Wednesday, February 1, 2023

I grok Spock & Spock groks me!

 I grok Spock & Spock groks me!

Please support my classroom:

http://society6.com/calcpage

http://www.patreon.com/calcpage2020

https://www.redbubble.com/people/calcpage/shop

https://www.udemy.com/user/alvar-garcia-fernandez

We interrupt our regularly scheduled blog post about Math and CS class to pay our respects to a great actor, poet, photographer, artist and activist. I speak of course of the passing of the one and only Leonard Nimoy. 


Mr. Nimoy, perhaps best known for his portrayal of Mr. Spock in Star Trek The Original Series TV episodes and movies, passed Friday 2/27/15 due to complications related to COPD. Leonard was buried on Sunday 3/1/15 and I sat shiva, in spirit. 

At the time, I could not bring myself to write my regular blog post after such a shock. I knew he was in the hospital and that he was suffering with COPD for some time, but I had no idea he was near death! 

Mr. Nimoy was such an inspiration to many people of my generation.  He inspired many fellow artists. He was very active in the Orthodox Jewish community. Last, but not least, I don't think it is an exaggeration to say that he inspired an entire generation of new scientists.

I grew up with Star Trek on TV and NASA's Apollo missions to the Moon. If it weren't for Leonard, I may not have pursued a career in the Sciences, much less become a teacher of STEAM. I owe a lot to Mr. Nimoy. Growing up, he was one of my idols. Due to his positive example in my life, I was very much like Spock: stoic, intellectual and confident. Over the years, after installing, troubleshooting and reinstalling PC Labs over and over, I think I've gravitated more toward Chief Engineer Scotty: "The Miracle Worker." I know my son, the doctor, was influenced by Bones McCoy. However, I myself, learned a lot from Spock.

Of course, Mr. Nimoy is also known for his work on The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, Night Gallery and In Search Of TV episodes as well as several movies. He even made several records including one with a song about the hobbit of hobbits, Bilbo Baggins! Leonard is also known for recordings about teaching and sharing his Jewish faith.

Mr. Nimoy, ever humble, accomplished quite a bit during his lifetime. Leonard came from a modest family which emigrated from Russia to the Bronx. His father was a barber. His family did not think that acting would be the best career choice for him, but I am grateful he made that choice.

I never met Leonard. I wish I had. I have seen him on YouTube at several conferences. I did meet George Takei, Majel Barret Roddenberry and Harlan Ellison at I-CON, but that's as close as I got to the Star Trek Legends. The last time we saw Mr. Sulu, my eldest son was a teenager. He had the bright idea of getting hold of Mr. Takei's tea cup that he drank from during his Q&A so we could sell it on E-Bay in the early days of online auctions. However, someone else beat us to it....
 
Here's one of his last posts on his Twitter feed:
"A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP"

Well, that's all I have to say for now. I find that I am uncharacteristically at a loss for words....

No more, Mr. is greatly missed!

Well, that's all folks.

Be well,

A. Jorge Garcia

Applied Math & CS

Nassau Community College


Well, that's all folks!

HTH & stay safe,


A. Jorge Garcia

Teaching With Technology:
Coding since 1975,
HS Math & Physics since 1984,
College Math & CompSci since 1993,
 Linux Clusters since 2002,
CAS since 2011,
Retirement since 2020?
 
AP Computer Science: 1988-2019
AP Calculus BC: 1993-2018 
Applied Math, Physics and CS

Please support my classroom:
www.patreon.com/calcpage2020

https://www.udemy.com/user/alvar-garcia-fernandez

calcpage.redbubble.com

society6.com/calcpage

https://www.ebay.com/usr/sffbclub  



2017 NYS Secondary Math PAEMST Nominee

pastebin youtube slideshare

(IDEs & Code)
MATH 4H, AP CALC, CSH: SAGECELL
APCSA: code.cs50.io
APCSA: replit.com
Jupyter: CoLab

(Curriculae)
CSH: CodeHS
CSH: Code.org
APCSA: Big Java
APCSA: CSAwesome
APCSA: AP Central

RECOMMENDED AP COMPSCI REVIEW:
CRIB SHEET (given during exam)
FREE TEXTBOOKS
REVIEW BARRONS ONLINE 
REVIEW APCENTRAL (past FRQs)
REVIEW EDX REVIEW MOOC01 
REVIEW UDEMY REVIEW MOOC02 
REVIEW CODING_BAT 
REVIEW PRACTICE_IT 
REVIEW RUNESTONE 
AUDIT CS50

RECOMMENDED AP CALCULUS REVIEW:
CRIB SHEET (not given during exam) 
FREE TEXTBOOKS
REVIEW BARRONS ONLINE 
REVIEW APCENTRAL (latest AB FRQs)
REVIEW APCENTRAL (latest BC FRQs)
REVIEW APCENTRAL (older AB FRQs)
REVIEW APCENTRAL (older BC FRQs)
REVIEW EDX MOOC01 
REVIEW COURSERA MOOC02

XTRA CREDIT FILKS RUBRIC 
(1 video = up to 5 bonus points):
1) Use a recognizable tune.
2) Karaoke entire song changing up the words (about STEAM).
3) You are Singing, Dancing or Playing an instrument.
4) You upload your video to YouTube and provide the url.
5) YouTube Description includes the lyrics.

XTRA CREDIT ARTICLES RUBRIC
(up to 5 articles = 1 bonus point each):
1) Cover Sheet is a Summary of the article.
2) FullPage, 12 pt, DoubleSpaced, 1" Margin.
3) Article has to be STEAM related
4) Article has to be a current event.
5) Copy of entire article is attached.

NOTE TO READER:
In recent years our independent study class has been about the care and feeding of Linux Clusters: How to Build A Cluster, How To Program A Cluster and What Can We Do With A Cluster? 

BTW, Shadowfax is the name of the cluster we build! FYI, we offer 4 computing courses: 

CSH: Computer Science Honors with an introduction to coding in Python using SAGE, IDLE, VIDLE and Trinket, 

CSA: AP Computer Science A using CS50, this IDE and this IDE and OpenProcessing, 

CSI: Computing Science Independent Study using OpenMPI and 

CSL: Computing Science Lab which is a co-requisite for Calculus students using Computer Algebra Systems such as SAGE.

====================
CIS(theta) aka CSI
Membership Hall Of Fame!

CIS(theta)* 2020-2021: 
DiegoM(12), GeordiP(12), MattB(12), MattO(12), MelanyeCG(12), NickE(12), WilliamF(12)
*Honorable Mention: I retired before we got to start our project this year...

CIS(theta) 2019-2020:
AaronH(12), AidanSB(12), JordanH(12), PeytonM(12)

CIS(theta) 2018-2019:
GaiusO(11), GiovanniA(12), JulianP(12), TosinA(12)

CIS(theta) 2017-2018:
BrandonB(12), FabbyF(12), JoehanA(12), RusselK(12)

CIS(theta) 2016-2017: 
DanielD(12), JevanyI(12), JuliaL(12), MichaelS(12), YaminiN(12)

CIS(theta) 2015-2016: 
BenR(11), BrandonL(12), DavidZ(12), GabeT(12), HarrisonD(11), HunterS(12), JacksonC(11), SafirT(12), TimL(12)

CIS(theta) 2014-2015: 
BryceB(12), CheyenneC(12), CliffordD(12), DanielP(12), DavidZ(12), GabeT(11), KeyhanV(11), NoelS(12), SafirT(11)

CIS(theta) 2013-2014: 
BryanS(12), CheyenneC(11), DanielG(12), HarineeN(12), RichardH(12), RyanW(12), TatianaR(12), TylerK(12)

CIS(theta) 2012-2013: 
Kyle Seipp(12)

CIS(theta) 2011-2012: 
Graham Smith(12), George Abreu(12), Kenny Krug(12), Lucas Eager-Leavitt(12)

CIS(theta) 2010-2011: 
David Gonzalez(12), Herbert Kwok(12), Jay Wong(12), Josh Granoff(12), Ryan Hothan(12)

CIS(theta) 2009-2010: 
Arthur Dysart(12), Devin Bramble(12), Jeremy Agostino(12), Steve Beller(12)

CIS(theta) 2008-2009: 
Marc Aldorasi(12), Mitchel Wong(12)

CIS(theta) 2007-2008: 
Chris Rai(12), Frank Kotarski(12), Nathaniel Roman(12)

CIS(theta) 1988-2007: 
A. Jorge Garcia, Gabriel Garcia, James McLurkin, Joe Bernstein, ... too many to mention here!
====================
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