zigoku.net

Consolidation

2005-09-15T22:58:00.000-07:00

Hey all you multitudes of ravenous fans, update your bookmarks because the action has moved to zigoku.net... Yup it's a real gen-u-wine site now running WordPress and containing all things Eric Altendorf-y.

Random rant #N

2005-05-19T01:55:00.000-07:00

You know what disturbs me? Animals that have not only been domesticated, but bred for human enjoyment to the point of not having bodies fit for their own existence. For example, those bug-eyed goldfish with long flowing fins that feebly wobble through their tanks ... or small dogs that have such flat noses they can't breathe normally and have such small pelvises they can't birth their young naturally. It's certainly not one of the worst atrocities in the world, but it's ... disturbing. Oh well.

Friends

2005-04-06T00:06:00.000-07:00

Trevor's got one of the better blogs... Life As News

Wikipedia is so distracting

2005-04-03T16:58:00.000-07:00

I'm trying to brush up on statistics by manually spidering Wikipedia, starting from their statistics article, but the non-statistics cross-links are sometimes just too tempting. Today's list of strange Wikipedia articles: Roadkill, Pruno, Honda's integral exhaust manifold, and, more mathy: Nimbers, Khinchin's constant. And I have forgotten how much I love analysis (see, e.g. this example and discussion of the difference between real and complex functions).

And I finally got a working sound card. Music for today: KMFDM, Bruce Springsteen, various Church of Northwest Music compilation artists, Britney Spears, Lard, Leonard Cohen, some random accordian music, and Coheed and Cambria, Ministry.

Finger meat

2005-03-30T23:05:00.000-08:00

Another reason to go vegan (and no, it's not an urban legend, it's one of those "should be an urban legend but unfortunately is not"): http://urbanlegends.about.com/b/a/156338.htm

Not to avoid eating someone else's finger, but because working in the meat industry is one of the most dangerous jobs in America. I feel kind of sorry for the lady who found the finger (though it seems she should stop to consider what else is in that chili and whether it's any more appetizing than a human finger). Mostly, though, I feel sorry for the person whose finger was wrenched off by meat-packing equipment.

Freezing in a swimsuit

2005-03-30T00:00:00.000-08:00

So this Saturday is the Beaver Freezer triathlon, which I committed to a few months back and for which I never had time to seriously train. It's scary ... I don't know if my swim time is accurate or not, so I may be getting in people's way in the lanes, I've got tons of shopping to do to prepare (shoelaces, swimsuit, windbreaker, sports drinks, CO2 inflator, goo, etc.), I tend to hurt myself when I run (knees, leg flexibility), I have to hydrate and get used to getting up early, and do it all this week (when I've got ten million other things to do), .... and I just plain haven't entered a competitive sport for years. It's scary. Exciting, but scary.

Why I decided to work for Google

2005-03-26T18:36:00.000-08:00

I had 4 very good job offers, from which I've finally this week chosen: Google.

Why Google? Not just the benefits, the technological problems, the research-friendly 20% rule, or the don't be evil philosophy. Ultimately what really tipped the scales for me is the application: Google's primary focus is spreading information, knowledge, and wisdom. Their mission is to "organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful." In the academic world, Google scholar is another tool increasing the efficiency of scientific research. In the sociopolitical sphere, Google news helps people see an international perspective, bringing together and making accessible news sources from around the world. In the everyday world, people use Google all the time to learn about everything. And these services are, more or less, free to many people around the world. Perhaps it's glamorizing, but I feel working at Google is indirectly working for global education.

Ichiban

2005-03-15T19:44:00.000-08:00

Well, it appears this blog is now the top Google hit for "eric altendorf". I suppose that means I should write something people might be interested in reading.

I'll have to get back to you on that one.

In the meantime, music for the day: Bruce Springsteen, Placebo, Smashing Pumpkins. And maybe later, a little bit of Pony Down -- an up and coming Corvallis rock band. Hmm.

Incidentally, this Eric Altendorf is not me.

Head hurts

2005-03-09T23:34:00.000-08:00

Just finished helping with a paper for ICML. This week I got to finish my paper for UAI (hey, maybe I'll make it back to Edinburgh this summer!). Work on a thesis. Put in some hours at CleverSet. Make some more progress on figuring out which of my 4 job offers to take after graduation.

At some point I have to go try installing those sweet roll-center adaptors my brother made for my RA21 (adapts MA6x struts with bolt-in application on the RA21, providing huge brakes, stronger strut, very stiff springs, roll-center correction for about 2" of drop, proper camber, and about 2" extra track, all with a couple blocks of aluminum and a pair of junkyard MA6x struts that run about $25/ea).

in the meantime, how am i going to be ready for a triathlon in the beginning of april? haven't swum or played guitar in ages. my room is a mess. my to-read list is so long it would take me easily a week of reading 12 hours a day to catch up.

i have a headache. i'm going to get some sleep.

Things that make you feel good

2005-03-01T23:55:00.000-08:00

Music for today: more KMFDM, Sheryl Crow (but not for very long), old school Skinny Puppy...

New books from the library: Aspect Oriented Software Development, The Mind as a Scientific Object, and Algebra of Probable Inference (the classic by Cox).

And the coolest news: an unsolicited job offer showed up in the email box this morning. Always nice to know your references are good (and active rather than passive!). :-)

Nothing much

2005-02-28T22:16:00.000-08:00

It's nice to see the rain. Comforting, like hoodies and bean bags and warm fires and hot drinks while looking out cold quiet windows at the grey.

Can't wait to get down to the mud at the bmx track.

Rant of the day: gnuplot is one of the worst computer languages ever. (This will probably be a recurring theme.)

What I've been listening to today: Keoki, KMFDM, Beefcake, Powerman 5000, Billy Joel, Rev. Horton Heat.

"Hello World"

2005-02-23T20:57:00.000-08:00

I've finally been convinced to enter the world of un-self-deprecating fame and notoriety. The first step will be to pretend that someone will be interested in reading what I have to say, the next step will be to find something to say. I suppose I'll probably end up rambling mostly about motorsports, cycling, sports, music, coffee, and life. I'll keep my academic thoughts mostly on my other blog, so as not to bore old-school Celica fans with constrained optimization of graphical model parameter estimates, and to avoid embarassing myself in front of potential academic colleagues by talking about 1UZ-FE sump locations and 80's hair metal bands.

I'll start with this: I hate computers. Why does Blogger refuse to work with Opera? And this: Europe is fun. Yes, the continent, too, though I was talking about the Swedish band responsible for The Final Countdown.