Mgccl's Ivory TowerI'm the standard deviAsian.

I have switched to Ubuntu for 2 days now. It's awesome, I'm using awesome window manager. I'm more efficient than usual. I have got wireless to work(not manually), battery status to work, start up programs to work and more. It's a interesting experience.

It's not the first time I used linux, but this is the first time my only machine is running Linux. So I have no way to get back to windows except on library machines.

I shall get a new laptop this November and I will put Debian on it.

I'm using bitlbee+irssi for IM. Meebo when I'm in the library.

Currently I'm learning to use vi, and I just realized how to paste in urxvt.

It still take me a few seconds to do some basic operations. If i do them often enough, I will get used to them.

I'm using Texlive+Kile+graphviz+dot2tex for homeworks. I have already produced AMS 301 hw with directed and undirected graphs! Epic! Soon I will be able to create finite state machine diagrams in LaTeX and in pdf. When I graduate I will have every single hw I have ever written in PDF files! (although I have no idea what the questions are because I never record them, but looking though those work formatted is AWESOME.)

I won't be using Chinese anytime soon. The input method for Chinese on windows system is much superior than the Linux version. I will wait till Google Pinyin have a Linux version.

Something not awesome:
1. SBU access irc requires SSL.
2. Airnet pptp thing is not working. I can't be on IRC while I'm in the library and places.
3. I still use the mouse.
4. Stony Brook doesn't offer Linux version of Maple and Mathematica.

I wish I can get k desktops and use Synergy to connect them all together. I can even use different operating system at the same time. AWESOME.

I had a dream a few nights ago, where I was asked the problem 100/6 to the nearest integer. (I was buying moon cakes, 300 for 50 dollars. Yeah, very strange dream)
It was 17. In the dream there was no calculation at all, the answer just popped up.
I woke up, and did the calculation, it was correct.
So where does 17 come from? Did I calculated it subconsciously? I didn't know I can do subconscious calculations. Maybe it's my subconscious memory of some calculation I did a long long time ago.

It could be just a random guess, because I'm sure the answer is between 10 and 20, and 11% chance getting it right.

There are instances when I go to sleep, and dream of more complex problems and solve it. I usually feels like I solved the problem in the dream. When I wake up, I can only remember the important insight. There are times where those insights are correct, and helps me solve the problem.

Do I do computation and math while I'm asleep? Or are those just random guesses that's incredibly lucky?

I wonder if there are books related to this. Google search like computation sleep doesn't help.

What's the most common type of document you update? I asked a few people, they say source codes. Ha, programmers.

For me, it's just plain text files. More specifically, lists (or "tuples" if you like math) of simple strings with no structure at all.

Lists are useful in many ways. It is SIMPLE. The only thing simpler would be a set of elements. Which is usually represented as a list anyway.

I maintain lists like books I want to read, topics I want to learn, things I want to buy, etc. They are everywhere. Everytime I need to group any objects together, I use lists.
Of course, there can be lot of structure in the above examples. Like I can assign books with what topics it concerns(even if it's just strings, like I can write "mathematical analysis #math", that's how twitter people introduced structure in first place, since twitter is just a list of status), which can make it into a list of lists, or even graphs. That will be a completely different story and it's not a concern in this topic.

Any structure beyond a set and one specific ordering is a overkill in my standards. In fact, most of the time I don't even consider the ordering of the list. Sometimes I just stumble upon a wikipedia article (currently, Language of thought) and want to put it in a list known as "Concepts I have to remember". Ordering comes helpful if I maintain a list like "What I did today"

So I'm going to write some methods and features of a really cool list
Methods: suppose list is similar to ArrayList in java.
1. insert
insert a string to the list. optionally add where to insert it to.
2. search
find and list string match some criteria
3. delete
remove a string
4. update
update a specific item in the list

That's all the operation there is, but it's possible to implement some features on top of it
1. Lists can be accessed anywhere
2. Lists can be edited anywhere, even by more than one person

oh hey, that's all...
wait, I missed out something
3. Manage the list is extremely ez, and can be done by command line, most importantly. Updating the list should be so ez, that "too much effort" can never be the excuse to not write down a list. I heard from one of my friend who says he want to create a list of books to read, but too lazy to write it down. I assume he would like it more if he can add something to the list without delay. I sometimes want to record something down, and then I get discouraged when I realize I have to open a new file, write something, then save, then give the file a name.

Hmm, with those creteria, one can make 500 different implmentations.
This sounds like remember the milk but even simpler. To-Do and task lists are lists with chronological features. That make RTM too complicated for just lists.

How do I maintain such lists? A few current simple options:
1. Use a text editor to edit the list. It's really simple. It's what I preferred before internet is widely available.
It is still inconvenient. I have to find the text file, and double click it, write something and save it. It doesn't allow collaboration
2. Use stuff like Google docs, evernotes and other online services for documents
Inconvenient.
3. FAST Command Line Database
Convenient for insert and search. Organizing the elements is a pain. Collaboration is possible if more than one person have permission to edit the file. It does what it suppose to do though, really convinent to insert and search.

So if we build something like FAST, but data is stored elsewhere on the web(or the cloud), adding a few more features(deletion and updates), it be epic to use. We will see, seems like a ez project I shall do soon.

Something like this would happen.
I set up a account and password, and I call command line window with some hotkey, then write stuff like
l -a books Mathematical Analysis
and press enter, it insert "Mathematical Analysis" into the list books

Non-related rant: AMS 311 is full! I'm no.1 on the waiting list. I hope someone switch out.

I did my planning for Spring 2010 semester a long time ago.
It is quite strange, everything worked out so well. Maybe too well.
Suspicious.
19 credit limit is coming up in 2 days, so I checked my plan just in case.
HOLY SHIT. My plan is completely ruined.
I ignored the fact that CSE 350 is a 4 credit course. So currently I have 17 credits.
My original plan was to pick AMS 311, then MAT 310 during each credit limit increase, so I have exactly 23 credit worth of awesomeness.

Easy way out: Not taking ITS 102 this semester. I can still follow up with all my plans.
I have one more spring anyways.

Thx a lot for that mandatory 2 credits. My opinion: ITS 101+102 is totally useless. Replace that with ITS 102 and a "common sense challenge exam" would be much better.

In other news.
I'm still waiting for instructors permission for me to take MAT 310.

Dear human who read my blog,
Get n slice of bacon, cut them into small pieces.
Put them in a pan with some k mL of oil in it, cook until it's done.
Add m spoons of rice
Stir fry it.
Add i eggs.
Stir fry it.
Eat.

It's an ORDER.

That's what I had today. Taste awesome.

Best,
Uranium Chef
The RadiAsian