26Apr
Speaking of Elvis Reincarnate …How about this on Idol last night?!
25Apr
Math enthusiasts everywhere are being challenged to answer a sample question from a Chinese University’s entrance exam. Now remember, this type of question is given to prospective students, not mathematics majors. It is designed to access the mathematical skill strength of its incoming students. The UK’s Royal Society of Chemistry is offering 500 euros to one person who can answer this question:
In contrast, here is a sample question from a test for First Years at an English University:
I think that speaks volumes about the Chinese mathematics curriculum in comparison to not only England, but the rest of the world. I have to admit, I gave the 2nd problem a quick glance and knew the answers, but the 1st problem I haven’t even tried to tackle. It looks like a fun one, but I think I would need a lot of scrap paper on hand!
25Apr
At 3 weeks old, we only think he’s our new cousin, Tyler. Just wait until he starts shaking his hips and "Thanking us very much"…..
19Apr
I was watching TV the other night and during the commercials I was surprised to see our condo building flash across the screen! Yep, it was a Spaulding Rehabilitation commercial, talking about how they are raising money for their brand new facility to be built in Charlestown. We’ve known for a while now that this was coming, but as far as I knew the building plans were up in the air, and strict zoning regulations were making the process move along very slowly. You can imagine my surprise when I got my first look at what the currently empty parcel of land across from us will look like. I grabbed the camera, paused the TV (love the DVR!), and snapped a picture:
The new center towers over our little (3 story) brick and copper historic building. Like many old buildings in the Navy Yard, ours used to serve as a space for ship manufacturing, specifically it was where the old wooden masts were made. Currently, the parcel of land you see in the picture above is roped off as a dirt lot with no access. I know the area next to the water will be public and part of the harbor walk, so that will be nice green space. I also realize something will be built there at some point, but I would not be surprised if these drawings change. There is not even a scheduled date for ground breaking … at least not one that I know of ….
And, of course, just as I wrote that last line, a quick search on their website and found all of this information!
19Apr
Our neighbor’s little black pug, and one of Kobe’s best buds, Hinckley, takes a break by resting on his left hip.
Surfing with Wavelets that is, as I had planned, part of the Clay Mathematics Institutes’s public lecture series. Instead, I was stuck in my own personal hell which included a Linux box and trying to successfully get through an unnamed installation.
Why do tiny things on a Linux machine, like editing a file in VI feel like major victories for *us* windows programmers?! Edit a file in windows, even using notepad via the command line, and it is not even a third as much satisfying as putty’ing into a remote Linux machine, VI’ing a file, navigating to the part you want to edit, and then clumsily toggling between the ESC, x, and i, keys!!! Not to mention when you’re done with your edits and you could just close your notepad in windows, versus the ESC, :wq!, sequence in Linux!!! And loading a CD on a windows machine …. c’mon … that’s way too easy!!! Why don’t we remotely mount it to the machine by guessing which hda and device are the right parameters, and then specify what kind of permissions we want it to load up with?! So much more FUN!! I’m sorry, but it does beg the question … do UNIX machines play to the uber-geeks’s ego?? Make everything much more difficult, and in turn feel oh so much more satisfied when you have successfully completed minuscule tasks.
I’m pretty sure my IT guy is going to LOVE this post!!!! 
If anyone did go surfing last week … I would love an update/review …
16Apr
Uncaught in 4 design reviews, the mathematical miscalculation made by Fermilab had to do with the longitudinal force generated when loading the magnet. A recent press release by Fermilab states:
Review of engineering design documentation reveals that the longitudinal force generated by asymmetric loading was not included in the engineering design or identified as an issue in the four design reviews that were carried out.
The goal at CERN and Fermilab is now to redesign and repair the inner triplet magnets and, if necessary, the DFBX without affecting the LHC start-up schedule. Teams at CERN and Fermilab have identified potential repairs that could be carried out expeditiously without removing undamaged triplet magnets from the tunnel.
It would be great if they could still make their schedule, as a lot of competitors, specifically Fermilab, stands to gain from this "mishap" and could take the lead in the race of particle accelerators. You can find my original write up with some comments here.
And Kevin can confirm this … I hate wet socks!! What do I mean by that?! Well, imagine that you are getting ready for work one morning, you put on a fresh pair of socks, but forgot something in the bathroom, so you run back in there and BAM … you step in a water puddle created by the shower. WET SOCKS … they will stop you in your tracks! It makes me CRAZY!! And I’m not even going to mention when I accidentally step in one of Kobe’s druel spots around the house in my socks … that’s when it becomes a real pet peeve.
In any case, today is the 111th running of the Boston Marathon! They have not canceled the marathon in 111 years, and today was no exception. Now I can’t even begin to imagine running the marathon on a mild spring day, but running it at the tail end of a major Nor’easter is just something I can not fathom. How would you like every step you take to be squishy, cold, and wet … to the point where your feet are drowning in the relentless rain?! Not fun. I’ve got to hand it to these guys and gals … they are amazing for even being there this morning.
Here’s a shot of us at the 2005 Boston Marathon, we volunteered to help run the technical side of things that year. Kevin set up a Linux box that captured information from the chips in the runner’s sneakers when they passed across different milestones in the race. I remember it being a perfect 60 degree sunny day … April in New England … you can never predict the weather!
15Apr
Nothing like a rainy day to enjoy some homemade French Onion Soup. This was the first time I’ve made it, and it turned out quite good … super easy too!
3 T butter
1 lb onions, thinly sliced
1 cup dry white wine
5 cups beef stock
salt & pepper
French bread
freshly grated gruyere cheese
Melt butter in heavy pot (I like to use my Le Cruset dutch oven). Add onions and wine and cook very gently on low heat until onions are soft, 30 to 40 minutes. Add stock and season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, cover and let simmer for 10 minutes. Serve soup in oven safe bowl, top with sliced french bread and sprinkle with cheese. Place under the broiler until browned and bubbly.
For wine I recommend Casillero del Diablo Chardonnay from Chile. The Cabernet of the same maker is our favorite, and we were pleasantly surprised by the Chardonnay as well. It gave the soup a wonderful flavor and it was a nice bottle to compliment the meal.