So I wrote a few posts ago that my current research project at school has run into a few dead ends. Since then, it's run into a few other dead ends. I still haven't given up hope, though.
I go through lots of ups and downs with this project. I frequently lose and regain faith in it. The loss of faith comes from the poor results I generate through simulation. The regaining of faith comes from nothing. I don't have any good reasons to have faith in the project any more, but I still do. I think there are at least a couple really unique and interesting contributions that I can make to this area of research, so I think this paper should be published, but it'll be hard selling that to anyone else. For now, I'll stick with it.
This project is one that I stumbled upon by myself with no spurring from my advisor. I don't feel any pressure from him one way or the other. He thinks the topic is interesting, but hard to publish in (like I just said). I think he's just glad I'm doing something that *could* lead (maybe) to a publication. Honestly, if I weren't working on this current project I don't know what else I would do. Maybe latch on to someone else's work? Help in some way and get my name as a 4th author on some paper? That's not too bad of an idea, but I do like being in control of my destiny, for now.
I still don't feel like talking about the project's specifics, but I will say that I'm getting more and more familiar with how valuable last level cache hits are.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Monday, March 21, 2011
the doctor
Not that doctor. Or that doctor. Or that one. Soon after I posted about YouTube, another video appeared in my subscription box that I enjoyed, and I realized I didn't give its creator due credit as running one of the still-watchable content producers on YouTube.
His name is Dr. Stuart Ashen, and his YouTube name is ashens. I have to really stress the "doctor" bit. He's not a medical doctor. Instead, he holds a PhD in ... I don't know. But he claims it's real, and I think anyone who has, will have, or claims to have a PhD deserves the utmost respect. In fact, you should probably just send me some money out of appreciation for what I may do someday.
Anyway, ashens is one of the great YouTube personalities. His videos are characterized by shots of a ragged brown couch, in front of which he places things and films them with his disembodied hands extending from behind the camera, waving around. That's about all there is to it. Well, he does also show off the items he's filming, and talks about their virtues (not much) and shortcomings (much). And THAT'S all there is to it.
The funny part is that he shows off terrible products in his videos. It's kind of like Jay Leno making fun of advertisements, except instead of Jay you get a British guy with a funny accent, and instead of advertisements (this time, pronounce it Britishly in your mind's ear), you get the actual products. He has covered many, many "PopStation" products, which try to play off the popularity of the PlayStation brand and design, but really are just terrible old Tiger Electronics-esque LCD games. They are terrible. Also, he shows off things that can be found at "Pound Land" ("pound" as in the money, so it's like a dollar shop).
These videos are very entertaining, but unfortunately not everything with ashens is great. Sometimes ... well, sometimes he goes in front of the camera. When he's behind the camera he just ad libs everything he says and it's great, but in front of the camera he seems to always follow some kind of script. This is a bad idea. It doesn't work for him. Maybe he just needs more practice. I don't know, but it just doesn't seem to work.
It's even worse when he has to be onscreen with another person. However, he recently interviewed someone while having a lightsaber battle with them, and that was pretty good. In general, though, ashens is at his best when he's by himself behind a camera complaining about PopStations (again). For that, I recommend him greatly, although if you run into him in any other format, please try to forgive him and remember what makes him one of the best personalities on YouTube.
His name is Dr. Stuart Ashen, and his YouTube name is ashens. I have to really stress the "doctor" bit. He's not a medical doctor. Instead, he holds a PhD in ... I don't know. But he claims it's real, and I think anyone who has, will have, or claims to have a PhD deserves the utmost respect. In fact, you should probably just send me some money out of appreciation for what I may do someday.
Anyway, ashens is one of the great YouTube personalities. His videos are characterized by shots of a ragged brown couch, in front of which he places things and films them with his disembodied hands extending from behind the camera, waving around. That's about all there is to it. Well, he does also show off the items he's filming, and talks about their virtues (not much) and shortcomings (much). And THAT'S all there is to it.
The funny part is that he shows off terrible products in his videos. It's kind of like Jay Leno making fun of advertisements, except instead of Jay you get a British guy with a funny accent, and instead of advertisements (this time, pronounce it Britishly in your mind's ear), you get the actual products. He has covered many, many "PopStation" products, which try to play off the popularity of the PlayStation brand and design, but really are just terrible old Tiger Electronics-esque LCD games. They are terrible. Also, he shows off things that can be found at "Pound Land" ("pound" as in the money, so it's like a dollar shop).
These videos are very entertaining, but unfortunately not everything with ashens is great. Sometimes ... well, sometimes he goes in front of the camera. When he's behind the camera he just ad libs everything he says and it's great, but in front of the camera he seems to always follow some kind of script. This is a bad idea. It doesn't work for him. Maybe he just needs more practice. I don't know, but it just doesn't seem to work.
It's even worse when he has to be onscreen with another person. However, he recently interviewed someone while having a lightsaber battle with them, and that was pretty good. In general, though, ashens is at his best when he's by himself behind a camera complaining about PopStations (again). For that, I recommend him greatly, although if you run into him in any other format, please try to forgive him and remember what makes him one of the best personalities on YouTube.
Friday, March 18, 2011
listening to the shins
I was first introduced to The Shins 5+ years ago. That's a good way to say that. The first album I heard by them was "Chutes Too Narrow," their second album. This defined for me what they were "supposed" to sound like. My friend who introduced me to them knew them from their first album, which he claimed to love. The differences between the two albums weren't enough for him to be put off by their new sound, but to me this was their only sound. I didn't hear their first album for a year or two after my first introduction to them.
When I finally did buy "Oh, Inverted World" I was not very impressed. I loved The Shins because they were crazy and fun, and their first album just wasn't. Well, it wasn't AS crazy and fun. So I stuck with "Chutes Too Narrow" as my go-to Shins listening experience. This didn't change until the release of their third album, "Wincing the Night Away." The radio push had prepared me to buy the new album as soon as I could after its release, and that has since been the most-listened-to album in my iTunes.
I've always appreciated The Shins for their wackiness, their upbeat tempo (when that applies), and their absurd lyrics, but one important element that I probably didn't appreciate as much years ago and that's growing on me now is how subtle and insightful some of their songs are. I don't feel like giving any examples right now (just go listen to their music and I'm sure something will pop out to you), but sometimes their lyrics make me stop and think about what circumstances could have prompted the writing of such an odd line, and it gets me thinking.
I think this change in sensibilities on my part is what has led me to kind of rediscover "Oh, Inverted World" lately. What drove me away from it in the first place was the down-tempo songs, like "Caring is Creepy," "Weird Divide" and "Your Algebra." I still don't really dig those slow songs, but some tracks on their album are sticking with me lately, like "One By One All Day" and "Girl on the Wing."
It's not reasonable to expect that every song on every album will be a home run. My sister and I were talking about this recently and concluded that if 40% of the songs are great on an album, then that is one amazing album. Even the greatest artists and bands don't reach this level very often. Most good albums have 1-2 great songs, 2-3 good songs, and the rest blah. I guess that's fine. I don't need to love 100% of their tracks for The Shins to perennially be one of my favorite bands.
When I finally did buy "Oh, Inverted World" I was not very impressed. I loved The Shins because they were crazy and fun, and their first album just wasn't. Well, it wasn't AS crazy and fun. So I stuck with "Chutes Too Narrow" as my go-to Shins listening experience. This didn't change until the release of their third album, "Wincing the Night Away." The radio push had prepared me to buy the new album as soon as I could after its release, and that has since been the most-listened-to album in my iTunes.
I've always appreciated The Shins for their wackiness, their upbeat tempo (when that applies), and their absurd lyrics, but one important element that I probably didn't appreciate as much years ago and that's growing on me now is how subtle and insightful some of their songs are. I don't feel like giving any examples right now (just go listen to their music and I'm sure something will pop out to you), but sometimes their lyrics make me stop and think about what circumstances could have prompted the writing of such an odd line, and it gets me thinking.
I think this change in sensibilities on my part is what has led me to kind of rediscover "Oh, Inverted World" lately. What drove me away from it in the first place was the down-tempo songs, like "Caring is Creepy," "Weird Divide" and "Your Algebra." I still don't really dig those slow songs, but some tracks on their album are sticking with me lately, like "One By One All Day" and "Girl on the Wing."
It's not reasonable to expect that every song on every album will be a home run. My sister and I were talking about this recently and concluded that if 40% of the songs are great on an album, then that is one amazing album. Even the greatest artists and bands don't reach this level very often. Most good albums have 1-2 great songs, 2-3 good songs, and the rest blah. I guess that's fine. I don't need to love 100% of their tracks for The Shins to perennially be one of my favorite bands.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
tired of youtube
I'm not really tired of Youtube, but I am tired of my subscription list. I'm subscribed to about 45 Youtube channels, and only four or five of them produce any more content I'm interested in right now. Why don't I unsubscribe? For many of those channels it wouldn't make a bit of difference because they haven't produced content in years (or at least months). For others, I either recently became disinterested in their content, and my interest may wax again, so I'm keeping them on board for now.
There are a few channels that produce videos I'm very interested in watching, plus a bunch of garbage I don't care about. Examples of these include SSoHPKC and paulsoaresjr. SSoHPKC is a Chicago-area guy who plays lots and lots of videogames and talks while he goes. Most of the games he plays I don't care about at all, but he does play Super Mario World hacks, and treats those videos like a personal vlog (Mario hacks are fan-made games that use the SMW engine with custom art and/or level design). The Mario hack videos are great, but he also plays lots of FPS games and RPGs that I don't care for. paulsoaresjr plays a lot of Minecraft, with a few other games mixed in periodically, but many of his videos are of him playing the game with his family, which I just don't care about. He's much more interesting by himself. chuggaaconroy is another guy who has made video series in the past that I enjoyed, but I don't care much about the game he's working on now (Okami).
Anyway, here are the Youtube channels I'm currently digging on (and the types of videos that channel puts out):
motortrend (yes, the car magazine)
paulsoaresjr (video gameplay with commentary, especially Minecraft)
roadflytv (more car reviews, kinda like motortrend)
SeaNanners (some Minecraft, lots of Call of Duty, but mostly I just think he's an interesting guy to listen to)
SSoHPKC (video gameplay with commentary, many types of games but his Mario vlogs are the best)
Surelog (mostly Minecraft commentary and mod reviews, although he just announced that he's shifting his focus away from Minecraft, so we'll see)
And that's it. Most of my ~45 subscriptions go wasted by me either not caring about them (which I'll purge eventually if the trend continues), or stopped producing content years ago (lovethechad, whatever became of you!!!???). I've been subscribed to digitalfilmmaker for many years, and my reluctance to remove them from the list has paid off in recent months as they recently started posting "Ask a Ninja" videos again. Maybe that's why I'm reluctant to remove subscriptions, because I hope that they will revive themselves. I miss you Matty (I think that's his real name, although it's hard to know for sure)!
Monday, March 14, 2011
since last time
The following has happened to me since my last post:
I got married (hi, honey!).
I graduated from college in computers.
I didn't go to law school (but I almost did).
I did go to graduate school for more computers.
And here I am. I'm finishing up my 3rd year of graduate school. I'm working on a Ph.D. in computer science. My focus is computer architecture. Some people think that's not real computer science, but I'll show them! What is it supposed to be if it isn't CS? Computer Engineering? I think I would know about electricity and electronics if I were getting a CE degree, and obviously I don't. So as far as I'm concerned, computer architecture is computer science. I do kind of see where they're coming from, though. I don't actually have to know math to do my research, or anything else usually associated with computer science.
That makes me stop and think. As far as I can tell I'm pretty good at computer architecture. However, I can't identify any particular skills or attributes that would make one person good at it and another not. I can't look at myself and say "quality X makes me qualified to research computer architecture." Maybe anybody can do it, but it's just so boring to most people that nobody gets into it. That's as likely an explanation as any. It seems like to do computer architecture research you have to just be familiar with the state of the art, and then think of new things nobody's tried before (or at least that nobody's published *lately*). I guess I'm good at coming up with whacky ideas. Sometimes they work out.
I don't want to discuss the particulars of my current research here, because it's super secret (duh). I will say that a while ago I was going through a dry spell of innovation. Hopefully that's over. My current project has run into a few dead ends, but I think I can maneuver well enough to avoid any more. I will of course talk about it after it's published or abandoned, but right now I just don't think the time is right.
I have some programming ahead of me today. Hey, wait, computer scientists program computers, right? I feel validated.
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