30 September 2008
23 September 2008
Building a Space Elevator
Whoa! To claim that I love physics and science and yet have a drought of scientific articles on my blog... what a shame. Thankfully, this mid-term break has given me enough time to scribble some thoughts on a recent news article!
16 September 2008
Good Graph, Bad Graph
So my final year project has been plodding on like some mammoth tank running on a 100 cc engine. Being a simulation, I can always, as a start, choose a problem that can be theoretically solved, and simulate the solution to this problem. Then by comparing my simulation against the theoretical predictions, I should know how accurate my simulation is.
And a few weeks ago I got this milestone:
Whoopee! The simulation result coincides with the theoretical prediction quite closely, though a small shift is still evident - something I have to resolve in time to come. But at least I know that my code is largely correct.
That, is a good graph. But most of the time things go awry, and more often than not I get crap. In fact, according to theory, changing the basis states won't affect the results, but when I plug them into my simulation:
ARGHHHH! Seriously, I'm getting pretty frustrated at these graphs. Somewhere, something is very wrong, but sometimes, hunting for it through my code line by line is a vexing task. And then later I find the mistake to be in my mathematical derivation of the simulation algorithm. Argh!
And a few weeks ago I got this milestone:
Whoopee! The simulation result coincides with the theoretical prediction quite closely, though a small shift is still evident - something I have to resolve in time to come. But at least I know that my code is largely correct.
That, is a good graph. But most of the time things go awry, and more often than not I get crap. In fact, according to theory, changing the basis states won't affect the results, but when I plug them into my simulation:
ARGHHHH! Seriously, I'm getting pretty frustrated at these graphs. Somewhere, something is very wrong, but sometimes, hunting for it through my code line by line is a vexing task. And then later I find the mistake to be in my mathematical derivation of the simulation algorithm. Argh!
09 September 2008
Red Alert Liberated
Woohoo! Here's a dash of nostalgia for everyone! Remember Red Alert? The WWII real-time strategy game that was wildly popular about a decade ago? Now you can download the CD for free from EA games website:
http://www.ea.com/redalert/news-detail.jsp?id=62
And I do applaud EA games for making this move. I thought it was pretty ridiculous that some very old and classic titles remain in the hands of the publisher. When I want to play them, I can't really find them because, obviously, they're not for sale now, yet you cannot legally download them.
These are, as I understand it, called abandonware. It is still okay if the publisher ignores free copies of their games floating around the Internet; it simply gets ridiculous when they enforce their copyrights.
http://www.ea.com/redalert/news-detail.jsp?id=62
And I do applaud EA games for making this move. I thought it was pretty ridiculous that some very old and classic titles remain in the hands of the publisher. When I want to play them, I can't really find them because, obviously, they're not for sale now, yet you cannot legally download them.
These are, as I understand it, called abandonware. It is still okay if the publisher ignores free copies of their games floating around the Internet; it simply gets ridiculous when they enforce their copyrights.
06 September 2008
Ridiculous Marking Duty
Okay, really, sometimes even when I want to do something properly, it is completely impractical to do so. It all comes down to being a marker for the first year physics modules' experiments, which is a duty I have to shoulder on top of my four modules plus honours project plus SPS mentoring (and these are, in a way, of my own will).
I mean, it's like close to 300 reports every fortnight... How can I remain impartial and consistent all throughout, which is the "requirement" on myself? Of course, Kenneth (the coordinator) was nice enough to revamp the entire lab experiments such that they now have a fixed worksheets (with some empty tables for data and a few open-ended questions and calculations) and a two-page summary; but no!... some people have the capability to squeeze an essay for each open-ended question! Gosh! I mean, if only so much space is meant for the answer, then it does give an indication how much you have to write!
In any case, I really have to speed up my marking, which simply translate to a poorer marking standard. Certainly, I can't help it; I need time for my other modules and projects and all.
I mean, it's like close to 300 reports every fortnight... How can I remain impartial and consistent all throughout, which is the "requirement" on myself? Of course, Kenneth (the coordinator) was nice enough to revamp the entire lab experiments such that they now have a fixed worksheets (with some empty tables for data and a few open-ended questions and calculations) and a two-page summary; but no!... some people have the capability to squeeze an essay for each open-ended question! Gosh! I mean, if only so much space is meant for the answer, then it does give an indication how much you have to write!
In any case, I really have to speed up my marking, which simply translate to a poorer marking standard. Certainly, I can't help it; I need time for my other modules and projects and all.
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