| Max Music Update |
[Jun. 16th, 2009|12:01 pm] |
Spring '09 new music:
Bat for Lashes - Fur and Gold
Sort of melancholy and relaxing.
Especially enjoy tracks 3 and 4.
The Decemberists - The Hazards of Love
Enjoy even more than their previous work. Has more electric instruments for more rockin', and more female vocalists, also for additional rockin'. Despite all the rockin', still delivers some nice slow songs.
Especially enjoy tracks 4, 7, and 10.
Realpeople - Holland
Kinda poppy and electronic. Not so bad.
Enjoy tracks 1 and 5.
Royksopp - Junior
More diverse and interesting than their previous album. Lots of cool contributors including Karin Dreijer Andersson of The Knife, and Robyn, a Swedish pop singer.
Especialy enjoy tracks 1, 2, and 4.
Memphis - A Little Place in the Wilderness
A nice, upbeat album from a side project by The Stars' Torquil "Torque" Campbell.
Especially enjoy tracks 3, 7.
Beirut - March of the Zapotec
Kinda weird.
Beads - No One Knows
I think I liked the single I heard more than most of the album, which sucks.
Enjoy track 3.
Bright Eyes - Noise Floor
My favorite Bright Eyes album yet. Good variety of emotions, including happy, sad, and weird. Not too many high-concept songs.
Especially enjoy tracks 2, 4, 13.
The Knife - Silent Shout
Not as good as their newer album.
Fleet Foxes - Sun Giant
Haven't listened to this one much. Pretty relaxing.
Silversun Pickups - Swoon
Sounds good initially, but I haven't listened to it much, as it's too intense for work.
St. Germain - Tourist
Very relaxing. Good "work trance" music.
Summer '09 new music:
Some music I bought to play in the car in Twin Falls. Of course, I only managed to burn one CD properly. :-/
Jason Lytle - Yours Truly, The Commuter
Jason Lytle's first solo effort after the breakup of Grandaddy. Doesn't disappoint.
Enjoy tracks 3, 5.
Kings of Leon - Only By The Night
Bought this one after hearing the prog-ish track Crawl on the radio. Haven't listened enough to deliver judgment.
Panic At The Disco - Pretty. Odd.This album's title makes it hard to store in my typical fashion. That's about all I know about it.
Future new music:
Throw Me The Statue - Creaturesque I should probably try to see them live too. They have another single as well?
Heard on KEXP. They also might have something from '08?
I didn't know this existed until today. |
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| tenses |
[Mar. 12th, 2009|07:10 pm] |
I've heard that people of different ages tend to think in different tenses. They say that the extremely young live in "the now", the medium in age live in the future, and the old live in the past. Could we evaluate these tendencies in some concrete way? Facebook's status feature might prove useful. To put your life in terms of "Max..." requires one to choose a tense. "Max is going to...", "Max did...", and "Max can't wait to ..." all imply the tense the writer is thinking in. I challenge one of my computer scientist buddies to do the data gathering. |
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| Basketball 2/25/09 AAR |
[Feb. 26th, 2009|07:49 pm] |
We won. The roster was pretty strong with the return of Skaanland and Hesse, and good luck on the regulars. The final was about 70-45. We played a good first half, and then pulled away in the second as the other team became tired and discouraged. We had a lot more height with Jeff, Matt, Shane, and Gavin, and we were shooting well in addition. We got a little sloppy towards the end, but our opponents didn't really try to capitalize, so it didn't hurt the spread.
I played pretty well. I was 2/4 shooting, with one good layup, and one of three shooting on weird shots from the lane. I played pretty good defense, not allowing any open shots or drives to the lane. I had a couple of fouls on drives and layups. I got a steal or two, and had at least three rebounds.
Good aspects:
Correct assignment on perimeter defense
Rebound positioning/hustle
To improve:
Stay across from the ball on offense to create space
Be prepared to finish from anywhere close to the basket
Hold the ball on offense when the shot isn't there
Don't force the ball through traffic
Ball handling
Buy some new shoes! (Mine are too big, and seem to have a bit too much ankle for me to be fast.)
This one? This one? This one?!?
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| Basketball 2/4/09 AAR |
[Feb. 6th, 2009|10:16 pm] |
We won by about 33-32. The game was even closer and even lower scoring than last week's effort. I don't mind. I was 0-0 from the field, 0-1 from the line. I had a couple turnovers, a couple assists, a couple of rebounds,and a couple of steals. I passed up one good shot, and didn't take any bad ones. I played good defense, but didn't create much on offense. Despite my lack of scoring, I'd say it was one of my best games yet. It got really fun at the end of the game, when our opponents, down by a couple, tried to push the ball to get a score. I got back fast on defense and stepped into the passing lane to get a turnover. I started to take the ball down the court, and was fouled. I missed the first of a one and one, and then got the rebound off a tip from a teammate. I held onto the ball for the last few seconds and the game was over. It was quite exhilarating having such a direct impact upon our win. I didn't score any of our points, but I could tell that my defense helped us take the victory.
Good aspects of my game:
I took a couple dribbles before passing the ball.
I played tight defense, and didn't give up and open shots or dribble-drives.
Aspects of my game to improve:
I didn't box out very well on defense.
I didn't roll after setting my picks.
I didn't go up with both hands for rebounds
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| Left 4 Dead: Versus mode is more fun than Campaign |
[Feb. 6th, 2009|10:10 pm] |
Why? Maybe because it makes you play better. From kotaku: This story.
I think playing against real people also makes your victories more meaningful. Even if your opponent was playing poorly, you still dominated a real human being. Isn't that much more rewarding than beating up on the (crippled)CPU?
What's the sports analogy? Losing to a good team might be better than winning over a bad team. If playing with better players makes you better, then you know you were playing your best against a team that still beat you. When you get an easy win over a team of losers, you feel as though you didn't even get a good workout. Competition is strange.
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| Basketball 1/28/09 AAR |
[Jan. 28th, 2009|10:29 pm] |
We won! The combination of above average defense, a few new players, and an unlucky opponent created the first win of the season for team PSoX! Besides the fact that our points were higher than our opponents', the game wasn't that great. We played pretty good defense, yes, but the other team shot awfully. Our shooting was also bad, but we had good rebounding(thanks Matt) and better ball movement than usual. Our 9 man roster also made for good legs.
My strong points:
Rebounding - I boxed out a bit and fought for boards. I even took down a rebound off a missed free throw when I was covering their biggest guy.
Defensive assignment - On the perimeter I found my place and covered the right man. My help defense was also good.
To improve:
Shooting - I took two shots, one good and one bad, and missed both.
Inside defense - When playing post defense, I had a hard time understanding my assignment. When Matt went to cover the wing, I didn't rotate.
Conditioning - I got a little bit tired, and didn't have as many minutes as usual.
Passing - I had one turnover and one near turnover. I wanted to pass too quickly, and didn't consider trying to move with the ball and get a shot.
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| Windows 7 thoughts 5 minutes after install |
[Jan. 24th, 2009|12:44 pm] |
Removing programs from the system tray and making their icons small is clearly a great UI move
Why is there a black border around my screen? Why doesn't it "just work?!"
Why aren't there "move mouse into corner x" actions like in MacOS?
Why isn't there multiuple desktop support like in MacOS?
Will there be some standardized way for a program to retain some screen room smaller than 50% but larger than its icon?
Will there be a better system for resizing windows and text since there are more computers running on different types of displays? |
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| Music |
[Jan. 24th, 2009|10:00 am] |
Newly acquired:
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| | | | | . | Artist | Album | Year | . | Beirut | The Flying Club Cup | 2007 | . | Conor Oberst | Conor Oberst | 2008 | . | Of Montreal | Satanic Panic In The Attic | 2004 | . | Flight Of The Conchords | Flight Of The Conchords | 2008 | . | Beirut | Gulag Orkestar | 2006 | . | The Knife | Deep Cuts | 2005 | . | Modest Mouse | We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank | 2007 | . | Of Montreal | Skeletal Lamping | 2008 | . | Blind Pilot | 3 Rounds And A Sound | 2008 | . | Feral Children | Feral Children EP | 2008 | . | Feral Children | Second To The Last Frontier | 2007 | . | Fleet Foxes | Fleet Foxes | 2008 | . | Mychael Danna | Little Miss Sunshine | 2006 | . | DeVotchKa | How It Ends | 2004 | . | Blonde Redhead | 23 | 2007 |
To research:
Les Savy Fav
James Figurine
Matt Friedburger
Consafos
Desparecidos
Bright Eyes - Noise Floor
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| Stephen Colbert |
[Jan. 21st, 2009|10:07 pm] |
Watching Stephen interview a weak guest last night, it became obvious how charismatic he was. His hand gestures alone were out of control. Do I gesticulate anywhere near as well as him? Should I? |
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| Basketball 1/21/09 AAR |
[Jan. 21st, 2009|09:55 pm] |
Our second game of the season went about as poorly as the first. We lost by about 65 to 50. I think my play was significantly better. Despite being 0 of about 8 shooting, my looks were all good, I had few(if any) turnovers, and I got a couple of assists. I also played better defense, and even got a few rebounds and steals. Unfortunately these steals turned into fastbreak opportunities where I couldn't finish the layups. I also drew a nice charge when playing defense down low(not my strong point). I sold it so well, two members of the opposing team asked if I was alright.
Positive aspects of my game tonight:
Pretty good overall defense
Decent rebounding
Low-mistake ball-handling
Good shot opportunities
Negative aspects of my game tonight
Poor shooting, especially layups
Moderate fatigue
Poor pregame routine
Poor defense down low
Team issues:
I think that the main reason we lost tonight was our thin roster. Only 6 guys showed up, and I was forced to start for the other team, as they had only 3 guys when the game was supposed to start. As a result, we were more tired than usual, and it showed. The other team also picked up a gym regular as their 6th man. He played well, and scored a lot of fastbreak points for them. Overall, I think our teamwork and fundamentals improved this week, but the change in personnel masked the effects.
Things for me to practice:
Layups under every circumstance
Conditioning
Ball handling
Defense
Step in front of cutters down low, and draw fouls
Eating right before games
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| My "Ballin' OOC" playlist |
[Jan. 21st, 2009|08:47 pm] |
| Artist | Track | | Outkast | Return Of The ''G'' | | Gnarls Barkley | Feng Shui | | Think Differently | Think Differently Feat. Casual, Rock Marciano, Vordul Mega & Tragedy Khadafi [Explicit] | | Outkast | Aquemini | | Lupe Fiasco | Daydreamin' (featuring Jill Scott) | | Gnarls Barkley | Transformer | | Kanye West | Stronger | | Linkin Park | Points Of Authority | | T.I. | What You Know | | Linkin Park | Pts.Of.Athrty | | T.I. | Ride Wit Me | | LL Cool J | Shut 'em Down | | Djay | Hustle & Flow (It Ain't Over) | | Kool Keith | Get Off My Elevator | | Young Zee | That's My Nigga Fo Real | | Juelz Santana | The Second Coming (Feat. Just Blaze) | | The Crystal Method | Trip Like I Do | |
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| Basketball notes lunch 1/20 |
[Jan. 20th, 2009|01:38 pm] |
jump shots
shoot from further back/higher up to make space
layups
separate off hand to protect the ball while going up
back away from hoop after getting a rebound to make space
defense
force the opponent to go to his weak hand
determine his weak hand by watching his shot
shuffle him across the court instead of towards the basket
rebounds
look to the basket but don't get in too close
box out the shooter
if opposite the shooter, chances for a rebound are good
if near him, chances are bad
if I can protect a lot of space with my body, stay for the board
if not, turn around and go to offense
our play
handler brings it up
low post sets screen so wing is open
handler passes to wing
low post sets screen for high post
high post comes towards basket
wing shoots or passes to high post
high post shoots or passes to low post
low post shoots
pick and roll
picks help to create movement and offensive advantage
near an offensive player, behind their defender, set your feet in position
offensive player should "scrape" defender off on other offensive player's shoulder
screener should "roll" towards hoop, moving their low shoulder about their high shoulder
picks can occur with and without the ball
ball handling
after getting the ball through any means, move to the triple threat position with the ball squeezed tightly |
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| Basketball 1/14/09 AAR |
[Jan. 14th, 2009|11:01 pm] |
We lost by about 70 to 50. Our team didn't do well, but I really didn't do well. I shot 0/3, and turned the ball over about 5 times on offense. I left my man open for a shot a few times on defense, and didn't get any assists. I got two good looks at the hoop and missed them both.
Bad aspects of my game tonight to improve:
1. Pass the ball better
2. Rotate to the appropriate opponent when playing zone defense
3. Improve conditioning
4. Get back on defense
Ways to improve them:
1. Make sure the player I'm passing to is wide open. Don't expect that every cutter is open. Bounce pass when there are lots of hands in the way. Be prepare to hold the ball or dribble if there are no open players.
2. Play my defensive assignment relative to the ball, not relative to the court. Never let the opponent rotate the ball to an open man. Try to understand what my teammates expect of me on defense. Keep my feet moving. Be aware of the opponents' positions on the court.
3. Run farther and faster. Do sprints in the gym. Warm up before games with some running. Stretch.
4. Be on the 3 point line when our player shoots. Don't stare at the ball. Only stay at the hoop if I have a good look at the rebound. Don't go for the steal unless I have help.
X. Find a book on basketball fundamentals, read it, take notes, implement changes.
Team issues:
I don't think I have the leadership, the knowledge, or the pedigree to attempt to improve the team through any means other than encouragement and personal effort. If anyone else with any of those three qualities wants to step up, I'll be glad to support them. For now, I'll focus on my own game, and hope the rest comes.
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| loose workout thoughts |
[Jan. 14th, 2009|07:54 pm] |
I started playing basketball with a rec-league team a couple of months after starting work at Cypress. It's been pretty fun, despite my complete lack of skills at basketball. What little fitness I retained from working out in college makes me pretty fast on the court, but I lack conditioning and the specific knowledge and muscle memories that are useful for basketball. None the less, I enjoy it, and I'd like to play better. I'd also like to be in better overall shape, just in case zombies attack. Thus, I have acquired a membership at the Shoreline YMCA, and have started going there to practice basketball, lift weights, and do cardio.
So far, my workouts have been a little chaotic and poorly recorded. I haven't gotten close to my old form or weights, and I've been incredibly sore afterward. I expect a very large initial return, and will start planning and taking notes(and maybe posting them) this week.
My goals, in order of importance:
1. Achieve better overall health
2. Get better at basketball
a. Learn basketball specific skills
I. Layups
II. Ball handling
III. Off the ball movement
IV. Shooting
b. Increase endurance
c. Increase strength
I. Upper body (for rebounding)
II. Legs (for vertical)
When lifting weights, I plan on focusing on my shoulders, pecs, and back in terms of upper body, and calves and quads in terms of lower body. I've heard that lack of strength opposite large muscles can hinder muscle development, so I'll still spend some time on my abs, hamstrings, etc.
Because I have games every Wednesday, and don't want to be sore beforehand, I plan on going to the gym Monday or Tuesday to shoot around and run. If I go Thursday or Friday, I can practice and work out a few muscle groups. Unfortunately, at 2 workouts per week, one without weight lifting, I don't leave much room for strength improvement. Maybe I will try to go twice between Thursday and Sunday.
Jogging has been going well for me. I went for a run with Melissa two weekends ago and we ran down to 105th and back to our place. When I jog at the gym, I feel like I could go on forever, but I get bored. Maybe if/when I buy a new iPod I will be able to entertain myself for longer runs.
P.S. I think I am suffering from tendonitis in my right arm(tennis elbow) from dribbling and shooting too much. :-\
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| engineered obsolescence has functions as well as dysfunctions |
[Jan. 13th, 2009|08:08 pm] |
from http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2009/01/remake_second_hand_stores_and_repai.html"Clearly, we need product designers and manufacturers to be thinking more about extending the lifecycle of a product rather than shortening it. Creating user-servicable products seems like the way to go, along with making sure to supply parts along with the information required to do the repairs."
Consumers want cheaper and smaller goods. An easy way to make goods cheaper is to use parts that will only last a little bit longer than the customer wants the goods to last. An easy way to make goods smaller is to use parts that cannot be serviced by the end user.
This "engineered obsolescence" has functions and dysfunctions. Frequent turnover of possessions is seen sometimes as a function, and sometimes a dysfunction. When you "buy a new one", you upgrade your technology to a more current level. When buying electronics, this change can imply a very large delta of performance, size, or attractiveness. This is because technology improves at an accelerating pace. The most prominent dysfunction is that people generate more trash and have less control over their possessions. If this doesn't sound like a good trade-off to you, you probably won't have an easy time finding a new phone.
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| Book tracking |
[Jan. 6th, 2009|07:19 am] |
Books I have recently finished:
Heavy Liquid
by Paul Pope
12/25/08-1/5/09
Eternals 1-7
by Niel Gaimann
12/25/08-12/30/09
The Elements of Style
by Strunk and White
11/something/08 - 11/something later/08
Books I am working on:
How to Win Friends and Influence People
by Dale Carnegie
Sandman
by Neill Gaimann
The Yiddish Policeman's Union
Books I plan to read:
Hidden Order: The Economics of Everyday Life
Debugging: The 9 Indispensable Rules for Finding Even the Most Elusive Software and Hardware Problems
Embedded Systems Design
The Back of the Napkin
The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, 2nd edition
The New Weird
Spook Country
I'm Just Here for the Food 2.0
by Alton Brown
On Food and Cooking
Cooking In
by G. Garvin
Books I have given up on:
7 Habits of Highly Effective People
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| protip |
[Jan. 4th, 2009|09:49 pm] |
If you come home from the dentist and your face is numb, it is a good time to pluck hairs. |
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| Max's new year's resolutions 2009 |
[Jan. 2nd, 2009|01:56 pm] |
The other day I grabbed an old notebook from my time at WSU. I needed it to transcribe some information about my tires and a FedEx package I wanted to track. I looked at the older pages, and one of the most recent was my resolutions from 2008. Looking back, they were important goals, and I met almost all of them. This inspired me to write down some new goals a couple of days ago. I will share them here.
Personal:
Read and apply Carnegie's guidelines on How to Win Friends and Influence People
Play less video games and watch less TV
Read more books
Save more money
Read blogs of my friends and family
Resume writing my own blog
Cook new and exciting foods
Professional:
Work more
Read more technical literature
Learn programming more formally
Learn more Cypress spec
Maintain resume
Of course, I have started the new year off on the wrong foot by spending the last 2 days glued to the TV, playing Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise. At least I made one new dish last night. It was a plain risotto.
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| a comment I wrote on a blog |
[Jun. 25th, 2008|05:19 pm] |
Battery chargers use power when turned off because of the way they work. The wall power you have is alternating current(A voltage sine wave) and your sensitive device wants direct current(A constant voltage.) Your charger(wall wart) does this using a transformer and a recitifier. The transformer uses two sets of wires wrapped around a metal core to step the input voltage up or down to the secondary voltage. The rectifier takes that amplitude scaled AC signal, and flattens it out at a positive DC offset. When there is no load on the DC side, there is still current flowing through the rectifier, because it is just a bunch of wires wrapped around a hunk of metal. This power consumption is called "copper loss" because it is simply due to the current flowing through the copper wires fighting the resistance of the wires themselves. This power is expressed as heat.
Lots of other devices continue to use power for other reasons. Many modern devices never truly turn off, but instead minimize the activity of the most power-consuming parts. Your DVR is a good example. It needs to keep track of what's going on even when you don't want to watch TV, so it turns off the output rendering equipment, and continues to use its tuner and hard drive. Your computer and video game consoles consume power to run their internal clocks, so that they know what time it is when they are turned back on. The Xbox360 and PS3 also maintain their USB voltages when powered down so that they can charge controllers.
As power gets more expensive, hopefully consumers will demand and inspect information regarding power consumption. Then it will be useful for designers to be vigilant in power saving, and we will see a reduction in "on" and "off" power consumption. We have also seen the invention of more efficient electrical and electronic mechanisms for accomplishing the same goals, like fluorescent light bulbs, and liquid crystal displays. |
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| Why do people say... |
[Apr. 10th, 2008|03:00 pm] |
"What the problem is is that speech is hard."
Why not just say "The problem is that speech is hard"?
I think this might occur when people verbally paint themselves into corners. They start the sentence with a very plain phrase that they have used many times before. "What the problem is..." and then they are fucked. What do you say after that? You already said "is", but you need to say it again to get your point across!
I think the solution is for people to think more about what they are saying, and to take note when they sound like tools. There is the possibility that I'm the only one who thinks they sound like tools. Melissa doesn't like it when I say "maybe, maybe not" because it is meaningless. Oh well, it is what it is. |
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