2.2.10
Infochimps.org
Just a shameless plug for the site. At infochimps.org you can buy, sell, or share any data set in the world. Whether you're looking for baseball statistics, historical stock market data, a just a simple spreadsheet to finish that report, you can find it at infochimps. Infochimps is a data marketplace. So, if you have any spreadsheets or other data lying around, you can either sell it or share it on infochimps. Check it out.
21.12.09
23.11.09
Strange Attractor of The Week
It's about time I posted something. Sorry.
Anyway, in studying chaos theory I got sidetracked by these pretty little things. These 'things', like the one shown here, are chaotic attractors.
To understand what an attractor is I'll use an analogy with biochemistry. Think about protein folding. You've got an initially unfolded protein in some environment, ie. a buffer solution. As time goes on the protein will eventually fold into some stable conformation. The conformation it folds into could be called an attractor of the system since it 'attracts' the parameters defining the protein and causes them to settle into some final values.
So, an attractor is just a general way of representing the state of a given system, like your protein, after a long time. For example, if you've ever plucked a guitar string and watched it slowly stop vibrating, you've observed an attractor. The final position of the string, really just a single point, is the attractor.
For the case of the guitar string the attractor is just one point. No matter how you pluck it the string will, after time, stop moving. You can predict its future absolutely. A chaotic attractor, on the other hand, has no such absolutes. The system it describes does settle to final set of states, it's just not possible to say which state. The diagram above is an example of such a chaotic attractor.
Sorry for the lengthy introduction to chaotic attractors. I think I'll be posting one for the quadratic map (like the one above) every week. (And maybe other systems too...) I'll include a calculation of the largest lyapunov exponent, a measure of how chaotic it is, and the dimension too. Just for fun. Of course, you don't have to care. Just look at it and appreciate how pretty it is. :)
D = fractal dimension = 1.6
L = largest lyapunov exponent = 0.329
Anyway, in studying chaos theory I got sidetracked by these pretty little things. These 'things', like the one shown here, are chaotic attractors.
To understand what an attractor is I'll use an analogy with biochemistry. Think about protein folding. You've got an initially unfolded protein in some environment, ie. a buffer solution. As time goes on the protein will eventually fold into some stable conformation. The conformation it folds into could be called an attractor of the system since it 'attracts' the parameters defining the protein and causes them to settle into some final values.
So, an attractor is just a general way of representing the state of a given system, like your protein, after a long time. For example, if you've ever plucked a guitar string and watched it slowly stop vibrating, you've observed an attractor. The final position of the string, really just a single point, is the attractor.
For the case of the guitar string the attractor is just one point. No matter how you pluck it the string will, after time, stop moving. You can predict its future absolutely. A chaotic attractor, on the other hand, has no such absolutes. The system it describes does settle to final set of states, it's just not possible to say which state. The diagram above is an example of such a chaotic attractor.
Sorry for the lengthy introduction to chaotic attractors. I think I'll be posting one for the quadratic map (like the one above) every week. (And maybe other systems too...) I'll include a calculation of the largest lyapunov exponent, a measure of how chaotic it is, and the dimension too. Just for fun. Of course, you don't have to care. Just look at it and appreciate how pretty it is. :)
D = fractal dimension = 1.6
L = largest lyapunov exponent = 0.329
14.9.09
Fucking FAFSA.
Here's what the 2009-2010 Federal Student Aid Handbook says:
So, unless I'm married, in the military, my parents are dead, I was emancipated (only worked if it had happened before I turned 18), I have children, or am an orphan, I'm pretty much left out. Thank you so very much Uncle Sam, mom and dad. I'll be sure to return the favor whenever I can. I guess I could always marry a hooker or join the U.S. Army. I've been looking for an excuse to kill women and children in the desert on the other side of the planet. Sign me up.
6.9.09
The End Of The Beginning
Just bought this. Definitely one of their best. Still nothing in compared with All Is Violent, All Is Bright, but the first track, "The End Of The Beginning" makes the album worth every cent. You're cheating yourself if you don't get this album.
3.9.09
Now What?
Looks like I can't get a loan. Or at least not one that will allow me to defer payments until I graduate. I still have four semesters to go... If I drop out now I'd have to start paying back the near 50k in loans I already have out. What do I do now?
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