Ponder: Irrational Numbers in Irrational Bases

1/26/2013

Irrational numbers are rational in irrational bases.
Example: π₁₀ = 10_π

Obs: Gyroscopes in Nature

1/26/2013

I was first introduced to the connection between linear algebra and gyroscopes in Robot Kinematics and Dynamics class, when Dave the TA mentioned gimbal lock. A gimbal is a mechanical device that functions as a gyroscope, with each axis describing an Euler angle. The problem with Euler angles is singular representations, as seen below, where a degree of freedom can be lost. A linear algebra interpretation is two Euler angle mappings to one orientation, meaning there is no unique inverse (and thus a singularity). 

  ------->  

This phenomenon is really dangerous in planes because the pilot can lose information about his orientation, like in Apollo 11 where the spaceship did not have any prevention measures in place for gimbal lock. Fortunately, the brilliant astronauts-turned-astronomers were able to re-calibrate their gimbals using the stars as reference. 

Gimbal lock can be resolved using two gimbals offset in both position and orientation, in which the number of gimbal lock cases should be reduced dramatically, or by adding a fourth dimension to the gimbal.

---

Recently, I've begun to notice the ubiquity of gyroscopes in nature. In Metin's bio-inspired robotics, I learned about mosquito halteres, and two days ago we talked about the vestibular system in Richard's psychology of music class. 

A haltere is an organ in mosquitoes that functions as a gyroscope, shown below:

I don't know how accurate this entomological sketch is, but I would imagine that the offset in the halteres is more than just a coincidence - it's probably to prevent gimbal lock! I would suspect that there's also an offset in the haltere orientation, as well as an offset in position in the axis going into this blog. 

Humans also have built-in gyroscopes - the anterior canal, posterior canal, and horizontal canal:

You can kind of see it in the picture - the canals seem to form an orthogonal basis.

I bet that the sets of canals are slightly offset in angle/position in both ears to avoid gimbal lock, just like in planes and mosquitoes, and that balancing issues in people stem from problems with the orientation and position of their three canals! So, I hypothesize that there may exist a surgery that could repair equilibrioception in people. 

---

This observation really sheds light for me on the value of interdisciplinary information use. 

Pictures from wikipedia.

Lifehack: Cleaning Up My File Directory

1/8/2013

I finally got around to cleaning my computer's file directory. It was a huge mess, I basically threw everything onto the desktop. I've decided to group files into the following categories:

• Tools
• Exercise
• Resume
• Projects
• Books Currently Reading
• Website
• Notes
• Travel
• Sheet Music
• any current projects

I also had a bad habit of hoarding tabs, but finally realized that information overload is not only bad for my mind, it's unfeasible to read through such a large subset of the internet in reasonable time. Although I have gotten better this past semester, as part of my New Year's resolutions, I plan to stop saving up so many tabs once and for all. More on resolutions in a later post. 

Sustainable House Ideas

1/8/2013

This post will be used to keep track of ideas I have for my house. In the future, I'd like to have the following:

• library
• electronics lab bench
• plant greenhouse
• metal/wood workshop
• solar panels on roof

Sci: Matlab Carriage Return for Single Line Printing

1/7/2013

For smoother feedback in the user interface while loading files or loading something, you might want to overwrite your loading or status bar instead of printing it on a new line. Unfortunately, because of the linearity of stdio in most computers, there's no simple print command (that I know of...) that will do this.

In MATLAB, instead of carriage return, we actually use \b to delete previously printed characters outputted by fprintf. However, in python, you should be able to use \r to obtain the same effect.

Download the demo.

Food: Fontina Grill

12/29/2012

Located in Rockville, Maryland. 

Served from 11a to 130p, the lunch buffet menu included a light pizza, cheese ravioli, meatballs, and steak/mushroom. My favorite was the all-you-can-eat mussels. Would definitely go again. 

http://www.fontinagrille.com/lunch.html

General: Learning to Learn

12/22/2012

As opposed to traditional methods of learning, such as lecture, homework, and projects, I've always had trouble learning via textbook. I am stubborn about reading every detail in the book, down to the last word, but often I will either lose focus mid-paragraph or fall asleep. Something has to change.

During this past finals week, I came across an article written by Cal Newport on "ultra learning" (oh, the irony). I was immediately enticed by the potential to master linear algebra in ten days. I realized my obsession with details was impractical; after a few books, there's essentially an infinite number of words, of which no one has the time to read in their entirety. I need to find the balance between understanding the big picture and being able to crank through the implementation (so, grinding through practice problems is not the solution).

This winter break, I decided to try and apply the ultra-learning techniques to Udacity's Artificial Intelligence course, with a focus on understanding the Extended Kalman Filter and the Particle Filter. 

Here are my favorite online-education websites:
Udacity
Coursera
edX
TopCoder
CodeForces

General: My Blog's Purpose

12/21/2012

I'm planning to use this blog for writing, food/recipes/restaurants, exercise, and project updates.

Some of my friends' sites:
http://nolanhergert.com/doku.php
http://www.chrisharrison.net/ <- inspiration for site layout and calendar!
http://christopherhsing.com/
http://robo-nut.blogspot.com/

Some sites I enjoy frequenting:
http://hackaday.com/
http://www.youtube.com/user/eevblog
http://lifehacker.com/

Food: Yam Leaves with Tsuyu Sauce

 Yam Leaves with Tsuyu Sauce

Salmon with Onion, Avocado, Egg with Tsuyu Sauce. Forgot to take picture before eating.

Four cheese alfredo rigatoni pasta with bacon, egg, onion.

6/10 decrease pasta:sauce ratio. egg was pleasing addition.

Cheese and Onion Meatballs with Marinara Sauce

4/10 needs more flavor

Top: Bacon, Salmon with Onion/Mushrooms, Bagel, Water Spinach
Bottom: Lobster Bisque from Pittsburgh Fish Market

Pasta alfredo with onions and green pepper.

Steak

7/23/12
Steak, Potatoes, Water Spinach, Onions
Starting today, I'll present things in the order that they were cooked, in order to better understand where the inefficiencies are in my build order.

---
Bacon.
2 strips, torn in half so that all 4 fit in the pan at once. Starting with this because I can use the oil to make everything else.
---
Mashed Potatoes with Bacon and  Sauteed Onions.
Potatoes were made up front, bacon and  sauteed onion were finished and added later.
---

Water Spinach
Cooked with garlic.
---
Steak (bought raw from Giant Eagle).
Used some leftover grease from bacon to cook this.
A1 sauce was added after cooking.
---
Sauteed Onions
Diced 1/8 onion and cooked it in the bacon grease/steak juice. Made the pieces a brownish color.

Interesting note - these onions made me tear up, but the last batch of onions didn't. I didn't realize there was such a large range in the strength of onion sulfuric acid; I thought the variance was in people's tolerance to sulfuric acid.


My Rating
4/10
The meat was too dry. This configuration has delectable potential but some kinks need to be worked out.

Comments

Need to work on my timings to maximize efficiency and minimize time elapsed. Examples:

• Meat ended up being cooked too long, becomes dry and not as tasty. 
• One greased pan resulted in bottlenecking the entire process (mashed potatoes vs. {bacon, water spinach, steak})

Consider the opportunity cost of a second greased pan. Could split the bacon into two pans since you end up draining most of the grease from one pan.

One package of the mashed potatoes was too much for one person. Serves about 1-3 people.

Don't crumble bacon by hand. That was silly and messy.

Note times for each stage, and costs.

What to do with shredded cheese?

quiche (spinach, cheddar, bacon)

macaroni and cheese
stuffed shells
[mashed potato] pizza
potato dishes
cheese soup
casserole
taco
fondue
french onion soup
pasta
pasta salad
enchilada

week of 7/23

additional inventory:
2 Alfredo Sauce, 1 Gallon Milk, 1 Chicken Breast, 1 Steak, 1 Ground Pork, 2 Hummus, 2 Mashed Potatoes, 1 Bacon, 2 4-Pack Yogurt, 4 Avocado, 12 Jumbo Eggs, Green Pepper, Tomato, Garlic, Onion, Banana, Lemon, Lime
cost: 55.80


possible dishes:
steak and mashed potatoes
pasta marinara w ground beef
smashed potato pizza w bacon and chicken
pasta alfredo w chicken
guacamole w chips
scrambled eggs
omelet
water spinach w. garlic
bacon
hummus w chips

anticipated meals:

monday dinner
steak, mashed potatoes, water spinach

tuesday breakfast
scrambled eggs, bacon, bagel w peanut butter

tuesday lunch
guacamole

tuesday dinner
smahed potato pizza w bacon and chicken

wed breakfast
scrambled eggs, bacon, toast w peanut butter

wed lunch
guacamole

wed dinner
pasta alfredo w chicken

thurs breakfast
scrambled eggs, bacon, toast w hummus

thurs lunch
half price mad mex

thurs dinner
half price fuel and fuddle

friday breakfast
scrambled eggs, bacon, chips w hummus

friday lunch
taiwan cafe

friday dinner
pasta marinara w ground beef

7/21 Inventory

7/21
Inventory
Pizza Crust x2
Jar of Marinara Sauce x1
Mixed Shredded Cheese x1
Box of Pasta x7
Yogurt x5
Asian Bread x1
Bundle of Water Spinach x1/2
Blueberries x1/2
Bagel x3

Restock
Avocados
Tomato
Onion
Garlic
Banana

Guacamole without Tomato

Guacamole without Tomato
7/20
Guacamole without Tomato

---
Avocado x3
Onion x3/4
Lime
Lemon
Whole Grain Chips
---

My Rating
3/10

Comments
Because the avocados turned out to be a little premature, I used a blender instead of mashing the avocados. Some onions were blended with the avocados, along with lime and lemon juice, while the other onions were added directly to the guacamole.
In the future, I should wait for the avocados to further ripen before using them, so that they are easier to mash and so that the final result has a creamier texture.

Add tomatoes next time. I did not add tomatoes today because I had run out from last time.

For me, 2 avocados = full meal. As a snack, recommended 1 person = .5 avocado.

Lunch ft. Tea Egg

Lunch ft. Tea Egg
7/19
Shrimp, Bagel with Peanut Butter, Clam Chowder, Tea Egg

---
Lime Garlic Shrimp (from costco)
---
Clam Chowder (from costco)
---
Tea Egg (made by Gillian)
---
Bagel x2
Peanut Butter
---

My Rating
6/10

Comments
Tea Egg uses black tea, soy sauce, along with many other spices. Then you let it brew for ~4 hours.

Water Spinach

7/17/12


Blueberries
-
Water Spinach (空心菜) (purchased at Lotus)
-
Lime Garlic Shrimp (premade from costco)
-
2 Bagels
Hummus


My Rating:
5/10

Comments:

Tried to cook too much water spinach at once. Sautee less in the pan at one time. 

"Monday Brunch"

"Monday Brunch"
7/17/12
Bagels, Egg, Bacon, Hummus, Yogurt

1 Lemon-Lime Gatorade
1 Raspberry Yogurt
---
2 Sesame Bagel, cut in half
Hummus
---
1 Egg
Cheese
---
4 Bacon Strips
---
Garlic Lime Shrimp (costco)

My Rating:
7/10

Comments:
Add onion and peppers to egg.

"Sunday Brunch"

"Sunday Brunch"
7/15
Scrambled Eggs, Bagel, Hummus, Bacon

1/4 Green Pepper
1/4 Onion
2 Eggs
---
1 Bagel
Hummus
Tortilla Chips
---
1.5 Strips of Bacons

My Rating
6/10

Comments
n/a

Guacamole

Guacamole
7/13

2 Avocados
1/2 Lime
1/4 Lemon
1/2 Tomato
1/4 Onion
Served with Tortilla Chips

My Rating:
8/10

Comments:
Could try mashing more finely.

Sauteed Spinach

Sauteed Spinach
7/13/2012

Spinach
Garlic
Lemon Juice

My Rating:
5/10

Comments:
Use less vegetable oil.

"College Pasta"

"College Pasta"
6/28

Penne
Eggs
Spinach
Marinara Suace
Ground Beef
Onions
Green Peppers

My Rating
1/10

Comments
Too much, couldn't finish. Didn't taste that good. Ham was bad so had to pick it out.