karakfa

Ağlasam: Orhan Veli Kanık

2012-01-17T09:27:00.000-05:00

Havadan Sudan

2011-12-27T15:35:00.001-05:00

Ref: Google Maps.

Three ancient Chinese Curses

2011-12-12T14:45:00.001-05:00

May you live in interesting times.
May you come to the attention of those in authority.
May you find what you are looking for.

Though, they may not be of Chinese origin...

What's wrong with or what's working in American court system

2011-12-05T16:45:00.001-05:00

Got this "Notice of Proposed Settlement of Class Action" yesterday.

"This proposed settlement ("Settlement") is on behalf of a nationwide class of consumers (the "Class") who (1) purchased tickets on Ticketmaster's website, www.ticketmaster.com ("the Website") between October 21, 1999 and October 19, 2011...

...

The proposed Settlement will provide a combination of benefits to the Class and UPS Subclass. Additionally, Lead Class counsel (identified below) will apply for up to $16.5 million in attorneys' fees and expense reimbursements to counsel for the class and for an incentive award of $20,000 to each of the class representatives..."

The two plaintiffs who brought the case will get $20,000 each and the rest goes to the attorneys. That is 0.24% vs. 99.76%.

Quotes for future

2011-11-30T12:03:00.001-05:00

Nowhere in the contract says I have to be consistent.

A fun funding platform

2011-11-29T10:15:00.001-05:00

for music, film, art, technology, design, food, publishing and other creative fields.

http://www.kickstarter.com/

Knickerbocker 60k results

2011-11-25T17:00:00.001-05:00

Completed last week's race in 189th position out of 270 finishers. I haven't been running long distances since the operation in June and the result shows that I wasn't ready for this distance. Need to ramp up weekly miles before snow falls (again!). Below is a graph of a simple average race pace (x-axis in minutes) versus the standard deviation (y-axis in minutes) the 9 loops only. The race also had a 1.46 mile out and back in the beginning to complete the distance to 60km which I didn't include in the computations.

(photo credits Brightroom)

My coconut water bottle on one hand and homemade gel (yogurt and honey) on the other. For some reason I was starving all the time.

Ramanujan's Series for 1/π: A Survey

2011-11-25T10:56:00.001-05:00

Ramanujan’s Series for 1/π: A Survey

Nayandeep Deka Baruah, Bruce C. Berndt, and Heng Huat Chan

http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.158.2533&rep=rep1&type=pdf

ultra race results

2011-11-22T18:09:00.000-05:00

Outer class instance variable access from inner class

2011-11-18T15:19:00.001-05:00

Inner classes have access to enclosing class variables.

public class Outer {

private int foo;

class Inner {

private int bar;

            Inner() {
                this.bar = foo+1;
            }
        }
    }

What if we want to rename bar to foo as well? "this" prefix will refer to inner class so we have to qualify it with outer class as below.

public class Outer {

private int foo;

class Inner {

private int foo;

            Inner() {
                this.foo = Outer.this.foo+1;
            }
        }
    }

Data Driven Documents

2011-11-14T15:33:00.001-05:00

D3: A javascript library, orthogonal to css, html, and svg

http://mbostock.github.com/d3/

Sharpe Ratio optimization with Matlab 2007a

2011-11-09T16:34:00.001-05:00

Blank

Never versions of Matlab has this feature built in but for the people still on the old version may help.

[w,fval] = fmincon(@(w) -w'*r/sqrt(w'*c*w),ones(N,1)/N ,-eye(N),zeros(N,1),ones(1,N),1);

objective term: -w'*r/sqrt(w'*c*w) is the formulation of Sharpe Ratio, where r is the excess return vector, c is the covariance matrix,and w is the security weights we're optimizing. Since it's a minimization algorithm we have to negate it.

N is the dimension of the problem where c and r dimensions need to match.

initial value: ones(3,1)/3 to start the search

long only constraint: Aw ≤ b where A=-eye(3), b=zeros(3,1) which becomes w ≥ 0

budget constraint: Aw=b where A=[1 1 ... 1], b=1 which becomes ∑w_i = 1

the outputs are the weights and the optimal function value at these weights.

cool tools

2011-11-04T17:26:00.001-04:00

Blank

http://www.reqall.com/ transcribes your voice mail (human assisted) and send it to you as an email. Good for short reminders, calendar entries, even for longer text. You can call from registered five phone numbers or with a PIN from any other phone as well (they use caller id to identify the account). Available worldwide.

Best part... it's free.

Introduction to Probability by Grinstead and Snell

2011-10-28T10:56:00.001-04:00

Blank

http://www.dartmouth.edu/~chance/teaching_aids/books_articles/probability_book/amsbook.mac.pdf

Poland Spring 5M Race on Sunday in Central Park

2011-10-27T15:37:00.001-04:00

Path schedule never works for me on the weekends. One train is too early the next one is a little late. My Goldilocks choice would be a 7.30am.

What to do...

I'll take Path @7.13am, arrive WTC @7.17am, and wait 20 minutes before transferring to 1 (7.39am) or A (7.49am) to 59th street. Walk north first to finish line for bag drop, then to start line. Race course here: http://nyrr.org/races/2011/pdf/Poland%20Spring_map_2011.pdf

Weather report looks very promising for Sunday. Do I see "snow" on Saturday. Already?

Carbohydrate mouth rinse effects on exercise capacity in pre- and postprandial States

2011-10-26T14:46:00.002-04:00

by: Fares EJ, Kayser B.

Source: Institute of Movement Science and Sports Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, 1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22013515?dopt=Abstract

Abstract

Background. Oropharyngeal receptors signal presence of carbohydrate to the brain. Mouth rinses with a carbohydrate solution facilitate corticomotor output and improve time-trial performance in well-trained subjects in a fasted state. We tested for this effect in nonathletic subjects in fasted and nonfasted state. Methods. 13 healthy non-athletic males performed 5 tests on a cycle ergometer. After measuring maximum power output (Wmax), the subjects cycled four times at 60% Wmax until exhaustion while rinsing their mouth every 5 minutes with either a 6.4% maltodextrin solution or water, one time after an overnight fast and another after a carbohydrate rich breakfast. Results. Mouth rinsing with maltodextrin improved time-to-exhaustion in pre- and postprandial states. This was accompanied by reductions in the average and maximal rates of perceived exertion but no change in average or maximal heart rate was observed. Conclusions. Carbohydrate mouth rinsing improves endurance capacity in both fed and fasted states in non-athletic subjects.

Cool Products

2010-03-04T16:43:00.000-05:00

Using one of these towels at work for about a month now. Although designed for camping it's great at the office to reduce the paper waste. I hooked it up using the carabiner clip to my backpack and this way always handy. It dries very fast. Also, the other side of the bag is made of mesh so it dries up even when packed in.

A small step for a man...

Note: towel and the tiny bag has more vivid orange color than pictured. Here is the amazon link.

February roundup

2010-02-26T14:23:00.001-05:00

63 total miles run on treadmill. Lower than the monthly target for the 1000 miles goal until the year end but planning to catch up when spring shows up. Optimistically canceled the gym membership by the end of the month. We'll see how it goes...

Weekly roundup

2010-02-12T14:01:00.000-05:00

25 miles this week. Next week will be short and then there is only another week this month.

Books I'm reading...

2010-02-10T13:59:00.000-05:00

Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk's latest book. I'm reading the original in Turkish though I'm curious how the translation worked out. Here is a link to amazon page.

2010-02-05T13:26:00.000-05:00

20 miles for this week. Got used to the new treadmills and ankle pain disappeared.

Numerical Analysis articles...

2010-02-05T10:31:00.003-05:00

Lanczos, C. J. "A Precision Approximation of the Gamma Function"
J. SIAM Numer. Anal. Ser. B, Vol. 1 1964. pp. 86-96 (2)
http://www.jstor.org/pss/2949767

W. J. Cody "Rational Chebyshev Approximations for the Error Function"
Mathematics of Computation, Vol. 23, No. 107 (Jul., 1969), pp. 631-637
http://www.jstor.org/pss/2004390
correction: http://www.jstor.org/pss/2004329

J. M. Blair, C. A. Edwards and J. H. Johnson
Rational Chebyshev Approximations for the Inverse of the Error Function
Mathematics of Computation, Vol. 30, No. 136 (Oct., 1976), pp. 827-830
http://www.jstor.org/pss/2005402

Books I'm reading...

2010-02-02T08:38:00.004-05:00

The story of the Abebe Bikila, first person who won Olympic marathon gold medal twice (first was barefoot!)...
Here is the amazon link.

January roundup

2010-01-29T14:31:00.003-05:00

New treadmills in the gym required some getting used to. Meanwhile injured left ankle and needed to take a week off. Will catch up next month.

Push-up world record!

2010-01-29T09:54:00.001-05:00

In non stop category:
10,507 Minoru Yoshida (JAP) Oct-1980

http://www.recordholders.org/en/list/ulysses.html

Parrondo's Paradox

2010-01-27T10:07:00.001-05:00

Given two games, each with a higher probability of losing than winning, it is possible to construct a winning strategy by playing the games alternately.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parrondo's_paradox

Movie plot idea

2010-01-19T13:03:00.001-05:00

Where the major events are happening in the background blurred and the trivial tasks in focus. A person's life from birth to death...

2010-01-15T14:11:00.002-05:00

Increased mileage to the desired level. Getting used to the new treadmills. The cushioning seems little hard, not very stable, starts shaking at higher speeds (even coupled with the treadmills left and right). Registered for the NYC Marathon lottery, we'll see in couple weeks. Also looking for a 50m race somewhere close if not somewhere nice so that I can combine with a family vacation.

Books I'm currently reading

2010-01-08T16:13:00.002-05:00

John von Neumann and Norbert Wiener: From Mathematics to the Technologies of Life and Death.
Here is the amazon link. Here is some info on the author In memory of Steve Heims a research physicist turned science historian.

Week in review

2010-01-08T14:59:00.001-05:00

Less than the weekly goal for two reasons. After the 10 days break started slow, new treadmills in the gym (bad cushioning and time limit set to 60 mins).

Counting word frequencies

2009-12-30T10:36:00.006-05:00

My code segments in my comment on http://blogs.sourceallies.com/2009/12/word-counts-example-in-ruby-and-scala/comment-page-1/#comment-255 were eaten. Here it is

“

This is a favorite question of mine as well, but I expect the developer to be pragmatic and provide me a scripting solution that can be written and run in less than 5 minutes.

// cat individual files into all.txt
// and do the rest in awk one liner

awk '{for(i=1;i<=NF;i++) c[tolower($1)]++} END {for(w in c) print w, c[w]}'

// output can be sorted in both ways in the same statement as well

... | sort | tee alpha_sorted.txt | sort -k 2 -nr > freq_sorted.txt

”

Weird nature.

2009-12-29T16:37:00.001-05:00

Toxoplasma gondii infections have the ability to change the behavior of rats and mice, making them drawn to rather than fearful of the scent of cats. This effect is advantageous to the parasite, which will be able to sexually reproduce if its host is eaten by a cat. The infection is highly precise, as it does not affect a rat's other fears such as the fear of open spaces or of unfamiliar smelling food.

Studies have also shown behavioral changes in humans, including slower reaction times and a sixfold increased risk of traffic accidents among infected males, as well as links to schizophrenia including hallucinations and reckless behavior. Infected men were more likely to be aggressive, jealous and suspicious, while women became more outgoing and showed signs of higher intelligence.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxoplasma_gondii

Week in review

2009-12-24T13:43:00.003-05:00

22 miles in this short week. Aside from a blister no injuries so far. Next week will be even shorter, the gym will be open only on Thursday. Good excuse to take a break and focus on other stuff. One big project is refinancing the mortgage. Almost done with the docs. The rate will go down from 5.25% to 3.875%.

Week in review

2009-12-18T13:16:00.003-05:00

28 miles this week. Above the goal but will be resting mostly the last week of the year so the monthly total will be aligned with the average. No injuries so far and feeling stronger. Started doing the dips and pull ups without support.

Week in review

2009-12-11T13:09:00.003-05:00

Little behind on miles but OK. What concerns me is I feel tired and guess coming down with cold. Also gym will be closed for most of the following week to complete enough miles for December. It's too cold to go out!

On Religion

2009-12-11T08:29:00.001-05:00

Religion is good. It's like the homeless shelter. Comforts you when there is nowhere else to go. The problem is why there are so many people who needs it?

Lost in translation

2009-12-10T08:29:00.001-05:00

There was once a Sioux chief, he was so feared that even the sight of his horse would cause fear. His name in English: Man-Afraid-Of-His-Horse.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Man_Afraid_Of_His_Horses

Week in review

2009-12-04T15:57:00.001-05:00

Total 23 miles for this week. So far on target without any injuries.

Mileage: End of November snapshot

2009-11-30T12:46:00.002-05:00

Goal it to get to 80 miles per month, starting next month, that should make around 1000 miles per year.

Norwegian proverb

2009-11-25T15:22:00.001-05:00

"Experience is the best teacher, but the tuition is high."

Word of the day: Mamihlapinatapai

2009-11-09T12:43:00.001-05:00

Mamihlapinatapai is a word from the Yaghan language of Tierra del Fuego,

"a look shared by two people with each wishing that the other will initiate something that both desire but which neither one wants to start."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mamihlapinatapai

Mileage: End of October snapshot.

2009-10-30T15:06:00.002-04:00

you can check when I was sick from the bar graph. Last year's total mileage was greater than 1,000. This year will be little less...

Utopia

2009-10-30T14:52:00.001-04:00

Combine retirement houses and day care centers in a gated community with security (both to unauthorized access and exit) and health care facilities (elder care and pediatrics). It's a win-win-win situation. Kids can be taken care of the elders (of which some of them might be blood relatives) and entertain them in return. Minimal supervision can eliminate any abuse or neglect. A build in health care facility will eliminate most of the hassle of visiting the doctors office. Anyway younger and older people need most physician care.

Fiat Lux

2009-10-30T08:56:00.001-04:00

Why doesn't Fiat make a car called Lux?

gluteus maximus

2009-10-27T13:45:00.002-04:00

http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/content/abstract/209/11/2143

The human gluteus maximus is a distinctive muscle in terms of size, anatomy and function compared to apes and other non-human primates...

The results indicate that the gluteus maximus is mostly quiescent with low levels of activity during level and uphill walking, but increases substantially in activity and alters its timing with respect to speed during running...

Evidence for when the gluteus maximus became enlarged in human evolution is equivocal, but the muscle's minimal functional role during walking supports the hypothesis that enlargement of the gluteus maximus was likely important in the evolution of hominid running capabilities.

Greek Alphabet

2009-10-22T15:55:00.004-04:00

Α α	alpha	Ν ν	nu
Β β	beta	Ξ ξ	xi
Γ γ	gamma	Ο ο	omicron
Δ δ	delta	Π π	pi
Ε ε	epsilon	Ρ ρ	rho
Ζ ζ	zeta	Σ σ	sigma
Η η	eta	Τ τ	tau
Θ θ	theta	Υ υ	upsilon
Ι ι	iota	Φ φ	phi
Κ κ	kappa	Χ χ	chi
Λ λ	lambda	Ψ ψ	psi
Μ μ	mu	Ω ω	omega

New term defined: kaizenette

2009-10-13T13:21:00.003-04:00

kaizenette: (continuous) small improvement
from kaizen (Japanese) + ette (French).

Some useful Windows shortcuts

2009-09-30T09:58:00.002-04:00

(press both keys together)
[Windows]-R: run command
[Windows]-L: lock computer
[Windows]-D: show desktop
[Windows]-E: run explorer
[Windows]-[Pause/Break]: show system properties

ps. [Windows] is the key between [Ctrl] and [Alt] (at least on my keyboard).

A simple solution for big problems...

2007-05-06T10:54:00.000-04:00

A simple solution for world's big problems:

Pollution
Traffic jams
Global warming
Terrorism
Obesity
Depression
Parking
Noise

by riding bicycles instead of driving. 1/3 of the existing car lanes can easily accommodate twice of the traffic as bicycle load.