Thoughts on a Tangent

Published!

2009-06-04T21:33:00.001-05:00

My first paper has appeared on the Electronic Colloquium of Computational Complexity. Check it out, if you like.

Goodnight Battlestar, Goodnight Haymarket

2009-03-21T10:27:00.002-05:00

Last night, we head over to the 404 to watch the series finale of Battlestar Galactica.

There was a good crew to show up this season. It's tough, seeing how this group started in 2006 when Jesse and I first roomed together at the Grainger building. That summer, we attempted to watch the old series before giving up halfway and watching the first season of the new series on DVD. When Jesse moved over to the Hardy, we started watching season 2 on TV.

Then, I moved into the 404 with Jesse and the BSG parties continued. They've stayed at the 404 since I moved out last July. In May, Jesse is moving out. That's why last night felt like a combination goodbye to BSG and to the Haymarket.

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.

Thank you, Haymarket, for giving me a great college experience. Time to grow up, I suppose.

For now, I'm happy to have grown up. The house is great, and I love my wife. It will be nice to have Friday nights to spend with her instead of driving downtown. We both look forward to some Blu-ray release of season 4 (or the whole series) so we can watch it together.

iPonder

2008-12-11T10:11:00.002-06:00

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 way it works: all new podcasts are uploaded to your iPod. You then go to the podcast directory, select a podcast, and then select an episode. When you are done listening, you see a "Get More Podcasts" link at the bottom of the episode list. This is their new feature. It links you to the page on the iTunes store so you can select individual episodes to download.

There are multiple things wrong with this scenario:

If you did not have any new episodes of a podcast when you synced, that subscription is nowhere to be found on the iPod. So, when I sync on Wednesday, I cannot download Monday's "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me" without downloading it to iTunes and syncing.
More on this syncing issue: the sync must be with a single version of iTunes on a single machine. So, I plug my iPod into my work machine to charge it, but I can't sync it there without erasing everything. Either open this up, or make the device stand on its own well enough.
I have to select each episode to download from the iTunes Store. There is no option to "get all new episodes" or even "get most recent". After selecting the episodes to download, you're stuck in the Store app, and have to navigate back to your podcast starting from the Home screen.
This next shortcoming is the most unforgivable: there is no "play all new podcasts" selection. How hard is that? I just want to listen to the new episodes for today, and will skip any that don't sound interesting at the time.

Normally, Apple does wonders with its interface design, but this is an example of horrible failure and utter disappointment. These are the very simple features that I would like:

A "Play all new podcasts" button at the top of the podcast directory.
All subscriptions to be uploaded, even if there are no new episodes.
A "Download most recent podcasts" button that pulls the most recent episode form the iTunes server if it has not been already.
An option to remove old podcasts from the device.

This has been a gripe session, brought to you by Apple.

Stretching It

2008-10-24T12:11:00.002-05:00

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 2^{O(log(n)log(log(n)))} = n^{O(log(log(n)))}.

Anyway, welcome to a view of my life you may not have seen before, and probably never want to see again.

Smarter than the average dog

2008-10-02T23:20:00.001-05:00

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.

You suck at Rock Band 2

2008-09-18T20:18:00.002-05:00

You know why you suck at rock band? Because you can't play the drums! What is eluding you? You sure can hit those colored pads, but you can't pedal worth a darn! That little piece of plastic doesn't bounce the same as a real drum pedal! No wonder Tom Sawyer gives you nightmares! Here is the solution: take a real drum pedal and hook it up with a reed switch and some magnets! My good friend and Hendlee Stolerson counterpart, Nate, built a similar design a year ago. However, I stole some of the "lessons learned" from that experience to make the most AWESOME drum mod you have ever seen or used!

Rock Band 2 Impressions

2008-09-15T09:29:00.003-05:00

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.

The new, streamlined song listing takes a while to get used to, but is absolutely fantastic for navigating the huge library of songs. I now have the Rock Band 1 tracks as well as a good chunk of downloadable content, so it is very important to navigate these 150+ songs.
The World Tour mode is now combined with the solo tour, so even when playing alone, I am advancing my band through cities, playing gigs of ever-increasing importance. The aspect of playing developer-chosen, random, or self-made setlists was sorely missed when playing RB1 by myself.
My good friend Yuliy (yes, that Yuliy) gave me a friend invite from Fargo. We played on his tour together, and I ended up with the West-coast rocker achievement, even though I did not have the tour bus to cross the country. Helping him advance through some mystery sets was loads of fun, even if it does not advance my own band. I hypothesize that sometime in the next few months the Endless Setlist will be destroyed via online. That is, unless I actually make it up to Fargo sometime (here's hoping!)
I'm really hoping that this online business will bode well for me. Once I get the drums, I will be a hot commodity. The drums are the hardest instrument to play (in Expert mode, the hits are one-to-one with the real drummer) and I can get by well enough on most songs. I've also completed the Expert Vocal career on RB1, and few people enjoy singing. If you need a band member in these areas, add stoleetech to your friends list and invite me!
There has been mild success in the past of getting my wife to play guitar on Medium as I sing. Hopefully the drumset will arrive soon and she can stop complaining about how awful that sounds. Then, she'll actually enjoy playing, perhaps?

Overall, this game is incredible. If you already have the RB1 instruments, what are you waiting for? If you only have the Guitar Hero controller, grab a copy and get some drums later. If you have nothing, perhaps you should wait for the super-duper pack of drums, guitar, and mic. Otherwise, you're missing out. Also, if you buy that other music simulation game, you're part of the problem and should be ashamed of yourself.

Scanning on OS X with a Canon LiDE 30

2008-09-07T12:15:00.002-05:00

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:

The Canon driver download is essentially a Photoshop plugin. If you do not have Photoshop, you must download VueScan software, which has only a free demo. There may be other methods, but I could not for the life of me get TWAIN-SANE to work with the GIMP to scan anything.

Good luck to anyone else who tries this!

Got the No-Pay-Per-View Blues?

2008-09-06T11:05:00.003-05:00

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!

Now, you can at least track the score while doing other things throughout the day. Yes, it would be nice if this game was important enough for ESPN 360, but it is sadly not. Oh well.

Headset Replacement

2008-09-04T22:31:00.002-05:00

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.

Thanks to babblin5 for his wonderful instructable that gave me the idea to do this in the first place.

"I think we should schedule other processes."

2008-08-31T21:07:00.002-05:00

While studying for my Computer Science qualification exam, I thought about writing an emo song about a nerd's response to getting dumped. He could relate the emotional roller coaster of dating to the thrashing of pages in a virtual memory system.

You're thrashing my heart.
Pages flying back and forth.
Not even checking if you've written or not,
just using here and there
without thought of locality!

This could also be better in the screamo genre, a la the lighter songs by Boy Sets Fire. This idea may also be influenced by listening to My Chemical Romance while reading my Operating Systems book. Not to be mixed lightly.

RSS Issue: Solved

2008-08-20T11:10:00.001-05:00

Thanks, Beermann for helping me realize my blunder when I changed my FTP permissions for the new blog and ended up with all sorts of wrong file paths. My archives and atom feeds have been in the wrong place for a few weeks now.

Back to Work

2008-08-18T08:55:00.002-05:00

The summer officially ended today as work recommenced. Policy sheets and problem plans take over my waking hours now. Soon, classes will also begin, which means my evenings will be full of reading and homework and grading. For now, I focus on recovering my LaTeX proficiency.

Soon, there will be more blogs on The Stolees. This weekend was the Omaha Air Show where Katie and I caught up with the other Stolees, including the brothers. While I won't get around to the official Air Show post for a while (I'm backlogged as it is), here are a few photos to keep your image lust at bay.

The Stolees

2008-08-08T12:40:00.002-05:00

In case you did not already notice, there is a link at the top of the page for The Stolees, a shared blog for my new wife and me. There is a new post including a lot of pictures from the wedding. As it takes a while for me to assemble pictures and get the links all correct, the other posts will debut in a delayed fashion, but expect full reports on the honeymoon in Canada, as well as our trip to Estes Park, CO. Lots of pretty pictures are coming your way.

Double-layer Taco Salad

2008-07-14T15:39:00.004-05:00

Preheat oven to 250 degrees.
Brown 1 pound of beef and add taco seasoning packet.
Add vegetables such as peppers, onions, olives, to the beef.
Place pieces of 6 taco shells on the bottom of a casserole dish.
Grate cheddar cheese onto taco shells.
Place two-thirds of the beef on the cheese.
Break 6 more taco shells and place on the beef.
Grate more cheese and place more beef.
Place dish in the oven for three minutes until cheese is melted.
Add toppings, such as sour cream, salsa, and lettuce.

Serves 3-4. I was able to eat about half of it. Shown with orange pepper and sour cream, as we are out of the other optional ingredients.

A Tale of Two Keys

2008-07-11T16:41:00.003-05:00

Tanglewood apartments first annoyed us when we asked for a garage ready for our move-in, but they "forgot to write it down" and delayed our garage rental for a month. Then, they would not give us a spare key, claiming they only have two copies, but we are free to make our own copies.

Thus, I embarked on a mission to copy the garage key so Katie and I could have independent access to the garage.

First, I went to ACE Hardware and got a copy of the EA27-style key. It didn't fit. It was too thick to enter the lock.

Thinking this is an error only in the brand difference, I call a locksmith about it but they apparently were not amused and told me in not so many words that "Copying a key at a locksmith is a waste of money and you're an idiot for trying. Thanks for wasting my time. Go to a different hardware store."

Following the advice of someone who should know more about this than me, I traveled to Home Depot in search of another key. I explain the situation and show the copy that doesn't fit in the lock. They go ahead and copy another key of the same thickness instead of letting me look and decide if it was the proper size.

So, I travel back to the Tanglewood office and explain the situation and ask how they copy the key. The man there bumbles something about having that same problem but getting a copy somehow. Recommends a locksmith. Thanks, I hadn't thought of that.

Going to a different locksmith than I had previously called, I find the following information after one of the smiths spends half an hour looking for keys and calling his key supplier (very nice people at Lincoln Lock & Key):

My key was a copy, not an original.
My key was a Cole EA27, but the Cole brand was discontinued. Not surprising since they make keys in non-standard sizes.
The EA27 was probably chosen for the copy based on randomly guessing a similar-looking key. Only with the original would we be able to know for sure.
Before going to the locksmith, you should check the brand of the lock and/or door.

Those people were very helpful, and even copied a key that had a similar, but not exact shape, just in case the EA27 was not really the type they wanted.

That key did not work. Also, the garage door and lock had no visible branding. Nothing, nowhere.

Back to the office to explain the situation again and ask see the master key. When the master key also has no brand markings, I'm given this key and take it back to Lincoln Lock & Key, where they check and look but find no match. They recommend replacing the cylinder in the lock with something not so horribly non-standard.

Now we get to the exciting conclusion. Are you still reading this? It really is worth this crazy long story, as I would not type it all except that I am incredibly upset about the end of the tale. Enough suspense? I go to the Tanglewood office and ask them to replace the lock on the garage, as it is hopeless to get a copy. Then, the office person simply asked "Would you like another copy?" To which I reply, "But you said you didn't have any other copies!" She states very simply "Of course we do, we just don't keep them with the masters so they don't get lost. Here you go." And, I walk out of the office with a key that works perfectly in my lock. I think there were three other keys in the drawer that fit.

Think back to how many times I rode my bike to a hardware store or to a locksmith (to be specific, today I rode from 44th and O to 33rd and Holdredge to find a closer locksmith, but it didn't exist, so I rode from there to 11th and H to Lincoln Lock & Key, all in 90-degree temperatures) wasted several peoples' time and bought three bogus keys all in what could have changed at step one: give me another copy of the key.

Independance Day

2008-07-04T23:24:00.002-05:00

Today was a nice break from work for both Katie and me. We used some of Katie's homemade applesauce to bake a brand new recipe: Applesauce Pie.

Seward, Nebraska is reportedly the place to be on the fourth, so we went and spent the day with Tom at his new apartment. It was so nice, we spent most of the time outside, so I do not have any pictures of the place.

There were a surprising number of Nebraska politicians there, including the governor, the senators, and the senator/representative hopefuls. That doesn't matter to me, but the large supply of thrown candy was important. Tom's college friends were pretty crazy and kept the show lively as well. After a day in the sun, walking around, it's good to finally get a bit of rest.

The Irish Experience

2008-07-02T12:14:00.002-05:00

This weekend Katie and I went to an Irish pub with some friends. The occasion was a birthday, but the extravagance was the place we went: O'Malley's 1842 Irish Pub in Weston, Missouri. This pub is an excellent excuse for a road trip, as the entire pub is below ground in an ancient lagering cellar. See the video below for the walk into the depths of the pub, taped by the birthday boy himself.

The Weston Brewing Company runs the place, and does a great job of making some excellent beer. It is highly recommend that you go on a Sunday between 3 and 9PM as Bob Reeder is a fantastic entertainer in the Irish spirit. This trip will be made again, perhaps with a stay at a local hotel instead of driving all the way back to Lincoln afterward (Katie was my D.D.).

Lots of Quick Updates

2008-06-27T14:48:00.004-05:00

I qualled my analysis exam. This makes me a fully-qualified mathematics student, but I still need to get the computer science portion completed. I've started studying despite the three-week break I'll get in July/August. The organization will help me when I am cramming in late August.

HOLY COW THREE WEEKS TILL THE WEDDING.

This week has been the most productive research week I have ever had. Last Friday, I figured out a definition that helped the rest of my work almost fall onto the page. This one is the "discovery" portion of mathematics, not invention. However, it seems that the work is not quite difficult enough for publication...yet.

The month is almost complete, which means a paycheck is imminent. That will most surely help as I have one more month of paying rent to two places. However, I also don't get an official paycheck at the end of July. My savings account will be sad by the end of August.

Tom came over last weekend and nabbed the acoustic guitar, which he is diligently learning in order to cater his creative side (and totally pick up the chicks). Now, it is time to have brotherly jam sessions with melodic chord patterns and harmonious vocals paired with heart-wrenching lyrics. Either that, or I write metal lyrics to NULLSTELLENSATZ and destroy our guitars.

The new Futurama movie came in yesterday and will be watched tonight with some friends new to Futurama. I think we'll start with Bender's Big Score before the Beast with a Billion Backs for their benefit. Then, they'll borrow some of the boxed sets and start from the beginning.

Joe "Beefmeister" Geisbauer has been destroying me every afternoon for the past few weeks in an attempt to put some filler so my tux doesn't look like cloth over a skeleton. He has succeeded somewhat, and I have noticed I am built more like Andrew than I thought, if only I would put some effort to fill in the arms and shoulders as he has.

Thanks for reading this far instead of just ignoring it. Seems best to let people who want short posts would not like a bunch of small ones, either.

Qual Scores Less Imminent

2008-06-24T12:05:00.002-05:00

I spoke with the graduate chair here, and apparently he sent out his recommendations for the scores, but they need to be approved by the Graduate Advisory Committee. Since it is the summer, all these people are in many different places around the world, and hopefully he will have the approval tomorrow, and then the scores out the next day.

BREATHE EASY PEOPLE. For now.

Qual Scores Imminent

2008-06-23T16:46:00.002-05:00

It is a high-stress situation here in the Math department as all of the qualification exam graders have submitted their scores, and we who took them anxiously anticipate their distribution.

To all my math friends: PLEASE REMAIN CALM. THE SCORES WILL BE AVAILABLE IN DUE TIME, AND YOU CAN CONTINUE TO BREATH UNTIL THAT TIME. PLEASE REFRAIN FROM HYPERVENTILATING, DESTROYING COMPUTERS, AND STAY CLEAR OF ALL SHARP OBJECTS.

To all my other friends: PLEASE EVACUATE THE BUILDING IN A HURRIED MANNER. DO NOT TAKE TIME TO BRING POSSESSIONS OR LOVED ONES. SIMPLY FIND A WELL-LIT AREA IN OPEN SPACES WHERE THERE IS AN UNLIKELY CHANCE OF A GRADUATE STUDENT EXPLODING NEAR YOU.

This has been a test of the evaluation warning system.

The Ride

2008-06-22T22:57:00.002-05:00

Katie and I survived the 35-mile ride (plus two miles there and two miles back) with only a few unsightly tan lines and a slight case of heat exhaustion. We're all good after spending the day in the dark apartment watching TV and eating junk food. Here is a picture of us getting ready to start out very early this morning.

I apologize for the blinding T-shirt.

Trail Trek

2008-06-22T07:41:00.002-05:00

Today, Katie and I are going on a 35-mile bike ride as part of the Lincoln Trail System's annual Trail Trek. It should be a fun time, outside of the heat and exhaustion, but we are looking forward to the opportunity to enjoy riding without it being a commute. The commute-by-bicycle method has worked wonders for us this summer, but we could use a break.

The 35-mile route covers almost all of the actual trails in Lincoln. We have seen most of them, but we may be surprised by a few. Also, they are trying to raise a ton of money to build a trail in Antelope valley, as well as taking the path below the planned J street bridge.

I am wearing the T-shirt we get when we register, but I will never wear it again. It is bright yellow. So bright, in fact, that I think it is its own light source. No one will miss me on the road.

Mathemetal

2008-06-18T21:57:00.002-05:00

I thought a few of my math friends would enjoy the following metal-song lyrics I have shared with my JSRSCSM friends. Now, consider Burnside's lemma proven by an angry shouting man accompanied to raging speed metal.

BUUUUUUURRRNNNSIDES LEMMAAAAAAAAAA!

LET A GROUP G
ACT ON X
THE NUMBER OF ORBITS
IS THE AVERAGE OF FIXED POINTS
TAKEN OVER ELEMENTS OF G

PROOF!

CONSIDER THE SUM OF FIXED SETS OVER ELEMENTS OF G
EQUAL TO THE SUBSET OF G CROSS X
SUCH THAT THE ELEMENT OF G FIXES THE ELEMENT OF X

HERE IS THE TRICK TO THE
BUUUUUUURRRNNNSIDES LEMMAAAAAAAAAA!

THESE PAIRS (LITTLE g, LITTLE x) GIVES THE SUMS
OF THE FIXED SETS ARE THE SAME AS
THE SIZE OF THE STABILIZERS!
THE LENGTH OF THE ORBIT IS THE INDEX OF THE STABILIZER
(THAT'S LOOOOOIIIIISS, LOOOOOOIIIIIIISSSSS)
BUT THE INDEX IS THE ORDER OF THE GROUP OVER THE ORDER OF THE SUBGROUP!

ANOTHER TRICK TO THE
BUUUUUUURRRNNNSIDES LEMMAAAAAAAAAA!

WE KNOW X IS A DISJOINT UNION OF OOOOOORBITS!
NOW SUM OVER ALL OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORBITS
THE SUM OVER ALL ELEMENTS IN THAT OOOOORBIT
ONE OVER THE SIZE OF THE OOOOOOOOOOOOORBIT
LEADING TO THE SUM OVER ALL OOOOOOOOOORBITS
OF ONE!
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNNNE!
WHICH MEANS WE HAVE THE ORDER OF G!
TIMES THE NUMBER OF ORBITS!
WHICH GIVES THE RESULT WITH A SIMPLE DIVISION!

BUUUUUUURRRNNNSIDES LEMMAAAAAAAAAA!

NOW GO AND UUUUUUUSE IT!
FIND THE NUMBER OF WAYS TO COLOR A CUBE
OR DODECAHEDRON, OCTAHEDRON, POLYDETRAAAAAA!
IF YOU ARE CRAZY YOU CAN FIND THE
NUMBER OF WAYS TO SET UP A RUUUUUBIKKKKS CUUUUUUUUBE!

BUUUUUUURRRNNNSIDES LEMMAAAAAAAAAA!

Electrical Repairations

2008-06-18T21:47:00.002-05:00

Recently, I bought a soldering iron to fix a few broken objects.

Object 1: My electric guitar. The port where the cord hooked in was a little finicky, and required the wires within to be cut and reattached. Now, it sounds beautiful outside of user-error.

Object 2: A Playstation 2 controller. A friend has a dog that chewed through the cord almost all the way. I thought I could pull the wires out and reconnect them, but Sony did a really good job of putting the cheapest wire they possibly could in there. Tom came over and helped me do the soldering, but the wires themselves would break really easily. It wasn't worth rewiring anything, so it was called a loss.

At least the more expensive one worked.