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With your feet in the air, and your head on the ground . . .

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{Friday, January 21, 2005}

 
Today, I'm into metal.

Not like AC/DC, Godsmack, or Megadeath. No, I'm talking about something way crazier.

I bought stock in these companies:

POSCO (NYSE: PKX), a Korean steel maker, and Liquidmetal Technologies (OTC:LQMT), a company (co-founded by a Caltech prof) that produces a new class of amorphous alloys that are stronger than titanium.

Check out the company websites. I must be totally nutto. :-)

posted by Miles 1:28 PM

  (0) comments

{Thursday, January 20, 2005}

 
You know what's hot? When girls wear sport-jackets. Like, men's sport-jackets.

Yes, I suppose this is all part of my lesbian-chic attraction, and a peculiarity.

I'm just saying.


Here's what I'm working on, today. Anyone who can decipher what the code does & is for wins a special prize. :-p

best_orth = 0;

for j=1:1000
test_nums = [19 18 17 16 21 22 24 25];

%% scoring:
%%
%% 1 = "more"
%% -1 = "less"
%% 0 = no prediction

num_trials = 16;

stim_order = ceil(8*rand(num_trials,1));

R = zeros(4,num_trials);

running_total = zeros(num_trials,1);
moving_mean = zeros(num_trials,1);

running_total(1) = test_nums(stim_order(1));

for i=2:num_trials
running_total(i) = running_total(i-1)+test_nums(stim_order(i));
end

moving_mean = (running_total+60)./[4:num_trials+3]';

for i=1:num_trials

% scoring for "correct task performance" hypothesis
% sensible for color; no change required
if stim_order(i) <= 4
R(1,i) = -1;
else
R(1,i) = 1;
end

% scoring for "modulating standard" hypothesis, window = 1
% sensible for color; some change required

if i==1
R(2,i) = R(1,i);
else
if test_nums(stim_order(i)) > test_nums(stim_order(i-1))
R(2,i) = 1;
elseif test_nums(stim_order(i)) < test_nums(stim_order(i-1))
R(2,i) = -1;
else
R(2,i) = 0;
end
end

% scoring for "modulating standard" hypothesis, window = 3
% not sensible for color

if i==1
R(3,i) = R(1,i);
else
if i < 4
current_std = (running_total(i-1)+(4-i)*20)/3;
else
current_std = (test_nums(stim_order(i-1))+test_nums(stim_order(i-2))+test_nums(stim_order(i-3)))/3;
end

if test_nums(stim_order(i)) > current_std
R(3,i) = 1;
elseif test_nums(stim_order(i)) < current_std
R(3,i) = -1;
else
R(3,i) = 0;
end
end

% scoring for "compensating for previous responses" hypothesis
% sensible for color; no change required

if i==1
R(4,i) = R(1,i);
else
if sum(R(4,1:i)) < 0
R(4,i) = 1;
elseif sum(R(4,1:i)) > 0
R(4,i) = -1;
else
if stim_order(i) <= 4
R(4,i) = -1;
else
R(4,i) = 1;
end
end
end

end
orthogonality = sum(sum(sqrt(1-corrcoef(R'))));
if orthogonality > best_orth
best_orth = orthogonality;
best_sequence = stim_order;
best_R = R';
end
end

best_R
best_sequence
best_orth
corrcoef(best_R)

posted by Miles 11:08 AM

  (1) comments

{Wednesday, January 19, 2005}

 
Wow! This is so cool!

Boston--January 19, 2005--Harvard Medical School researchers have applied a new microscopy technique in a living animal brain that for the first time reveals highly sophisticated time-lapse images of many neurons coordinating to produce complex patterns of activity. The approach will open up new avenues for analyzing neurodegenerative diseases and other aspects of the brain.

The full article is in the online version of Nature, this week, if you happen to have access.

So cool!!!


posted by Miles 4:47 PM

  (0) comments

{Saturday, January 08, 2005}

 
This morning I had what I think may be a really important theoretical revelation about my work - about different types of representation that may have importantly different roles in number cognition, and perhaps importantly different neural instantiations. I was pretty excited when it came together, as I was lying in bed, barely awake; I jumped out of bed, telling Jess "I've got a theoretical revelation, I've got to get up!"

It's a feeling to live for.

Like Busta' Rhymes said: "Woo-hah! Woo-hah! I got you all in check . . . "


posted by Miles 3:15 PM

  (1) comments

{Friday, January 07, 2005}

 
Every once in a while, I feel the need to kick Steve Jobs' ass, and I send a comment into Apple's user feedback system. Who knows if they ever get read. Here's what I wrote today:

I'm both a shareholder & a user, and from both perspectives it's maddening that Apple has created this wonderful resource, in AppleScript, and then completely failed to make its benefits accessible to most users. The collection of "Apple approved" scripts available through http://www.apple.com/applescript/ is minimal, and no links to external sites are included.

What I want is search capability across all mailboxes (a la gmail.) A simple google search indicates that exactly such a script is included as an example in the AppleScript Studio documentation but not even script - clearly judged suitable by Apple - is linked to from the Mail AppleScript page, and indeed I've been unable to find a version I can download, ANYWHERE, after an hour of searching.

I understand the value in keeping the core applications simple, for ease of use. But there's also a lot of untapped value in the fact that applescript makes these applications customizable, and CAN make them much more powerful.

The Mac OS X Software link in the main OS X "Apple" menu is wonderful, and takes you directly to a list of 3rd-party applications. This taps the energy of the development community in a wonderful way. What I'm suggesting is a similar link within each core application's "Scripts" menu that will take you to an Apple-managed collection of 3rd-party scripts. This would be SO POWERFUL. Please, please, please! :-)

Thank you for your consideration.

posted by Miles 11:56 AM

  (1) comments

{Thursday, January 06, 2005}

 
While I'm here in Albany, I'm sort of taking a "vacation" from work, to study neuroanatomy. Jess' classmates continue to express amazement that I'd voluntarily attend their classes, but it's fun: it's something I've meant to do, and wanted to do, for a long time. Interestingly, though, one of the sources that I'm finding most useful (not to mention addictive) is a free website at the University of Washington, the Digital Anatomist Interactive Brain Atlas. Now, while I do recommend checking it out, because it's just incredibly neat (I especially recommend the 3-D objects section) I realize that just seeing all the names, without knowing or learning about the function in a comprehensive way, might be a little dull. But as a companion to the neuro texts that Jess has, the site is just a fantastic, ideal way to really dig into the anatomy and learn how everything relates in 3-D, something that's really difficult with the complex, messy anatomy of the brain. Especially the quizzes. Damn they're addictive. (Yes, I know I'm a total freak. Thank you.)


posted by Miles 1:07 PM

  (0) comments

{Sunday, January 02, 2005}

 
Happy New Year! It's 2005. Wacky.

In the past few days, I've gone on a bit of a shopping binge. Let's see if there's a theme:

(1) A winter coat ($40 at Burlington Coat Factory)
(2) Hiking boots (-$5, thanks to EMS's wonderful "100% satisfaction guarantee" & my falling-apart old boots)
(3) Yaktrax ($20)
(4) A DVD player ($27)
(5) A hairdryer ($10)
(6) A vibrating timer ($20)
(7) A 500 ml water bottle ($6)
(8) Polypro long underwear ($32)
(9) A neoprene facemask ($13)
(10) A sleeping bag ($85)

Disregarding #4-#6, there are two themes that stand out: (A) I don't like being cold, and (B) I miss backpacking. In actuality, #5 fits theme A, too, because it was used to put up window-insulating plastic sheeting around my apartment. In any case, it's true: I don't like being cold, and I miss backpacking.

I'm in Albany with Jess for a few weeks, now, so the concern about the cold is at least on the rational side of obsessive. The backpacking bit I may not be able to do anything about anytime real soon . . . because of the cold. But I don't know. I'm an "I don't give a f@%*" kind of guy when it comes to hiking & camping, I'll have a warm bag & a good coat, and hell - at least there are no mosquitos, in winter. Maybe I'll do a little exploring of Massachusetts State Forests when the weather's not too god-awful.

In any case, I'm in Albany, and I think my time here is going to be a blast. Jess took me to the histo lab today & I got to play with a real human brain (or two) and skull. That's so cool! She's received permission for me to attend classes with her for the next two weeks, including the skull & brain dissection anatomy labs. While I've done a lot of "virtually" playing with brains in my fMRI work, that was all just picture-takin'. This is something else entirely, and I'm really psyched about it.

Speaking of picture takin', Jess got herself a new digital camera recently (so cool). So, apropos of nothing:



Also apropos of nothing, Jess opened her online store selling hand-sewn greyhound collars this week (yay!) and I volunteered to help with marketing by setting up a google "adwords" account. So cool! I've been longing for something to attempt to advertise on the web for years, but I'm . . . well, far too lazy to actually create a product and launch a business. So this was a golden opportunity! Thus far the google campaign has cost $5 in start-up fees + $1.88 for a grand total of 11 click-throughs (out of ~180 appearances of the ad) and zero purchases. But hey. It has only just begun. And my frequent checks of the hit count over the last two days have been well worth the $6.88 just in entertainment value.

So yeah, happy new year!

posted by Miles 9:11 PM

  (1) comments
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