Akano

Does BZP not do PayPal transactions?

I hope the funyarinpa makes an appearance. That'd be fantastic. Also, (do NOT read if you haven't played VLR yet! I'm talking to you, KK...)

I hate deadlines. There's a conference that my adviser wants my lab group to go to in June. Understandable. What's not understandable is that the deadline for abstracts to present at said conference is tomorrow (it was originally Friday, but got bumped back over the weekend). This means, of course, that I have to have enough data to write an amazingly short paragraph about what I'd be presenting at the conference by tomorrow. At 5 p.m. Now, I'm not one for stress. As my brothers and roommate can easily tell you, I take it rather easy and do not like to be rushed. This past week has been the exact opposite for me. So, I'm slightly burned out, but I have some data that will hopefully be enough to make an abstract with. Huzzah... On a more pleasant note, yesterday's Spike episode was good. I love Gummy. And Tank.

Matrices pop up everywhere in science, such as quantum mechanics and electromagnetism, so I think your tag is safe. And, yeah, they also can be a pain. Fortunately, we make computers do all that complicated matrix stuff nowadays; however, if you want to, say, program said computer to do that stuff, you'd better have a thorough understanding of the process of getting a row reduced echelon form or determinant.

So, as you all may have noticed, I have disappeared off the face of the Internet for a time. But now I'm back at my college (classes don't start until next week, so I'm mainly doing research), which means I'm back on the Interwebs! Christmas was very nice; I got Tabasco sauce from my mom, Virtue's Last Reward (beat it in a week...and didn't realize that there was nothing more to the game after the end was over. XD) and the LEGOLAND exclusive set Forbidden Island from KopakaKurahk (both awesome), and Ramses' Return from Tekulo. I also got a smiley-face mug from my aunt. I also got to go to the LEGO store the other day and got Series 9 minifigures! I also got a few more Series 8 figs, so I may have to take pictures of those and review them at some point. Now you can expect a bit more activity from me since I'm back in the swing of things and somewhat out of "break mode."

I'm at home enjoying the holiday with my family. I hope all of you have the pleasure of doing the same or similar. For those who don't celebrate Christmas, may you have a wonderful holiday season!

Best Zelda game ever. Also, I don't see demonic eyes and teeth on our moon, so I think we're good. TAKE THAT, MAYANS!

Saturday: Received final. Four questions pulled from Jackson and Griffiths' textbooks. Finished one problem (the Griffiths one). Sunday: Finished two more problems. I am on fire! Worked on the fourth problem. Way uglier than the other three. Monday: Woke up at noon. Haven't continued working yet. Hungry. This has been a look into the life of a grad student during finals week! Tune in next time where we see whether said student has eaten in the last three days!

Fourier Transforms are one of my favorite mathematical techniques. They're the operation by which signals are broken up into their composite frequencies, which is awesome.

FOR SCIENCE! Or, it would be if I didn't have labs to grade. GRADSTUDENTPROBLEMS!!

Tekulo: ...Wait, what?! Also, yes. ET: Yes, this is related to my FDM post. I think you may understand it better via Taylor series/limit definitions of derivatives; that's where I started, and it made a lot more sense. Which class are you talking about, by the way? Also, math is fun! Don't be discouraged; be driven! And, yay!

Bambi: No, Mega Bloks are totally different! LEGO discussion only! Parugi: I laughed so hard at that. XD Tekulo: Exactly. Kraagh: Wow, that was a long one. While I'm sure I have a bit to say on all of that, I don't feel that this is the time or the place to do so, though I do appreciate you sharing your opinion.

It's currently 12:12 on 12/12/12 for the east coast of the United States! That's relevant for some reason!

Anyone want to talk about some LEGO?

Eeko, you are made of win. You too, Takuma. I really need to make a blog approval stamp.

How is Python? I've never coded with it, but I feel I should learn it, as physicists seem to like it. And because I only know FORTRAN.

I actually invented something that works! Er, rather, my code works! Hooray! And with two days to spare.

So, I'm working on a computer project for my Electrodynamics course. I'm using a computer method called the Relaxation or Finite Difference Method. It basically takes a physical scenario, divides the space of interest into a grid, and assigns voltages for each grid intersection. Then, using a computer language of choice (I'm using FORTRAN, like a boss), I make a program that essentially takes a weighted average of all the points whose voltages aren't fixed until the program doesn't change those voltages anymore. This gives a surprisingly good approximation for a physical system. I'm basically modeling a system with two conducting cylindrical shells of equal radius separated by some height and which are at voltages +V0 and -V0. The problem is that my output graphs do not look physical; the voltage just drops to near zero rapidly for points outside and between the cylinders, whereas I expect that the graph should gradually drop. Curse you, technology!

The link for your intro comic leads to comic02. You might want to fix that.

Oh, Fermi questions. I failed that event miserably. I'd probably be better off now that I've done physics, but back then, no way.

Science Olympiad FTW! I did Forestry for a year or two; I wasn't that good at it. My best events were Water Quality, Weather/Climate, and Entomology. Good times.

Heartwarming and cute. Also,

ALL GLORY TO THE HYPNOTOAD! I mean, IPB ADMIN!

New comic posted! Time to reply to you wonderful people. wierdox: Power through it! Face senioritis head on and apply directly to the forehead! Wait, that's not right... Reznas: Thank you very much! I try not to get too bogged down in the graphics because I started these in MSPaint, and although I use GIMP/Photoshop now, I prefer not to spend too much time on the aesthetics. The jokes are what everyone comes for anyways. ^_^And cool! I shall have to remember to add you to the short but surprisingly existent list of people who aren't KK that share my birthday. Tenebrae Invictus: Ah, I see. No worries. And that's the beauty of my method! 8D Hope you all enjoy the new one!