Computational Blogodynamics

As usual, quiz, since the cool kids are doing it.

What philosophy do you follow? (v1.03)
You scored as a Existentialism
Your life is guided by the concept of Existentialism: You choose the meaning and purpose of your life.

“Man is condemned to be free; because once thrown into the world, he is responsible for everything he does.”
“It is up to you to give [life] a meaning.”
--Jean-Paul Sartre

“It is man's natural sickness to believe that he possesses the Truth.”
--Blaise Pascal

More info at Arocoun's Wikipedia User Page...
Existentialism
95%
Justice (Fairness)
65%
Kantianism
65%
Utilitarianism
55%
Hedonism
50%
Strong Egoism
45%
Divine Command
45%
Nihilism
15%
Apathy
0%

but this one seemed particularly well done. RIP, Gary.

I really like the idea of having more than two prominent political parties in the US. I'd like to see electoral reforms (such as the institution of instant runoffs) that would make this more feasible, because I'd very much like to see a larger variety of party platforms than the current two way split.

So it is with this sense of loving appreciation for third parties (that phrase really doesn't make sense in the plural form) that I'd like to kindly say to Ralph Nader:

What the %^&%^$%&ing %^&%^& are you thinking? Do you remember the 2000 election? Because you know you have no chance of winning, and if you're still on the ballot on election day, voters who like/agree with you have to either vote strategically and abandon you for a viable candidate who is at least close to their views (probably the Democratic candidate, for most of them), or throw away their vote on you (which could lead to someone they dislike significantly more getting elected). Which of these outcomes do you want? If a), then why run? If b), do you really think that the marginally increased publicity of you being involved in the campaign is worth tilting the election away from the party that is significantly friendlier to most of your views?

Q: What's the difference between


oldmol.coords = (float*) malloc(oldmol.natom * sizeof(float));


and


oldmol.coords = (float*) malloc(3*oldmol.natom * sizeof(float));


?

A: 2*oldmol.natom*sizeof(float) bytes, and about an hour debugging a separate, perfectly working (but complicated) part of my code because that's where the memory corruption manifested itself. This lasted until I ran it through valgrind, which found the problem in about 2 seconds. Grrrrr.

What Kind of Reader Are You? Your Result: Obsessive-Compulsive Bookworm You're probably in the final stages of a Ph.D. or otherwise finding a way to make your living out of reading. You are one of the literati. Other people's grammatical mistakes make you insane.
Dedicated Reader
Literate Good Citizen
Book Snob
Fad Reader
Non-Reader
What Kind of Reader Are You? Create Your Own Quiz

Population bottlenecks suck.

I've always found video game music remixing (like what they do at OC Remix) sort of nifty, probably because I enjoy some of the music so much anyway (yes, I know I'm a huge nerd, but some of the composers are really talented). But this has got to be the coolest remix project I've ever seen -- it's a group of people doing symphonic reinterpretations of the Chrono Trigger soundtrack (CT being one of the bestest games ever). I think this is single handedly making me want to play through CT again. Between that and the fact that I'm reading through the full Harry Potter series again, it feels sort of like I got thrown back in time (vaguely appropriate, given the plot of Chrono Trigger...).

This reminds me that I haven't posted in awhile... I really should lower my activation energy for doing that. I haven't been terribly interesting lately either though; mostly Sara and I getting into the routine of a new (more normal) school year. On the bright side, I'm finally starting to feel like I have a handle on most of my research again, and that I'm actually making progress. So that's probably good...

( Pictures! )

We were up in Chicago for Sara to run in the half marathon this weekend; it was a lot of fun, although I wish we'd had a little more time to hang out in the city. We used to go up there pretty frequently before the last year or so; it's fairly close and has a lot to do. Hopefully we can start doing that more.

The only downside was that our hotel's "free wireless internet" was more "if you hold your laptop just right, stand in the lobby, and use your body as an antenna, there might be wireless". Which makes me far grumpier than it should.

Also, life has gotten considerably busier in the last couple days, because a lot of my projects have reached points requiring more human intervention. Which makes life sort of crazy, but on the bright side I don't just feel like I'm spinning my wheels anymore.

I'm even more embarassed now that I've never gotten around to reading this...

You're Watership Down!

by Richard Adams

Though many think of you as a bit young, even childish, you're
actually incredibly deep and complex. You show people the need to rethink their
assumptions, and confront them on everything from how they think to where they
build their houses. You might be one of the greatest people of all time. You'd
be recognized as such if you weren't always talking about talking rabbits.


Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.