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“If you were plowing a field, which would you rather use? Two strong oxen or 1,024 chickens?”This quote is allegedly attributed to Seymour Cray, arguably the Father of the Humongous Computers. Cray was comparing two designs for a supercomputer, one using fast single processors; the other being a massively parallel systems. Unfortunately for the apocryphal ...
The first time you do something, it’s science. The second time, it’s engineering. A third time - it’s just being a technician.- Clifford Stoll
This quotation rings so true for graduate school.The myth of epiphany has a long history because it’s appealing to believe that there is a short, simple reason that things happen. The myth …
If you have five minutes to spare for something whimsical, try signing up for the British Airways Executive Club.I didn’t know Encik was a title. Or, for that matter, Dipl. Ing.Would you like peerage with that, Wing Commander?
I was suddenly reminded today, by some random Act of Probability, of one of the more unusual perils of working in a World-Class Research University.The lab phone rang today and I picked it up, expecting a call from one of our collaborators from across campus. To my shock and horror, a woman in an incredibly ...
I was going to keep quiet about this, but I changed my mind. Alex Au at Yawning Bread recently wrote an article questioning Singapore’s push into biomedical research. (Yes, the title …
My annoying labmate is absent, my advisor just sent out my second paper and is now reading the draft of my third manuscript, it’s sunny out - 78 F and low humidity to boot - and my parsley-cinnamon bagels actually turned out well.Ah, for more days like this.
.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } Weeping sakura, originally uploaded by Elia Diodati. After a long, cold, snowy winter, spring is finally, unequivocally, radiantly in season.
Ed: The following was drafted about a year ago and I never quite gotten around to finishing it until now. I’ve cut out a lot of what I had wanted to say, but the point still remains valid today.When we consider the question of standard English what we find, in effect, is double standards. The ...
Elia Diodati posted a photo:Once a smelly fishing port, the district of Tamshui in the north of Taipei is now one of the fastest-growing neighborhoods. This sunset panorama is taken near t …
It gives me great pleasure to interrupt my hiatus from blogging to bring you this short excerpt from my IM log.Acidflask: i am starting the AcidFlask Fan Club. Only $50 for ordinary member, $100 will get you Honorable Mention on my blog and $1000 will buy you my undying love. on or not?Cowboy Caleb: depends ...
From Steven Krantz’s Through a Glass Darkly, posted on arXiv:A mathematician typically goes through most of his early life as a flaming success at everything he does. One excels in g …
This public service announcement applies to students on F-1 visas graduating with a degree in science, technology, engineering or mathematics at an accredited US institution.Effective immediately, the US government will allow extensions of certain recent F-1 graduates currently on the OPT program. The extension will allow for a total of 29 months on OPT.ReferenceUS Dept. ...
Overheard on the bus home yesterday:“So he walks up to him and says, I got more control over yo’ life than you and he says how’s that, and he says, I’m letting you breathe, ain’t I?”That’s somehow very Zen.
This little conversation appeared in Karel Čapek’s R.U.R. This otherwise obscure play1 is universally recognized as the etymological source of the word robot.A* > Jsem hrozně zpá …
In 1998, the 5 ‘C’s were:CarsCashCondominium ownershipCountry club membershipCredit cardsIn 2008, the 5 ‘C’s are turning out to be:Censorship [1] [2]China [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]Credibility crisis [1] [2]Collective sales (i.e. en-bloc) [1] [2] [3] [4]Complacency [1] [2]Other honorable mentions:Caning cock-up, or corporal punishmentCashcards [1] [2]Cash …
I was woken up by this morning’s earthquake.I don’t live in a part of the earth frequented by such natural phenomena, so it was more exciting than worrying. It was as if my bed were set on vibrate mode for about two minutes, and a horde of excited children were stampeding in the apartment above ...
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