liberty now green, the Lady oxidized
American Dream - a wanton triviality

Chasing Daisies -“a single green light”

Daisy a Weed, a parasite
19th amendment, bootlegger dream
Speakeasy of the “Valley of Ashes”

Lost Generation tries to make sense.
Tango to tainted technicality

The torch glows the American Dream?
A house in the suburbs, a white picket fence
Money in the bank, life is sure easy
What promises did the Lady guarantee?
Bottomless material impossibilities?

Energy filled with forced cheer.
Foreclosure filled news reports.
Jobless, can’t pay bills.
Sorrowful nights of holiday dreams.
Cheerful shopping. Media driven stock.

Rising predictions. Homeless and Occupy.
Congress self serving re-election dreams.
Food pantries serving all time highs.

Greed driven marketing, black friday spending, cyber monday cheating.
Gift of the season buried by market competition.
Materialism, the new education taught
A Chase. A race. No start No end
Everyone has a different mind
Unfulfilled fantasy undefined

Myriad confusion –  sole to soul

So what really is the American dream?

Peace, contentment - my dream
Cross medical hurdles and take the world with me
Lady whispers, realize your dream

Strip off the oxidized green

Rise above human trivialities
Make a difference. Travel possibilities
Another American Dream or Future Reality?


- Hari Srinivasan 12/9/11

The Future of Math in Silicon Valley

Journalism Assignment for school . I had to choose a beat (education) and interview 2 people for this article.  A big thanks to both the interviewees!

The Future of Math in Silicon Valley
Hari Srinivasan
Cupertino, CA, 12/9/11

The Silicon Valley is noted for its expertise in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM). This helps it maintain its competitive-edge at a world level. Yet this area faces a severe shortage of Math teachers, as does the rest of California. An understanding of Math fundamentals and its applications is a skill that crosses many career paths and life skills. Laying this foundation and interest in Math, is often shaped by these very teachers.

Love Math, Hate Math! Math can be the easiest of subjects and it can be the hardest of the subjects. Teachers face students from across the spectrum. I interviewed 2 High School Math teachers, Sita Murugan of Independence High School in San Jose and Sushma Bana of Monta Vista High School in Cupertino, to get their perspectives.

Sita Murugan comes across both students who excel in math to ones who are unable to show the steps. Others lack basic math skills like adding, subtracting, multiplying, dividing, negative numbers, fractions, decimals, using distributive property etc. Monta Vista High School, on the other hand, is a high performing school, and some of the issues are very different. It is 75% Asian and it is presumed that all Asians are good in Math. Sushma Bana often comes across students who are pressured (parental and peer pressure) into taking higher-level math courses, even if interested in other areas. “In our school it is considered cool if you are a good student in math and science. Parents are very involved in their kids' education, which is a good thing for the most part. But sometimes they force their kids to take classes which are very challenging for them.” This reflects the wide underlying diversity of needs amongst students in Silicon Valley, which is presumed to be STEM-savvy. 

The teachers take different approaches in tackling the issues. Sita Murugan makes use of differentiated instruction with software like Accelerated Math or Apangea, to help her students with their math challenges. Classroom instruction, in addition to computer/web-based solutions, plus on-line tutoring by credentialed instructors can help “ensure that students can learn math anytime, anywhere.” For her students, Sushma Bana feels that teacher recommendations should be taken seriously, when deciding on a math placement and that parents need to let their kids make informed choices.

While there is a fundamental shortage of math teachers, the issue is also a shortage of “good math teachers,” in Silicon Valley. The area has a very high cost of living, and qualified candidates with STEM degrees, often choose better paying careers. Attracting qualified talent loses out in the face of the cost of living. It is a critical problem, given the wide array of needs of students that live here and for Silicon Valley to maintain its competitive edge in the future.

What can be done to reduce the issues of good teacher shortage, and quality Math education? One obvious solution is to make the salaries competitive for highly qualified candidates with STEM backgrounds. Sushma Bana suggests offering incentives such as subsidized housing to motivate teachers to live in the area. The current teacher pay scales are based on years of experience rather than their effectiveness. As with the tech industry, pay scales needs to be on merit-based, rather than seniority-based. Sita Murugan suggests that the credential course for Math be made less rigorous. They could for instance split the level: Lower level for teaching (Algebra1/ Geometry) and Higher level (Algebra2 and beyond)

Other local districts have tried different methods to dramatically improve their “student to valuable human time ratio.” The Los Altos School District recently overhauled the Math curriculum for their 5th and 7th grades by using software from The Khan Academy. This was outlined by Salman Khan, founder of The Khan Academy, in his speech at the TED conference talks on Mar 9, 2011. In effect, “by using technology, they were humanizing the classroom.” In this way, they were able to motive students with a wide range of needs, keep them on a continual learning curve, and yet work with the limited teacher resources. Bill Gates, who introduced Sal Khan at the TED conference, stated that this could well be the future of education in the US.

Forced Christmas Cheer

Forced Christmas Cheer


Stressed out holiday energy filled with forced cheer.
Merry Christmas pressure to find the perfect gift.
Foreclosure filled news reports.
Jobless parents cant pay the bills.
Holiday dreams become sorrowful nights.
Where will it all end?
What reality is the truth?
Cheerful shopping media driven stock rising predictions.
Merry Christmas forced cheer.
Homelessness at an all time high.
Congress self serving re election dreams.
Food pantries serving all time highest numbers.
Merry Christmas forced cheer.
Greed driven marketing, black friday spending, cyber monday cheating.
The gift of the season has been buried by market competition.
Merry Christmas forced cheer.
New Years hopes and dreams now appear in grace of finding real cheer.

- Hari

Pages of My Life

For my Spanish Class:-

Páginas de mi Vida  (Pages of My Life)

Mitosis

An alternative Biology assignment offered to our class - write lyrics for a song describing the process of Mitosis and include all the key terminology. 


Mitosis
Cell Division, think Mitosis
… Twin cells
One cell becomes two
…. Just Identical

IPMAT
…Interphase…
…Prophase…
…Metaphase…
... Anaphase…
…Telophase…

The stages of Mitosis
IPMAT
What mat? …. just IPMAT
I propose men are toads. I ProMote Another Tadpole

What phase?
Interphase
DNA replicates
DNA hang loose….
A coil of chromatids

IPMAT
…Interphase…
…Prophase…
…Metaphase…
... Anaphase…
…Telophase…

IPMAT
What mat? …. just IPMAT
I propose men are toads. I ProMote Another Tadpole

What Phase?
Prophase.
Chromatins condense and vanish
Pairs of knotted socks - Chromosomes they’re called
Nucleolus goes.
Centrioles roll to ends of cell.
Spindle fibers unravel from pole to pole

IPMAT
…Interphase…
…Prophase…
…Metaphase…
... Anaphase…
…Telophase…

IPMAT
What mat? …. just IPMAT
I propose men are toads. I ProMote Another Tadpole

What Phase?
Metaphase
Spindles attach to the knots on the socks
Knots called centromeres
Now line up those chromosomes
A perfect straight line.
In the middle of the cell.

IPMAT
…Interphase…
…Prophase…
…Metaphase…
... Anaphase…
…Telophase…

IPMAT
What mat? …. just IPMAT
I propose men are toads. I ProMote Another Tadpole

What Phase?
Anaphase
Knots are cut
The result is sister chromatids
Spindle pulls each sister to opposite poles

IPMAT
…Interphase…
…Prophase…
…Metaphase…
... Anaphase…
…Telophase…

IPMAT
What mat? …. just IPMAT
I propose men are toads. I ProMote Another Tadpole

What Phase?
Telophase
Chromosomes are split at poles of cell
A nuclear membrane forms around them
Spindle fibers vanish - not necessary
Chromosomes start uncoiling

IPMAT
…Interphase…
…Prophase…
…Metaphase…
... Anaphase…
…Telophase…

IPMAT
What mat? …. just IPMAT
I propose men are toads. I ProMote Another Tadpole

Cytokinesis
Time to wave good bye
Cell membrane furrows and pinches off
One cell becomes two
They’re twin daughter cells….
Living quite…. apart.

Cell Division, think Mitosis
… Twin cells
One cell becomes two
…. Just Identical

IPMAT
…Interphase…
…Prophase…
…Metaphase…
... Anaphase…
…Telophase…

IPMAT
What mat? …. just IPMAT
I propose men are toads. I ProMote Another Tadpole

- Hari Srinivasan

Tablet Education - the iPad Experience

I am from Cupertino in California, the home of Apple Computers and its late CEO, Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs grew up in this very town and started off his company in his garage with Steve Wozniak.  Wozniak was the engineering end while Jobs was its dynamic creative packaging end. From there grew the company that revolutionized computers in many ways and more so the area of hand held devices.

I got my first iMac at age 6. It was a transparent box with a single power outlet, a keyboard and mouse - very futuristic looking and clutter free. I spent endless hours on it going though digitized versions of my favorite books - Dr Suess and Aesop Fables. The message that the slow and steady Tortoise could win over the fast Hare sunk into my mind with surety (from the digitized Aesop Fable, "The Tortoise and the Hare"). The Apple computer took a background for a few years till the advent of the iPod. Suddenly I had hours of music in my pocket, a relaxant and my companion on long plane journeys. The noise of my surroundings could be drowned out by a device that was but a few square inches. The iTouch was the next, it was exciting as I could now play games and it even had a small keyboard that I could type on. And I still had access to all my music.  Along came the iPhone, and with it the power of reaching out and talking to others.

The finale was the iPad - a computer you held in your hands - an electronic tablet. It didn't require a lot of booting time, and it was simple to use. You could do most things on it that you could do on a regular computer. A touch screen meant that you did not need a mouse or a keyboard. You could type documents and browse the internet.  There was an app for everything. Games were the first and they took on  new level with touch-screen technology. Best of all it opened up a world for communication for those who desperately needed an avenue. There were text-to-speech apps, which gave the voiceless a voice.  There were sentence and icon apps which helped bridge communication for those who lacked it. The world was potentially at our very fingertips. We could learn anything - there were no limits to educational and other possibilities. What a great equalizer for the world that is usually divided by access and abilities.    

In the end, the camera and other fancy add-ones that a gadget provides are secondary. The fact that it starts to make a difference in the lives of many, and gives them new direction and hope, is what makes it remarkable.

Steve Jobs recently died of Pancreatic Cancer. We will miss you, Steve Jobs, Cupertino's own son. You put this little city, which was once just orchards, on the world wide map. Most of all, your products truly made a difference in the lives of many including me.

- Hari Srinivasan

I walked into the arms of God

I walked into the arms of God
His arms fold around me
Emotions cease, nothing-ness in HIS embrace
Nothing-ness is beyond infinity
Mind at peace...an ocean of equanimity

I walked into the arms of God
A comforting mother's embrace
Thoughts cease, nothing-ness in HER embrace
nothing-ness is beyond infinity
Mind at peace...an ocean of equanimity

- Hari Srinivasan
10/4/11

Changing Times

Now harvest fiery fields of fullness are among us.

Busy groves of abundance are visually appealing.

The preparation for the souls inward journey has begun.

The movement towards our life's purpose keeps time with the seasons cycling. 

Harvest now the knowledge gained during the summers carefree wild freedom.

Store away the souls sunny times for winter is looming nearby.

Enjoy one last sun drenched romp through the green grass of total abandon.

Quite the change is creeping in as darkness becomes the master and daylight yields is reign. 

goodbye to the flowers and welcome the light of ones introspection. 

the end. 

Hari Srinivasan (9/28/11)

Una Palabra Perfecta (A Perfect Word)

Another shot at Spanish with vocab of week 3. 

Gracious Maestra "S", for making grammatical corrections. (Maestra "S" is my Spanish teacher, Mrs Saunders)

Gender errors in adjectives and in placement of adjectives - the adjectives come after the noun in Spanish. And of course conjugating those pesky verbs.
 
Una palabra perfecta (A Perfect Word)

una palabra (a word)
yo...  (I)
busco una palabra (search for a word)
ella es elusiva (she is elusive)
Estoy... (I am)
impaciente (impatient)


una buena palabra (a good word)
No es una palabra aburrida (not a boring word)
no es una palabra gorda (not a fat word)
pero, (but)
una palabra fuerte (a strong word)

una palabra
yo...
busco una palabra
ella es elusiva
Estoy...
impaciente

una palabra inteligente (an intelligent word)
no es una palabra perezosa (not a lazy word)
no es una palabra nerviosa  (not a nervous word)
pero...
una palabra contenta (a happy content word)


ten paciencia mi amigo (patience my friend)
la palabra perfecta  (the perfect word)
Ella es elusiva (she is elusive)
Pero...
ella existe (she exists)

La vas a encontrar (you will find her)
... un dia (one day)


- Hari (8/29/11)