Published!
My first paper has appeared on the Electronic Colloquium of Computational Complexity. Check it out, if you like.
Comments on life, entertainment, and mathematics by a guy with nothing better to do.
My first paper has appeared on the Electronic Colloquium of Computational Complexity. Check it out, if you like.
![]() | Last night, we head over to the 404 to watch the series finale of Battlestar Galactica. | ![]() |
![]() | Of course, I'll still stop by for some Lazlo's or Ivanna Cone. However, it will no longer be the same as in my college years and first year of grad. | ![]() |
How hard is it really to make a sensible podcast app for the iPod Touch? The recent iPhone 2.2 update allows for "device-driven" downloads of podcasts, so you don't have to sync with a computer to get your latest podcasts. I was excited, and hurriedly subscribed to all the old podcasts I liked, but had stopped listening to as the sync took too much effort. However, the software did not meet expectations.
The final notes and revisions were made to a research paper today, before it either 1. gets new results added (ha!) or 2. gets reviewed by my advisor's collaborators. It was a little odd near the end, sticking extra results that are not really meaningful, but show at least a little reason for writing proofs with generality. For instance, if you draw a graph on n vertices with a log(n)k number of layers and each layer happens to be a planar acyclic digraph with log(n)log(log(n)) sources, then you can decide reachability between vertices using log(n)log(log(n)) space. The most hilarious part is, even in this incredibly restricted situation, the algorithm isn't even polynomial time! It runs in 2O(log(n)log(log(n))) = nO(log(log(n))).
Our new puppy is relatively intelligent, compared to most dogs. Recently, she figured out that some doors aren't closed all the way and can be pushed open. Now, whenever I go to the bathroom, there is a soft thud shortly after I close the door. Good luck next time, Cici.
Yesterday, Rock Band 2 was released for the Xbox 360. I was very excited to pick up my copy and begin playing. The first Rock Band has been great fun for the past year (thanks for sharing, Nate!) and I really look forward to having my own instruments. Especially the new drum set. In lieu of their release, I played some guitar last night. Here are some impressions, especially on the changes.
I've owned a Canon LiDE 30 scanner since high school, and it has been an excellent piece of hardware. However, it has not had the greatest software support, especially with the Intel macs and OS X.5. With some Googling, I found this blog post with very informative comments. Here is a summary:
If you want to keep track of the score of the Nebraska vs. San Jose St game today, but don't have the fancy-pants TV package for it, you could do the following technique to get a score bubble on your screen (if you have OS X).
First, put Dashboard into dev-mode. Then, open Safari to ESPN College Gameday Scoreboard. Select File->Open in Dashboard and select the appropriate scoreboard. Click "Add" and Dashboard will load your requested widget. Click and hold to the widget and hit F4 (or whatever gets you out of Dashboard). Being in dev-mode brings the widget to your desktop!
| Recently, my Xbox headset broke since it is a cheap piece of plastic. Tonight, I took a knife and some tape to my over-the-ear headphones and inserted the microphone and speaker. Now, I have a fully-functioning headset with the bonus feature of game audio in the standard-quality headphones. This benefits me in several ways. 1. I have my Rock Band microphone back. 2. I can play RB without making a lot of noise (outside of my humming). 3. I can play video games without disturbing the wife. | ![]() |
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| Thanks to babblin5 for his wonderful instructable that gave me the idea to do this in the first place. | |