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Akano

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Blog Entries posted by Akano

  1. Akano
    Today, the yellow Toa of Electricity you all know and love takes a step towards a journey he has not encountered before and leaves an old journey behind to be remembered for the rest of his life. I exit the decade of teenage, and enter my twenties.
     
    Today is my twentieth birthday!
     
    And yet, I don't feel too different. I think the change from one age to the next doesn't immediately happen on someone's birthday, but over time takes effect. Or I'll just stay the random jokester I've always been. 8D
     
    Also, today is George Washington's birthday. Our first president deserves more attention than I do, but then again I assume that's what President's Day's all about. Either way, happy birthday, George!
     

  2. Akano
    I am currently unable to upload photos to Brickshelf, and I'm not sure why. I'm trying to upload a .zip file of pics I want to use for a review, but after a long time of "uploading," the folder I attempt to upload to is empty. I tried doing one photo at a time, but that's failing as well.
     
    Anyone else experiencing this?
     

  4. Akano

    Autumn is here...

    By Akano,

    I went for a couple walks yesterday and today, and everything feels perfect. The air is crisp, the hoodie/jeans combo is perfectly comfortable, and the smell of fallen leaves permeates everywhere.
     
    Now if only all the trees decided to finally change color to match the rest of the mood.
     

  5. Akano

    Awesome Cartoons

    By Akano,

    As brothers tend to do, KK and I spent our Saturday evening watching a cartoon about brothers navigating an unfamiliar world simply trying to get home. Over the Garden Wall is a brilliant miniseries, and if you haven't seen it, you should. The story is captivating, mysterious, and makes you ask all sorts of questions to the very end. The animation is beautiful (similar but different to Gravity Falls), the characters are incredibly fun and interesting, and the plot doesn't necessarily progress the way you think it will, but at the same time has many familiar story elements. Also, the celebrity voice acting is done really well, which isn't always the case when you have big names in your cartoon credits.
     
    Go watch it. It's a great ride.
     
    Also, slightly related, new Gravity Falls tonight! 8D
     

  7. Akano

    Babs Seed

    By Akano,

    SUCH A CATCHY SONG ZOMG!!
     
    Also, the CMC were very adorable in that episode.
     
    (I watched it the other day, but just listened to the song for about the fifth time.)
     
    EDIT: Also, apparently typing in darkgoldenrod as your font color doesn't work anymore.
     

  8. Akano

    Back On Top!

    By Akano,

    I was just at another competition, and I placed second in Entomology! I'm back on top!
     
    "But, Akano, second isn't on top. It's next to on top!"
     
    Yes, but the people I lost to were from the team whose coach wrote the test!
     
    The test was completely biased too. Who needs to know famous entomologists for an event in which you identify and cover basic knowledge on insects? Entomologists are people, not insects!
     
    That aside, my weekend's been great, and I get tomorrow off due to President's Day.
     
    Also, my 100th comic is coming up soon. I'm trying to make it a big comic and fill it with my old guest stars. More details in my comic topic.
     
    Now that I can't think of anything to say, I end this entry.
     
    But, first, a wise word from the "MOO" Obsesser. ©
     
    Scarabaeidae!
     

  9. Akano

    Back to School

    By Akano,

    So, today was the first official day of school at my grad school, but I didn't have any classes. Today was lab orientation for Monday and Tuesday lab sections (since we had yesterday off). Having nearly 50 students crammed into a room only able to seat 32 is rather entertaining.
     
    Also, I have a talk to give on Friday on my research I did over the summer. This wouldn't be so much of an issue if I knew which part of the research to discuss, as I worked with two undergrads, and we have to split the topics of our research between us. However, one of the students worked in another lab over the summer as well, so she's probably not going to present on what the three of us did at all. Now the talk has to be divided in half.
     
    Also, did I mention the talk was Friday? ._.
     

  10. Akano

    Band Camp...

    By Akano,

    Well, I've been through one week of band camp. My lips are exhausted due to all the playing. Marching I don't really care about, that doesn't exhaust me. The playing is what gets me.
     
    Why, you ask?
     
    ...I'm literally the loudest trumpet player in the band...and, no, that isn't ego talking, as much as it may sound that way... >>;;
     
    Thus my lips were killing me. By midday Friday my lips had the shapes of my teeth engraved into the inside of them. Perhaps that clears all that up.
     
    I'm really glad we're playing "The Final Countdown," one of my favorite songs to play. ^^ We played it in jazz band my sophomore year, and I'm trying to get my jazz director to bring it back this year. ^^
     
    Okay, enough band nerd talk. I'm sure I'm boring you.
     
    I have a new comic up as of July 30. I made a little block to the left for all of you with a link to both my comics and my stories. If you have free time, please take time to read if you're a fan of one or the other. I'd greatly appreciate it. ^^ The stories have been neglected for a while, but revival's allowed in the Library, so post away.
     
    Umm...I think that's it. Power to the trumpets.
     

  11. Akano

    Band Owns

    By Akano,

    Ah, two football games. We're 1-1, and the marching band is 2-0.
     
    Our show owned. I greatly prefered the first game to the second, because I personally did better that game. But, both were excellent.
     
    If you're wondering, I am one of two senior trumpets in my high school marching band. And I'm the loudest one. ~shoots ego~
     
    My ego did get the better of me the other day, and I said something I shouldn't have. But, I think my section forgives me for that. >>;;
     
    Also, today I played paintball for the first time. And I realized how much paintballs hurt. ><;;
     
    The paintballs we used were the exact same size as Zamor spheres. It was kinda creepy. >>
     
    That's it for blurbs. See ya next update!
     

  14. Akano
    As I sit here late at night waiting to see Jay Leno's pick of the weekly Headlines (cruddy Wimbledon ¬_¬) I decided to write a blogthing entry.
     
    I do have a good idea for a new comic, but I'm afraid my attention span must lengthen itself so I may be able to create the blasted comic. You guys should enjoy it, though.
     
    And lastly, crabadonk!
     

  15. Akano

    Blog Statistics

    By Akano,

    I have absolutely no life to the point that I just spent the better part of my afternoon going back through my blog posts and recording the view count, reply count, and word count of all 185 entries I've made prior to this one. These are the results of my labor:
     
    All time averages:
    Views: 57.4 ± 45.8
    Replies: 2.2 ± 2.6 (LOL)
    Word Count: 176 ± 242 (BIGGER LOL)
     
    Post-server upgrade averages:
    Views: 79.9 ± 42.6
    Replies: 2.58 ± 3.01 (LOL again)
    Word Count: 198 ± 292 (BIGGER LOL again)
     
    Largest stats:
    Views: 266 (courtesy of "Ask Akano" blog entry; Fort Legoredo review got 265, a close second)
    Replies: 24 (again, "Ask Akano")
    Word Count: 1711 (Vampyre Castle review)
     
    Here are the graphs for each stat.
     
    What I learned from this experience:
    Before the server upgrade, I made a lot of posts about how I'm a terrible blogger.
    Among my most viewed posts were my set reviews.
    My old text color is more painful to view since the background is now completely white.
    Most of my blog posts have fewer than 50 words.
    Most of my blog posts get zero replies.
    Post-server upgrade, most of my entries get between 60-90 views. Pre-upgrade, they got between 10-20 views.
    This is my 186th post.
    I hope this was informative. I know I learned quite a bit from the experience.
     

  20. Akano

    Brickshelf's Down?

    By Akano,

    So, brickshelf and majhost's servers are down. Too bad I can't upload the comic I've totally finished and not at all procrastinated on.
     
    Seriously though, my apologies for the lack of updating of my comics. I have not had as much time this semester to do things I enjoy as I would like (we kinda hit the ground running). I do hope to inspired soon and start working on a comic.
     
    Another thing sort of slowing me down is that I'm getting used to using GIMP, which is quite different from Photoshop, which my new computer does not have. Thus, I have to make do.
     
    In other news, this semester I'm taking quantum mechanics version 2.0 and classical mechanics. In both classes (ironically) we're working with Lagrangian mechanics, as the classical Lagrangian (the difference of kinetic and potential energy of a system) is useful in deriving equations to describe systems in both the classical and quantum mechanical regimes. In fact, when one uses the Lagrangian as a way to formulate wavefunctions of quantum mechanics, Hamilton-Jacobi equation (a classical physics equation) pops out of the Schrödinger equation! It's as though physics is self-consistent or something...
     

  21. Akano
    So, I don't know about all of you, but I had a fantabulous Easter weekend.
     
    I went to my college friend's house in PA, went to the Baltimore Science Center (kind of a let down), and stayed one night at his family's farm. Four-wheeling is fun. 8D
     
    Then, since there was next to no light pollution at his farm, we went out around 11:30 at night and stargazed. It was fun times.
     
    I now want a farm. 8D
     

  22. Akano

    Christmas And Finals

    By Akano,

    Christmas time is probably the most wonderful time of the year. I love it so much. ^^
     
    What I don't like about right now is that my final exams for the semester are all up ons next week. Luckily they're only spread out over three days, and I have two days off to study for my first finals.
     
    Also, I really need to brush off the cobwebs and dust from this poor abandoned blog. I never update it.
     

  24. Akano

    Comic And Question

    By Akano,

    New comic is up! It covers the subject of learning new things.
     
    Now, I have a question to pose to you. My friends were talking about being productive with their evenings (both are fellow physics grad students), and I had mentioned that I had felt really productive lately due to the fact that I made two reviews (one of which no one has commented in yet. show it some love!) and finished my latest comic. Then they replied, "I wouldn't really call that productive; you just do that for fun."
     
    To be fair, my one friend was working on a paper she's trying to get published, but I feel I have to defend myself. While I do enjoy writing these set reviews and my comics (which I'm sure you all would love me to update more often), they do take honest work to produce since no one would want to read a review written by a twenty-three-year-old that looks like it was written by a four-year-old. I tried to convince them otherwise, but they kind of shrugged it off.
     
    So, my question to you is this: do you think that working on these "hobbies" is not productive? Just curious on your opinion.
     
    P.S. Please do not say anything hurtful about my friends, as they are my friends, and I do love them very much.
     

  25. Akano

    Complex Numbers

    By Akano,

    Math is a truly wonderful topic, and since I'm procrastinating a little on my physics homework, I'm going to spend some time talking about the complex numbers.
     
    Most of us are used to the real numbers. Real numbers consist of the whole numbers (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, ...), the negative numbers (-1, -2, -3, ...), the rational numbers (1/2, 2/3, 3/4, 22/7, ...), and the irrational numbers (numbers that cannot be represented by fractions of integers, such as the golden ratio, the square root of 2, or π). All of these can be written in decimal format, even though they may have infinite decimal places. But, when we use this number system, there are some numbers we can't write. For instance, what is the square root of -1? In math class, you may have been told that you can't take the square root of a negative number. That's only half true, as you can't take the square root of a negative number and write it as a real number. This is because the square root is not part of the set of real numbers.
     
    This is where the complex numbers come in. Suppose I define a new number, let's call it i, where i2 = -1. We've now "invented" a value for the square root of -1. Now, what are its properties? If I take i3, I get -i, since i3 = i*i2. If I take i4, then I get i2*i2 = +1. If I multiply this by i again, I get i. So the powers of i are cyclic through i, -1, -i, and 1.
     
    This is interesting, but what is the magnitude of i, i.e. how far is i from zero? Well, the way we take the absolute value in the real number system is by squaring the number and taking the positive square root. This won't work for i, though, because we just get back i. Let's redefine the absolute value by taking what's called the complex conjugate of i and multiplying the two together, then taking the positive square root. The complex conjugate of i is obtained by taking the imaginary part of i and throwing a negative sign in front. Since i is purely imaginary (there are no real numbers that make up i), the complex conjugate is -i. Multiply them together, and you get that -i*i = -1*i2 = 1, and the positive square root of 1 is simply 1. Therefore, the number i has a magnitude of 1. It is for this reason that i is known as the imaginary unit!
     
    Now that we have defined this new unit, i, we can now create a new set of numbers called the complex numbers, which take the form z = a + bi, where a and b are real numbers. We can now take the square root of any real number, e.g. the square root of -4 can be written as ±2i, and we can make complex numbers with real and imaginary parts, like 3 + 4i.
     
    How do we plot complex numbers? Well, complex numbers have a real part and an imaginary part, so the best way to do this is to create a graph where the abscissa (x-value) is the real part of the number and the ordinate (y-axis) is the imaginary part. This is known as the complex plane. For instance, 3 + 4i would have its coordinate be (3,4) in this coordinate system.
     
    What is the magnitude of this complex number? Well, it would be the square root of itself multiplied by its complex conjugate, or the square root of (3 + 4i)(3 - 4i) = 9 + 12i - 12i +16 = 25. The positive square root of 25 is 5, so the magnitude of 3 + 4i is 5.
     
    We can think of points on the complex plane being represented by a vector which points from the origin to the point in question. The magnitude of this vector is given by the absolute value of the point, which we can denote as r. The x-value of this vector is given by the magnitude multiplied by the cosine of the angle made by the vector with the positive part of the real axis. This angle we can denote as ϕ. The y-value of the vector is going to be the imaginary unit, i, multiplied by the magnitude of the vector times the sine of the angle ϕ. So, we get that our complex number, z, can be written as z = r*(cosϕ + isinϕ). The Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler discovered a special identity relating to this equation, known now as Euler's Formula, that reads as follows:
     

    eiϕ = cosϕ + isinϕ


     
     
     
    Where e is the base of the natural logarithm. So, we can then write our complex number as z = reiϕ. What is the significance of this? Well, for one, you can derive one of the most beautiful equations in mathematics, known as Euler's Identity:
     

    eiπ + 1 = 0


     
    This equation contains the most important constants in mathematics: e, Euler's number, the base of the natural logarithm; i, the imaginary unit which I've spent this whole time blabbing about; π, the irrational ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter which appears all over the place in trigonometry; 1, the real unit and multiplicative identity; and 0, the additive identity.
     
    So, what bearing does this have in real life? A lot. Imaginary and complex numbers are used in solving many differential equations that model real physical situations, such as waves propagating through a medium, wave functions in quantum mechanics, and fractals, which in and of themselves have a wide range of real life application, along with others that I haven't thought of.
     
    Long and short of it: math is awesome.
     

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