At the End of the Semester

More than two months later, it is apparent that the warning regarding the programming course are completely well-founded: even with the smallest laboratory among the four accumulated groups, I barely caught up with the timetable. Of course, requirements on weeks four, six and nine, coupled with the other courses, kept me plenty busy through the weeks. 

I still have an assignment to check for the largest of my courses, then some more examination-related duties, all as the semester winds down. Some paperwork is needed in addition. 

Either way, slowed down enough for some words. 

Medical Facilities

So the on-campus facilities have been moved from the admittedly cramped infirmary nearby to the more remote but snazzier medical center, which had its open house today. Went there intentionally for a goodie bag, but also to check for an appointment, which I likely take at month end.

I guess an additional bit of exercise prior to getting a check up makes some sense. 

Pisay at 50

I've been seeing the excitement on social media leading up to the 50th anniversary of Philippine Science High School, which makes me sad for having skipped on Foundation Day celebrations for a solid decade now. Jubilarians were the silver celebrants, which was my eldest sister's batch.

I recall my high-school sections even without my yearbook: Diamond, which we had figured had the top ten finishers of the second screening, or at least we thought, and started our dorm lives, and was full of Star Trek novels, comic books and other reading parapharnalia; Sampaguita, a calm section that I recall was when I watched Akira, and was exposed to the depth that the medium promised at the hands of masters, and I had failed to help a friend from failing out; the last Calcium, where we lost Sarah Adriano early in the school year, and a controversial Foundation Day had us lose the services of one Aureas Solito, my only year at the Main dorm; and the first Graviton, in that exhilarating final year which makes me think of Filipino like Defense of the Dark Arts, trading Battle of the Brains for Inter-Bayan, and, of course, Le Miz. Those four years, memorable as any anime, gave me friends, some of whom I have been happy to have kept in touch with, others somewhat more tentatively, more easily now in the age of Facebook and Twitter. 

My friends are not restricted to our batch, full of personalities and spirits - participating in competitions broadened my acquaintances and deepened relations considerably. Whereas math competitions with Joel Caisido and Roy Tang, under Banjo Bautista, acquainted me with Alf Gonzales of '94, our batch's Angel's brother, and Jun Navarro of '96 from the Toronto IMO - associated with a guilt of mine before the end of the millennium I have not made up for - programming competitions brought me as an elder into a group of superstar programmers, largely from '97, most of whom have advanced degrees or extensive careers in technology: first with '94's Jojo Bañez, Jaime Godinez and Natnat Tacuboy, the following year under Jaime with Chipi Buenafe and Eric Vidal, and while they teamed up with Jerome Punzalan and I ended up with Joel (his multiple awards were no fluke - he had IPhO as well as PMO honors) and Amiel Malay, it was us three with Jojo in Pakistan late that year - we had also seen what I'd coin as GBS algorithm play a key role in 1994. Chipi spearheaded my return to training from the other side of the whiteboard in '97, and I met Neil Ongkingco, Orland Gonzales, Mario Carreon, along with Anna Gabutero ('98?), Ivan Orozco ('99) and Sacha Chua ('99). Many of this group, mostly under Chipi's initiative would host the national competitions of secondary level, and led to the arrival of ACM Manila regionals under UA&P, continuing after a short hiatus now under Doc Raffy Saldaña, and leading into (finally? hopefully soon?) IOI. 

But for a truly broad swath of alumni, one only need to check the faculty rooms. Even during my years, we already had the services of EJ Baranda ('89) and Ana Chupungco ('90), but the ranks of teachers and administrators have been full of alumni - in one faculty meeting we estimated half were alumni at Diliman, in 2003. The CST had Ana, Chipi (for a year), current Director Gene Andres, Tess Paccarangan, Monica Xavier and Mich Zabala, while Math had Eden de Joya (who I was under for third and fourth year), Dinah Gutierrez and Petri Español; the system director was Dr. Ramon Miranda, while Doc Raffy was Diliman director in my last year.  Many more from other batches have come and gone before and after my three years teaching there, and I have met a number of them, mostly online. Those batches I have had the privilege to teach, alumni I have handled in UP at DCS, while I reconnect with the '97 programmers, and all those above I have been able to share the bond of the experience found through the gates on Agham Road.

I don't want to exclude those from other campuses, who I may yet meet in the future, but the fire burning in the logo of our alma mater continues to light sparks and burn brightly in our lives, and in those we share ourselves with. 

Back in Business

So, merely a week and a half after starting the semester, I am a fully functioning staff member, albeit one that has to make sure that my set-up is in place (salary, medical benefits, remote access, leaving a change of footwear). In between the paperwork and the legwork, I haven't resettled the extra time I have yet. That's for this week, then. 

Access

So, after mistakenly assuming that a class would be eaten today by Union Day (which turns out to be on Thursday, leaving my tutorials unaffected), I got my staff access from the University. There's School-level stuff to fix, and my staff email to configure, but that will be mostly for tomorrow. I need to get my work pass paperwork done, as well, this afternoon. 

Relay

A side effect of not having a good pace yet is the domino effect this has on classes following. Whereas, on Mondays, only I follow myself, my second classes on Tuesday and Wednesday are immediately followed. Aside from the mandated (and sensible) finish-ten-minutes-before-the-next policy, which I fear does not get unanimously adhered to, there's also the (usually massive) amount of board wiping and resetting expected - in addition to occasionally cleaning up after careless students. I've had one trip to the lost-and-found, and it's barely been a week.

Nonetheless, this is more than mere courtesy - tutorial classes are often sqeezing as much as they could into the hour or two per week allotted, and these nontrivial tasks need to be budgeted in. Case in point: I've been lucky enough to have no classes ahead of me (so far), allowing me to set up projectors ahead of the designated time.

I always feel pressed for time, but that is mostly to ensure my cogs in the campus machine don't jam up. 

Passing Through

First couple of days trying the new schedule. My pace needs some adjusting, and I need to give a bit more face time. Need to read the material earlier than on the way there.

As usual adjustments must be made, and notes shouldn't be forgotten.

Nomadic Once More

So, while my paperwork is still being processed, I find myself with no staff card or lab space.  This isn't really a worry for me, since I'm doing purely teaching this semester, but this does cause some logistic problems:

• No consultation venue: not likely to cause problems at the moment, since students very rarely consult at the start of the semester.
• No access to rooms: again, not a problem, since the tutorial rooms are open access for classes.
• No log-in: here's a problem, as I cannot use the PCs without one, so this will be the tricky part.  Also, this locks me out of the system software for classroom management.

Either way, used to the nomadic lifestyle.  I'm likely to bring the laptop to work for a few weeks, but it is a bit unwieldy, so hopefully some temporary solution can be devised for the near-future.

... aaaand Back

Almost a six-month hiatus, but I have resettled, albeit hopefully in a fleeting fashion, and after having finally acquired the latest upgrade of status.

For the upcoming semester, I find myself again handling Foundation Mathematics at two different contexts, but now with the addition of heading a lecture/laboratory combo for contextualized Algorithms and Complexity.  This latter should prove to be an interesting counterpoint to previous, individual takes on the programming instruction paradigm, through the prism of a large cohort of hundreds splintered into 50-75 person chunks - the key will be that assessment is somewhat centralized.

Thus, back in the saddle again, so to speak.

#20PHnet

With twentieth anniversary celebrations for the Philippines joining the internet held in the previous week, I think back to far along that timeline where and when I got to experiencing the internet.

For the actual end of March 1994, I was likely panicking over how much of a mess my third year in high school was.  Then I spent summer being an unused alternate for the programming team, and then I spent most of my graduating year on normal things.

Things happen late in that year.  I remember being sequestered by the CISD chief with Joseph Gilbuena to one of the Strata buildings in the Ortigas district, and we were being taught how to use email.  Can't even remember what the program was (Pine?), but what kept in my mind was how difficult it'd be to remember an email address (blahblah@blah.gov.ph?).

Graduate, go to college, spend a semester being decent, then pick up on the internet once more, this time in an internet cafe on Katipunan Ave. (Compass Pacific?).  This was at a time when net access would go for 100 pesos an hour. (And we would be there for afternoons at a time.)  I'd go get dial-up at home in a year or so (at i-manila, though I think we tried edsamail for a while), and made sure to get internet access for the home since 1996.  (One of my friends had net access earlier, and from a country backbone, if I remembered correctly.)

Went for broadband (Destiny) in 1998-9, luckily in a low-concentration area, so it actually felt broadbandish.  Did One Internet Day for digitalfilipino.com representing our org (UP League of Internet Communicators) at the turn of the millennium.

I've lost a hotmail account, the edsamail account, the local ISP addresses and a few websites (mostly from Geocities), but I've kept most of my other contacts, including an ICQ account (though I may have lost an earlier one), and most mail-groups.  I've used Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer while they were at their peak, Firefox and Chrome when they came out, Eudora through to Thunderbird, Trillian and Pidgin.  mIRC is familiar, AVG and ZoneAlarm were early protection, though I've only really recently picked up Avast.  I've lost track of a number of net contacts through the decade and a half, but I've been present on a larger number of networks than I'd personally like to keep active.

It firmly entered the window of my life that Douglas Adams says provides excitement, and has it ever.  Now, to start rehearsing the "get off my lawn" speech for whatever new comes along.  That won't be mobile, since we're in the thick of that, so maybe the VR paradigm care of Oculus and Facebook, or the wearable paradigm care of Google Glass and smartwatches.  I'm personally looking forward to Sony's e-paper notepad.

On Passion and Responsibility

This is something of a cross-post: I normally do not host reviews in this blog. However, it seems to be more appropriate to air my views on the latest Hayao Miyazaki movie, The Wind Rises, here.

Unlike the movies that Miyazaki is known for, which are more fantastical in nature, The Wind Rises is based (according to Wikipedia) on the fictionalized biography of Jiro Horikoshi, a Mitsubishi aircraft designer, spliced with a 1937 short story of the same name. The subject is controversial, as Horikoshi designed not only the A5M (whose prototype sported the gull-wing design featured in the movie), but also its successors, the A6M Zero, J2M and A7M, which were built and used extensively and primarily in World War II. 

The choice of subject is notable for the staunchly pacifist Miyazaki, whose stories often carry deftly sculpted moral landscapes. It is also notable that the bulk of the story covers only up to the development of the A5M and predates Japan's involvement (or even Germany's invasion of Poland) by years, but the story interweaves the context leading up to war, highlighting the technical superiority of Germany, with characters lamenting how poor Japan was both in technology and economy, while not addressing the poor economic straits Germany had found itself after World War I, which helped Hitler gain traction.  Miyazaki, in both the movie, and the 2009 serialized manga it is based upon, addressed the war in a short sequence at the end. 

The movie, I feel, handles the autocracy of genius in an authentic manner, which could be considered callous and cold in a different light.  I am tempted to compare it to A Beautiful Mind, which is based on a biography of the mathematician John Nash, but there are no repercussions to Nash's passion, other than the schadenfreude of witnessing his mental instability. Other than both men's wives figuring heavily in the narratives, the thrusts of the movies are widely divergent. 

In the movie, Horikoshi talks to his childhood inspiration Caproni in his dreams - Caproni's company made planes for the third Axis country in both World Wars.  Their paths are similar, and products of their time - while neither is inclined to make crafts of war, they both know that their designs would be used for war.  Caproni wants to design the first passenger airplane to cross the Atlantic, but it crashes soon after lifting off from the water, somewhat reminiscent of the Spruce Goose, but without being able to hold up.

The movie itself does not flow into the supposed conflict of discovery versus repercussion, but of a man struggling to make his mark on the world.  The Ghibli visual tones are prevalent throughout the movie, relishing in the rustic splendor of its settings, even through the depiction of the Great Kanto Earthquake, and it matches the tone of the narrative, which has Jiro going about his life in an almost care-free manner, focussing on his struggles to achieve his design.  At times, only hints are given as to the considerations given to his welfare (cost of equipment in sponge cakes, secluding him after his hiatus) due to his status (he's introduced as a genius, and progressively is given larger projects, and his superiors indicate their protection only extends to when he is useful) - these are peripheral to his goal, though they are necessary.  Aside from his design, his attention only goes to Naoko, who takes the place of the lead character in the short story.

I am reminded of G. H. Hardy's A Mathematician's Apology.  Hardy's war was World War I, and he was happy in the fact that his study of pure mathematics was "useless", compared to the applied mathematics in ballistics---and belied by the fact that cryptographers have been mining his field in the century since.  As a mathematician in trade, I myself subscribe to this ideal, which harkens to the Hippocratic oath, paraphrased: "Physician, do not harm."  However, mathematicians probably have it easiest.

These insights do not cover contemporaries and their responsibilities during that war: from Einstein writing to FDR, leading to breakthroughs by Oppenheimer, Fermi, Teller and Ulam, among others who worked on nuclear weaponry, or Turing on the other side of the pond in the code-breaking effort.  Less than half a century prior, Nobel has, as his legacy, the prizes awarded to the highlights of humanity, funded from the invention of dynamite, and his weaponry business.

In the end, it is the story of a man driven by passion, in a time when his aspirations dovetail with the wartime machinations of his nation.  His goal is beauty - the realization of a lifetime of dreams.  His dreams, as Caproni says, are cruel.  He regrets - none of the planes he designed came back.  But, at the end, he is thankful for the opportunity.

Packed and Gone

So, today marks my last day as Staff. I don't really foresee avoiding going back to campus, even in the short term, and I will still be doing the research I'm in the middle of (somehow), yet there is a door that is closing - it's just been in that process for a while now, and today is just that click that definitively indicates a latch engaging. I do find myself looking at a side-project in the immediate future, and scads of applications to be sent.

So, here's to me, eh?

From Good to Great

Just finished a two-day seminar on teaching.  On one hand, it's giving me some confidence that I have made some good decisions on some courses delivered - and that I can absorb the language of teaching scholarship.  On the other hand, I feel the craving for more validation, somewhat.  I'm hoping it's not a selfish "I always knew I was right" and more a "I want to be able to explain what went right with it".

Edit:  I forgot to mention the most amusing part for me - someone (somewhat unsuccessfully, but I saw it work) demonstrated this.

Flubs

As of tonight, I have made four bugs in the long-run code.  I home to see the results I've been wanting to get tomorrow.  And those were small bugs, should've been ironed out quickly. :/

A Mirage?

Could it be?  It seems like I've squashed the bug (as usually, some minor thing - here, a sign error) that made the errors in the code go wonky.  Should have figured it out earlier - the clues were weighing on it, but then again, am slow that way.

Decaying Orbit

Today, while waiting for some interminable amount of time for code to produce a result, it has hit me that the sentiment of the sophomore Counting Crows album "Recovering the Satellites" may become applicable to me.  I do feel like I'm in a decaying orbit, about to accelerate and enter the atmosphere, with proverbial fire and smoke and the anxiety of impact.  The year already started with me in an inexorable path to change, but only today has it felt like an out-of-body experience.  With so many things still in the air, with the future coalescing but still murky, I find myself at a precipice and looking down, feeling gravity's pull.

I really should consider how long these computations take at times.

Lost Steam

Even being relatively early today, events were arranged (by me, in a fit to get things out of the way quickly) such that, in the long run, my steam ran out way too quickly, and focus was definitely not on in the later part of the day.  Fixed a minor error in the test code, but did not crunch down on it.

Testing, Testing

Got around to checking out the example in the paper we're checking out, and the results haven't quite matched up yet.  Still iterating parameters, and runtime is getting higher, so I will likely comb through the code, and see what could be up in there.

Tweaking

Quite a bit of tweaking being done - results are showing some strange consistency, where gradation is expected.  Some values have to be incorporated and some are reevaluated.  And, as per the usual, checks are made.  Some of the other possible error-sources have not been checked yet, and will be next to be perused.

Setting Sail on a New Boat

So, starting on the thread from a two days ago.  It has surprised me by being harder than it looks.  Of course, as is often with past models first made to code, many moving parts (especially untested ones) can be the source of a number of errors.  Debugging is such an under-appreciated skill.

Realigned, Distracted

Today started with good news that actually made me busy all day - hopefully, tomorrow morning this detail would have been shipped and ready to go.

On the other hand, plans made yesterday moved a day later.  And Friday is still a day laden and leaden with activity.

Realigned

After what now seems like slogging through last week, the new papers have bequeathed a bit of insight - enough to begin new coding, for baby-step implementation and testing.

Also, starting on a report for summarizing the activities of the last month or so.  I have an outline that intend to fill in gradually over the next few weeks.

Repeat of the Detour

Today started the same way as a couple of months ago, which led to the fiasco earlier this week. This time, will be more careful - also, starting to feel my wheels spin uselessly on my main compute, so this is a welcome reprieve. 

Also, second micro USB cable working less than 20% of the time with the Kindle. Sigh. Wondering if another new one is beeded. 

Procrastinating... or How the Mind Works

Gotten from a friend's public facebook page: Why Writers are the Worst Procrastinators.  It does lose touch with the title statement in the last third or so, but hits on a concept that explains what I've seen some people do. 

In particular, I've noticed (pre-K-12) that Philippine Science High School graduates entering college will coast their freshman year but often will get low grades in the second year.  My theory was that topics in the first year are often repeats of topics in PSHS, so they do well without trying - however, they don't notice that the pace of college classes is at least twice that of high-school, so when the second year starts, and new topics are to be learned, they stumble because (a) they haven't adjusted to the pace and (b) they spent a year with a significantly slowed pace of study (if they studied at all).  My suggestion was to handle (b) by giving these fresh graduates something to do (e.g., internship at a lab) to supplement or replace the first year courses (like in advanced placement, crediting tested courses) - of course, this set-up would require bureaucratic agreement between PSHS and the college/university/Commission on Higher Education.

The article mentions something similar: students that do well with early schoolwork, and how they approach evaluation (testing, real work).  Two mindsets are noted: those that use evaluation to measure absolute skill level (fixed mind-set, where skill is based on talent, which you have or don't have); and those that use evaluation to measure current skill level (growth mind-set, where skill can be achieved through effort).  I thought that I adhered to the fixed mind-set just before I wrote that out, but I realize that I adhere to the growth mind-set.  Here's an aside: the perspective that is different for me is in how much additional effort must be given in preparation for evaluation - I believe that no additional effort should be added, so that the evaluation is more accurate in determining your actual skill, instead of inflated by additional work.  Then again, that may be because I don't believe in turning up the notch for things that don't encourage me to do so - everyone puts in more effort where and when they want.  Guess I was lucky to get by on things that weren't as interesting to me during the time I couldn't choose my classes.

To go back to the title of the linked article, people that show talent early often, through the mechanism of schooling and its evaluations, get fixed mind-sets that make it difficult to work in less rigidly-structured environments, and tend to self-handicap to pre-suppose failure or enhance success.  Thus, a writer will procrastinate until the fear of producing something below a threshhold level gives way to the fear of not producing anything.

If anything, that self-handicap can be reworked positively (says Mark Rosewater, "restrictions breed creativity"), it can incentivise ("gamification"?) the procrastinator to perform.

Not Cutting It

Nope, sorry.  I actually didn't come in today with a plan.  I have done a bit of work (a page of computations and formulas), but my gears aren't shifting - not quite neutral, but not third gear, I guess.

This is one of those days.  At least I have a plan for tomorrow: implement.

Sidetrack

Something that slipped off the radar came back to bite on Saturday, and not being able to breathe through my nose yesterday meant a bit of a rush today.  Worked it out with my boss.

On the other hand, ongoing work stymied my latest attempts to untangle a result from it.  Also, new paper to glean and acquire new ideas from.

Retooling

Not much progress today - though it seems that one of the parameters of the problem requires adjustment - whether to a computation in the algorithm or to the underlying mechanism remains to be seen.

Nope, Still Not Getting It

My supervisor got me working code from the paper I'm reading - and it does work.  However, adapting to our algorithm (or the standard one) doesn't.  Looks like tomorrow will be tweaking until it fits.  Understanding the model better would help me out a bit here, but seems like it'll be trial and error for a bit.

Driving Blind

Okay, for now, I'm giving up on deriving a particular formula that seems to magically appear.  Let's just run with it and see what happens.  It's the algorithm, after all, and the process is for verification.

Lost in Translation

Occasionally, when reading articles and such, there will be missing steps that have to be filled in.  Today, I have been stymied somewhat by a step that seems to be quite the gulf between assertion and conclusion.  Hopefully, it'll clear by tomorrow.

Halfway through the Day is a Foot into the Long Weekend

It's already feeling like the new year here, while I'm scrounging for a late lunch. At least I was able to get new marching orders, having shared promising results. 

Hibernation soon - then hybriding my time to start off my new leg. 

Stepping Stone

Well, at least that works.

The code can use a bit more cleaning-up, but I at least got results in the main direction that seems workable.  Next logical step seems to be taking on results in a reference paper - but that requires one more fairly serious tweak.

Either way, just confirming the code's holding for more cases.

Backtrack and Trims

So, to figure out how to include the things I thought could be ignored, a bit of backtrack (or normal mode) was employed.  Got the expected results - now to trim some code, make it better, and eventually figure out how to work out the code I should be using.

Maybe by tomorrow?

*sniff*

Still sniffly. Have to work out the code I'm using, since I have to consider something I thought could safely be ignored. 

On the other hand, an amount of stability was introduced over the weekend. Must take advantage and consider the restrictions moving forward, crucially in February.

The Fox Hunt

So, continuing yesterday's efforts, today was spent looking for my problem.  This would have been foolish had I not been doing research.

Well, still felt a little foolish.  But mostly found some sources that outlined several versions of my problem.  Now to get a shotgun...

Stall

Today was not as productive as I had hoped.  A lot of things done, still quite a lot to do.  Still sniffly, now with sore lip outline, possibly due to allergic reaction.

Hodge-Podge

Collated a few results, got the green light to go ahead with next step. Attended a panel discussion featuring Nobel and Fields prize winners. Now off to have dinner with some school friends.

Sometimes days go by like this, even with a cold.

Change of Pace

This week will be less reading and more doing. Of course, that means I'll be working out code on thr simplest cases of a model problem. Computing has always been crawling to walking and running, hopefully.

Of course, cold/cough hasn't decided to go quite yet. Sigh.

Bittorent Sync

Since I find myself relying on cloud storage often, and I often have two devices that are simultaneously on, I'm keen to try out Bittorent Sync.

Does anyone have advice / tips on its usage?  I assume I'm transferring text files or PDF files that are at most a few MB in size.

Of Feeling

Despite how I have at times tried to capture the immediacy of feeling in the form of this blog, it's when the feelings are heavier, not necessarily more nuanced, but in need of better-chosen verbiage, that I try to both take time to frame and also try to rush deeper headlong, to catch the texture of the rush of emotion.

Today, I had found out that one of my erstwhile students had passed away.  A month or so ago, an underclassman of mine from high school had also succumbed to his condition in a hospital, and similar (trickles? floods?) flows of emotion are running in me.

I can't say that I was close with either of them, but they were both social-media contacts, and I waded through the messages of their networks in the wakes of their passing.  But you would not need to be close to feel the loss that runs like a wave in these messages.  Some are short messages, and some are anecdotes.  I am gladdened that no vitriol was evident in either case, well-wishers and bon-voyagers throughout.

I briefly muse that it always feels worse, an unfairness unspoken, of younger men and women taken ahead of you.

I guess that is all I really can say.  I will not eulogize, as there are better people to do so.

Week of Sniffles

So it seems that not taking meds has had some benefit of not being narcoleptic, but I am still currently sniffly. Nonetheless, some better progress in the reading department, though arranging all the relevant ideas in my head is not proving to be easy.

Hiccup

Reading is going a little more slowly than I'd like today, on account of the meds keeping me drowsy from the commute here, and the suprisingly frequent flare-ups of hiccupping occurring: I've counted three instances today, and it's barely past tea-time.

Anyways, onward through the breech.

Edit: okay, been wondering why the last few posts have been on G+.  They won't automatically do so now.  Also, pork-bun-and-hot-milk-tea are now sort of waking me up.

Edit: also, weird that G+ posting is coming up as a comment on the blog page.

Edit: hiccup jag number four.  somewhat fully awake.

Edit: number five in about nine hours of total wakefulness.  doesn't even include last night's instance

Edit: and twice more in the next two hours makes eight.  should I be worried?

Edit:  a ninth before the end of the day.

A Few Days After

So, spent the day at home yesterday, knocked over by the sore throat part of the cold-cough trio, and I followed it up today by not going to work.  To be more precise, doing work outside the lab, sandwiched between visiting academic friends in proximity to work, which so happened to be attending a seminar by Michael McCourt, a visiting professor of Univ. of Denver.  I'll be reading a few of his papers to report to my supervisor, hopefully tomorrow - but I hope the report will be as promising as today's talk indicates.

In short, more reading, after an island of not-reading-much.  So it goes.

Four Years Hence

It *has* been a while, hasn't it.

I'm not currently up for doing a recap of the intervening period.  In fact, I'm only going to give a perfunctory update on what I am currently up to, which is: reading.

Likely, this spate of writing has come from the decompress I usually need when (and during) reading a journal article.  Hopefully, I'll be somewhat more coherent at a future (soon-ish) time.

I'm currently reading on radial basis functions (RBFs) and realigning what I had read (and worked) on about it about close to the end of 2009 / start of 2010.  May be useful: reading it in preparation to attending a seminar roughly in the same area.

Edit: forgot to add that I had had a few medications for cough / cold / fever, so I'm also a bit sleepy.  It does not help with the reading, whereas cutting it up, say by writing here, is helping out, since I have to reassess what I understand so far.