It’s
a great day for the Labor Party and the unions. It’s always been an
important day for their fight for worker’s rights, which I support. Workers
should of course be offered reasonable working conditions and a fair salary.
Remember the days of the cold war. The 1st of May
parades on Red Square. Brezhnev and the
Politburo waiving from the top of the Lenin Mausoleum. Soldiers, tanks and missiles show the
capacity of the Red Army. I have visited Moscow
many times the last couple of years. Every time when I take an evening walk on Red
Square, this bizarre show comes to my mind.
For us the 1st of May is mostly a day off, Also, it’s the last opening day of the season in the skiing resort. Little boy
insisted on getting his last day on the slopes. OK with me, off we went. We had
a great day of spring skiing, dry cold snow at the higher elevation, and slushy
in the lower part.
It’s the end, for this time. We’ll be back on the slopes in October or
November.
(I borrowed the picture above from the Internet. Brezhnev (with sun glasses) at the Lenin Mausoleum on 1st of May 1972.)
It is a day off here too - and the night before is Crazy Bonfire Night aka Walpurgis (but you probably know that).
ReplyDeleteI spent Walpurgis on my balcony showing a charming physicist that one can indeed see Saturn's rings with a fairly small telescope. He looked at me and said "Noone's ever shown me a planet before."
Later I slept. The exciting life of the hermit crone.
Physicists tend to be charming >;)
DeleteIn your case, you probably encountered a theoretical physicist.
I know that Venus is the brightest afternoon "star" in the spring, but I didn't know either that you can see Saturn's rings with a small telescope.
Quite correct on both statements.
DeleteI found out earlier in April that the following pick-up line works excellently on me: "I could teach you to do quantum mechanics, not just hear it described." - I was basically fanning myself. ;)
Luckily for me I can counter with my amateur astronomy knowledge, else it would be quite unbalanced.
Once I was a physicist, now I've got a geo in front of it.
DeleteMany years ago I could have taught you to do quantum mechanics (I could probably still do the basics).
The nice thing about physics, is that the mathematical toolbox is pretty much the same, no matter which branch you're in.
When I did my MSc in quantum field theory (which is the soup you get by mixing quantum mechanics and the theory of relativity), I discussed this with one of the physics professors. He said: "It doesn't really matter which wave equation you solve, but for some you get better paid". I took his advice, and never regretted >:)
I have accepted his offer but said I ought to brush up on my math - not my math skills as such, but the written language. I know notations vary widely depending on who writes them, but being able to read the common symbols without having to THINK about each one would help. ;) Well, I was planning to brush up on my math anyway, because math is sexy. Now I have some motivation to get it done sooner.
DeleteI offered to teach him to knit in exchange.
Looks like you have a good plan >:)
DeleteTo do some quantum mechanics, you only need basic calculus; differential equations, Fourier transforms and understanding of higher dimensional spaces (so-called Hilbert space; that's where quantum mechanics lives).
And you need to befriend the 23rd letter of the Greek alphabeth, ψ (psi), which is the common symbol for the quantum state function.
I don't know much about astronomy (or knitting), but for a while I studied astrophysics, which was pretty boring. I can promise you that quantum mechanics makes a lot more fun >;)
We don't have that holiday here, but taoday is the Fourth of May...and I've heard "May the Fourth be with you" about a thousand times. I bet we could have it declared a holiday soon.
ReplyDeleteFor some reason, America has put Labor Day in September. Maybe because 1st of May is very much associated with socialism?
DeleteI had never heard of "May the Fourth be with you", had to google it. Something about Star Wars? Must admit I've never seen the movies. I'm not a big fan of sci-fi.
I definitely support labor movements. The US has so much being undermined right now--states passing 'right to work' laws, which really are just ways to undermine union power.
ReplyDeleteWhat always surprises me is that so many working-class Americans vote for the Republicans, who undermine their rights. Maybe they're cheated with all this
DeleteGod-and-guns-and-government-is-enemy stuff?