Central Park is more welcoming than NYC.
Even in this rainy Friday evening, there are few dedicated (obsessed?) runners/bikers and some tourists.
90th street exit and run towards the East side. When you reach the walkway, you'll see the Wards Island pedestrian bridge up north. Conveniently designed with ramps (thanks bikers) on both side of the 1st Ave you can run up as a hill exercise. Bridge will take you to island. Another fellow runner passes by and lost from the sight. A family with young children taking photos with the backdrop of view of Manhattan.
Wards and Randall Islands used to be two separate islands but now co-joined. A waste water treatment dominates the west side, but east side is a nice park with some wild vegetation. I guess they don't need to pay for fertilizers.
Following the walkway towards north and passing another small bridge you'll end up in Randall Island. More vacant than Wards, only a sole mid-aged man fishing with a pole. Either a catch-and-release sport or not anticipating any catches since didn't bring a bucket!
All the structures set-up for the last weekend's picnic are long gone, the island is a big lawn; deserted and patiently waiting for the next big event (concerts?).
It's almost one hour now since I started running; rain and the last tea I drank before I left the office now forces me to find a bathroom. Behind a big tree I do my business not worried about anyone seeing me.
South entrance of the Triborough bridge (officially Robert F. Kennedy Bridge) to East Harlem is closed, spending a few minutes to find access to the north side. The bridge takes to 126th St and 2nd Ave. along with a heavy car traffic. I don't want 126 St though; quickly crossing to 125.
Harlem... Now gentrified and diversified, you can blend in without getting noticed or harassed. Running on Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd towards west, you can cross Harlem. Avenue numbers changed to names Malcolm X, Adam Clayton Powell Jr, Frederick Douglass (read his amazing life story in his autobiography) honoring famous black men. Why the streets are named after men? Are there any named after women? After African Sq, you'll see the famous Apollo Theater, an important landmark in the history of jazz music.
Right after Morningside Ave, the road kinks up north even crosses 129th St. I follow religiously the street to the end, until I reach the west side walkway. Next to Hudson Parkway there is a walk/run/bike path. Next 90 mins or so I'll be running down south to Battery Park City and to (former) WTC Path station to cross the river to Jersey City. First, backyard of Columbia Univ.
Friday, November 17, 2017
Monday, July 2, 2012
Monday, June 18, 2012
Friday, April 20, 2012
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Monday, December 12, 2011
Three ancient Chinese Curses
- 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...
Monday, December 5, 2011
What's wrong with or what's working in American court system
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%.
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
A fun funding platform
for music, film, art, technology, design, food, publishing and other creative fields.
Friday, November 25, 2011
Knickerbocker 60k results
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
Ramanujan’s Series for 1
/π: A SurveyNayandeep Deka Baruah, Bruce C. Berndt, and Heng Huat Chan
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Friday, November 18, 2011
Outer class instance variable access from inner class
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.
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;
}
}
}
this.foo = Outer.this.foo+1;
}
}
}
Monday, November 14, 2011
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Sharpe Ratio optimization with Matlab 2007a
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 ∑wi = 1
the outputs are the weights and the optimal function value at these weights.
Friday, November 4, 2011
cool tools
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.
Friday, October 28, 2011
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Poland Spring 5M Race on Sunday in Central Park
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?
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Carbohydrate mouth rinse effects on exercise capacity in pre- and postprandial States
by: Fares EJ, Kayser B.
Source: Institute of Movement Science and Sports Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, 1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland.
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.
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