Bad but nimble dog

The dog very expertly removed a red insignia from a towel. Neat destruction.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Woof

Ollie, the two year old silky terrier cross that we just brought home from the SPCA today. Quite guai! And cute.

Let them eat cake

My mum is baking again.





The cake is a multip-ly.

Apple pie

Proof of concept

Taken on my way home when it was still light out.

Hullo world

Hullo hullo is anyone out there? Testing mobile blogging with new data plan.

Investment heuristics

Note to self:

The concept is that when faced with something new and unfamiliar, people try and understand it by relating it to something they have previously encountered and understand. They then apply this model to it and perhaps run a few checks to see if it is similar, and tweak their understanding of the new thing according to the results of the checks. This is a lazy and efficient way to understand things, if you assume some basic knowledge in the domain -- you don't need to reinvent the wheel.

However, this system works best when you already have a good 'library' of models to draw from, and know what sort of questions to ask. If you can ask good questions, you will be able to isolate and identify key differences which make something new very different from something old.

Example:

Deer --> has 4 legs --> like a horse? --> Eats grass --> ok i guess it's safe to hang around.
Lion --> has 4 legs --> like a horse? --> eats deer --> shit!

Good questions.

Lion --> has 4 legs --> like a horse? --> has lots of hair --> must be a hairy version of a horse. Let's try and ride it, it must be more comfortable...

Bad questions.


Same with investment products.
Hmm, pays me interest every year? --> like a deposit? --> did i buy it at the same bank i put deposits with? --> yes, and it has a bank name in the product's name. --> probably a deposit. should be safe.

Bad questions!


So to empower people who use heuristics to understand financial products better, you have to increase the library of products that they understand. Easier said than done of course, since it is very effortful to build something from the ground up and understand it that way. And with a whole universe of things out there, how do you make sense of it?

Of course, luckily blur naive people can hope to rely on the collective wisdom of teachers around us. If you don't know what a lion is and whether it is safe, you could always ask someone who knows about wild animals. As long as he does not have an interest in feeding you to the lion so he can eat the deer, this is fine.

But perhaps if we can break up and organise the universe into small discrete manageable chunks based on basic ideas, one can try and understand it in small basic pieces. Then one just needs to be able to ask the right questions to figure out how complicated things differ from basic things. hmm.

Multidimensional graphs

Off a random MSN conversation one night:


[P] says (11:22 PM):
i have this theory of friendship/relationships
[P] says (11:22 PM):
it is about multidimensional graphs
[P] says (11:22 PM):
imagine the X axis to be time
[P] says (11:23 PM):
imagine that you as a human being can have your character and essence boiled down into a few dimensions and numbers so that they can be plottable on a graph, like, say, you have a patience of 40 and risk-averseness of 20
[P] says (11:24 PM):
imagine there is also an axis representing some form of position in space.
[P] says (11:24 PM):
now every person is a plotted line across time
[P] says (11:24 PM):
and they change in their personalities, slowly, but they do change, and they change in their space-position somewhat more rapidly (was thinking about this while abroad and had lots of friends who moved about in space)
[P] says (11:27 PM):
so people are lines on this graph
and before you meet them for the first time, you have no idea about all these other people out there

A says (11:27 PM):
mmhm
[P] says (11:28 PM):
and you sort of only can come into contact with other lines who are there in the same space time
[P] says (11:28 PM):
but once you have come into contact with them, you start to exert an influence on each other, and here i insert the assumption that the more time you spend with one another, the closer you will grow to be in your personalities/interests/whatever dimension
A says (11:29 PM):
yes, probably.
[P] says (11:29 PM):
so gradually your lines will move closer together
[P] says (11:29 PM):
if they are close enough, even if a line were to move off into somewhere else due to a shift along the space-dimension
[P] says (11:30 PM):
you would still retain this closeness on the other dimensions, and stay as close friends, even if you do not keep in touch all that often anymore
A says (11:30 PM):
yeah
[P] says (11:30 PM):
and over time the lines may drift, or not
[P] says (11:30 PM):
but if they don't drift that far, then when the person comes back and your space/time is aligned again, can be friends easily
A says (11:30 PM):
mmhm
A says (11:30 PM):
like with my pri sch best friend, on facebook
A says (11:31 PM):
you should blog this. it's an interesting image

Runtime error

While (Andrew.run == 1) {
if (Andrew.tired == 0) {
run.somemore();
run.time++;
}
else Andrew.run=0;
}


if run.time < 30 {
ThrowException("You are super unfit.");
}



"You are super unfit."

Newspapers

I suspect I like reading the technology section of the NYT because technology coverage is by its nature forward looking and full of promise, everything looks shiny like the world is going to be a better place. Lots of the other sections in the papers however capitalise on reporting tragedies.

New layout

I also apologise for the new layout. It's quite gross, but it's better than the ramshackle old one which just expired itself. I'll get down to finding a nicer one someday. Just probably not anytime soon.

Soul searching

So for some reason or another, i've been going through a period of life reevaluation, wondering what i want in life, where i am, and how i'm going to get myself where i wanna be. Perhaps it's because i'm now settling into working life and getting used to this new change of status, and the routine of my life has changed and bears some consideration. Perhaps it's because up until recently, she used to be the centre of my life, so now i begin to wonder if all those things were what i -really- wanted, after all.

don't think anybody reads this anymore

which is good. wonder if you ever set up an RSS feed with my blog?

So perhaps relationships are like economies, they go through these cycles and although the general trend is inflationary and to keep growing closer together, there are periods when it is difficult and you go into a deep depression. And this period might last a quarter, or maybe a year, but if you take enough expansionary policies you'll come out of it. And maybe, just like a recession, you might go through a structural change and lob off the bits which don't work, and focus your energies on the bits which do.

But of course, if you don't even want to be part of the capitalistic system, all this won't concern you.

Lengua

I would like one day to be hosting a dinner party with Lengua, and then have a housecat pounce on the food and make off with it before my guest can even try it.

Then I would look over, smile, and say:
"What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?"

search

Of late i'm feeling that there's something missing in my life (quarter life crisis!), perhaps it's part of this whole pre-graduation trauma... the oh no i'm going back to work in some place where i might not be happy issue. Trying to scale back on schoolwork doesn't help, i've filled the time up with tutoring some cute kid which is rewarding but somehow just still doesn't cut it, and social events which are also like temporary distractions... maybe this is the long distance speaking? Sometimes i feel trapped within my own life.

Revival?

So in a spate of procrastination, I've decided to stop saying "I should update my blog" and actually start blogging again and overcome the inertia and the excuse that after this long i have to wait for something momentous to occur before i blog. I mean, face it... how many momentous occasions happen when you're busy tracking down DAGs?

(That's a directed acyclic graph, or what Australians call the bits that hang off the behinds of sheep when they're done with their business)
(They call them Acyclic Directed Graphs in Aussieland)

Anyway, I realise that most of my blogs are mostly small useless tidbits, since I'm a bit averse to posting things which are too deeply personal online. Maybe with my new camera phone I will post interesting pictures too.

So, me? Still in school, not wanting to leave, although it's busy as hell. Traded in my car for a bike, which is healthier, funner coz of the wind in your hair, muddier when it rains, more tiring with heavy groceries, and probably the cost of 3 tanks of gas. It changes the sort of lifestyle i lead, but it's all about priorities after all!

Busy but not too busy to go skiing (perhaps busy because i went skiing?), although I don't have pictures to show since i didn't want to bring a camera up and it was too frick cold to handle my phone much while i was up there. Drove through storms which flooded an interstate and blizzards which needed snow-chains on tires to get through, which is sort of like hell and high water when hell freezes over. Not much to say, really, about my life here, it's one of those things which is sort of terribly interesting on a day to day basis but hopelessly boring when you try and relate it to someone else. Anyway, perhaps this is the start of a new chapter of blogging!

Hiatus? New York!

So this is probably one of the longest breaks from blogging i've had, and it corresponds to a period in life when i am largley very free. It just goes to show that all that stuff about blogging to share your life etc. etc. is largely superceded by the primary selfish reason for blogging - procrastination.

So quick updates about my life: i'm into my graduating quarter and life is good, and the weather is turning better on selected days when the stars are aligned (affects the tides and thus air currents), and so i've actually been able to go outside for fun and kite-flying and general revelry. Back home to sg for summer after a short trip to the Canadian Rockies, probably back in sg around June 20thishishish. Thence to do my Masters in Cali.

Preliminaries aside, here are some photos from my Spring Break trip to Philly/New York to spice up the front page! (and lengthen loading times for each time the diehards check back to this page hoping for an update and, with all probability, seeing the photos on top of the front page again.) I've tried to avoid the usual empire state/times square nonsense, so it might actually be entertaining.


Cup 'o tea fer ye, laddie? (St. Patrick's day themed air stewardesses!)


Someone's marketing team is doing a good job choosing names. 


Mural on South Street in Philadelphia. We spent a while trying to figure out what it meant.


The Magic Garden, a house made up of plenty of glass and other random objects stuck to the walls, the kind of thing which would befuddle civil servants trying to figure out if it needs a house permit or an installation art one.


Closeup of part of the magic garden.


Our gracious hosts in Philly!


Pregnant women should not ride Shark.


Yes, it's a subway station.


SAFRA national bank. I didn't know they made that much money from subscription fees. =)


Advertisement leverage.

Glacier Cornell

This message is brought to you by the bored-of-studying-and-too-little-time-before-relocation-to-do-anything-useful commission.

So in a new update on Patch's Exciting Life (now with illustrations!), we bring you tale of the glacier which has formed in my garage. Cool! you say. Yes. And smooth, too.

It's a tragic tale of innocuous elements which all come together in an amazing way. Basically, we have:

1. A drainage pipe for water from the roof
2. A garage which is slightly below road level
3. A door which doesn't really shut well
4. Chicago-style 30mph wind
5. Chicago-style winter
6. A banana

(1) + (2) = flooded garage (7)
(3) + (4) = ajar door (8)
(7) + (8) + (5) = glacier (see below)



Yea. So i had a sheet of ice over my garage, which initially was kinda brittle and fun to crack through, because it was like stepping onto creme brulee with satisfying little crunches beneath your feet (except that your shoes got wet afterwardS) and then it became slightly more solid and you could gingerly walk across without it breaking as you see the water move beneath you, and then it became a solid layer of ice which would bear your weight if you jumped on it. It's kinda cool, and if i could be bothered now would be a good time to bring something and break up the ice and throw it away, because all the dirt and stuff has been frozen into the ice, which normally gets stuck in the garage since there's no drainage hole! mm.

So where's (6) come in to the story, you say?

Oh well I ate a banana for lunch before this.

Lyre birds

From today's Animal Behavior class

Lyre Birds

The lyre bird is a bird where the male attracts mates through a stunning vocal display, imitating the songs of other birds in the forest. Better than African Grays! almost.

Happy Chinese New Year!

Still suffering from post-Boston work backlog. Photos up soon! For now, check out Clocky, the alarm clock which "runs away and hides when you don't wake up." Which i guess works assuming it doesn't run into a muffled corner. hmm. Cute though!