Daily Stuff--9/30/2012

Languages--Chinese:

I tried out the BBC website for learning Chinese. It's very useful for learning about the different tones and how they change the meaning of words. The videos and slideshows also go through useful phrases and words.

Articles:

There was an interesting article on Yahoo!News about the most underrated jobs of 2012. Among them are computer systems analyst and civil engineer. These are jobs that aren't often talked about but are stable, in high demand, and have fairly high pay. For example, civil engineers are in high demand right now because there is a big demand for rebuilding roads and other infrastructure. Biologists are also on the list because not enough people get degrees in biology but it can used in the health care industry and the military among other places.

Philosophy:

I read about epistemology, which answers the question of "How do we know?". It involves the nature of concepts and the relationships between those concepts and how they are constructed. It also deals with connecting the mind to reality.

Internships:

I read about the Nuance Vocalizer at nuance.com. It produces synthesized speech that sounds natural by blending audio recordings with its' speech database.

To-Do:

• Archery (2 hours)
• Done
• Get textbooks (1/2 hour)
• Done
• Read books (1/2 hour)
• Done
• Read the syllabuses (1/2 hour)
• Done
• Review class notes (1/2 hour)
• Done
• Read ahead or read ebook (1 hour)
• Chapters 4-6 in the Python programming ebook
• Test out the BBC Italian learning website (1 hour)
• Done. It's pretty good. Not as in-depth as Rosetta Stone but it's good for reviewing concepts and vocab I need help on as well as pronunciation. 
• Read the news and FAFSA (1/2 hour)
• Done. 
• Work on improving blog (1/2 hour)
• Looked for videos explaining how to change the way comments are displayed (so people can comment after a block of text)
• Shower (1/2 hour)
• Done
• Tomorrow's schedule (1/2 hour)
• Bedtime--12:30 am

Daily Stuff--9/29/2012

Languages--Chinese:

I watched episode 70 of Travel in Chinese. This episode was another review on topics like taking a trip to Xi'an and seeing the terracotta warriors.

Articles:

There was an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal about the dispute between Apple and Google regarding the maps apps produced by both companies. Apple has issued an apology to all of its customers facing difficulties with the Apple maps while Google has said that Google maps can still be accessed through the web browser, though an app won't be available for quite a while. It still seems like Apple should have waited to work out all the bugs in its map app before getting rid of Google maps. It makes perfect sense that they would want to create their own app in order to compete with Google, but there have been so many bugs and so many people have started making jokes about Apple maps that it seems unlikely that they'll be able to recover from this.

Philosophy:

I read about the metaphysical vs. the man-made. A common misconception is that the man-made is metaphysical but it's not for the simple fact that men make choices. The laws that govern society, while chosen for usually very good reasons, were still chosen. The laws that govern existence have always been there and can't be changed. No choice was involved.

Internships:

I looked at the co-op and internship programs for ATA Engineering. They have a summer internship program for student who live in San Diego. They are encouraged to take on as much of an engineering project as they can handle and by the end, may be able to tackle individual projects with minimal help.

To-Do:

• Find out how to rent textbooks and whether or not mine are available using this option (1/2 hour)
• Found out how to rent textbooks. I'm still trying to find out if mine are available with this option.
• Learn about how to change blog format and layout so comments can be posted after a block of text (find a video)
• Find out the difference between dynamic and simple templates (1/2 hour)
• Done. A dynamic blog allows viewers to change the way they see the blog whereas simple templates are fixed and cannot be changed by the viewer.
• Find out if textbooks are available in ebook format (1/2 hour)
• Done. They aren't.
• Edit header--make text bigger so there is less space (45 minutes)
• Couldn't edit existing header so I made a new one and saved it somewhere else. This might allow me to edit it now.
• Go through the first 10 chapters of the ebook on Python programming and do examples (2 hours)
• Got through the first three chapters.
• Financial aid (45 minutes)

Daily Stuff--9/28/2012

Languages--Chinese:

I watched episode 69 of Travel in Chinese. This was a review of topics like taking a trip to Shanghai and buying plane and train tickets.

Articles:

There was an interesting article on myfox8.com about self-driving cars being made legal in California. The cars are required to have a human behind the wheels at all times just in case something goes wrong but during testing, the only accidents have occurred with humans controlling the cars. This shows that the self-driving cars are very effective and in the near future, they can be dropping people off at work and then picking up other people, completely on their own. Having self-driving cars on the road would reduce the number of traffic accidents and would allow people to do other things besides the watch the road and would also be good for intoxicated people who can't drive themselves home. Since Nevada is the only other state to pass a law like this, having a significant number of self-driving cars on the road might be a fairly long way away but it's definitely a start.

Philosophy:

I read about mental entities in metaphysics. These aren't physical entities with clear properties and characteristics. Because they exist in the mind, their identities can change, depending on how one perceives them over time.

Internships:

I looked at Dragon Search for the iPhone and iPod touch on nuance.com. It allows users to simply speak what they want to search without having to type anything.

To-Do:

• Italian tutorial (1 hour)
• Still all in Italian but it's much slower-paced with a lot of group interaction. 
• Customize header for blog (1 hour)
• Done. It doesn't work with the dynamic template so I switched to simple. Next step is to figure out what the difference between the two is.
• Find out how to rent textbooks (1/2 hour)
• Will do tomorrow. 
• Read Udacity article about self-driving cars (1/2 hour)
• Done
• Skim through the reader for writing class on Monday to see what the class will be like (1/2 hour)
• Done. Should be an interesting but challenging class.
• Change layout of blog (45 minutes)
• Most of the videos I found only talk about changing the template of the blog, not the content of it. I need to see if there's a way to change the format of the comments. 

Daily Stuff--9/27/2012

Languages--Chinese:

I watched episode 68 of Travel in Chinese. This episode was about visiting the Huaqing Pool, another popular tourist destination in Xi'an.

Articles:

There were two interesting articles on the Yahoo!Finance website. The first one was about majors that are the most satisfying and pay the highest. Engineering is the major that leads to the highest paying jobs whereas social work leads to very low paying jobs. But money isn't the only factor. Most people seem to say that careers like nursing and special education are the most satisfying because they involve helping people more directly than an engineer does. Generally, people try to strike a balance between high-paying and satisfying so they end up earning a medium wage with a job that is fairly satisfying.

The second article was about the rising debt among college students. Because of the economy, it's difficult for a lot of them to find decent jobs straight out of college so they're stuck with the debt for longer. The debt has risen among all socioeconomic statuses but the middle and lower classes are suffering the most because of it.

Philosophy:

I read about the idea of an entity being the sum of its parts. This is an important concept for applying the law of identity to entities. They aren't static. They change, some more than others. For some entities, all that changes is maybe their location, but for others, change is in their very nature and one of the only constants about that entity.

Internships:

I looked at Dragon Medical Practice Edition on nuance.com. It's intended to be used by physicians and it speeds up the process of updating a patient's electronic file. Typing takes too long so if doctors can simply speak what they want to write and have the computer transcribe it, it saves a lot of time.

To-Do:

• Italian lecture
• The first class covered the basics of any language (name, date, "how are you?", "where are you from?", age, etc) as well as basic vocabulary (all verbs) like "to eat", "to drink", and "to sing". At least the lectures are taught entirely in Italian though the professor is teaching under the assumption that this is everyone's first Italian class ever. 
• LIGN 110 lecture (Phonetics)
• The first class was mostly spent going over the syllabus and course requirements. But the last twenty minutes or so were spent going over what phonetics isn't. What it isn't is spelling. In English, several letters can make up one sound. For example, the "gh" in "laugh" is one sound, [f]. Also, the same sound can be represented by different letter clusters. For [f], it's "gh" or "ph" most commonly. The reason for the difference is that certain words have origins in different languages which means the spelling follows a certain pattern for one word but might follow a different pattern for another word. In phonetics, one sound is represented by one symbol. 
• Read Udacity article about self-driving cars
• Didn't get to it today. Will do tomorrow.
• Watch video on blog layout
• Done
• Customize header to reformat the quotes
• Will do tomorrow. 

To-Do--9/26/2012

Languages--Chinese:

I watched episode 67 of Travel in Chinese. This episode was about taking a trip to see the Terracotta Warriors, a popular tourist destination.

Articles:

There was an interesting article on appleinsider.com and another one in the New York Times. Both were about the new Apple Maps app. The one from appleinsider.com was specifically about why Apple is using Apple Maps now as opposed to Google Maps. Apple wanted the iPhone to have spoken turn-by-turn directions for it's users but Google wanted that technology to be limited to Android products. Because of this, Apple decided to sever ties with Google and started using it's own maps app that was built from scratch.

The New York Times article was about the problems with Apple Maps. The app gives clear, audible turn-by-turn directions with just enough time between steps so one never drives too far. The problem is actually getting to the right destination. Apple Maps doesn't use accurate maps. Some of the data is outdated, some of it is completely wrong, and a lot of it is simply placed in the wrong location. As a result, very few people end up where they need to go while using Apple Maps. What the app needs is maps as accurate as the ones used by Google Maps. If Apple can merge that with the spoken turn-by-turn directions, they will be in much better shape than they currently are.

Philosophy:

I read about contradiction. A contradiction is between two ideas and it occurs when one idea makes the other impossible and vice versa. Reality never contradicts itself but one's observations of reality could contradict each other.

Internships:

I read about Dragon ID on nuance.com. It allows users to use a spoken password and analyzes their voices to check for identity. This is probably more secure than traditional typed passwords but I wonder what would happen if a person could imitate another person. Would they be able to gain access to the device?

To-Do:

• Find classrooms
• Done. My schedule is printed out too.
• Find a youtube video to explain how to change blog layout
• Found one. Will watch it tomorrow.
• Find a youtube video to explain how to upload pdf files
• Still need to find.
• Add quote to header of blog and cite the first one
• Done. Still need to change header layout
• Change the layout of the blog header and title
• Watched a video on how to do that

Daily Stuff--9/25/2012

Languages--Chinese:

I watched episode 66 of Travel in Chinese. This episode was about the food in Xi'an.

Articles:

There was an interesting article in the LA Times about the Yahoo CEO, Marissa Mayer, and how she plans to turn the company around. Her strategy revolves around hiring engineering talent, making a move towards mobile devices, and only pursing the Yahoo products that will most likely succeed. A few people seem to think Yahoo is a lost cause but others feel that Mayer will be able to turn the company around. Since none of the plans have been implemented yet, it's difficult to say whether they will work or not.

Philosophy:

I read about the idea of "nothing" or "non-existence" in metaphysics. "Nothing" is what it sounds like. It's nothing. It's not an entity and it has no characteristics. It's a denial of existence and being able to deny something's existence implies that other entities exist. Otherwise, one wouldn't be able to deny an entity's existence.

Internships:

I looked at Dragon Go! on nuance.com. Dragon Go! is a smartphone app that hears the user's voice, understands their intent, and then proceeds to do whatever is the user wanted. This would mean that the app is able to process semantics, which is usually very difficult with speech processing.

Daily Stuff--9/23/2012

Languages--Chinese:

I watched episode 65 of Travel in Chinese. This episode was about Xi'an, it's history, and popular tourist destinations in the city.

Articles:

There was an interesting article in the New York Times about Apple's feud with Google. The feud has caused Apple to remove Google apps and Youtube from the new iPhone software which many consumers are upset about. Apple has developed it's own maps service but there are still a lot of things wrong with it. Users have been tallying all the mistakes. Apple doesn't have a video service like Youtube to compete with Google, so this is where they might have to worry. As of now, iPhone users have to download the Youtube app in order to use it but Google hasn't revealed if it is working on a maps app yet.

Philosophy:

I read about causality, which is the law of identity applied over time. Every action has an entity and when an entity changes identity, that designates an action. For example, dropping a marble changes the marble's position, which is part of it's identity, and it also depends on the nature of every entity. The marble drops because of gravity and hits the ground at a certain speed due to air resistance.

Internships:

I looked at Dragon for PC on nuance.com. It allows users to use voice commands to operate their computer. Some examples are "minimize all windows" and "open Microsoft word".

To-Do (9/23/2012):

• Archery club (2 hours)
• Done. I worked my way up to a 25 pound bow. 
• Find out if whole apartment is on same network
• See if there is more than one ethernet outlet in my room (10 minutes)
• There is
• Test out internet in various parts of campus (45 minutes)
• In my room, the wi-fi is weak. In the living room, it's the strongest.

Daily Stuff--9/22/2012

Languages--Chinese:

I watched episode 64 of Travel in Chinese. This episode was about the food and and cultural differences in Shanghai compared to Beijing.

Articles:

There was an interesting article in the LA Times about the new Motorola Droid RAZR M, which is apparently the one phone that will be a big iPhone competitor. The phone has a big screen but no bulky frame and also a long-lasting battery. The battery life is something that's been missing from most smartphones in recent years so that'll give the Droid a major advantage over the iPhone. It also has NFC technology, which means users can share data by simply tapping the phones together, which is something the iPhone still doesn't have.

Internships:

I read about Dragon for Email for the Blackberry on nuance.com. It allows users to dictate emails on their Blackberry. Their messages get transcribed as they speak.

Philosophy:

I read about the primacy of existence in metaphysics. According to Francis Bacon, reality is absolute. It abides by certain principles and if one wants to change something about one's life, one must do so as reality dictates. If something doesn't exist in reality, one cannot use it to change something.

To-Do (9/22/2012): 

• Khan academy
• Get through the computer science videos
• I got through the "more about variables" video and practiced assigning variables
• Practice everything until comfortable with it
• Start the model thinking class at coursera
• First unit
• Haven't started the class yet
• Change blog title and layout
• Blog title is changed and I changed the layout again
• Post Cryptography and Physics certificates
• Looked up how to post pdfs on Blogger and found several websites explaining it. I'll read some of them in detail tomorrow.

Daily Stuff--9/21/2012

Languages--Chinese:

I watched episode 63 of Travel in Chinese. This episode was about visiting Shanghai and what makes it such a popular tourist destination.

Articles:

There were several interesting articles in the Wall Street Journal today. One was about LTE wireless networks, which are apparently the fastest at this moment in time. The problem is that very few of these networks are actually complete even though several cell phone companies are using them. Since LTE is still relatively new and most people don't seem to find it necessary, companies think they can get away with having an incomplete network.

The other articles were about the debt crisis in Europe. Greece is doing everything it can to avoid leaving the euro even though it will be very difficult. Germany and other Euro zone countries are now debating about who will be responsible for making sure Greece doesn't go completely bankrupt. Furthermore, Germany and other northern European countries are determined to not give any more loans to Greece.

Italy, contrary to popular belief, has actually made improvements with it's manufacturing sector. That sector has held up well, but it only accounts for 1/6 of it's economy. It's services sector is where improvements need to be made but Italy is also taking more action than Greece seems to be. Despite protests, they've increased taxes, whereas Greece seems determined to avoid that at all costs.

Philosophy:

I read about Descartes' idea of consciousness. He argued that it is axiomatic because you can't deny your mind exists while using your mind to deny this statement. He also wrongly assumed you can be aware but not have something to be aware of. Our consciousness is based on our observations and awareness of the external world.

Internships:

I read about Dragon Drive! on nuance.com. This product allows users to dictate messages and emails while driving. This seems like an especially difficult accomplishment because of all the noise that occurs when one is driving. This would have to be canceled out somehow.

To-Do (9/21/2012):

• Do laundry
• Done
• Read paper (45 minutes)
• Pack clothes for school (3 hours)
• Done
• Go to the garage and find stuff I need (1/2 hour)
• Done
• Wash bedding
• Done
• Talk to dad (1 hour)
• Done
• Web app (1 hour) 
• Bug: thinks the web app is already being deployed when it's not
• I've looked at several websites about the bug and found several solutions
• None of them have  worked

Daily Stuff--9/20/2012

Languages--Chinese:

I watched episode 62 of Travel in Chinese. This episode was about buying plane tickets.

Philosophy:

I read about Aristotle's Law of Identity, which states that every entity has a specific nature. An entity is only one thing and nothing else and there are certain characteristics that define it. A telephone can't be a tree and a dog isn't a cat. Each of these has certain physical and other defining characteristics that give them their identity.

Internships:

I looked up Dragon Diction for iPhone, iPad, and and iPod Touch on nuance.com. The application translates your speech into text so you don't have to use the keyboard. I know that the main problem with this kind of application is mistakes in the translation process. If people don't speak clearly, the message gets transcribed differently.

To-Do (9/20/2012):

• Lectures 1.5A and 1.5B in Lean Launchpad class
• Lecture 1.5A was about how to use the Business Model Canvas for one's startup. This starts with the idea that startups are temporary. There is no such thing as an 8-year startup, and if one thinks they have one, they've actually failed. The goal is to turn a startup into a company, and the misconception is that these are the same thing. A startup is not a miniature business. One very important thing to remember is that it's not about the product or idea. One has to ask themselves what problem in society they can solve. If they can solve a problem, they have a market. Another important thing to note is that the customers aren't going to automatically buy a product one creates. One needs to let people know they exist and they need to do research on their target audience. This allows them to market their product better. 
• Unit 5 of Software Debugging
• Unit 5 of Differential Equations
• Registration page on web app
• Fix bug
• Write code for registration page
• Read 3 newspaper articles
• There was an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal about the growing popularity of the Periodic Table of Elements and chemistry in general. It used to be the type of thing only scientists knew about but now the Periodic Table is being used in ads, there are jokes about it, and it's popping up on products like shower curtains and coffee tables. People like nerdy stuff now and nerdy is the new cool. Viral videos like "The Elements Song" on youtube have contributed a fair amount to this new popularity as well as shows like The Big Bang Theory. 
• There was another interesting WSJ article about how algorithms are being used to determine how much employees get paid in certain companies. Algorithms can be used to find out who gets the most work done, how payment affects employees and their performance, and various other analyses. This allows companies to give pay raises to the most deserving employees and determine if giving a pay raise will lead to higher productivity. This is a good tool to use, I think, because it means that less people can get pay raises or promotions by simply knowing how to impress the boss. If they're getting pay raises because they rightfully deserve them, it means other employees are likely to follow in their footsteps, therefore leading to higher productivity and higher quality of work. 
• Find out best number to call in order to make appointment

Daily Stuff-9/19/2012

Languages--Chinese:

The website for Travel in Chinese fort some reason isn't playing any of the videos. This wasn't an issue last night so I think it's a problem with the actual website and not my computer.

Articles:

There was an interesting article in the New York Times about a language dictionary that's being periodically updated. The language is Demotic Egyptian. Contrary to popular belief, the hieroglyphs most people associate with ancient Egypt were only used by the pharaohs and other nobility. Demotic Egyptian was the language used by the common people. While it would seem that the language is dead, it surprisingly lives on through other languages. Words in Hebrew, Arabic, and Spanish can all be traced back to Demotic Egyptian. 

There was another interesting article on idealab.talkingpointsmemo.com about the latest 3D printer made by the company MakerBot. The printer allows users to print objects that are 37% larger and like it's predecessor, it can print objects with moving parts already assembled. It's intended for people who have an active interest in 3D printing, usually professionally. If people have the money, they can buy it and use it as more of a hobby but it's not just a beginner printer.

Lastly, there was an interesting article on the BBC website. One big step in artificial intelligence is being able to program a robot that can recognize itself in a mirror. Very few non-human species have this ability and so far, robots have been programmed to recognize movements in a mirror but the goal is for robots to recognize their reflection in a mirror, without any movement. What makes this goal so significant is that it would show that a robot is self-aware, which so far, hasn't happened in robotics yet.

Philosophy:

I read about the axiom "existence exists". This axiom basically says that to make an observation, one must think of something, as opposed to nothing. An observation can't come out of nothing. It has to originate somewhere. And  by making that observation, one is acknowledging that something exists. Even denying something exists isn't possible unless something else exists.

Internships:

I found an internship in something called Human Factors Engineering. I'm not entirely sure what it is but it doesn't sound terribly difficult.

To-Do (9/19/2012):

• Call doctor and set up appointment for a check-up
• Will do tomorrow
• Sign up for Lean Launchpad Udacity class
• Find out what it takes to start a web design business with Google and Amazon
• Finished lecture 1
• Check blog comments on yesterday's post
• Done
• Watch Prof. Lewin video lecture in 10-15 increments and try to derive formulas on my own
• Change blog format to allow comments on individual points of the post
• Will find out how to do this tomorrow
• Health insurance waiver
• Done. Waiting for an email saying it's being approved or audited.

Daily Stuff--9/18/2012

Languages--Chinese:

I watched episode 61 of Travel in Chinese. This episode was about booking tickets for a vacation.

Articles:

There were a couple of interesting articles in the Wall Street Journal and one in the Union Tribune. The first WSJ one was about big companies buying up small tech companies in order to get the software engineers working for them. This is good for software engineers but unfortunate for anyone who isn't one because the big companies like Facebook rarely have any use for them. It can also be unfortunate for the software engineers because it often means that all the hard work they put into their original company just disappears. This begs the question: Is it even worth it to start a small tech company if it means larger companies will eventually come in and buy the company up?

The second WSJ was about the use of 3D printers to print living tissue samples that can used in transplants and skin grafts and other various things. Right now, the tests look promising but they're still a long way away from commercial use. The "ink" used in the printer is a mixture of cells that get added onto each other one layer at a time, while a mold is put down simultaneously. Once all the layers are added, the cells naturally bind together and eventually the mold can be taken away. The main problem right now is the fact that the tissue samples that have been created aren't strong enough to actually be used for anything. But if this problem can be corrected, this method could be a very reasonable one and would save millions of lives because people won't have to wait for transplants.

The Union Tribune article was about a San Diego start-up called Chic CEO. What Chic CEO does is give advice about starting a company, and their main audience is women. Women, in recent years, have started more companies than men and the two founders of Chic CEO realized that there wasn't one spot where women could get all the information they needed to start a business. Their website is a collection of tips and strategies from various sources.

Philosophy:

I read about the term "axiom". An axiom is a simple statement of fact that can't be contradicted. If one were to try to contradict a true axiom, that axiom would have to be used as premise for the argument, making the argument pretty much invalid.

Internships:

I found an internship program in computational linguistics at unlweb.net. Interns create dictionaries, grammar entries, and knowledge base entries. These are both in their native languages and dead/dying languages.

To-Do (9/18/2012):

• Health insurance waiver
• Have to sit down with mom and get it done tomorrow
• Khan Academy on electromagnetic fields
• I watched the video about magnetic fields caused by currents
• Find out how headphones work
• Watched several youtube videos about how headphones and speakers work as well as a couple on how to build a speaker
• Change address on bank account
• Did this and updated my other account info

Daily Stuff--9/17/2012

Languages--Chinese:

I watched episode 60 of Travel in Chinese. This was another review of scenarios like exploring Beihai park and making dumplings.

Articles:

There was an interesting article and video in Forbes about a company called UniShared. It was created by a French university student who believes that the problem with education is mainly in the classroom. He felt that the classroom was too isolating. It's possible to ask the professor questions but not interact with peers. UniShared allows students to write collaborative notes on a class and share them to help other people learn. Together, they come up with their own conclusions and write lecture material in their own words. This is how the university system will hopefully be changed if a big enough student revolution ensues.

There was another interesting article on thedailybeast.com about college education and whether or not it's a worthy investment. Unfortunately, the answer now seems to be no. Year ago, working your way through college wasn't that big of a deal since tuition was so much lower. But now that tuition has hiked up so much, the thought of working to pay your way through college is a lot harder to fathom. Also, it doesn't help that a small amount of college graduates are actually employable at the end of those four years. It is possible to get a good job and make enough money to pay off student loans after college but those jobs are in science and technology, which is unfortunate for English majors and others with similar degrees.

Philosophy:

I read about the key elements of metaphysics. The biggest one is that reality is absolute. Metaphysics aims to understand reality correctly and that is done by observing the physical world. Everything has certain properties and a specific nature and when two or more entities interact, they interact according to whatever their specific nature is. Also, there is a cause and effect for every action, big or small. Sometimes the effects can be huge but most of the time, they don't affect things too much and same goes for the causes.

Internships:

I looked at an internship with a company called FrontPageLocal. The job involves website design and development and basic IT tasks. The requirements are being able to do website duplication from templates or themes.

To-Do (9/16/2012):

• Get financial aid issue taken care of
• Done. Found out what needs to be done in the absence of the needed paperwork. Will get the paperwork turned in ASAP
• Read papers on particle filtering
• Read article on analyzing music
• I read about the different types of instruments and specifically the electric and acoustic guitars and what makes them different. Both have strings, usually six, that vibrate when plucked or strummed. Electric guitars are usually thinner and are always made out of wire. Acoustic guitar strings are thicker and can be metal or nylon. What makes the guitars sound different is the way that sound is amplified for each. Acoustic guitars rely on their hollow body to amplify the sound which is why the bodies are usually that hourglass shape. Electric guitar bodies are quite often solid pieces of wood that can be any shape since they aren't amplified like an acoustic guitar is. Electric guitars use electromagnetic pickups to amplify sound. A pickup is a permanent magnet wrapped in wire and when the strings are plucked, they vibrate in the pickup's magnetic field. There are several different types of pickups and each one gives the guitar a slightly different sound. 

Daily Stuff--9/16/2012

Languages--Chinese:

I watched episode 59 of Travel in Chinese. This episode was a review of everything from visiting the Great Wall to exploring the various hutongs of Beijing.

Articles:

There was an interesting article in the New York Times about analyzing music with computers. The goal of this study was to find trends in popular music from as early as the 1950s up to 2010. What's changed and what has stayed the same? The study confirmed that since 1955, music has steadily increased in volume and a lot of people would say it has declined in quality. Also, the article where the findings of this study were published suggest that old popular music is so old now that if it were played today, with a few adjustments, it would be popular again. And this suggests that the same techniques that were used to create popular, catchy songs back in the 50s are still used today. Cover songs tend to be fairly popular but they're not exact replicas of the original songs. Sometimes the rhythm changes, or there's more distortion on the guitars, or sometimes actually instruments aren't used at all and the music is generated by a computer. There's always something that makes the cover unique to the artist that covered the song.

Philosophy:

I read about metaphysics and why it's important in philosophy (Importance of Philosophy). Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that deals with existence and what everything is. It's the foundation of philosophy for the fact that it encompasses just about everything you could possibly question.

Internships:

I looked at a software quality internship on internships.com. The company is RedPrairie Corporation and the job requires doing periodic software testing in order to ensure that the product does what it is supposed to before it ends up with the consumers.

To-Do (9/16/2012):

• For app: 
• Password box
• Wrote code but every time I deploy it, I get an error code of 1. I'm trying to figure out what the problem is.
• Register section (with username, password, etc)
• Read papers on particle filters and speech processing
• Speech processing: This was a chapter about speech processing taken from a book. The chapter outlines what human speech is, how it is quantified, and how it is processed. Speech is produced by the lungs, larynx, vocal folds, teeth, and oral and nasal cavities. Air vibrates in the lungs and oral and nasal cavities, which produces sound. These sounds form phonemes, which then form words, by manipulating the articulators (the teeth and tongue). Phonemes are the second smallest sound patterns, and are usually comprised of one or two individual sounds. Phonemes form morphemes, which are the smallest discrete sound patterns that have meaning (for example the -ed suffix. It means "past tense" in most cases) and morphemes get put together to form words. Each phoneme, depending on the speaker, has a different pitch. Some sound higher, some sound lower, depending on where in the mouth the vowel or consonant is placed. These pitches can get graphed due to the different frequencies of each, which gives a better picture of how an individual sounds compared to another individual. 

To-Do (9/15/2012):

• "Hello world"
• Started with this
• "Hello Lea"
• Got to this
• Log-in text box
• Got to this
• Password box
• Didn't get to.
• Udacity meetup:
• Went to the meetup and met a lot of interesting people. I was one of the youngest and also the one who took the most classes. Some people were taking classes for fun, others to improve existing skills, and at least one person hadn't taken any classes and was just curious to see what Udacity was about. 

Daily Stuff--9/14/2012

Languages--Chinese:

I watched episode 58 of Travel in Chinese. This episode was about the lakes around Houhai and the origins of their names.

Articles:

There was an interesting article in the LA Times about the UC Regents possible solutions if proposition 30 doesn't pass. If the proposition passes, there won't be a tuition hike until next year but otherwise, UC students would most likely be facing tuition hikes midyear. To counteract this, one solution would be to increase the number of out-of-state and international students. While this is an easy solution, some argue that it ultimately defeats the purpose of the UC system--to educate Californians. It would be very bad news for Californians hoping to get into UC schools. Even though more out-of-state students is an easy solution, I really hope it's not one the UC Regents takes.

Philosophy:

I read about the various programming languages that have been created for educational purposes, to support the constructionist approach to learning. One of these is Logo, which Papert used to teach math to children. He used it to introduce turtle graphics to children in elementary school.

To-Do (9/14/2012):

• Finish Unit 4 of Differential Equations
• This unit was about using logistic growth to determine the highest number of fish that can be raised and then sold, in order to make the most money. To do this one needs to find the optimal time to harvest the fish. They grow at an exponential rate and eventually there's a point when no more fish can grow. The harvesting needs to take place around that maximum point so when the harvesting begins, more fish can grow and one hopefully never has to wait for more fish to grow. One needs to use logistic growth to determine what the maximum growth rate is so one can then figure out what the harvesting time should be. 

• Do Unit 4 of Artificial Intelligence
• Will do tomorrow
• Check bank account to see if money got taken out (for housing)
• Money hasn't been taken out of my account yet
• Fill out forms to get financial aid
• Went to follow the steps but was unable to get to IRS retrieval
• Figure out who to call or contact about health insurance
• Found the health fee waiver. Have to see if insurance meets the requirements to waive the health insurance fee
• Log-in page for app
• Will write the code for a registration page tomorrow
• Find internships with Boston Dynamics
• I still can't find any internship or co-op programs with Boston Dynamics. They have several engineering jobs in various fields. Some require a Masters or Ph.D but most of them just require in-depth knowledge of whatever the job involves. 

Daily Stuff--9/13/2012

To-Do (9/13/2012):

Languages--Chinese:

I watched episode 57 of Travel in Chinese. This episode was about exploring hutong, narrow alleyways, and square courtyards in Beijing.

Articles:

There were a few interesting articles in the Wall Street Journal and Union Tribune.

One from the WSJ was about the new iPhone 5 and why it may fall behind in sales compared to new Android and Windows phones. Android phones have the advantage of an NFC chip that allows users to share pictures just by tapping phones together and also to pay for certain things by phone using digital cash. Windows phones don't offer quite as much as Androids but at the very least, their home screens are more customizable, as are Androids. The main upgrades that the iPhone 5 has is that it allows for faster internet and it's smaller with a slightly bigger screen. A few people have remarked that they were hoping for a bigger change with the iPhone. I think what's going to make the iPhone 5 a success is Apple's loyal fanbase. They're willing to buy any Apple product and they're always thinking about the next upgrade.

One Union Tribune article was about California's enterprise zone program, which helps keep companies in California. If I understand it correctly, the program makes it cheaper to run a business in California, where one of the biggest problems is high rent costs. As a result, some companies have ended up moving to neighboring states like Arizona. If it means keeping jobs in California, even if they don't pay that much, I think this program is a good thing.


Philosophy:

I read about Seymour Papert's idea of bringing IT into the classroom (on Wikipedia). Constructionist learning involves students drawing their own conclusions to problems through experimentation so Papert believes that students shouldn't simply be talked at because they won't learn that way. He used the Logo language to teach students math. He didn't write up a bunch of problems on the board and then tell them how to solve them. This was a much more hands-on approach to learning. This method of teaching has now made it's way to Applied linguistics, specifically in second language acquisition. It's also been the basis for popular games like SimCity.

• Do unit 4 of Debugging
• This unit was about working backwards to find errors in code. Essentially, you should be trying to channel Sherlock Holmes. If you find that there is a bug in your code, all you know at this point is that the bug is there. Then, you have to work backwards to figure out exactly which parts of the code led to the bug. This is why simple coding is essential. If you had too many lines of code to go through, you would miss a lot of the errors and would probably make more than you had to. By simplifying the code, you eliminate at least a few errors, and make tracing the bug's origin much simpler. Now, this may or may not completely fix the code, depending on how many other bugs there are but at least one specific part of it is fixed. 
• Do unit 4 of Differential Equations:
• I started this unit but I haven't gotten very far. It's about logistic growth and how that applies to raising and harvesting fish so you get the best results and therefore the most money. 
• Look up particle filters: 
• Everything I read told me exactly what particle filters do, but none of them told me what particle filters are or what they're used for. I know one of their uses is to test interference so once the robot is actually up and running, interference won't cause it to crash into anything. 
• Call Damarcus about housing situation
• Housing situation is fixed (still waiting for money to be taken out of my account)
• Find out who to call to ask about health insurance
• Need to do
• Check financial aid and see what I need to do
• Need to fill out a few forms before I can see it

• Log-in page for app
• Need to finish
• Check out Boston Dynamics internship programs
• I looked a several different websites but I can't seem to find anything about internship or co-op programs. All they have listed on their official site are actual jobs. 

Daily Stuff--9/12/2012

Languages--Chinese:

I watched episode 56 of Travel in Chinese. This episode was about Beihai Park and it's history since it's been around for at least 1,000 years.

Articles:

There were a few interesting article in the LA Times about the gap between the rich and poor in America. The gap is at an all-time high, especially in California. The good news is that the poverty level has finally plateaued rather than risen this year but the middle class is suffering now more than the poor. While jobs have been created, they don't pay as well as peoples' old jobs, which means the middle class income is shrinking. This is ultimately what could prevent Obama from being reelected and it makes sense to me because even though jobs have been created, people aren't really seeing the effects of it. Instead, they're stuck only being able to get jobs that pay much less than their previous jobs, which means their entire lifestyle might have to change in order to accommodate the lower income.

Another article was about the new iPhone 5 and why Apple thinks it will be so popular. That has to do with it's consumers. Apple customers are very loyal and are constantly upgrading their devices. The new iPhone is thinner and lighter than it's predecessor and already that seems to be enough for some people to upgrade. Apple is competing against Microsoft, Google, and Amazon to be the "digital hub" in peoples' lives. I don't think they have to worry.

Philosophy:

I read about Seymour Papert's learning theory, constructionism. To put it simply, constructionism is "learning-by-making". Essentially, you learn by constructing theories of how certain principles or problems fit together. Problem based learning is an example of constructionism. Teachers give students multiple problems and students come up with their own conclusions about how the problems are related and how they fit into the overall scheme of things.

Internships:

I looked at an job at Boston Dynamics. The job is Control Systems Engineer and it involves creating simulations of robotic systems for early testing. Requirements include experience in C/C++, dynamic simulation, optimization, and knowledge of multi-body kinematics.

To-do List:

• Finish unit 3 of Artificial Intelligence
•  This unit was about the programming used to create a particle filter. A robot uses the particle filter to navigate it's way through unfamiliar territory. Each particle is a tiny guess to where the robot is so it can maneuver around obstacles and doesn't crash into any walls or doors. This is in the case of the robot being somewhere completely new and it's useful because it means that the robot can be used virtually anywhere without having to reprogram it whenever it's in a new environment. 

• Finish unit 3 of Differential Equations in Action
• This unit was about using math to predict disease outbreaks. Hopefully, once the pattern is predicted, it can be easier to control and less people will get sick. It starts with one sick person who then transfers the disease to several other people and then those people transfer it to other people. 

• Finish unit 3 of Debugging
• This unit was about why it's ideal to make programs as simple as possible. The reason is because it makes debugging a whole lot easier because the bugs are much easier to spot. Good programming doesn't rely on how many lines of code there are, but on how much relevant code there is. If the code isn't relevant, it can be deleted. Simple programming doesn't necessarily rely on how much is there, but if the coding is all relevant. 

Daily Stuff--9/11/2012

Languages--Chinese:

I watched episode 55 of Travel in Chinese. This episode was about making dumplings and what makes them culturally significant in Beijing and northern China.

Articles:

There were a few interesting articles in the LA Times. One was about how the iPhone is helping the US economy. Since it's debut in 2007, over 244 million have been sold. Even though the overall sales are small contribution to the GDP, it's still a gain, and at this point, any small gain is worth something. The iPhone, as of now, is Apple's most important product because the sales contribute the most to their bottom line. So they have to make sure to keep it as up to date as possible and will probably always have to redesign it so it stays "new" so people will want to buy it. What I've observed with Apple products is that almost everyone seems to want the latest product, even if the change from one model to another isn't all that significant. So it makes sense that iPhones are and will continue to be in such high demand.

Another article was about Amazon's supposed monopoly on e-books. Amazon has been accused of sneakily monopolizing the e-book industry without anyone even realizing it. They set their prices at $9.99, which drives off the competition from other e-book distributors and bookstores. Over time, this should allow Amazon to lower it's prices more and more, leaving them essentially the only e-book distributors. This is a conspiracy because Amazon is working around the law with this scheme. This reminds me of something I heard about Microsoft a while ago. To avoid getting in trouble with the law for a monopoly, Bill Gates simply broke Microsoft down into smaller parts of the overall big company.

Philosophy:

I read about democracy as social inquiry in Dewey's political philosophy. He believed that peoples' interests should be taken into account and that the best way for this to happen is through public discussion. If the people are involved, they get a say in what happens in the government, and it doesn't end up becoming an oligarch.

Internships:

I looked at an internship on internships.com for a software engineering position. The company is Mitchell International and one of the only requirements is knowledge on relational databases, memory management, and operating systems.

Daily Stuff--9/10/2012

Languages--Chinese:

I watched episode 54 of Travel in Chinese. This episode was about the Summer Palace again, specifically visiting it and the parts about it that are the best places to see while there.

Articles:

There were several interesting articles in the Wall Street Journal and Union Tribune today.

One from the Union Tribune was about the rising sea levels, which has been an issue for a while now. The different though is the rate at which the levels are rising and it's estimated that by 2100, the sea levels will have risen at least 3 feet. By then, parts of the coastline may be permanently underwater and what it means for right now is that flooding may be more aggressive in the event of heavy rain or high tides. This is a bit frightening to think about even though 2100 seems like a long way off.

Another article from the Wall Street Journal was about the right way to approach financial aid. Some common mistakes are assuming you don't qualify for aid, not realizing how much the "expected parent contribution" is, and thinking you'll get more aid from a safety school. People who assume they don't qualify for aid miss out on merit based aid. The "expected parent contribution" is often higher than most parents realize and that's because the estimate given to them doesn't always include the loans parents are expected to take out. And universities often know when a person is applying there as a safety school because their test scores will often be higher than average. If there's any suspicion that you aren't 100% committed to that particular school, you won't get as much money because they'll want to give it to someone who has picked the university as their first choice. Yet another common misconception is that grades determine everything. Good grades don't necessarily translate to merit scholarships. This article will definitely come in handy when I'm applying for financial aid in the next few years. It's a very confusing process and knowing what to avoid and what to make sure to do helps a lot.

Another Union Tribune article was about a company called Ocean Powered Technologies that has been working on harnessing the power of waves. Wave energy will hopefully be another renewable energy source next to solar and wind energy. The technology hasn't been streamlined yet as final testing is just now being done. But hopefully, if this attempt works, other companies can start to come up with their own methods of harnessing wave energy.

Philosophy:

I read about democracy as the protection of popular interests in Dewey's political philosophy. He believed that democracy should involve expressing interest in what the voters think and want. It's all about the voters otherwise a select few so-called experts will take control and the whole system becomes an oligarch. Democracy is meant to protect individuals from that fate.

Internships:

I looked at a software developer internship for a company called DentedEgo, LLC. They're a social networking support site and the requirements include knowing C/C++/C#, experience with JavaScript and HTML, and familiarity with the .NET framework.

Daily Stuff--9/9/2012

Languages--Chinese:

I watched episode 53 of Travel in Chinese. This episode was about the Summer Palace and what makes it such a popular tourist destination.

Articles:

I read four Wall Street Journal articles.

One was about the unemployment rate and how it could affect the upcoming presidential election. The trend has been a switch from Democrat to Republican or vice versa when the unemployment rate is high at it's highest or lowest point during the presidency. During Obama's presidency, the unemployment rate has dropped at least a little bit and jobs have been created. The problem is that people aren't seeing these changes even though they are happening. People are still having a hard time finding jobs and Obama's reelection will rely on whether or not people feel like he's done anything to improve the country. If people decide that he hasn't done things in a timely manner or that he hasn't done enough, the presidency could very well go to Romney. It makes sense that this would happen since most people, it seems, aren't swayed by facts if they aren't feeling the effects. So in the case of unemployment, even if the unemployment rate has gone down, people aren't likely to see this as a good thing unless they have gotten a job, which a lot of Americans haven't.

The second article was about the French government making budget cuts in an effort to keep the euro crisis out of France. Quite a few people think this is a bad move and from what I understand, it actually seems like it would do more harm than good. If the budget cuts lower government spending, this leads to job cuts, which leads to less people paying taxes, which leads to more budget cuts and it's a never ending spiral. So, I don't think budget cuts are the best solution but I also don't know what would be a better one.

Another article was about Apple's plan to create something similar to Spotify or Pandora--personalized radio stations. The reason why it's easy for Apple to do something like this is because they don't actually have to make that much money off of this, like Pandora and Spotify do. Apple relies mostly on the sales of iPods and iPads and other Apple products and this more than covers the fees necessary to use the songs needed.

The last article was about Apple's plans to design the new iPhone to support LTE. LTE is currently the fasted wireless internet connection available for smartphones and Apple wants it's phone to support it worldwide. The problem is that the technology is very fragmented. There are around 36 LTE bands around the world but it wouldn't be practical for Apple to use all 36 bands in one chip. So they'll have to decide which ones are the most important and which ones will offer the most seamless service around the globe.

Philosophy:

I read about Social Action in Dewey's political philosophy. He believed that people shouldn't have doctrines and social roles placed upon them. The only way for people to assert their individuality is to find out what that means on their own, with no outside help.

Internships:

I found a product engineer internship on internships.com. The company is Mitek Systems and the software they work with allows people to take a picture of a check (or something similar) and then deposit that check using the photo or perform other actions with it. They need someone who can do software testing.

Daily Stuff--9/8/2012

Languages--Chinese:

I watched episode 52 of Travel in Chinese. This episode was also about the Great Wall of China, specifically, visiting it, how it was built, and how long it is.

Articles:

I read one article from CNBC about the European debt crisis and why Germany can't be the sole leader of the European Union. In order for Europe to climb out of this recession, it'll take the combined efforts of the entire EU. Germany has differing views from the European Central Bank on what Europe should be doing and I think for any progress to be made, there has to be a compromise at both ends. The ECB could probably benefit from listening to Germany at least every once in a while but Germany can't oppose everything the ECB does and they also can't govern the entire area. What works for Germans might not work out as well for other countries.

I also looked at the National Geographic's "talking dictionary project". It's a database of several endangered languages in the world with samples of conversations in those languages so people can hear them, and hopefully learn the languages eventually. Some of the languages in the dictionary are Chulym, which is spoken in Central Siberia, and Kallawaya, which is spoken in South America. Both languages are severely threatened, since there are only a few speakers of each left. But, this dictionary allows easier access to these endangered languages and hopefully over time, it can expand so more people can learn them and pass them on so they don't become extinct. You can argue that languages die out for a reason so what's the point of reviving them? But, I think preserving them is very important because every culture should be important, and even if no one wants to speak the language now, that could change. So this dictionary, once more gets added to it, would allow us to preserve languages so people can learn them in the future, if they want to revive it.

Philosophy:

I read about freedom in Dewey's political philosophy. According to liberalism, the individual exists prior to social institutions. So in order for people to get freedom, something simply needs to be removed--some constraint that prevents them from having, say, freedom of speech. Dewey argues that it's not that simple and one of the reasons is because he believed social institutions were supposed to shape a person. A person needs to be willing to change something and be free in order for them to obtain freedom, and it's not necessarily the job of the social institution to ensure this freedom.

Internships:

I looked at the requirements for a software engineering joseveral other b at Qualcomm. They want someone who's knowledgeable in C/C++, object-oriented software design and development, JavaScripts and HTML5, data mining, and computational neuroscience.

Daily Stuff--9/7/2012

Languages--Chinese:

I watched episode 51 of Travel in Chinese. This episode was about the Great Wall of China and the legends about it.

Articles:

I read a paper about computational phonology on the UCI website. I learned that word blocks can be regular and sub-regular. If I understand it correctly, a regular sound pattern is one that can be broken down into a set number of chunks and all the words in that block must obey the rule. Subregular patterns are even more limited than regular ones. It's hard to imagine any language being sorted into one of these categories since most languages aren't terribly systematic and would be a mix of sound patterns. Some are fairly systematic, but those are the only kinds of languages I can see this working on.

Philosophy:

I read about Dewey's philosophy on individualism, which is also a criticism of liberalism. He disapproved of the idea in liberalism that individuals are something given, not made. He believed that social institutions are there to create individuals, not do something for them. In other words, social institutions shape who a person is.

Internships:

I checked the Qualcomm website to see if they have any new jobs or internships posted. There are a few engineering jobs that were posted in the last couple of days in August. And most of the internships are for summer 2013.

Daily Stuff--9/6/2012

Languages--Chinese

I watched episode 50 of Travel in Chinese. This was another review on topics like going to the hospital and getting into a car accident.

Articles:

I read two articles in the Wall Street Journal. The first article was about the European debt crisis. Right now, Germany is on shaky ground, even though it's managed fairly well in the current economy. But with the rising debt crisis, Germany will most likely stop lending money to countries in the South and right now, Germany is one of the only things keeping Europe from falling into an even deeper recession. Also, the crisis is so bad that anything the European Central Bank does isn't likely to help much.

The second one is about the fact that people are having "eureka" moments later and later in life. Einstein had his breakthrough at age 26, but since then, the age when these discoveries take place has increased. The reason for this is simply because there's more to learn, and the student phase of life is longer now. When an industry or field is new, a complete education isn't as important and people can get out in the field faster. This is why people like Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg were as successful as they are at such a young age without completing college. The problem, however, is that this has caused a threat to prosperity. It's not the fact that these eureka moments are happening later in life. It's the fact that apparently scientists aren't working productively later in life. If that is the case, and I really don't know, then yes, I would agree that prosperity is being threatened because if these eureka moments are coming later in life and scientists aren't being productive later in life, how is anyone having these moments anymore to begin with?

Philosophy:

I read about Dewey's thoughts on classical liberalism in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Going back to his moral philosophy, he believed that every experience can have a value placed upon it, and when it's relevant, it helps people. But when that value becomes outdated, it can become a hindrance, and that's what Dewey thought about classical liberalism. It was a hindrance rather than anything helpful.

Internships:

I contacted my former linguistics professor about a research position involving a Uto-Aztecan language.

Daily Stuff--9/5/2012

Languages--Chinese

I watched episode 49 of Travel in Chinese. This episode was a review of topics like losing your wallet and buying cold medicine.

Articles:

I read two articles from the Union Tribune. One was about McDonald's opening completely vegetarian restaurants in India. The ones that are open in the country have already eliminated pork and beef out of respect for peoples' religious beliefs. These new restaurants will be located near places of worship, where the consumption of any meat is forbidden. This isn't the first time McDonald's has changed its menu to suit the diet of a certain country. This is the case in nearly every country that the chain exists in. Some menu items are eliminated completely, while others are made differently, like in India, where the burgers are made with veggie-friendly patties. I think this is a great strategy that allows the company to spread all over the world. By catering to the diets of other countries, McDonald's isn't just limiting itself to America, where things like the Big Mac have obviously been very successful.

The second article was about a San Diego company (Tomnod) that used satellite photos to help locate too missing mountain climbers in Peru. The took the photos of the area and consulted the crowds--friends, family, people in the climbing community. They combed through the photos to look for evidence, like footprints, that would help them find the hikers. The problem is that it took a lot of luck, with there being a big technology conference. A lot of help came from that conference, where it was easy to ask for it. I think besides the fact that it's very expensive to get the resources to do something like this, the biggest hurdle Tomnod will face is people worrying that this is an invasion of privacy. People tend to get very paranoid about stuff like this. But I think, since most of the photos go pretty much untouched (at least at this point), this shouldn't be a problem. No one is going to look at these photos and find out someone's dirty little secret. And it's been proven that this could be a very effective method of conducting search and rescue efforts because it helps narrow down the search in a fairly short amount of time.

Philosophy:

I read about Dewey's political philosophy. He was anti-elitist and believed that for the few who govern the public, they are corrupted by their high position of power. So it doesn't matter if they're smarter or wiser or would ultimately make better decisions. According to Dewey, they wouldn't make those decisions but instead would only care about themselves.

Internships:

I looked up jobs at Tomnod. They have one internship for an experienced hacker but that was all I could really find.

Daily Stuff--9/4/2012

Languages--Chinese

I watched episode 48 of Travel in Chinese. This episode dealt with buying cold medicine, both western and traditional Chinese medicine.

Articles:

I read several articles from CNBC. One was about the rising suicide rate and mental health issues in Europe since the economic crisis. The trigger is most likely the rising unemployment and the fact that mental health care has been among the first industries to suffer cuts in many countries. So with rising unemployment, people get depressed. They can't get mental health care because now it's too expensive and they don't have the money since they're unemployed. It's a vicious cycle that ultimately makes everything worse in the end.

Another article was about the rising unemployment in Germany. Germany is in much better shape than countries like Spain and Greece, but the debt crisis is still affecting people. This fact could mean that German citizens will be less keen to bail out countries like Greece and Spain. I think that if I were living in Europe, I would definitely want to live in Germany more than any other country. Compared to Greece and Spain, Germans seem to have it fairly easy.

One other trend that has arisen in Europe due to the financial crisis is that more and more babies are being abandoned by families that can't take care of them. This is reminiscent of America during the Great Depression, except, to the best of my knowledge, it was teenagers who chose to leave their families so there would be one less mouth to feed.

Philosophy:

I read about Dewey's social ethics. He stressed the importance of historical context when talking about moral philosophies. Just because a philosophy works for one time period or social group doesn't mean it works all the time in different contexts. So just because something worked for the Ancient Greeks doesn't mean it will work in modern society, according to Dewey. This is a very good point actually. It seems people tend to ignore the historical context of most philosophies, which is why they don't seem to work for a lot of situations.

Internships:

I took a look at the Marketing Manager jobs at Getaround. The job requires quick and strategic thinking, experience in marketing, and the ability to work well in groups.

Daily Stuff--9/3/2012

Languages--Chinese

I watched episode 47 of Travel in Chinese. This episode dealt with going to the hospital and visiting a doctor.

Articles:

I read two Union Tribune Articles and also read up on "speaker recognition" and what makes a person's voice unique.

The first article was about the appeal of San Diego for venture capitalists interested in biotech companies. The biggest one would be less competition since the ratio of venture capitalists in Northern California versus Southern California is around 10:1. Also San Diego has a very large cluster of biotech companies.

The second article was a list of tips to help you either keep a job or get one. Some tips were volunteering for challenging tasks, becoming a mentor, and building upon an established skill set. That is, take more classes in stuff you're already familiar with or ones you're not. This broadens your horizons and makes you more marketable.

The wikipedia article on "speaker recognition" says that two things make a person's voice unique. One is the actual shape and size of your nasal and oral cavities and your articulators (lips, tongue, teeth, etc.) where sound is produced. These are unique from person to person so no one sounds exactly the same. The other thing that makes a voice unique is how a person learns to use those articulators. Based on where a person is from, their articulators could be placed more forward or back depending on the phoneme. This is what defines a person's accent. So now the question is, is the size and shape of your nasal and oral cavities independent of accent? I would think it is. Even if a person affects their voice to produce a different accent, the size and shape of those cavities and articulators isn't going to change. But the difference is very subtle, so the other question is how exactly do you quantify the difference?

Philosophy:

I read about aesthetic value in Dewey's moral philosophy (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy). He believed that simply looking at something or touching something is enough of an experience to accurately place a valuation on it. You can pick up a hammer and feel it's weight and how it feels in your hands and infer what you're supposed to do with it. You can do the same thing with a piece of art just by looking at it.

Internships:

I looked up jobs at Double Robotics. They're looking for people with experience working with C/C++ and algorithms.

Daily Stuff 9/2/2012

Languages--Chinese

I watched episode 46 of Travel in Chinese. This episode was about what to do in the aftermath of a sprained ankle or a similar accident.

Articles:

I read two articles in the Union-Tribune about the legal battle between Samsung and Apple. Most of the patents that Apple says were infringed on were design patents, rather than anything related to the actual software used. This affects mostly older models of Android phones, which means it won't completely destroy Samsung or anything. It may, however, make some Android phones more expensive, if they have to pay royalties to Apple for their phone designs. One thing that had made Android phones more popular with consumers is the fact that they're usually cheaper than Apple products, because Google doesn't charge the manufacturers to use the software. It's believed that Apple filed the lawsuit in the first place because Android phones were selling better than iPhones. I don't doubt that this is true, and I do think the lawsuit was pointless. Apple products are pretty distinctive, design-wise, but the patents seemed to focus on really small details that it seems almost every smartphone has. So I have to question if Apple actually came up with the designs or just happened to get a patent for it before anyone else did.

Philosophy:

I read about reflective morality in Dewey's moral philosophy (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy). He believed that humans start out acting entirely on impulse, but once it becomes too challenging to do just this, valuing starts to come into the picture. People start to assign values to everything based on observations and experiences.

Internships:

I looked up jobs in a company called Getaround. It's a peer-to-peer car rental company and they have jobs for marketing managers from various colleges, and also software engineering.

Daily Stuff--9/1/2012

Languages--Chinese

I watched episode 45 of Travel in Chinese. This episode was about dealing with the aftermath of a car accident.

Articles:

I read one Wall Street Journal article and a technical report from Texas A&M University. The report was about the idea of software that can take someone's heavy foreign accent and change it so the accent is easier to understand. This would allow them to become more adept at learning English especially if what they're listening to is their own voice. And that's where the biggest concern is. How exactly do you change someone's voice without changing the identity of it? Think about the simple change of going from an English accent to an American one. Your vowels are placed further up front in your mouth, your pitch gets lower, you may pronounce your Rs more or less, depending on the accent. This is the nature of accent changes. So how do you keep what is inherently yours in the process? So I guess the biggest question is, what makes your voice as unique as it is? That's a question I would be really interested to find out the answer to.

The Wall Street Journal article was two sides of the argument: Are entitlements ruining America? On the side that debates yes, people are becoming too dependent on the government with things like unemployment and social security and people are losing that resilience that Americans used to have when they didn't have these benefits. As a result, people are becoming spoiled, as it were. On the side that argues no, the issue is much more complicated than the "yes" side makes it out to be. This author argues that it's acceptable for society to help those who cannot help themselves and as long as people aren't taking advantage of the government's generosity, it shouldn't pose a problem.

I agree with the "no" side. While some people do take advantage of the government's generosity, I don't think most of them do. If they get unemployment, they work hard to find another job so they don't have to always rely on it. But until they get that new job, unemployment helps them stay on their feet. So I think entitlements are a good thing.

Philosophy:

I read about Dewey's theories of virtue. He questioned the utilitarians, who believed that the good of the majority outweighs anything the minority might suffer. Dewey argued that people's welfare isn't fixed, and as a result, utilitarian philosophy can't apply. There's no way to determine who deserves to live, even if it means saving more lives in return.

Internships:

I looked at jobs with Zynga, which is a game developer company. They have lots of jobs in both the US and internationally.

Daily Stuff--8/31/2012

Languages--Chinese

I watched episode 44 of Travel in Chinese. This episode dealt with reading maps and asking for directions to the post office.

Articles:

I read two Wall Street Journal articles. One was about drummers in Turkey that play before dawn during Ramadan to wake people up and start the first meal before the fast during the day. Maybe residents of Turkey have been worrying about customs and traditions becoming too lax and so many cities have decided to make drummers audition to get certified in order to play and get paid for it. On the other hand, people in the more secular areas of Turkey have complained about this practice being outdated and some areas have forbid the drummers from playing. Since this seems to be the minority in this case, it looks like Turkey will continue to require the drummers get certified in order to uphold tradition.

The second article was about the debt crisis in Europe, specifically China's part in the whole situation. China has recently decided that it will continue to buy European bonds in an effort to help the economy but it will most likely not be giving any direct aid as that would be too risky at this point.

Philosophy:

I read about Dewey's "theories of right" in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. He believed that the right is something completely separate from the good, which I think means that just because something is right, doesn't necessarily make it good. Also, the right is usually identified as something like the Ten Commandments, rules or laws that people are expected to follow whether they like them or not.

Internships:

I looked at jobs in Technical Support on the Qualcomm website. There aren't too many but there is at least one in environmental health and safety engineering.

Daily Stuff 8/30/2012

Languages--Chinese

I watched episode 43 of Travel in Chinese. This episode dealt with asking for directions, and specifically asking about bus and subway stations.

Articles:

I read several Wall Street Journal articles about the financial crisis in Europe. The new government in Greece is trying to come up with a plan that will allow them to continue to receive aid without having to make so many cuts that will make the people mad. I definitely think the main problem with Greece is that what the people want is very important, when I don't think that should be the case. If they want to get anything done, they'll have to go against what the people really want, since what they want isn't helping the situation at all.

Another article was about a Dutch politician who has started criticizing the Euro zone and the European Union. He says that they should withdraw from the European Union and stop using the euro as currency. Unfortunately for him, most of the Dutch seem to still be pretty pro-European so this plan probably won't be put into action.

Philosophy:

I read about Dewey's "theories of the good" in the Standford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. He believed that the difference between the apparent and real good is in the valuing we do on impulse and after we've had time to think about the situation. This makes me think about Kant, who believed that motive played a big role in morality. In the case of Dewey's philosophy, I would think that what we do on impulse is a better indicator of our true nature than what we do once we've thought about it. Dewey also believed that boiling it down to the concept of "pleasure vs. pain" involves looking at what the cause of the pleasure and pain is.

Internships:

I looked up Engineer Support jobs and internships at Qualcomm. There aren't as many as there are for other engineering areas