[Pride] Yes! I am significant!

Here is some motif for being proud:

And some food for thought:


We face uncertain times ahead.
The brightness of all of our futures
is in a state of quantum uncertainty.
Unknown until we probe it.

Our climate, our health, our sustained existence,
they are all open questions.
Now, more than ever, we need knowledge.
And we need to have this knowledge spread.

The real significance in a conference such as this one
is in the unexpected interactions,
the collateral collaborations, if you will.
We are entangled, our fates tightly correlated.

And the best way to get through these tough times
is for all of us to work together.

--
Jorge Cham, PhD the Movie 2, via character Dr Bernie Dukosky

[Thoughts] "Universities become increasingly businesslike"

I read recently this article from "The Guardian" which is putting words on a recurrent feeling that I had for some long time (probably for the last 8 years), that the managers of the university of Chile (and more generally of the academic life in Chile, and to some extent in the world) are trying to reproduce production models from the business world (e.g. producing cars) to a world which, as its very fundation is creativity (e.g. inventing new types of tools), as much more to do with artistic models.

It is an interesting read, but in case you are to stressed out to take the time to read it, here are some selected quotes which ringed a bell for me:


"research indicating nearly half of academics show symptoms of psychological distress."

"instances of depression, sleep issues, eating disorders, alcoholism, self-harming, and even suicide attempts"

"growing stress levels among academics prompted by heavy workloads, a long hours culture and conflicting management demands."

"Academics experience higher stress than those in the wider population"

"chair of the higher education occupational physicians committee, blamed <> for rising levels of mental health problems among academics."

"feeling guilty if they're not working seven days a week."

"Academics and researchers can become isolated and not realise how "out of kilter" their working lives are"

"There's still a degree of 'if you can't stand the heat, you shouldn't be here'," (...) "still people in senior positions in academia who actually don't care".

"notion of students as customers" an administrative of the department truly referred to students as customers.

"universities become increasingly businesslike"

"Some of our supervisors publicly and proudly exchanged stories of failed marriages as if this was the ultimate proof of their devotion to research"

[Fun] Clarinette on Rola Bola

I have been practicing a show where I play the clarinette on the Rola Bola.
I won't publish till ready, but here you can see some practice with another tune.
Thanks to A. for the filming and the laughing ;)

[Red Noses] Suspicions of an Epidemy in Santiago, Chile

Specialists say that "the existing information about the infection vector is confusing at best, since there seemed to be both local and foreign components in the infection".

The officials are praying that this won't go viral: "Chile is a very small country: even if such an epidemy touches only one person in, let's say, five, it could very well bring a genuine smile to the remaining 80%, and that would really be the end of Chile as we know it!".

We will keep our readers updated as the situation evolves.

[Santiago] Brown Air

Wednesday I went to an Astronomy observatory one on of Santiago 's hills in one of the "good"  neighbourhood, for a meeting. I took the following picture :