🏷️ i-tech

Back when Google introduced the Google Bookmarks Lists, I should not have jumped at it.



But I did. BIG mistake. Now ALL my zillion bookmarks are stuck in lists without ANY way of exporting them anywhere. The export-bookmarks function only works for bookmarks that are NOT in lists.

This is so annoying. I hate you, Google Bookmarks List makers. Haven't you ever heard of the data liberation front, your company's own sister concern????

Aaaaarrgh.

I spent around half hour yesterday getting an insight into how @paul thinks about the basics of programming. It was most enlightening. I wish I had been in one of @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!

Woo Hoo!!

I sometimes wish my desktop was the Chrome browser. What's the point of even having an empty space staring at me. I just want all that space to BE the browser. My nexus one has a small search bar embedded in the desktop. What I want is for the entire browsing to be the desktop.

I am sure there is something like this out there, something that implements this in Debian or maybe Red Hat. I just don't know how to search for it yet.

Update: Found it.


Someone obviously feels like I do.

The real question, however is, is that someone as technically challenged as I am? Can I even get to step 1?!

Last Visit 2011-08-23 05:16:36 |Start Date 2007-04-01 15:09:25 |Comments 7,566 |Entries 733 |Images 1,235 |Sounds 29 |SWF 1 |Videos 171 |Mobl 9 |

This is the longest I have been on any website anytime in all of my www existence. I feel seldom bound to any online service or site unless it's for work/school or its services are just irreplaceable. I guess knowing everyone in person has made a difference here.

I feel more at home because of you all. :)

Microsoft will buy Apple.

It's not unfathomable, considering the recent camaraderie between the companies. If their common goal is putting Google down, then the merger will possibly be their best weapon against Google now acquiring a mobile hardware manufacturing company (Motorola Mobility).

If you think about it, the two companies are pretty much the same. Mac is just a glorified expensive snobbish form of the newer Windoze operating systems (with crappy hardware to boot). Maybe the merger will result in better customer service for M$ consumers and better hardware for the Crapple consumers. It's a win-win situation.

The only thing that will possibly take a nasty hit would be the fragile egos of Apple fanboys/girls. But then who give a damn about the mental health of this minuscule bunch of self-obsessed rich (or heavily in debt) snobs anyway.

I think I have learnt some keyboard lessons from all this keyboard shopping over the last couple months.

• What is quiet and fast now will eventually turn noisy (logitech)
• What is fast now will remain fast but will never be quiet (logitech)
• What is quiet now can be fast depending upon your skills (Chiclet keyboards)
• However, if you learn to type faster on the quieter keyboards, you are most likely doomed to finger fatigue and RSI.
• Costlier keyboards are not necessarily exempt from the above rules.

The choice is basically between more noise or more pain. I think more noise is a better alternative if I want a healthier RSI/fatigue-free typing future. I am keeping all the three keyboards I got (@tinypliny #54877) for now. Noisy for painful days and quiet for chaotic days.

What I really want to do is to be able to work from my building's rooftop. Unfortunately, my router's wireless signal is weak and pathetic. I am thinking...

Pringles Cantenna!






Now, I only have to pick the flavour of choice and mooch some copper wire from @paul.

I am always looking for quieter keyboards that don't sound like the train is rattling through my flat as I type. I type a lot and keyboard rackets really bother me. So I recently bought this unbranded chiclet-keys-type keyboard:

I reviewed it on Amazon. In short, I like how the keyboard feels and sounds (not quiet but tolerable). But I mistype on this keyboard often because the spacing is somewhat non-standard.

I tried out this Azio keyboard and hated it.

The noise factor was okay but the keyboard was too hard to type on and fatiguing. Plus it was glossy and retained fingerprints.

Then I got this logitech K120 yesterday.

It is just a classic keyboard with well spaced out keys so that mistakes are minimum and you get everthing right at the very first type. But it is not quiet as they say. Its not quiet at all. All the clackety clatter is very much there. I think it has got noisier from yesterday. That is exactly what happened to my earlier M$shit keyboard. The racket steadily increased over the years till I had to drown the sound out with heavy metal or full orchestras. Chopin was completely out of the question. I am afraid this keyboard might be headed the same way.

I am pretty torn. Do I care more about precision or do I care more about the sound. Or should I just hold on to the noisier but more precise keyboard and just suffer through the noise?
Both keyboards are a pleasure to type on though. They hardly require any effort. Both are not entirely quiet but I prefer the sound of the chiclet keyboard rather than the clackety noise of the logitech k120 (I wonder what the people who think this is quiet were smoking!).

For now, I have two of the unbranded silky chiclet keyboards and the classic logitech k120. I returned the Azio. I think I am holding on to the chiclet keyboard but I am not sure what to do with the logitech keyboard yet. I am typing on it now, hardly making any mistakes but I am not liking the noise at all.

Office mail war!



Oooh, the drama. I can't wait for the Google response. :)