Unicycling!

I started unicycling around a month and a half ago. I have a lot to say about it, so I may end up breaking this into multiple posts, but I have to start somewhere, right?

Part 1: Why I started
I've halfheartedly wanted to learn for a while. My Oma gave me a unicycle for my birthday years ago, but I never quite got the hang of it. Okay, fine, I never even got close to getting the hang of it. Harvey Mudd has a unicycling club, though, and I was free for a couple hours during their first meeting, so I thought I'd go check it out. It's a quintessential Mudd thing, really.
Other awesome reasons to learn, now that I know how:
1) Making fun of bicyclists for having too many wheels.
2) Making fun of bicyclists for not yet having lost their training wheel.
3) Flailing your arms like an idiot while balancing on one wheel is fun!
4) Unicyclists tend to be well-balanced people. (facepalm)
5) Getting funny looks from regular people when riding to buy groceries etc.
6) Instant identification as a Mudder anywhere in Claremont

Scrimmage

I'd been looking forward to yesterday for around a month. It was the day of a scrimmage between the Braineaters, the 5C open Ultimate team, and the teams from three other schools: USC, APU, and Occidental. I had gotten permission from the captains to play with the open team for the day.
I like to play with open teams when I get the chance because, in reality, the level of play is completely different from mixed or women's Ultimate. It's also invigorating to push my physical limits in order to compete against guys. Most of all, I absolutely love the Brains. They're a fun-loving team, and despite that, or, more likely, because of it, they won D-III nationals last year. They have a full team of real characters, and love and tease each other to death. It's an amazing environment to play in, and I'm honored they've allowed me to compete with them.
The thing was, it was a bittersweet kind of joy. For them, this is only the beginning. They have a whole year to continue to play together and mesh as a team. For me, on the other hand, this is probably the end. It's unlikely I'll be able to compete with them again, and I don't know if the captains would allow me to in any case.
I'll continue attending practices with them - after all, what would college life be like without 10+ hours of Ultimate each week? I'll still be learning and pushing my limits. But in a way, yesterday was the end for me. I'm no longer really a member of the team.

Math in the Great Outdoors

Anyone who's ever studied Fibonacci numbers is now expecting a long ramble about pinecones, sunflower seeds, and flower petals. Sorry, out of luck. I'm sure you can find that sort of thing elsewhere. It's only taught to every elementary school student in the US school system. Okay, maybe not quite, but the number of times it was taught to me must make up for anyone out there who hasn't seen it.
In any case, what I'm actually writing about is doing math homework in the fresh, smoggy air of southern California. Under a tree, in my case, since the lack of humidity means that it's significantly cooler in the shade than the sun (a good 5-10 degrees isn't unheard of). That turned out to be a mistake. Look what happened!

Seriously, birds! Have some respect for the calculus!
For those who are a little slow on the uptake, that yellow stuff that's circled is the dropping of a kind (cheating!) bird who must have been checking out my work from above. If a bird ever turns in calculus homework that looks suspiciously like this, make sure to call him/her on plagiarism!

Welcome to Debugging

I just spent around 4 hours trying to find a bug in my code, only to find a stinking rounding error. That I can't control. Yippee!
Somehow, DrRacket thinks that 12.0 x .0254 (number of meters in a foot) is 0.30479999999999996 rather than the correct 0.3048. It makes enough of these little errors over the course of a long string of computations that my tests are failing. Could anything be more frustrating? Okay, probably. But not right now.

Painters' Tape, part III

In continuing my ever-enduring quest to replace duct tape with painters' tape on the list of things that make the world go round, I have a third episode. My watch broke - I lost the pin that held the watch band to the watch. I'm currently looking into buying a new band or a new watch, but for the time being, I've fixed it up with good ol' painters' tape. Just to document this, here it is:

Next step in making painters' tape make the world go round: connect the earth to the sun with a giant string of painters' tape...this could be interesting...

Exploring Nature

Yesterday was an awesome day. All told, I spent around 6 hours being somehow physically active - walking, playing Ultimate, doing self-defense drills, and learning some Kendo. Awesome.
I spent an hour and a bit walking around the botanic gardens before rain (and a grumbling stomach) sent me back to campus. It was overcast all morning, which made it possible for me to really explore the lower gardens without overheating in half a second. It's quite the area. Also thanks to the overcast, I had approximately zero sense of direction, so I was very grateful for the giant 'EXIT' arrows painted on the trail at every intersection. Without those, I'd probably still be wandering around there completely lost.
Here are a few pictures from my explorations of nature:

This was the overcast lifting - it was just barely
possible to see the mountains to the north.

I loved this single flower. Unfortunately,
it was pretty far off the path, so I couldn't
get any closer.

Cute berries! Probably poisonous, but still cute!

Okay, look closely in the middle there. See that gray
blob? That's a squirrel hanging head-down trying to get
something off a branch that couldn't support its weight.

So much nature!

I loved the look of this tree. I'm not sure if it's dying
or just waiting for the wet season before it comes back
to life.

Okay, just a couple more pictures before I go back to frantically debugging my CS homework...
On my way to the bookstore to buy some Scotch tape on Thursday, I spotted a beautiful yellow and black butterfly. It was hanging out near a layer of wet leaves from the previous night's rain. I'm guessing that it was drinking. The fun thing was that it was still there around 40 minutes later as I was coming back to campus. It was just begging to have pictures taken of it. Here are the best of them:

Painters' Tape!

In my ever-enduring quest to use painters' tape to 'affix everything to everything,' I have moved from affixing posters (which are still hanging, by the way - definitely a new record for the map) to extension cords. I'll be the first to admit I was less-than-organized in my approach to this challenge, but here's a picture of how it ended up:

Note to my roommate: if you ever come into a predominantly blue room, I apologize in advance and point out that F&M did approve the use of painters' tape, and it's not a permanent alteration anyway...

The Ultimate Engineering Challenge

I've had a very enjoyable weekend. I've been fairly productive, have played a little Ultimate, gone for two separate runs, and finished a lot of homework.
As a break from studying this evening, I decided to tackle the ultimate engineering challenge: hanging posters armed only with painters' tape. For those of you who don't know of the stuff, painters' tape is that blue masking-tape-like tape. It didn't take me long to find out why it's favored by painters - it doesn't stick to walls. No wonder, then, that it's the administration's sticky-material-of-choice for dorm rooms at Harvey Mudd. As an example of how bad it is at holding posters up, take a look at this first, naive attempt at hanging:

That didn't work. At all. By that I mean that it fell down within ten seconds of being stuck to the wall.  This stuff is that not sticky. This problem got me thinking. It stuck to the posters just fine, it just fell off the wall with hardly a second thought.
'Aha!' I thought, 'perhaps I can help it stick to the wall.' That I did. Here's my step-by-step method, in the hopes that it will help someone, somewhere, stick a poster to the wall using not-sticky tape.

Step 1: Long piece of tape
After getting rid of any dust on the wall with a damp rag, take a pretty long piece of tape and stick half of it to the wall. The remaining half should dangle off, on the side that forces of nature and evil will be fighting. That is, if you're fighting gravity, the top half should be dangling. If you're trying to prevent a corner from pulling away to the right, the left half should be dangling. If you're fighting anti-gravity...send me a blueprint for how you got that working and I'll share the Nobel prize with you.

Pretty simple so far.

Step 2: Prevent the dangling end from just dragging the rest of the tape off the wall with it.
This is done by putting another piece of tape perpendicular to the first, across it. Really, a picture will tell it best.

Then, crease the first piece so that there's a sharp edge right at the edge of the second piece. This will make the next few steps a lot easier. This setup on its own would work fairly well, but if your poster has any non-negligible weight, it might tear the second piece, drag the first off the wall, and fall down anyway. There are two weak points: on either side of the first piece, on the top edge of the second. We'll reinforce those next.

Step 3: Reinforce those weak points!
Next, you need to place two more pieces of tape parallel and right next to the first. These will reinforce the areas of the second piece most likely to tear. Again, a picture will tell it best.

Hooray! This, again, should work on its own, but it doesn't hurt to put one more piece of tape across those two to further reinforce the whole system.

Step 4: One more reinforcement
In this step, you place one last piece of tape parallel to the second piece, and across the third and fourth, to reinforce the weaker points there.

Hooray! You're done! Well, actually...you probably still want to hang your poster. If it's a width-wise or less-than-light poster, you probably want to make another one of these, just to be safe. It's a good idea to distribute the weight.

So...
Step 5: Repeat

Now, finally, you can hang your poster. Make sure the dangly bits are mostly where you want them to be, and then...

Step 6: Victory!

Step 7: Just to be safe
You've put so much work into this, it would be a shame for it to be less-than-utterly-perfect. Just to be safe, put a little roll of tape at each corner. These won't be supporting much weight, so the painters' tape will hold. Hopefully. Also, if your poster is really heavy, you might want to consider double-reinforcing the whole thing by repeating steps two through four.

I may or may not have spent upwards of an hour and a half doing this tonight. Most of that was for one poster. A giant (not quite full-size, fortunately, but pretty big) map of the world. I've historically had a lot of trouble getting this map to stay attached to a wall, so I really went all-out for it. There are 11 of these setups, all double-reinforced, behind the main body of the map, along with a roll at three of the corners and an additional sideways setup at one particularly persistent corner. Here is the proof that it has stayed put for at least long enough for me to get down off my bed and snap a picture of it:

I was also able to reuse the tape from my original failed attempt. At first, it went into the Pile of (Not-Quite-) Everlasting Doom:

Eventually, though, I found a better use for it.  These tiny little rolls of tape, while not strong enough to hold a poster, were more than enough for my mini-posters. Each of these was a picture on some date from a family calendar a few years ago. They work beautifully on my 'poster wall.'

All in all, a very enjoyable study break. 

Annus Mirabilis

The scene opens with a single man sitting at a desk. EINSTEIN wears a mixture of clothing, some articles too large for him, and certainly clashing. His hair is a mess. He focuses on the stack of papers in front of him, muttering to himself. He has a German accent.
EINSTEIN: Another time-keeping device. Still on alternating current. Dammit, why couldn't direct current have won?
(pause)
Let's see. Well, this seems like it ought to work. The problem is that the power plant would have to be perfectly consistent. Then again, I suppose I can allow the inventor, (consults his papers) Henry Warren, figure that out for himself. Approved!
(stamps the sheet with a large, official-looking stamp and sets both the sheet and stamp aside)
Moving on... A gravel dispenser? How did that get filed in with the electromagnetic devices? Isn't that Otto's department? Ah, well, I might as well review it now. It seems to require that...no, it doesn't. I wonder what would happen if the gravel came out here instead. Ah, no. It looks like this will work just fine. Okay, approved.
(He does his stamp routine again, then glances toward an imaginary window, transfixed by something going on beyond it. He checks his watch briefly, then returns his gaze to the events outside.)
There goes the 11:05 train, consistent as ever. They might as well set the great clock in Bern by its departure. I wonder how fast it's going. Speaking of which, I also wonder how fast time is going. At a rate of a second per second, I suppose.
(He shakes his head as if to clear it of some absurd idea, then turns back to his work.)
Here's an interesting idea! This man wants to create a light clock! So there's an electromagnetic pulse here, and then that creates some light, which is absorbed here. No, this would never work. The absorption of light isn't nearly that simple. Why, scientists have been working on it for decades, and still can't explain it. It's a good idea, but with terrible execution. Rejected.
Once scientists actually figure out the photoelectric effect and can describe the absorption of light and emission of electrons, we'll be able to figure out something like this device. Until then, we'll just have to sit tight and wait. What we need is another Max Planck. He would have figured it out.
Okay, next. Naegeli, again. He does like to invent things. Here's a modification of his old motor. According to this, that one sparked when it was operating. This is supposed to somehow suppress the sparks.
(He pauses, studying a sketch on the sheet.)
I suppose that this wire is supposed to channel off the extra current. It's creative, but not a very nice design. Still, Naegeli is a good inventor. I guess I should –
(He breaks off, staring shocked into space. In a flurry of excitement, he grabs a pen and a piece of paper from his desk and begins scribbling frantically. He mutters as he writes, increasing in volume as he realizes the implications of his discovery.)
Of course! Max Planck could have seen it! He said light was particles. That completely solves the problem of absorption. This explains it!
PATENT CLERK: (from offstage) Einstein, keep it down, would you? Some of us are trying to work here!
EINSTEIN: Sorry! (quieter) So if light is in particles, then only one chunk of light can be absorbed at a time! That means that it doesn't matter how much light there is, only the energy of the light. This is a beautiful idea. The photoelectric effect is explained!
PATENT CLERK: (from offstage) Okay, look, Albert. We do have work to get done, and we don't have time to listen to you rambling about whatever nonsense you're up to now. Last week it was tiny little particles in water, now it's something about particles of light? It's absurd. If you can't focus on the work, you should find work elsewhere.
EINSTEIN: Okay, sorry. I've just answered one of the persistent questions of physics for the last decade, but I'm getting back to work now.
(He returns to the stack of patents in front of him.)
Time to go back to Naegli, I suppose, and his spark-less motor. I definitely need to check out his old diagrams. I can't remember them at all.
(He begins rummaging through a second pile of papers, off to the side of his desk. After a few moments of this, he glances out the window and freezes.)
The light clock! The beauty of it is that it's not mechanical. It doesn't have a pendulum, which can be knocked around, so no matter how much you jolt it, it remains unchanged. If I were on a train, for instance, and we accelerated quickly, it wouldn't change its ticking. The speed of light is always the same. Maxwell told us that without any doubt. No matter how much we bumped around or how fast we went, it would remain the same. Even if the train went faster and faster, to nearly the speed of light itself, the clock would go on ticking.
Hang on. That would mean that the pulse of light would be traveling faster than the speed of light to an observer outside the train, which we know to be impossible. Something strange is going on here.
(He stares into space, lost in thought. Seeming to lose his flash of insight, the brightness leaves his eyes, he sighs and then returns to his work. His tone is more downcast now – he knows that he has let a great idea escape his grasp.)
I thought I had something there.
Oh, right, Naegli's motor.
(He glances between two different sheets of paper.)
Approved, I suppose. There isn't much new, but it's a good idea.
(He repeats his stamp routine, and moves on to the next patent.)
Here's a strange concept. This man wants to use light to warm up objects. Oh, no, not light – he wants to use some form of invisible electromagnetic radiation. It's supposed to be absorbed by the object, which will increase its energy. Hmm... No, I really don't like this one. It just seems so implausible. Oh, and he's calling it a microwave! That's just spectacle – absurd! This is certainly rejected!
(He repeats his rejection stamp routine, and resumes staring out the window.)
How can you have two speeds add up to greater than the speed of light? It's impossible, and yet the setup is entirely plausible. How does it work?
(haltingly) What if...distances changed in different frames of reference? Then, the light would have a different distance to travel, in the same time. (He speaks faster, and louder, now. He's on a roll.) Or what if time changed? Then speeds would be different from different points of view. It's elementary! Everything is relative!
PATENT CLERK: Einstein! Shut up!
EINSTEIN: (apologetic, but triumphant) Sorry.
Scene

The best story in Chinese ever!

This morning, I was in Chinese class. We're beginning a transportation unit now, so we were telling a story. I happened to be the subject of the story. We concluded right at the beginning that I would be going to Poland. Here's a synopsis of the best Chinese story ever:

So I fly a little plane to Chicago, where I catch a larger plane, in which I fly to New York. From there, I climb aboard a boat and sail across the ocean. About a week later, I reach London, where I ask for directions to Poland. I catch a plane and go to Krakow. 

At this point, we all turn to a Polish/Swedish member of our class and ask 'what the heck in in Krakow?' He explains that there are lots of castles. Here ensued a discussion (in Chinese, of course) of what is in castles. 'Kings,' contributed my teacher. 'Dragons,' said a classmate. 

So I decided to visit a king in a castle, who has a really nice dragon. I ask if I can buy it, and he names a price. It's far too expensive for me to buy. So I steal it instead (a classmate's suggestion, not mine). I ride my new dragon from Krakow to Germany. 

There was a bit of a debate about whether my dragon could fly or not. I asserted that it most certainly could. It flew very well, thank you very much! But my classmates and teacher refused to accept that. So it was a long trek rather than a nice flight. 

Oh, and did I mention this dragon has six legs? He runs really fast, so it only took a little while to get to Germany. In Germany, I proceeded to drink a lot of beer (teacher's idea, not mine) and eat lots. By the time I wanted to leave, I was so fat that the dragon could no longer carry me. So I abandoned it and walked to France. Out of a lack of both money and anything better to do, I went to the Louvre on one of its free days, begged for some food, and then washed dishes until I was quite rich. With the proceeds from this, I flew back home and lived happily ever after.