Take 4 at a stable blog
Let W XY Z be a square. Three parallel lines d, d’ and d” pass respectively through X, Y and Z. The distance between d and d’ is 5 and the distance between d and d” is 7. What is the area of the square ?
This problem was unusually tough after the geometry was done. The three lines gives a system of equations using Pythagorean:
2s^2 = x^2 + 44, s^2 = (x+y)^2 + 4, s^2 = y^2 + 25
But solving this system doesn’t seem to be trivial.
I’ve been splurging on anime lately; finished Seven Deadly Sins, Attack on Titan, and currently working on Sword Art Online. This was all after finishing the pretty good Master of None on Netflix, which is decidedly NOT anime. Why did I do so?
I said this before, but animation is an undervalued art form in the general public. If a show is animated, it doesn’t mean it is for kids. Obvious examples of this is South Park and Archer. Rather animation should be viewed as a tool to express thoughts and stories in a “realistic” way.
When we view animation, we are able to suspend our knowledge of the world. This is why Archer never dies, and Homer never gets old. This serves the story in a great way; there’s nothing to sweep under the table; “toon force” takes care of everything we ask. The protagonist just killed a guy 2x bigger? Unbelievable in real life, but happens in all sorts of cartoons.
Pairing an enticing story with animation, we have anime. The ones I’ve watched all have fantasy elements in them, and I suspect I won’t like the ones where the story is based on drama and inter-character relationship. Fantasy translates well to animation. Look at Spirited Away; it’s a fantastic world brought to life which realistic CGI would destroy.
In this fantasy world, an addictive story takes place. The formula is perfected by Hollywood already; all sorts of television series uses the same techniques. But what makes anime slightly different is how consumable it seems. There’s not a lot of brains needed; it’s a lot of pathos rather than logos. Watching it is simple and fun, but yet still open enough to discuss.
Maybe this is to justify my time waste, but I thought it was fun.
Started subscription to CM magazine. I will occasionally post solutions here
Show that if a 5×5 matrix is filled with zeros and ones, there must always be a 2×2 submatrix (that is, the intersection of the union of two rows with the union of two columns) consisting entirely of zeros or entirely of ones.
Solution: Any column of the matrix will have a number with 3 or more instances of that number in that column. WLOG, assume that number is 1, and choose 3 rows. We will now consider this sub 3×5 matrix.
If the remaining 4 columns contain a column with two 1s, then we are done. Else, note that there are only 4 remaining columns with one 1 or zero 1, with one of those columns being all 0s. Hence, we will have a 2×2 submatrix of 0s.
The new episode of Sherlock was definitely on the Community-level meta. I enjoined it nevertheless, but there were too much Inception going on to portray a relatively simple point. Was there really a need to have that many levels of comas? We get it: Watson is critical to Holmes, and that Moriaty is actually dead.
Also ended up watching Concussion yesterday. Will Smith did a superb job acting, and put on a great performance. There were multiple monologues in the movie where his emotions can be dearly seen. The plot was predictable (it is after all, based on real events), but was told in a engaging way. There were points where the pace of the movie felt awkward, most notably the time skips.
Also, will finally end up seeing Hateful 8 tonight.
Convocation was today.
The speaker talked about how we, as Brown students, must be perceptive in this world. We must continue on the path of improvement, for both society and self. She spoke well. But the thing is, I couldn’t care less for this.
It’s not that I don’t have sympathy for the plight of African-Americans. There is just no way I can influence that sort of things. My personality is counter as to what such activists expect from one another. In another context, my opportunity cost of doing such social work is great.
I used to find these problems interesting. I used to be able to speak intelligent with my friends on these topics. But as time turned, the less I read about #BlackLivesMatter, inequality or gender issues. Now, I have but a cursory overview of these matters.
Specialization is a good thing. That’s what econ says.
I went to Boston again on Friday to meet up with Ashley. As usual, it’s a relaxing time. There is a sense that time stops when I am there; no overwhelming pressure to succeed, even when she is so successful with her endeavors.
Somehow our friendship has continued all these years. I am glad of that.
There’s a lot of feelings going on right now. I’ll try to list them out in some form of coherent statements.
I think the biggest feeling is of this sense of loneliness. This time around, there’s no Donlon to prop me up. There are no funny RAs, or great roommate/neighbors to talk to. This time it is just me. In a small room. In a city I don’t know yet.
There is comfort that quite a few people live close to me, specifically Boston. It’ll be nice to see some people again, but I still think this depression-esque feeling will weigh down on me.
I spent the part of the day not driving to and from storage just watching Netflix. It’s a great distraction, but I need to stop soon. Refocus. This is your life; there is only one.
Also, I keep on getting the sense that time marches on. Brighten is so big now, and my parents are getting older. I’m actually fine doing this, where I come back for break and see them, but I know that will end eventually. Li laoshi is right about this whole thing. The truth can’t hurt, only reveal. I will have to start talking more to my parents now, seeing that grandma is still under the spell of cancer.
There’s also this feeling of helplessness. No matter how hard I train at the gym, I can’t be two people. I can’t lug giant boxes from the storage to the car in one go. That took so much time. Dragging it to the second floor was even tougher.
I can see how people are drawn into going to school near where they live. Sure, the drama follows them, but it’s easy to shake it off. Better yet, find a close friend to move with me.
I guess I should start Tindering… but I’m still uncomfortable with my looks. Ugh.
He then walks into the master bedroom’s bathroom, waking up mom and dad. He brushed his teeth.
Now the weird part: he remembers none of this apparently.
Been stuck in my head lately.
The only productive thing I did in the day was lift, and clean the rental house for an hour. It seems oddly true that the older one gets, the more likely one will be conservative. There are just too many interactions with the people who take advantage of the social net. One happened to rent from my parents, who was eventually evicted.
Coming from a poor background, I’m surprised my dad didn’t show a bit more sympathy. At the same time, I understand why. He worked pretty hard when he got here: working restaurant jobs and cleaning jobs while studying a foreign language and engineering certification. This tenant was relying entirely on the church for the rent.
There are probably 10 hardworking persons deserving of social benefits for every leacher. There may be only 1 for each leacher. We’ll never know. But as I grow older, I’m becoming more hardened towards these people too. I’ve read too many stories of abuse of the system.
Maybe more stories should be written about the people who used food stamps to stand up again?
Also, I hate TSM :-/