Today, my family and I drove back from Toronto. The Toronto -> Montreal trip which usually takes 5 hours and 37 minutes, instead took 6 hours 46 minutes. Part of the 401 was blocked between Kingston and Montreal and I still don't know why although i suspect it has something to do with the strong winds that were blowing for most of the day. We had to take a detour through the capital instead and I was exhausted by the time I got home.
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Onwards into the new year!
The fall semester is over and now and soon the winter one will begin. To be honest, i was getting a bit tired of the semester and was anxiously waiting its end. Unfortunately, it has not yet completely ended for me. I still have a presentation to give, but it is not worrying me too much. Aside from this fact, it has been a very good semester for me and I hope the next one is just as good.
Right now, and for the last 3 days, I have been celebrating the holidays with family in Toronto. As some know, Toronto is not one of my favourite cities. Nonetheless, my time here has been very enjoyable as I have been spending it mostly with family and not so much touring the city. I just finished playing games of saboteur and citadels with my cousins and siblings. They are both fairly good and I would definitely recommend trying them out.
Tomorrow, I return home to Montreal to resume my celebrations and also start looking into my plans for the next semester. As it stands, for the winter semester, I plan on taking
Best holiday wishes to all,
--Alex
Right now, and for the last 3 days, I have been celebrating the holidays with family in Toronto. As some know, Toronto is not one of my favourite cities. Nonetheless, my time here has been very enjoyable as I have been spending it mostly with family and not so much touring the city. I just finished playing games of saboteur and citadels with my cousins and siblings. They are both fairly good and I would definitely recommend trying them out.
Tomorrow, I return home to Montreal to resume my celebrations and also start looking into my plans for the next semester. As it stands, for the winter semester, I plan on taking
- COMP 621 - Program Analysis and Transformations with Professor Laurie Hendren,
- COMP 524 - Theoretical Foundations of Programming Languages with Professor Prakash Panangaden,
- PHYS 512 - General Relativity with Professor Alexander Maloney,
- COMP 761 - Advanced Topics Theory 2 with Professor Patrick Hayden (this is really quantum information theory).
Best holiday wishes to all,
--Alex
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Elections and whatnot
Sorry I haven't posted here in a while. I have been busy with school and in the mean time the economy has collapsed, a federal election has happened in Canada and also one in the US and we have a provincial election coming up in Quebec in a few weeks. All in all, things are going pretty well and I will soon have a bit more time so I promise to post more regularly!
Sunday, September 7, 2008
83 Condoms and a T-shirt
Last week I played a game in which I had to guess the number of condoms there were in a jar. I guessed 82 and the answer was 83. My prize was 83 condoms and a nice t-shirt, although the t-shirt is a bit too large for me. Here's a picture:
That thing in the middle is a condom, attached to the shirt via velcro.
That thing in the middle is a condom, attached to the shirt via velcro.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Canadian Undergraduate Mathematics Conference 2008—Huge Success!
A few hours ago, I returned home from the 15th annual Canadian Undergraduate Mathematics Conference. I would have to say that it was even more fun from the CUMC event from last year. It's always a lot of fun to meet new people with interests that are similar to yours and CUMC certainly did not have a shortage of such people. I must congratulate the organizers on their very successful conference.
It might have been a bad idea to go the conference directly after my stay in the Bay Area. I had two huge luggage bags and they were not easy to get around with. I must thank the guys from Université Laval for being generous enough to bring me along on their way back. Without their help, I would probably not have made it home to Montreal tonight.
I gave a short 25 minute talk on the third day of the conference (Friday 14:45 to 15:10). It was an introduction to the untyped λ-calculus and some in the audience have asked me to post my slides so here they are. In retrospect, I should probably have given a 40 minute presentation. It was very hard to say all I wanted to say in 25 minutes and I easily could have filled 40. I will know for next year. I'd also like to encourage others to send in their slides to Julia Evans. She intends to collect all the slides from presentations and make them available in some convenient location.
I definitely plan on attending next year's CUMC at Carleton University—Especially since it is so close-by! I look forward to seeing old faces as well as new ones when that time comes.
It might have been a bad idea to go the conference directly after my stay in the Bay Area. I had two huge luggage bags and they were not easy to get around with. I must thank the guys from Université Laval for being generous enough to bring me along on their way back. Without their help, I would probably not have made it home to Montreal tonight.
I gave a short 25 minute talk on the third day of the conference (Friday 14:45 to 15:10). It was an introduction to the untyped λ-calculus and some in the audience have asked me to post my slides so here they are. In retrospect, I should probably have given a 40 minute presentation. It was very hard to say all I wanted to say in 25 minutes and I easily could have filled 40. I will know for next year. I'd also like to encourage others to send in their slides to Julia Evans. She intends to collect all the slides from presentations and make them available in some convenient location.
I definitely plan on attending next year's CUMC at Carleton University—Especially since it is so close-by! I look forward to seeing old faces as well as new ones when that time comes.
Friday, July 4, 2008
The Openmoko arrives
So the Openmoko Neo FreeRunner was finally released today. I have been anticipating its release for a long time. However, I don't think I'll buy it just yet. There are some things I'd like to hear about it before spending the $399.00 that it currently costs:
- Battery Life. I can't seem to find any good benchmarks about the FreeRunner's battery life. Unfortunately, battery life is close to being the most important concern with any electronic device that I buy.
- MicroSD card support. Not all cards seem to be supported and I'd like to know if my Kingston 4GB card is.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
I Own Number 4104
I Own Number4104MillionNumbers.com4104 is the second positive integer which can be expressed as the sum of two positive cubes in two different ways. The first such number, 1729, is also called a "Ramanujan-Hardy number". (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4104_(number))
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Celestial Disgrace
I recently got into playing nethack. It's a fun game, but it's also a very good way to waste time, so beware. Last week, I managed to get as far as the Astral Plane(the final level of the game), before ending the game in the wrong way. I say "ending in the wrong way" because I don't want to spoil any of the game to you but essentially I had forgotten the name of my deity—I honestly thought my deity was Thoth and not Anhur. This resulted in my "Escape in Celestial Disgrace" instead of the coveted "Ascension".
I hope to succeed in ascending sometime soon and I'll certainly blog about it when I do. Here's a log of the game where I "escaped"(may contain spoilers):
I hope to succeed in ascending sometime soon and I'll certainly blog about it when I do. Here's a log of the game where I "escaped"(may contain spoilers):
iratsu, chaotic male elven Wizard
---------
|.......|
|..A@A..|5
3|...@@..|
|..NAA..|
| |.......| |
|. ----A---- .|
|..5.5%@......|
---....a14..---
-----&-----
1 -
4 -----
% |
% % -- -
@ -- |
---%---- ---
% % |
------------
Iratsu the Mage St:25 Dx:18 Co:16 In:20 Wi:20 Ch:14 Chaotic S:2655116
Astral Plane $:145 HP:216(218) Pw:119(577) AC:-41 Xp:30/100198101 T:82303 Satiated Burdened
Your inventory
Amulets
o - the blessed greased Eye of the Aethiopica
x - a blessed amulet of life saving (being worn)
Weapons
A - the blessed rustproof +3 Magicbane (weapon in hand)
Armor
d - a blessed greased rustproof +5 pair of gauntlets of power (being worn)
h - a blessed fireproof +5 small shield (being worn)
l - a blessed greased fireproof +5 robe (being worn)
B - a blessed fireproof +4 pair of speed boots (being worn)
D - an uncursed +0 pair of water walking boots
H - a blessed greased +5 silver dragon scale mail (being worn)
T - a blessed greased fireproof +6 cornuthaum (being worn)
W - a blessed fireproof +4 T-shirt (being worn)
Comestibles
G - an uncursed C-ration
Spellbooks
Q - an uncursed spellbook of dig
Rings
e - an uncursed ring of free action (on right hand)
w - an uncursed ring of regeneration (on left hand)
J - an uncursed +5 ring of protection
U - an uncursed ring of levitation
Wands
m - a wand of polymorph (0:0)
z - a wand of digging (0:1)
C - a rustproof wand of fire (0:6)
K - a wand of death (0:6)
M - a wand of teleportation (0:6)
R - a wand of death (0:1)
Tools
b - a can of grease (0:11)
j - an uncursed skeleton key
k - an uncursed magic lamp (lit)
p - a blessed oil lamp
q - a magic marker (1:12)
r - an uncursed magic whistle
s - a magic marker (1:3)
t - the blessed rustproof Master Key of Thievery
F - a blessed +0 unicorn horn
S - a blessed bag of holding
V - an uncursed towel
Gems
f - a blessed luckstone
Contents of the bag of holding:
a cursed amulet of magical breathing
a blessed amulet of life saving
an uncursed amulet of life saving
a blessed amulet of life saving
the rustproof +0 Fire Brand
2 blessed +0 daggers named Sting
the +0 Orcrist
an uncursed tin of nurse meat
73 uncursed C-rations
55 uncursed K-rations
2 uncursed sprigs of wolfsbane
2 uncursed scrolls of blank paper
2 cursed scrolls of blank paper
a cursed scroll of charging
2 blessed scrolls of charging
an uncursed scroll of magic mapping
a cursed scroll of enchant armor
an uncursed scroll of blank paper
3 cursed scrolls of teleportation
an uncursed spellbook of stone to flesh
an uncursed spellbook of blank paper
an uncursed spellbook of charm monster
an uncursed spellbook of remove curse
an uncursed spellbook of magic missile
a blessed spellbook of identify
an uncursed potion of gain energy
3 uncursed potions of full healing
3 uncursed potions of extra healing
16 potions of holy water
a blessed potion of full healing
a blessed potion of extra healing
a potion of unholy water
2 uncursed potions of full healing
5 uncursed potions of extra healing
an uncursed ring of polymorph control
an uncursed +2 ring of increase damage
a blessed ring of searching
an uncursed ring of regeneration
an uncursed ring of conflict
an uncursed ring of slow digestion
a wand of undead turning (0:4)
a tinning kit (0:26)
a blessed can of grease (0:4)
a blessed magic marker (1:1)
2 uncursed obsidian stones
3 uncursed aquamarine stones
5 uncursed jade stones
8 uncursed rubies
4 uncursed diamonds
5 uncursed amethyst stones
5 uncursed emeralds
an uncursed jacinth stone
2 uncursed fluorite stones
an uncursed touchstone named touchstone
4 uncursed turquoise stones
an uncursed jet stone
6 uncursed sapphires
2 uncursed agate stones
an uncursed chrysoberyl stone
an uncursed diamond
3 uncursed rubies
an uncursed jacinth stone
an uncursed emerald
an uncursed amber stone
an uncursed fluorite stone
an uncursed aquamarine stone
an uncursed citrine stone
an uncursed amethyst stone
an uncursed sapphire
an uncursed obsidian stone
an uncursed jasper stone
an uncursed black opal
9 uncursed topaz stones
2 uncursed garnet stones
Final attributes
You were the Glory of Arioch
You were piously aligned
Your alignment was 322
You were fire resistant
You were cold resistant
You were sleep resistant
You were disintegration-resistant
You were shock resistant
You were poison resistant
You were magic-protected
You saw invisible
You were telepathic
You were warned
You were clairvoyant
You had infravision
You were invisible to others
You were stealthy
You could teleport
You had teleport control
You regenerated
You were protected
You were very fast
You had reflection
You had free action
Your life would have been saved
You were very lucky (6)
You had extra luck
Good luck did not time out for you
You survived
Spells known in the end
Name Level Category Fail
a - force bolt 1 attack 0%
b - create monster 2 clerical 0%
c - detect monsters 1* divination 0%
d - protection 1* clerical 0%
e - detect food 2* divination 0%
f - sleep 1 enchantment 0%
g - drain life 2* attack 0%
h - fireball 4* attack 0%
i - dig 5 matter 60%
j - knock 1* matter 0%
k - magic missile 2 attack 0%
l - wizard lock 2* matter 0%
m - healing 1 healing 0%
n - restore ability 4* healing 24%
o - confuse monster 2* enchantment 0%
p - detect unseen 3* divination 0%
q - identify 3 divination 0%
r - finger of death 7 attack 0%
s - light 1* divination 0%
t - invisibility 4* escape 24%
u - jumping 1 escape 0%
v - detect treasure 4 divination 24%
w - remove curse 3 clerical 0%
x - charm monster 3 enchantment 0%
y - stone to flesh 3 healing 0%
Vanquished creatures
Orcus
Yeenoghu
Juiblex
The Wizard of Yendor (13 times)
Famine (twice)
10 arch-liches
a high priest
7 mastodons
Medusa
Croesus
9 krakens
14 iron golems
14 master liches
a ki-rin
4 storm giants
a titan
2 glass golems
4 balrogs
12 purple worms
5 silver dragons
6 red dragons
5 white dragons
3 orange dragons
11 black dragons
4 blue dragons
6 green dragons
4 yellow dragons
20 minotaurs
8 jabberwocks
The Dark One
14 baluchitheria
3 Angels
9 demiliches
Vlad the Impaler
7 stone golems
18 master mind flayers
15 Olog-hai
2 Nazguls
12 pit fiends
8 sandestins
6 hell hounds
9 titanotheres
9 trappers
a baby red dragon
2 baby black dragons
a baby blue dragon
a baby green dragon
3 guardian nagas
9 disenchanters
47 vampire lords
5 skeletons
9 aligned priests
20 captains
6 shades
11 liches
6 clay golems
8 nurses
6 ice devils
6 nalfeshnees
8 lurkers above
2 Aleaxes
a frost giant
10 ettins
2 golden nagas
17 black puddings
32 vampires
9 lieutenants
35 ghosts
a healer
a samurai
3 queen bees
6 winged gargoyles
4 mind flayers
7 giant mimics
14 zruties
9 fire giants
10 ogre kings
2 ice trolls
11 rock trolls
11 umber hulks
7 flesh golems
6 Elvenkings
3 doppelgangers
12 hezrous
6 bone devils
4 large mimics
2 wumpuses
8 fire vortices
3 baby purple worms
14 long worms
7 couatls
23 stalkers
18 air elementals
7 fire elementals
7 earth elementals
10 water elementals
5 hill giants
5 giant mummies
5 black nagas
16 xorns
22 giant zombies
2 elf-lords
29 sergeants
5 barbed devils
17 vrocks
4 salamanders
33 wargs
6 winter wolves
2 hell hound pups
11 small mimics
8 glass piercers
10 warhorses
8 steam vortices
21 xans
7 ettin mummies
7 ogre lords
17 quantum mechanics
34 trolls
a sasquatch
11 wood golems
5 mariliths
4 sharks
an electric eel
10 gelatinous cubes
7 pyrolisks
5 large dogs
7 freezing spheres
9 flaming spheres
10 shocking spheres
7 large cats
10 tigers
13 gargoyles
2 dwarf kings
13 tengu
18 ochre jellies
21 leocrottas
10 energy vortices
11 mountain centaurs
a stone giant
3 elf mummies
3 human mummies
7 red nagas
6 green slimes
9 pit vipers
7 pythons
8 cobras
52 wraiths
11 carnivorous apes
23 ettin zombies
4 leather golems
2 Grey-elves
119 soldiers
2 watchmen
4 horned devils
8 succubi
10 incubi
5 chameleons
9 crocodiles
21 giant beetles
9 quivering blobs
37 cockatrices
27 wolves
15 winter wolf cubs
6 lynxes
4 panthers
9 gremlins
5 spotted jellies
8 leprechauns
5 orc-captains
13 iron piercers
7 mumakil
14 giant spiders
15 scorpions
18 horses
an ice vortex
14 black lights
69 vampire bats
7 forest centaurs
11 gnome kings
6 orc mummies
8 dwarf mummies
5 ogres
11 brown puddings
10 rust monsters
22 owlbears
15 yetis
8 gold golems
3 werewolves
2 Green-elves
2 piranhas
12 giant eels
28 lizards
7 chickatrices
a dog
4 dingos
3 housecats
15 jaguars
5 dwarf lords
7 blue jellies
4 white unicorns
4 gray unicorns
2 black unicorns
7 dust vortices
25 ravens
6 plains centaurs
11 gnome mummies
10 snakes
8 apes
23 human zombies
5 rope golems
a Woodland-elf
33 soldier ants
16 fire ants
21 bugbears
7 imps
19 lemures
9 quasits
8 wood nymphs
4 water nymphs
9 mountain nymphs
56 Mordor orcs
21 Uruk-hai
6 orc shamans
9 rock piercers
9 rock moles
12 ponies
5 fog clouds
21 yellow lights
4 shriekers
11 violet fungi
34 gnome lords
13 gnomish wizards
3 kobold mummies
3 red naga hatchlings
3 black naga hatchlings
a golden naga hatchling
3 guardian naga hatchlings
7 gray oozes
5 barrow wights
18 elf zombies
10 ghouls
5 straw golems
6 paper golems
a jellyfish
4 baby crocodiles
28 giant ants
5 little dogs
19 floating eyes
7 kittens
27 dwarves
6 homunculi
6 kobold lords
6 kobold shamans
33 hill orcs
24 rothes
5 rabid rats
5 centipedes
16 giant bats
4 monkeys
17 orc zombies
33 dwarf zombies
3 wererats
5 werejackals
19 iguanas
112 killer bees
25 acid blobs
8 coyotes
4 gas spores
9 hobbits
47 manes
6 large kobolds
24 hobgoblins
9 giant rats
12 cave spiders
4 brown molds
6 yellow molds
8 green molds
5 red molds
66 gnomes
9 garter snakes
11 gnome zombies
15 geckos
25 jackals
5 foxes
7 kobolds
13 goblins
9 sewer rats
28 grid bugs
17 bats
13 lichens
19 kobold zombies
14 newts
3289 creatures vanquished.
Voluntary challenges
You genocided 14 types of monsters
You polymorphed 1221 items
You changed form 2 times
You used 8 wishes
Your skills at the end
Fighting Skills
(none)
Weapon Skills
dagger [Expert]
quarterstaff [Basic]
Spellcasting Skills
attack spells [Expert]
enchantment spells [Basic]
clerical spells [Skilled]
Latest messages
What do you want to use or apply? [bfjkmp-tzCFKMRSV or ?*]
You can see again.
The Angel of Thoth swings her long sword.
The Angel of Thoth hits!
The Angel of Thoth swings her long sword.
The Angel of Thoth hits!
The Angel of Thoth hits!
The Angel of Thoth casts a spell at you!
You are hit by a shower of missiles!
The missiles bounce off!
There is an altar to Thoth (neutral) here.
What do you want to use or apply? [bfjkmp-tzCFKMRSV or ?*]
You produce a strange whistling sound.
#
What do you want to sacrifice? [a or ?*]
You offer the Amulet of Yendor to Thoth...
Thoth accepts your gift, and gains dominion over Anhur...
Anhur is enraged...
Fortunately, Thoth permits you to live...
A cloud of orange smoke surrounds you...
Goodbye iratsu the Wizard...
You and the invisible Archon and the guardian Angel of Anhur
escaped from the dungeon with 2834987 points,
The Eye of the Aethiopica (worth 4000 zorkmids and 10000 points)
The Master Key of Thievery (worth 3500 zorkmids and 8750 points)
Magicbane (worth 3500 zorkmids and 8750 points)
Fire Brand (worth 3000 zorkmids and 7500 points)
Orcrist (worth 2000 zorkmids and 5000 points)
11 rubies (worth 38500 zorkmids),
9 topaz stones (worth 8100 zorkmids),
7 sapphires (worth 21000 zorkmids),
6 emeralds (worth 15000 zorkmids),
6 amethyst stones (worth 3600 zorkmids),
5 diamonds (worth 20000 zorkmids),
5 jade stones (worth 1500 zorkmids),
4 turquoise stones (worth 8000 zorkmids),
4 aquamarine stones (worth 6000 zorkmids),
3 fluorite stones (worth 1200 zorkmids),
3 obsidian stones (worth 600 zorkmids),
2 jacinth stones (worth 6500 zorkmids),
2 garnet stones (worth 1400 zorkmids),
2 agate stones (worth 400 zorkmids),
1 black opal (worth 2500 zorkmids),
1 citrine stone (worth 1500 zorkmids),
1 amber stone (worth 1000 zorkmids),
1 jet stone (worth 850 zorkmids),
1 chrysoberyl stone (worth 700 zorkmids),
1 jasper stone (worth 500 zorkmids),
4 amulets of life saving (worth 600 zorkmids),
1 amulet of magical breathing (worth 150 zorkmids),
and 145 pieces of gold, after 82303 moves.
Killer: escaped (in celestial disgrace)
You were level 30 with a maximum of 218 hit points when you escaped.
No Points Name Hp [max]
1 2147483647 ctaboir-Wiz-Gno-Fem-Neu ascended to demigoddess-hood.
2 2147483647 Zadir-Pri-Hum-Fem-Neu died on the Astral Plane.
Killed by overexertion. 4140 [4140]
3 2145937336 greqrg-Wiz-Hum-Mal-Neu ascended to demigod-hood. 297 [297]
1999 3974508 walters-Tou-Hum-Mal-Neu ascended to demigod-hood. 221 [315]
2000 3974074 mfactor-Val-Hum-Fem-Law ascended to
demigoddess-hood. 209 [209]
* 2834987 iratsu-Wiz-Elf-Mal-Cha escaped the dungeon in
celestial disgrace. 216 [218]
First Post
OK, so I'm throwing together this new blog; mostly because I need a place to write things and twitter's 140 character limit makes it more than a bit too restrictive. Additionally, Blogger appears to have some nice features such as access control and labels, which I intend on experimenting with. The blog has a nondescript title to allow me liberty of choice in what to blog about—because, really, I don't know what I'll be writing about.
More to come.
More to come.
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