Threaded Image Tiling
For quite some time now I’ve wanted to do a program that demonstrates Image Tiling using threads. Everyone should be familiar with the results of this technique, it’s used in Google Maps, Google Earth, NASA Worldwind, KDE’s Marble, and the…
Futon Barter
So, last Sunday, I purchased a Futon through Craigslist. On my trip back from picking it up, I lost a piece. A certain plastic part that fits in a wood slot, so it can slide up and down the rail…
First week at UCI
My first week has been rather nice and relaxing. I’ve got much of my paperwork covered with respect to RAship, ID card, finding shops and stuff around the area. My roomates are cool and mellow (and have similar philosophical/religious views)….
Moved In
I am finally moved in to my place at UCI. It turns out that I own 1 Toyota Tundra load of books, and 2 Chevy Cavalier loads of miscellaneous crap. Also, I found out that, as a result of stuff…
Atheists can pray too
Two weeks ago, a good friend of mine asked me a hypothetical question: I have a daughter with leukemia; The doctors say she might not pull through. Will you pray for her? Well, as an atheist this puts me in…
OCW does GEB
From Reasonable Deviations: MIT has done a course titled Gödel, Escher, Bach: A Mental Space Odyssey. Video lectures are available through OCW.
Thinking about Thinking
So far, in my reading of Minsky’s Society of Mind, his hypothesis, that the mind is an agglomeration of specialized agents working in conjunction with each other completely meshes with observations of my own behavior. In particular, I’ve noticed that…
Undusting History
During my packing for a move to UCI, I’ve come across the following items (all covered in dust): A newspaper clipping titled The Surreal Life, about Mark Chorvinsky and his magazine, Strange. April 1987 issue of Computer magazine, with feature…
Audience Question at Conferences
I’ve been watching the videos of last year’s Singularity Summit and noticed that, along with all other conferences I’ve watched, questions from the audience are completely inaudible to the sound recorder. There is a very simple solution that I haven’t…
Some Wisdom from Minsky
I was briefly reading Minsky’s Society of Mind and found these passages memorable. The secret of what anything means to us depends on how we’ve connected it to all the other things we know. That’s why it’s almost always wrong…