Robot Repair

The decision to write on this subject came about over the weekend at Chalk-It_up (to Sacramento) …. a yearly event at Fremont Park, in Sacramento, California, on Labor Day weekend. We labor for 2-1/2 days to create images in chalk on concrete squares of the sidewalk. We finished ours on Monday and, while we walked around to look at what others had finished, the photographer came and recorded our two squares and those that my daughter had done of my grandson Theo.in a plastic fireman’s hat. Her sponsor was her own KidsBusyBook.com. Ours was Forensics Lab Supply .. we have not yet moved it from grauhall.com, but soon it will be at forensicslabsupply.com. These things take time, if they are to be done right.

The subject of Dr. Eugene Oldfield came up because he had not, to my knowledge, come around to look at the Art (which one would expect of him) during the weekend. Gene and I had known each other for some time before he overloaded a circuit in the “shop” area of a property that I owned on Elvas Avenue adjacent to Cal State University, Sacramento, and, essentially, “burned the place down”. In that the property no longer had electricity ( the breaker box having become toasted as a result of the fire) I sold it, and went on line solely to continue selling science supplies.

I mention the adjacency to Sac State less because I sold very much to CSUS (which I did not), than the fact that Gene taught there. I included below.a sampling of comments from his students. These are from http://www.ratemyprofessors.com/ShowRatings.jsp?tid=699612

1/25/11

One of the most interesting people I have ever met. His class was not hard at all. The trick to getting an A is showing up to class to watch the guy preach about his wild hippie conspiracy theories, then go home and read the book for ten minutes and understand EVERYTHING. This guy has his own article in Rolling Stone, no lie, ask to see it.
i took him awhile back, i suck at math. he has a unique way of teaching… but he is easy, he grades very generously… i would take him for the grade, he does go off on tangents but he seems way too smart to be teaching just math… good professor
Good person who really tries to teach at the student’s level, despite being a math genius. Class is not spelled out in a syllabus like others usually are, however there is homework and quizzes and tests due about every 2 weeks. He is goofy like someone mentioned 🙂
Tends to go off on tangents. I had to study a LOT for this class! However, after a little studying, the math was relatively easy. It takes a little effort, but I think I can do well in this class.
Worst professor I have ever had. Everything he said in class was ridiculous and useless. Going to class was a waste of my time and taking the class was a waste of my money. I stressed about my final grade and, luckily, I ended up passing with a C. I learned absolutely nothing in that class except how to waste 1:15 of my life twice a week.
Overall a good instructor. He listens to the suggestions of students and tries to go at their pace. I actually enjoy going to class b/c he says the weirdest things, and I often times quote him in my notes. “You know, you can get pictures of hot celebrities at the $ store. You know, to put on your books and stuff.”
This professor is the worst professor I HAVE EVER HAD! He is a smart man but doesn’t know how to teach anyone not on his level. This is a passing only class, if you want to learn about robots, liquid crystals and circuits. and get out with a C. Then go ahead waste your money.
Terrible class. Gives you hw out of the book, but all the tests are things made up in his mind. I dont know why they call this a math class, more around the lines of try to figure out whats going on in the Profs head class.
This is the worst professor I have ever had!He doesn’t teach you anything about math. Everything he teaches you is Art,Robots,and liquid crystals.I guess if you want to spend 4 hours each week sitting in his class listening to his nonsense then get a C, go right ahead and take him. Other than that he’s horrible and your basically buying your grade.
He is a really smart teacher, sometimes I wonder why he’s at a state college? anyways, he seems really hard to start out with, but then hes actually a really easy prof. just show up to class sometimes, and do your homework. super easy. just when you do your graphing, make sure your lines are smooth and you have pretty tangents.
Unusual teacher. He likes to talk and gets off topic often. If you go to class and hang in you will eventually get it. He does want his students to succeed.
Very easy class if you understand math. Very forgiving grader and he really just wants people to learn. Doesn’t fail anyone unless they just stop coming. Quiz almost every week, midterm, and final. Nice guy, but almost too smart to teach. He really knows the subject and often goes off on tangents.
He is a good and experienced teacher. He knows where students weaknesses are and will spend extra time on those materials. DONT let him scare you off the 1st wk of class. Tests are very easy. Just do your hw. He goes off tangent but ONLY after he has covered all the materials. very laid back. asking if you could stroke his beard for ex credit.
So the professor is very smart, i think way to smart… but the thing is that you have to use your selective hearing with him. he is pretty easy, he grades with a curve, do your homework they will prepare you for the quizzes and the quizzes prepare you for the tests… he does go off on tangents, stay in there and try if you do you’ll pass.
He always goes off talking about unrelated topics. It was hard to follow what he was talking about. When i asked him for help or emailed him he would either not respond or tell me it is in the book. He is no help at all.
Don’t take this teacher. I had read the ratings and ignored them before I registered and it’s all true. He goes off on tangents about random things, that have nothing to do with math. I had to teach myself from the textbook, which I don’t recommend unless you’re normally good at math. I got an A, but this class was a waste of time.
I will always remember this professor because he was the WORSE professor I have ever had. yeah, he was funny, but more weird than anything. very hard
to understand. I did not really learn anything other than stuff about space and robots. very all over the place. an hour late for final because he forgot that class started early. DO NOT take him.
I found him very hard to follow because he would go off on tangents about how he used to build robots. But the work he gave was very reasonable. The quizzes were one question but had several parts. And only one HW a week.
Proably the best math teacher i have, because he dosn’t give short quizes just one or two problem and it’s just simple problem to see if you understand how to do it, not like other professors that give quizes with 10 problems. 1 midterm and a final.
I make no appology for the fucked up format of this entry. It is a reflection as to the skills taught at the university level these days. This is the sort of trash that is a result of students who have been taught that PASCSAL is the only “rational” programming language. I have known Eugene Oldfield for many years. I first met him after articles had appeared in the Cowtown Bee about both of us, wiithin a week or two of each other. One of the lunatic members of the Sacramento Municipal Utility District board walked in to my store one day and,in passing, had suggested that I look him up. When I say “lunatic members of the Sacramento Municipal Utility District board”, I refer to that portion of SMUD that insisted that a $3billion nuclear facility at Rancho Seco be shut down. The moronic voters of Sacramento succeeded in this endeavor because “proto-socialists” (such as she) had infiltrated the controlling board of SMUD, and made it so. Now, one of those proto-socialists is working his way through the Cowtown City Council in hopes to one day become Mayor. That the recommendation on the part of a Left-wingnut on the SMUD board led, inevitably to Gene, another Left-wingnut, was to be expected, I suppose. His “place-of-business was readily accessible in the trendier part of old town., two blocks from where I had grown up.
Eugene was affable, receptive, and accommodating in his explanation of his dissertation upon the mathematical techniques for robot navigation. More intere sted in the aesthetics of robotics that in the mathematics, I tended not to absorb his discussions of “fans; and of navigation. To this day, my interest in robotics favor the guidance of the surgeon’s hand rathr than the junk yard dog.

In reading the student comments, I can understand how some of them thought that he was “off topic”. One time he discussed with me his approach to the mathematics of “approximation”. Approximation is a very useful subject. One can hone their skills in this mater, and those skills can become extremely useful.
The sample that Gene explained to me had to do with estimating the number of leaves on a tree. It was a tree on campus near the area where the Art students had their studios … probably a cottonwood tree, which are abundant near the American River that flows adjacent to the college.. (I think that Gene believed that Math majors should overcome their natural fear of Art majors, and I agree.} His assignment was to estimate the number of leaves on the tree. Estimates ranged from about 300 to somewhere in the range of 3 million.
This was not a question on the final. It was didactic. The various estimates were listed, and the “outliers” were dismissed. Attention way paid the the guess that lay in the center of the answer pool. How were they arrived at? What was the methodology? Methodology was discussed, and best methods were determined. Then the tree was revisited using new methodology. Estimates as to the total “volume” of the tree were calculated Counts were taken of specific three-dimensional volumes of the tree, and those counts were compared. Eventually, an estimate of the number of leaves was arrived at. The accuracy and the precision may have become subjects of further discussion, but the methodology had been learned, for those who had not fallen asleep during the class.

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NOTES:

Also, consider the website: if you’re going to take the time to rate a professor it’s going to be either because you thought they were great or terrible. When I started in college I would check that site but did it less and less when I realized that it was mostly people with an axe to grind. [SHARPSkinkid]

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