Purim...

So, Purim has just ended.  I have eaten way too much junk food, been plastered with too many stickers and had, probably a bit more alcohol than I should have given that I have school tomorrow.  O well... such is the holiday.

For those who do not know what Purim is, you can either Google it (or try a Bible specifically the book of Esther) or just know that the story comes down to "They tried to annihilate us, a woman outsmarted the king and his head of state, plot was uncovered and didn't work... let's eat and get drunk!".  This all happened in Persia about 2500 years ago... and for those who don't believe this specific story happened, one can find a pretty good recollection of it in the Persian records of the era.

Anyways, Friday evening, there was a debate on CBC's Ideas.  It was a debate on whether or not the world can tolerate a nuclear Iran.  For those who don't know their geography... the old Persian empire was based in a city called Shushan which, by archaeological records is not far from modern day Tehran. Now, this could all be coincidence, that it was this week that they had the show about the threat in Iran or that most Rabbis see the modern leader of Iran as the modern Haman (evil guy in the Purim story).  At the same time, politics, being what it is, says little is actually coincidence.

Either way, my point tonight... should it be coherent, it is in my head... is that the world tends to repeat itself. I wonder if it is because of the fact that we do not learn from the past or if it because we just don't want to deal with problems before they become too big to manage.

Reflection on Project Management

Today’s point that I am pondering is based more on the reflections of a class that I am taking rather than my regular musings about school, society and, at times, the stupidity of some assignments… Not this one but if you read the first post in this blog, you may understand my meaning. 

            So, the class is on project management.  It was a very short class that lasted only six weeks but nonetheless was filled with many intriguing and interesting things.  The main part of the course was learning about the different parts of managing a project, writing a proposal and the other aspects of what a project needs in order to complete the project.  Things like the scope and requirements for a project are things that, while it may not seem crucial actually are incredibly crucial. 

            Reality is, while I do not know what projects I will be working on over the course of the career, I have one heck of a huge project and set of events looming in the not so distant future, my wedding.  I mean sure, I probably won’t write out a Gantt Chart or a work breakdown in the same way as I would for a project for a company but things like a budget, risk, limitations and boundaries are things that I will need. Not only that but I definitely will need to deal with delegating tasks and keeping up to date on what everyone is up to.  This will probably be made harder by the fact that one of my main people is not in the country.

            In a way, this course is also incredibly helpful for some of the other courses I am taking.  Come to think of it, I could have used this kind of course years ago when trying to organize a bunch of things for a school group back in high school. 

            The course, however, went farther than just a straight “how to run a project” course.  It talked about how communicators often get stuck with the writing for many projects that they may not be completely knowledgeable about.  Basically, we need to know a bit about everything and just enough to be able to know where to find stuff on anything.  It is kind of fun but at the same time, it can be a bit overwhelming.

            That being said, this blog is named a point to ponder thus, to stay within the theme of my blog, I must make a ponderable point.  In a way, the point I have been pondering the entire class is whether or not I have learned enough about managing a project in just six weeks?  Is there more to learn?  Probably!  There always is but will the best way truly be just “on the job” training when I have been thrown into a project?  If so, how many of these skills will I have kept in the years it is likely to take before I am managing my own project rather than just working as part of a team on a company project? 

            While these questions run through my head on a constant basis, a more ponderable question is whether or not I am capable of actually running and managing a project.  Heck, even my wedding I am not “managing” on my own but rather with my mom and fiancé… when I can get more than a cursory response as input from him.  I know that I could, probably but at the same time, it is hard to believe that all the skills needed could be achieved in just six weeks.  I guess part of this is the mere fact that, honestly, I would rather follow than lead.  Anyone that really knows me knows this well enough. 

            I am sure that I have figured out as much as I can but at times, it is hard to believe.  Heck, my sister would likely roar with laughter if I mentioned that I would one day lead a project.  I help, I make things run but I don’t lead teams… according to her.  Well, potentially others too. At the same time, I cannot wait to find out if I can… maybe prove her wrong.  That would be fun.  Anyways, I guess today’s point to ponder is can I do this?  I sure hope so!

Too much time on our hands...

Today, as I was hunkering down for the storm of the season with a bowl of hot soup and cocoa, I was on Facebook and saw that a friend of mine posted an equation on how to create Batman through a Google search.  Apparently, last year, Google added the function to plot graphs in the search for math people who needed to check what a graph would look like quickly. Needless to say, it has since been used for other purposes as well.  

So, the equation that someone posted is 2 sqrt(-abs(abs(x)-1)*abs(3-abs(x))/((abs(x)-1)*(3-abs(x))))(1+abs(abs(x)-3)/(abs(x)-3))sqrt(1-(x/7)^2)+(5+0.97(abs(x-.5)+abs(x+.5))-3(abs(x-.75)+abs(x+.75)))(1+abs(1-abs(x))/(1-abs(x))),-3sqrt(1-(x/7)^2)sqrt(abs(abs(x)-4)/(abs(x)-4)),abs(x/2)-0.0913722(x^2)-3+sqrt(1-(abs(abs(x)-2)-1)^2),(2.71052+(1.5-.5abs(x))-1.35526sqrt(4-(abs(x)-1)^2))sqrt(abs(abs(x)-1)/(abs(x)-1))+0.9 

Now, for those math geeks out there, someone can explain it.  However, it begs the question, how exactly does one find out about this equation?  I mean, it isn't exactly a simple equation one would learn in math class, even advanced mathematics.   It would have to take a very mathematically inclined mind a while to figure out each part of the equation and then another while to figure out how to put it all together.  

Then, after this person puts it all together, it is put up on social media and goes viral... to the point that a person who hasn't seen an equation since grade 11 and really is no fan of Batman not only sees it but comment on it. 

I guess this week, my point to ponder is... do we generally have too much time on our hands that this is how we are keeping ourselves occupied?