Mehran Mazari

You know that feeling when you start a temporary chat in @GeminiApp and it goes so well that you wish you could have turned that into a non-temporary chat? Hey @GeminiApp, is that ever possible?

I used @NotebookLM to explain the concept of Pavement Condition Index (PCI), and the level of technical details is impressive.

These are the types of things I aspire to think about when I get old.

No other industry has the equivalent of GitHub and Stack Overflow

@lxeagle17 This is just the beginning. The epidemy of AI replacing critical thinking and creativity is set to affect a whole generation until we get it right.

I'm teaching databases this semester at Berkeley. My students all seem unusually brilliant. Not many go to office hours, and not too many folks post on the course forum asking project questions. Weirdly, the exam had the lowest recorded average in my 10 semesters teaching it.

@lxeagle17 This is truly the essence of higher education that many people do not understand and think it can be replaced with AI tutors and a bunch of online courses

Parts of it may well be deemed "outdated". But the reason college curriculum is structured as it is instead of being a grand industry tour on the Hot Topic Of The Day is that by teaching fundamentals, you teach students *how* to think, learn, and work. AI just bypasses that.

@paulg The experience of being in a physical laboratory on a university campus cannot be replaced with any amount of online education.

The people who say that professors deserve to have their universities blown up are forgetting two other groups who will be hurt by the attack on them: our kids, who will be attending them as students, and all of us, who benefit from the research done at them.

This is going to be a game changer in material science and particularly concrete materials. Cement-like materials with the same hardening properties and longer lasting but no carbon footprint.

@SamiulHasn The problem is that homeowners and builders do not have enough knowledge of concrete materials as an option

@MehranMazari With more concrete houses, its cost should decrease. I don't know about CA, but in FL I saw upper floor exterior is made of cement concrete (aka stucco).

Wildfire-proof building materials...! Cost vs. resilience tradeoff: Wood: $100–$155/sq ft Brick: $25–$35/sq ft (brick veneer; solid walls are higher) Concrete Block: $190–$250/sq ft While wood is cheaper upfront, its vulnerability can lead to complete loss during wildfires. #PalisadesFire #LosAngelesWildfire #wildfire

Why do wood structures burn entirely, while brick fireplaces and chimneys often remain standing? Wood is highly combustible. Its organic composition makes it a primary fuel source during fires. Once it catches fire, it burns rapidly, weakening the structure and leading to collapse. But why do brick chimneys survive when everything else is gone? Brick is a non-combustible material. It doesn’t ignite, burn, or weaken significantly under heat. Fireplaces and chimneys are often the last remnants after a wildfire because they are built to contain and withstand high temperatures. Brick and masonry have incredible thermal mass, meaning they absorb and release heat slowly. This property helps them resist the sudden, intense heat of a wildfire compared to lightweight, flammable wood structures. #EatonFire #PalisadesFire #LosAngelesFire

The smoke from #EatonFire is covering the sky in Glendale, CA.

Still hard to imagine this is really happening and it's not a scene from a fiction series.

More than half of Los Angeles County is on fire and under evacuation notice. This is a dark reminder that we are way behind in infrastructure resilience and not prepared for extreme events like this. Grateful for emergency responders. #PalisadeFire #eatoncanyonfire

@sanandreafault If you are in Pasadena or Altadena, leave now and don't wait for the evacuation notice. You have no idea how fast the fire is changing.

I’m going to make this very clear, if you live anywhere north of the 10 and west of the 405. BE READY TO LEAVE NOW. The fire departments have given up on structural protection outside of those boundaries. Please trust your local infamous fault. For Altadena and even Pasadena, do the same. #PalisadesFire #PacificPalisades #eatonfire #wildfire

We are already out. The smoke was unbearable.

@homeycat2 It's going west towards that area. All those neighborhoods are evacuating now.

@MehranMazari Im in San Diego. Sister home is North Hill and New York

This is 5 min from our place in Pasadena. We are preparing for a possible evacuation now.