OK. Train of thought has returned, after my brain took several heavy hits by a mathematics obsession. SMO Senior and Open papers from 2008 & 9... still can't even get 50% right. Yeesh.
Back to the topic. Those maths papers? Funnily enough, I remembered how to do a few of the questions (since I did do them before, the first time round) despite there being one intervening year of maths deterioration (reason shall be unspecified.) Also, I remembered which questions I failed to complete the first time round. Armed with new approaches, I tackled the questions, and found my memory screaming "you couldn't do this, you still can't do this." It didn't lie. It might even have been the reason why, a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Such a lousy memory (in every sense of the words.)
Oh, and a small listing's appeared on the sidebar. The first 2 categories are simple enough, but I figure the 3rd one could use explanation. "Forgotten Anime" simply means those that I've watched before, remember watching before, but completely forgotten what it was about, save for the name (in some cases. Had to Google a few times to get the correct names.) Truly a case of amnesia, this would be.
......admittedly, those were watched about 10 years ago.
Monday, January 4, 2010
Monday, December 14, 2009
On Memory.
Eh, blast. Every time there's one of these "On a subject" posts, they usually end up as mere rants. Perhaps if I took psychology it'd be more interesting to read and write these things. And actually end up making sense.
Well. Memory. Funny little thing that helps us to remember events of times past. Even if you haven't got a creative bone in your body, your memory can apparently conjure up events of wonderous surrealism and complete falsehood. Even if you can't remember what you stepped into the kitchen to get, your memory can helpfully recall the embarassing moments of your childhood for you.
This queer phenomenon known as "remembering" allows one to recall, with near perfect ambiguity, precisely what happened that left that scar of a memory on one's brain. However, this amazing skill is usually not what people notice when recalling things. Nope, what people usually notice is all the long gaps in their memories. For example. What did you eat on this day 3 years ago? How many pages did the newspaper have today? Things like these are not supposed to be hard to remember, really (what did you have for lunch today?) and the answers we've seen before (if you read the newspaper, you should remember how many pages you read) so why the inability to answer?
Well, answering such inane questions with little bearing on one's well-being is really a waste of time. Who cares if the newspaper had 8975 pages today. (Bad example. Everyone would complain.) Who cares if the square root of 7 is 2.645. Here we have to delineate the two types of memory: (Not conscious and subconscious but) USEFUL and NOT USEFUL.
Admittedly, there is little difference between the two. After all, if one appears in a quiz show and some question like "What is the scientific name of the ixora?" is worth $100,000, obviously this little bit of trivia, usually completely irrelevant to life, becomes a life-changing piece of knowledge. However, typically knowledge that is of the practical variety is directly related to some aspect of one's daily routine, and has usage in one's life, like knowing how to brush one's teeth. If all these little things like knowing how to walk and remembering one's phone number were tallied, you'd be surprised how much you know.
Unfortunately, remembering things is scarcely this easy. Mathematics would be one realm where many people complain of specific amnesia, forgetting that important little formula before a critical test. (Trigo factor formulae come to mind here, or rather fail to.) If only we could all have better memories (although those "Improve Your Brain" genre of books all seem like they were written for laughs at us common people and seem utterly useless.) Such things as remembering acronyms, chains of pictures and funny sentences for the Reactivity Series, pi to 40 places and "how to answer AQ" seem extremely gimmicky. It may help some people, but personally, I think the best way is to forget all these tacky methods of memorisation and just remember whatever it is you should be remembering.
Running out of steam here. I think I'll end off, maybe pick up the thread of this train of thought later... if I remember.
Well. Memory. Funny little thing that helps us to remember events of times past. Even if you haven't got a creative bone in your body, your memory can apparently conjure up events of wonderous surrealism and complete falsehood. Even if you can't remember what you stepped into the kitchen to get, your memory can helpfully recall the embarassing moments of your childhood for you.
This queer phenomenon known as "remembering" allows one to recall, with near perfect ambiguity, precisely what happened that left that scar of a memory on one's brain. However, this amazing skill is usually not what people notice when recalling things. Nope, what people usually notice is all the long gaps in their memories. For example. What did you eat on this day 3 years ago? How many pages did the newspaper have today? Things like these are not supposed to be hard to remember, really (what did you have for lunch today?) and the answers we've seen before (if you read the newspaper, you should remember how many pages you read) so why the inability to answer?
Well, answering such inane questions with little bearing on one's well-being is really a waste of time. Who cares if the newspaper had 8975 pages today. (Bad example. Everyone would complain.) Who cares if the square root of 7 is 2.645. Here we have to delineate the two types of memory: (Not conscious and subconscious but) USEFUL and NOT USEFUL.
Admittedly, there is little difference between the two. After all, if one appears in a quiz show and some question like "What is the scientific name of the ixora?" is worth $100,000, obviously this little bit of trivia, usually completely irrelevant to life, becomes a life-changing piece of knowledge. However, typically knowledge that is of the practical variety is directly related to some aspect of one's daily routine, and has usage in one's life, like knowing how to brush one's teeth. If all these little things like knowing how to walk and remembering one's phone number were tallied, you'd be surprised how much you know.
Unfortunately, remembering things is scarcely this easy. Mathematics would be one realm where many people complain of specific amnesia, forgetting that important little formula before a critical test. (Trigo factor formulae come to mind here, or rather fail to.) If only we could all have better memories (although those "Improve Your Brain" genre of books all seem like they were written for laughs at us common people and seem utterly useless.) Such things as remembering acronyms, chains of pictures and funny sentences for the Reactivity Series, pi to 40 places and "how to answer AQ" seem extremely gimmicky. It may help some people, but personally, I think the best way is to forget all these tacky methods of memorisation and just remember whatever it is you should be remembering.
Running out of steam here. I think I'll end off, maybe pick up the thread of this train of thought later... if I remember.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
To SCP-797...
...(Not late this time) Happy birthday! SCP-797 is now over one year old. By a matter of minutes. Even if it doesn't officially exist. (Here's the link.)
Well, unlike the other post (sorry 559) I have something prepared for this occasion. Um, only a handful of people may get this one, but what the hey. I'd like to dedicate this to the inspiration of 797:
;-)
SCP-797 is a year old. Enjoy.
Well, unlike the other post (sorry 559) I have something prepared for this occasion. Um, only a handful of people may get this one, but what the hey. I'd like to dedicate this to the inspiration of 797:
;-)
SCP-797 is a year old. Enjoy.
Saturday, December 5, 2009
To SCP-559...
...Happy birthday! (Oh the irony, I'm wishing a birthday cake a late birthday.)
It's been a year since 559 went up. And it remains after the huge purge! Yes! Good to see it survived the wave of deletions (with a healthy rating, at that.) Well, hallelujah and お誕生日おめでとう!
It's been a year since 559 went up. And it remains after the huge purge! Yes! Good to see it survived the wave of deletions (with a healthy rating, at that.) Well, hallelujah and お誕生日おめでとう!
Friday, November 27, 2009
Collective consciousness.
A magnificent concept, the idea of many units operating as one single entity. It would make such things as databases and computing much simpler, by splitting the load amongst the individual members of a collective consciousness.
Well, I might eventually make a post on this concept. But the main point of this particular rambling is to bring you akinator. A fantastic example of a collective consciousness.
It guesses any character you have in mind, given that you answer its questions truthfully. He'll guess within 20 questions any character, and if he's wrong, should you deign to give him chances, akinator will guess again within 30, then 40 questions. It's essentially a huge database of characters, questions and character traits, much like the old punchcard system for computers. A punchcard computer for akinator would probably be recognisable only as a sea of paper, given its sheer volume.
One thing in mind: it's frightfully accurate at guessing within 30 questions. 20 if the character is distinctive enough. If it can't get it within 30, it'll probably fail at 40, but its final trick is to pull a HUGE list of characters after getting it wrong the last time. Akinator is sneaky. Yet, even with its apparent psychic powers, it is amazingly fallible.
For the record, it guessed some (not so) obscure characters I pulled: Bazett Fraga McRemitz, Samurai Jack, Aku and Emiya Kiritsugu. For popular people and searches like Obama, Luffy, Kim Jong-Il and Nanoha, it'll usually get it within 20 questions, so forget beating akinator with those.
It does have its weaknesses. It took the whole 40 questions to guess Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew. (WUT) V from V for Vendetta was initially thought to be Anonymous (HERESY) and even Archer from Fate/stay night was completely unguessable for it (WUT WUT WUT). In fact:
- Caster, Archer, Rider from F/sn it failed, yet it got Lancer, Hasan and Assassin also from F/sn.
- Ilya, Irisviel, Kotomine and Kiritsugu from Fate/Zero it got, but failed hard at Rider, Caster and Lancer from the same.
- Pulling out all the stops, I went for Miyu Edelfelt from Fate/kaleid liner (bloody obscure, and she only appears in that one series and its sequel.) As expected, akinator failed.
- Damn, turns out I'm a Fate (Nasuverse) fan. Damn.
The collective consciousness seems to like anime, though. Akinator got the characters Shana (Shakugan no Shana), Hayate, Hinagiku (Hayate no Gotoku!), Sanji, Luffy (One Piece!), and about half of the F/sn cast (aside from those mentioned, it took 2 guesses to get Kuzuki Souichirou). Admittedly I'm quite lousy when it comes to characters, but I'm sure someone else would be able to really put akinator through its paces.
Good luck stumping it!
Well, I might eventually make a post on this concept. But the main point of this particular rambling is to bring you akinator. A fantastic example of a collective consciousness.
It guesses any character you have in mind, given that you answer its questions truthfully. He'll guess within 20 questions any character, and if he's wrong, should you deign to give him chances, akinator will guess again within 30, then 40 questions. It's essentially a huge database of characters, questions and character traits, much like the old punchcard system for computers. A punchcard computer for akinator would probably be recognisable only as a sea of paper, given its sheer volume.
One thing in mind: it's frightfully accurate at guessing within 30 questions. 20 if the character is distinctive enough. If it can't get it within 30, it'll probably fail at 40, but its final trick is to pull a HUGE list of characters after getting it wrong the last time. Akinator is sneaky. Yet, even with its apparent psychic powers, it is amazingly fallible.
For the record, it guessed some (not so) obscure characters I pulled: Bazett Fraga McRemitz, Samurai Jack, Aku and Emiya Kiritsugu. For popular people and searches like Obama, Luffy, Kim Jong-Il and Nanoha, it'll usually get it within 20 questions, so forget beating akinator with those.
It does have its weaknesses. It took the whole 40 questions to guess Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew. (WUT) V from V for Vendetta was initially thought to be Anonymous (HERESY) and even Archer from Fate/stay night was completely unguessable for it (WUT WUT WUT). In fact:
- Caster, Archer, Rider from F/sn it failed, yet it got Lancer, Hasan and Assassin also from F/sn.
- Ilya, Irisviel, Kotomine and Kiritsugu from Fate/Zero it got, but failed hard at Rider, Caster and Lancer from the same.
- Pulling out all the stops, I went for Miyu Edelfelt from Fate/kaleid liner (bloody obscure, and she only appears in that one series and its sequel.) As expected, akinator failed.
- Damn, turns out I'm a Fate (Nasuverse) fan. Damn.
The collective consciousness seems to like anime, though. Akinator got the characters Shana (Shakugan no Shana), Hayate, Hinagiku (Hayate no Gotoku!), Sanji, Luffy (One Piece!), and about half of the F/sn cast (aside from those mentioned, it took 2 guesses to get Kuzuki Souichirou). Admittedly I'm quite lousy when it comes to characters, but I'm sure someone else would be able to really put akinator through its paces.
Good luck stumping it!
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Odds and ends.
Just finished Endless Eight. FINISHED. DONE.
For the uninitiated, Endless Eight is a reputedly very aggravating series of 8 episodes in the 2009 airing of The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi (涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱) that is essentially nothing other than a series of events repeated, with minor variations, 7 times. Well, I didn't read the light novel (not that volume, at least) so it's hard to say how less annoying it could have been.
It really wasn't that bad. As for those who watched it over eight weeks, it must've been a question of self-restraint to not hammer down the door of Kyoto Animation. What made it more bearable was:
- It was watched over a couple of days. Instead of 56.
- It was only 8 episodes. Instead of 15532 as they could have gleefully attempted.
- There were minor variations. The first and last episodes were different. The wardrobes changed each episode. And there were several different punchlines across the episodes.
- Bad press online prepped me for this set of episodes.
Well, goodbye, endless summer. At least this doesn't happen in real life... does it.
Next, some random complaints.
Haven't been able to slack off and play comp games as often as hoped. Reason being? Too damned lazy to. Yep, lazy. Hey, comp games need motivation, OK?
After all, faced with the alternative of sleeping, comp games can't hold a candle to my interests. It's much easier to do nothing than grind in comp games.
Another grouse. What the HELL kind of maths book that claims to prep people for maths competitions, has not one, not two, but three and probably more very serious typos. At that, it's preparation for British (my guess) maths competitions. No offence to anyone here, but I think that China and Russia are way ahead on this front. Even the SMO is harder than some of the questions in the book. After all, stuff like trigo formulae, identities and, heavens above, probability are already part of the normal syllabus in schools here.
The typos happen to be of the following sorts.
1. secx = 1/sinx. Seriously. Even another reference table printed in the same damn chapter contradicts this falsehood.
2. x + 1/x = 1, and the solution for this is phi (1.618yadda.) Pray tell how this equation has any real solutions. And earlier in the book, the inequality x + 1/x >= 2 for all real x was proven.
3. Factorisation of 120 (was it this number?) into 2 factors. 1x120, 2x60, 4x30, 5x24, 6x20, 8x15, 10x12 and their reverses, giving 14 ways as the answer to a question. Waitaminute, isn't 3x40 also a factorisation?
Before doing anything. DOUBLECHECK. Yeek.
For the uninitiated, Endless Eight is a reputedly very aggravating series of 8 episodes in the 2009 airing of The Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi (涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱) that is essentially nothing other than a series of events repeated, with minor variations, 7 times. Well, I didn't read the light novel (not that volume, at least) so it's hard to say how less annoying it could have been.
It really wasn't that bad. As for those who watched it over eight weeks, it must've been a question of self-restraint to not hammer down the door of Kyoto Animation. What made it more bearable was:
- It was watched over a couple of days. Instead of 56.
- It was only 8 episodes. Instead of 15532 as they could have gleefully attempted.
- There were minor variations. The first and last episodes were different. The wardrobes changed each episode. And there were several different punchlines across the episodes.
- Bad press online prepped me for this set of episodes.
Well, goodbye, endless summer. At least this doesn't happen in real life... does it.
Next, some random complaints.
Haven't been able to slack off and play comp games as often as hoped. Reason being? Too damned lazy to. Yep, lazy. Hey, comp games need motivation, OK?
After all, faced with the alternative of sleeping, comp games can't hold a candle to my interests. It's much easier to do nothing than grind in comp games.
Another grouse. What the HELL kind of maths book that claims to prep people for maths competitions, has not one, not two, but three and probably more very serious typos. At that, it's preparation for British (my guess) maths competitions. No offence to anyone here, but I think that China and Russia are way ahead on this front. Even the SMO is harder than some of the questions in the book. After all, stuff like trigo formulae, identities and, heavens above, probability are already part of the normal syllabus in schools here.
The typos happen to be of the following sorts.
1. secx = 1/sinx. Seriously. Even another reference table printed in the same damn chapter contradicts this falsehood.
2. x + 1/x = 1, and the solution for this is phi (1.618yadda.) Pray tell how this equation has any real solutions. And earlier in the book, the inequality x + 1/x >= 2 for all real x was proven.
3. Factorisation of 120 (was it this number?) into 2 factors. 1x120, 2x60, 4x30, 5x24, 6x20, 8x15, 10x12 and their reverses, giving 14 ways as the answer to a question. Waitaminute, isn't 3x40 also a factorisation?
Before doing anything. DOUBLECHECK. Yeek.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
On Language.
Language, a communication medium, a barrier and a bridge between people. Enlightening and masking at the same time, it divides the world into a those who understand each other and everyone else. Of course, these are entirely arbitrary groupings. Anyone could be in the first group; it just depends on who you pick to start with.
People complain about language. Whether it should be learnt by rote or roleplay, which and how many languages to teach in schools, the evolution of a language, the low standards of language in society.
By its very nature, language divides the world into small portions, setting up walls of incomprehension between different zones of the world, between different languages. One can run away from this fact; for instance, if one only knows English, one can take relief that English is a remarkably oft-spoken language in the world, and that major countries such as the U.S. have it as their main/working/official language. Online, too, there are pockets of communities of different tongues; one could live their whole life being a monolingual and not be any the worse for it.
All the same, multilingualism is an advantage. Just as language carves trenches between people, knowing more than one language bridges the chasms. It multiplies your realm of knowledge, pushes your horizons further, and opens up new experiences on Earth. It is entirely worth it to be versed in more than one tongue.
...even if it is hell to learn more than 2 languages.
One language? Better excel in it, or you'll have serious problems.
Two languages? Excelling in one, comprehending the other. That's the bare minimum of aptitude.
Three languages? Again, you'd better be great in at least one.
Language has 4 main aspects to it:
- Reading (to be literate. To understand printed material.) [passive, visual]
- Writing (to create printed works.) [active, visual]
- Listening (to understand the spoken word.) [passive, aural]
- Speaking (to be able to communicate verbally) [active, verbal]
To understand a language, one merely needs to be skilled in reading and listening (still no mean feat, though.) To truly know the language, one must also know how to speak the lingo and write up a storm. In other words, all 4 aspects.
Then there's the choice of which language to study. Personally:
- English (compulsory; besides, it's a useful language, both on the interwebs and in general.)
- Mandarin (compulsory (erk) but useful. Useful for work/future, and useful for...)
- Japanese (it was this or French. French may have been easier/better, but Japanese has upsides...)
Namely, ANIME AND MANGA. Reading and listening to Japanese is simpler than speaking and writing. Mandarin (Chinese) is also incredibly helpful in learning the characters, and comprehending them.
One last thing: 3 languages = reduced reliance on any one language as a source. For research, for example. For online games, as another example. As a third example, if a particular sub/scanlation isn't out in English, Chinese would be the second choice. If all else fails, raw Japanese. :--D
Learn languages. They are useful. Fun. Or rather, the things produced in that language are fun.
People complain about language. Whether it should be learnt by rote or roleplay, which and how many languages to teach in schools, the evolution of a language, the low standards of language in society.
By its very nature, language divides the world into small portions, setting up walls of incomprehension between different zones of the world, between different languages. One can run away from this fact; for instance, if one only knows English, one can take relief that English is a remarkably oft-spoken language in the world, and that major countries such as the U.S. have it as their main/working/official language. Online, too, there are pockets of communities of different tongues; one could live their whole life being a monolingual and not be any the worse for it.
All the same, multilingualism is an advantage. Just as language carves trenches between people, knowing more than one language bridges the chasms. It multiplies your realm of knowledge, pushes your horizons further, and opens up new experiences on Earth. It is entirely worth it to be versed in more than one tongue.
...even if it is hell to learn more than 2 languages.
One language? Better excel in it, or you'll have serious problems.
Two languages? Excelling in one, comprehending the other. That's the bare minimum of aptitude.
Three languages? Again, you'd better be great in at least one.
Language has 4 main aspects to it:
- Reading (to be literate. To understand printed material.) [passive, visual]
- Writing (to create printed works.) [active, visual]
- Listening (to understand the spoken word.) [passive, aural]
- Speaking (to be able to communicate verbally) [active, verbal]
To understand a language, one merely needs to be skilled in reading and listening (still no mean feat, though.) To truly know the language, one must also know how to speak the lingo and write up a storm. In other words, all 4 aspects.
Then there's the choice of which language to study. Personally:
- English (compulsory; besides, it's a useful language, both on the interwebs and in general.)
- Mandarin (compulsory (erk) but useful. Useful for work/future, and useful for...)
- Japanese (it was this or French. French may have been easier/better, but Japanese has upsides...)
Namely, ANIME AND MANGA. Reading and listening to Japanese is simpler than speaking and writing. Mandarin (Chinese) is also incredibly helpful in learning the characters, and comprehending them.
One last thing: 3 languages = reduced reliance on any one language as a source. For research, for example. For online games, as another example. As a third example, if a particular sub/scanlation isn't out in English, Chinese would be the second choice. If all else fails, raw Japanese. :--D
Learn languages. They are useful. Fun. Or rather, the things produced in that language are fun.
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