Saddam Hussein

Good Riddance.

Sirius-licious

One terrific xmas gift! I don't know how I lived with FM Radio for as long as I have. What I really like about it:

No Commercials - Always a big selling point for satellite radio, but rightfully so. I hate commercials.

BackSpin - Old Skool Rap Radio! Ever get the strange urge to listen to some Kriss Kross? Ice-T? DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince? Now you can!

LCD Display - A beautiful display and quite functional as well. It displays the current song and artist, so you don't have to play the "remember the chorus-find the station's website-lookup online programming" game.

Uncensored - There's an entire new world of hip-hop songs that I had no idea what the lyrics to were.

Comedy Channels - Sometimes I'm just in the mood for some standup while I'm sitting.

One brazillion channels - How many are in a brazillion?

Free Online Account - This xmas holidays, it was wonderful to be able to log into my online account and stream sirius radio over the internet. Made for great background listening at our house and the in-laws'.

10 Channel Presets - Ok, I could do this on my regular FM tuner, but not without pushing the AM/FM button. And with one brazillion channels to choose from, I found it oddly difficult to commit a channel to a button without carefully considering my other options.

80's Station/60's Station - 'nuf said!

Pause/Rewind - A little record button would be the icing on the cake!

Cheesecakes!

I've been doing a lot of cooking and baking lately. Cheesecakes are my latest creations. Last week, I made an Amaretto cheesecake, which sounds great but the crust called for chocolate wafers which turned chewy when I cut a piece to try. Last night, I made a keylime cheesecake, which turned out awesome! My next task is to tackle a real NY-style cheesecake which takes more creamed cheese, sweetened condensed milk, more eggs and vanilla.

Wilco

It's strange. Their song "Jesus" conjurs strong memories of a period of time a few years ago, but nothing very specific at all. I like songs that do that for me.

GMail Nightmare

I've been using GMail for a couple years now and have ALL of my professional and personal email forwarded there. This morning I find the following on my browser:

We’re currently performing some unexpected maintenance on your account. While we can’t predict exactly how long it will take, we’re working as quickly as we can to restore access to your email--apologies for the inconvenience.

If you have questions, please contact us at gmail-maintenance@google.com.


I have never felt so disconnected. It's been unavailable for 10 hours now and I'm not sure how much longer I can hold out. I've read horror stories of users being without access for as long as 2 weeks!

Fireworks!

This is a cartoon-come-true!

A fireworks factory explodes:

Clemson Football

The only thing that matters today.

Upset City!

In lieu of my weekly NCAAF predictions, I'm going to simply call upsets this week:

Michigan 27
Ohio State 24

Rutgers 21
Cincinatti 27

I wish I could say South Carolina loses to Middle Tennessee State, but I just don't think Spurrier would let something like that happen. Who knows? The Blue Raiders have been tough against good opponents. Perhaps they will overlook MTSU?

More on Locobots

Apparently, humans taste like bacon to robots! I don't know about you, but I don't trust 'em. Especially the snobby wine & cheese eatin' types.

High Performance Computing

There's only a handful of times in my life when I could sense or even look back and say this moment is or was career-changing for me. Three months ago I was focused on Security and Identity Management. Then, Clemson University announced a new technology initiative to make the coveted "Top 20" for public schools. The path to reach this involves High Performance Computing which we will rapidly be engaging over the next year. Now, when somebody asks me what I do, I don't have to stumble over acronyms and analogies; instead, I may say we predict the weather, search for cancer cures, and map genomes.

Clap Hands!

Saw Beck on SNL the other night. They did an amazing performance of "Clap Hands" using dinner table instruments: forks, knives, plates, glasses. It was awesome!

Below is their same performance taken from some other TV show. The SNL was pretty much the same:

The Prestige

I don't post enough about movies. Mostly because I don't have time to watch a lot of 'em anymore. And I drift in and out of those that I do catch. Saw The Prestigue over the weekend, and man was it great! I was pretty focused on each scene and dialog, which is quite something for me and especially for a 135 minute film. Everything about the film was very well done- the characters, the magic, the plot, the dialog. The bottom line: watch it.

Week 8 NCAAF Picks

Another tough week here. Not as many good matchups, but definitely some tight ones. I have a ticket to the Clemson - GA Tech game here in Clemson and excitement is abound!! We have ESPN Gameday on Bowman field, homecoming floats and fireworks, 7am eggs, kegs and bloody mary's (Ok, won't be there for that one). Look for me on TV from 10-12 AM. My picks this week:

Louisville 34 at Syracuse 17
Rutgers 24 at Pittsburgh 21 (Go Scarlet!)
Texas 31 at Nebraska 21
Wisconsin 28 at Purdue 17
Indiana 10 at Ohio State 37
Mississippi 9 at Arkansas 27
Kansas St 20 at Missouri 30
Tulane 6 at Auburn 45
UCLA 21 at Notre Dame 37
Washington 23 at California 27
Alabama 24 at Tennessee 30
Boston Coll 23 at Florida State 27
Iowa 13 at Michigan 28
Oregon 27 at Wash St 17
Boise St 38 at Idaho 13
Texas A&M 28 at Oklahoma 10
Colorado 10 at Oklahoma 24
GA Tech 27 at Clemson 31
Fresno St 9 at LSU 28

Demotivation

Motivator: Create your own custom poster

I spent hours on this site. Unfortunately, the only pictures on my computer were not particularly interesting. Here's my try at it:

Week 7 NCAA Picks

I'm batting .921. My picks this week:

Syracuse 13 at West Virginia 42
Minnesota 17 at Wisconsin 27
Iowa 37 at Indiana 6
Iowa St 13 at Oklahoma 33
Rutgers 21 at Navy 17
SE Missouri 9 at Arkansas 37
UCLA 17 at Oregon 30
Cincinnati 14 at Louisville 40
Missouri 34 at Texas A&M 20
Ohio State 38 at Michigan State 21
California 28 at Wash St 14
Baylor 13 at Texas 31
Nebraska 24 at Kansas St 17
Florida 17 at Auburn 13
Arizona St 14 at USC 34
Kentucky 7 at LSU 35

No real surprises here. I think I took all the spread favorites this week. Florida has the biggest chance of losing to a (still) good Auburn team. Maybe Michigan State can get that huge upset on Ohio State. Doubtful.

Queer.., No Gay.., Wait Funny!

You know those 9th grade surveys that ask: "What's our most embarassing moment?" Well, this lady now has something to write down.

Week 6 NCAA Picks

14/16 ain't bad. I overestimated poor Colorado and underestimated GA Tech. This week will be much tougher. Maybe the best weekend in NCAAF. Got my day mapped out from the moment I wake up. This week's picks:

Clemson 30 at Wake Forest 20
Arkansas 13 at Auburn 31
Purdue 10 at Iowa 27
W Virginia 38 at Miss St 7
Stanford 10 at Notre Dame 48
Washington 20 at USC 33
Maryland 13 at GA Tech 37
Bowling Green 6 at Ohio State 51
LSU 17 at Florida 23
Texas 33 at Oklahoma 37
Michigan St 24 at Michigan 34
Missouri 24 at Texas Tech 20
Tennessee 27 at Georgia 17
Oregon 34 at California 37
LA Tech 10 at Boise St 44
Nebraska 30 at Iowa St 21

Playing in the swamp will be to the Gator's advantage this week. Georgia will finally be exposed - the most overrated team in College Football. California continues their march with an upset over Oregon. Texas will be upset by a fantastic Oklahoma team with Heisman-deserving RB Adrian Peterson. And finally, Clemson will silence the doubters with a confident win over long-time foe Wake Forest.

Chess

In play there are two pleasures for your choosing - The one is winning, and the other is losing.

Lord Byron

Snowmen

Q: What did one snowman say to the other?

A: Smells like carrots.

Week 5 NCAA Picks

I couldn't resist after correctly predicting all 21 game winners last week. So, here we go again:

Tennessee 35 at Memphis 9
Colorado 24 at Missouri 21
Sam Houston 10 at Texas 42
Miss State 3 at LSU 40
Alabama 10 at Florida 27
Purdue 17 at Notre Dame 37
California 33 at Oregon St 14
Boise St 42 at Utah 13
Oregon 37 at Arizona St 17
GA Tech 13 at Virginia Tech 21
USC 44 at Washington St 14
LA Tech 14 at Clemson 45
Kansas 9 at Nebraska 34
Michigan 44 at Minnesota 24
Ohio St 27 at Iowa 20
Georgia 34 at Mississippi 7


Only one upset this week- Colorado finally gets their first win of the season over #25 Missouri. I've heavily argued the possible upset of Ohio State, but I stay true to my prediction last week that they will instead lose their only game to Michigan. GA Tech has a great fighting chance over VA Tech, but I think the home game advantage will prove valuable for the Hokies.

Clemson, again, rolls on to keep their #2 offensive ranking.

Cord Blood

In my brand new journey into parenthood, I've learned a lot! Several weeks ago, we went to our baby doctor for our 19 week sonogram. It seems that husbands/boyfriends are not the typical audience at these places. The magazine selection was slim pickens. Lots of cosmos, etc. with an occasional Sports Illustrated from, you know, the late 80's or 90's. The nurse who guided us through the sonogram described all the baby parts, head here, leg here, elbow here. Our baby would not show us the important organs, but instead wiggled and turned to avoid the question that was on all our minds- boy or girl??!! Finally, after what seemed an eternity, we discovered we were having a girl!

I have never heard of this until a few months ago when we were given a brochure, but we have the option of preserving our baby's cord blood. Cord blood (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cord_blood), is blood extracted from the umbilica cord. It's very rich in stem cells and for a price we can preserve this blood which we may then use later in life should one of us develop some genetic diseases such as certain forms of cancer or degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's. I don't think we're at risk for any of these, but I just wondered, has anyone else considered this or considered donating cord blood to a public bank?

Hold 'em

After watching the 2006 World Series of Poker, it became very clear to me that Jamie Gold is the luckiest bastard in the world. He has no poker skills whatsoever. This is why I want to patent a new technology. I want to formulate a "luck" measurement meter, which can be displayed on each player throughout the match. This way people can look at the chip stacks, read the meter, and know who's who in the world of poker.

NCAA Picks

I hope to make a habit each Friday night to post my picks for Saturday's Top 25 NCAA matchups. Heck, I'll put scores down, too.

VA Tech 31, Cincinnati 10
Clemson 34, UNC 14
Michigan 28, Wisconsin 13
Iowa 33, Illinois 17
Louisville 34, Kansas State 20
Georgia 41, Colorado 13
Auburn 38, Buffalo 3
Texas 45, Iowa St. 10
California 27, Arizona St. 21
Florida St. 44, Rice 6
Ohio State 30, Penn State 24
Tennessee 34, Marshall 9
West Virginia 41, East Carolina 13
Oklahoma 28, Middle Tennessee 17
Nebraska 44, Troy 21
Florida 40, Kentucky 17
USC 48, Arizona 9
NC State 27, Boston College 24
LSU 48, Tulane 10
Boise St. 30, Hawaii 10
Notre Dame 34, Michigan State 20

Not a lot of surprises this week. California will continue their fight back into football by upsetting Arizona St. Ohio St. will have the will to survive Penn State (but won't get so lucky against Michigan last week of the season). NC State will upset BC, because Clemson needs this to happen. Notre Dame, as overrated as they are, will turn their negative energy into a big victory over Mich. State.

Clemson, of course, will win. South Carolina will win by (only) 20.

The Why Of Fry

Still the best episode of the best TV comic series. Ever.

Reggie Bush

I was never so happy as to watch Texas triumph last year over USC in the Rose Bowl. In light of more recent allegations against Reggie Bush, I just want to emphasize how much respect I have for a student who has the "focus, intensity, and relentless effort to shelve over 450,000 books": http://www.theonion.com/content/node/53083

Tetration

My first post shall explain the Blog title itself.

From Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetration):

Tetration (also exponential map, hyperpower, power tower, super-exponentiation, and hyper4) is iterated exponentiation, the first hyper operator after exponentiation. The portmanteau word tetration was coined by Reuben Louis Goodstein from tetra- (four) and iteration. Tetration is used for the notation of very large numbers.

In a course I took called Computational Complexity Theory, I researched "Fast Growing Functions" such as the Ackermann Function (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ackermann_function) and Busy Beaver (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Busy_beaver). I was somewhat fascinated by the techniques we use to describe these functions. As with describing anything, we are forced to use concepts we already are familiar with. So, in describing such fast-growing functions, we "bootstrap" existing knowledge (functions), recursively, to wrap our heads around them.