WLC

It's like looking behind the curtain at a cheap magician's show: In most cases, you already knew or guessed. But some just make you go: Ah!

Ready for Application

More importantly, I told my prof, that I wanted to apply this month and he gave his ok.

Okay!

So it's been a while. In August, I gave my prof something to read and stacked stuff on top as I finished it. About a month ago, I finally had reached feature completeness. In the last two weeks I made a renewed correction run, which completed today with the inclusion and improvement of some diagrams. Wohlbeschwingt, I approached my prof to demand my stuff back by Monday in whatever state it may be and to my surprise, he agreed.

So after his lecture on Monday, we'll meet and discuss the title and some minor stuff. And most importantly, he will give me a stack of notes to include! Already, he hinted that the big picture looks quite well, but locally there is still much work to be done, especially with regard to small errors.

Preliminarily, I changed the title to "Stern-Brocot-Br\"uche und die Modulgruppe", but perhaps we can find an even better one.

Celebrated this occasion by going to the Weihnachtsmarkt!

Why you should check your pockets before washing

Really, you should!

This one has a bit of a back story. Every once in a while I tried to check the filter on our washing machine, which always resulted in failure, as I just couldn't open it. Somehow it seemed constructed in the wrong way, the lid opening just to reveal a slightly movable plastic part.

Yesterday after a long work day I tried again, much too tired to think straight, with the same result plus a bit of spillage, as I had washed before and the feed was still full. I rattled that plastic part a bit, but it just wouldn't move much. I tried to pry it open, but it bent a little and reason got the better of me.

So I closed it again, very tight of course, because there was no gasket visible.

An hour ago, as I returned home from just another long day, I realized, that I had to wash clothes or I wouldn't have anything to wear tomorrow. I started the machine, sat down in front of the computer, reading the news and getting ready for sleeping, when I heard an unusual dripping sound over the noise of water rushing into the machine. I ran to the bathroom to see it leaking from the bottom. I ripped the cover open to see lots of water spilling out from the filter access.

I shut off the machine, but it was of course already quite full, so it continued to spill. I tried jamming the lid tighter, which helped a bit, but not much. I got some pincers and squeezed even more, a plastic lid that is. It still dripped.

So I opened it completely breaking a piece of the lid in the process (and cursing wildly during, after and before), to take a better look, trying to build cofferdams of towels around the spill site - it ran around the backside.

The filter looked the same beside the cracked lid. Already I was planning scenarios to call service, but before that I wanted to take a look at the machine proper. I upturned it, it slid from my hands crashing to the floor (and onto a strategically placed wet towel) reveling its underside, a cheap plastic cover, easily removed.

My hopes rose, as I saw the filter being part of a small intake pump that I could easily access. So I did. And as I removed it, something clacked inside, it sounded like ... coins?

That darned thing was full of corroded metal. That is:
- 2 hairpins
- a piece of a screw
- a Micro battery
- 1 Euro
- 5 Cents

I take responsibility for everything except the hairpins. In fact I think we are lucky that all that metal didn't jam the intake pump.

Now why did it just start to leak today? When I tried to open the filter yesterday, I lifted its gasket just enough for a piece of metal to settle in between. The reason I could not open the filter in the first place, were of course the metal parts.

Damage is minimal by the way. The bathroom floor is full of water (so it won't have to be wiped for a while, hooray!) and I touched the corroded battery and slightly burned my fingertip(washed them in vinegar to neutralize the base, now they smell like salad).

Lesson: Check your pockets before you wash!

The Hurt Locker

With all its praise, this seemed like one I should watch while my "backlog-catchup" phase lasts. While okay as a movie, with even a moderately atmospheric sniper sequence, I am - again - appalled by the subtext.

I had this when I watched Platoon, which I hated, the feeling of watching a pro-war film. Both say in effect, that War is a place men need. To be molded in the case of Platoon or just to feel alive. Even if I can agree with that on some level, reducing the millions upon millions of deaths American wars of aggression have caused to mere props in a Bildungsroman seems utterly disdainful to me.

Also, why doesn't anyone think one second about the societies that caused these men to turn out that way? Or is the scene in the big box mart at the end of Hurt Locker really a critique of consumerism and I just don't get it?

Read it

Finished reading my Alpha. I implemented a "signature" for 2 by 2 matrices and it's giving me headaches. Apart from that, I think it's ok.

Neglect

Well, this place is kinda neglected, so I think I ought to give some sort of update.

1. I printed an Alpha version of my thesis on 15.Jun. It's now undergoing corrections at a slow pace.

2. My DS is now with my sister. I had in fact planned on giving her one since that whole saga had started. (Is it really five months? six? It feels like a lifetime...) After some Brain Age, I realized, that I didn't really have the time or the passion for that little toy, so I gave it to her as a birthday gift a month ago. Don't miss it in any way.

3. I bought a keyboard online from overseas for far too much money. It's starting to look like another saga, but I'll just hold my horses and hope for the best.

4. I spent a weekend in Frankfurt. Cool city, cool people. Really nice.

Made a trip to Amsterdam

Wow, what a city! Stayed just one night, but will return in the intermediate future!

Prove or disprove:

Every franchise converges against zombies.

Inner tube

The front wheel of my bike had been losing air at an accelerating (and increasingly unsettling) rate. The last days I would just reinflate it at a gas station without much problems, but on a trip home (at least) it started to deflate while I was driving, the rim touching the ground with that squelching rubber noise just as I reached the Chinese restaurant a few minutes from my flat.

I had planned to get takeout there anyway, I was dead tired (and am now) from lack of good sleep, so I pushed it home and was more or less okay with that. This of course happened Saturday night. On taking a long walk today I got a new outer and inner tube, and just a few moments ago started on exchanging the tube.

Now, I've done this quite a few times in my life, but I still don't know how you put it in there without twisting the tube too much and if you read anything into that, shame on you. It didn't really matter anyway, because just as I was dusting myself of, having checked the function of the front light, I heard a popping noise.

Of course the tube had given, but what was especially great about it was, that I had bought a self-repairing tire, which is filled with some sort of glue that can patch small punctures. I looked at the damage and it seemed like the tube had given on its very edge, so it was more of a manufacturing issue (I take part of the blame, because I'm just bad at chenging tubes).

I went about removing it, and what do you know, there's quite a lot of pinkish blue gunk in there, which immediately splattered onto my shoe and of course the porch.  It's obviously similar to wallpaper paste, but very thick and easily spreadable. As I wanted to return the tube, I cleaned it as well, squeezing the remaining goo out of it, which hit the other shoe and parts of the porch I had just cleaned. 

Gonna return that bastard later this day, not that I dislike walks anyway^_^

And if ...

And if I take the full group $SL_2 (\mathbbm{Z})$ instead of the modular group $\Gamma = SL_2 (\mathbbm{Z}) / \{\pm I\}$?

Graphics Card note 1

Since my 4870 is on the fritz and my cool 7600 passive is in another PC, I'm currently using my trusty S3 Savage4 by Diamond from 1999, a PCI card. It works ok, but doesn't support widescreen modes. On a sidenote, my Elsa Erazor X Geforce 256 from 2000 does that without any problems (and has better image quality imho), but that's because nVidia survived, while S3 didn't. Unfortunately the Geforce is AGP, so I can't use it in my PC, but the PCI card worked without driver issues (XP SP2 though), despite being over 10 years old. I bet an even older VESA type PCI card would work just as well.

Scrolling is terrible by the way, Flash fullscreen stutters, the start menu fade halts the system for 100ms and so forth, but Media Player Classic works great.

Graphics Card

My trusty Palit 4870 512MB died a few weeks before christmas and I RMA'ed it on 15.12.2009. A while ago my seller - Alternate.de - contacted me, as they hadn't heard beack from the manufacturer. They offered me a 4890 at no charge, but I didn't want an even bigger power hog in my system.

The 4870 was quite loud to my taste and since I used folding@home to keep it busy, I guess it burned through quite a few kWh's.

So I asked for a Sapphire Vapor-X 5770, which has about the power of a 4870 1GB, but is far quieter, consumes less power and is of a newer generation, supporting OpenCL. A day later they mailed me, that they had shipped the 4870 and I considered it settled.

Through completely independent circumstances my PC is afflicted with a less powerful PSU, that doesn't have the PCI-E power connectors (6- or 8- pin) that the old PSU had, so I feared that with the 4870 I'd have to buy a new PSU.

But the 4870 didn't arrive. I called my seller yesterday and they said: "There was a screw-up, you get the 5770". And damn was I happy! Now the 5770 still needs a 6-pin power connector, but I calculated that it'd be no problem to connect that via 4-pin molex. Still I'd need to buy an adapter. But guess what: The Sapphire 5770 comes with just such an adapter!

As they say, sometimes you just get lucky. After the whole DS saga, maybe this was the deserved karmic backlash, but the main lesson is clear: Buy from a reputable seller, because support is king.

DS epilogue

I'm through the first Professor Layton (loved it) and thought I'd take the time to sum up expenses considering the DS adventure. I got a letter from the GdSK, demanding immediate payment of their handling fee, about 37€. So let's take a look:

1. DS console, eBay from China - 90€
2. Customs and taxes - 24€
3. Return shipping costs - 9€
4. GdSK fascism dues - 37€

So that adds up to a total of 160€, which is 10€ more than what a new DS would cost, if I bought it from a store. Of course mine comes with a 4 month waiting period, hassle and no warranty.

Not completely over the top, and I guess if it was the red dragon model I'd still be happy, but still quite a misfortune. In any case, buying from Hong Kong is quite feasable, but you should always insist on a reknowned carrier (EMS shipping came with the GdSK fee, which is outrageous), and don't be too shy about bullying your seller if something goes wrong.

DS part 10 - final part

I've accepted the blue model more or less. That doesn't mean I wont bee looking into buying another one in the hopefully then right color, but for now I feel like there are more important things to do. And I don't mean playing Professor Layton.

DS part 9

Well, as they say, it never stops.

To get you up to speed, four months ago I fell in love with a specific DS model.

Isn't it beautiful? As you know, I ordered it from China and found out that it was defective. Today I received the replacement unit and what does it look like?

See for yourself:

That's right, it's blue. They sent me the wrong color. At this point I'm really getting curious with what kind of shop I have been in business over there. I'd really like to take a stroll around their offices, probably DS consoles in various stated of disrepair all over while new ones are being brought in in the false bottoms of birdcages. Ah, Hong Kong...

I contacted them and wonder what their response will be. In any case, this unit works, so I don't think I'll be giving it up easily, otherwise it really turns into escalating commitment. If you excuse me now, I'm off to play Zelda.

Donald, again

Two movies with the great Donald Sutherland: Klute and The Eagle Has Landed.

Now on the first, there is little to say, it's a near-perfect thriller with intense drama and surprisingly deep characters. As the say: movies like that are no longer made today.

On the Eagle: Well, during watching it, I felt, that it was disjointed, boring, uninspired and most of all had aged pretty badly. The characters are somewhat stock (especially the Nazi's) and if it weren't for the extraordinary cast, this would have been a near unwatchable war flick, far closer to the Green Berets than to the Dirty Dozen. And while I still think that it has aged pretty badly; from the day-for-night shots to the laughable matte painting at the end, after it was over I thought, that it wasn't so bad.

Not in any way near the Bridge on the River Kwai, which kept me on the edge through the whole finale and still took its time for deep and faceted characters, but 'possibly good' in the 70's.

DS part 8

I got a letter today from a service organisation called GdSK, the "Gesellschaft der Schnellkuriere", asking me about import-taxes details concerning a shipment that's stuck in customs at Frankfurt.

So I hastily compiled all receipts I have (given that I don't want to pay taxes again) and mailed it to them. Let's see...

After all we are like traces in the snow,

We linger a while,

Then go.

--

She and me, it would have never worked out.

We were like snow and running water.

Made from the same stuff.

Yet utterly unable to coincide.

DS part 7

Now, I've been kind of lazy updating on the DS saga. As you know I mailed it back to the eBay-seller in early December and didn't hear much from them apart from "Ok,when we get it,we will inform you immediately,thanks".

After christmas (on 29.12.) I started to get uneasy and mailed them that I would have to turn to eBay and PayPal, if they didn't sent it to me (or at least answered).

I waited until Jan. 10th and prepared to turn to eBay for assistance. Once I logged in, i found a funny little message from my eBay-seller on MyEbay:

"we have received you package. Do you want it replaced or refund. We cannot refund shipping costs."

It was dated Dec. 16th!

Well, that's one of the joys of abandoning your old e-mail address (where eBay sends its messages). I immediately apologized and asked for replacement. The answer came on the same day: The package will be underway within a week.

Let's hope for the best, eh? But I'm not so sure this saga is over. There's still so much that can go wrong...

Weeeell

In a fit of nervousness I baked all stuff I have so far into the main TeX base. In fact, some details and clarifications aside, I thiiink the beast is feature-complete (in the sense that every feature is declared), but who knows. The thing with the duals is still in there at the moment and I am still unsure whether to leave it in there. After all, I just was shown a way to do it the correct way. Naoyoroshi...

On the other hand, I am a bit queasy about the lack of formalism in graph theory. There is to my knowledge no standard-book about infinite graphs, so I would have to develop the theory on Serre's notation. Even if I knew how to do it, it would still take weeks, if not months to do.

The reason I am devoting so much attention to this unlucky part of the thesis is that there is after all some sort of use to it - at least there is a use to having both graphs: Formulating Kulkarni's theory of Farey-Symbols. But what I need for that I still don't know. Some Jordan Curve Theorem would be great, but is difficult to come by for graphs (and I doubt its existence for multigraphs).

Well, I'm to 88 pages now and with details and clarifications I just might reach three digits. Kewl.

Five movies

Watched a few movies in the past two days:

1. Guess who's coming to dinner - hilarious

2. Paths to glory - Kubrick's eye is absolutely astounding

3. The Doomsday Gun - not really good, but acceptable. Kind of like Live from Baghdad, but without Michael Keaton

4. The Court Jester - hilarious

5. The Bridge on the River Kwai - Wow, what a finale

New Year

It's a new dawn, it's a new day, a new year.

All the best, get action!