davidad

“Mind vs. Brain: Confessions of a Defector”, my...

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 18:05:26 -0400

“Mind vs. Brain: Confessions of a Defector”, my guest lecture in Marvin Minsky’s class.

Oh Shenandoah

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 23:24:24 -0400

Oh Shenandoah

Dave King Drum Solos

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 17:43:35 -0500

I am in awe.

Toy Megaphone Intro
Solo 1
Solo 2
Solo 3
Solo 4
Solo 5

The Principle of Least Action

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 18:18:20 -0500

The Principle of Least Action

Photo

Thu, 20 Oct 2011 00:58:00 -0400

Credit for the figures goes to an academic paper entitled...

Sat, 01 Oct 2011 02:58:47 -0400

Credit for the figures goes to an academic paper entitled “Japan’s Phillips Curve Looks Like Japan.”

Color in scientific visualization (on davidad.net)

Sun, 04 Sep 2011 00:50:16 -0400

Color in scientific visualization (on davidad.net):

Here I document the results of some surprisingly nontrivial web research required to write a good colorizer for the data I’m working with right now. Hopefully it’ll be useful to someone else in the same position I was in: trying to add a qualitative parameter to a grayscale visualization of a single quantitative parameter as it varies over an image.

The problem with AGI

Thu, 04 Aug 2011 16:31:53 -0400

The problem with AGI

"It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to..."

Fri, 01 Jul 2011 01:39:40 -0400

“It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts.”

- Sherlock Holmes

"We believe convenient technology will overcome a feeling of fear."

Mon, 27 Jun 2011 22:33:00 -0400

“We believe convenient technology will overcome a feeling of fear.”

- Emi Tamaki, inventor of a device that can control a human hand with surface electrodes

Why is Yellow Bright?

Sun, 26 Jun 2011 06:28:00 -0400

I was recently asked, upon informing someone that I’m about to start a Ph.D. program in biophysics, why humans perceive yellow as “brighter” than white - specifically, why it’s harder to read yellow text than equally bright magenta text (on a white background).

I said that’s an excellent question but I needed a couple minutes to think about it. Conversation moved on; but a couple minutes later, I announced that I had an answer. Not necessarily the answer, but something that at least sounds plausible. I’ve been unable to find verification, so let me know if you think I’m off-base.

We all know human color perception is powered by cone cells: photoreceptors in the retina that are sensitive to specific swaths of the visible light spectrum. The L cones are the most sensitive to red, the M cones the most sensitive to green, and the S cones the most sensitive to blue.

It just so happens that the blue-sensitive cones are by far the least common in the retina, and the difference between yellow and white is a matter of blue light (white is made up of red, green and blue; while yellow is made up of red and green). So it shouldn’t be surprising that we have a harder time telling the difference!

"Everything is possible—and expensive."

Sat, 25 Jun 2011 20:03:03 -0400

“Everything is possible—and expensive.”

- Joe Johnston

The Magic School Bus Is Back

Mon, 13 Jun 2011 03:46:40 -0400

The Magic School Bus Is Back

Orders of magnitude

Sat, 11 Jun 2011 16:54:29 -0400

On a server I bought in 2004 and have been maintaining by buying new components:

/dev/sda 1907729 MiB (1863 GiB)
/dev/sdb 117000 MiB (115 GiB)
/dev/sdg 35304 MiB (34 GiB)

Lime-Chipotle Aioli

Fri, 10 Jun 2011 02:59:33 -0400

The more specific a food manufacturer or a chef is about their product, the better it sounds. I don’t care if it’s expeller pressed or impeller pressed or cold pressed or first pressed, if you think it’s important enough to tell me right on the packaging, it must be good, right? Come to think of it, this applies to other things too. Cold-forged carbon steel is obviously better than just “steel.” Something has to get a *super* bad reputation in order for this to fail (like high-fructose corn syrup…which sounded awesomely delicious 25 years ago).

Google…Science Fair?…

Fri, 10 Jun 2011 01:39:32 -0400

Google…Science Fair?…

On Chomsky and the Two Cultures of Statistical Learning

Fri, 27 May 2011 12:30:02 -0400

On Chomsky and the Two Cultures of Statistical Learning

"If you’re not paying for it, you’re not the customer—you’re the product."

Thu, 26 May 2011 10:20:38 -0400

“If you’re not paying for it, you’re not the customer—you’re the product.”

- @andlewis

Complex Numbers

Fri, 20 May 2011 22:47:40 -0400

Pedestrian A: I've never heard of that.
Pedestrian B: Complex fractions! It's a thing! One numerator, two denominators.

One mistyped consonant. A world of difference.

Tue, 17 May 2011 08:43:19 -0400

One mistyped consonant. A world of difference.