Really planning ahead

I used to think that a Century Egg was actually an egg preserved by people from a hundred years ago just so their descendants can eat it.

Things I don't do for stupid reasons

Short post:

Through the course of my day, I generally group activities into two categories: things that must be done and everything else. Things that must be done include job duties, washing dishes, other chores, eating, etc. These things I will always do. Everything else, on the other hand, is optional, such as reading, studying for something, or deleting old emails. These things don't have to get done, and may actually never ever get done at all.

Here are two things that I don't do, for stupid reasons.

1) I don't drink much water at work. Reason: The water cooler is in another room. Drinking six cups of water at work requires a total of twelve trips. I eventually brought a gallon jug that I can refill to reduce the number of trips. However, when I try to fill up that jug, I only go up to about one-fourth of it. Because completely filling it takes too long. God, I'm thirsty...

2) I don't go to my backyard. Reason: The flip flops at the door to my backyard are too small for my feet, and my personal flip flops are at the front door. I finally took the initiative last week to bring my flip flops to the back and traverse outside, only to discover a fifteen feet tall papaya tree. That tree sure as hell wasn't around when we moved in, and it sure as hell wasn't around the last time I went to the backyard. When did that get there...?

I'm too lazy...

Cats!

I don't know why I find this so funny.

Makeup

What is it about eye shadow and eye liner that makes a lady's eyes so attractive? And why am I so drawn to them?

About myself

I was asking myself today about who I am and what my goals are. As a writing exercise, I'm writing my short answer here.

Back in the old days, life was simple. Sure, we all have different upbringings and circumstances, but our parents pretty much laid out the same path for us: do well in school, go to college, graduate, ???, the end.

But after having graduated, our paths are no longer well defined. Opportunities appear that can take us in all sorts of directions. Some people know their direction in life and choose a path to follow. Some people are unsure and traverse many paths until they find the right one.

Others just kind of stand still, hesitant to move forward.

At this point in my life, I feel that the world is literally open for exploration. There's more to the world than we can possibly see. My goal is not only to see as much of it as I can, but also to help make it better and leave a giant imprint on it.

And by imprint, I mean a technological imprint. I once aspired to win the Nobel Prize in Physics for discovering something cool. Now that I've grown a tad wiser, my goal is simply to take the world off fossil fuels by making solar panels super effective.

But as of now, I'm just a physics guy working in a particle beam lab, where I make sure our electron gun works.

My favorite food is the burrito. I'm fond of nature walks and using prepositions at the start of my sentences. I enjoy breathing in fresh ocean air as much as I enjoy watching a ladybug hatch from its cocoon.

I am a man of science. I believe in evolution and global warming.

I like Starcraft.

For now, I'm studying for the GRE, which I originally scheduled for September 13 without realizing that I'm gonna be in the BAHAMAS from September 10-17, which I then had to reschedule to September 28, which will give me some time to study for the test that, last year, I foolishly waltzed into, expecting a good score without any preparation whatsoever.

I'm also no good at writing conclusions.

-Haus

2NE1 piano cover

I submitted something for the 2NE1 cover contest. Took me about 80 takes. It was worth it.

Entry 6-15-11

-Super 8 is the best movie I have seen recently. I like it better than the Ironmans, the Transformers, Inception, Avatar, and Fast Five. Go see it.

-I should pick up reading. It'll do me some good.

-I've become a part time plumber at the lab.

-Want new phone. Must have Wifi.

-Simulations almost done.

-Study GRE.

-Move forward.

So close, yet so far

Argh... today was not one of my best days. I'll throw out a few hint key words right now for some foreshadowing. French fries. Door. Gravity.

Anyway, I came home a little late today. Usually, when this happens, I would just go somewhere like McDonalds and get something quick. But not today.

I was hungry, and I was tired. So I went to two fast food places.

So there I was driving into my garage with a burrito from Albertos and a helping of Animal Style fries from In-n-out. I couldn't help but wonder why the In-n-out lady didn't put my fries in a bag and also why she didn't put the fries in the center of the to-go box.

So I take my food and approach my door. With both hands full, I think, "You know, this is always the part where some careless guy would try to do something fancy to open the door and then drop his food. Not gonna happen to me though, I'm gonna be extra careful right now."

And like the smartass that I am, I balance the box of fries on the same arm I hold the burrito and swing open the door with. Lo and behold, the box of fries falls to the ground, top side facing perfectly down.

Am I mad that I can't eat my fries and that I paid $2 extra for spread that would otherwise be free? Absolutely.

But guess what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna go out to buy some animal style fries from In-n-out again 'cause I just gotta have'em.




EDIT: Got my fries. Best. Fries. Ever.

Shameless Self Promotion

So um, I didn't really write anything today. But here's my piano vid instead!

For mah buddy Victor's birthday because he thinks this song is terrible.

I love cats

The Fast and the Furious 6: The Revelation

Jesus Christ. I look at the date of my last post and realize that three months have gone by without me writing anything. So what better time to pick it up than midnight, when I'm terribly sleepy and have to wake up early for work.

Anyway, a couple weeks ago, I saw Fast Five starring Vin Diesel, THE ROCK, and a few others. Watching the racing scenes got me thinking about a problem I had with the Fast and Furious series.

Don't get me wrong though. The series is awesome. Except for the second film. And the third film. And kind of the first film. I haven't seen the fourth film, so I'll bar myself from commenting on it, except that it probably sucks in comparison to the fifth film.

Jumping back from that tangent, I have a problem with the way the drivers shift gears in their cars. So here's how it supposed to work: a guy gases the pedal hard until he has to shift gears to maintain max acceleration. Repeat until he reaches max speed and/or wins the race. However, in the films' races, the drivers stay on certain gears forever and then only shift when someone is about to overtake them.

So if the point is to be the fastest, why not just shift immediately when you reach a gear's acceleration and velocity limit, instead of waiting?

With this premise, it is clear that there is always an optimal timing in shifting gears. Then I thought, this timing would be so easy to achieve with some kind of computer. Something like a machine... or a robot.

Since computers have risen, man has always tried to compete with it. For example, there's the chess computer Deep Blue versus grandmaster Kasparov in chess, and the Jeopardy playing computer Watson versus Jeopardy champion Ken Jennings. There are probably more examples than I listed, but I'm sure they all ended up the same, with an ass-whipping of the humans by the computers.

With this in mind, I would like to see a sixth installment to the F&F franchise in which a super nerd builds a racing robot car with the sole function of defeating Vin Diesel in a race.

Imagine Vin Diesel dominating race after race in Europe, and then suddenly, a nerd shows up at his doorstep and taunts him, "Hey Vin Diesel, betcha can't take on my Robocar here." Out of amusement and pity for the nerd, Vin Diesel agrees to race.

Vin Diesel drives up to the starting line and stares in disgust at the Robocar, which revs its engines in anticipation as it prepares to race against its eternal rival.

The Robocar was born for this moment: to either defeat Vin Diesel or die trying.

During the race, Vin Diesel observes the Robocar going toe to toe with him, matching his speed every inch of the way. No less can be expected from the Robocar, since it is basically cheating, because of its nanosecond calculations and response time.

Little do they both know that a nefarious super villain group of nerds has planted explosives in the racing path in order to capture Vin Diesel for evil reasons.

The road explodes, destroying Vin Diesel's car, hurtling him through the air. In mid flight, he sees that the Robocar's creator is fatally wounded. Moments from meeting the same fate, Vin Diesel is caught and rescued by none other than the Robocar, because Vin Diesel must survive if the Robocar wants to fulfill its destiny.

In the chaos ensuing from the explosion, the Robocar drives Vin Diesel to the safety of an abandoned warehouse/garage, away from the super villain nerds. Vin Diesel yells at the Robocar, insulting it for lacking a real racing passion, running away from danger, and not having a soul. The Robocar roars its engine in anguish and drives away, leaving an injured Vin Diesel in an existential crisis.

Vin Diesel treads his way back to civilization and intoxicates himself with memories of why he started racing and how he became great. However, being car-less and thus, powerless, Vin Diesel soon falls under the capture of the super villain nerds. They torture and truth-serum him. He spills the secrets to his incredible gear shifting prowess, which the super villain nerds input in a hideous vehicle called the Evil-mobile.

They reveal that the leader of the villain nerds is a former friend of Robocar's creator, hellbent on defeating Robocar no matter the cost. Burned and battered, Vin Diesel wonders if this is the end for Vin Diesel.

As Diesel's last drop of hope descends into darkness, a massive force crashes through the wall of the evil nerd lair and lets loose a powerful roar that can only belong to the Robocar.

Perfect timing, says the villain nerd, who challenges the Robocar to a race. The Robocar sees Vin Diesel's suffering and immediately accepts.

The Robocar and the Evil-mobile speed from starting location towards the finish line. They match speeds perfectly, and it appears that neither is capable of outdoing the other, until Vin Diesel shouts out something incomprehensible to the Robocar. The Robocar, as if shot by adrenaline, manages to accelerate infinitesimally faster and defeats the Evil-mobile.

The Evil-mobile malfunctions from losing and crashes into the nerd lair's control grid. The Robocar picks up Vin Diesel, and they narrowly escape the fiery explosive destruction of the lair.

This time, Vin Diesel thanks the Robocar. He realizes that all along, the Robocar was not his worst enemy, but rather, his best friend.

The two racers, human and robot, travel the continent and slowly discover what separates man from machine. Vin Diesel teaches Robocar to speak, to feel pain, and eventually, to love.

Soon, the Robocar understands much of what it takes to be human. However, it also realizes that its existence is an abomination and will only lead to more creatures like him, but capable of pure evil.

The two end their trip at a steel mill on a catwalk atop a pool of molten steel. The Robocar heads slowly towards the side of the walkway. In tears, Vin Diesel begs him to stop, but the Robocar knows what it must do.

"I know now why you cry, but it's something I can never do," says Robocar, reassuring Vin Diesel of the inevitable.

Vin Diesel hugs Robocar one last time. Robocar descends slowly into the molten steel, saving the world from something it is not ready for. His metal parts curl into thumbs up gesture as he is consumed by flames. One last engine roar sounds. Then an echo. Then silence.

******

Years pass. It has been long since anyone has heard the whereabouts of Vin Diesel. But legends say that wherever a mighty robotic engine roar sounds in the horizon, you can bet that Vin Diesel will be there chasing it.

End

Entry 17: Nickname

Sometimes, I like to introduce myself as "Hoss", just to save me the trouble of explaining to people how the name Hoson came to be, and also how it's spelled. However, the vast majority of people who do know me as "Hoss" spell it like this: "Hos". Even today, I wonder why they chose to use one S instead of two. I mean, there are other words that "Hoss" rhymes with, like "boss" and even the name "Ross", but they never seem to have that realization. It's no big deal. I just find it rather amusing.

Entry 16: Dolphin Research Proposal

So I was watching this Nova special about intelligence in animals. They talked about the famous talking parrot Alex, camouflaging mollusks, this one smart ass dog who actually inferred something, and some others.

To me, by far the most incredible feat was these two dolphins communicating about, creating, and then performing a new trick. Let's talk about dolphins for a bit. We know they are smart sea creatures capable of doing cool sea tricks, looking happy, and sometimes exhibiting very disturbing sexual behavior. We also know that they can use echolocation, and that they communicate using clicks and whistles. However, we don't exactly know the nature of this communication. Are they akin to, say, sounds that a theoretical caveman might make, i.e. a yell to signify danger, a grunt to signify food, a different grunt to signify other caveman things? Or do these clicks and whistles have structure? In other words, can dolphins discuss and exchange ideas?

So the Nova team went to a dolphin training center and posed this question. The trainers then communicated to their two star dolphins that they needed to create a new trick or else they won't be eating that night. (In reality, I have no idea what the trainers actually communicated to the dolphins, because all they did were a few hand gestures and a meditation pose.) Somehow, the dolphins knew exactly what they had to do. So they dove under water, did some clicks and other dolphin noises for about a minute, and then surfaced and did a completely brand new trick in unison. It would appear as if they were like, "Holy crap, they want us to do something original. Let's just swim upside down above the surface and wave our tails around. Yeah, that'll show'em!"

This does highly suggest a type of higher order communication in dolphins than just sounding out for danger and food. It's nice to speculate that dolphins can indeed one day plan a conquest of the land realm a la Simpsons style, but we can never know for sure. Unless...

Someone learns how to communicate in dolphin for real. So this got me thinking. What is the best way to learn a language? Since there doesn't exist a dolphin version of Rosetta Stone, the next best thing is total and complete immersion. And when is the optimal period of time for language learning? Early childhood of course. So in theory, if a child is raised by dolphins (but is concurrently raised by humans just to avoid the problems associated with feral children), then that child could become fluent in dolphin-speak, eventually translate to us what the clicks and whistles mean, and even build a machine that speaks dolphin. To any future biology Nobel Prize winners out there: You're welcome.

Then I thought about what possible and useful applications this could yield. I came up with exactly zero. Obviously, we cannot speak dolphin too well even if we did understand the language, because we humans lack the necessary facial cavities that dolphin-speak entails. At best, we can produce a machine that translates English to dolphin-speak. Even then, that machine would lack the emotional context behind whatever it is trying to say, and can only yield blank stares from dolphins. I mean, who would want take orders from a talking box, right?

It'll be like having a talking robot that wheels itself up to a group of people and tries to be cool. It can throw on a baseball cap sideways, talk in modern slang, and constantly rest its robo-arms on its crotch. But will it be successful? No. Despite the robot's efforts and good intentions, its robotic voice will eclipse even its most witty comments. Imagine the robot speaking in monotone using misplaced pauses and accents,

"What...is...up...dawg...?"
"I...hear...that...bro..ther...."
"That is what...she...said..."

Very uncool.

This robot would undoubtedly fail in any social setting, just as the dolphin-speak robot would absolutely fail at communicating with dolphins.

However, even though it is completely worthless and morally reprehensible to raise a kid in a dolphin tank just so he can learn dolphin, I do believe it would be quite the interesting linguistic experiment to raise a kid in a dolphin environment. So please, Research Fund Committee, I implore you to accept my humble proposal for this landmark leap forward in dolphin studies.

Entry 15

Will try to read more.

Which should lead to writing more.

Can't write, cannot think.

Entry 14

Meeting with Noah on Tuesday at 8am for FIB nanofabrication.

Entry 12

Gotta do the power/intensity integral to predict how much photoemission we're gonna get.

Also gotta calculate total power absorption.

Entry 11

Well, winter break is over. Did I post those piano videos? Nah. I actually spent most of break practicing one song, but in the end, I just didn't feel like posting that one. So that one is reserved for my memory banks. However, I DO plan on posting a different song. Stay tuned.

Gonna go back to work today. Hopefully, I'll finish all my tasks this week.

Also did Cardio X. Day 1 of doubles, commence.


EDIT: It's nighttime, and I just did (most of) Chest and Back + (half of Ab Ripper X). Dammit, I'm in pain.