Sunday, September 30, 2012

Subtleties

I like the subtleties presented in the new Glee season. The new Rachel in the making versus the next 'Rachel' in the making. The huge parallels and similarities between the old and the new and the future that holds for them all - huge potentials.

A little disappointed Quinn Fabray (Dianna Aggron) will be showing up less and less. I have always been a bit piqued by the fact that her role is being suppressed - she has a great voice and character.

Teenage angst lots. But I think the first 2 episodes hit me right, and of course, the songs and covers and renditions are superb. I am looking forward to better episodes =)

Acknowledgements

Sometimes, even before a journey ends, I start counting my blessings - who should I include in a final acknowledgements, if I ever were to give one. I realize this can be a very difficult decision.

People move in and out of your life. They touch yours and you touch theirs. Sometimes, you never really know the full impacts of those who briefly pass you by until much later and those you felt had a huge impact might not mutually feel the immensity to the same degree.

"But who am I to tell fate where it's supposed to go" - Colbie Caillat, "Brighter than the sun"

And who am I to judge whether it's "to the same degree", or whether to discount those impacts any more than the meaning than they ought to have. But again, what is the "meaning they ought to have"? Every now and then, you stare out into space right into eternity, and think of all the uncertainties that swirl around everybody. Everybody is a walking maelstrom of changing possibilities!

The same thing done today if performed 4 years ago on the same person can have a randomly different effect.

That's when the power of logic starts fading, but memories, the heart and the intangibles take center-stage and supplant your line of thoughts.

I guess then, it will not be until the day before making those acknowledgements that I will realize who I should include. Even then, it will only be a snapshot of my gratitude. And I come to a conclusion that acknowledgements are timepoint-dependent, not a full recount - I think I will feel a little more balanced in this realization whenever I see the next acknowledgement slide.

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Fuzzy versus probability

I think this is a pretty neat article on this discussion.

http://scientopia.org/blogs/goodmath/2011/02/02/fuzzy-logic-vs-probability/

SpeakEasy transfer of recordings

I am currently a TA for a class and recently had to help a student record a lecture because he wasn't able to attend. I know, such a good life, students nowadays haha.

But it is also relatively simple with today's technology that is available to the world. It all hinges on the iPhone. I originally got an app called SpeakEasy, about a year ago, so that I could record lectures too. What I did not realize was that there isn't a straightforward way to transfer the recording OUT of the phone onto your computer - because I did not see the need to do that before.

Now that I need to transfer the recording on a class wiki for the student, I decided to find out a way to get around it. People spoke of a wifi function (nope didn't see that) that you could transfer to your PC, also a SpeakEasy Connect software that is nowhere in sight, and to ask the maker of this app, Zarboo.com, but their website has been down for ages it seems. All bummers.... Big time....

My backup plan was to play the lecture again and then do a second recording on my PC.

But I wasn't ready to give up yet - and I got lucky. Chronicling this will allow me to acknowledge the sites I went to as well. I got my first inspiration from this site, which documented a way to transfer files recorded with SpeakEasy from iPhone to PC WITHOUT SpeakEasy Connect via an iPhone file browser. It could have been easier but, I was averse to the word "jailbreak" which the author seems to allude to in the description. But I was sure one of those myriad of iPhone apps out there will be able to peruse files in iPhones without having to do something drastic and illegitimate. Then I found on one of my favorite sites: Life HAcker.com, my solution, introducing me to i-FunBox. There install this, and find your file under "User Applications">SpeakEasy>Documents!

It will be in AIFF format. To convert to MP3 or other formats, use iTunes =)

Saturday, September 15, 2012

Open multiple windows for EXCEL

Found a microsoft fix-it to open EXCEL in multiple windows. This is especially useful if you are using multiple monitors and/or require side-by-side comparison of some documents.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2636670

Note that it requires changing some bits of your registry. I used the Fix-it link, which works like a charm, so I would recommend that lest I mis-perform a step and mess up my registry. Especially since I am doing this in the morning, with a tad of grogginess.