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Akano

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Blog Entries posted by Akano

  1. Akano

    My semester thus far

    By Akano,

    Hi, all!
     
    As you may have noticed, I've been kinda away from BZP recently due to the wonder that is me being in grad school. Last month began my third year into the foray of graduate studentdom, and since then I've been up to the following:
    Taking Thermodynamics/Statistical Mechanics (four lectures a week spread across Thursday and Friday)
    T.A.'ing three sections of introductory physics lab
    Doing research (My group recently submitted a paper which we have gotten back with editing suggestions. We're going to resubmit tomorrow and hopefully get published! I'm going to be a for-reals published scientist!)
    Buying a Wii U bundled with The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD (Pictures of the awesome GamePad will follow. As of this writing, I have just beaten Gohdan)
    Finding out exactly what a true Hufflepuff is, anyways.
    Pertaining to Wind Waker HD, they made many great improvements to the game. For one, Carlov will make as many figurines in one day as you give him, which is really fantastic. Also, you get the deluxe Picto Box much earlier (when you complete Lenzo's tasks for him), so you can get figurines much earlier. The Picto Box also holds 12 pictures now, and thanks to the Tingle Bottle, you can use pictographs sent to you from random people on Miiverse.
     
    I'm very happy with the improvements made in the game. If only there weren't so much BLOOM (it's not that bad, though).
     

  2. Akano

    My Weekend

    By Akano,

    So this weekend two of my friends and I journeyed to the New England city known as Boston. We didn't actually do anything downtown, but we did get to see some history in Concord, such as the Old North Bridge (site of the fabled "shot heard 'round the world") and walked past Sleepy Hollow Cemetery (we didn't have time to walk through it, unfortunately), and went to a birthday party for a friend of a friend. We also saw one of my grad school professors who left my school due to his wife and him getting a job somewhere that didn't involve one of them taking a nearly three hour commute to work, and there was Indian food.
     
    All in all, a good weekend with good company. Now I'm just relaxing and recovering from the drive, and will soon get to go home and build a pirate ship.
     
    My body is ready.
     

  3. Akano

    Neutrons Bouncing on Glass

    By Akano,

    Yes, you read that right.
     
    So, today our physics department had our Journal Club, where one of the professors/grad students get to share a journal article or two that they found in the vast amount of physics literature available to academia. Today our resident dark matter-seeking professor gave the talk, and boy was it awesome.
     
    The researchers whose papers he found were bouncing neutrons on glass and looking at their quantum states due solely to the potential energy caused by gravity. Quantum mechanics with gravity.
     
    For those of you who don't understand how ridiculously awesome this is, let me put it in terms of Classical Mechanics: when a classical object is under the influence of a uniform gravitational potential (like that near Earth's surface), it follows parabolic trajectories. Imagine a ball bouncing on a table; it forms a series of parabolic bounces, each one smaller than the last due to friction and lost energy due to sound and such. This is essentially what this group did, but with neutrons and glass.
     
    However, because neutrons are not classical particles and instead behave quantum mechanically, they don't bounce in parabolic trajectories. Instead, they abide by the laws of quantum mechanics, which means that there are only certain heights above the table at which they are likely to be found and certain heights that they cannot be found. So, a neutron in the ground (lowest) state of this system is most likely to be found at about 10 microns (thousandths of a millimeter) above the glass.
     
    Also, when this was published back in 2005, it was the first time quantized energy levels due to Earth's gravitational potential alone were ever observed experimentally; the theory has been known for a while, but this is the first time anyone has in any way verified it.
     
    Now, this group is attempting to test the properties of the force of gravity using this apparatus and their neutrons. HOW AWESOME IS THAT?!
     
    This blog entry brought to you by SCIENCE!
     

  5. Akano
    I seem to have a habit of not updating this often.
     
    Main update: I added a new chapter to My Transformation Part II. I encourage you to read it; it's fairly lengthy and full of goodies.
     
    Also, tomorrow is my last day of finals and I get to go home! Woot woot! I'm very excited.
     
    I'll get to see my friends again. It's going to be great. ^^
     
    Um, that's all for now. Please read the new chapter!
     

  6. Akano

    New Comic And Some Maths

    By Akano,

    Hi, all,
     
    New comic (and topic) have been posted over in the comics forum! Check it out!
     
    To address the maths in the new comic, the first sum is
     
    1 + 2 + 4 + 8 + ... = Sum(2^n), where n = 0, 1, 2, 3, ... all the way up to infinity. Now, if we look at the partial sums of this series, we see that the sum of the first term is 1, the first two terms is 3, the first three terms is 7, first four terms is 15, etc. Clearly, the sum gets bigger the more terms you add on. However, let's say that we have
     
    s = 1 + 2 + 4 + 8 + 16 + ...
     
    We can rewrite this by using the distributive property,
     
    s = 1 + 2 (1 + 2 + 4 + 8 + ...)
     
    But, what's inside the parentheses is clearly the sum we had before, so we can rewrite this as
     
    s = 1 + 2s
     
    Subtracting s from both sides, we get
     
    0 = 1 + s
     
    Therefore, s = -1 = 1 + 2 + 4 + 8 + ... So, while the sum does not converge to a number in the traditional sense, it still has some other meaning that says that it is equivalent to -1. Similarly,
     
    1 - 2 + 4 - 8 + ... = Sum((-2)^n) where n = 0, 1, 2, 3, ... all the way up to infinity, or
     
    s = 1 - 2 + 4 - 8 + ...
     
    We can again rewrite this as
     
    s = 1 - 2(1 - 2 + 4 - 8 + ...)
     
    What's inside the parentheses is, again, the sum, so
     
    s = 1 - 2s, or 3s = 1. Therefore, s = 1/3 So, while the partial sums (1, -1, 3, -5, 11, ...) get larger in magnitude (with alternating +/- signs), the sum is still on some higher level equal to 1/3. Neat, huh?
     
    If this doesn't make sense, that's okay, because it is confusing and highly mathematical. What I think is cool, though, is that you can still show these two statements using alternative mathematical methods, meaning that these values are consistent with different techniques. It's about as awesome to me as how classical physics comes out of quantum mechanics when you take the limit of quantum mechanics for a "large" (classical) system.
     
    I love math and science. 8D
     

  7. Akano

    New Comic and Such

    By Akano,

    Hey, guys! Come over here and see the new comic this random yellow guy just posted! It's sure to make you LOL (or at least facepalm).
     
    Also, my Halloween Accessory Set review is feeling rather unloved. Pay it a visit, won't you?
     

  10. Akano

    New Lego Store Opening

    By Akano,

    So, this weekend marked the grand opening of a LEGO store that's actually within driving distance of my home. I stood over two hours in line to get in (it was insane!), but I managed to retrieve a LEGO R2-D2 Duplo block and got my fourth Pharaoh's Quest set - Flying Mummy Attack - while enjoying the LEGO atmosphere. It was a blast.
     
    I also got a green laser pointer. It's much fun to take long exposure photos of writing your own name on a wall in a dark room in green laser.
     
    Also, there's a new-ish comic up in my topic. If you haven't seen it, it has some physics and a good meme joke. 8D
     

  13. Akano
    I got another 90s LEGO System set this week, and am currently writing up the review. I won't tell you what it is just yet, but I'll give you a hint: it was immensely popular, and I don't think it was one that I've talked about wanting to get. It was also featured in the PC LEGOLAND game.
     
    So there are three-ish hints.
     

  14. Akano

    New Skin is New

    By Akano,

    And I likes it! Thankee to Than and Watashi Wa.
     
    Also, an awesomely amazing photo autographed by Yakko Warner/Pinky himself, Rob Paulsen, came in the mail today. I am quite happy.
     

  15. Akano
    >>
     
    <<
     
    Normal - Togekiss
    Fighting - Lucario
    Water - Milotic
    Grass - Breloom
    Fire - Chandelure/Volcarona
    Electric - Rotom
    Poison - Haunter
    Ghost - Shedinja
    Psychic - Lugia
    Bug - Galvantula
    Flying - Zapdos
    Dragon - Zekrom
    Rock - Tyranitar
    Ground - Steelix
    Ice - Lapras
    Steel - Magnezone
    Dark - Zoroark
     
    Gen I: 3 Gen II: 3 Gen III: 3 Gen IV: 4 Gen V: 4/5 (if you count both Chandelure and Volcarona)
     
    I couldn't decide between Chandelure and Volcarona, because they be beastly. I almost put Giratina with Zekrom, but Zekrom has the electric factor going for him, which, if you couldn't tell, I like.
     
    Also, my favorites are very spread among gens. Akano does not play favorites with his generations of Pokémon.
     
    (Gen II all the way! )
     

  17. Akano

    NYC and other Adventures

    By Akano,

    So, on Tuesday my roommate, one of the other physics grad students and her friend, and I all took a trip to the Big Apple. My roommate and I had never visited, and I have to say it was not a horrible city experience.
     
    Our first stop was lunch in Central Park, after which we headed to the American Museum of Natural History where we spent time exploring various exhibits including DINOSAURS(!!!), marine life, Egyptian stuffs, and the Rose Center. Unfortunately, we did not see Neil DeGrasse Tyson there, which makes the physicist in me slightly sad, but good times were had. We then headed over to the awesome Nintendo World, where there was more Pokémon merchandise than I could believe. I wish there had been more Legend of Zelda merch that wasn't baseball caps or overpriced T-shirts (I would love to own a pair of Triforce pajama pants). Then we headed to Rockefeller Center to visit the majestic NYC LEGO Store, where I bought a magnet of a LEGO minifigure with an I ♥ NY t-shirt (with the ♥ made of LEGO bricks). Then we visited McGee's Pub, famous for being the bar that MacLaren's Pub of How I Met Your Mother is based on. We then took a subway downtown to view Lady Liberty herself over the bay after sunset.
     
    It was fun times. 8D
     
    Also, today my grad school had an academic fair for the incoming freshman class. The physics department had LED magnet-badge type things to give away to students to suck them toward our table. Go physics!
     

  18. Akano

    O HAI GUISE!

    By Akano,

    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."
     

  19. Akano

    O Hai, Alaska

    By Akano,

    So, I'm off to Alaska early on Sunday morning for an astronomy conference. KK has already been to the untamed land, so now it's my turn to conquer it with my charm.
     

  21. Akano

    Oh Hey, Guys...

    By Akano,

    So, I've kinda been gone recently. The reasons for that are the school year was wrapping up and I went home for a week to visit my family. In that time, I didn't go online much and thus did not visit BZP much.
     
    However, I did get pictures of the Whirling Time Warper, which I will be reviewing next in my overarching review of the Time Cruisers/Twisters theme from LEGO, so keep your eyes peeled for that review entry.
     
    Also, now that it's summer I hope to get some comic making done (seeing as there will be no homework to stop me).
     

  22. Akano

    On Vacation

    By Akano,

    Nearly two weeks ago, my brothers, parents, roommate (whom Tekulo has taken to call Friend: Toa of Friendship, so I will refer to him as such), and two family friends took a relaxing trip down to Hilton Head Island, SC. Our first day in the condo wasn't terribly eventful; we all went to the beach and enjoyed the sun and sea. Tekulo built a rockin' sand castle, with a moat, staircases, and other hidden gems, and our dad got pooed on by a crow/raven/corvid. Twice. Also, KK decided to take advantage of my skin condition and scratch "Hi" on my back, which wasn't too bad due to the cool ocean keeping the itchiness at bay.
     
    Day 2 was fairly laid back. The youngins (my brothers, Friend, and I) stayed at the condo for the most part and partook in various stay-in type activities whilst the older folks (parents and family friends) went out and did adult things. Those who weren't allergic to shellfish had a dinner of shrimp, scallops, and the like; the two of us who were allergic (including me) had steak, because that's ocean food.
     
    Day 3 we ended up eating dinner at a restaurant known for its awesome seafood, and while you would think that limited my choices (it did), I was able to have sashimi tuna with avocado and peanut sauce. It was by far the best meal I had there, and it still haunts me.
     
    On Day 4, the elders went to Savannah, GA to tour the city and see the sights, while we youngins did awesome stuff. Our morning featured parasailing thanks to Tekulo's reservation-making skills. Friend: Toa of Friendship went up with KK, while Tekulo and I paired up for our flight. It was a real thrill and surprisingly quiet when you get a few hundred feet above the boat. The motor was a faint hum in the distance, and the view of the bay was fantastic. I would definitely recommend it to those who have never done it before, even if you have a fear of heights (like me). After returning to shore, we found out the same company offered kayaking to a wildlife preserve marsh nearby, so we reserved that for the afternoon while checking out Harbour Town in the meantime. We climbed up the lighthouse, grabbed a bite to eat, and then met up for a kayaking adventure into marshland. It was a fun little tour, filled with the floating excretions of a manatee (I may have glimpsed its nostrils!), herons and egrets, hermit crabs, and dogs barking at us from nearby villas. The park was very quiet and serene, and it was nice to be near nature. Once summer rolls around in the north I'd like to do some more kayaking/canoeing activities. After we returned from our marshland adventure (in fairly windy, rocky waters), we had dinner at a local pub, then went on to play 18 holes of minigolf. Friend: Toa of Friendship won with just two over par, and I claimed second place with Tekulo and KK trailing behind us.
     
    Day 5 was the youngins' return to Ohio in which Tekulo read The Promise, KK played Fire Emblem, and my 3DS's battery died from playing A Link Between Worlds.
     
    All in all, the trip was lots of fun, but it was nice to finally get back home after two weekends of constant traveling.
     
    WLEI DPSFS ASFS WLLOQWDIFE WD DPS UIJTI UIKHLSZ. DPSY ASFS UIIL WJT MSHD DI DPSKESLBSE.
     

  23. Akano
    It's been a good run, state of the north.
     
    I have to say, Anchorage itself may not be a good-looking city (in my eyes, no city really is), but the fact that there are mountains literally surrounding it is awesome. Best horizon ever. Of all time.
     

  25. Akano

    Origami Shapes!

    By Akano,

    I made a Post-It note dodecahedron:


    It was fun. 8D
     
    For the record: each face is made up of five Post-It notes, each a different color, so that, per face, no color is repeated.
     

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