Mein Blog

Math vs. Applied Math

2008-10-03T00:26:00.001-07:00

If math is mental masturbation, then what is applied math?
-apk

...

2008-04-30T17:16:00.001-07:00

My cat was grooming my bathrobe. Odd.

'Oars!

2008-04-26T17:24:00.001-07:00

"Most people travel east to west via water taxi. That is, the london oarsmens and their barges. If we walk down to the river we hear their cries of, 'Oars oars!' If we're young ladies up from the country we may think that we've just been insulted."

-Robert Bucholz in History of England From the Tutors to the Stuarts (lecture 26)

Hotels in the US are shoeless

2008-04-10T02:44:00.001-07:00

I'm in Salisbury, Maryland right now in the Hampton. Caltech (SFP (Student Faculty Programs,) specifically) sent me here because I talk real good about my research, and there's a conference called 'NCUR' happening here. I don't know what 'NCUR' stands for, nor exactly when I'm presenting, but I have to admit that I'm disappointed so far. There are no slippers in the hotel -- one major difference and something I really miss from Chinese hotels! The conference should really get its act together and make sure the nearby hotels give out slippers. To quote Vera, grrr.....

Good kitty...

2008-01-30T15:41:00.000-08:00

I got a small avian present from my kitty today... good kitty... I swept my room, though, so it's absurdly clean in my room.

I have to sadly admit that I threw her gift away...

=p

Term project suggestion for Planetary Formation class

2008-01-24T22:36:00.000-08:00

Life at High Pressure: The conventional wisdom is that life (as we know it) cannot
survive at very high pressure because the proteins can’t fold the same way, etc, etc.
Assess the fundamental limits on life inside planets. Check out Hazen RM, Boctor N,
Brandes JA, et al. High pressure and the origin of life
JOURNAL OF PHYSICS-CONDENSED MATTER 14 (44): 11489-11494 NOV 11
2002. Also check out Jules Verne.

Cool Time Wasting Non-Interactive Sites

2007-12-29T08:06:00.000-08:00

http://badgerbadgerbadger.com/
http://www.stanford.edu/~scodary/tkam.htm
http://www.ultimateshowdown.org/

Good Travel Sites

2007-12-28T07:54:00.001-08:00

I've found a few sites online that are especially nice for searching for travel related stuff.

Flights: kayak.com
Hotels: agoda.com
CouchSurfing: couchsurfing.com

The first searches ~100 sites and allows you to sort via price, schedule, airline, etc.. Interface is fairly easy to use. Very nice features (such as previous searches available with a single click) and the site as a whole isbig time-saver compared to using expedia, travelocity, etc.. It searches those sites, too, by the way.

Agoda searches for hotels and other high-class accomodations. At least for Hong Kong, it gave me much better rates than most of the other sites I found. It doesn't list the $20/night youth hostel-style places, but there are other sites that seem to address that market.

I owe my knowledge of CouchSurfing.com to Speek. They're a site built completely to encourage exchange of crash space for travelers who aren't too picky about their accommodations and can do some very basic planning ahead*. Speek has had good experience with this throughout Europe, but I have yet to try it myself.

* A summary of my understanding. Their actual mission is:

"What is the CouchSurfing mission?

When we incorporated CouchSurfing International, Inc. as a non-profit, we filed our official mission statement as:

"CouchSurfing seeks to internationally network people and places, create educational exchanges, raise collective consciousness, spread tolerance, and facilitate cultural understanding."

As a community we strive to do our individual and collective parts to make the world a better place, and we believe that the surfing of couches is a means to accomplish this goal. CouchSurfing isn't about the furniture- it's not just about finding free accommodations around the world- it's about participating in creating a better world. We strive to make a better world by opening our homes, our hearts, and our lives. We open our minds and welcome the knowledge that cultural exchange makes available. We create deep and meaningful connections that cross oceans, continents and cultures. CouchSurfing wants to change not only the way we travel, but how we relate to the world! "

- http://www.couchsurfing.com/help.html, Accessed 4 minutes before this post.

Boink!

2007-09-23T04:26:00.000-07:00

I have a cricket in my room.

*blink*

I guess that's what I get for writing books and doing research. Or something.

Surprise! (2)

2007-09-21T01:39:00.000-07:00

Expecting warm thai food in my mouth and instead being singed in the face by a hot cloud of water vapor. Stupid microwave... warming up my food...

I should go to bed.

-apk

Surprise!

2007-09-21T01:34:00.000-07:00

I got a horridly baffling surprise today when I gulped down glass of what I thought would be orange juice and discovered it was soy milk. That's kind of like a slap in the face with a liter of two-thirds solidified jello.

Weird experience.

Good Kitty...

2007-09-17T03:28:00.000-07:00

Vera's cats are finally gone from my room and Rosalind has full reign again. She's so happy about this that she's been sleeping on the bed, hopping into my lap, licking me and, of course, bringing me presents.

In the last 24 hours, she's brought me a dead, bleeding bird and a live rat. The rat and Rosalind hide under my bed as I write this. Right now she wants to teach me how to hunt the rat with her, but I'm too exhausted and sick to play that game.

Rosalind is now sitting right by my chair looking smug. So the question I have to ask now is: "Where is the rat?"

...

Good kitty...

...

-apk

Bad Ideas

2007-07-22T21:14:00.001-07:00

It's too damn hot in my room. I get dehydrated (or something) fairly easily, so I've been sleeping about 16 or so hours per day. While there may be other factors involved, I think the water issue is key. There are two obvious solutions to me:

1. Drink more water
2. Cool my room

I've been trying (1.) by itself for some time now with little or no effect. it helps to drink water, but I can't seem to do it regularly enough to take care of the problem. Plus I end up sweating more than I'd like.

I don't have an air conditioner, so (2.) is difficult. But I have a bad idea I want to try.

\begin{enumerate}
\item Waterproof container with large surface area. Place under bed in big open area.
\item Big fan.
\item Water.
\item Mix.
\end{enumerate}

The Bad Idea begins...

Blisters

2007-07-22T03:06:00.000-07:00

I went to Rocky Horror Picture Show tonight. Now I have blisters on my feet from walking all the way from MIT to harvard square because some genius who was organizing (or not) the trip decided to take the bus -- the buses have the right to refuse service, and that they did. The show was decent. I noticed a few things:

1. There are twin mona lisas in the background during a few scenes in RHPS.
2. Frank probably comes from Frankenstein -- a reference I never before realized.
3. Rickoids often are chosen to be the bride when we attend.

No one died on the way back, so everything turned out alright in the end.

Chris: the book I'm working on is The Complete Idiot's Guide to Pre-Algebra. Quite fun. =)

=p

2007-07-16T23:05:00.000-07:00

Right. At MIT for RSI. Plaque almost done. Lots of documentation of RSI locker to do. Book to write.

=p

-apk

Inspiration

2007-06-08T21:43:00.000-07:00

I sat in a car with two of my students today, both of them being quite tired from the end of "dead week" + a few finals/papers. We drove through the forest near Tenant Lake on the slow, meandering road. Despite the near impossibility of the idea, we bantered over whether or not we should drive to the Olympic Peninsula -- a 6-8 hour drive from Whatcom County. Although spending a few hours in the middle of the night there would be titillating, we figured it probably wasn't worth the time, money, or angry parental units. Scratch that. As we enter the Park'n Ride near Western, I proposed going to Western and having fun with math! They sighed they would like to, but they needed some "inspiration" to gather the energy to actually do anything more today. I must admit the tool I imagined to capture their interest and lure them to Bond Hand was cruel and unusual. I used it nonetheless.

"We could go and look through your course catalogs! That would be tons of fun, and it's probably a good thing to do before you get to College."

Laura bounced with excitement, Amy let out a frustrated sigh. I tried to convince her of the Joy of Courses, but Amy cut me off, "it's just sad that I agree with you..."

Laura asked her mom, who reluctantly agreed, dropping a subtle hint that Laura should be at normal parties, not hanging around a college doing something useful on a Friday Night. Nothing like protective parents to ruin good times for seniors in high school...

Sleeping

2007-05-13T12:12:00.000-07:00

Note to self:

Don't fall asleep in California in places where the sun will attack in the morning. You will get sunburned on half your face.

Worst Pickup Line Ever:

2007-05-08T09:42:00.001-07:00

Want to get into a chrysalis with me and metaphorose until we reach our adult stage?

Halley

2007-05-01T10:20:00.000-07:00

Halley Lisuk
that away message makes me nervous....

apk (Autoreply)
Phase 1. Steal Underpants.
Phase 2.
Phase 3. Profit!

hcomet2061 (Halley Lisuk
what are you up to?

apk
No Good.

Twenty Hours Later

2007-05-01T07:07:00.000-07:00

My, that was a good sleep!

My only thoughts that I can remember were of chemistry. Chemistry... chemistry... it has been three years now since I've actually taken a chemistry class (lab not included), which is far, far too long. I don't know whether I'll take P-Chem (thanks, Sierra) when I return to Caltech this fall or wait until 08-09. Hell, at this point, I could take introductory chemistry for the ease of the class. THAT would be a huge waste of time, I think. Though... what else am I going to do with my time? I suppose P-Chem would be a wonderful treat in terms of mental exercise, but I don't know if I want it so soon. My hope will be that by the end of the summer I will know what I want/need, and I will be able to enjoy it in the fall. That is months away, and I must first make my way through the intervening time. Analysis, Topology, Statistics, Physics, Geology, Econ... all soon, hopefully all fun.

If I don't enjoy myself when I return to Caltech, I don't know what I shall do. I have too many classes to take to graduate next year because of core/hum/soc. sci, not close enough to the math major, too far from the geophysics major OR M.S., and to get the latter I need the math major. So I sit, pondering what I shall do. Chemistry still lingers on the edge of my mind as I return to work...

Calvin and Hobbes

2007-04-30T07:01:00.000-07:00

It has been far, far too many years since I last spent any serious time reading Calvin and Hobbes. Perhaps... 7-9 years ago when my dad stopped taking me and my brother camping as often. On those trips we would load up the metallic blue 92' Carola with tents, cooking supplies, board games, lawn (or rather, forest) chairs, and a bundle of other necessities. Among these was my dad's collection of Calvin and Hobbes, a smattering of treasuries and original book releases that covered almost all theology and philosophy Bill Watterson produced.

I remember one time I was particularly unsatisfied with colorlessness of the strip where Calvin accidentally backs the car into a ditch. Using the nearby color comics as a guide, I colored the car red, Calvin's hair yellow, Hobbes's alternative stripes Orange... I think I did a fine job, though I think my brother had contempt for my efforts. Maybe it was the attempt, maybe it was my inability to stay within the lines, maybe it was brotherly love.

I tend to assume the latterest.

Dumplings

2007-04-29T03:41:00.000-07:00

Steamed dumplings are yummy! And obscenely easy to prepare if I buy them fresh-made or frozen.

I really don't understand food prices here... many fruits and vegetables are as expensive (or more so) than meat. And dumplings are something like $1.66/pound. While that doesn't compare to the Bananas at $0.40/pound, they are much more delectable. Each meal eating out at the student cafeteria is about $3.00 for a meal + drink, and that's fairly affordable; 3 meals a day means I'd spend $63/week on food, substantially better than Caltech's board program with a larger variety of foods from 7:30am - 9pm. My will to cook for myself is weak here, but I think it will return when I get back to Caltech in the summer...

=/

2007-04-28T08:18:00.000-07:00

I don't feel like posting tonight, but I might as well rant.

I dislike Tufts University because it doesn't have a cohesive document that lists the graduation requirements for all of the majors and all of the programs. Or at least I wasn't able to find it online. Grr... where are COMETS when you need them... problem solved nonetheless via an absurd system of piece together evidence from various sites to come to a non-rigorous conclusion. Somewhat unsatisfying, but it's not better than the way we practice science and engineering.

Athena, my darling, is taking another trip to Ohio State... I still don't understand why she likes it there, but she does. That's reason enough for me, though I'm still curious.

I need some water and food...

Ta-ta for now!

Water

2007-04-27T06:14:00.000-07:00

The humidity here is incredibly wet. I have the air conditioner on "low" all day. I can hardly ever actually see out my window because of the condensation. Or the lack of light since it's night. But the water I pay most attention to is in my two glass water bottles.

Snapple bottles leak when you refill it with water. Or so I thought. When I put hot water into it (~80C), the Snapple bottle not only doesn't leak but has a slight vacuum seal. I thought about this for a while, probably too long, and realized that the quantity of air in the bottle is inversely proportional to temperature. When I put hot water in, there is little air; then I put in cold water, there is much air. As time goes on, the air in the bottle equilibrates with the temperature of the room. If there was too much air, there would be positive pressure, air (and water) leaking out easily. If there was too little, there would be negative pressure, a vacuum seal preventing any leaking.

Good ol' PV = nRT

=p

Fixing Linux

2007-04-26T02:03:00.000-07:00

I watched a hamster install the Linux SuSe on her Lenovo IBM ThinkPad. It worked, she downloaded a few programs to her computer, and within 24 hours of setting it up, Linux died. Few days ago the 3D acceleration was turned off, which made everything painfully slow... and a reinstall was (erroneously) in order. Now for various tests, repair the SuSe system

I have no idea why this is happening... maybe the programmers put some code in to check whether a user is in China/if the other OS(s) use(s) Chinese, and if so they make it crash more often. One hit against the Chinese theory is that XP is not the Chinese/Hong Kongese/Taiwanese version. Another is that this would be a hard conspiracy to conceal since SuSe is open source.

So now I'm here sitting by the computer, waiting for the tests to be completed, hoping that another reinstall is not in order. =p