1. A computer
Yes that’s 64 cores. It would cost around $5000. Honestly not that bad for more than 50 cores.
Uses: Research into multicore and parallel programming and compilation techniques.
2. A sound system
A pair (or maybe 8 for ambisonics!) of Meyer UPM-1Ps. They are beautiful and durable and loud as heck. So really studio monitors are probably more realistic. But I have a soft spot for UPM-1Ps because I had a pair in my office for years.
They are around $1800 per speaker. So a pair is $3600 and a cube worth is $14,400.
Uses: Awesome playback of paraphonic audio. Out doing my neighbors sound system by several orders of maganitude. For instance I might be able to do justice to the cannons of the 1812 Overture if I didn’t like my windows too much. I think that would out do the hip hop my neighbors play.
3. A Camera with wide angle lenses
Probably a Nikon DSLR of some kind or maybe if I’m particularly insane a large format Red camera. Then a fish eye lens and a hemispheric lens.
Uses:Â Panographic photography.
4. A paraphonic microphone array and a multi channel portable recorder
This is the equivalent of a panoramic camera setup except for sound. There are 2 approaches: a ambisonic microphone (4 or 9 channels, first and second order respectively), or a 2d (or 3d) microphone array and some pretty advanced software (this works by measuring the phase differences between the mics and building a model of the sound field). The second case it more accurate than ambisonic because ambisonic encode only the pressure vector at a single point where as the array actually gets you some information about the wave fronts. So a mic array will in theory have be able to give you information about the sound over some small area instead of at a point. This could result in better playback over an area; ambisonic tends to have a sweat spot outside of which the localization degrades quickly.
So whenever I think about audio and image capture gear I always find my self wanting to capture the essence of a place more than any specific image or sound. I want to take a panorama and 20 minutes of audio and then show it to people. Because in some small way it would allow them to be there. Far more than a single picture or just a few minutes of mono audio. They would hear the cars drive by and see the whole sky and hear the bees that investigate the microphone. I really want to try to do that at some point.
As a side note. I actually do think it’s time for me to own a digital camera. Probably a Nikon COOLPIX P7100 or P7000 or something similar. I like having a view finder and I want a full manual mode. Though I might give up on the viewfinder. All the cameras from listed here look good: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/q42010highendcompactgroup. The Panasonic looks pretty good too and you can get an external viewfinder for it (attaches to the shoe). I’m not sure when I will do it but I think I’d like to have a better camera than my phone.
Posted in
Computers,
Hardware,
Life (other than code)
Pasted directly from my chat log with a friend, but I typed the whole thing
Let me tell you a little story about a robot. Someone was training a robot to dual other robots. They would reward the robot for doing better each day. The robot learned that if it got shot it was bad. So it would run away. And it would be rewarded. But after a while it couldn’t do any better. The robot was very good at running away but it never did anything else. So it couldn’t improve.
It was trapped in what is called (mathimatically) a local maxima. It would have to do something that would make things worse to learn how to make them better. My point is it’s really easy to get stuck in one place and not be willing to take the risk to get out of the place you are stuck and find a better place.
(This is a true story about someone trying to build an battle bot AI of sorts, it would run away but never shoot.)
Posted in
Computers,
Life (other than code)
Austin is a nice town. It sees it self as a liberal mecca and in many ways it is. However I get an odd feeling that there may be a bit more don’t ask, don’t tell type attitude about things, meaning that although it is “accepted” people don’t openly talk about some thing. I don’t know if this is true, but I got an odd sense of that. That being said it is a really nice place. Lots of sun and nice weather some nice big parks inside the city. Also it’s a university town in many ways because although the student population is not a huge percentage of the overall population the city grew up around UT Austin in many ways.
Like I said in my last post none of this should be taken as factual information about anything especially UT Austin. It’s just my sense from spending 3 days in an around the campus.
- Nice city. Feels a bit more like home than Philly. But in other ways I would prefer to be in philly.
- Seems like a more connected department in the sense that faculty and students have more casual relationships. There would be some ability to walk into peoples offices and talk to them. It’s not PDX but it’s closer than UPenn I think.
- The visit was a little more calm.
- I really like Orc, however i don’t know how much real interest there is in doing a higher-performance implementation or even if it would be a good idea.
- J. Misra is a very nice guy.
- I find the work of Don Batory on code “synthesis” very interesting.
- I feel like my work is at the intersection of more peoples interests and skillsets than at UPenn.
- However there does not seem to be much type theory here.
- Unless you get outside funding you have to TA to maintain funding. This can be quite a lot of work in some cases. However I do want teaching experience. However it can really cut into research time.
- Like UPenn the faculty doesn’t seem to be willing to come in on the weekend even for the prospective students.
- I could get involved in the Orc work directly and I could probably get publications out of that. It would be a lot work but that’s the way of publication.
- Very few department clubs oddly enough. But there are lots of clubs on the rest of campus.
- City is quite bikable. There are several grad students who ride everywhere. Not as good as portland but still nice.
- Very strict police force in terms of enforcing traffic laws for bikes.
- People love this place. However I’m a bit worried about finding actually like minded people. I’m sure they are there, but it may take a bit of searching.
- Food is reasonably priced but a bit on the high end.
- Housing is fairly cheap if I am willing to ride a few miles or have a share.
- I really don’t know anyone in Austin.
- An hour out of town you can get some nice astronomical seeing.
- 4mo sunny days per year.
- It seems that fire dancing is legal in the parks with a permit!
At this point I am leaning heavily toward UT Austin. However I’m not very happy with that. It will be very lonely to move to another city where I know no one. If I went to Philly I could visit all my old friends in NYC and that would be really nice; I miss them. However I think as far as being able to follow the research direction I want and enjoying my degree I think Austin is better.
It has also hit me how much I will miss Portland. In theory I could stay at Portland State and get my PhD here. It would be faster for one thing (since I could roll my Master’s work over into the first requirements for the PhD). However Portland State is not well rated or well known, and although I believe it is a good school (although there is no one here whose interests line up perfectly with mine, but that will be true to one degree or another anywhere) I have been told by many people that school reputation matters and this makes sense. When someone has a bunch of applications on their desk they need a way to make a first cut and where you got your PhD is one of them. However other people have said that publications are more important. Honestly I don’t know who to believe. The only thing I know for sure is that having a PhD from a prestigious university like UPenn or UTAustin would be nothing put positive even if it isn’t the only important thing.
So I am faced with a choice of school something like this:
- Portland State: Very fun and nice department with many smart people though no one exactly in my field. But not prestigious so I would probably have to work harder to get a job once I graduate. I have good friends here.
- UPenn: Less fun department but with lots of smart, nice people however again no one exactly in my field. However it is the most prestigious program of the three so I would probably have an easier time getting jobs. I know 1 or 2 people in Philly and I know a lot of people in NYC and I could visit them which would be so nice.
- UTAustin: Middle of the road department in terms of fun; intense but open and seems to enjoy itself. There are several people in the department working on what I am interested in so I would not be working on a secondary research project. This is a very close second to UPenn in prestige so either would be a good bet as far as getting jobs. I know almost no one in Austin or anywhere near by. I’m sure I could make friends but it is very lonely to move to a new place and not know anyone.
The issue about prestige bothers me a lot. As I said I have been told different things by different people and I don’t know who to believe. In the end I am going to have to just choose one and no matter which I choose I will have lost some things and gained others. That is the thing that hurts the most for me is that I cannot “just follow my heart” since no matter where I go I will have lost some opportunity I care about.
However there is one thing I am very happy about. I don’t have to travel again for mouths. Being gone to another state for two weekends in a row was really exhausting. It’s nice to be home, so I can try to get caught up on things. Speaking of which I need to get my thesis committee setup. My stress level is high enough that I have been running a mild headache for a week. Life is not fun at the moment.
PS: Again, if you have any comments on either of these schools or towns or recommendations or random thoughts on the subject tell me. I’m looking for all the input I can get.
Posted in
Grad School,
Life (other than code)