Well I think I'm done with class. I got my project compiling and working as of 11:30 pm. All that's left is to finish the report and I'll let my partners whip up the rest of the first draft (I already wrote a page or two of stuff).
For now I'm taking a break and fleeing ASAP from coding.
Jon
Wednesday, December 21, 2005
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Paper Down , more to go
As of 8:45pm last night my CS 838 final paper is done and handed in. It only took a marathon eight hours in the lab combining my half, my partner's half, and editing the whole thing. The report was around 16 pages of text and reading it straight though takes around 20 minutes (assuming you want to follow our work). Eight hours doesn't seem so bad considering we needed to meticulously go over every single sentence to edit it. Then we needed to mark everything up in LaTeX (this wasn't to bad), and import our figures.
After finishing the paper I tried to grab something to eat but Cousin's Subs closed about 20 minutes early last night. So I headed over to CAE to work for another three hours on my 556 project.
All I have left is a final today at 2:45 and that project which is due thursday.
After finishing the paper I tried to grab something to eat but Cousin's Subs closed about 20 minutes early last night. So I headed over to CAE to work for another three hours on my 556 project.
All I have left is a final today at 2:45 and that project which is due thursday.
Monday, December 19, 2005
You know you're a geek when...
I've been rather busy these last few days as I've been busy working on a final paper for cs838, and project for my CAD Tool Design class. Anyways, as I was working on my paper this morning I was staring out my window while thinking deeply about my paper.
While looking out my window, I noticed the branches on the tree outside my window didn't look smooth like on most trees but they had a horrible set of jaggies. My first thought was that the tree outside needed some anti-aliasing, but then I realized the screen in my window was causing the effect.
While looking out my window, I noticed the branches on the tree outside my window didn't look smooth like on most trees but they had a horrible set of jaggies. My first thought was that the tree outside needed some anti-aliasing, but then I realized the screen in my window was causing the effect.
Friday, December 16, 2005
School Over! Sort Of
Well yesterday class officially ended, and in celebration I hosted end of the year party/get together. We had about 15 people over for the party, and played pictionary. My team managed to come back from being almost and entire board behind for the win. After that most of the guests headed home, missing the desert I had made in the process. (French Silk Pie yummm.)
Those who hung around played some 5 player Halo with linked Xboxes. Of all the players Colin made imporved the most going from 0 kills his first game, to holding first for a short time during a later round. Halo wrapped up around 11:20 and we broke out the French Silk and an Apple Pie.
Finally, I wrapped up the day with the last Midnight Bowling league game of the semester. Our team was playing the team in first for the league win. To pull off the win we had to win both games and the series (total pinfall over two games) to get enough points to make first. Unfortuneatly for us we bowled a decent game while the other team bowled the game of their lives for the win. Since we were guaranteed to come in second at this point our bowling changed to try some creative throws. Bowling left handed, behind the back, between the legs, or kicking the ball didn't work out well for any of my teammates and our scores for the second game were rather poor. In any case we had a lot of fun during the last game of the year.
During the next week I have a paper to write, a programming project to work on, and a final to study for. Time to get back to my CS 838 paper.
Those who hung around played some 5 player Halo with linked Xboxes. Of all the players Colin made imporved the most going from 0 kills his first game, to holding first for a short time during a later round. Halo wrapped up around 11:20 and we broke out the French Silk and an Apple Pie.
Finally, I wrapped up the day with the last Midnight Bowling league game of the semester. Our team was playing the team in first for the league win. To pull off the win we had to win both games and the series (total pinfall over two games) to get enough points to make first. Unfortuneatly for us we bowled a decent game while the other team bowled the game of their lives for the win. Since we were guaranteed to come in second at this point our bowling changed to try some creative throws. Bowling left handed, behind the back, between the legs, or kicking the ball didn't work out well for any of my teammates and our scores for the second game were rather poor. In any case we had a lot of fun during the last game of the year.
During the next week I have a paper to write, a programming project to work on, and a final to study for. Time to get back to my CS 838 paper.
Tuesday, December 13, 2005
I HATE SPAMBOTS
Well my blog was defaced by its first spambot about 5 minutes ago. Now I need to turn on that annoying word verification function for all posts. Half the time I don't get the stupid thing correct on my first try.
Also while doing some searches online I found a cool applet that lets you play around with Quantum Wells. Basically, it lets you plot the Schrödinger equation (this gives you the probablility of quantum tunneling among other things.)
Also while doing some searches online I found a cool applet that lets you play around with Quantum Wells. Basically, it lets you plot the Schrödinger equation (this gives you the probablility of quantum tunneling among other things.)
Super Stringtastic
Well I just got back a bit ago from a lecture by Dr. Brian Greene author of "The Elegant Universe" and "The Fabric of the Cosmos". He's one of the most well known Super String Theory proponents, and has a very good PBS special you can watch online here. For his talk he mostly covered some of the basics from his Nova special which includes General Relativity and Quantum Mechanics 101. (I prefer his explanation to the one I learned in a course on those topics as there was much less crazy math, Britney might be able to help you.)
Overall, it was an enjoyable talk and he did a great job. One thing I had forgotten was how small these strings are. The strings are around 10^-35 meters in size, this is a billion billion times smaller than an atom. He gave the following analogy to explain just how small this is:
"Expand an atom to the size of the Universe, a string would be about the size of a tree."
That's really small. He also mentioned in passing that his Nova special had a small error where an Atom the size of New York was compared to string the size of a tree. Apparently, he told Nova they were wrong but they didn't fix it. Not many people get to say Nova was wrong and actually be correct.
After the lecture there was a Q/A period. He did a great job answering all the questions right on the spot, while keeping everything at level one could follow based entirely on the lecture he had just given. One person asked the dumbest question I've ever heard, he wanted to know "If Martians were to look at us with a giant telescope, they would see us moving about randomly like in quantum mechanics. Do you agree this is true?".
Dr. Greene's answer was basically "What???". I really want to know what went through Dr. Greene's mind when faced with this genius question. The worst part was this was the second from last question asked, we missed an opportunity to actually learn something useful rather than someone's dumb theory of quantum people movement.
Overall, it was an enjoyable talk and he did a great job. One thing I had forgotten was how small these strings are. The strings are around 10^-35 meters in size, this is a billion billion times smaller than an atom. He gave the following analogy to explain just how small this is:
"Expand an atom to the size of the Universe, a string would be about the size of a tree."
That's really small. He also mentioned in passing that his Nova special had a small error where an Atom the size of New York was compared to string the size of a tree. Apparently, he told Nova they were wrong but they didn't fix it. Not many people get to say Nova was wrong and actually be correct.
After the lecture there was a Q/A period. He did a great job answering all the questions right on the spot, while keeping everything at level one could follow based entirely on the lecture he had just given. One person asked the dumbest question I've ever heard, he wanted to know "If Martians were to look at us with a giant telescope, they would see us moving about randomly like in quantum mechanics. Do you agree this is true?".
Dr. Greene's answer was basically "What???". I really want to know what went through Dr. Greene's mind when faced with this genius question. The worst part was this was the second from last question asked, we missed an opportunity to actually learn something useful rather than someone's dumb theory of quantum people movement.
Good Start?
Well my day is off to a good start, in an effort to meet a project partner this morning I ended up leaving the house without shaving. Normally this wouldn't be that big of a deal except I have a presentation tonight around 5:45pm, with no time between now (9am) and then to stop at home and shave (or even grab a razor). Looking unshaven is in now, right??
Despite the presentation I'm really looking forward to tonight. Instead of our regular Enlight meeting most of us are meeting down in the Union, in an attempt to get into a sold out lecture by Brian Greene Author of "The Elegant Universe". Right now there are no tickets left but they seat people without tickets about 10 minutes before the lecture starts, assuming there are open seats. If the seats are full they actually simulcast the presentation in another room so we should be set. Either way it should be an interesting talk (ok I hope it will but Dr. Greene is very interesting, and was one of the few guest who didn't look silly on the Colbert Report.)
Despite the presentation I'm really looking forward to tonight. Instead of our regular Enlight meeting most of us are meeting down in the Union, in an attempt to get into a sold out lecture by Brian Greene Author of "The Elegant Universe". Right now there are no tickets left but they seat people without tickets about 10 minutes before the lecture starts, assuming there are open seats. If the seats are full they actually simulcast the presentation in another room so we should be set. Either way it should be an interesting talk (ok I hope it will but Dr. Greene is very interesting, and was one of the few guest who didn't look silly on the Colbert Report.)
Saturday, December 10, 2005
CS GRE and Narnia
This morning I woke up at 7am to make it to the psychology building by 8:30 for the CS GRE. For those of you who don't know me well 8:30am is very, very early for me. In fact I haven't been up before 8:30 since May, except for today that is. In any case taking a test at 8:30 isn't my idea of a fun wakeup. Personally, I hate standardized tests despite my doing well on them, I think they are biased towards people who like to get up before the crack of dawn. It's not fair to those of us who achieve peak mental acuity around Noon.
Well after taking the over long (170 minute) test, I went home, grabbed some food, and then went to the 3:00pm showing of "The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe." I have to say the movie was enjoyable. It wasn't as good as I had hoped it would be, as it was a bit slow in the middle (I almost fell asleep). Narnia was a good adaptation of the books and I don't have any complaints about them leaving stuff out. It's at least as good as the old PBS/Hallmark/BBC (I know it was on PBS) adaptation of the books. Overall, I'd say it is one of the better book to movie adaptations I've seen in a long time. Much better than Howl's Moving Castle (another children's book favorite of mine, don't get me started.)
Well after taking the over long (170 minute) test, I went home, grabbed some food, and then went to the 3:00pm showing of "The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe." I have to say the movie was enjoyable. It wasn't as good as I had hoped it would be, as it was a bit slow in the middle (I almost fell asleep). Narnia was a good adaptation of the books and I don't have any complaints about them leaving stuff out. It's at least as good as the old PBS/Hallmark/BBC (I know it was on PBS) adaptation of the books. Overall, I'd say it is one of the better book to movie adaptations I've seen in a long time. Much better than Howl's Moving Castle (another children's book favorite of mine, don't get me started.)
Thursday, December 08, 2005
Fountain pictures
I've been working with a group to develop a control interface for the Engineering College's fountain for the last few years. Today I took a couple pictures of to show off the ice we've managed to generate on the north end (we are trying to make it into an ice sculpture.)
I also happened to be walking by it and night and snapped a shot since I thought it looked cool. My camera's batteries were basically dead so I only got one picture. Click on both for a closeup.
The fountain at night
I also happened to be walking by it and night and snapped a shot since I thought it looked cool. My camera's batteries were basically dead so I only got one picture. Click on both for a closeup.
The north end starting to ice up.
The fountain at nightPicture Update
As you can see I posted the only picture I have of myself on my computer. It's a couple of of years old but I mostly look the same (minus the facial hair). In any case as it's the only picture I have so it goes up.
Wednesday, December 07, 2005
A View To Kill (For)
A couple weeks back Dell had their 2405FPW on sale for 40% off so I picked one up. I've enjoyed computing and playing WoW on this wonderful screen which sports a 1920x1200 resolution. Even so I find I probably spend more computer time each day working on my 17" laptop then I do looking at my new 24" monitor. To give you an idea how big this thing is I've included a picture of this thing on my desk (click for a high res shot).
Good Deals
Well I have a couple of cool deals I've come across first is a computer from Monarch Computers. This computer is pretty decent for its $850 asking price but that's not the deal. It has a free copy of Halflife 2 and several other programs. Add Windows for $80 and get two free plan tickets from Microsoft! (I'm not kidding they have a free trip if you buy a PC, I think you can go to Hawaii.) If Hawaii is a valid destination like I believe based on the site buying that computer is a terrific deal.
Another cool deal to be found is Acclaim IP. That's right do to the bankruptcy of the gaming company you can buy publishing rights to many of their old games? Want Mortal Kombat I&II? The Bust a Move series? Or the classic Ecco the Dolphin? Then go make a bid on some of the great IP available at the previously mentioned site. (I would buy Mortal Kombat/Ecco except for that $5k initial bid thing.)
Another cool deal to be found is Acclaim IP. That's right do to the bankruptcy of the gaming company you can buy publishing rights to many of their old games? Want Mortal Kombat I&II? The Bust a Move series? Or the classic Ecco the Dolphin? Then go make a bid on some of the great IP available at the previously mentioned site. (I would buy Mortal Kombat/Ecco except for that $5k initial bid thing.)
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