Joshua Kwan's journal

Asia Trip 2008

Tue, 30 Dec 2008 12:58:45 GMT

Hey there, everyone can read about me and aaronlehmann's exploits in Asia here: asiatrip_08.

To see Aaron's photos, go here.
To see my photos, go here.

Enjoy!

On the subject of Black Friday

Sat, 29 Nov 2008 05:41:19 GMT

"When they were saying they had to leave, that an employee got killed, people were yelling, 'I've been on line since yesterday morning,'" Ms. Cribbs told The Associated Press. "They kept shopping."

-New York Times: Wal-Mart Employee Trampled to Death

Thanksgiving at Ridge

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 00:43:09 GMT

Thanksgiving at Ridge, originally uploaded by joshkwan.

Testing the new Powershot G10!

Posted using TxtLJ

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 02:33:44 GMT

Why is it so dark at 6:30? Gah!

Says the Moderate

Sun, 19 Oct 2008 17:57:17 GMT

Since I turned 18 and became able to vote, I've prided myself on trying to remain moderate. My political view can basically be summed up as "highly progressive social reform with regulated financial conservatism." As a result, I often find myself at odds with people who consider themselves liberal or conservative because there's bound to be something I disagree with them on. Living in Berkeley I am drenched in dyed-in-the-wool liberals who will stop at nothing to make me vote for Obama. Fortunately for them, this time I do support Obama this time around, so I can fit in.

People seem to be taken aback when I criticize him, though. While Obama is really an intellectual (one of the first intellectual presidential candidates I've seen in my life), he isn't the salt of the earth for me. To make a really brief example, I think he wants to spend too much considering the economic situation we're in, and god damn it he won't shut up about "change." But that won't stop me voting for him because, among other things, I'm excited about having a black president. Yet that doesn't mean I am 100% behind him.

But many people here are, and I don't like it. I feel like Berkeley has drunk too much of the Obama Kool-aid in general and it's hard for people to sit down, lose their biases, and work hard on seeing whether they actually like all of the presented policies from the candidate they support. I've met too many people in the past couple months who say they "support Obama 100%." How can that possibly be? They can't realistically have thought through all of his domestic and foreign policy and said, "OK, I've studied all this and determined that I am fully behind it." Not that I have gone this far either - but I feel like I read more about politics in the news than many do, and making a bold statement about 100% support ought to require more study than what I have done.

Berkeley is a very politically active place and its (usually) intelligent inhabitants deserve to raise their political standards by learning to not take the candidate they support for granted. It's important to make a decision about who you want to vote for, but it's also important to make sure you know exactly what you're in for if you do. Does anyone else feel this way?

P.S. Republicans can be equally bad about drinking their party's Kool-aid. This story disgusted me.

Posted using TxtLJ

Fri, 17 Oct 2008 20:07:02 GMT

I got steve's korean bbq and a fly landed on my kimchi and instantly died

BioShock

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 09:25:16 GMT

I just finished BioShock - what an incredible game. Despite how much I really enjoyed the plot, the artwork, the maps, the voiceovers - a few serious flaws caught my eye and I'm wondering whether these bugs are specific to the Bioshock version that Steam distributes:

It's impossible to easily swap the order of plasmids. There should be no reason a Gene Bank is required to swap the position of Incinerate! and Enrage in your inventory.
Even in the Gene Bank, it is hard to swap plasmid positions without replacing them with another plasmid first (e.g. to swap Incinerate and Enrage, replace Incinerate with Bee Attack or whatever, replace Enrage with Trick Big Daddy, replace Bee Attack with Enrage, replace Trick Big Daddy with Incinerate.) This is the bug that hassled me the most.
Moreover, if you upgrade a plasmid (e.g. Incinerate 2 to Incinerate 3), some internal state becomes out of sync with what you see and the order of all your plasmids gets messed up. To fix it you have to replace all your plasmids at a gene bank, exit, reenter the gene bank, and add your old plasmids back in the desired order.
The subtitles are often quite wrong compared to the voiceover. I suppose they didn't think people would be simultaneously listening to the voiceover while reading the subtitles.
Near the end of the game, the "Find the parts of a Big Daddy suit" goal was still plastered on my screen even though I already had them all.
Not a bug, but a conceptual nit: Conceivably, it should be possible to abandon a hack before it hurts you. Currently, the only way to abort a hack is to just let the puzzle blow up.
Another gameplay nit: Leadhead Splicers seem to be inordinately powerful very far into the game, even after you have completed all the research on them. I usually ended up just freezing them and breaking them up with the wrench.
Conversely, the machine gun seems to be way more useful in their hands than it is in mine. I can pump most things with bullets and nothing really happens.
The map is pretty hard to use. It needs to always center on where you currently are, but it only does it sometimes.
The developers should have added a way to focus on a particular subject for photography. Many a time I've wanted to take a picture of a Little Sister but end up taking a picture of its Big Daddy instead, not meaning to at all. Of course, it only wastes film, so it doesn't matter much.

With such a huge list of grievances one might think I got too annoyed with this game's flaws to enjoy its qualities. But really, it was great. I got the Bad Ending though, and once I get a better graphics card I'm going to replay it for the good one.

Anyway, now I can get back to real life / work / school. I really sat there for quite a long time playing.

An open letter to the USCA

Thu, 16 Nov 2006 22:53:35 GMT

Dear Ms. Cucarola,

Allow me to introduce myself. I am a current resident of Casa Zimbabwe; this is my first semester here. Already I have grown to love its distinct personality, which is exacerbated by the vibrant murals on almost every wall. The murals and writings are from various eras in the house's history and act as a snapshot of those times for us Czars in the present day to think about.

When I learned that these walls were to be repainted during CZ's seismic retrofit in an effort to make the house more "welcoming", I was appalled. Decades of CZ heritage would vanish over the course of just one semester! It would no longer be Casa Zimbabwe, but just another building in the coop system.

To me, this effort sounds akin to painting over the graffiti on the remnants of the Berlin Wall - an obvious chronicle of a tumultuous time in Germany's history - so that it looks better for tourism. Tourists sure do love clean walls!

(Before I go on, let me make it clear that I have no problem about the walls that need to be knocked down in order to effect the seismic retrofit. This needs to be done in order to secure the *safety* of CZ residents, and though I deplore the partial loss of CZ heritage, I fully support the goal.)

What a pretentious rube, you say. This kid believes that his house has comparable historical significance to the most heartbreaking symbol of national separation in recent history! But I believe CZ deserves that distinction with respect to Berkeley. Painting over the Berlin Wall fragments would cause an worldwide uproar; painting over CZ would cause a Berkeley-wide uproar. And it damn well ought to.

This is not to say I fail to understand your reasons for proposing this action. I understand that, often, Casa Zimbabwe falls victim to what we have dubbed "scream and runs" - where new residents, not having seen the house before, arrive for move-in day at the house. They become offended at the various facets of the house's personality and immediately cancel their contracts.

Bluntly: They had it coming. They should have visited the house before accepting their contract. CZ isn't for everyone, but for the people who love it, its uniqueness and personality mean a great deal.

I'm sure this is not the first email you have received today about this issue which so many people in our house care about. In any case, thank you for reading this and I hope this helps you make the right decision for CZ's future.

Sincerely,

Joshua Kwan

whoa

Thu, 09 Nov 2006 09:44:03 GMT

I just designed an actual computer processor for CS 61C. It works.

Wow.

wisdom

Tue, 24 Oct 2006 08:21:30 GMT

... I don't know anybody who's made a record that sounds decent in the past twenty years, really. You listen to these modern records, they're atrocious, they have sound all over them. There's no definition of nothing, no vocal, no nothing, just like - static... CDs are small. There's no stature to it. I remember when that Napster guy came up across, it was like, 'Everybody's getting music for free.' I was like, 'Well, why not? It ain't worth nothing anyway.'"

-- Bob Dylan, Rolling Stone, September 7, 2006

Special Relativity is Awesome

Mon, 23 Oct 2006 04:53:27 GMT

I just talked through a physics problem that's on a quiz I have due tomorrow, with aaronlehmann. It totally blew my mind.

Suppose you have a T shaped object that is about to hit a button that lies on the short end of a U shaped object. When this button is hit, it will trigger some dynamite will explode. It looks something like this:

However the problem is, clearly, that the T isn't long enough to strike the button before the vertical part of the T strikes the back of the U. (To be specific, the business end of the T is given to be 4 meters long, and the legs of the U are given to be 5 meters long.) In an effort to get around this, the T is given a velocity that is about half the speed of light as it approaches the U.

The U is expected to contract in length (see wikipedia for details) by a factor of 2, so that the tip of the T will be able to touch the button.

So, the question given is: Does this method work? or is a logical fallacy being exploited?

From the perspective of the U, the T seems like it should still fall short of hitting the button.

From the perspective of the T, the legs of the U are now shorter than the length of the T, so the button can be struck!

So what actually happens? It turns out that the button indeed gets hit, AND the T falls short. So the back of the T strikes the front of the U, yet the T manages to hit the button. I will spare readers the calculations involved in this, but the part of the T that appears to hit the button doesn't realize that the other end of it has fallen short until 10 nanoseconds after the button has been struck.

In other words: Suppose that even though the T hits the edge of the U (event #1), the tip of the T keeps barreling towards the button at the same time, and eventually hits it (event #2). The time that elapses between event #1 and #2 is calculated to be 6 nanoseconds. But it takes 16 nanoseconds for the tip of the T to feel the deceleration that results from the back of the T striking the legs of the U.

So, the T stretches out (or the bonds between the atoms composing the T break apart; we don't really know) and is able to set the dynamite off by depressing the button for 10 ns!!!

My mind remains blown to this moment.

More thoughts on stir frying

Fri, 13 Oct 2006 22:12:33 GMT

Today we did it with chicken. We somehow got the chicken cooked just right, that was fortunate. However, we should have marinated it in our sauce for a few minutes before tossing it in. Tasted good, though. We were out of interesting vegetables and i mistook peapods (the shells aren't tasty) for snow peas (the shells are tasty.) Oh well. We also added rooster sauce into the sauce mix and that was really good.

Finishing EE20 problem set now, and then I'm freeing myself of obligations until Saturday afternoon. Today is a zombie 80s party at Stebbins - I'll be there..

long day

Wed, 11 Oct 2006 05:53:09 GMT

Woke up at 10am for a job interview with VMware for this summer. Went well. I pointed out to the dude that I'd seen the programming problem he tried to grill me with in a previous VMware phone interview, so we just talked about stuff for a few hours.

Made stir-fry with noodles, veggies, and tofu for lunch. Needs slightly more oil when putting the noodles in so they don't stick. Also it would behoove me to separate a good portion of the noodles before i put them in the wok so that they don't clump together as i move everything around. Slicing zucchinis into half slices really helps them cook. Mushrooms got really really small. Next time try adding chili sauce during the stirfrying process.

Lots of lecture, then faculty advising for next semester. I'm hopefully taking CS 70, 162, and 188, then EE 40. A semester jam packed with geekness as it were. Wanted to take math 54, but it conflicts with 162, which I want to take to prepare for VMware if it works out.

On a whim (based on a dude I talked to during faculty advising) I went to take the E190 placement test (technical writing class, placement test is to weed out ESL speakers.) Saw Iris there, which was comforting. The short essay question was horrid but I bullshat 5 paragraphs about challenges in engineering.

Went home - kebabs and stuffed bell peppers and rice for dinner. Tasty. Washed dishes for two hours afterward, I can barely stand now. Thinking about working on my CS project.

Windows Vista

Tue, 19 Sep 2006 04:04:01 GMT

Verdict: Like Windows XP, but prettier, and less shit works.

blech

Tue, 12 Sep 2006 00:11:35 GMT

I am sick and feeling kind of miserable.

I left my wallet in someone's car and he's fedexing it back to me but it cost like $20 for overnight. I find it kind of useful.

Is it?

Fri, 18 Aug 2006 21:22:06 GMT

The simplicity of this website is just astounding.

Very uplifting, too.

A tougher guitar

Mon, 31 Jul 2006 04:41:52 GMT

Methinks tidal_wave_00 needs a guitar like this:

meme

Sun, 30 Jul 2006 23:50:56 GMT

You Passed 8th Grade Science

Congratulations, you got 8/8 correct!

Could You Pass 8th Grade Science?

Today

Sat, 29 Jul 2006 03:50:16 GMT

I went go-karting with some coworkers (all paid for) after work today, down in Redwood City.

I think I was too careful a driver...

Steely Dan

Fri, 28 Jul 2006 02:24:25 GMT

I saw Steely Dan this Tuesday at the Shoreline. I can't say I was hugely impressed, but it was quite notable. Thoughts:

Michael McDonald opened for the concert. Some guy from the Doobie Brothers, I knew none of the songs except for a cover of "Ain't No Mountain High Enough". Too long.
Sound. It was painfully obvious that the acoustics at the Shoreline are absolute trash. Basically, it was bad enough that if you didn't know the lyrics of all the songs already -- you won't learn them now. It was decent enough to be able to recognize songs though, for which I am thankful.
People getting up, scrunching past my seat, and walking back. DURING AN ACTUAL SONG. Not cool at all. I am rather a fan of classical concerts where you STAY PUT until the intermission, unless you're about to soil your seat. Here, people were clearly getting up to purchase more $6 hot dogs and beers. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that the sort of people with the gall to disturb your concert experience are also the kind that will waste money on lousy concert food.
More weirdness and impoliteness. I kept seeing this one tall, bald guy doing some heavy, HEAVY interpretive dance to several songs. It irked me because it was physically impossible to look at the band without looking at him too in the corner of my eye. Then there were a bunch of people standing up a few rows in front of us, when no one was, and dancing around - and they asked the people in the row in front of them whether they wanted to dance. They apparently refused. ("Oh, you don't want to dance? Fine then, you can sit there and stare at my ass for seven minutes until the next song.")
Personal reasons. They were not promoting new material at all. They were just playing all their famous stuff to keep their old fogey fans happy. What about something from Morph the Cat or anything from Two Against Nature - you know, the album that won them a Grammy in 2000 after not doing anything for 20 years? That's good stuff. Also, they wrote an obnoxious open letter to Luke Wilson.

So, had I the chance to do it again (no pun intended), would I? Nah -- don't think so.

Thoughts on the Flaming Lips

Sun, 23 Jul 2006 06:38:23 GMT

The Flaming Lips are playing in Berkeley this very minute. Or maybe they finished, I don't know. But I'm not there, so I'm listening to Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots instead to compensate.

My room is completely dark to eliminate any potential heat sources. This makes the listening experience very psychedelic. It reminds me of listening to Dark Side of the Moon .. in the dark.

I tried listening to The Soft Bulletin but god I can't really stand Wayne Coyne's voice back then. Some snobs on the internet say it is the best album of the 90s. They should take some voice lessons and relisten.

Music is neato

Sun, 04 Jun 2006 05:55:13 GMT

Why music is cool:

The song I'm listening to is a live recording of a 16-minute long jam that namechecks "My Favorite Things" right in the middle of a burning Santana solo.

Similar cool inclusions include a reference to the Pink Panther theme in a flamenco guitar trio recording.

I'm really, really weird.

Thu, 11 May 2006 10:18:03 GMT

12:04 < joshk> man, you know, i'm really not normal
12:04 < joshk> i roll out of bed, notice irc, and fix a perl script
12:04 < joshk> then i talk to someone about mailbox formats and IMAP
12:04 < mdl> joshk: that's the good life
12:05 < joshk> then i log on to my secondary MX provider and sync up my 
               recipient tables and set the default rule to deny if not found

(To clarify, that's not what happens every day; it's just that this particular day, I did so many geeky things with computers within 10 minutes of waking up that it scares me.

To top it off, this is also an excerpt from my IRC log.)

Voice Post

Sun, 23 Apr 2006 06:05:53 GMT

Back in Berkeley

Sun, 02 Apr 2006 05:46:39 GMT

Back home, after missing our connection in Atlanta due to 'fog' and taking a later flight to SFO (making for a 7 hour layover). It would've been a 10 hour layover if we hadn't argued it with the folks at the counter, and it would have gone to San Jose. The problem is, I think they sent our bags to San Jose on that flight, so we didn't get anything in San Francisco.

The upside is that we did get first class seating on the SF flight, which was neato.

But I'm back in Berkeley all the same, and they say they will deliver my crap to me tomorrow personally.