"The weekend is past." written by Tinypliny on estrip.org

09/26/11 07:39 - ID#55197

The weekend is past.

I worked almost 24/7 and yet I don't feel like I am getting even close to where I wanted to be by this time.

And I didn't get to make that bread from cookbooks 101 because there was no time after endless iterations of analyses and endless bug fixing of my 60+ variables. I thought maybe I was just obsessing, but you have to be obsessive when it comes to data. One small mistake in coding and the data is telling you something else.

This is exactly how it feels like. I am not even sure where I am on that pile of unfinished work.

I want some magic to happen this week. I want to suddenly get very efficient at coding R or fluid in LaTeX or extremely good at coming up with insights on my dataset or just maybe finish everything I need to finish very soon. I am going to try and help myself very intensively this week.

Permalink: The_weekend_is_past_.html
Words: 161
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 09/26/11 07:48

Category: the odes

09/24/11 09:06 - ID#55188

Who needs an alarm clock...

When a good dose of panic wakes you up at 4:30 every morning.

Paul: When are you done
Me: I am never done.

NB: Click on the alien for the perfect simulation of how I wake up everyday.

Permalink: Who_needs_an_alarm_clock_.html
Words: 39
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 09/24/11 09:07

Category: science

09/22/11 03:46 - ID#55181

Cancer Progress Report.

A very well written comprehensive progress report on where we stand in cancer research and what we know currently in the war against cancer was released by the American Association of Cancer Research a couple days ago.

I think this report is well worth reading, if only to know a little more about this terrible disease. The plainly laid out facts in the report challenge the ill-founded conspiracy theories about how the medical, research and pharmaceutical establishments are out to get the cancer patient and are suppressing the cure to cancer (See for example: (e:vincent,55175))

If you had any questions about cancer or simply wished you had a better understanding of the disease, I highly recommend this read:
::READ PDF::

Permalink: Cancer_Progress_Report_.html
Words: 124
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 09/22/11 03:47

Category: linux

09/22/11 10:15 - ID#55180

(H)Umpteen Choices!

Humpty Dumpty was making a longtable
Yes! It was part of a thesis, and not a fable
Something about "Save" was taking far too long
Humpty didn't want to become egg foo yong
Stopping and listening to (e:strip) voices
Lead to Humpty having a million+ choices

Nice longtable reference:

Permalink: _H_Umpteen_Choices_.html
Words: 64
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 09/22/11 10:22

Category: eating in

09/21/11 09:49 - ID#55177

Determined to make bread

I have eaten like crap this entire past week. I think the only highlight of the week that went by was a cup of chocolate ice cream topped with mascarpone that I ate with Paul and Casey. I am determined to make bread this weekend. Specifically, I want to make the easy little bread from 101 cookbooks dot com:

I love that website. It's easily my most favourite recipe website ever. I like the pictures and the commentary on Pioneer Woman Cooks better, but more often than not, her recipes are too soaked in butter, too full of animal products and a trifle too rich for me to handle. I often wonder how many arteries she is clogging with her gorgeous looking blog. I am constantly tempted to go the whole nine atherosclerotic yards but I never make it through even two before I change course and convert her recipes to their ghastly poor versions. Unfortunately, they seldom take kindly to changes.

101 cookbooks, on the other hand, is all about light, airy dishes that don't take too long to cook and are infinitely "tweak-able" with equally good results down each tweaked path.

Permalink: Determined_to_make_bread.html
Words: 198
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 09/22/11 02:36

Category: goals

09/21/11 12:11 - ID#55176

Internal Struggle List

I read this article at 4:00 AM today:

I like its main points of summary. I reordered them to help myself out.

Be realistic
Face your fears
Focus on your options
Rise up to the challenge
Find peace
Don't stress over things you cannot control

---

Engage in acts of gratitude
Be cautious when thinking about confrontation
Donâ€™t suppress or deny your feelings
Be around people

---

Spend some time alone
Feel good about yourself
Relax
Live your life
Seek professional help

And these are my goals for September and October.

Permalink: Internal_Struggle_List.html
Words: 96
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 09/21/11 12:11

Category: linux

09/20/11 05:18 - ID#55172

Save takes longer in gedit and gnumeric

Pedestrian observation but hitting Ctrl+S or the save button in linux (on gedit and gnumeric)"^ is always followed by a longer delay in saving the state of whatever program I am in (specifically programs that I use for writing and composing longer documents)"^ compared with windows. I have no idea why. My linux machine is substantially faster than my windows machine so this delay can't be because of disparity in drive-accessing speeds.

It could be that windows is just telling me it has saved the state of the program sooner than it really has and that Linux doesn't report the state being saved until it really has finished saving. But this is just speculation.

I know it isn't a big deal. A few extra seconds isn't much but it does adds up when you are writing a really long document and have fallen into the habit of saving multiple times as you write. Hitting Ctrl+S is almost second nature to me when I start writing. Having to wait a good chunk of time more in linux for even minor saves is somewhat annoying.

I wonder if anyone else has noticed this strange lag. I have seen it in Crunchbang, Ubuntu, Fedora and numerous other distributions I have tried. Every distro has the same annoying longer delay for saving (on gedit and gnumeric)"^.

^and some other apps that I will continue to list as I keep a closer watch on this issue: Gummi is now in the list.

"EDIT after comments: Please click that small comment bubble below and see the comments to this journal. (e:Paul) gave me some very useful suggestions about getting to the root of this problem. Thankfully, its not the operating system or even the hardware on my computer (two things that I was hoping it wouldn't be, because I can't change them without considerable effort).

The problem apps are gedit and gnumeric. I have found a substitute for latex composition with a live preview already: Gummi! And it is 100x more fabulous. Gnumeric will be hard to replace. I don't know what program comes even close to the awesomeness of Gnumeric. OpenOffice (Libreoffice) calc is a pale shadow for the particular way I use Gnumeric.

"Thanks, Paul. If every linux newcomer had a patient friend like you, I think the transition to the OS would be so much more painless. :-)

tinypliny writes at 05:06:30 09/22/11 - Comment #65174: The thing has a 600 page manual. :::link::: in PDF: :::link:::

Fine, 597. But still.

tinypliny writes at 04:30:27 09/22/11 - Comment #65171: This is so insane: :::link::: I hope to goodness you didn't mean him when you said "people that seem like you"!!

tinypliny writes at 11:05:02 09/22/11 - Comment #65169: It has a preview mode as well. :::link:::

Very handy if your latex skills don't really rank up there with the pros.

tinypliny writes at 10:18:39 09/22/11 - Comment #65168: :) I have already changed a few shortcuts and was reading that alias page. Are you spying on my screen?!

paul writes at 10:17:21 09/22/11 - Comment #65167: Wow, being able to make functions for aliases or shortcuts sounds even more useful :::link:::

You can even execute external commands :::link:::

paul writes at 10:14:06 09/22/11 - Comment #65166: I just created a 53M text file as a test case. I bet you could totally familiarize yourself with emacs. It has a cult like following of people that seem like you. Plus seriously opening a 53M text file and saving no prob is quite amazing. Plus when you think about it, isn't totally configurable what you are looking for.

I think these aliases sound much easier to use then 10 million individual shortcuts :::link:::

tinypliny writes at 09:34:15 09/22/11 - Comment #65165: I am on emacs now and being slightly overwhelmed with choices.

tinypliny writes at 02:53:04 09/22/11 - Comment #65164: I hit this page: :::link:::

Kind of complicated way to change something as simple as keyboard shortcuts. You and (e:uncut) can argue away to glory, but the fact remains. Linux and programs written for linux are either somewhat weird or complicated or both or just plain confusing to someone whose first computer had a gui and that gui was win 95.

tinypliny writes at 01:14:34 09/22/11 - Comment #65163: I think I did try out emacs in the past but was completely put off because of its alien and unfriendly keyboard shortcuts - that I had no idea how to change at that time. I will give it a whirl once more.

tinypliny writes at 01:13:16 09/22/11 - Comment #65162: I have trouble with measly 500k files.

tinypliny writes at 01:12:46 09/22/11 - Comment #65161: Wow, a 53M text file. What on earth is it? The whole internet packed?

paul writes at 01:10:14 09/22/11 - Comment #65160: I was thinking about it and I think maybe you would like emacs. It is great for editing huge files. I was able to instantly open and save a 53M text file that was killing gedit.

tinypliny writes at 04:22:29 09/21/11 - Comment #65153: Yes, everything that uses the GTK toolkit does seem to have a problem. And that is pretty much everything I use apart from whatever starts with an R.

I have a very elementary problem with Jedit. I can't figure out how to change the space between lines in the text area. Under global options > text area, I can change everything else. Right now, the text area is so crowded that its giving me a headache. Do you know how to increase the spacing between lines?

paul writes at 02:28:45 09/21/11 - Comment #65152: Seems like anything that used the underlying gtk code is going to have the same issue. Gnumeric, gedit, gummi all have the G in common.

What wrong with jedit? It cross platform and there are lots of plugins?

You could probably try any of the kde apps like kwrite, etc.

tinypliny writes at 02:25:29 09/21/11 - Comment #65151: Trying out Scribes. thus far, no delays.

tinypliny writes at 01:49:28 09/21/11 - Comment #65150: Guess I spoke too soon. Gummi has the same delay problem. *Sigh*

tinypliny writes at 09:36:13 09/21/11 - Comment #65149: Done!

tinypliny writes at 09:34:10 09/21/11 - Comment #65148: heh, I also said that it bothers me only when I write really long documents. That kind of limits the range of programs in both windows and linux, doesn't it? I guess using nano to compose my thesis or make the multipage tables didn't occur to me. Downloaded jedit yesterday specifically for testing this problem.

Humpty Dumpty fell from the wall a long ago, (e:uncutsaniflush). All the kings horses and men tried to do was to get a good breakfast out of him. They couldn't.

paul writes at 09:34:07 09/21/11 - Comment #65147: You should probably update you journal to not slam an entire family of OSes for a failure in a specific family of apps.

uncutsaniflush writes at 05:33:18 09/21/11 - Comment #65146: I love how "Linux" and " whatever program I am in" ended up being just gedit and gnumeric. I think that Humpty Dumpty has much to learn from you.

tinypliny writes at 04:30:12 09/21/11 - Comment #65143: I tried that and it is instantaneous in nano. There is hardly any delay. Gedit has massive delays (~5 seconds) for ~40 kb file (not unlike that bug report you linked). I disabled all my gedit plugins and the problem persists. Gnumeric also has a similar delay but not as massive as gedit. Jedit has no such delay. You need to see it to believe how absolutely annoying it can get! I think it is a bonafide bug in Gedit as well as Gnumeric, something perhaps to do with how they are implemented.

RStudio has no such delay. Nor does R.

(e:uncutsaniflush), the write speed of the harddrive on my both my laptops are the same. I use ext4.

(e:carolinian): Gedit and Gnumeric, mainly. Occasionally other programs, but definitely not RStudio, R and Nano. I will keep a watch.

paul writes at 08:37:06 09/20/11 - Comment #65142: You could try this. Open the file in something like vi or nano from the command line. Then save. In nano its ctrl+o

If its fast then its your program, if its still slow then its your computer.

paul writes at 06:45:00 09/20/11 - Comment #65139: Maybe this? :::link:::

paul writes at 01:46:07 09/20/11 - Comment #65138: :::link:::

Processor: Intel Core i3 CPU 530 @ 3.32GHz (Total Cores: 4), Motherboard: ECS H55H-M v1.0, Chipset: Intel Core, Memory: 1808MB, Disk: 300GB Seagate ST3300622AS, Graphics: Intel Core IGP 256MB, Audio: VIA VT1708S, Monitor: DELL P2210H

For this brief disk testing we ran IOzone through the Phoronix Test Suite on clean installations of Ubuntu 10.04 LTS and Windows 7 Professional x64. The first test looks at the IOzone performance on a 4GB write with different record sizes.

On average, Ubuntu 10.04 atop the EXT4 file-system with the Linux 2.6.32 kernel was 26.5% faster than Windows 7 x64 with its NTFS file-system.

carolinian writes at 01:01:19 09/20/11 - Comment #65136: What application?

Save speed is as much do to the application as it is due to OS (and in many cases much more so).

If you have a massively long document and you save it in OpenOffice, you're basically writing the entire document out in very complicated XML text and then doing a zip on it. If you save a comparable document on MS Word using a binary format, the large document would save orders of magnitude faster.

paul writes at 10:19:07 09/20/11 - Comment #65135: Also considering google provides nothing for "save speed" linux vs windows I call shananigans.

paul writes at 10:14:39 09/20/11 - Comment #65134: For someone who is so obsessed with evidence based information, this screams subjective. I save like every 3 seconds and its instantaneous. Maybe you computer is just crap. Then again I am using an SSD.

It doesn't make sense that linux would be slower as it is the OS behind the servers on most of the web applications that you use and it needs to be super fast to support operations of all the users.

uncutsaniflush writes at 05:59:07 09/20/11 - Comment #65133: No, i haven't noticed but I'm not obssessed by time. And I don't use Windows at home just professionally.

One factor, oh great tiny scientist, that you may have overlooked is the actual hard drive. What it is spinning at? Many laptops use 5400 rpm drives to conserve power. Most desktop boxes use 7200 rpm drives. Slower speeds equate to slower write speeds.

And there is the question of what file system you are using. Some are faster than others.

But I'm sure you are right, it's all Linus Torvald's fault.

Permalink: Save_takes_longer_in_gedit_and_gnumeric.html
Words: 399
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 09/21/11 01:50

Category: linux

09/18/11 08:46 - ID#55166

Linux Bugreport Rap

If something isn't broken
don't go tinkering and fixin'
for you could be shot to hell
without so much as a token

But if something really is awry
there is little point in being shy
fire those irate bug reports
at upstream and downstream ports

You will be ignored (or rarely not)
your bug report could be cold or hot
but what really matters is just that
You filed it. Give yourself a pat!

Permalink: Linux_Bugreport_Rap.html
Words: 74
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 09/18/11 08:48

Category: science

09/17/11 03:45 - ID#55162

Science on organic foods: what needs to be done.

Attached is the article I linked in my comment to (e:paul,55115). It reviews the state of science that is investigating if organic foods are really as good for people as many believe. It outlines the limitations of current studies and lays down some guidelines for how future studies might address this question better.

Intervention studies are the gold standard for evidence. Population studies generate statistically tenable hypothesis. :)

(e:Heidi), this PDF is for you.

::READ PDF::

tinypliny writes at 02:28:21 09/18/11 - Comment #65117: But let's assume for now that the summary article is correct and that organic farming is really capable of producing just as much or even more than conventional farming in terms of output. Why are the prices so high then? Comes back to your question about why the organic cauliflower was $4.59. Somewhere along the whole organic-can-indeed-feed-the-world-view and the poor-cannot-afford-organically-farmed-produce is a gap in understanding or something that is going wrong. What is it? I want to be able to understand it someday.

tinypliny writes at 02:09:42 09/18/11 - Comment #65116: Too much to read. Too little time.

tinypliny writes at 02:08:35 09/18/11 - Comment #65115: % I mean there could be the argument that it allows us to feed a larger population, etc but not better for you.

yes, the sole reason for not farming organic was enabling mass production of more food and bringing down costs. But (e:heidi) linked this synthesis article in your post about how organic could achieve the same. :::link::: I read it but I need to hunt down the real references from that article when I get sometime. It opposes the view that fathers of the green revolution (and prominent Nobel scientists) held, so I need to see the references for myself.... Maybe in a month I will get around to reading and assimilating the alien literature.

paul writes at 01:44:45 09/18/11 - Comment #65114: How can not adding something be a fad. Its is not a new way of doing something, it is saying - do it like people did before, don't do anything and just leave them as is, the way nature intended and the way animals ate them for millions of years.

It just doesn't make sense that adding carcinogenic chemicals and poisons can make it be better for you. I mean there could be the argument that it allows us to feed a larger population, etc but not better for you. I mean why not dip all of your strawberries in rubbing alcohol too, just to be safe.

tinypliny writes at 01:35:49 09/18/11 - Comment #65109: How is a fad different from a bandwagon?

metalpeter writes at 10:57:08 09/18/11 - Comment #65103: To be honest I think that might be a bit to much to read at this time.... But here is my thoughts

-Is not using chemicals better yeah sure
--But does shorter shelf life cause other problems
--Isn't it odd that all these food recalls they go back and they find plants at fault.... Of course that kinda makes sense since you often don't cook them and most stuff would be killed by the cooking fully of meat...

Now I have heard that organic stuff tastes better?
-I don't agree cause you know what you like.... This is the same thing people pull with made at home sauce .. Just cause it is homemade doesn't mean it is better... One of those companies is amazing and if that is what you are used to it is better... Just like if you eat McDonald's yeah Burger king is better Quality and Sportmen's is even better but you won't like it....

-Now mentally you think oh yeah this is good so maybe it does...

To me organic isn't a fad... It is a movement it is a badwagon people get on like hating on Dallas or something... Now that doesn't mean if you eat organic you follow that..

Permalink: Science_on_organic_foods_what_needs_to_be_done_.html
Words: 77
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 11/09/11 08:15

Category: music

09/11/11 06:15 - ID#55143

Rubinstein interprets Chopin

There is some indescribably exquisite melancholy about the slower version of Chopin's Waltz in B minor, Opus 69. Evenings are calmer with Rubenstein's interpretation of Chopin.

I want to learn the piano someday. And when I do, I want to learn all my favourites among his nocturnes and waltzes till I can play them with eyes closed. Someday. Certainly.

tinypliny writes at 08:42:06 09/12/11 - Comment #65009: hahaha, this is pure black and white love. ;-)

uncutsaniflush writes at 08:38:20 09/12/11 - Comment #65008: Thank you for sharing this. 11T1his one of my fav1e versions of the piece. Rubenstein was a great interpreter of Chopin. And this is a bit of great writing by Chopin.

BTW, are you testing me? Are you expecting me to make some comment on your love of piano music as another example of your black and white thinking?? Well, I won't do it. So ha!!

tinypliny writes at 07:59:54 09/12/11 - Comment #65002: LOL, I don't think Paul would ever agree to going out waltzing. hehehe At least I would be really surprised if he were interested. I don't know about (e:TK). Isn't he coming back? Maybe I could ask him and see what he says. I know partner dancing is mostly about couples dating etc. but that's not what I want from dancing. Its a lot of fun really, when you have a partner who doesn't judge you, is forgiving of the faults and is genuinely interested in the dancing rather than some crazy mission to be the best dancer in the world or something.

metalpeter writes at 07:49:52 09/12/11 - Comment #64999: The Point I never got to was yes there are tech dancers where the steps are very you must do this and then that and then this and both people have to be on the same page.... But honestly I think you could learn a lot just from seeing people do a waltz (I assume they vary based on the speed of music)... The thing is if you dance and you have to think step then why do it... Yes there is a point where you have to think about it until you get to that certain level but unless it is for like a big event where everyone will do the same dance (wedding or cruise maybe) then you have to feel the music?

metalpeter writes at 07:46:34 09/12/11 - Comment #64998: I not being a dancer my self I get that there are people who do the dance school thing. But I think partner Dancers are really need to be done with someone who is more then just a dance partner or is only your dance partner... What I mean is that people go out dancing together... Not that I know much about latin and swing dance but I think there is an intimacy thing in those "forbidden or saucy" dances or even slow dances that just works as a couple and might not work as two singles.... With the exception of like you and Paul or even (e:TK)....

tinypliny writes at 07:36:11 09/12/11 - Comment #64997: You know (e:metalpeter), if you would come with me to a waltz class I would totally be up for it. :)

In salsa, everyone was already paired up when they came to class. Many didn't want to rotate and some did it very reluctantly. The remaining could care less about whether I was getting the steps right, or were too judgmental and focused on what I was doing wrong. The one person who was really supportive while dancing with me stopped coming. But everything went really downhill when the teachers stopped dancing with me and decided they needed to practice more with each other. I waited for one of them to dance with me again for a whole two months but they never did.

I was bald back then. There were all these hair flicks and styling and moves that were just not do-able. I kept waiting for the class to turn slightly more singles friendly with more individual dancing. I dropped numerous hints but that never happened. The whole class made me feel more alone than I have ever felt before in my entire life. I actually cried regularly coming back in the snowstorms after some of my last classes. Some of my walks back from the classes were some of the most depressing moments I have ever had in Buffalo.

I don't think I want that kind of stress again.

metalpeter writes at 07:10:11 09/12/11 - Comment #64996: You just need one of those book Models to dance with....HA... You know when I was in grammar school part of Gym was a Square dance... Didn't like it then still not fond of it but it was a very small portion ..Thankfully .... No way I could do any of it cause if I could I would be on some show like glee or some musical no one has ever heard of....

tinypliny writes at 07:05:23 09/12/11 - Comment #64993: On second thoughts, I am not sure I want to get into the whole partner-dancing agony once more. I have had enough aches with salsa.

tinypliny writes at 06:58:05 09/12/11 - Comment #64992: The waltz is one of my top favourite classical styles.

tinypliny writes at 06:57:24 09/12/11 - Comment #64991: Unfortunately, no. Not yet, anyway. :) The ballroom classes are not in walking distance. I think if it were not for this impediment I would have learnt the waltz a long back.