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Much Ado About Lisa’s Birthday

Dec 042011

Last night was amazing. Just four hundred and eleven years after the first performance of Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing,” Lisa and I watched a modern interpretation of the play at the Shakespeare Theater Company in Washington, DC. While I had neither read nor seen it performed before, as far as I could tell it seemed to be pretty faithful to the original- with the exception of it being set in Cuba. And Lisa had actually performed the play a couple years ago – as the lead Beatrice no less. Anyway, the play was too complex for me to give a review of it justice. I’ll just say that it was great. It motivated me to read it and to put the 1993 version in my Netflix queue (91% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes).

Just before the play, we had dinner at a pretty upscale restaurant downtown. The 701 Restaurant was great. You know the type- trendy, perhaps a little eclectic, with most people wearing suits and a sommelier walking around to offer advice on the best wines to go with your chicken nuggets. Just kidding. There was a sommelier, but this isn’t the kind of restaurant Continue reading »

Maggie Belle likes Lipstick

Family No Responses »

Dec 032011

Here’s a clip of Maggie Belle telling us why her lips are so red. Her first explanation was pretty funny- but of course I didn’t have my phone ready. We tried to get her to explain it again while I could record it but it was only about 40% as funny the second time through.

Still, she’s my girl and I think she’s the cutest thing ever!

Six percent approval rating. Wow.

Miscellaneous No Responses »

Dec 022011

So, the latest congressional performance report is out (Rasmussen Reports, Dec. 1, 2011). I couldn’t believe the numbers. Just 6% of likely U.S. voters rated our current congress positively. Versus 68% who rated their performance as poor. In moderate times (ie., non-economic boom, non-recession type periods), we usually see a majority of Americans as mostly indifferent to the situation. Maybe 5% think they’re terrible. Another few percent think they’re great. But the bulk of the respondents would probably hover around labeling them as somewhere between average to perhaps slightly below average.

So why have their approval ratings hit this wall? No one knows for sure, and if they did they would probably be more astute students of our political system than anybody currently in politics. I do think it shows a short-sightedness in us as a people though. If we don’t like our current lot in life, someone needs to bear the responsibility. We must find someone to blame. And we all know that our shortcomings are typically not our own fault. Fortunately, in the system that we’ve created, we’ve got a built-in scapegoat. And when I say Continue reading »

Thanksgiving 2011

Family No Responses »

Nov 242011

Here’s our 2011 Thanksgiving in a nutshell. Just the four of us. Lisa cooked a 22 pound turkey. She and the kids had their share and I ate the other 21 pounds. Plus stuffing, green bean casserole, other stuff I can’t remember, and canned cranberry sauce. I love canned cranberry sauce. Sliced in perfect cylinders that look like big delicious red silver dollars. Until next year, happy holidays everybody!

Intro to Project Euler using MATLAB and Octave

Coding No Responses »

Mar 062011

I recently came across a very interesting problem solving site. It’s called Project Euler (usually pronounced Oiler) and it looks like it has been around for several years. The concept is simple. The administrators post problems to solve. The problems are typically math/science based and most require some type of programming language to solve. Users try to solve problems (in their language of choice) and are credited when they post a correct answer.

The site keeps track of the basic stats – like which problems and how many you have answered, as well as how many other users have successfully answered each problem. Also interesting is the number of users and what languages they are using. It was interesting to see that C/C++ seems to be the language of choice (with over 14,000 users as of this posting). The next most popular were Python (13,000 users), Java (8,600) and C# (4,600). MATLAB and Octave had about 1,000 users.

One of the coolest features of the site is that once you’ve solved a problem, you get access to their solution (in pdf) and the bulletin board to see many of the other solvers’ solutions. For example, if you’re a C++ programmer, you can learn several other approaches on how to solve the same problem. Since there aren’t too many users of MATLAB or Octave on the site, I didn’t see any other users’ code for solving the problems in these languages. So I’ve decided it might be beneficial to post my code here.

One last note, if you’re participating in the project, don’t worry about me revealing the answers here. I’ll try my best not to. If I do on occasion, don’t get all worked up, just try not to violate the spirit of the project. The site exists for fun – to practice coding, learn from others, and perhaps share your own knowledge. I realize that most of us in this game are in it because we find it interesting. We like seeing a problem, figuring out a way to solve it, and then coding a solution to solve it.

If you haven’t seen the site, I encourage you to check out Project Euler. It’s pretty fun, but be careful. For true geeks, it can be addictive. Good luck and happy coding!

Who was involved in the Manhattan Project?

Miscellaneous 1 Response »

Nov 142010

The countries involved were primarily the United States, Great Britian and Canada. There were several prominent physicists involved in the project, most notably, the research was led by the American J. Robert Oppenheimer. The project was conducted between 1942 and 1946 in various (often secret) locations in the United States.

While Oppenheimer directed the research, it was a letter from Albert Einstein to President Roosevelt that really gave the project its roots in 1939. In this letter, Einstein expressed his concerns that Nazi Germany was trying to Continue reading »

Nuclear Power in our Children’s Generation

Miscellaneous 2 Responses »

Nov 102010

I read an article recently that addressed the question, “Is nuclear power going to make a comeback in the 21st century, and if so, will it make any real impact on global warming?” Of course these questions bring forth many other questions but I couldn’t help but take away my own answer of “not likely.” The CNN article made the relevant point of why nuclear power is back on the agenda- because climate change demands we do something. Nuclear power is practically carbon neutral (at least when compared to standard fossil fuels), and no scientist would argue that Continue reading »

When did Dr. Seuss win the Pulitzer Prize?

Miscellaneous 5 Responses »

Nov 082010

Dr. Seuss

Theodor Seuss Geisel (March 2, 1904 – September 24, 1991) was an American writer and cartoonist, most widely known for his childrens’ books written under his pseudonym, Dr. Seuss. He published over 60 childrens’ books, which were often characterized by imaginative characters, rhyme and frequent use of trisyllabic meter. His most notable books include the bestselling Green Eggs and Ham, The Cat in the Hat, and One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish. Numerous adaptations of his work have been created, including eleven television specials, three feature films and a Broadway musical.

Before achieving his great success as a children’s author, Geisel worked as an illustrator for advertising campaigns, most notably for Flit and Standard Oil, and as a political cartoonist for PM, a New York City magazine. During World War II, he worked in an animation department of the United States Air Force, where he wrote a film that later won the 1947 Academy Award for Documentary Feature. Continue reading »

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