A new version of Ecossaise is out. This fixes a few bugs introduced by Windows Vista and replaces dynamic links with static links in order to improve portability.
Ecossaise 0.6
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Decisions and feedback
When making a decision that would presumably cause distress to someone, it is common practice in society not to disclose the reasons for the decision.
This is stupid. As I said in my Treatise on the Objective Reality of Ideas, “Those who prefer ignorance to knowledge are fools. It can never be otherwise.” That includes when the knowledge may hurt one’s feelings.
Because I cannot obtain feedback regarding my Google interviews, I can only continue to assume that a single bad interview cost me the job. From an objective standpoint (how many problems I solved within the allotted time), that’s the only conclusion that makes sense.
And if this isn’t true, then it’s a very bad conclusion to allow someone to think they’ve reached regarding the company. Such things breed discontent.
Master's Project… DONE!, final word on Google
I just finished my MS project… in a week. I had three months to do it.
In other news, Google did not offer me the job after all those months of interviewing. Pity; I could have done the same for them. If they behave like they did during the Summer of Code, I’ll find them using the ideas I presented at the interviews a few months from now despite this. Apparently one interview (of about 10 – the only one I didn’t solve the problem for, and even then I had the right idea) really is enough to screw up the entire process. A series of consensus interviews seems more a test of luck than actual ability.
Mismanagement
Projects should not be “bursty”. I shouldn’t have to sit idle for months only to receive five new projects in the span of a week. I should be notified of conference deadlines at least one month in advance per paper that I will be submitting. If I’m working on other projects at the moment, the remaining work should either be queued (such that the deadline on at least one of the projects is going to slip) or given to someone who is less busy.
I’m still waiting to do real research – you know, forming hypotheses, creating experiments, … not just writing papers. It’s a pity, though not a surprise, that this is what my life has become.
Wrapped around your finger
The lyrics to this song are awfully appropriate when everyone around you is attempting to bend your prodigious talent to their own ends. Catchy, too.
http://www.lyricsfreak.com/s/sting-&-police/132153.html
The Matlab Elves
I received a visitation from the Matlab “elves” today. The following code worked perfectly yesterday:
“load data; imwrite(images{1}, ‘1.png’)”
Yet now returns an invalid image. No changes to data.mat have been made.
Edit: Scratch that; someone else on my team changed data.mat without notifying me.
Radiofrequency Ablation
It seems to me that the so-called “Gamma knife” therapy used primarily to treat brain tumors would also be effective as a method of fairly noninvasive radiofrequency ablation.
On the other hand, if cardiologists must probe around in there to discover the origin of an arrhythmia anyway, they may as well stick with the traditional method and avoid the radiation.
Systems
System = Method + Structure
Take a human, for example. The structure that supports the system is the body – the compiled version of the DNA source code. The methods, however, are things such as consciousness, experience, personality, thought, and emotion that run on top of the structure. You could duplicate the structure, but that won’t necessarily result in the same methods. Take identical twins, for example. They have mostly identical genetic data and thus mostly identical bodies, but they may not do the same things, think the same ways, or otherwise act like the same person.
There are two ways to create a system: Either the structure must be fully present before the methods can emerge or the structure and methods must codevelop (the latter is how evolution typically works). You can’t build the methods if the structure supporting them is nonexistent, just as you can’t construct a building from the top down.
Edit: Oddly enough, this appears to be a fundamental principle of the Jainist view of the universe. That means even more interesting discussion on the nature of systems, so I don’t mind!
Small changes
In music and marketing, small incremental changes are best.
Changes to the Ph. D. Program
Thanks to changes in Temple’s Ph. D. program, I no longer have to take the qualifier or any additional coursework (since I’ve completed 8 courses with As). Therefore, I can theoretically complete the degree by the end of next year, though I will probably stick to the three-year plan I devised – I’m already on-track, so I’ll simply be on-track with far less work.
Now all I need is to hear back from Google and I can begin planning 2008. Yes, I try to always have a general plan one year in advance. 2007 was somewhat disappointing thus far, but I couldn’t have predicted that I’d be ripped so forcefully away from algorithms.