Σκέψεις...

Ξεκινάω το τελευταίο post του 2006 στο απαστράτπον word 2007 (thanks καράμπελα!). Από το νέο έτος το blog κλείνει 2 έτη ύπαρξης, κοντά στα 500 post και θα επανάλθει με νέο look (τώρα που ο blogger έφυγε και από beta), και μόνο στα ελληνικά (για λόγους τους οποίους θα εξηγήσω αργότερα).

Συνηθίζεται να γράφει κανείς στο τέλος μιας χρονιάς για τα σημαντικότερα πράγματα και γεγονότα που συνέβησαν. Δεν το έχω κάνει, αλλά φέτος υπάρχουν δύο πράγματα τα οποία υπήρχαν στο μυαλό μου σχεδόν ολόκληρο το χρόνο, και πιστεύω πως κοιτώντας πίσω σε μερικά χρόνια θα θυμόμαστε το 2006 για αυτά. Το ένα θέμα είναι τεχνολογικό (αναγκαστικά) και το άλλο πλανητικό. Θα τα μοιραστώ λοιπόν.

Δεν ξέρω πόσοι έχετε δει το εξώφυλλο του χριστουγεννιάτικου Time, όπου παραδοσιακά στο τελευταίο τεύχος της χρονιάς δημοσιεύουν το Person of the Year. Φέτος είχαν ένα παραθυράκι του Youtube με ένα καθρεφτίζον φύλλο πάνω: YOU.

Φέτος ήταν η χρονιά που το web πραγματικά εξελίχθηκε. Πριν μια δεκαετία τα πρώτα site που σήμερα είναι παντοκράτορες έκαναν το ντεμπουτο τους: Amazon, eBay, yahoo, google (λίγο αργότερα) και άλλα. Φέτος όμως μια άλλη γενιά site εκανε μπουμ: youtube, myspace, Wikipedia, digg, και φυσικά τα δεκάδες εκατομμυρίων blog. Όλα αυτά έχουν το κοινό στοιχείο πως ο κόσμος ανεβάζει και δημιουργεί περιεχόμενο. Βίντεο στο youtube, σελίδες στο myspace, άρθρα στη Wikipedia, ειδήσεις στο digg, και φυσικά όλα τα προσωπικά και μή ημερολόγια στα blogs. Αν προσθέσει κανείς σε αυτά το Second Life, τον online virtual κόσμο όπου πλέον πάνω από 2,000,000 άνθρωποί ζούνε ψηφιακά, είναι φανερή η κλίση που υπάρχει: δεν αρκούμαστε πια σε στατικά site που κάποιος άλλος έφτιαξε για εμάς. Ο κόσμος δημιουργεί τώρα σελίδες και υλικό και το ανεβάζει μόνος του. Μόνο στο youtube 65,000 videos ανεβαίνουν κάθε ημέρα, με περισσότερα από 100,000,000 views κάθε μήνα. Τα βιντεάκια της lonelygirl15 που δίχασαν τους πάντες το περασμένο καλοκαίρι τα είδαν εκατομμύρια κόσμου προσπαθώντας να μαντέψουν αν είναι αληθινά ή στημένα (τελικώς στημένα, αλλά αυτό δεν μείωσε την εμπορικότητά τους). Το όλο αυτό φαινόμενο σφραγίστηκε όταν το google αγόρασε για $1.6B το youtube τον οκτώβρη, μια εταιρεία δεν έχει καν 2 χρόνια ζωής απασχολώντας καμια 100 άτομα όλα και όλα. Τώρα που τα bandwidths αυξάνουν (και κυρίως το upload), έχει ενδιαφέρον να δούμε που θα πάει αυτό.

Το δεύτερο και πιο σοβαρό γεγονός είναι ότι (στα μάτια τουλάχιστον) το φαινόμενο του θερμοκηπίου όχι μόνο έχει πια επιβεβαιωθεί και εδραιωθεί αλλά μου φαίνεται είναι και αργά να κάνουμε κάτι πια (δεδομένου ότι σε 1-2 χρόνια οι τακτικές δεν αλλάζουν αστραπιαία). Ανήκω πιστεύω στην τελευταία γενιά που ζει και καταναλώνει και αναπτύσεται ξέγνοιαστα. Τα παιδιά μας θα αντιμετωπίσουν έναν πολύ διαφορετικό κόσμο: Ο συγκατοικός μου ο Andrew επιστρέφοντας φέτος στον Καναδά εξεπλάγην που για πρώτη φορά στα χρονικά δεν υπήρχε χιόνι Χριστογεννιάτικα. Μέχρι το 2050 ολόκληρος ο Βόρειος Πόλος θα έχει λιώσει. Ο μισός Αμαζόνιος μέχρι το 2040 θα έχει υλοτομηθεί. Το 1/3 όλων των ψαριών παγκοσμίως έχουν αλιευτεί. Η Κίνα θα ξεπεράσει σύντομα την Αμερική σε ρυθμούς αναπτυξης, ζήτηση για πετρέλαιο και φυσικά μόλυνση του περιβάλλοντος. Το πετρέλαιο και αυτό τελειώνει σύντομα και μετά θα γίνει σφαγή για τις εναλλακτικές πηγές ενέργειας. Δεν υπάρχει πια εβδομάδα να περνάει και να μην διαβάζω κάποιο άρθρο για τις συνέπειές στο περιβάλλον. Φωνάζει ο καημένος ο Al Gore αλλά δε φτάνει...

Την πιο ρεαλιστική απεικόνιση του μέλλοντος σε 50-100 χρόνια δεν την έχω δει πουθενά. Φυσικά και δεν πρόκειται να πνιγουν οι πόλεις στο νερό. Αλλά θα δούμε «σύντομα» μπαριέρες στα σύνορα του Μανχάταν και η πόλη θα είναι υποβυθισμένη και κάτω από το υψόμετρο της θαλάσσιας στάθμης

Χωρίς να κάνω πλάκα, αγοράστε σπίτια σε ελαφρώς βουνίσιες περιοχές (σε υψόμετρο και με δροσούλα) που να είναι σχετικά αυτάρκεις. Ευτυχώς στην ελλάδα έχουμε πάμπολλες τέτοιες και θα μπορέσουμε να ζήσουμε και χωρίς πετρέλαιο.

Anyway, πάω να τελειώσω να βλέπω το Love Actually, την καλύτερη Χριστουγεννιάτικη ταινία ever (την βλέπω κάθε χρόνο στις γιορτές από τότε που βγήκε). Και μετά θα το γυρίσω σε τίποτα Douglas Adams.

Ελληνικές Εντυπώσεις

Η Ελλάδα είναι πολύ περίεργη χώρα. Επίσης είναι μια χώρα πολύ άσχημη οπτικά. Δεν μιλάω για την φύση και τις θάλλασσες, αλλά για τις πόλεις μας. Ερχόμενοι από το ΛΑ πριν λίγες μέρες, και εγώ και τη Ντόρα κάναμε πλάκα για την επιστροφή μας σε ένα μικρό Αφγανιστάν. Ακούγεται ιδιότροπο, και δεν το είχα καταλάβει όσο ζούσα εδώ αλλά τελικά όπου ζει κανείς συνηθίζει μετά από μερικά χρόνια και δεν έχει σημασία το περιβάλλον. Βλέπεις τα άσχημα κάθε μέρα και περνάς απαθής. Αλλά όταν βλέπεις διαφορά με έξω, τότε είναι αρκετά πιο προφανές και ενοχλεί.

Ως έλληνες είμαστε απίστευτα ατομιστές. Δεν μας νοιάζει καθόλου το κοινωνικό σύνολο εκτός αν πρόκειται να βολευτούμε εμείς. Τα σπίτια μας είναι τέλεια και άψογα, αφού πάω σε διάφορα σπίτια και όλα είναι στην εντέλεια, ένας καθρέφτης των ανθρώπων που ζουνε μέσα. Και φυσικά με φίλους μας τα περνάμε άψογα, διότι είμαστε ζεστοί με τον κόσμο που ξέρουμε. Αλλά με τον κόσμο που δεν γνωρίζουμε?

Εκεί το χάος. Βγαίνεις από τα λουσάτα σπίτια σε κακοσχεδιασμένα και μικρά πεζοδρόμια, δρόμους χάλια, πανάσχημες πολυκατοικίες να κόβουν την θέα, αμάξια να σου κόβουν το δρόμο 9 στις 10 περιπτώσεις, πράσινα πάρκα μηδέν, και πολλά πολλά άλλα. Πας σε άλλες χώρες της Ευρώπης και στις ΗΠΑ και είναι το αντίθετο: κόσμος πιο ψυχρός, που δεν θα γίνουν ποτέ κολλητοί σου, ΑΛΛΑ ότι έχει να κάνει με το κοινωνικό σύνολο είναι άψογο: νοσοκομεία, σχολεία, πάρκα, πόλεις... όλα είναι σχεδιασμένα με μεράκι και όρεξη, ώστε να βοηθείται ο άγνωστος, ο "ξένος" κόσμος όσο γίνεται καλύτερα.

Υπάρχει κάπου μέση λύση?

PSP Experience

I bought a PSP after a request of my brother that he needs it in the lazy hours of guarding the post (he is serving the 12 month mandatory greek military serving). After I opened it I couldn't leave it off my hands for more than 6 hours... this thing is just amazing! I uploaded to the 1GB memory photos and Mp3s, and I watched the movie that they supply together. Then I spent 3 hours to try and get the divx encoded tv shows I had downloaded to play on the PSP. Apparently it is one of the most hacked systems ever! I even show screenshots with the thing running windows...! My top moment was when I connected to the wireless router in my house and I started browsing the internet, and I connected to gmail and started reading my emails... I almost cried from happiness... it was a true geek moment... thank you Sony!

By the way Sony sucks. All this proprietary formats are all crap, and they make everyone's life harder. Haven't they learned from their mistakes? Betamax? mini-disc? and now UMD? (not to mention blue-ray!) Only UMD video discs play in the PSP, and then videos in mp4 or h.264 format. Anything else has to be converted with a 3rd party program. I think they would have had a huge success if they had left everything free. Who would buy a UMD disc that will probably be useless a few years from now? Nintendo on the other hand is also proprietary but has kept backward compatibility: gameboy cartidges from the 1980s (black and white) still play fine on the state of the art nintendo DS!

I also connected with USB2 to my laptop to download the files and downloaded on the fly a new version for the "PSP-OS". You can connect your camera directly and download photos, or use infrared to exchange stuff with another PSP. Plus the screen is a crystal clear 16:9 480x272 pixels with 16.7 million colors, which beats the iPod by far!

Oh, it runs games too...

Cool stuff

Apple's Macbook have build in a Sudden Motion Sensor. It is basically an accelerometer that detects when the computer may by dropping and immediately turns off the hard drive so that they are not damaged during the impact. However people can use the input from the Sudden Motion Sensor to do various stuff. This guy specifically used bluetooth connection to control his Roomba (a robotic cleaner) just by tilting the Macbook! The cool video is presented here.

Studio 60

There are two new tv shows that stand out (for me) this year. The first one is Heroes, for which I have very mixed feelings but I think it has a lot of potential. The other one is Studio 60, a show (with Mathew "Chandler" Perry as the main lead) about the life inside a studio preparing a show. In the last episode they had to prepare a Christmas show, and here is one of the dialogs in the conference room, which at the same time reflects a lot about Los Angeles and how life is here:


- What about ... Christmas? (pointing at a Christmas tree)
- What about it?
- It's our Christmas show...!
- Yeah... I thought we would ignore that.
- And why? - Because It's LA and it's 85 degrees outside
- We are doing a Christmas show!
- LA just doesn't feel like Christmas
- We are going to make it feel like Christmas
- Take my advice and let's screw Christmas!
- Screw Christmas? Look, I hate Los Angeles like everybody else but I have to work here because in any other part of the country I am unemployable!

Lake Tahoe - PArt 2

continued from previous post...

I decided to split this Lake Tahoe megapost into two parts, because people were complaining that they don't have the patience to read the long posts (aka Έλλη). So after we ran away from the bears in the previous post and reached Emerald Bay, we took a few interesting pictures. Here's a nice picture with me and Dora:


and also here is a group picture (it was right before the other 3 guys were to join us):



After that we decided to travel to Tahoe City, a small town in the north and west side of the lake. Nothing too fancy, but there a couple of nice stores and restaurants. It was dawn at that time and I manages to take the following pic overviewing the lake and the clouds:


Incredible photo in my opinion... you can only get the reflection of the clouds if there is a lake (due to the fact there are no waves), and also you need a lake large enough to reflect them, and at the same time it has to be the right time of the day. I got all these 3 requirements here.


When we went back to our house, we started preparations for the big BBQ with steaks and salmon (wtf?) that we had planned. Here is the steak tower:



Here is a group picture with everyone around the fire:




The fact that we had to grill the salmon also was disgusting (to myself at least):


Later that night we played taboo, and then gathered around the fireplace and played Mafia (palermo) for over 4 hours... It was great fun as it has become one of my favorite games ever. There is just so much into this game. It is a must for groups of around 10 people (preferably if they know eachother!).


On the next day we had to decide how to spend the 3 hours of daylight we had (since by the time that everyone has to wake up, have breakfast, shower, prepare for the car trip and actually get there it was 1pm). We visited Emerald's Bay again, where I took some more beautiful pictures:

Then we decided to go for the hike that is exactly opposite of the bay. I hoped it would be a good choice since I failed to pick a trail without bears the day before:-) And in fact it was a great choice. It was the second best hike I have ever done (after the memorable Vernal Falls trail in Yosemite in May with the falls pouring water at full power!). The most original thing was the snow. Half of the path was covered in snow or ice (making it extremely hard to walk), plus as you go and climb up you get great views of lake Tahoe, plus the other smaller lake that is nearby (it was the first picture of the previous post), and at the same time the mountains are slightly covered in snow thus presenting extraordinary views. At the end we reached some half frozen falls...

Here is a view of the south shore of the lake as we saw it from up there:



After the hike we travelled to Tahoe City again for a few souvenirs, and we also went for dinner in an excellent restaurant called Jake's (on the right side of the road after the shops, ~$30 a person) by the lake. Over there we got our second to last group picture:



My only complain from the trip thus far was the fact that although there was snow in the ground, it didn't snow at all while we were there. This is a good thing on the one hand because we could go outside and play and walk and have fun and see around (yes, all 3 hours every day!). But on the last day, right when we were about to leave, it started snowing! We had to return the house keys by 12:00 noon and at 11:51 we took this great picture in front of our house:




We left at noon but it too us 12.5 hours to cover the 500 miles back to LA! The 5 freeway that connects California in the North-South axis has two lanes per direction but it was completely jammed around 6pm on that thanksgiving Sunday. It is an amazing feeling when you look around and all you see is dark and no lights for miles around you, however the freeway is completely packed with cars that barely move at 10mph! Despite California's 44M population, it is vastly empty...

The way back was not a waste of time. The fact that we had a minivan allowed us to have fun inside the car for almost all the way. People moved around, we told jokes, discussed, and ate. At some point, 6 hours after we had left Lake Tahoe, we realize we are still 300 miles away from LA! So we said "ok guys, we need to find something to discuss for the rest of the trip or else we will be bored to death". And then we had some of the most insightful discussions of the trip, with three main topics:

1. Do you believe in God?
2. Do you think there are alien life forms?
3. What is the difference between a scientist and an engineer?

I will return on the ideas put forth regarding these topics in a future post.


All in all, Lake Tahoe is a great place to have fun when you have good company. USC people traditionally went to lake tahoe in large groups over the past 5 years at least, and now it was our time. The minivan, the good company, the great house, plus the fact that we all were of similar attitude (for example no one wanted to sleep early or wake up too early for activities) helped in the creation of a most unique atmosphere. The place is not as beautiful as Yosemite (which still holds #1 for me in terms of physical beauty), but it is much more fun. I would like to visit in the summer too to watch the difference, although the cold and the fact that we had to gather inside the house with the fireplace made it an excellent short vacation. Everyone left happy!



(This is the huge matrix I created the day after we returned in order to divide and share the different costs of the trip...)

Lake Tahoe - Part 1

There is one thing that I have to give credit to California: no other state it he US has so much beautiful scenery all packed together within a day's trip. Its 3 vastly different big cities (San Diego, Los Angeles, San Fransisco) are surrounded by countless beaches, numerous ski resorts, exhilarating national parks, deserts, mountains, cliffs, valleys.... the list just keeps growing. Here is another beautiful spot that we found out in our recent visit at Lake Tahoe:

Lake Tahoe (the blue waters at the far background) is a huge lake at an altitude of 2km. In this picture above you can see another smaller lake in the foreground and at a slightly higher altitude. They are separated by and surrounded by pine trees. it is one of the most popular vacation destinations in the US because especially in the winter one can do skiing and other winter activities while in the environment of the waters and the lake. For example, look at this amazing picture on the right (not by me) with the slope overlooking the lake. It is breathtaking...










So we decided to go there for our thanksgiving weekend. We were a group of 7 people that left altogether in a minivan (it was so much fun!) and we were joined on the next day by 3 more guys from USC. We rented a nice house near the lake (it was $300 a day, and it has 4 bedrooms) and the first thing we noticed when we got there it was how perfect it was: fully equipped kitchen, living room, fireplace, BBQ, everything was there! The only items we had to buy was some supplies like food and drinks.

We had to drive a full 9 hours to get there (including stops), it is 500miles from LA. When we got there it was thanksgiving day (which means there are no people around, everyone is dining at a friendly place). We thought we were the only people in the lake, but fortunately we found an open restaurant that served traditional turkey dinner (although myself I got a steak again). This is were we took our first group picture:




This is a view of a typical bedroom in our house:

This is about 1/3 of the room; there is a double bed on the other side of the picture.


In the night I felt for the first time this year some winter. I found this CD i had downloaded (legally and free, from Ruckus) named "The most relaxing piano something". I had it playing. We started the fireplace and we turned off all the lights in the house, and just sat around the fire talking...



So the first day was extremely tiring as you realize:-) In the following day we got up, ate breakfast, prepared, and set off to hind a good hike around the lake. At this time of the year (late November) there is not much snow around to allow skiing.

I found a trail that looked interesting on the guide I had brought with me (Lonely Planet's California). When we got there there weren't many people, but there must have been bears around since the only marks we found on the snow were bear prints:


Some people in the group (aka Melania) were scared. Our reaction was this:

( it is not a fake picture!)

So we ran away. Since we had 2 hours before it got dark (which is 4pm), we went on the west side of the lake, in a place called Emerald Bay, one of the best natural ports and also one of the most photographed places anywhere in the world:

to be continued...

Lake Tahoe Intro

The opening credits of the video I made for the Lake Tahoe trip is ready. The blog is coming soon!

And old friend

(or my story as a phd admission candidate)


Eli Yablonovitch came from UCLA today to give a talk here at USC. He is the founder of the field of photonic crystals, which are used to manipulate light in the same way that transistors manipulate electrons. Photonic crystals will eventually be used for photonic computers - a superfast computer that used light instead of electric currents to calculate.

The guy has huge prestige in his field (as I now have learned). He founded the field, he had the first original ideas, he was the first to demonstrate them experimentally, and now he is the founder of two companies trying to manufacture these things. He has an interesting scientific american article that is available for download here. He even has his name on a material, Yablonovite.

Although I met him for the first time today, I have a long story with him. In a sense, he determined my future as a scientist without him even knowing it.

It was back in February of 2003 when I was waiting to hear back from the graduate schools in the US regarding my application for a PhD. UCLA was the first to respond, and this guy sends me an email that I quote here:

Efthymios: Congratulations, you are being considered for a Fellowship in my Research Group at UCLA. I wonder if we can schedule a telephone call to follow up. Please let me know what telephone number you can be reached at, and when I should call. Eli Y.


I was amazed when I saw this. My first response from the US was a fellowship at his group! I didn't have any idea back then regarding who he is or what he does other than the fact that he worked on a field that I was interested at. I later realized that my ignorance was a good thing as in any other case I might have accepted the offer immediately. But we decided to talk on the phone. So he called at my crappy apartment at 9pm on a Friday night, and discussed a little bit about his research and what I was doing. He seemed like a nice guy, and the fellowship sound very good. However I was inexperienced with the process, and since UCLA was my first response so early, I decided not to accept. I said to him that I would wait for other universities to answer before I decide. And he said it would be fine.

On March 20th, about a month later, this is our email exchange:


I don't agree that Stanford is necessarily a better choice than
UCLA. In the meantime, I understand that Financial Aid will be essential
for you to be able to study here. We will be able to say more about
Financial Aid after March 31.
Eli Y.

>So I am still waiting replies from Stanford (they say until March 30th) and
>Georgia Tech, Illinois. I am not in a position to know when they are going
>to respond, and that is why I would like to know whether or not I have to
>reply to you up to a certain date ( I do not know what the admission
>procedures are, deadlines, funding, etc).
>I just don't want delay on my behalf to cost my admission in UCLA.
>
>Thank you,
>Efthymios Kallos



For some reason I preferred to go Stanford rather than UCLA. If I knew this guy better, I would have said yes earlier. I now realize that waiting that long was a mistake (in trying to go into his group!). On April 7 of 2003, one week before the April 15th deadline for admission, after being rejected from Stanford and Illinois I sent him an email telling I would like to join his group.


Efthymios:
You are currently on the waiting list for Financial Support. The
situation should be more clear in about 2 weeks.
Eli Y.

At 08:43 AM 4/7/03, you wrote:
>Prof. Yablonovich:
>
>I would like to tell you that I am now ready to join your group, provided
>that I get adequate financial aid. I would appreciate it if you could
>inform me in detail on this matter, and if there is anything I can do on
>my behalf.
>
>Thank you,
>Efthymios Kallos

By then I realize that the fellowship is gone! I was in a waiting list for financial aid, which is nothing... And I have to decide on where to go within 7 days! Slightly in panic regarding my future, I email him on the next day:

At 02:54 PM 4/8/03, you wrote:
>I am sorry for bothering you again, but this is important for me:
>
>At this point, can you give me any clue regarding the *probability* of
>getting some kind of financial aid? If you think that it is probable that I
>won't get any kind of support, I would like to know it so as to keep a
>failsafe choice of mine open. ( most admission decision deadlines expire
>after April 15th)
>
>Thank you,
>Efthymios Kallos


His cold reply was:

Efthymios:
The safe thing would be to accept the offer that you have. If you
don't mind, I'd like to know which University that is.
Eli Y.


So he rejects me. Maybe he found another student to do what he needed? Maybe he didn't care anymore? I cannot tell. His last reply is as following:

Efthymios:
At 02:17 AM 4/9/03, you wrote:
>Actually there are 2 offers: from Univ. of Michigan (which expires in a
>week) and from Ohio State (they have not set an absolute deadline yet).

I think it would be best to accept one of those offers.

>I thought that once I decided to enroll at ucla the financial aid wouldn't
>be a problem.

There is no financial aid for you at UCLA, I regret. The waiting
list is now closed.
Eli Y.



I got this email on a Wednesday, April 9th 2003. On Tuesday the deadlines for admission expired. But my response had to get to the university of my choice by regular mail by that day, so I had to send it by Friday April 11th in order to get to the US by Tuesday. Essentially, I had the day of Thursday, April 10th 2003 to make a decision about my whole future. The decision I would make on that day would probably determine all the rest of my life.

So I went to my drawer where I kept all the admittance letters and scanned through the, quickly to decide where I would want to do my PhD at. I had never looked at them carefully because up until that day I was sure I would the financial aid at UCLA. I didn't have a plan B.

I had 4 offers with financial support: University of Maryland, Ohio State (which has the best Electromagnetics lab around), University of Southern California (USC) and University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. The last one was the best in terms of academic quality (it ranks just behind MIT, Stanford and Berkeley). I just went to the various websites and looked around... and I thought... USC... Los Angeles... sounds good. I didn't want 7 feet of snow above my head by mid-November like in Michigan.

Fast forward to September of the same year, 2003. Due to my decision on that life-altering Thursday, I was in a welcome committee for new PhD students with all the professors in my department of electrical engineering. I sit next to Tom Katsouleas, one of the professors there.

Tom: "What's yout name?"

Me: "Themos Kallos"

Tom: "Oh, I was looking for you! I thought you would come to see me sometime soon."

Me:"OK, I'll stop by."


So I went by his office were he told me that due to my physics courses I had taken and the excellent recommendation by Hizanides (with whom I had one of the most weird courses ever - on plasma physics). I joined his group soon after, and on the day of my first group meeting a new proposal had just been accepted: about an experiment at Brookhaven's ATF facility. And this is now becoming my PhD thesis.

But now back to Yablonovitch. I had always been curious to see how does this guy look like, how does he talk like, and could I tell why he rejected me at UCLA? And when I saw the poster for his talk here at USC last week I knew I would be the first to attend.

In fact, I went so early that the doors were locked... So I waited a few minutes until the doors opened. And I immediately recognized him: kind of short guy, with some beard and a very very sharp look. There is no question he is smart. But the rest of his posture told another story: the story of the former scientist that is now becoming a businessman. Formal suit, tie, nice shoes, and kind of stiff in his facial expressions. It was exactly the guy I wanted to avoid!

That is a problem with many professors at UCLA. They don't care much about the science anymore, they just want to start a company and make money and become (more) famous. I do not think I like that approach. Katsouleas and Muggli that control our group are vastly different (ok, Katsouleas walks around in a tie but only because he is in committees that will actually help the university - he wants to improve things academically). But Patric walks around in his jeans and he makes informal jokes and he fits loosely in his surroundings. He and Tom care about the science for the sake of science: our group not does care about producing devices - we care about the physics. There will be no commercial application of what we do in the near future - and we frankly don't care! We go for lunch and we discuss relativity and wonder why the speed of light is constant or why have we not communicated with aliens or why Europe is so much better than the US in the quality of life.

Anyway, I am getting too far with this. The bottom line is, when I see Tom talking about our field you see a spark in his eyes, a wish of a young child that wants to play around and learn more and more, and you admire him. You look into Eli's eyes and all you see is a smart person that will do everything to get his product finished. And that is the difference between science and business.