New Display Pic

Finally, it is complete.

What you see to the right (or the left, if you're a bat (that isn't flying)), is my new display pic. A friend (who the author would like to call KhaGaM, since he is unsure how the said friend will react to use of his name) drew this brilliant sketch during an english lecture, a long long time ago (in a galaxy far far away...). In a weird sort of way, this pic is the inspiration for how I define a Grey Sith. The sketch was drawn during an english lecture (delivered by a teacher we shall call 'Ric Flair'), in a borrowed textbook. The borrowed textbook belongs to another friend (who, for similar reasons will be referred to as L) Here's a better look:

Credits for this nice bit of art roll as follows:
KhaGaM (of course)
L (The nice guy who spent a lot of time taping together the paper on which this was drawn and the photographing it from "odd and awkward angles to get the lighting right")
Ric Flair (Without whom KhaGaM wouldn't have been bored enough to attempt this)

Drive

Drive. It's an important sort of thing. And it would be, since the drive(train) connects the engine to the rear wheels and that's what finally gets you motion. A good drive(train) will give you a fabulous sense of acceleration. So the thing about drive(tra...

Naah. Just screwing with you...
What I really feel like writing about is drive. Others ofcourse can call it desire. But I'll stick with drive. It's what really gets you to work. I remember, not so long ago, when the all-important drive was ever-present. No longer. If you were to plot a graph of my drive vs time, (The author is fully aware that you, the reader are most likely a sane person, and wouldn't sketch such meaningless graphs for yourself, let alone for him.) this is what you'd end up with:

It's not that the drive deserts me. It doesn't. It just behaves of it's own free will. Does what it wants. Drives me to work one moment, and then *poof* it's gone. Like it were never there. And I can't even work with the reduced drive, by taking say an arithmetic mean, or the root mean square of the drive you see on the graph. I can only work in that little window provided between the red lines (And thank god for that. (Thank you, god!)).

But aah. This probably made no sense to you at all... Which is fine. A little madness is what I need.

Riding Fit!

I had a fit while riding my bike. No I didn't. Just joking. Couldn't resist the pun on fit.

So finally! Fit to ride a two wheeled vehicular object safely on city roads again! It's been a while (since I can hold my head up high (sorry! It's an amazing song. Later) ) coming too. Makes you appreciate how much of a gift a fully functional body is. As I type this out, I'm still unable to lift heavy things... But it's an improvement. There was a time, not so long ago, when typing one handed was my only option. And that I can assure you is painful. And slow.

It's been a long road to recovery. Its not the big things that irk you, it's the small ones. Like not being able to squeeze out toothpaste. Like not being able to tie shoelaces. That's changing now. The hand is recovering. I'm going to (reload,) rev up and ride out! Have learnt a few things too.

1. Wear a helmet. Always. Even if you're just popping down to the grocery store half a kilometre away.

2. Keep your eyes peeled. Frequently, it's not your mistakes that will get you on the road, but those of others on the road.

3. Realise this : Bad luck will catch you before your lack of skill does.

Oh and the song! That's a Staind song that goes by the name of 'It's been a while'. Give it a listen sometime.

Coincidences - Part 2

It's really odd. Yesterday, I'd posted about coincidences. And surprisingly (not?) I stumbled upon another coincidence, within a matter of a few minutes... What's going on?

This time, I was reading up on the 'Drake Equation'. It's a famous result, that gives the number of alien intelligences that may be present in our galaxy. It is based on as many as seven factors. Needless to say that the values taken for these seven factors are mostly based on the guesstimates of Frank Drake, rather than any scientific data. It is still an interesting result. According to Frank Drake, we should have about 10 communicating intelligences in our galaxy. Current estimates of the values put the result at a dismal 2. Then again, at least 2 is a number that doesn't really disagree with the Fermi paradox, which I might talk about later... For now, here's the Drake equation:

The coincidence rises from the fact that yesterday I was reading my favourite web comic, xkcd, and what is the first strip I see based on? The Drake Equation of course! It puzzles me a little, the rate at which these coincidences are happening. But ah well... Here's the comic:


Oh and by the way, xkcd is a really great web comic. Give it a visit once in a while. You won't be disappointed.

Coincidences

Coincidences. They happen all the time. Like Now. I have really no idea why I wrote about chaos and fractals the other day (And if I did, I wouldn't tell you. That would make this post a waste, no?). I just did. And then the next day, I up reading about Ultra Fractal. So yeah, what's Ultra Fractal?

It's a nifty bit of software, that makes graphs out of fractals for a living. So you, can now make art out of maths. And it works. You can make truly wonderful images from this software. And the best part is, you can even add your own fractal equations. And if you're not into maths, you can get many equations from the community.

Though you know why this post is really here. It's because ultra fractal incorporates the Mandelbrot set. And I love the Mandelbrot set.

A few samples of Fractal Art...

This stuff I found... Jawdropping eh? Especially for maths.

The Weather is not simple

I'd said before that weather was simple. And then said it wasn't. So that needs clarifying. Weather is, in a word, complex. Scientists have been working out ways to predict the weather for a looong time. And a pioneer of this field was a guy named Edward Lorenz. He started out trying to find patterns in meteorological data. As Lorenz studied weather patterns he began to realize that the weather did not always change as predicted. Minute variations in the initial values of variables in his twelve variable computer weather model would result in grossly divergent weather patterns. And that's only (yes, only) twelve variables. The man wasn't even close to predicting weather (Man still isn't). Instead, for all his effort, he got a graph that looks like this :

That is a part of the foundation of a subject now popularly known as chaos theory (At this point, the author would like you to understand that he has no idea what chaos theory is. He only rather fancies the Mandelbrot set, which he shall talk about in a bit). Chaos theory is the study of dynamical systems that are very sensitive to initial conditions. They never (ever ever) reach a steady state. Basically, there's no random element. Any state of the system can be calculated from the initial conditions, but the differences caused by a slight change in these conditions cause the system to change so wildly (exponentially) that it gives an appearance of chaos. This state is known as deterministic chaos.

Later on, another mathematician working in the field of dynamics came up with the Mandelbrot set. That man, was Benoit Mandelbrot. And this is the Mandelbrot Set :
Its what they call a fractal. It's not really related to the chaos theory anymore, but it was once. The beauty of this fella here is that it's the graph of a simple function. The brilliance is in the fact that the graph is infinitely complex. You can keep zooming in, and you'll keep finding beautiful patterns...

Well. Ya. We started with weather. But the idea was to come to the Mandelbrot set eventually... Beautiful isn't it?

It's Such a Beautiful Day...

It was last Monday. The most beautiful day I'd seen in a long time. And I couldn't ride. That's because my hand was hurt. But back to the day. It was really fabulous. Clear skies. Not too cold, not too hot. Just perfect. One of those days even Jughead would want to spend out in the open. One of those days when you just have to just look up at the heavens and mouth a quiet "Thank You".

That's what I thought anyway. I mentioned this in passing to a couple of friends. I got a sarcastic "Yes it is" *mocking grin*. Another said "Ah so she spoke to you today!" *cheeky grin* (The author would like to make clear that the aforementioned "she" is unknown to him and probably a figment of said friend's imagination). I was even scoffed at by my mum, when I made this suggestion.

No seriously. What is it with people these days? Are they so tied up with work that it's impossible to appreciate something as simple as the weather? (The author would also like to let you know that he is aware that weather is not a simple thing. He will clear that bit up with a forthcoming post.) So lost in their own world that not even a grudging look can be spared for the sky?

It's scary really. Where are we going with this? It's bad enough people won't even notice the weather (Unless it's raining. In which case the weather notices you. Not the other way around), but how can you not notice it when it is pointed out to you? Can you really miss the blue skies? Can you really overlook the pleasant breeze? I thought not, but I've been given a sudden jolt back to reality (ironically, one that jolts me away from reality). There's no time for this anymore. I'm in shock really. There's only one thing to do. The next time I'm blessed with such a day, I'll make polite gestures at the world. And go off on my bike... to wherever the road may lead me.

Pilot

So this is it then. The pilot of Grey Sith. Those of you who saw Err? and thought it was the pilot, well it wasn't. It was my 'What the Random?' moment of that day. I'm allowed those you know.

So yes. Pilot. Focus. Yes. Focus. Focus is vital in the force sensitive. And it fails me. All the time. Like now. What is focus then? *Suffers greater loss of focus*

Grrhk.
I'll talk of the Grey Sith then. The Grey Sith is a new sith order, formed by me, Darth Krijn. The basic principles of a grey sith are simple. A grey sith is a moderate sith. One who imbibes the principles of the sith, but does not practice them to the hilt. The right word probably is dispassionate. Almost in contradiction of the Sith code.

And with that slice of think-pie, I'll leave you for now. To Meditate in my chamber. To Focus.