Take 4 at a stable blog
Silly joke aside, how does one react to having one’s home utterly destroyed. What is the point of capturing this shell of a city after ISIS has destroyed all essence of human life in it. While a victory, it’s more a symbolic one from the humanist point of view.
Hopefully the people will come back, and it’ll flower under the Arabian sun once again. If not, then I wish the families the best of luck.
It’s a good thing humans are imperfect. There was an article recently on fonts, and how one must manipulate them in minute ways to compensate for our eyes. The gist is that we perceive boundaries rather poorly, heavily influence by how long the boundary is. The result is that circles which have the same height as a square looks smaller. Type designers know this; “O”s and “H”s are actually slightly different in height.
This made me wonder, whether computers can artistically over-take humans in the future. With the advent of melody generations, music composition is certainly possible. Algorithms like Emily Howell certainly start to sound like a sonata from the classical age or one of those new age piano tunes, with its pleasant melodic progression.
But what distinguishes us from robots is that we are not governed by patterns. We don’t remember Beethoven for composing like anyone else in his period. If you listen to the composition above, it’s highly repetitive. Rules for the computer to pick the next notes. Unfortunately, the computer might never know how humans perceive these sounds, so it might never know how to break the rules (unless assisted). This is the same idea as our perception of borders.
There’s mathematical reasons why some sequence of tones sound good to us. Usually, it has to do with rational and irrational numbers. Tritones are basically Pythagoras’ worst nightmare. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t used in music. Jazz frequently have tritones, and they serve a purpose even in classical periods. Until the first day true AI becomes possible, I’ll believe that art is an inherently human subject.
Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe algorithmic music will be upon us in a few years, and I’m just too blind to see it. That’ll be an extremely interesting world though; I’ll gladly be wrong to see what that world holds.
Sir Vincent Brian Wigglesworth (17 April 1899 – 11 February 1994) was a British entomologist who made significant contributions to the field of insect physiology.
– Wiki
Coming back from Europe, I accidentally left my battery pack in a Heathrow airport hotel. In order to get it back, I would have to pay for the shipping cost in British pounds.
It is estimated that it’ll be 20 pounds.
At the time I lost the pack, GBP’s exchange rate is at a cool 1.55 USD.
Now it is 1.52 USD, saving me a grand total of $0.60
This series really emphasized change. Every character in the show transitioned from lofty goals and dreams to dead eyed stares. All because of one person who grasped the ability to change in his hands: Walter.
I’m not advocating myself to become a drug dealer. I’m not in the empire business.
Nor the money business.
Hell, I don’t know what my business is. Is it “make-the-world-a-better-place” business? I certainly hope so, but I don’t know what I should be doing to attain that while still living at a standard of living I like.
But what Walter taught me is to not wait until a stage 3 cancer derails my life. Take charge of the roaring bronco that is change.
I think that’s a good word to describe how I feel right about now.
Yesterday, I received an email from the University of Washington. It said that I was accepted into the masters instead of the Ph.D program. That put me in a rather poor mood, for UW was considered a “safety” school.
Today Brown University told me I was accepted into their program. The gush of relief was reminiscent of romance. Maybe it’s true that I’m dating math.
“Thank God I’m untouched” – Tsar Alexander II in response to a bomb blowing up near his carriage.
“It is too soon to thank God” – Hryniewiecki who threw another bomb at the Tsar, killing him.
American gerrymandering is a famous problem in politics and geography. Even mathematicians threw their hats into the race to develop a nice solution to the problem. It turns out that historically speaking, citizen representation in the House is relatively unbiased currently.
Dunwich is a village which was a regional power during the Middle Ages in England. Unfortunately, the North Seas seems to have a vendetta against this little parish and battered it to the point where only 200 inhabitants lived in the village in the 19th century. Of those 200, only some 30 can vote.
It somehow still had 2 representatives in the House before redistricting occurred in 1832.
Mathematics is suffering – Professor Healey