Patterns, simulations and bird poo

You can find patterns everywhere, in your hand, in the tiles on the footpath, on your darling's face, and every perceptible and imperceptible object, events and everything in between. That's what the past week or so has been all about. A huge number of tests (four<<huge but then four>>>toil) and a lot of practicals. The tests have been generally bad, but i shan't whine. Its the practicals. Its the discussions in the practicals. I love to write 'em. Period. But then I've been rushing to complete the practicals themselves and pages lie blank in my file, begging for a discussion worth writing. And so the last few nights have been wasted trying to find a pattern in all this. Let me explain. To write a discussion, you need to have 1)performed the experiment (i mean it with a capital P) 2) you need to have thought about it as well . Now, I'll be honest and say that I've not followed both tenets at the same instant in a few practicals (not my fault) .

So to write a discussion, I've been imagining myself doing the experiment and what not. And thats where the patterns come in. So here's what I'm imagining the pattern to be :
1) You've read about the experiment and are thoroughly convinced of its utility. Easy to do at home. Done.
2) You start with the experiment itself and follow the steps diligently. Hmmm...(imagine)... Done.
3) Take the results to a teacher who sends you back because there's an efficient method to do the same thing and tells you about it. (You know this has to happen, so you should set out to discover the method yourself right around this time).
4) You go back to the teacher, who asks you something really interesting(sic) and then sends you back. (Again, the onus to find the interesting bit is on your imagination).
5) you write a discussion about the interesting bit.

Most of these steps (not necessarily in the same order) happen again and again, time after time, experiment after experiment. So a pattern worth remembering. (Such enlightening thoughts you have only when you're lying down and wondering what to do looking at the ceiling).

Now the simulation. Been fine tuning the simulation of the N-coupled oscillator. Putting in some color now. Almost done. Had decided to talk about it the most but now, after having written so much about the patterns, not so excited about this anymore. Ok. Its cool. Period. It even plots phase space diagrams (just velocity vs position plots) and they are fractals! So, as I said, its cool. Period2.

Last but not the least, bird poo. The week has been extremely generous on me regarding the number of times I've been ordained with bird excreta. I've lost count as well as any disgust. So, here's to hoping that the next week settles a few chores (practicals, tests?) and unsettles the birds targeting me. Namaste