Reason

"Reason is the substance of the universe, the design of the world is absolutely rational."
-- Hegel --

Orchid Flower

Among the most diverse flowering plants are the Orchids. Their name comes from the Greek orchis meaning 'testicle', from the appearance of structures called pseudibulbs. They are monocotyledonous plants and usually found in humid and warm places. Ancient people considered orchids as aphrodisiacs and they were a symbol of fertility. They were ratter used in love spells and it was believed to protect against diseases. In spring patties, the chinese used orchids to frighten evil spirits. It was also consecrated to the german goddess-mother Frija.

The Mind's Eye

An Experience of Blindness

"Rain has a way of bringing out the contours of everything; it throws a coloured blanket over previously invisible things; instead of an intermittent and thus fragmented world, the steadily falling rain creates continuity of acoustic experience... presents the fullness of an entire situation all at once... gives a sense of perspective and of the actual relationships of one part of the world to another."

dot the i

"A kiss, when all is said, what is it?
A rosy dot placed on the "i" in loving;
'Tis a secret told to the mouth instead of to the ear."
--Edmond Rostand.

The Bastille

The Bastille was a former French prison fortress in the East end of the city of Paris built around 1370. It was despised as a symbol of despotism and royal tyranny. The Bastille was constructed to defend the eastern wall of Paris from hostile forces. With walls over eighty feet high and well stocked and supplied arsenal, the Bastille quickly gathered the reputation of one of France's most secure military stronghold. However, after being defeated several times, the importance of the fortress diminished and by the early seventeen hundreds it had already become a prison. And so it remained during the 17th and 18th centuries being used mainly for housing political prisoners. Among those prisoners there have been famous ones, such as Voltaire, the famous political writer, and Marquis de Sade, a well-known French writer. The most famous and mysterious prisoner of the Bastille, is the legendary man in the iron mask, whose character is in a famous book, written by Alexander Dumas. At the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789, the Bastille was attacked and stormed by a mob. They found only seven prisoners inside: four forgers, two lunatics and a young noble. The Bastille's fall became a symbol of the end of the Monarchy and the beginning of the First Republic. Two days later the destruction of the stronghold was begun amid great public rejoicings. The site is now an open square, called the Place de la Bastille.

Finite Element Method

The Finite Element Method (FEM) is a method for solving equations by using approximations of continuous quantities by a set of discrete ones, at discrete points, often displayed into a mesh or a grid. As the FEM can be adapted to problems of great complexity, it can incorporate material properties, anisotropy, boundary conditions, and unusual geometry, it is a extremely powerful tool in the solution of important problems, such as, heat transfer, fluid mechanics, mechanical systems, electromagnetic problems and acoustic problem, as will we will see later. Formulation of problems with the FEM is based on the minimization of the total potential energy of the system via a variational principle. I've written a brief introduction. You may find it at:
http://www.cefala.org/~leoca/acoustics/afem