And now for the best pumpkin idea ever...

I give you.... The Infinite Loop:

The Infinite Loop

Props to Halcy for ideas and help.

Found him!

Operation make a haloween costume has been a success!  Also, the hat took less than 24 hours.  Yay for being an obscenely fast knitter!

It even has a puffball!

Procrastination

I truly have a gift for avoiding work I am supposed to be doing.

This Thursday, I am giving a talk at a conference.  The slides are all done.  That part is easy because I like it.  The problem is that I don't want to actually practice the talk.  I am conscious of the fact that I will do a far better job if I practice in advance.  Seriously, I went to music school.  That lesson was certainly beat into my brain.  However, there's something about giving a talk to EvilCat on computational topology as applied to sensor networks that makes me find absolutely everything better to do.

EvilCat is more interested in the laser pointer than in computing probabilistic failure of sensor networks.

I really do need to practice.  There is a strict 25 minute limit on talks, plus I talk very fast when I'm nervous.  The idea is that if I practice, I won't be nervous, and therefore will talk at a pace where my tongue can keep up with my brain.

In case you were wondering, yes, writing this blog post is actually a method of avoidance as well.

I am incapable of dressing myself

I spent the afternoon shopping with some friends.  I am a terrible shopper.  I do not understand why so many people enjoy it and do it for fun and entertainment.  I generally only shop out of necessity.  For example, today's necessity was that I ripped a hole in my last pair of jeans and although I have a bit of a habit of dressing like a slob, wearing sweat pants to work would be a new low, even for me.

It is interesting how the amount of effort I put into my appearance changes based on my surroundings.  In undergrad, I was in music school, surrounded by artists who had far better taste in clothing than me.  As such, I put more effort into my appearance in order to fit in.  I actually did my hair in the morning, I wore "outfits" instead of clothes, I put on some makeup.  Honestly, it was a bit more than some.  Now it's next to nothing.

The past three years have had me surrounded by academics.  Not just any old academics: mathematicians.   True to the stereotypes, a majority of people in my line of work give up on the appearance front.  It's not that they don't care, its just that, well, no, I take that back... it's actually that they don't care.  Appearance is not of any importance.  How you think, what you do, how you work is far more important than how you look.

I'm about 80% for this method of thinking, but the fact that I look like a bum most days still bothers me in retrospect.  I would like to look like a professional.  I would like to look like I deserve to be given a job that pays more than just enough to keep the fridge stocked.  I would just like to be able to do it without having to take time away from my work.

That being said, the obvious thing to do would be to build up a new wardrobe of adult clothing (no more buying anything in the juniors section of Penny's).  However, shopping just makes me frustrated.  It reminds me of two things: First, it points out how little taste I have in clothes.  Secondly, it points out that most clothing stores do not cater to my body type.  Everything is made for hyper-skinny, hipless, boobless women and as such, nothing looks good on me.

I'm not sure what the solution is for this.  At least I know that I want to change my appearance. Maybe I can solve this like a mathematician.  Do some research, get a sense of what looks good on other people with my body type, then work on buying that.

Problem is that end of the day I am much more apt to spend my money on computer parts and other gagets than I am willing to spend on clothing and I am much more willing to spend my time playing with math and computers than shopping.

Bumblebee!!!!

I am currently beyond excited.  A few months ago, I made the (somewhat) mistake of buying an Acer Aspire 5750G off of newegg.com.  This computer is fantastic: It has an i7 processor, 500GB hard drive, 4 GB memory, and, wait for it, an nVidia GT540M graphics card, all for under $800.  I was am thrilled, but of course nothing is perfect.

The graphics card has been the source of much of my anger and frustration since buying Aragorn.  I have run Ubuntu on all my computers for about 3 years now.  I usually dual boot them with windows to appease my gaming habits, but my all of my work and anything non-game related is done on Linux.  I've had some recent frustrations with Ubuntu's current direction, but it hadn't been enough to boot me off entirely.  Well, not until Aragorn, anyway.

The problem is that this computer actually has two graphics cards: one is a low quality one attached to the motherboard, and the other is the nVidia GT540M.  In windows, nVidia has the Optimus software, which allows the computer to choose which card to use for which tasks: if it is just running a browser, it's fine to be on the onboard chipset, but if its running Civ, it switches to the nVidia card.

Linux didn't have any replacement for this software. This meant that linux could only use the first card it found, namely the one on the motherboard.  A series of issues ensued, including not being able to run unity or anything graphics intensive, including screen savers.

After months of arguing with the computer and attempting to fix issues and get around it, I got so fed up I tried to quit.

Seriously, I tried.

I spent 2 weeks using only Windows.  I can't believe I spent 22 years with only this operating system.  I can't stand it.  While the annoyances with Ubuntu were entirely aesthetic, the list of things that annoyed me in Windows are a bit more endless:

• You can't highlight words and then middle click to copy?  Seriously? I have to hit ctrl-c ctrl-v every time?
• No workspace switcher? You mean I have to actually have every window that is currently open in the same workspace?  Nope, my neuroses will not accept that.  And yes, there are things you can install that try to emulate the workspace switcher in windows, but none were anywhere close to as seamless as linux.
• There is no replacement for Kile as a latex editor.  None.
• No package manager? You mean I have to update all my programs by remembering that I have to update them? And to get packages, I have to go to semi-sketchy looking websites with no promise that the software isn't just malware? Grah. 
• Trying to do anything on the terminal is far more obnoxious.  Granted, it may be that I'm used to unix commands, but even things as simple as changing permissions was a complete chore.
• I kinda hate using the mouse.  I will admit to being a bit of a shortcut junky. As far as I found, there was no easy shortcut manager in windows.  Grah. 
• This one is certainly the winner: Windows thinks it knows what I want it to do.  It just fixes things for me and tries to make sure that I can't mess up anything.  For example, it tried to keep matlab from saving movie files I had made.  Seriously?  Stop it.... I and I alone know what's best for my computer.  If I want to mess it up, so be it.  I'll learn something from it after the screaming of profanity has ended.

So yesterday, I had had enough.  I just couldn't take it anymore.  I booted Aragorn back into Ubuntu since I could happily live there even if there was no screensaver.  Just for kicks, I decided to look back into the Bumblebee page.  I had found this information when I first got the computer, but the project was not nearly complete enough for a n00b like me to be installing it.  I broke several installations of Ubuntu, reinstalled multiple times, and then gave up.  However, yesterday I found the bumblebee project up and running.  I installed it in 3 lines and now everything works. 

In case you are running ubuntu, installation instructions are below:

1. sudo add-apt-repository ppa:bumblebee/stable

1bis. If you are on Ubuntu prior to 11.10 and want newer drivers (recommended)
than the ones available in the official repos, run:

    sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-x-swat/x-updates

2. sudo apt-get update
3. sudo apt-get install bumblebee

It is truly beautiful.  Not only that, it has rekindled my love of the linux community.  There was a problem, it took some time, but some awesome people fixed it.

Now if only I was good enough to contribute........

Thank you, people who made Bumblebee possible!!! I very much appreciate your time and effort!

My hope

On eve the anniversary of 9/11, I am struck by two things.  First, I feel a deep loss for all the innocent people who were lost on that day and intense pride in the heros who selflessly served others despite great personal risk.

Secondly, I feel a deep loss for our collectively lost faith in security and humanity.  It is my belief that someday, we will truely realise as a whole that nationality, skin color, religion, sexual preference, and gender are not things to cause fear and hate, but are what make the human race such a wonderfully beautiful and diverse entity.  I believe someday we will remember that we are a nation of immigrants and will not single out any particular group beause they have differnt customs, accents, and practices from what we are used to. Someday, the things we fear today will seem silly and childish.  At least, that is my hope.

Go hug someone tomorrow.  That's my plan, anyways.

Rotate Video in Linux

I have a habit of recording with my camera tilted by 90 degrees which on my camera does not register when its saving the file so I end up with a video not meant for someone with vertigo.  The solution, which is decently simple once you find it, is to run the command

 mencoder -ovc lavc -vf rotate=1 -oac copy input.AVI -o output.AVI

The rotate=1 can be replaced with whatever you want. Alternatives include:

0 Rotate by 90 degrees clockwise and flip (default).
1 Rotate by 90 degrees clockwise.
2 Rotate by 90 degrees counterclockwise.
3 Rotate by 90 degrees counterclockwise and flip.

Mounting a .iso file and running a program through wine

I have a .iso file which I want to mount in Ubuntu 10.10.  I then want to run the program through Wine, but the issue is that Wine can't find the drive.

Solution:

Mount iso:
sudo mount -o loop /home/liz/image.iso media/cdrom

Tell Wine that this directory is where the cd is by making a symbolic link
cd ~/.wine/dosdevices
ln -s /media/cdrom e:
ln -s /home/liz/image.iso e::


The latter step need only be done once.  Then, when I installed the program on the .iso, it was able to find the cd when run.

Dear Ubuntu

Dear Ubuntu,

We have spent three wonderful years together, but I may have to leave you soon. When we met, I was a naive user who thought there was only one viable option for an operating system. I know now how wrong I was.

Through you, I discovered that I could actually control a computer and didn't just have to let Bill or Steve decide what I would want. I had access to every preference imaginable, everything from the color scheme of the windows right down to overclocking.

So, imagine my horror when I installed 11.04 with that awful Unity. It was like you pulled the rug right out from under me. I suddenly couldn't find anything. I couldn't control anything. The settings were so deeply hidden that even some basic command prompts were not going to fix the situation. There were bars on the side of the screen bouncing out of control, the top menus were gone, I couldn't even install a basic system monitor on the panel. Seriously?!?! I devote all this time to you, and for what? You seem to think I want a Mac. I don't want a mac. I want linux.

This is why I think it may be time for us to part ways. I have learned all I need from you, but we want different things. You want to be so user-friendly that you are a replacement for windows or mac for those that can't seem to find the file system, I want to have an OS that asks me what I want rather than making assumptions.

Please don't take this too hard. I will always remember the good times we had together.

All my love,

Liz

Grading is torture

After 7 hours of grading finals, I got to this little gem. It says "normal distribution, mean distribution."

Why every potential topologist should play Portal 2.

I am absolutely and inconsolably addicted to Portal 2. As a gamer who is absolutely awful at most games where aiming a gun is a necessary requirement but loves a good puzzle, there is nothing more perfect. A lack of enemies to shoot means I can spend my time thinking about how to solve the puzzle rather than getting worked up about the fact that I am incapable of aiming. Admittedly, I haven't finished the solo part of the game yet, nor have I touched the multi-player capabilities. What can I say, I am trying to draw out the wonderfulness that comes with a new game.

As a topologist, the mind-bending idea of using portals to glue to locations in space to me seems so obvious. A large portion of my time is dedicated to visualize spaces where certain portions have been glued together. For example, if we start with a space which is a long rectangle and glue the short ends together with no twisting, we obtain a cylinder. If we give the ends a twist before gluing, we have a Mobius strip. So, the portal is just some room in $\R^3$ with two points in space glued together.

If I ever teach a topology class, Portal may be required reading.