Office Hours

So, what do you do when you are stuck in your office for 4 hours? Well, if you are me, you bring your computer along and write on your blog. The other guy did it too, so don't look down on me.
Anyways, as part of my Teaching Assistantship Award, not only do I have to teach class for 10 hours, but I also have to spend 4 hours (it is actually suppose to be 5, but I got out of the other one some how) in the office answering student questions. I don't know why. I have not seen a student ever come by and ask questions. There classes arn't really difficult (we called it Cowboy Astronomy/Physics at my undergraduate university...because it is taken by non-science majors and there is little to no math required), so I understand why there are no questions. What I don't understand is why most people miss a couple EASY answers on the quizes. I review everyone on the quiz questions right before I hand it out to the students (giving them the answer in the review and telling them it WILL be on the quiz). The quiz is only worth 3 points of the 10 point lab grade, but most people loose don't care about the easy grade...they will find a way to get something very obvious wrong. For example, I told them "when the peaks of the spectral data are far apart, it means that the object is spinning fast! The further apart the peaks are, the faster it is spinning." Then, they would have a question that showed 2 different sets of sprectral data (one with peaks close together and one with peaks far apart) and be asked, "which object is spinning faster?" So, what was your answer? Obviously it should have be the sprectal data with the peaks furthest apart, but... on average, 2 out of every 5 people in every class (5 total classes) missed that question.
It reminds me of a joke that my friend Fausto from Brazil told me. I was telling Fausto that I went to a conference at Nagoya University (hosted by my lab). The conference was held in honor of a partnership program between UCLA (University of California LA) and Nagoya University. But when I went, all of the students and professors that came from UCLA were NOT actually American. This surprised me a little (2 professors-one French and One Chinese, 5 students-4 Chineses and 1 Taiwanese, and the dean of the Department of Engineering of UCLA-he was Indian, all came). When I told Fausto that I found this funny and I don't know why no Americans came, he made a pretty good joke about Americans not knowing how to do science (or something like that). After teaching that class for a while, I get that feeling a little (despite the fact that I am American and I know that we can do science...I just think they don't care about the class).
Now a different topic: I have more quantum physics homework, but it's not due for 5 days. I went over the first problem and it seems pretty easy (I only have one question). The last homework assignment was hard (even for me)! I found out later that a lot of people went to ask questions to the professor on that problem...I probably should have done the same thing. Have you ever spent 7 hours on a problem and felt like you have made no progress (I wonder if that's how politics feel).
Speaking of politics, it looks like John McCain will run for president on the US in the next election for the republicans. His only competition is Mike Huckabee. All Chuck Norris jokes aside, if a republican is going to win, I would rather John McCain win. Now, I would also like to say that Mike Huckabee was in last place at one time during the primary elections (behind 5 other people). But then, Chuck Norris endorsed Huckabee and now Huckabee is almost in first. I don't think that everyone knows Huckabee was endorsed by Chuck Norris, because if they did the world would have already named Huckabee as president. By the way, there isn't a chin underneath Chuck Norris's beard, only another fist. "Chuck Norris doesn't sleep. He waits." When Chuck Norris does a push up, he's not lifting himself up; he's pushing the world down.
Seriously though, Chuck Norris is in his 70's or 80's and he looks like he is in his 30's or 40's.
For the democratic party, it will definitely be either Mrs. Clinton or Mr. Obama. I don't know which one I want to run for president. I personally think that, because the republican parties reputation has suffered, the democratic party will win the presidency. The race may be close. There are certain state that always vote republican and certain states that always vote democrat. Each state has a number of electorial votes (which are the only ones that count) dependent on population of the state. For example, California is the most populous state and has the most electrial votes (but it usually votes democrat) and Texas has the second largest populous and the second most electorial votes (but it always votes republican). Florda is a 'swing state' (it sometimes votes republican & sometimes democrat...it was the center of debate in the Bush vs Gore election). It's a myth that the president is elected by popular vote (of citizens). In the constitution it states that only the electorial votes (the electoria college matters). Therefore, like in the Bush vs Gore election, even if the people elect one candidate, but the electoria college (the electorial votes cast by the representatives of the state) elect the other, the one that the electorial votes elected counts (not the popular vote). It was upheld by the supreme court. But, they have been talking about ammending that for years.
I guess, most of the world does not care for President Bush. He seems like a nice guy, but I don't know if he was cut out to be president.
Well, at the moment I am writing about my "future research goals" for a scholarship that I am applying for so that I can come back to Japan over the summer (for 7 to 8 weeks). I'm told that 2 or 3 people from my university will receive it (wish me luck). Well, I still have 50 minutes before I have to go down stairs and finish the last 2 hours of my office hours, but I'm going to quit writing now anyways. Talk to y'all later.
Adios
-Ben
(Enjoying Texas...still warm here.)