Musings

Spam Bots

2008-11-14T04:03:52Z

I was recently directed to this interesting paper on spam emails. In it Stefan Savage (who was at UW today but I missed him) et. al relate how they hacked a spam bot net. They give an interesting technical description of spam nets, which I found surprisingly sophisticated. But here's the real meat of their findings:

~25% of spams reach valid email addresses. Most of these end up in spam boxes, of course.
3.5e-3% of spams sent are clicked on. Most people are smart enough to avoid it, but that's still 17000 clicks per month.
Only 8e-8% of spams (28 insecure men) sent resulted in purchases of fake pharmaceuticals, so there's not a huge amount of profit involved. Of course, sending email from a botnet is basically free.
However, a much higher 3e-4% of people managed to get themselves infected, so the network is hard to shut down completely.
Hotmail seems to have the most aggressive spam filters. Not a single message got through in the study.

iTunes Restoration

2008-11-07T20:13:01Z

After my old computer died, one of my big goals was to recover all my music and photo metadata. For photos this was easy, since iPhoto stores it in the same place as the photos, on my external hd. For music it was trickier. I still had the music files from my external, but I had lost the xml file iTunes stores my ratings and playcounts in. Fortunately I had all that info on my iPod, which I was able to recover via a script.

Here's what worked for me:
Note that I was using Mac OS 10.5 and my iPod is formatted as HFS+.

1. Copy data from external HD
Open iTunes and let it create a new library on the new computer.
Enable the 'Copy Files to iTunes Music Folder when adding to Library' option from the preferences. This will make ITunes leave the external hd untouched as a backup.
Added the folder on my external hd containing my music.

I was surprised how much information iTunes was able to get by itself. I've always used the 'Keep iTunes Music Folder organized' option, so It was able to get all the Title/Artist info right. It even added my podcasts correctly.

2. Fill in holes from iPod
If any (or all) of your music was not on the external hd but it is on your iPod, copy that data.

Download Senuti. This is a very well written app for recovering music from the iPod.
Without the iPod connected, open iTunes
Hold down Command+Option, then plug in your iPod. This keeps iTunes from syncing with the iPod
Enable disk use on the iPod
Run Senuti

Senuti will restore any songs you don't have in iTunes, along with all their metadata.

3. Copy metadata
Songs copied from the hard drive will not have ratings or other metadata, but you can copy that from your iPod. Doug's Scripts is a great place to find useful applescripts for iTunes.

To copy ratings, playcounts, comments, and date last played, use the script Synch iPod-iTunes Data.
To copy playlists, use the script Mirror iPod Playlists in iTunes. Unfortunately there is no way to recover smart playlists, since the criteria for these are not stored on the iPod. You can force the mirror script to copy over smart playlists to iTunes as normal playlists by editing the script and commenting out (adding "--") to the line "--if smart of item pl of thePLs is false then" and its corresponding "end if".

Seattle Code Camp

2008-10-06T21:46:13Z

Anyone want to go to the seattle code camp with me this year? It's nice not to have to drive to portland this time–we can skip the boring sessions.

The event is on the weekend of Nov. 15-16. It's at the DigiPen campus, which I'm interested to see. More information at https://seattle.codecamp.us

University Chorale Concerts

2008-09-30T02:10:05Z

The dates for University Chorale Concerts have been released. Add them to your Google Calendar or follow them via RSS.

It feels great to be singing again. My voice feels really out of shape. This year should have a very high level of musicality, as we're planning on recording a CD in the spring.

Still Alive

2008-08-22T10:21:09Z

...but my computer's not. The hard drive was angry so I threw it in the big red incinerator. It gets no cake.

But the lack of blogs is because I've been busy! June and July was a flurry of travel. Then after I got back I started working in Don Hilvert's biochem lab. August was spent pipetting half the days and then studying diligently (mostly thanks to aforementioned lack of computer) while I waited for the cells to grow. Now I've finally made it through the gauntlet of exams, just in time to start packing.

The lab is interesting. My project isn't particularly inspiring (its only 5 weeks after all) but it does employ a wide variety of techniques, so I'm getting a good feel for what it would be like to do biotech on a daily basis, which was my goal in taking this job. It does require more planning and thought than lab classes I've taken, where they give you the protocols for everything in advance. That makes it more attractive to me than my previous experiences, but I'm still not sure that I have the temperament to be a molecular biologist. You need to be really meticulous and patient, since results come so far down the road.

For my project I slightly modified a protein that my supervisor/colleague, Rebecca, is using for her doctorate thesis. The protein works in E. coli, but the yeast form is slightly different and isn't active. We thought the problem might be a tag on one end which was used to label the protein. So I cut out the section of DNA that encoded the tag and then put everything back together. Of course I had to do a lot of checks to make sure all the steps worked correctly, and at several steps I had to wait for E. coli or yeast to grow. Still, it's a little depressing to me that my summer's work can be summed up in one sentence. One thing that surprised me is how routine most of the techniques I've learned in class are. For instance, genome sequencing still gets into the press occasionally, but last week I sequenced over four kilobases with about half a day's work. That's nearly as much as the first whole genome sequenced.

The utility of Twitter

2008-07-12T10:54:33Z

This story is actually three weeks old, but I didn't have time to blog it before leaving on vacation. As you may know, Firefox 3 officially released June 17th. I tried it out a few days later, and posted a tweet of my impressions:

antidemagogue Firefox 3 is quite nice. I do wish that TabMix Plus was ported. I love the tags for bookmarks! 10:10 AM June 22, 2008 from TwitterFox

Tab Mix Plus is a nice little plugin which adds a lot of utility to tabs. I sorely missed having it on Firefox 3. Therefor I was delighted to receive this unsolicited reply to my tweet the following day:

firefox_answers @antidemagogue Tab Mix Plus dev build is compatible with Firefox 3, just not public yet. See here: http://tinyurl.com/38dzc9 08:20 PM June 22, 2008 from web in reply to antidemagogue

It seems that Firefox support has been tracking all posts relating to the browser and is trying to respond to any problems sited. I think that's a great way to use twitter—its like overhearing murmured complaints and then fixing the problem without even being asked!

Biotech Lab

2008-06-16T01:06:14Z

The upper right cells have just finished mitosis. The cells are stained for DNA (red) and actin (green).
Cropped | Original

We used a tiny micropipette to inject dye into this single cell, just like a doctor injects patients using a needle.
Original

Two weeks of lab course really flew by. They were really busy, but I also had a lot of fun working in a lab. This particular course focused on mammalian biotechnology. Every day we started with a couple hours of lecture and theory, then dived into the day's experiments. We started with basic cell culture techniques and then flew through most of the major techniques in use today. I liked the in situ protein labeling techniques because they produced really nice micrographs like the one on the right. ETH is very well funded, so Fussenegger's lab has all the equipment you would ever like, including a really nice fluorescent microscope.

I was slightly surprised at how much antibodies are now used. We used them for purifying proteins, doing ChIP, all sorts of labeling experiments, etc. Furthermore, antibodies came up a lot in discussions of cell culture, since they still form the majority of the pharmaceuticals complex enough to need mammalian cells for commercial production. Antibodies are a huge industry. Another cool compound that came up a lot is nanoparticles. These are good for introducing DNA into cells. Some kinds will just push the DNA in by itself, but we also used 'particle bombardment' - literally shooting nanoparticles at cells with a special gun.

I don't know if I would want to actually work in a lab for long. On the one hand, it is exciting to touch the machines and really use your hands every day. But on the other hand, you are essentially just pipetting fluids from one tube to the next all day.

Perhaps the coolest part of the course was the field trips. We went to a small local startup, 'Red Biotec', to get a perspective on the business aspects of a small biotech firm. Then we spun 180° and went to enormous Boehringer Ingelheim (see Previous Post) where we encountered production techniques for cell culture at a huge scale. Finally we went to the Novartis plant in Basel. This facility focuses mainly on research - finding new drugs in nature and then figuring out how to produce them efficiently. At all three companies we got talks and tours from high-up lab heads, many of whom had studied at ETH. It was really eye-opening to see what the biotech field looks like commercially. I'm still not sure if I would want to have that sort of environment or if I'd be better in academics, but it was really nice to get an idea of what its like.

Techniques:
Cell culture, transfection methods (CaPO4, electroporation, nanoparticles, various viral vectors), IP, ChIP, western blot, RT-PCR, Reporters (SEAP, SAMY, Luciferase, ELISA, GFP), FACS, microinjection, particle bombardment, microencapsulation

Long Lost Book

2008-06-15T21:58:07Z

By chance I rediscovered a book I read at age ten or twelve. It made a lasting impression on me at the time because it has some really dark themes which were way too mature for a fifth grader. The surprising thing was how much the book had changed in my memory. Some scenes I recalled in precise detail, but had them totally wrong chronologically. In others I had transposed characters, or changed the setting entirely. For instance, in one section they are trying to cross a magic barrier. I remember much of the struggle, but in my memory it took place in the more mundane setting of a mountain pass. It is funny how we modify memories over time.

Wizard's First Rule (Sword of Truth, Book 1)
by Terry Goodkind

This is a well-crafted story with a complex and interesting plot. Goodkind adds some novel elements to the standard fantasy fair, creating a compelling world. Sometimes it shows that this was his first book - a few dialogs are awkward and poorly written, especially during the exposition. But it still left me wanting to read the next book in the series.

quantum7 @ 2008-06-05T00:01:00

2008-06-04T23:47:58Z

Boehringer Ingelheim

8 photos | Map

I'm currently taking a lab course in biotechnology. This year the class is focusing on biotech in mammalian cells. Today we had a trip to a world leader in mammalian culture, Boehringer Ingelheim in Biberach, Germany. This is one of the biggest manufacturers of biological pharmaceuticals (read antibodies) in the world. Basically, they start with cells which produce a particular drug, usually in hamster cell cultures in a test tube. They then grow the cells up from a single clone to huge 12000 L tanks three stories tall, then extract the antibodies secreted by the cells. Everyone complains about drug costs, but after seeing this facility I can understand the price a bit more. The design of processes to produce drugs is truly a feat of human ingenuity, and the measures needed to implement the technology are extreme.

The day started with lovely drive through rural Switzerland and southern Germany, including a ferry across Lake Constance. After driving through beautiful vineyards and orchards we reached their sprawling campus. I was never that interested in pharmaceutical companies, but now I understand the appeal. The campus is impressive - nice architecture, plenty of trees, and huge. The cafeteria food was good and we were served coffee afterwards as we sat and chatted. The labs were spacious, light, and ultramodern. Money is not a consideration - whatever is needed to make the deadlines and quality standards is implemented. The flip side of this is that jobs there are secure and a bit static. Most of the people grew up in southern Germany and there doesn't seem to be that much international mixing within Boehringer. Overall, it struck me as a good place to go after you have kids and want to settle down, not a hip, lively biotech firm.

The biggest problem facing their antibody production is contamination. Since they are amplifying the cells something like a billion fold, the smallest bit of contamination ruins the whole project. FDA rules force them to keep a very close eye on possibilities for bacteria or especially viruses to enter the cells, since they would eventually show up in patients. To solve this problem they have automated almost all their procedures, so that humans never have contact with the cells. Computers control all the things needed for cell growth - nutrients, air, pH, etc. It is amazing how different their facilities feel from the university's, where human involvement is constant and time is often sacrificed to save money.

The scale of the reactions was constantly bewildering. In our lab we consider a process to be pretty big if you can measure it in milliliters rather than using the usual micropipettes. At Boehringer they have to use exponential notation for some of their measurements! They have chromatography columns two meters wide and "glassware" I could barely cover with my whole hand. Protein isn't produced all that fast - think about how slow your hair grows - but they can produce a years supply of some of their drugs in just two weeks. And as they churn this stuff out they still find time to sit at the cutting edge of research into ways to improve the process.

KNIE circus

2008-05-24T00:34:46Z

New Photo Sets:

KNIE

8 photos | Map

Uetliberg by Night

7 photos | Map

For Niklas's birthday last week we went to see the circus, KNIE. This is a traditional circus with a big tent and a dirt ring. The only circus I've been to recently is Cirque du Soleil, which had quite a different feel. It feels very old fashioned to see trained animals or midget clowns, but I guess it is part of the tradition.

They had some really cool acts. A man juggled seven mirrored pins which flashed hypnotically as they flashed up almost to the ceiling. Acrobats slid smoothly between perfectly poised poses, high in the air (unfortunately the tent wasn't big enough for swinging acts - only vertical motion). A man turning rapid cartwheels on the feet of his partner gave the crowd a scare with a nasty tumble, but really won them over with a graceful recovery and an astounding finish. A team of tumblers did flips and aerials through spinning lassos. Two body builders stayed frozen in unbelievable angles for long periods of time.

Between acts clowns played tiny violins and cracked bad jokes about swiss culture. There was also a parade of trained animals worthy of a small zoo - horses, elephants, Shetland ponies, camels, and even a llama. The ringmaster's young son also seems to fit into this category of entertainment - I have to admit he was cute. The training was pretty impressive. I've never seen so many species walk on two legs before.

.bashrc, .profile, and other config files

2008-05-23T22:35:40Z

Since I find myself switching boxes quite frequently, I recently refactored my config scripts and put them in a subversion system. Thus I can just check out the folder on a new machine, add symlinks to the proper files, and I will have my well-loved .bashrc, .vimrc, .profile, etc. I also like the idea of being able to share these files, since I have invested some serious time in customizing them over the years. Feel free to browse or checkout the repository: http://quantum7.svn.beanstalkapp.com/general/config/

quantum7 @ 2008-05-10T00:24:00

2008-05-10T00:02:02Z

Zürich Spring

27 photos

This year spring in Zürich lasted around two weeks. Seriously. Three weeks into April the cold rain of winter turned into warm showers and dazzling sunbursts, highlighting the abundant flower-gardens and colorful arrays of tulips. The cherries all bloomed, the other trees furiously sprouted leaves, and the birds started madly chasing each other around singing idyllically.

Compare:

Hönggerberg, April 11, 2008

Hönggerberg, May 6, 2008

And now the summer has officially started. I say official because today I went to a barbecue and ate watermelon. Either one of those events would have been a pretty clear indication of summer, but together they are irrefutable.

Sechseläuten

2008-05-02T17:54:54Z

I added some photos! If you are curious about fashion in Switzerland, check out the garb at Sechseläuten! I also took some photos at the science campus, Hönggerberg, a while ago after a light snow. It looks beautiful!

Sechseläuten

14 photos

Snowy Hönggerberg

5 photos

Sechseläuten was a really fun experience. It's a celebration of the spring equinox. It centers around the Zünfte (guilds) who traditionally hold a lot of power here. There is a long parade of residents in period attire, then they light a giant bonfire with an effigy of a snowman or bogey (Böögg) atop. Legend has it that the time it takes to burn the Böögg will predict the weather for the summer. This years time of 26 minutes promises a cold and rainy season.

We were planning to barbeque bratwurst on the coals of the dead winter, but the rain drove us indoors. Still, it was a fun chance to get together for friends and kick of spring with some good food and beer.

The name 'Sechseläuten' has an interesting history. It comes from 'Sechs Uhr Leuten', or 'Six o'clock people.' When the holiday started a guild law said that after the equinox workers could go home at 6pm rather than at sunset. This meant that starting after Sechseläuten people got a few hours of daylight to themselves after work.

European Champions!

2008-05-02T17:35:29Z

European Champions!
Originally uploaded by phssthpak

The excitement about the Euro 2008 is slowly but noticeably rising. The latest indicator is this series of ads. It says "Switzerland is the European champion. In railways."

Even the most patriotic swiss have to have a sense of humor about their football team. They're only in the Euro 08 because as hosts they are guaranteed a spot.

Signs of spring - rain and bad poetry

2008-04-22T14:49:50Z

Lament for an Earthworm

Rise up! Rise up!
Through the damp of the earth.
Oh, flee from the terrible tide.
For this torrent doth rise,
rise up to the sky!
From whence the deadly rain falls.

Feel the water seep in
Coming right through the skin
Oh, drink! through you've never known thirst.
See your body, it grows,
At this rate will explode!
So flee to the roof of the world.

There is no escape
From your mortal fate,
For above the dangers abound.
For the birds and the beasts
You will make a great feast
Or beneath giants your body will squish.

By the thousands they perish
In the gardens they cherished,
On sidewalks, in puddles, they're dead!
But look dear, don't cry
Dad will lift this worm dry
For the rest, in the sun they'll return.

Incompatable media standards

2008-04-17T17:35:23Z

I just spent roughly an hour trying to get a DVD to play from my computer on Isaac's TV. This wasn't even the normal problem of untangling a snarl of wires or coordinating three remotes and four devices. No, this was just a simple problem of connecting two ports.

The first problem is that TVs here have a SCART card. I admit that this must have looked pretty good in the 80s (input and output simultaneously!), but now its a Frankenstein's monster – huge, with so many different protocols hacked onto it that even the RF signals must get confused.

So at least three months ago Peter bought a SCART adapter which converts both S-Video and composite, so we thought we were good. The older mac laptops like mine (pre-feature-cutting-era) have S-video out, so once we got an S-Video cable it was at least physically attached.

But no. The S-Video protocol apparently counts as a hack over SCART so the cheaper TVs don't support it. The color information gets ignored, leaving only monochrome. Wonderful.

A bit of googling explained the reason for this and recommended we get a composite cable. Luckily I had brought my S-Video-to-composite adapter, so after buying yet another expensive wire we had a composite connection to the TV, with adapters on both ends.

When the picture remained black and white I almost gave up. Fortunately Isaac suggested another look through the display control panel. Here we discovered that even the seemingly simple, one-wire composite can have multiple protocols across it, which must be selected in software. So finally by shifting from 800x600 60Hz NTSC to 800x600 50Hz PAL (whatever those mean) we were able to achieve a blurry, low resolution color picture on this crappy old TV. I hope the extra two inches of screen space are worth it.

This is why I do software. At least when a protocol gets outdated we can replace it altogether instead of continually adding on new pipes of adapters.

Community Timeline

2008-04-06T13:31:18Z

The local Oerlikon church celebrated its 100th birthday. As part of the Jubilee service they stretched a giant timeline across the front of the sanctuary and invited people to add stickers for each baptism, confirmation, and marriage that they knew of taking place in the church. The resulting brightly colored timeline was a nice way to reminisce as a community, but it also provided an interesting look at local demographics over the last century. For instance, from 44-48 there were several confirmations each year but only one birth and no marriages at all. Then in 49 after the war the chart was covered with stickers. Another obvious trend was the baby boom in the 60s, which turned that stretch of timeline into a mass of blue baptism stickers.

Triumphant Return

2008-04-01T01:20:25Z

I stumbled off the night train from Venice this morning. Italy was really amazing, but I had enough hectic moments in my whirlwind tour that it feels really good to be home. I took two showers today, just because it felt so amazing after days of train station bathrooms. In a way my experience in Italy was defined by both the really magical sights and experiences I went through and the pains of travel. The sights, smells, tastes, and sounds of the various towns I went through were powerful, and in a way they were only enhanced by the blisters, misplaced reservations, bad weather, etc. that I encountered.

First, a disclaimer on photos. I have nearly a thousand to sort through, of which probably half are unique and in focus. I have some really nice shots (I hope) but it'll be a while before I get through them all. For now I'll settle for a verbal picture, while its still fresh.

Roma - Rome

I flew down from Basel on Saturday with EasyJet. I was expecting it to be terrible service and uncomfortable seats from the price, but it was actually just as nice as the economy section on United, minus the free coke. It was great to see Ben again. I could never spend enough time with that guy. It's so sad we only meet up for family reunions every couple of years. He has been in Rome since September and knows it very well. As an architecture student ("Archie," in Notre Dame terms) he takes a class where their professor walks them around town and lectures on the history, architecture, context, owners, and generally any detail that comes to mind about whatever they happen to be standing by. I got to attend class one day and I was amazed at the amount of detail this woman has memorized about the city. She even knows about the current owners of the various piazzas and their habits. Ben has absorbed all this information as well as books and notes he has read, making him the best tour guide ever. We spent a lot of time just walking around the city, visiting (almost) all 900+ churches in Rome, the old Roman ruins spread around the city, and all the best local eateries.

For me the most powerful part of my stay in Rome was Easter mass at St. Peter's, with Pope Benedict. We had been up late Saturday night for Easter vigil as this beautiful golden church, but we still got up early the next morning to snag seats right in front of St. Peter's. They fill up the plaza in front of St. Peter's with chairs for the occasion and have big TV screens so the people in the back can see what the pope is doing. It started raining just before the service started, gradually increasing over the two hour mass so that by the end the water was sheeting down like from a garden hose and my clothes were soaked right through my raincoat and umbrella. The best part was no one really cared. We all just stood there in the rain, singing hymns in Italian and Latin and listening to the pope say 'Happy Easter' in every language of the world (even weird ones like Esperanza). We stood there listening to the poetic rhythm of Italian supplications and blessings. We pushed aside our chairs and streamed to the front for the Eucharist just as the storm reached its peak, with thunder and a cold river over our feet and the rain-soaked Body of Christ on our tongues as the Blood of the Lord spilled out all around us, for us.

After drying off (I went through multiple sets of clothes for the first few days) we set about seeing all of Rome's attractions. Rome was quite crowded for Easter, but I found the crowds much less obnoxious than those in later cities. There were quite a lot of nuns in Rome, whose obvious enthusiasm about being in Rome is contagious. Also the shear area of tourist-worthy sites in Rome is enormous, perhaps spreading out the impact a bit (as opposed to Florence, which is only about 10 minutes by foot across). The actual sights of Rome were about what I expected - breath taking vistas over the Forum, hours-long lines at the Vatican Museum but gorgeous inside, vast, ornate basilicas, and amazing food (we got gelato between one and three times a day, with panini, pasta, and pizza filling in the gaps).

During my stay in Rome I took a day trip to Assisi, a small hill town in Umbria to the north of Rome. It was really nice to get out of the city for a day. The Italian countryside is beautiful, with rolling hills covered with vineyards and olive groves. Assisi's main attraction is the Basilica di San Francesco, where St Francis founded his order of monks. This is a beautiful church full of pilgrims to see his tomb. Of course, around town souvenir shops sell religious icons and figures of all things Franciscan, which I found tastily ironic for an order founded around vows of poverty. We barely even take notice of shops selling overpriced replica cloaks pre-tattered and patched. At the top of Assisi was a smashing castle whose wall still surrounds the town. I had a jolly time hiking around the edges of it, admiring the views down into the valley and climbing around small farmers' huts away from the tourists.

Firenze - Florence

After a great five nights in Rome I said my goodbyes to Ben and headed for Florence. I was able to meet up with a friend of Ben's, Lauren, who I spent some time with in Rome and who studies in Florence. That provided some continuity and an nice introduction to Florence, which is very different from Rome. It is very compact and therefore you're jostling by tourists all the time. Also, I was shocked to be charged admission into all the churches there. At first this seemed terrible, but I guess it is necessary to keep them properly preserved with the amount of traffic they see. I also discovered that all the churches will let you into a side chapel to pray for free if you want (mass is free to, of course), so I learned to accept the entrance booths.

My favorite attraction in Florence was the Uffizi, which collects many masterpieces of Florencian art. It feels like the second most popular occupation in Florence, after Tourist, is Art Student, and with good reason. The Uffizi holds some really inspiring works, like the Birth of Venus. Venice had a similar local art museum with Renaissance and Baroque paintings through several centuries, the Accademia. It was interesting to compare the two cities' art. Both had wealthy families willing to sponsor art in the hope of buying salvation, but the Florentine school seems much more appealing to me. Maybe Venice just lacked these genius artists like Michaelangelo and Botticelli. Just outside the Uffizi is a big plaza with lots of sculptures, including the original location of David (Michaelangelo's sculpture is now moved to a museum with a long line, but a replica is still there).

Although the churches and art in Florence are top-notch, the flavor of the city really comes from the streets connecting them. These are crammed full of vendors trying to sell you everything from fine handcrafted leather clothes to cheap handbag knockoffs. I actually enjoyed this part of the city - it felt more like a permanent fairground than a big tourist trap. Many of the vendors (at least claimed they) crafted all their own merch.

I had a quick layover in Pisa to see the Campanile (you know, the leaning tower). The lean is really quite noticeable, especially as you're walking up the stairs - it get easier on one side and harder on the other. I then headed to Genova (Genoa) for the night. I didn't actually spend any time exploring Genoa, but I met several very friendly Italians - a priest who spoke German with me and who had apparently been serving communion at St Peter's for easter, and then an angel of a woman who out of nowhere offered to give me a ride to my hostel, at the top of the hill. I wonder how many experiences like that we miss by having our own personal cars in America. Some of my best interactions with people came from striking up conversations with people on the train or by the side of the road as I walked by.

Cinque Terre - Five Towns

These little towns along the Mediterranean were the most picturesque part of my travel. I spent the day hiking through terraced vineyards and fields of spring wildflowers. Coming around a ridge you see the next town huddled on the shoulder of the mountain against the sparkling blue sea. I had perfect weather for hiking. It was even hot enough to require a swim in that beautiful water! Swimming was an even more uniquely southern European experience that it might have been, since after climbing down a nearly vertical path for twenty minutes the area I ended up at was a nude beach. Most people were just sunbathing or taking a siesta, except for a group of Americans (in swim suits) frolicking in the surf. Besides stunning views and good hiking, the region is famous for its Pesto. It is still a bit early in spring, but there were a few farmers already sitting out in their fields by the trail with hand-pressed olive oil and bushels of lemons. I have trouble conveying the peaceful, beautiful landscape here in words. Quiet. Glowing. Picturesque.

Venezia - Venice

After my first experience with a night train (cramped but overall comfortable) I arrived early in Venezia. I really loved this city. The canals are stunning, and not nearly as hard to navigate as I had been warned. There are bridges everywhere and the waterbus is worth riding only for the views, let alone for transportation. The Peggy Guggenheim museum here was great. It was the only museum in Italy I found with modern art. As lovely as Renaissance art is, the religious themes are not exactly diverse. Seeing some Klee and Picasso was a nice contrast to cathedrals and the Accademia.

Mostly in Venice I just wondered the streets, gasping at the view every time I turned a corner on yet another serene white bridge over a canal with the quiet slush of a gondola skating by. It's amazing to think that this is all built on fill by humans. There is a 'Save Venice' fund mentioned in the guidebooks that is active in restoring churches after floods. I can't help but doubt that in all too few years those floods will start to carry away some magnificent treasures of human history for good. Please, ride a bicycle for Venice?

There you have it! A nice relaxed stay in Rome, with a fairly thorough exploration of the city, and then eight cities in three days. Put like that it seems ridiculous, but I feel like I was able to capture the atmosphere of the various regions and see the major highlights. Speaking Italian was fun, and I will surly miss the food. But I'm glad I made it down there this trip.

BSG!

2008-03-31T18:48:46Z

So the first thing I tend to do when I get back from a trip is boot up my computer and let all my various data sources update. One in particular stood out to me:

BSG IS STARTING AGAIN FRIDAY!

Details seem a bit thin still, but they released a couple of summary clips on the website, so I guess it's for real. The refresher should be good to watch, as I've kind of forgotten some details amid the wash of 'Watchtower' and the last episode =D

Now I just have to get Isaac caught up so I have someone to watch Season 4 with.

Frohe Osten!

2008-03-21T14:29:07Z

Easter Ducky
Originally uploaded by phssthpak

Happy Easter everyone! I'm really in the easter spirit (why don't we hear that phrase more?). Mom sent me this cute ducky and a huge box of candy, including a couple boxes of Peeps and a box of Samoas. I was trying to convey to Niklas all the connotations of girl scout cookies, but I guess it's something you have to grow up with.

The ironic part is I've continued my tradition of not eating sweets for lent, so I have all this candy that I'm going to have to take with me to Italy. Ben and I are going to eat so much chocolate...

We're going to the Easter service in St. Peter's cathedral Sunday morning. It is going to be amazing. Hallelujah.

Paris

2008-03-21T14:14:29Z

Paris

230 photos | Map

Finally, you get to hear about Paris! Now I can satisfy all the emails I get each day begging to see my two hundred beautiful photos and hear my entertaining yet inspiring stories. Be thou fulfilled! (Note: 230 photos is a lot. You can skip through the section on Notre Dame relics, I won't mind.)

Friday: The Louve

We took the wonderfully fast TGV to Paris, apparently reaching over 300 kph. We arrived in time to take advantage of free friday student admission to the Louve. One thing I wasn't expecting was how lovely the building itself is. Most of the galleries have frescoes on the ceilings and beautiful wood edging. The works of art are astounding too of course. In a way its almost a shame to put everything together, since even great masterworks are overshadowed by the world famous pieces the Louve is famous for. I would find myself walking briskly down the long corridors on the way to Mona or Aphrodite, then catch a name and realize I had just walked past a row of Rembrandts or Da Vincis without even noticing. The building is so immense that you have not time to study pieces, only to absorb the general feeling of awe.

One thing I wasn't expecting was the shopping mall under the Louve. To get to the inverted pyramid we had to walk past a Starbucks and a high-end strip mall! But I guess it was worth it to laugh at the tourists who all individually had to pretend to hold up the pyramid with one finger. Clever, guys.

Back at our cozy (read: small, with two too few beds) hostel we decided on a one museum per day rule. I credit this rule with keeping our sanity throughout the bustle of the top tourist destination in the world.

Saturday: Pompidou, Sacré Cœur, Montmartre, Opera House, Sainte Chapelle, Notre Dame

Saturday happened to be the French Opera day, so they were allowing the public in to see the famous Opéra Garnier. Besides a wonderful Napoleonic-neobaroque style, the opera is graced by a ceiling painted by Chagall. Unfortunately the opera itself was sold out, but just seeing the building was a treat.

Next we headed to the Montmartre hill North of the city center. This is topped by stunning Sacré Cœur's gleaming white domes, which can be seen from all around the city. The cathedral has an interesting layout, perhaps necessitated by the tourist numbers it sees daily. The central sanctuary is loosely roped off, although you can enter to pray. The vast majority of people stream clockwise around the sanctuary, admiring the large chapels to saints around the outskirts of the space. It reminded me of time lapse photos of the hajj around the Kaaba in Mecca. The cathedral is beautifully decorated inside. I was a bit disappointed by a bustling shop inside the sanctuary and a row of souvenir coin machines near the exit. In a way it feels like all the meaning and purpose behind building such a marvelous testament to the glory of God had been let by the wayside in favor of serving the tourist public.

The rest of the Montmartre area is a maze of old winding streets with rich histories of artists and artisans. Everyone really enjoyed just exploring the city without a set goal. We strolled through the sunny lanes snacking on a baguette each and looking at Moulin (windmills).

I thought Sancré Cœur was big, but Notre Dame is enormous. The vaulted ceilings almost fade out in the distance, and the huge rose windows flanking the altar are splendid. I am always amazed at the detail of cathelic churches. Each saints' alcove was lavish with statues, paintings, and stained glass. Chie and I took the opportunity to see the Notre Dame relics, which require a room of their own. Although the original crown of thorns is only displayed once a month, we did see many other beautiful gold reliquaries with bits of authentic first century carbon. I have to say, although I can completely see why catholics taught faith through magnificent churches, I find it difficult to find inspiration in objects touched by holy people, even leaving aside the question of authenticity. Many of the relics now housed here were originally in Sainte Chapelle, just across the street in the palace.

Sainte Chapelle is the single most inspiring church I have ever been in. It was worth the metal detectors and the temporary confiscation of my knife (!) to get in. You enter the ground floor to see a beautifully painted chapel with lovely statuettes and ornate paintings covering every surface. But this is just the peasants' church. The real chapel is upstairs, where the nobility sat. Three walls are entirely stained glass for fifteen meters. Flying buttresses were truly an amazing innovation. They show basically the whole bible, from Genesis at the entrance through the Passion right behind the pulpit. On the fourth wall a giant rose window depicts symbolism from Revelations. Although you might not notice at first because of the stained glass, every surface is painted in rich red, gold, and blue. Statues line the walls at regular intervals and the pulpit is a regular tower of gold. The theme of the crown of thorns is prevalent, since Louis IX built it to house that particular relic. Amusingly, he paid three times as much for the relic as to build the whole chapel.

As the afternoon drew to a close we headed indoors to the Centre Pompidou, which houses a fantastic collection of modern art. I like the architecture of the building itself. All the pipes, ventilation, electrical, and even the stairs are strapped to the outside of the building like some monstrous force turned the building inside out. This leaves the inside very uncluttered, with just some light walls to hold the paintings. One exhibit was devoted to the architect, Russel Rogers. We saw models of his novel, bold designs. I think that living with so many architects has made me notice buildings a lot more. The art at Pompidou was quite varied, from Surrealists and Cubists through contemporary Abstract and Minimalistic art. I really enjoyed the collection and I wish we had more time there.

One final thing of note on this day was trying escargot at a popular local restaurant. It doesn't seem so long ago that I ordered pizza without tomato sauce, and now I'm eating snails! And I liked them too. Other food highlights to come would include rabbit and créme brûlée. French food is not overrated.

Sunday: Musée D'Orsay, Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triumphe, Champs Elysées

On this beautiful sunny morning Chie and I set out to see the Eiffel Tower. We took the two elevators to the top for breathtaking views of Paris. At 324m we were almost level with Sancré Cœur on the hill, and high enough that the roofs of the city stretched out levelly around us. All the Paris skyscrapers are zoned to a small region several kilometers away, so it feels like you are really high.

Next we climbed another towering Paris icon, the Arc de Triomphe. This Napoleonic monument forms a massive memorial to the french soldiers from the Napoleonic Wars. The façade is eloquent in a heavy, neoclassical style. After passing through this massive portal we strolled down Champs Elysées to Place de la Concorde, where 1300 people died at the guillotine during the Revolution. I love taking slow strolls through new towns. You get a much better feel for the pace of a city by just wandering around. Paris is busy and excited, but also knows how to stop and appreciate beauty.

We appreciated the beauty of Impressionism at Musée D'Orsay. I found the layout of this gallery a bit strange (it used to be a train station) but the art was, as I'd come to expect in Paris, inspiring.

Monday: Picasso Museum

Niklas and Nicky were pretty burnt out with art by the fourth day, but Chie and I went to see the Picasso Museum. Apparently when he died the state inherited a huge collection of his works as back taxes, and they are all housed here. As a result there is a very nice selection of Picasso's work from all periods of his life. One of the things I found most interesting was a series of 3D cubist models he used for his painting. He actually fashioned abstract, quasi-instrumental structures out of wood and paper, which he then used for cubist still-lifes.

Although only there for a weekend I really loved Paris. I am looking forward to going back and seeing all the sites that I missed - Musée de l'Orangerie, the Grand Palais, Versailles. If only I knew french I think I could live there for a while.

Travel Update

2008-03-18T00:27:58Z

I added two more flickr sets today:

Basel

32 photos

Flumserberg

23 photos

Flumserberg is the closest ski resort to Zürich, only an hour away. It's a decent resort, but by swiss standards a little lacking. It's perfect for beginner to intermediate skiers, with lots of red runs across several valleys. For advanced skiers there is really only one lift with decent black runs, so the snow gets pretty cut up. I've come to expect rugged terrain and fresh deep powder all the time on the alps! Anyway, I went with a great group of other exchange students and I had a lot of fun.

Basel is a lovely city. The Rhein runs right through the city center, so it's easy to find a beautiful promenade for a stroll in the sun. It is a great city for art - the churches are beautiful and there are at least three art museums. I enjoyed the Beyeler Collection of modern art. But what really stuck with me was the small-town feel. We saw a lot of students out walking in the city center, chatting freely in Baseldeutsch. On the way to the museum I was surprised to find the tram winding through fallow fields and sheep barns. I think my favorite activity was strolling through the fields with Chie, looking at the spring flowers and the rolling hills.

Expect a set with my photos of Paris (from last month) in the next day or so. I took several hundred photos, so its taken me a while to sort through all of them. Honestly, I'm probably only getting to it now because I'm expecting to take about a thousand photos in Italy next week, so if I don't clean up Paris now I never will.

Something you might not have noticed in Flickr is that the more recent sets and photos have a 'Map' link under them (for instance, see a Map of Basel). I've been trying to locate photos accurately on the map since I often have trouble remembering where they were from just the name. I think this is a pretty interesting way to view photos.

Finally, a shoutout to Grampa! I was excited to see your comments. I hope you're enjoying the blog and aren't put off by my tech posts. I love you!

Turing Machine

2008-03-15T02:08:11Z

Computer Scientists love the concept of Turing machines, but don't actually ever use them in practice. I can prove turing-equivalence for computations, but I'd never actually made a turing machine that did anything nontrivial before. This semester one of my lectures provided a simulator, so I made this machine:

1. Create a TM that adds two numbers.

The tape will start in the form:
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ * 1 0 0 1 0 * 1 0 0 1 * _ _ _ _ _
with the Turing machine positioned at the first (leftmost) star.

It should end (and halt) in the form:
_ _ _ _ _ * 1 1 0 1 1 * 1 0 0 1 0 * 1 0 0 1 * _ _ _ _ _
with the Turing machine again positioned at the first (leftmost) star.
Notice that the new number is the sum of the two original numbers, which are still there.

The Turing machine should not go past the right-hand star.
This way, if the TM loops back to its starting state when it is done, instead of halting,
then it can compute the Fibonacci numbers forever if it is started on the tape:
_ _ _ _ _ * 1 * 0 * _ _ _ _ _

I thought the Fibonacci-compatible format was clever.

Solution (in their custom format):
19 states, 5 symbols

#Both start and end. Deleting 'HALT' does the Fibonaccis
(start) *-->(,rtA,>), _-->(,HALT,>)
#move right
(rtA) 0-->(,,>), 1-->(,,>), a-->(,,>), b-->(,,>), *-->(,rtB,>)
(rtB) 0-->(,,>), 1-->(,,>), a-->(,store,<), b-->(,store,<), *-->(,store,<)
#store value
(store) 0-->(a,ltA0,<), 1-->(b,ltA1,<), *-->(,add0,<),
(ltA0) 0-->(,,<), 1-->(,,<), *-->(,add0,<)
(ltA1) 0-->(,,<), 1-->(,,<), *-->(,add1,<)
#add to next number
(add0) a-->(,,<), b-->(,,<), 0-->(a,ltB0,<), 1-->(b,ltB1,<), *-->(,save0,<)
(add1) a-->(,,<), b-->(,,<), 0-->(a,ltB1,<), 1-->(b,ltB2,<), *-->(,save1,<)
(ltB0) 0-->(,,<), 1-->(,,<), *-->(,save0,<)
(ltB1) 0-->(,,<), 1-->(,,<), *-->(,save1,<)
(ltB2) 0-->(,,<), 1-->(,,<), *-->(,save2,<)
#store the number
(save0) a-->(,,<), b-->(,,<), _-->(a,endcap,<), *-->(a,endcap,<), 0-->(a,endcap,<), 1-->(b,endcap,<)
(save1) a-->(,,<), b-->(,,<), _-->(b,endcap,<), *-->(b,endcap,<), 0-->(b,endcap,<), 1-->(a,carry,<)
(save2) a-->(,,<), b-->(,,<), _-->(a,carry,<), *-->(a,carry,<), 0-->(a,carry,<), 1-->(b,carry,<)
(carry) _-->(1,endcap,<), *-->(1,endcap,<)
(endcap) _-->(,,>), a-->(,,>), b-->(,,>), 0-->(,,>), 1-->(,,>), *-->(,testA,>)
#change all ab to 01, then move back left.
(cleanL) a-->(0,,<), b-->(1,,<), 0-->(,,<), 1-->(,,<), *-->(,,<), _-->(*,start,<)
(testA) 0-->(,rtA,>), 1-->(,rtA,>), a-->(,,>), b-->(,,>), *-->(,testB,>)
(testB) 0-->(,rtA,>), 1-->(,rtB,>), a-->(,,>), b-->(,,>), *-->(,cleanL,<)

The simulator prints out a trace of the tape over time. Its pretty cool to watch the head move back and forth as it encounters key events. Also, I tried rather hard to structure this in such a way as to reduce the number of state, but 19 is as good as I could get. Of course, you can in general add with a smaller machine (there's a 7state/2symbol universal machine based on Wolfram's Rule 110) but it would require a different input.

Probablilistic Algorithms in Society

2008-03-01T10:56:06Z

Disclaimer: This post is about computer science theory and laundry. To non-CS people it will be boring and mark me as a huge nerd. To CS people it will probably give exactly the same reaction.

As I was folding my dry laundry today I realized that the laundry room makes a pretty good example of a probabilistic algorithm giving pretty good, consistent results in a social setting.

We have several hundred meters of cord in my building's wash room, which serves three washing machines. Use varies over the week, but often the laundry lines are completely full (sunday night, for instance). To make room for new clothes the oldest, driest clothes are squeezed to the sides of the lines or piled on the counter. Of course, there is no organization of this process and only minimal social norms to direct it. People just select some clothes at random to remove when everything is full. Yet this algorithm is surprisingly efficient at moving aside clothes after 2-3 days and removing them completely a day or so later.

I wonder if there are other areas of society that could use probabilistic algorithms rather than central control to achieve an equitable, efficient solution. I guess the problem is that no one wants to be the outlier who gets screwed over. It seems like this is the method often used in communal utopian visions (Dinotopia, anyone?). Some people eat more, some less, but on average everyone is fed.

Untitled

2008-02-13T21:42:14Z

Photos of Rick's visit to Zürich

Rick visited Switzerland last week. He's staying in Granada, Spain for the year, so it was nice that he was able to pop over for a week. We hung around Zürich for a few days and then went to Geneva for the weekend. He must have brought the sun with him from Spain, since we had excellent weather. Geneva is amazing. The alps suround it on three sides, with the fourth being the blue curve of the lake. It has lovely parks and promenades.