11/15/11 08:49 - ID#55520

Ikea proxy in Buffalo

Ikea might have turned down Buffalo but two canny blokes from our city spied the Ikea-craziness haunting everyone's eyes and decided to do something about it. Take a guess? No, they didn't rush out and buy mass tranquilizers to shoot at everyone. Your guess was fun but thankfully, wrong. The truth is less dramatic. They set up a website called myikeaplace dot com instead.

And how did I know about this charming entrepreneurial story? They left no apartment building behind. I have been seeing their flyers and hearing hushed whispers about my ikea place dot com ALL over my building, and beyond today. I can even hear the lady who hangs out in the balcony in the next building (a.k.a, beyond) smoking like a chimney and talking about it.

So I had to go and check out their website and it is quite an interesting business model. You just submit your ikea orders on their website. They go all the way to Pittsburgh, do the shopping for you and bring back whatever you wanted with them. You can then go fetch whatever it is you ordered in your ikea-craze from their ~~garage~~ professional storage rental on Ellicott.

What a nifty idea... I think I can definitely push my rickety cart from their warehouse to my flat. Maybe I should stop bitterly stalking the ebay seller who ditched my sale and get those LED lamps I want from our very own buffalo ikeamongers.

Permalink: Ikea_proxy_in_Buffalo.html
Words: 244
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 11/16/11 09:05

Category: goals

11/15/11 08:32 - ID#55515

The 20 Times Tables: 18

Continuing the "mastering first grade when you are in graduate school" series.
The 18 table.

Starting with 18
36
54
72
90
108
126
144
162
180 -20 + 200
198
216
234
252
270
288
306
324
342
360

Permalink: The_20_Times_Tables_18.html
Words: 17
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 11/15/11 08:32

Category: music

11/14/11 11:14 - ID#55513

Surgical

detachment?

1.42 minutes of Celldweller awesomeness

Permalink: Surgical.html
Words: 9
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 11/14/11 11:15

Category: r statistics

11/14/11 03:09 - ID#55510

Where is R installed on Linux?

Simple yet frustrating question for those who want to view the code behind the base functions.

whereis R

Turns out R on linux is installed in the following directory structures:

/usr/bin/R : this is the executable binary
/usr/lib64/R

ls

bin COPYING etc include lib library modules NEWS NEWS.pdf SVN-REVISION

/usr/include/R

ls

Rconfig.h Rembedded.h R.h Rinternals.h Rversion.h
Rdefines.h R_ext Rinterface.h Rmath.h S.h

/usr/share/R

ls

encodings java library licenses locale make R sh texmf

/usr/share/man/man1/R.1.gz : possibly the manual pages

Permalink: Where_is_R_installed_on_Linux_.html
Words: 100
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 11/14/11 03:18

Category: goals

11/14/11 02:27 - ID#55509

The 20 times tables: 19

I cannot believe just how AWFUL I have become at my 13 through 20 (times 20) tables. Struggling with mental arithmetic is totally unacceptable. It is a sign of mental deterioration that I want to fight against.

Starting with 19
38
57
76
95
114
133
152
171
190 +190
209
228
247
266
285
304
323
342
361
380

Permalink: The_20_times_tables_19.html
Words: 36
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 11/14/11 11:51

Category: linux

11/14/11 01:30 - ID#55508

Ctrl-L is for Location

I keep on forgetting this ridiculously easy shortcut.

Ctrl-L is for Location
-- in chrome
-- in Nautilus

Now, where can I find more RAM for my foggy brain?!

Permalink: Ctrl_L_is_for_Location.html
Words: 29
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 11/14/11 01:30

Category: linux

11/14/11 12:56 - ID#55507

Display Full Directory Location in Nautilus

Nautilus in Gnome 3 has this annoying main toolbar with just buttons displaying the current directory you are in. There is no option to switch the display to the complete text version of the location of the directory.

Well, as usual, there is a round-about way.

Type:

Alt+F2

Run:

dconf-editor

In the dconf-editor menu:
Location Bar options are stored under

"org âžœ gnome âžœ nautilus âžœ preferences âžœ CHECK always-use-location-entry"

Whew. I am glad I can see precisely where I am and copy and paste locations into the terminal once more instead of staring clueless at the vague "pretty' buttons. I remember that when Gnome was in version 2.x, they had the option to change the location display format right under the preferences section of Nautilus.

It's somewhat cruel to take away the means to easily change display format options from an application like Nautilus and hide all of it under system configurations ONLY accessible by installing the dconf-editor.

Ugh. What were the Gnome 3 developers thinking??

Permalink: Display_Full_Directory_Location_in_Nautilus.html
Words: 162
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 11/14/11 12:56

Category: tourism

11/13/11 04:59 - ID#55500

On the handmade path

Some of my favourites from back when the sun was not actually a big fat dazzling liar.

This brilliant brittle white mushroom bunch looked like it had to be saturated with some calcium salt. (e:matthew) and I wondered about the source.

Contrast that with this one - possibly filled with iron salts or rust.

It was such a happy day! Behold the cutest smile on the planet! :)

(e:Paul) taking the panoramic shots...

These great rotting branches reminded me of my muscle dissection days.

We plodded through a rustic-looking huge open field of fluffly little dandelion-like plants. We had fake "snowball" fights and all the little fluffy things ended up attacking me. I think (e:YesThatCasey) totally incited the attack.

I (not so secretly) spied on (e:matthew)-magic. :)

Permalink: On_the_handmade_path.html
Words: 149
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 11/13/11 06:20

Category: e:strip

11/13/11 03:51 - ID#55499

It's NOT rihanna.

More emphatically now.. NO!!! the avatar Is TOTALLY not Rihanna.

I can't stand her awfully nasal bland emotionless voice. To me, she sounds like nails on chalkboard. And also very suspiciously like she is from Rochester.

Scratch that. Nails on chalkboard is actually bearable. But the second resemblance kind of ruins it for me.

It's bat for lashes in one of her quirky moods.

Permalink: It_s_NOT_rihanna_.html
Words: 64
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 11/13/11 06:26

Category: i-tech

11/13/11 09:45 - ID#55492

Programming basics from Paul

I spent around half hour yesterday getting an insight into how (e:Paul) thinks about the basics of programming. It was most enlightening. I wish I had been in one of (e:Paul)'s programming classes (insert dodgy stalker grin here) and had a chance to learn all of it in a more structured format. I wondered how I might have turned out, if years before I had actually chosen to go to the engineering school I was selected for, instead of tramping down the completely diametric path I chose.

Who knows.

I believe it's not too late though. So I am going to learn, regardless of how long it takes to get to minimum proficiency.

Some basics that I sponged up

A variable: something that varies. It can be many types.

Float (yeah, not the cruise one but just as fun: a number).
Integer, a natural number (and organic to boot).
String, a word which may or may not mean just that.
Boolean, true or false and nothing else in between.
Arrays, a collection of random stuff. (Also called lists in the R world).
Objects: this has a sort of equivalent in R. When I define a logistic regression model in R, I am trying to describe how an outcome variable (say, any cancer yes/no) is related to many other variables (say, family history, alcohol consumption, body mass index etc.) Since it's a logistic regression, it has some properties or assumptions. The method of combination of my other variables is linear (there are no second or higher order terms in the equation). There are many options that you can put into this "model". How would the model accept other variables? How many variables can it accept before it becomes illogical or the power to say anything conclusively runs out? etc. Once this object or model is defined, you can change some variable in it, and see how the model changes - for example is a non-alcoholic as likely to respond as well to cancer chemotherapy as an alcoholic? If I run this model in R, I will get several properties of this model - that define how this model is behaving. So the model along with its defined and computed properties is a sort of "object": an artificial emulation of a slice of reality (or fantasy).

Indexing: helps in selecting and choosing particular variables that you have defined above Though we didn't talk about it yesterday, indexing in one key weapon in R that gets you out of many scrapes. In its most simple form, it is array[x], or data.frame[x], or list[x] where x is some number. x can be defined and derived in a million different ways. A tip of the hat to Tim Toady!

Permalink: Programming_basics_from_Paul.html
Words: 461
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 08/20/12 02:20

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