Thomas D. Gutierrez
After over 35 years, a progressive rock song suite called The Dream of Kings, created in 1988 under the moniker Dark’s Ensemble with my old friends Kevin Brown and Paul Lesinski, is finally being released to the world remastered and … Continue reading →
I’m reposting this June 3, 2008 blog post from my old blog Cryptohedonology. It feels as relevant today, May 19, 2025, as it did 17 years ago. Some technology stuff is a bit dated, but the basic theme still stands. … Continue reading →
Back in 1999, as a procrastination exercise while working on my Ph.D. in physics at UC Davis, I spent a couple hours on a Friday night writing out a fairly ineloquent form of the Standard Model Lagrangian density. I unpacked … Continue reading →
In June of 2022, as the Chair of the Academic Senate at Cal Poly, I was given the opportunity to deliver remarks at Cal Poly’s 2022 spring graduation on behalf of the faculty for each of the six college ceremonies. … Continue reading →
These are the official responses to the letter I submitted on behalf of members of the San Luis Obispo (SLO), California community regarding safety concerns along the Bob Jones Trail in SLO. I am very appreciative of their thoughtful, clear, … Continue reading →
I sent the letter below, with 328 signatories, on Sunday October 4, 2020 to: the San Luis Obispo (SLO, California) City Council, the Community Action Team (CAT), Police Captain Smith, Fire Chief Aggson, the city rangers, the City Biologist, County … Continue reading →
Like many universities, Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo (where I work as a physics professor) is deploying a number of diversity and inclusivity initiatives to address problems in these areas on campus, primarily with respect to race. The Cal Poly … Continue reading →
This is the second in a two part post where I calculate the size and mass respectively of the Death Star in Episode IV (DS1). Estimating the mass will inform discussion about the power source of the station and other … Continue reading →
This is the first in a two part post where I calculate the size and mass respectively of the Death Star in Episode IV (DS1). At the end of Part II I will discuss thoughts about the energy source of … Continue reading →
As an educator, I confront the two questions daily in the context of higher education: how do students learn? what is the role of teachers in the learning process? There is a vast literature on this and entire academic fields … Continue reading →