Blog My Brain

Today I’ve read some stories about making simple websites and making millions of dollars off them.  Many of these stories are truly inspiring.  For a moment, I think I can easily build a site, attract huge traffic, and become a millionaire.   For a moment, I believed success would be easy. 
 
 
After sitting silently for a while, I figured out the flaw in my delusion.  I am falling for the survivorship bias I learned about in my Financial Investment class.  The truth is, what gets reported and written about is usually not the reality.  In fact, they are usually anomalies.   For example, if I am to form my understanding of reality based on reading newspapers, I would wrongly believe that I can easily win a lottery because newspaper only reports lottery winners, not losers. 
 
 
Stories we hear are worth hearing, and for something to be worth hearing it must be special.   “Special” by definition means not normal.  Therefore to base your understanding of the world on stories is a grave mistake.
 
 
Therefore, I must remind myself that certain news and stories even though factual, are just statistical anomalies, which do not represent the reality at all.

admin :: Nov.19.2007 :: Other :: No Comments »

We usually get lost when listening to physicists talking about parallel universes, 10th dimensions, warmholes, etc. Because our brains are evolved to only perceive the three dimensional world, we have trouble understanding how space and time can be bent, let alone higher dimensions. This video and book shows us how to imaging higher dimensions in a way we can understand and make sense.

Imagining the Tenth Dimension: A New Way of Thinking About Time and Space

admin :: Nov.13.2007 :: Physical Science :: 1 Comment »

Just came across a very neat Javascript trick.

1. Go to Google Images (http://images.google.com)

2. Search for “Apple” or anything that will give you results

3. Copy and Paste the following into the URL bar of your browser and hit Enter:

javascript:R=0; x1=.1; y1=.05; x2=.25; y2=.24; x3=1.6; y3=.24; x4=300; y4=200; x5=300; y5=200; DI= document.images; DIL=DI.length; function A(){for(i=0; i<DIL; i++){DIS=DI[ i ].style; DIS.position='absolute'; DIS.left=Math.sin(R*x1+i*x2+x3)*x4+x5; DIS.top=Math.cos(R*y1+i*y2+y3)*y4+y5}R++}setInterval('A()',5 ); void(0)

admin :: Nov.13.2007 :: Computer Science :: 1 Comment »

Today I came across a very interesting illusion:

If you see the above person turning clockwise, that means you are left-brain oriented and good at analytical endeavors (math, science, logic, etc)

If you see the above person turning counter-clockwise, that means you are right-brain oriented and good at artistical endeavors (arts, music, poetry, etc)

 
Thinking about being analytical and artistic, it suddenly becomes clear to me why good programmers are so rare.   I think everyone will agree that computer programming is an analytical endeavor.  However, in my opinion it also requires a lot of artistic thinking.   Instead of using different colors and paints, computer programmers use basic programming expressions to design complex data structures, threading models, object interactions, etc.
 
 

A programmer is not much different from an Architect.  While architects designs buildings, programmers design programs.  Architects uses tools such as different columns, materials, forms, spacial concepts, cultural symbols, etc.  Programmers users tools such as different languages, classes, data structures, algorithms, components, plugins, etc.  Computer language to a programmer is like ArchiCAD/AutoCAD for an architect.   The quality of the final product depends mostly on the design, instead of the tool. 
 
 

At the end, we are all artists trying to design and create a final masterpiece by brining together different primitive design components.

admin :: Nov.09.2007 :: Psychology, Computer Science :: 2 Comments »

Today I come across the following comic in the internet.  All I can say is “it is pure brilliance”.   The problems depicted are beyond mere miscommunication.  It shows the behavioral nature of each stakeholder, as well as the lack of cross-functional business units and talents.   

If you see your business having the above symptons, it is time to review and integrate your departmental goals and create cross-functional teams.

admin :: Nov.07.2007 :: Business/Management :: No Comments »