"The things that you try to hold on to...they're the first to go,
and all the things that you try to forget, these are the things that stick."
"The world is hard and cold. It can hurt you bad, but it doesn't mean to. It's nothing personal, but you've gotta try pretty god damn hard not to take it personally."
Stumbled upon the short story which smashing pumpkins's Try is interlaced with. The geographic geek in me noted the British accent voiceover, dreaming of California, while getting freezed off in Stockholm.
Showing posts with label Music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Music. Show all posts
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Try Try Try
Tuesday, March 03, 2009
Monday, March 02, 2009
Don't Panic
Oh, we're sinking like stones,
All that we fought for,
All those places we've gone,
All of us are done for.
We live in a beautiful world,
Yeah we do, yeah we do,
Oh, we're sinking like stones,
All that we fought for,
All those places we've gone,
All of us are done for.
We live in a beautiful world,
Yeah we do, yeah we do,
Oh, all that I know,
There's nothing here to run from,
And there, everybody here's got somebody to lean on.
It seems to be creeping out from everywhere nowadays. This is a song of the times.
Sunday, January 06, 2008
Things I learnt from William Feller
1. The trial of 1 coin thrown 1000 times is different from the trial of 1000 coins in one instant. That is, given the results (statistical characteristics) of both experiments, one can deduce if its the former or the latter.
Reason:
The laws governing prolonged series of individual observation (random walk) is entirely different from the laws derived for a whole population (law of large numbers).
Time average does not have bounded expectation and hence DOES NOT obey Law of Large Number (LLN). Instead it has its own set of "arc sine" laws strictly for waiting times.Ensemble average has bounded expectation and hence obey LLN.
It sounds absolutely preposterous. I must admit the math on LLN and CLT (Central Limit Theorem) get a bit too dense for me here, but please read Feller thoroughly before dismissing the idea. Perhaps ensemble average lacks the dimension of time--that's what makes it different.
2. Given a fixed probability average (which is reasonable if we apply Laws of Large Numbers), increased uniformity in each independent Bernoulli trial increases the variances. For example, given a certain quality p of n machines, the output will be the least uniform if all machines are uniformly equal.
Given a probability distribution of Bernoulli trials with variable probability,
To summarise: Set of the wildly fluctuating {0.1, 0.4, 0.7} is good. Set of the more uniform {0.4, 0.4, 0.4} is no good.
Another shocking revelation. I hope the Six Sigma folks are aware of this fact. I would like to venture forth an analogy from thermodynamics: Entropy of a system is at its maximum when the system is isothermally uniform. Similarly, variance of a system is at its maximum when every point within the system is uniform. Makes one think about our intuitive understanding of the word "variance".
What is Entropy? by Erwin Shrödinger
3. All it takes is 23 people to make it more likely that at least 2 of them share the same birthday than otherwise.
I suspect people who share the same birthdays have an instant affinity to each other because of the perceived rarity of such events. But I for sure won't flinch again if another May girl comes along.
4. German bombs felled over London were found to be perfectly random and homogeneous, despite apparent evidences of some areas being more heavily bombed.
Reason: to the untrained eye, randomness appears as regularity or tendency to cluster.
Anyway, that's what the chi-square tests are for--to determine if the pattern we are seeing is indeed an anomalous pattern or a good fit to the Poisson or Normal distributions, which are essentially random.
5. Given a sampling of German planes and their number plates, statisticians guesstimated the total enemy plane productions in World War 2.
Assumption: the number plates were given sequentially.
6. Even if a game is fair, where the expectation of winning (per trial) = entrance fee (per trial), there is nothing in the law of large numbers to prevent you from losing money with a probability of 1. (= sure lose).
(LLN only says your loss is limited to a magnitude less than n).
Assumption: we are dealing with random variables with divergent expectations (eg random walks)
7. We live in a world of no advance knowledge. For example, even the prospect of the sun rising tomorrow is subject to the conditional probability below:
P( sun will rise tomorrow | sun has risen for past observable 1826213 days)
= n+1/n+2 (Law of Succession of Laplace)
= 1826214 / 1826215
= 0.999999
Assume that we have no prior knowledge of the motions of the celestial bodies that causes the phenomenon we call "sunrise".
Wiki on Sunrise Problem
Proof. Bear with me on this hypothetical situation. Imagine there are 20 parallel universes, each created by a supremely bored Creator who, for pure amusement, determine the lifespan of each universe he created by drawing a ball from an urn containing red balls and white balls for each universe.A red ball drawn denotes the survival of the sun for that year. A white ball drawn means the sun must be extinguished by that year. The 1st universe has an urn of 0 red and 19 white balls. The 2nd universe has an urn of 1 red and 18 white balls and so on... Hence, each universe has different likelihood of being extinguished, with the 1st universe most likely to be dead, and the 20th universe least likely (in fact, impossible, since there are 19 red balls, and 0 white balls, are contained in its urn).
Say, human beings live on one of the universes, but they have no idea which universe they belong to. They have thus far survived for 10 years (i.e. 10 red balls have been drawn).
Let total number of balls in each urn be N.
Let total number of universes be N+1.
Let current number of years the Universe has been around be 10.
The probability of 10 red balls drawn = P(A) =
P(10 red balls from Universe 1).P(Universe 1) + P(10 red balls from Universe 2).P(Universe 2) + ...+ P(10 red balls from Universe 20).P(Universe 20)
The probability of the 11th ball being drawn is red = P(B) = 1/12.
Hence, the probability of the 11th ball being drawn is red, given that the 1st 10 balls drawn are red
=P(B|A) = P(AB) / P(A)
=P(B) / P(A) (as P(AB) = P(B)...think about this, they are mathematically equivalent)
=(1/12) / (1/11)
= 11/12
= (n+1) / (n+2) where n = number of successful observations
Note the interesting and immensely useful approximation:
which works as the Riemann rectangles are being approximated (though underestimated) by a continuous curve x^n, much like how the binomial distribution is approximated by the normal curve. The error becomes smaller as n goes to infinity.
Of course Feller warned that such ideas were already discredited, and could very well be labelled pseudo-science. But the mathematical developments of hyperspace have thrown up the distinct possibility of parallel universes co-existing with our own. Maybe ours might just be the one whose sun goes out tomorrow. Anyway, Pink Martini seems to agree:
If tomorrow's sun doesn't shine,
And no creatures stir in the morning time,
If the clouds go still in the sky,
at least I'll have my Clementine.
If tomorrow's moon doesn't show,
And our dreams go lost in the winter snow,
If the flowers wither and die,
at least I'll have my Clementine.
Download clip sung by China Forbes here
Reason:
The laws governing prolonged series of individual observation (random walk) is entirely different from the laws derived for a whole population (law of large numbers).
Time average does not have bounded expectation and hence DOES NOT obey Law of Large Number (LLN). Instead it has its own set of "arc sine" laws strictly for waiting times.Ensemble average has bounded expectation and hence obey LLN.
It sounds absolutely preposterous. I must admit the math on LLN and CLT (Central Limit Theorem) get a bit too dense for me here, but please read Feller thoroughly before dismissing the idea. Perhaps ensemble average lacks the dimension of time--that's what makes it different.
2. Given a fixed probability average (which is reasonable if we apply Laws of Large Numbers), increased uniformity in each independent Bernoulli trial increases the variances. For example, given a certain quality p of n machines, the output will be the least uniform if all machines are uniformly equal.
Given a probability distribution of Bernoulli trials with variable probability,
To summarise: Set of the wildly fluctuating {0.1, 0.4, 0.7} is good. Set of the more uniform {0.4, 0.4, 0.4} is no good.Another shocking revelation. I hope the Six Sigma folks are aware of this fact. I would like to venture forth an analogy from thermodynamics: Entropy of a system is at its maximum when the system is isothermally uniform. Similarly, variance of a system is at its maximum when every point within the system is uniform. Makes one think about our intuitive understanding of the word "variance".
What is Entropy? by Erwin Shrödinger
3. All it takes is 23 people to make it more likely that at least 2 of them share the same birthday than otherwise.
I suspect people who share the same birthdays have an instant affinity to each other because of the perceived rarity of such events. But I for sure won't flinch again if another May girl comes along.
4. German bombs felled over London were found to be perfectly random and homogeneous, despite apparent evidences of some areas being more heavily bombed.
Reason: to the untrained eye, randomness appears as regularity or tendency to cluster.
Anyway, that's what the chi-square tests are for--to determine if the pattern we are seeing is indeed an anomalous pattern or a good fit to the Poisson or Normal distributions, which are essentially random.
5. Given a sampling of German planes and their number plates, statisticians guesstimated the total enemy plane productions in World War 2.
Assumption: the number plates were given sequentially.
6. Even if a game is fair, where the expectation of winning (per trial) = entrance fee (per trial), there is nothing in the law of large numbers to prevent you from losing money with a probability of 1. (= sure lose).
(LLN only says your loss is limited to a magnitude less than n).
Assumption: we are dealing with random variables with divergent expectations (eg random walks)
7. We live in a world of no advance knowledge. For example, even the prospect of the sun rising tomorrow is subject to the conditional probability below:
P( sun will rise tomorrow | sun has risen for past observable 1826213 days)
= n+1/n+2 (Law of Succession of Laplace)
= 1826214 / 1826215
= 0.999999
Assume that we have no prior knowledge of the motions of the celestial bodies that causes the phenomenon we call "sunrise".
Wiki on Sunrise Problem
Proof. Bear with me on this hypothetical situation. Imagine there are 20 parallel universes, each created by a supremely bored Creator who, for pure amusement, determine the lifespan of each universe he created by drawing a ball from an urn containing red balls and white balls for each universe.A red ball drawn denotes the survival of the sun for that year. A white ball drawn means the sun must be extinguished by that year. The 1st universe has an urn of 0 red and 19 white balls. The 2nd universe has an urn of 1 red and 18 white balls and so on... Hence, each universe has different likelihood of being extinguished, with the 1st universe most likely to be dead, and the 20th universe least likely (in fact, impossible, since there are 19 red balls, and 0 white balls, are contained in its urn).
Say, human beings live on one of the universes, but they have no idea which universe they belong to. They have thus far survived for 10 years (i.e. 10 red balls have been drawn).
Let total number of balls in each urn be N.
Let total number of universes be N+1.
Let current number of years the Universe has been around be 10.
The probability of 10 red balls drawn = P(A) =
P(10 red balls from Universe 1).P(Universe 1) + P(10 red balls from Universe 2).P(Universe 2) + ...+ P(10 red balls from Universe 20).P(Universe 20)
The probability of the 11th ball being drawn is red = P(B) = 1/12.
Hence, the probability of the 11th ball being drawn is red, given that the 1st 10 balls drawn are red
=P(B|A) = P(AB) / P(A)
=P(B) / P(A) (as P(AB) = P(B)...think about this, they are mathematically equivalent)
=(1/12) / (1/11)
= 11/12
= (n+1) / (n+2) where n = number of successful observations
Note the interesting and immensely useful approximation:
which works as the Riemann rectangles are being approximated (though underestimated) by a continuous curve x^n, much like how the binomial distribution is approximated by the normal curve. The error becomes smaller as n goes to infinity.Of course Feller warned that such ideas were already discredited, and could very well be labelled pseudo-science. But the mathematical developments of hyperspace have thrown up the distinct possibility of parallel universes co-existing with our own. Maybe ours might just be the one whose sun goes out tomorrow. Anyway, Pink Martini seems to agree:
If tomorrow's sun doesn't shine,
And no creatures stir in the morning time,
If the clouds go still in the sky,
at least I'll have my Clementine.
If tomorrow's moon doesn't show,
And our dreams go lost in the winter snow,
If the flowers wither and die,
at least I'll have my Clementine.
Download clip sung by China Forbes here
Monday, December 31, 2007
New Year Resolutions
...No more Maximators, but I'll have problems with pouring boiling water on ants. It's the only time I get to be a napalm pilot.
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Flight Of The Conchords - Jenny
Bret: Hello.
Jemaine: Hi.
Bret: Hello man sitting in the park.
Jemaine: I just said hi, woman in the park.
Bret: How you doin'?
Jemaine: Mmm'good thanks.
Bret: Your looking good.
Jemaine: Pardon?
Bret: I said you're looking good.
Jemaine: Fair enough.
Bret: 'Jenny
Jemaine: Pardon?
Bret: Jenny
Jemaine: No I am sorry I think you've mistaken me for somebody else
Bret: No it's me, I'm jenny, my name is Jenny
Jemaine: Oh You're'oh' Ha ha ha ha' I thought' oh' what a hilarious misunderstanding.
Nice to meet you Jenny
Bret: We've met before - quite a few times actually.
Jemaine: Yes of course we have. I meant it was nice to meet you that time that I met you. Where was it that we met that time that I met you when I met you?
Bret: At a party.
Jemaine: That's right! Wasn't it one of those boring work parties?
Bret: No.
Jemaine: That's why I said wasn't it. It was the party of a mutual friend. - Was it? - Wasn't it? - Was it? - Wasn't it?
Bret: Yes it was.
Jemaine: Yeah, I thought so. Oh'Bobby's.
Bret: No
Jemaine: Doug's?
Bret: No
Jemaine: D-dog's?
Bret: No
Jemaine: Maxwell's?
Bret: No
Jemaine: Andy's?
Bret: Yes Andy's
Jemaine: Yeah Andy's party, ooh that's right. Ooh, Andy knows how to throw a party, doesn't he Jenny?
Bret: Yeah, I love Andy's parties!
Jemaine: I love Andy's parties. What crazy parties. How is that guy anyway?
Bret: She's good
Jemaine: Ooh that's right, Andy hates it when I forget that.
Bret: We watched a movie.
Jemaine: Yeah'it was something like but not necessarily Schindler's List. We watched it and we wept
Bret: It was Police Academy 4. We went for a walk
Jemaine: On our feet if I remember correctly.
Bret: We walked to the top of the hill and we ate sandwiches.
Jemaine: Oh, We'd just grab a sandwich and put it in our mouths. Oh, that's the only way to have sandwiches. Oh Jenny, tell me do you still walk? Do you still get into sandwiches in a big way?
Bret: Still walk a lot but I am not eating as many sandwiches as back then
Jemaine: Uh'
Bret: Do you remember what we did up there at the top of the hill?
Jemaine: Kind of'
Bret: We were standing at the look out
Jemaine: Oh, I remember exactly what we did at the look out. We just looked out' across the city from our little spot on the hilltop. Oh, It is so pretty from way up there. We talked about how the lights from the buildings and cars seemed like reflections of the stars that shined out so pretty and bright, that night.
Bret: It was daytime.
Jemaine: The daytime of the night.
Bret: Do you remember what you said to me?
Jemaine: Not word for word actually Jenny, but I remember there was some verbs.
Bret: Well you said meet me here in one year. You just needed some time to clear your head, and you seem to have done that.
Jemaine: La la la la la la la la la la la la la.
Bret: We have a child.
Jemaine: Pardon?
Bret: We have a child.
Jemaine: Why didn't you tell me, Jenny? Why didn't you tell me that day when we went to the top of the hill and we made sweet, oh how we made such sweet, sweet sandwiches. Does it have my eyes, my way with words? Does it look like me at all?
Bret: No, not at all 'cause we adopted him. I can't believe you don't remember, it was a very difficult process!
Jemaine: Oh'uh, oh'are you sure that was me Jenny?
Bret: Yes I am pretty sure that it was you, John.
Jemaine: I'm Brian
Bret: Oh my god! I'm so sorry!
Jemaine: Don't worry.
Bret: Now that's terrible.
Jemaine: Oh, don't worry.
Bret: Oh, how embarrassing!
Jemaine: Don't worry Jenny, I'm actually quite relieved. *That kind of thing just happens all the time, I just got one of those faces I suppose
Bret: So does John, ha, he's got one of those faces as well'
Bret and Jemaine: *awkward laugher*
*Note from blogger: I got kicked playfully once while sitting in a public place. Of course I was pleasantly surprised when I turned around and saw this pretty girl with long tresses and big eyes, only to be disappointed that I wasn't the "I" she had meant to kick (playfully I should add). I just got one of those generic faces I suppose.
Flight Of The Conchords...
...are the best thing since Monty Python. Check out all their vids on youtube, and be in awe of their mastery of guitar licks and comedic timing.
Getting serious on social issues...
and having fun with randomness.
The duo, who are obviously very comfortable with the ladies, have a deadly refrain for the perennially clueless(and the nocturnally prematured). Try these lines next time you find yourself tongue-tied for words:
"I want to make love to you, it's the least I can do. In the bedroom, I'm a gentleman, the ladies come before me....but 2 minutes...2 minutes is all you need--cos I'm so intense..."
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
The Snowman
Flying through the moonlit sky and dancing under the Northern Lights are what childhood dreams are made of. The girl in the attic must have been Norwegian girl Cecilia from Through the Looking Glass, Darkly. There are no penguins in the Artic though. And the haunting minor song belies what seems at first to be a Christmas tale full of innocent fun and glee.
Monday, November 05, 2007
Great Songs that met their Video Match
Celebrating the simplicity of it all...
...or contemplating the fragility of it all.
...or contemplating the fragility of it all.
Sunday, September 30, 2007
...and the geeks shall inherit the earth
What happens when a bunch of college geeks decide, for once, to put down their books and pick up the guitars? Pop music, stripped from all the outer veneer of avant-garde progression and crass commercialism, finally reveals its form--true and pure.
Please give it up for the Maths and Physics Club, wonderfully named no doubt as a tribute to all the engineers who toil hard in silence to keep our crazy world afloat. Come on now! Let's all pick up that guitar and sing along...
(Capo the first fret, and strum to C, C7, F and G...check out the vid)
I’m still waiting for your answer
These four walls keep closing in
When you say I seem like a stranger
Well I guess that makes two
The sun is setting down
The fireflies are out
They don’t make a sound
With no one else around
And I have no doubts
You’re still angry
Baby, we can work this all out
I love it when the coals burn way down low
Slide up next to me
So sweet so
I wonder just how far tonight we’ll go
Darling won’t you please come home
The sun is setting down
The fireflies are out
They don’t make a sound
There’s no one else around
It’s you and me now
And I have no doubt
That you’re still angry
Baby, we can work this all out
I love it when the coals burn way down low
You slide up next to me
So sweet so slow
I wonder just how far tonight we’ll go
Darling won’t you please come home
Darling won’t you please come home
Darling won’t you please come home
Friday, March 24, 2006
The cold comforts of nihilism
Stephin Merrit The Lonely Robot
Having ended all life, absorbed all other robots,
ruler of the cosmos, she walks into the sunset.
But there is no darkness. Her laser-gaze is itself a weapon. And no sleep defends her from the nightmare of oblivion.
So she wakes a new world made entirely out of lightwaves, memories of movies, and chance determinations.
Then she watches random characters and situations, endless combinations with very little input. But she sees the ending. Every clock finds its equilibrium. So she introduces the absurdist contradictions.
Anything can follow, but the actors can't believe that, so they keep pretending the script is real and means things.
So the lonely robot, with no feeling for the actors, just erased the whole thing, which -- true -- had not existed. And a trillion stories all came abruptly to a non-ending, and a trillion people suddenly stopped non-existing.
Thus was born a new world from the movies of the old one, and the lonely robot was given non-existence.
Having ended all life, absorbed all other robots,
ruler of the cosmos, she walks into the sunset.
But there is no darkness. Her laser-gaze is itself a weapon. And no sleep defends her from the nightmare of oblivion.
So she wakes a new world made entirely out of lightwaves, memories of movies, and chance determinations.
Then she watches random characters and situations, endless combinations with very little input. But she sees the ending. Every clock finds its equilibrium. So she introduces the absurdist contradictions.
Anything can follow, but the actors can't believe that, so they keep pretending the script is real and means things.
So the lonely robot, with no feeling for the actors, just erased the whole thing, which -- true -- had not existed. And a trillion stories all came abruptly to a non-ending, and a trillion people suddenly stopped non-existing.
Thus was born a new world from the movies of the old one, and the lonely robot was given non-existence.
Thursday, February 02, 2006
Spiritualized
there's always a first to everything. And now, the first gospel rock band that I whole-heartedly embrace. Can't believe myself.
But Jason Pierce's Spiritualized begs the question: aren't Christians supposed to be trippy-happy, like life's a one-way trip to heaven on a helium balloon. And here is Jason Pierce's singing of yearning, frustration, anger and bitterness, encapsulated into a wonderfully-named album Ladies and Gentlemen, We're Floating in Space. Beautifully secular, but once let loose into the airwaves, something sacred happened. The room chills, the furniture resonates, and my heart aches.
Broken Heart by Spiritualized
Though I have a broken heart
I’m too busy to be heartbroken
There’s a lot of things that need to be done
Lord I have a broken heart
Though I have a broken dream
I’m too busy to be dreaming of you
There’s a lot of things that I gotta do
Lord I have a broken dream
And I’m wasted all the time
I’ve gotta drink you right off of my mind
I’ve been told that this will heal given time
Lord I have a broken heart
And I’m crying all the time
I have to keep it covered up with a smile
And I’ll keep on moving on for a while
Lord I have a broken heart
Broken Heart
Ladies and Gentlemen We're Floating in Space
But Jason Pierce's Spiritualized begs the question: aren't Christians supposed to be trippy-happy, like life's a one-way trip to heaven on a helium balloon. And here is Jason Pierce's singing of yearning, frustration, anger and bitterness, encapsulated into a wonderfully-named album Ladies and Gentlemen, We're Floating in Space. Beautifully secular, but once let loose into the airwaves, something sacred happened. The room chills, the furniture resonates, and my heart aches.
Broken Heart by Spiritualized
Though I have a broken heart
I’m too busy to be heartbroken
There’s a lot of things that need to be done
Lord I have a broken heart
Though I have a broken dream
I’m too busy to be dreaming of you
There’s a lot of things that I gotta do
Lord I have a broken dream
And I’m wasted all the time
I’ve gotta drink you right off of my mind
I’ve been told that this will heal given time
Lord I have a broken heart
And I’m crying all the time
I have to keep it covered up with a smile
And I’ll keep on moving on for a while
Lord I have a broken heart
Broken Heart
Ladies and Gentlemen We're Floating in Space
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