Albert Einstein was once a tutor?

"Norbert Bartel included the rare newspaper ad shown as part of his talk Testing Einstein's Universe. The ad offers private tutoring by Albert Einstein in physics and mathematics. The last line entices students with a free trial hour."

Hmm, what can I say.

Thanksgiving! Time to express gratitude!

It’s been 3 months of studying and adapting to new environment in the University of Illinois as a freshman. Thanksgiving break gives us students a perfect stop to take a rest and reflect on something important before and after the break. Other than that, let’s not forget the original meaning of the “thanksgiving”. This is a time to express our appreciations to the givers.

The first givers that I can think of are my family, especially parents. Parents are givers of my life. Beside this simple yet powerful reason, they also support me to grow up to who I am now. The first step I made, the first words I spoke, the first character I wrote… All of these are impossible without their adequate care and patience. Moreover, as elderlies, they guide me to a right path when I am faced with challenges that I have never expected. They tell me how to react with their experiences and provisions. Yet more thankfully, because of the fact that their experiences and lives are unfortunately very limited so that I have to walk my path alone sooner or later, they choose to mitigate their teaching (or control) of me at the right time. That’s one of the reasons I’m here studying abroad in a brand new community here in U of I. I’ve learned quite a lot about dealing new problems alone since I found my way to campus from the airport (which marks the beginning of my life in the States).

The second givers that I think of are friends (if I can include teacher in this category). Friends are people that I can really rely on when I leave my parents. They understand me well (often from a different perspective than parents’) and share similar interests. For most of time, friends are supporters. They can give me ideas when I need them, give me a hand when I’m in trouble, etc. But sometimes, friends also stand out to point out my mistakes justly. They are against me just because they don’t hope to see me on a wrong path. This is in fact another kind of support if thinking this way. Actually, true friends are those who dare to point out my mistakes in front of me. The reason I include teachers here in the friend category is that, I think, I always learn something from my friends, no matter the younger friends or elderly friends. There is always something that my friend is good at but I’m not. Thus friends, unconsciously or consciously, give me lessons like teachers. Teachers, as a profession, are just consciously giving me lessons for most of the time. So, I view teachers as friends. After all, if I have the chance to keep in touch with teachers after I leave school, teachers and I will be friends in the end if you think about it.

Third but not the least, leaders can be givers as well. There are cases when I personally get something from leaders like leader’s courage, leader’s guide, etc. But I think as a leader, the biggest contribution should be done to the team as a whole. Leaders listen to their team attentively, think deeply and finally based on that, make the bright decision best benefiting the whole team. The team as a whole has the power to get things done, but it is leaders who make the most important move, for example, decide what each one of the team does so that the efficiency is maximized.

If there were no tomorrow

What if there were no tomorrow? If you woke up in the same morning everyday, what would you do?

                                                                                       - A review of Groundhog Day

I view movies basically as entertains. So I came for the first viewing for this movie "Groundhog Day" on a Tuesday. I simply wanted to entertain myself after a day’s work. Now, as l look back, I’d say I wasn’t wrong, for just the first twenty minutes of the movie. The movie aroused my interest quite successfully in the never-seen-before setting of reliving the same day. Even I was wondering what I can do if I were able to stay on the same day. Pretty convinced by Phil, for the moment I saw him driving messily around and playing tricks on cops, I also wanted to try a day without any consequence. I can do whatever I want. I can play computer games all day long without worrying the paper due tomorrow. I can rob the bank like Phil did in the movie to buy an extremely fancy Ferrari I could ever dream of. There is no tomorrow! No responsibility, no consequences! I bet anyone would totally release the demon inside to enjoy the “today”. So far, the movie was a comedy to me.

But I start to feel depressed as Phil woke up on the same day every day. He did any evil thing he could think of on that day and ended up waking up at the same time, same place where he woke up yesterday. The excitement brought by the crazy things he did faded and turned to depression and emptiness. He was happy superficially until his mind got bored. I began to be serious to this movie. It’s not simply a comedy, but a lesson to learn. Doing evil crazy things when you can relive the same day is not the right way to enjoy the day. Phil reflected. So on the next same day, Phil hugged his high school classmate warmly, he brought his colleagues hot breakfast, he tried to save an old dying man… He changed a lot. He started to help others, become warm-hearted and versatile, and finally, won Rita’s heart.

And now, it’s time for me to reflect. I think Phil gave us the answer to the question of how does one live his/her life. The setting of reliving the same day is in fact not something funny. It’s a magnifier, which enlarges how ugly we would be and makes us realize that. Now I look back myself, I see that terrible side of myself as I was thinking about those crazy things I would do if I could relive the same day. Although I’m not going to do that in reality, I can still see the effect it has on me. Say, if the consequence of an action is irrelevant to me, will that “I can do whatever I want” thought come out of my mind? More importantly, will I be happy if I really act irresponsibly? Probably just for the second of action. After that, nothing left at all. What if I act responsibly and try to make things near to perfect like Phil did? In the movie, the spell breaks because he found the right way to live and he finally won his true love. In reality, I believe it makes people really happy because whenever they look back their life, everything they did was the result of their attention and deep consideration. They feel fulfilled, which I think is one form of ultimate happiness.