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Complex Numbers
Complex Numbers
A complex number is expressed in the standard form a + bi, where a and b are real numbers and i is defined by i^2 = -1 (that is, i is the square root of -1). For example, 3 + 2i is a complex number.
The bi term is often referred to as an imaginary number (though this may be misleading, as it is no more "imaginary" than the symbolic abstractions we know as the "real" numbers). Thus, every complex number has a real part, a, and an imaginary part, bi.
Complex numbers are often represented on a graph known as the "complex plane," where the horizontal axis represents the infinity of real numbers, and the vertical axis represents the infinity of imaginary numbers. Thus, each complex number has a unique representation on the complex plane: some closer to real; others, more imaginary. If a = b, the number is equal parts real and imaginary.
Very simple transformations applied to numbers in the complex plane can lead to fractal structures of enormous intricacy and astonishing beauty.
September 27, 2007 at 4:18pm September 27, 2007 at 4:18pm
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So yesterday I get called out to a job site where a contractor is very carefully putting a road over the main gas feeder line to the city. It's actually two lines in parallel, but anyway, the problem with gas lines (other than the obvious) is that it's hard to tell how deep they are without digging, and the only way to dig is by hand, because equipment will pop those suckers open like overripe bananas.
So here's two laborers in a 7' hole in the ground, and about six other guys (me the engineer, the developer's agents, the construction foreman, the backhoe operator who had nothing to do until it came time to refill the hole, and so on) standing around the hole. I watched them clear some dirt away from the top of a bright yellow gas main. Satisfied that they'd found the right one, I started to wander off with one of the developers when this old guy comes up - I don't know what his job was - and squints into the hole.
I'm talking to the developer when I glance over and see that the old guy is smoking a goddamn cigarette.
Over a recently exposed gas main.
Now, I'm not going to say I ran away, but about then it started to rain and I said, "See ya!" and tore out of there in four wheel drive.
Now, it should be noted that the chance that there was any leak of gas from the line is vanishingly small. However, the result if there were a leak is... well, I can't even contemplate it. A disaster of biblical proportions. Dogs and cats sleeping together. Mass hysteria.
I don't write about my work much, mostly because it's usually mind-numbingly boring to DO, let alone read about, but every once in a while something will happen to get my adrenaline flowing. |
September 21, 2007 at 10:25am September 21, 2007 at 10:25am
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I'm just here to brag that I managed to score Springsteen tickets for the DC show in November.
WHOOHOO!
And now, back to my regularly scheduled vacation... |
September 16, 2007 at 7:22pm September 16, 2007 at 7:22pm
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Today was travel to the beach house and get all our shit together day.
We got here right at check-in time, schlepped all our junk upstairs, and put shit away. Then I had to go to the grocery store. The grocery store was crap - the bread aisle made it look like there was a snowstorm or hurricane coming. Somewhere in the vast, echoing chasm there was one loaf of whole grain bread - and I snagged it.
Then, having been running around since 8 am, I got me a glass of liquid fuck-it and a cigar and went out on the deck to look at the ocean.
That, of course, is why I go on vacation.
We're here with some friends, though everyone's arriving separately. Travis and Megan got here right after we did, followed quickly by Ken. ArtemisMad Scientist  should be joining us later tonight - assuming she doesn't get lost. MapQuest's directions to this place include an instruction to "turn left," without benefit of any route number or street name or anything. So somewhere on the Outer Banks, one is supposed to "turn left."
Fortunately, ArtemisMad Scientist knows all our mobile numbers.
So now, most everything is put away and we can get down to the serious business of being on vacation... including me getting off the internet and doing something interesting. |
September 15, 2007 at 7:02pm September 15, 2007 at 7:02pm
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String Theory:
The Universe is a big ball of string.
God is a cat. |
September 12, 2007 at 8:09pm September 12, 2007 at 8:09pm
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... I drank the entire bottle of wine.
I do that sometimes.
If you think that's bad, wait 'til next week... |
September 12, 2007 at 6:22pm September 12, 2007 at 6:22pm
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When panic grips your body and your heart's a hummingbird
Raven thoughts blacken your mind 'til you're breathing in reverse
All your friends and sedatives mean well but make it worse
Every reassurance just magnifies the doubt
Better find yourself a place to level out
I haven't been feeling much like myself lately - whatever that means. It's more like there's someone where I'm supposed to be and I'm where someone else is supposed to be. I've switched places, somehow.
How do we know who we are, anyway? Am I supposed to just keep on being the way I've been, because that's what all my friends, and my wife, expect? When am I allowed to change? I can't exactly tell them that's what I want. Perhaps I fear their expectations will then be too high, like when I try to lose weight and I manage to shed a few pounds, and that's where it stops, and they were maybe expecting me to keep going. Hell, I was expecting me to keep going.
But hell, it's not like there's anything wrong with my life. Far from it. In most respects, I'm exactly where I want to be.
Most. Is that last 20% worth the hassle?
Got a cricket for a conscience always looks the other way
A cocaine soul starts seeming like an empty cabaret
Hey, where have all the dancers gone? Now the music doesn't play
Tried to listen to the river but you couldn't shut your mouth
Better take a little time to level out
So I thought I'd try something different tonight. My wife is at her dance thing, and usually I'd be on my computer playing video games or maybe even blogging. Instead, I grabbed a few of my vices - bread, cheese, wine, a cigar and the laptop - and went out on my deck. I don't use our deck enough. It's not the greatest, but it's big enough, and just the right combination of bright and shade, being on the north side of the house.
In the backyard, a tangle of scrub and viny trees drops down to a swale - a little piece of the country here in the city.
Sometimes, it helps me to level out.
The wine's a Cab/Shiraz blend from Oz. The cigar is from somewhere in Central America - not Belize, unfortunately. The cheese is from Switzerland - which leaves only the bread local. Oh, wait, I just read the label - it's got components from the Mediterranean area.
I suppose that all says something, but I'm not quite sure what.
I never thought of running
My feet just led the way
Mixed up Signals
Bullet Train
Cars are switched out in the crazy rain
I could meet you any place
If the Brakeman turns my way
Sunday, we leave to go to the beach. A week at the Outer Banks might help - or maybe it won't, seeing as my attempts at ersatz escapism don't seem to be doing much.
But I keep thinking that this is all I need - a week at the beach; a long weekend in New York City in December (when did I decide that NYC in December was a desirable vacation?); just... something different. It doesn't even have to be the beach. A mountain would do. A lake. The edge of a desert; maybe a whale-watching cruise near Alaska.
Just somewhere to level out...
(lyrics by Bright Eyes
"If the Brakeman Turns My Way") |
September 11, 2007 at 12:32pm September 11, 2007 at 12:32pm September 10, 2007 at 7:37pm September 10, 2007 at 7:37pm
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My father is 90 years old today.
What do you get for a 90 year old with Alzheimer's?
I feel bad about it, but I didn't get anything. Anything useful is already provided; anything not useful only gets "lost" in the special-care community.
He has the best care anyone can hope for - he worked and planned so that now he doesn't have to settle for second best or less. Physically, he's healthy as can be; he only gets three prescriptions, and two of them are Alzheimer's related.
Still, I wouldn't wish his situation on anyone. I keep hoping I'll get hit by a bus, develop lung cancer, or get shot by a jealous husband - anything but Alzheimer's.
What's the point of being 90 if you can't even know whether you enjoy it or not? |
September 8, 2007 at 2:52pm September 8, 2007 at 2:52pm
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Okay, you know how the power company's job is to provide power to people's houses? And restore power when it goes out for whatever reason?
Well, it's true, believe it or not. That's what we pay them for.
So I get this ad from the power company, saying I could buy a home generator through them for something like $2500, payable in 24 easy installments, no interest.
Now, I'm sure I can get a generator for less than that elsewhere, but that's not the point. The point is that I pay the power company for electricity, and I'm sure as hell not going to pay them extra so they can slack off in keeping us supplied with electricity.
Weasels. |
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I'm more than happy with Carrion Luggage, however.
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