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| Saturday, October 11th, 2008 |
poetry
[ horsedoc2008 ]
|
6:35p |
Twilights Destiny by Arriere Pensee
You are my safe harbor, the one place where I can drop
Anchor and not be frightened by the wind nor terrified of
The dark and dangerous waves, the one place where I
Am protected and unconquerable, where the sea is
Forever calm and tranquil, where I need not have fear of
Anything nor anyone, where my soul is restful and at peace...
You are my lighthouse, shining your bright beacon of hope and
Understanding through the dark and treacherous night, guiding
Me to a quiescent refuge where I am sheltered from the storm
And bathed in a warm glow of peaceful equanimity, a place
Where my soul is free to take a spontaneous and uninhibited
Sojourn, secure in the knowledge that I am being watched over...
You are my moonlit bay, beauty incarnate, outshining even
The brightest stars that are reflected in the endless depths
Of your onyx eyes, you are the silvery ripples cast down from
Heaven to play upon the dancing swells of the gently restless
Ocean, my personal Calypso, guardian and watcher, forever
Vigilant and heedful, lest the demons of the deep start to rise...
Your are my carefully charted shoreline where all the jagged
Rocks are charted for my protection, where I need not fear
Shipwreck nor death amongst the jeopardous and craggy
Breakwater, you are my sextant, expertly aligned and true,
Forever leading me to this place of harmony and accord,
You are my anchor, holding me firm against any tempest...
Your are my safe harbor, forever true, loyal, kind and caring,
A place I can retreat to, escape to, a place that resides deep
Within my heart and soul, untouched by all the vile and ugly
Rancor of the world, your love carries me upon the waves of
Life, steering me clear of dangers that seek to pull me down,
You are in essence my savior, and the answer to my prayers...
|
mathematics
[ mothwentbad ]
|
12:28p |
The trouble with analysis
So I have a result, and I could start typing it now, but I'm like, "yeah, but what about this other thing you haven't really sat down for 12 hours and worked out yet? Maybe it can be better and stuff. Maybe what you did was stupid and coarse albeit correct."
AUGH
How does anyone ever finish an analysis paper? It's sort of like what Zeno's Paradox would be if it were actually a paradox.
Of course, right now I'm complaining about it on LJ instead of working. I guess what you do is you write the stupid paper as fast as you can, and then start working on the other thing? Bah. So frustrating. Stupid time. |
| Friday, October 10th, 2008 |
nekobasu
|
8:35p |
The parting song echoes through the galaxy What is happiness? (That is what I had auto-saved. When did I write that? I'm pretty sure that tapioca and hot chocolate are happiness. Is that why I'm feeling this songer?) Anyway, more important matters are afoot than the heart of one man. This is hippocows! I must say, the Zentradi are far less fearsome that I remember them being. How did I come across this image? A local anime club, of all places. It doesn't feel like my scene, but I will have to add Macross Frontier to my list of shows to glance at occasionally. And maybe come back next week for DS-Day. The chance of getting some EBA in is enough to overcome the siren call of paper-grading. There is humor in this post. |
mathematics
[ cheeser1 ]
|
6:45p |
Graph/network question
Didn't somebody post a graph/network question earlier today / yesterday night? It was here I thought, but now it seems to be gone .. ??
I provided a solution and whatever, so I distinctly remember it existed somewhere, unless I'm incorrectly remembering strange dreams in which I post to Livejournal about math... |
mathematics
[ llyrfish ]
|
4:17p |
Humorous mathematical typos, pt. 2
So yesterday I finished up my topology homework, and posted on a message board I frequent:
"Yay, my topology homeowork is done!" |
| Thursday, October 9th, 2008 |
nekobasu
|
3:49p |
Memories of Stardust Will Cover You What fun things are people planning to do on Halloween? I'm going to be a space detective! The space game's afoot! (Actual costume details to come. I am not dressing as anything from Oban or FLCL. This year.)     Verdict: Hungry for a fruit pizza! Current Music: The Pillows - Trip Dancer |
nekobasu
|
2:54p |
Hey Vegeta, how's the Dow Jones industrial average doing today? |
| Wednesday, October 8th, 2008 |
mathematics
[ pastwatcher ]
|
8:21p |
a game-theoretic approach to procrastination
I almost posted this to math_jokes, but I'd love for people to post about their own thoughts in this direction or link me to a book I don't know about.
My roommate has to prepare 11 essays over the course of a week, and she's in the middle of that. She said she's doing them in order of how much she wants to do them: i.e., starting with the most enjoyable and ending with the least enjoyable. I said "that's a terrible plan!" and she replied "But at any point, it seems like a good idea."
Which leads me to the amusing thought of modeling her procrastination with game theory. Does anyone have any references for game-theoretic or economists' views of how people work on projects?
So for example, there is an analysis of procrastination versus time: suppose an all-or-nothing project has some completion value, and the likelihood of its being completed decreases with time. The analysis might look like this:
(time ranges from 0 to 1)
likelihood(project)=1-time^2
consequence(project, time)=100*(1-likelihood(project))=100*time^2
Pain(project, later)=Pain(project, now)/5
expected action=consequence(project, time)-Pain(project, time)
So at some point, if I have phrased this right, the expected action will be taken because it becomes important to get the project done. (I posit tiredness as an excuse if I used terrible equations there.)
Here is my setup of the current situation.
She is writing outlines for the 11 essays in preparation for an exam. There are two variables: one, the pain of doing work; and two, the bad consequence of not being prepared. We assume that without preparation on any given essay, she will be unable to write a passing essay on that topic in the exam. Of the 11 essays, she believes that 6 will appear on the exam. (But she really, really doesn't want to have any essays unprepared.)
So let's label the essays 1 to 11 in order of painfulness. Suppose the pain of writing each essay is about 10 plus the number of that essay. Suppose also that it takes half a day to write each essay. What is the optimum strategy for completing the essays assuming that one progresses forward through time? I can't figure out a good way to argue that it's not always the optimum strategy to do the essays in that order, because if one looks at the whole picture they could be done in any order, and at any given point it probably does make sense to do the least painful essay. But limiting the horizon or introducing another factor might make a better problem out of this.
Help? |
mathematics
[ chamcha ]
|
7:32p |
norms on matrix spaces
Perhaps it would have been better to ask this to my professor, but the homework this pertains to is due tomorrow.
In any case, in the space of matrices, what norm is typically used? Trace? Operator? Something else? In particular, my task is to differentiate a map defined between the space of n x n matrices. Will I get the same answer no matter what norm I use since M is a finite dimensional vector space? |
mathematics
[ mathic ]
|
3:34p |
Dear people that understand the Hodge Conjecture, The wikipedia entry ( here) for the Hodge conjecture asserts that the conjecture implies some de Rham cohomologies are algebraic, but in their definition of Hodge Cycles, they make no use of de Rham cohomology... I was hoping someone could clear this up a little. I offered to explain the Conjecture to one of my profs who loves the millennium problems, but doesn't really know anything about this one, and I've been doing quite a bit of reading on smooth manifolds, differential forms and de Rham cohomology, but I'm missing the link between this and the Hodge cycles. If it's too much to write up here I'd appreciate any good book recommendations that would cover the material necessary. Thanks ps. I'm also hoping to prove the conjecture for non-singular projective curves, as I've read it's trivial, so it'd be cool to show, so any recommended reading for that would also be appreciated. |
poetry
[ horsedoc2008 ]
|
12:05a |
Legacy Of Love Legacy Of Love
 Picture courtesy of Shaz Young You are laying there on a bed of shearing surrounded by the dark green of wet clover,
The moonlight washes over your body and I catch my breath, no greater beauty have my
Eyes beheld and you are mine, heart, mind, body and soul, the perfect gift wrapped up in
Only you, yellow hair cascades down your naked back like wheat silk, blowing slightly on the
Nightwind, could any man love a woman this much and still survive? My beating heart wonders,
Your bare skin glistens like a million diamonds, peppered by the rain, and I draw in a breath,
You hear me, tucked back here amongst the trees and turn your head in my direction... 'Does my knight have cause to hide from me?' you ask, as I step into the moonlit
Meadow, 'No m'lady, I have no cause,' I reply, 'only fear and trepidation.' Your eyes
Look up to meet mine and a wave of desire washes over me, buckling my knees,
Somehow I remain on my feet, 'Fear you say? Fear of what my knight?' 'Fear that I
Shall fall into your eyes and be lost forever m'lady.' Your smile is beatific as your
Arms reach up to me and a slow, seductive smile spreads across your lips like warm
Honey, 'And would that be so dreadful a fate my knight, to be lost within my soul?' ( Read more... )
|
| Tuesday, October 7th, 2008 |
poetry
[ juliet4no_romeo ]
|
11:29p |
Tell me what to do, darling
One choice: Friendship
She writes "Beautiful" on my face
Crazy move
Colors fade
The apocalypse begins |
mathematics
[ etothepi ]
|
4:28p |
stupid probability question
I'm kicking myself for not knowing how to do this.
Let's say there are 6 lottery tickets in a bag. There are three people invested in this lottery. One person has 1 ticket, one person has 2 tickets, one person has 3 tickets.
There will be three drawings. The first ticket will be drawn and left out of the lottery, then the second (now with only 5 tickets in the bag)
What method do you use to calculate the probability that any player will have at least 1 ticket drawn? For the two players with 2 and 3 tickets, respectively, what method would you use to calculate the probability that at least 2 tickets are drawn?
You can post the answer if you like, but I'm really after the method itself. I think you are supposed to use the binomial distribution, but am unsure of how to get all the double-counting out of the system, if so.
Thanks in advance! |
mathematics
[ swiftset ]
|
3:07p |
I'm sure I've heard and seen the term 'planar tree' several times; what does this mean? Aren't all trees planar because v = e+1 and f = 1 => v-e+f=2. Is there some alternate meaning to planar? |
nekobasu
|
11:33a |
Remember those brief, heady months where I was always writing role-playing game materials? One of 'em is up for free download for the next few days -- Suzerain. That's the Origins Award-nominated one. Checka it out. If it's the sort of book that you're interested in (or even the awesome settings that I wrote,) buy a hard copy. They're finally available. Woo! I don't get any money from it, but some pretty commendable people do. My other personal link relates to a haiku about superheros that I wrote. Or maybe the victims of superheroes. I don't know. So that's something to follow. Back to Baudrillard and jelly sandviches. |
mathematics
[ derralf ]
|
4:13p |
perfect circle
I've heard an anecdote once about the audition exam for an art class where the candidates had to paint a perfect circle by hand in one stroke of the brush. Suppose you were given a curve h(t), how would you measure the difference to a perfect circle? |
| Monday, October 6th, 2008 |
mathematics
[ pkarjala ]
|
6:54p |
laplace operator on D-dimensional shpere
Dear colleague,
What is known about the spectrum of Laplace-Beltrami operator on D-dimensional spheres for any D? Is the problem solved fully in most generic form? Is the solution know at least for 0-forms (functions)? Are there any effective approximate methods? |
mathematics
[ cheeser1 ]
|
7:19p |
Groups of order p^3
So I'm having trouble classifying these groups (or more precisely, the non-Abelian ones). I know what the answer ought to be (two, C_p × C_p ⋊ C_p and C_(p^2) ⋊ C_p).
I've got Burnside's Theory of Groups of Finite Order and I've tried chasing down the proof through that (which splits into several previous theorems, which split into more previous theorems), but my prof says I should be using a different method, which I don't have a handle on.
He's told us to take |G|=p^3 and to get the normal subgroup |H|=p^2, and to look at:
G -(φ)→ Aut(C_(p^2)) ≅ C_(p(p-1))
| ↑
| (ρ)
↓ |
G/H ≅ C_p
but it's hard to see why, for each possible H, there's a unique φ that works and characterizes the semidirect in each case. It is probably clear that I'm pretty shaky on the stuff involving this commutative diagram - I am fairly unsure how to break this down, and he's doing a good job of rushing through things without explaining a whole lot. Any suggestions, hints, or elegant/obvious solutions are greatly appreciated. |
| Sunday, October 5th, 2008 |
nekobasu
|
8:37p |
Today I visited the Valleys of Canaan where flows, instead of milk and honey, streams of neon on ketchup and plastic. The scrunched-up face of concern and hunger chomped its mighty choppers at me, pulling faces until buttermilk ranch oozed from my pores. There is too much -- but no matter!
That is to say, Samba de Amigo has been released for the Wii. I made some faces at it in the store before moving on. Maybe by the time that I can spare a samba break, it will lower in price. Nevertheless, this is an important heads-up for my video game friends and my increasing number of my non video game friends. It has bright colors and I will clap my hands CLAP CLAP CLAPCLAP while I play. Except in the really hard level where I'll go CLAPCLAP CLAP. It is a game about a monkey who plays the maracas. In space. Unless it turns out to be terrible, I will entreat everybody to play it. This is a part of my youngerhood.
I told myself that I'd only write this if I followed it with thoughts on "what I'd like to learn" or "what I'd like to accomplish."
I would like to accomplish some balance, write some things for myself. I don't really mean that they're for private consumption, however. Just that they won't be graded. Score them with your jagged reaver's claws, but leave the alphabet outside. Paco.
I would like to learn some good stories. Then I will have something to say to people who are bothered by silence. Being versatile sounds like a useful way to live.
My thanks to Jean Baudrillard for sharing his text with me. The only way to decommodify it is to slip it into my natural speech, let it break from its ossified form of all-rights-reserved homogeneous fecal matter. So there. |
mathematics
[ grapefruitgirl ]
|
5:29p |
i am really seriously screwed in statistics class at the moment. if anyone on this list knows any good online resources of word/stats/probability problems/lessons, i would be much obliged. or if anyone in san francisco knows an actual statistics tutor that would be great too. i spend a lot of time at the god damned city college of san francisco stats tutor (not much individual attention cause there are so many students needing help). yet despite my hours at the tutoring table I STILL don't grok this material. i cant fail this class to get into nursing school - HELP! any mathmaticians know online resources that could help me? i'd seriously be very grateful. |
| Saturday, October 4th, 2008 |
poetry
[ horsedoc2008 ]
|
1:05p |
 Photo courtesy of visualartshop.com Do you see me? Or am I just another body Hunkered down in a hospital gown with his Head hidden under white starched sheets With eyes full of fright and heart pounding... Do you know my name? Or am I just a number Written in grease pen on a board in the emergency Room awaiting his fate? And if you did know my Name would you even care? Would it even matter? ( Read more... ) |
mathematics
[ melodiousaphony ]
|
10:26a |
matlab.and.video
Hullo,
I'm having a heck of a time loading an .avi file into a GUI I'm putting together in MatLab. I know that's not entirely math based, but my lovely math degree didn't come with any math-application experience.
Any help would be great!
Thank you. |
| Friday, October 3rd, 2008 |
mathematics
[ xdirtydx ]
|
11:16p |
How can I tell Mathematica that a unspecified variable is a real number? It appears to assume that an unspecified variable has an imaginary part. (I think)
Essentially, I am expanding a large polynomial related to the Gaussian curvature of the Schwarz P-surface. So I have to expand something like (x+y*i)^8 and take modulus of it. x and y are my unspecified variables. |
mathematics
[ sans_galois ]
|
9:30p |
analysis
Let E be a compact, non-empty subset of Rk, and let δ = sup{ d(x,y) | x,y in E }. Show that E contains points x_0 and y_0 such that d(x_0,y_0) = δ .
This doesn't seem terribly difficult, I just can't seem to really get started. I'm not sure how to attack it.
Edit: Thanks for your help everyone! Finally put it all together |
| Saturday, October 4th, 2008 |
poetry
[ integrated626 ]
|
1:28a |
...
There you are.
I could reach out and grab you.
Yet why do I refrain?
I could have you.
But for some reason unknown to me,
I don't want you.
Or do I?
Maybe, one day, I will.
And it wont just be for a moment.
One day. One more day.
One more day.
Just one more day...
One more day of living like this.
Dragged under these high waters,
Drowning in all these things I need.
But this ocean is not my own.
You're living life a fairytale.
Its not this that bothers me.
Its the fact that you know I want it too,
But there isn't enough room in your boat.
You could say it's envy.
But I'm not envious of you.
You're living in a dream,
and all dreams come to an end, my friend. |
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