Welcome!
Welcome to my place on the WWW! For some
different reasons (basically, the fact that I SysAdmin quite a few
different networks, WebMaster a few different sites, am involved
with Brown's grad student and IT policies and am trying to actually
graduate), this site is rather "complex" (or so I like to think 
)
but mostly validated [X]HTML (and, sometimes, also validated MathML
and/or SVG; the DTD for this document is XHTML + MathML +
SVG) and light on the graphics (so that you don't/won't have to
wait forever for it to load).
When using this site, if the [X]HTML or images on it seem to be
confusing your browser, see ESR's site design
notes; those are views that I share with him. (Just in case, I
have taken a couple of snapshots from my screen so that you can see
how this page is supposed to look like: Snapshot 1 and Snapshot 2.) Just as a note, one of
the drawbacks of the CSS validator is that
you must have your XML declaration right at the
top of the page, as the very first thing that appears on
its source code. However, because I am using some SSI
techniques in order to make this website a bit more modular,
dynamical and easier to maintain, this is not the case (as you can
easily see from its source code). But, I have validated it against
all the available W3C standards, so
rest assured that this page is actually "W3C standards compliant",
just like the buttons in the footer
indicate. If you are experiencing problems visualizing (rendering)
these pages, try using a different browser, one that supports CSS[level 1, level 2 & level 3]: FireFox, Opera, Mozilla, Netscape,
Avant, Galeon, Konqueror, Links, W3M, Lynx, etc…
(this list is by no means exaustive and/or in any particular order;
those are just the one browsers that I am most familiar with and/or
prefer for some "not-so-random" reason ). If
you want to know more about which browsers officially support CSS,
take a look at W3C's
CSS browsers page. To find out more about browsers in general,
you can check C|Net's
Browsers.com.
You can download my GPG publick key here. I support widespread use of strong cryptography for privacy, and encourage you to use GPG encryption with this key when sending me messages. If your mailer makes this difficult, consider switching to Mutt.
Some factoids…
Historical…
On the fall of 1999 (september, 1999) I started my graduate studies here at the Physics Department, Brown University. On the fall of 2001 (september, 2001), I started working under the guidance of Prof. Gerald S. Guralnik on the Computational division of the High Energy Theory group.
Academic Genealogy…
? → Otto Mencken → Johann Wichmannshausen → Christian Hausen → Abraham Kaestner → Johann Pfaff → Carl Gauß → Christian Gerling → Julius Plücker → Felix Christian Klein → Carl Louis Ferdinand von Lindemann → Arnold Sommerfeld → Wolfgang Pauli → Nicholas Kemmer → Abdus Salam → Walter Gilbert → Gerald Guralnik.
Brought to you by The Mathematics Genealogy Project.
Hobbies…
I love playing basketball, riding my bicycle and
praticing Kun-Fu! (In spite of doing physics and/or math and/or
reflecting on its philosophical consequences, that is. ) I
have practiced north- and southern-shaolin kun-fu styles for about
11 years now (Thursday, 07-Aug-2008 18:43:16 EDT).
And, one of the best things is that I
never had belts or any other form of "formal" differentitation/hierarchy,
so, all I can say is that I have been teaching it for about 5
years. (You can read this
interview - in pt_br - with my 'sifu'; there is also this
interview with Rick Sue and his wife Cintia Sue, who is brasilian
- the pics in this interview were taken in my old school, Stocco; or you can check out some
pics of mine.)
Among the weapons that I like most are the following ones: Guan
Dao,
9-rings staff,
Pá Lua, Gun
(staff),
Gou and the 9-rings
broad sword. I've been playing bball since I was 9, and I've been riding
my bike since I was 11 or so.
Hacker/Geek culture…
If you are wondering about some facts of life, like "How to become a hacker?", "hacker/geek culture", "GNU/Linux FAQs and/or HOWTOs", check out ESR's collection of FAQs and HOWTOs. If that is not enough for your needs, take a further look into the Linux Documentation Project. I am sure that, if you don't find what you're looking for, you will, at the very least, get a nice heads up.
Furthermore, if you have some time and you want to put it to some
use, take a look at either/both of these two pages: Richard M. Stallman's (of GNU/FSF fame; more on the
GNU/FSF philosophy) and
ESR's
writings/essays (of Open
Source fame). Both of them have lots and lots of stuff
written… some of which I personally agree and some which I
don't. But, that's not the point, the point is that both of them
will make you think! 
) (As
Voltaire used to say: "I may disapprove of what you say, but
will defend to the death your right to say
it!" Need I say more?! 
) If you'd like to know what is my
personal position on the matter of free
(as in freedom; or, in pt-br: "livre" which is very
different from "gratuito") software, take a look at this JPEG file
(I think it says it all, doens't it ).
In case anyone cares, here's my Geek Code decoded and below you can find it in its original form:
-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK----- Version: 3.12 GS/CS/M/P/SS/TW d-- s++: a- C++ UBLAVHIOS++++ P-(---) L++++ E++ W++ N++ o+++ K w--- !O M- V- PS+++ PE-- Y+ PGP++ t-- 5- X-- R* tv-- b+++ DI++ D G++ e+++++ h* r y++ ma+++ k+++ !F/F4 !X ------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------
The master Geek Code page seems no longer to be maintained, but you can interpret this with The Geek Code Decoder Page. Note that the last line must be interpreted via Phil Stracchino's weapons extension.
As you'll be able to realize by the buttons in the end of this web-page, I try hard to write all my [X]HTML to be compliant with W3C standards (including the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, WCAG) in order to make this a more interoperable and "portable" web experience (i.e., any browser, under any operating system should be able to display this page, so long as they also comply by the W3C standards - thus, if you cannot see this page fully, try considering a browser that is W3C-compatible).
I am also very much against SPAM (Unsolicited Commercial Email, UCE, and/or Unsolicited Bulk Email, UBE) and all of its detrimental consequences to the web. Included in this category are not only all UCE but also all of those "email clients" and/or email servers that do not comply with the Internet Mail Consortium standards, causing their messages to be labelled as SPAM. (As a [general] rule of thumb, everything using the web in any form should be compliant with The Internet Engineering Task Force standards!)
Physics and Mathematics (and science in general)…
Personally, I had a very diverse formation as an undergraduate. You can check out the website for my undergraduate course (which is called Molecular Sciences; "Ciências Moleculares" in pt-br). In USA's nomenclature, my education would be something like having majored in math and physics with minors in chemistry, biology and computer science. (The upshot is that we had these five subjects like we were majoring on each one of them for two years and then, on the following two years, you'd pick your major(s) and whatever was left automatically would become your minor(s).)
Anyway, I like thinking, talking, teaching and whatever that is related to science, including writing about its practical applications (technology), its philosophical implications and so on and so forth. I am also a big fan of making all of this information publicly available, so I try hard to write about these topics and to put all of these writings on the web in all of the forms that I can possibly do so.
That's where my recent interest in posting math on the web/www came
from. Right now I'm having some trouble with the solutions that I
found so far (basically they are: MathML and some CSS techniques/tricks),
but I haven't given up; at least not just yet… 
) A [light]
discussion on the problem can be find on the MathForum website. You
can read some more stuff on the Mathematics
& physics and IT webpage (this site is part of a bigger
"project" called IT and
communication) I should also say that there is a project called
OpenMath which seems very
promising.
Political views and stances…
I have taken so very loOong time to learn that politics is not "bad" nor "evil", much less something derrogatory or to be ashamed of. (However, I do have to say that, to this time, I share Socrates views on it: "I was really too honest a man to be a politician and live." And "False words are not only evil in themselves, but they infect the soul with evil." And, to cap it off: "An honest man is always a child.") The people using the word "politics" for their personal agenda are those that give it a [very] bad name. As the Devil's Dictionary so beautifully puts it:
POLITICS, n. A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. The conduct of public affairs for private advantage.
Well, you can see why I wasn't particularly found of it, right?!
Anyway,
RMS came to talk here at
Brown on 2003 and, I have to say: "I was blow away, by what he
said, by his passion, by his ideals and by his strength and tenacity
that have lasted for so long now!" And, among all the things
that he said (it was a 2 hour long talk) I got particularly attached
to the following: "You cannot be
apolitical, you must have a
position on issues!" Boy, did that got me thinking… I
have always been so personal and so
passionate about so many things in my life, I had
always been so "active" in the issues that I had a direct influence
on that I couldn't simply "be passive" about the "stuff" that
affected me just because I disliked the people doing the politics! I
could not simply refuse to get involved. Those things mattered to me
and the people doing politics would not keep me away from fighting
for what I believed anymore. That was my turning point… from
that day forward I have settled the meaning of politics in
my head and I decided to take action!
This does not mean that I have a position on every single "issue" that I have ever came across in my life; on the contrary, I'm not even familiar with most of them! But, now, I try to get to know what the problem means, I take a pro-active position and, upon crossing a certain threshold, I decide that I do have a certain stance on that particular topic. Sure enough this cannot be taken "easily", you always have to keep yourself informed, active and interacted of what's going on, so that you can keep your "positions" updated (whether or not it means changing it, getting more involved, etc). This is the real meaning of community: You care, you think, you share, you participate, you become involved, pro-active, you make it happen! So, in the end, I've made what was a quantum leap for me: Going from being pro-active within "my world" to being pro-active within the higher layers of the community, the society which I am an integral part of.
[not-so-random] Links…
- BOFH excuse server and Adminspotting;
- Today's Calendar and Clock;
- Sérgio Jorás; Yeung Luk-Chong; Artur Adib; Luiz de Viveiros; Hillary's Blog;
- John Baez; Physics Help and Math Help - Physics Forums and Math Forum;
- Digestivo Cultural; ComCiência (revista eletrônica de jornalismo científico)
- Agência FAPESP and Pesquisa FAPESP (revista); Spin (eletrônico); Jornal da Ciência;
- BBC Brasil; Veja Online (revista); Google News;
- Union of Concerned Scientists;
- Public Knowledge; Open Access Initiative; Open Society Institute (OSI); Open Access Newsletter; SPARC (Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition);
