If you were serious, apply and find out.
I would be the intern from hell on so many different levels :^)
2025-08-08 11:02:51
Took a guided tour of the NCAR supercomputer facility in Cheyenne, WY yesterday. My son and his SO accompanied me. She runs a climate science group at the U of Wyoming. The computer, named Derecho, appears in the TOP500 list of world's fastest computers twice. The CPU partition is #139. The GPU partition is #256. It's one of the very few of the TOP500 machines where you can actually get into the machine room.
It's been too long since I've done my free-association questions thing, I'm out of practice. Did get a good run after asking about fire suppression in the machine room. (Water, with anti-corrosion additives.) What sort of fire detection? What else do the air sensors check for? Is anything else monitored that closely? How many sensors for all of that together? (120,000.) How does all of the sensor data get collected and sorted out?
The supercomputer resources are provided free of charge to earth science researchers. I was assured by the docent that if I submitted a proposal, it would receive the same consideration as all the others. Except that U of Wyoming proposals get some priority, since the State of Wyoming contributes to the facility. I turned to my son's SO and asked, "Do you need interns?" She paused and then answered "Paid or unpaid?" I never know when people are pulling my leg.
2025-08-07 21:28:33
Yes, same size as a plump standard pillow. Traditional Japanese versions are quite a bit smaller and thinner.
I got mediocre marks in cursive penmanship because I insisted right from the beginning on straight up and down strokes instead of slanting it.
Did anyone notice that the toy software actually did a nice job of flattening the notebook pages?
2025-08-07 17:43:53
I am now a side sleeper, and I have never worked out exactly what the ideal combination is for that.
I am a side sleeper. My buckwheat pillow is about three times the size of those little back-sleeping ones.
2025-08-06 19:23:36
For wj more than anything...
Got the first toy version of my nonlinear "flattening" software running. Here's the input image I've been using for testing. It's a picture (converted to grayscale) of one of my old work notebooks. The notebook is "curled" in three-space and the camera is: (a) not centered over the notebook; (b) rotated relative to the notebook; and (c) not pointed at the center of the notebook. Here's the output from the toy software. It's an approximation of a scan at a bit under 300 dpi. In the current version I give the toy hints about where the corners are, but then it's on its own. There are errors in the area where the curvature is most extreme. OTOH, in real life such areas are likely to be empty. I'm not unhappy with the result here.
Lots of future work on illumination correction, among other things.
2025-08-06 18:32:50
My new pillow arrived today.
What sort of pillow? Decades ago now I was waking up with neck pains and bought a buckwheat hull pillow. The common complaint from people who feel it is "But it's so hard." The first time I tried it I sort of wiggled my head into it and got as far as thinking, "Yes, it seems rather..." before I fell asleep. Still using one, with no neck pain for years. All anecdotal endorsements are suspect, of course.
2025-08-05 17:44:02
Sympathies to all the people with health concerns.
My sister's doctors are muttering about another joint rebuild/replacement. If you looked at our respective histories, I'm the one you would expect to have torn up/worn out joints and be getting replacements. But she's the one who has had two knees, a hip, and a shoulder replaced, and an ankle rebuilt. She's talking about having a couple of arthritic knuckles frozen, while all my hand/finger joints are fine. I sometimes doubt that karma payback is a thing, because I don't deserve the joints I've been blessed with.
2025-08-01 10:31:34
Granddaughter #1 has a birthday this month. Her birthday doodle is done. http://mcain6925.com/obsidian/Charlie-birthday-12.pdf
She's getting the money indirectly. She inherited my narrow palate, which causes all sorts of teeth alignment problems when all the adult molars come in. I'm covering the orthodontics bill to spread her palate now, which has to be done before the upper jaw bones finish fusing.
2025-08-01 10:24:41
Granddaughter #1 has a birthday this month. Her birthday doodle is done. http://mcain6925.com/obsidian/Charlie-birthday-12.pdf
She's getting the money indirectly. She inherited my narrow palate, which causes all sorts of teeth alignment problems when all the adult molars come in. I'm covering the orthodontics bill to spread her palate now, which has to be done before the upper jaw bones finish fusing.
If you were serious, apply and find out.
I would be the intern from hell on so many different levels :^)
Took a guided tour of the NCAR supercomputer facility in Cheyenne, WY yesterday. My son and his SO accompanied me. She runs a climate science group at the U of Wyoming. The computer, named Derecho, appears in the TOP500 list of world's fastest computers twice. The CPU partition is #139. The GPU partition is #256. It's one of the very few of the TOP500 machines where you can actually get into the machine room.
It's been too long since I've done my free-association questions thing, I'm out of practice. Did get a good run after asking about fire suppression in the machine room. (Water, with anti-corrosion additives.) What sort of fire detection? What else do the air sensors check for? Is anything else monitored that closely? How many sensors for all of that together? (120,000.) How does all of the sensor data get collected and sorted out?
The supercomputer resources are provided free of charge to earth science researchers. I was assured by the docent that if I submitted a proposal, it would receive the same consideration as all the others. Except that U of Wyoming proposals get some priority, since the State of Wyoming contributes to the facility. I turned to my son's SO and asked, "Do you need interns?" She paused and then answered "Paid or unpaid?" I never know when people are pulling my leg.
Yes, same size as a plump standard pillow. Traditional Japanese versions are quite a bit smaller and thinner.
I got mediocre marks in cursive penmanship because I insisted right from the beginning on straight up and down strokes instead of slanting it.
Did anyone notice that the toy software actually did a nice job of flattening the notebook pages?
I am now a side sleeper, and I have never worked out exactly what the ideal combination is for that.
I am a side sleeper. My buckwheat pillow is about three times the size of those little back-sleeping ones.
For wj more than anything...
Got the first toy version of my nonlinear "flattening" software running. Here's the input image I've been using for testing. It's a picture (converted to grayscale) of one of my old work notebooks. The notebook is "curled" in three-space and the camera is: (a) not centered over the notebook; (b) rotated relative to the notebook; and (c) not pointed at the center of the notebook.
Here's the output from the toy software. It's an approximation of a scan at a bit under 300 dpi. In the current version I give the toy hints about where the corners are, but then it's on its own. There are errors in the area where the curvature is most extreme. OTOH, in real life such areas are likely to be empty. I'm not unhappy with the result here.
Lots of future work on illumination correction, among other things.
My new pillow arrived today.
What sort of pillow? Decades ago now I was waking up with neck pains and bought a buckwheat hull pillow. The common complaint from people who feel it is "But it's so hard." The first time I tried it I sort of wiggled my head into it and got as far as thinking, "Yes, it seems rather..." before I fell asleep. Still using one, with no neck pain for years. All anecdotal endorsements are suspect, of course.
Sympathies to all the people with health concerns.
My sister's doctors are muttering about another joint rebuild/replacement. If you looked at our respective histories, I'm the one you would expect to have torn up/worn out joints and be getting replacements. But she's the one who has had two knees, a hip, and a shoulder replaced, and an ankle rebuilt. She's talking about having a couple of arthritic knuckles frozen, while all my hand/finger joints are fine. I sometimes doubt that karma payback is a thing, because I don't deserve the joints I've been blessed with.
Granddaughter #1 has a birthday this month. Her birthday doodle is done.
http://mcain6925.com/obsidian/Charlie-birthday-12.pdf
She's getting the money indirectly. She inherited my narrow palate, which causes all sorts of teeth alignment problems when all the adult molars come in. I'm covering the orthodontics bill to spread her palate now, which has to be done before the upper jaw bones finish fusing.
Granddaughter #1 has a birthday this month. Her birthday doodle is done.
http://mcain6925.com/obsidian/Charlie-birthday-12.pdf
She's getting the money indirectly. She inherited my narrow palate, which causes all sorts of teeth alignment problems when all the adult molars come in. I'm covering the orthodontics bill to spread her palate now, which has to be done before the upper jaw bones finish fusing.