Posted 3:22 PM by Andy
It has been a while, so let's quickly get to the update.

"Sync". Science of synchronization. The author sought to understand why fireflies always flash their signals in harmony even when they start off out of sync. Examination of dynamic nonlinear systems that also follow this behavior found in nature. Explanation of traffic flow and congestion theory. An interesting discussion on circadian rhythms is included. Researchers conducted experiments on subjects that were placed deep underground without light or other time signals to test their sleep patterns. What they found was sleep was not tied to amount previously enjoyed but to body temperature. In other words, the reason you feel drowsy in mid-afternoon is because that's when your body temperature is at its lowest point during the day for most people. People's natural day is slightly less than 24 hours, something like 23 1/2 hours.

"A Shortcut Through Time." Quantum computing demystified. Great explanation of the concepts behind the two subjects of computer theory and quantum mechanics. Computing is just coding information into binary form, so the actual architecture is irrelevant. You can build a calculating machine from tinkertoys, mechanical strings, and integrated circuits. Quantum mechanics is the realm of physics that posits electrons can have positive and negative spin at the same time. To overcome the limits of Moore's Law that states processors will double in power every 18 months given the size of the circuit chip, you need a revolutionary architecture that does not compute in binary. Enter quantum computing. The theory is if you can harness the quantum properties of simultaneous dual states, what is currently NP-complete or exponentially difficult problems can be solved in linear time. Molecular biologists are enlisted in the task of building such a quantum computer because at the cellular level some of these compounds exhibit quantum behavior.

"Capital Instincts." Biography of Tom Weisel's life from childhood to his current reign as the head of Tom Weisel Partners, a merchant bank based in SF. He is ultra-competitive and takes up new sports every decade or so to compete at the pro level like skiing and biking.

"The Biggest Game of All." A primer on media deals written by Leo Hindery, the president of TCI, the cable kingpin. He unpacks various deals over his career and ponders the strategies and mistakes behind them. The personalities he brushes up against are the usual suspects of John Malone, Sumner Redstone, Rupert Murdoch, Ted Turner, Brian Roberts, and Gerald Levin. The story that remains with me the most is how he duped Mike Armstrong of AT&T into believing that they can implement their phone over cable plans on their existing lines. Moral of the story is "You don't need to tell them everything." Other anecdotes include making concessions from one partner to another potential partner without the first partner's consent which worked despite the consternation of the first partner after full disclosure.

"Who Moved My Cheese." Fable of two mice and two small people who had different responses to their Cheese being moved. The obvious lessons on expecting change, adapting to change, and adopting a good attitude towards dealing with change apparently helped many people in their life goals.

"Sacred Romance." John Eldredge's synopsis of the right way to live. It's similar to Piper's Desiring God with less theology and more narrative. We live life craving intimacy and communion but often look for fulfillment in the wrong places or things. The most memorable quote from this is from G.K. Chesterton, "Whenever a man goes to a brothel, he is looking for God." Other more recent works by Eldredge include Wild At Heart, targeted towards men.

"God Has Spoken." J.I. Packer's sequel to Knowing God. He describes general revelation and special revelation and defends orthodox Christianity and the inerrancy of the scriptures.

Random thoughts. There is a guy at Cambridge who is proposing variable speed of light, or VSL. He questions the one tenet that hold's up Einstein's E=MC2 and the entire science of classical physics. This is akin to questioning 1+1=2 if you're a mathematician or knowledge is attainable if you're a philosopher or God is three in one if you're Christian. He has been lambasted, derided, laughed at, and ostracized by most of his colleagues. But what if he is right?

Microsoft interview. Before my spring break, I talked to Microsoft about a summer internship position in program management. A X-Box game tester interviewed me. After the standard questions on behavior interviewing, he asked a couple more unconventional questions. He posed the following scenario: "Steve Ballmer walks into my office when I'm talking to you and asks you to design a fridge for use in the office. How would you do it?" I walked him through my extemporaneous thoughts on design ideas on basic form factors, functionality, and extra mobile-synchronization features. Then he threw me a brain-teaser. "There are two buckets of liquid of equal amounts. One bucket contains blue liquid, and the other contains red. Take one cup of blue liquid, pour it into the bucket with the red liquid. Then take one cup from the bucket with the mostly red liquid and pour it into the first bucket. After these two steps, are there more blue liquid in the originally red liquid bucket, or more red liquid in the originally blue liquid bucket?" I had to explain my thought process to him. It turns out my initial intuition was wrong and I messed up in explaining my approach. Afterwards as I headed out to lunch, I worked out the solution in my head. Try it for yourself and scroll down for my answer.

IMF. I used to be pro-world trade and I still believe in general globalization is good. However, recently I've been more and more stricken by the ill-effects of free markets imposed Western-style on developing countries. Why did Argentina fail despite a massive IMF bailout loan? The troubling conclusion I came to after reading various reports is that the IMF induced economic collapse on its "beneficiaries." The Fund links its loans to conditions that are triggered easily in an effort to pry open foreign markets and liberalize trade. Upon triggering, usurious interest payments are demanded. Unable to repay with their own currencies, state assets are sold at bargain prices to Western creditors and wages are slashed to raise revenue. Capital flight ensues as the wealthy elite dump the local currency for the dollar. The already weak economy spirals downward into meltdown. The sickening thing about all this is internal IMF documents show a timeline where "civil unrest" is expected to occur. Sure enough, with hungry citizens unable to pay for basic services like food, rioting flares up on a massive scale. IMF's response? The Fund advises the ruling government to exhibit a strong hand on the populace. In other words, send in the tanks. Venezuela is held up as one example where IMF's aid resulting in a resounding success. In reality, Chavez rebuffed IMF's directives and executed the opposite policies by increasing government spending. What does he get for snubbing the West? A coup attempt is staged against him, only to be averted when he was tipped off and prepared a bigger army hidden in the wings of his presidential suite. All of this makes me wary of joining any organization whose basic modus operandi I oppose. Look at what happened to Joe Stiglitz. He was the head of the World Bank when he started questioning its own and its sister organization's policies. He was quickly ousted and replaced by Larry Summers, the arch-free trade and globalization advocate. I have a knot in my stomach every time I think about this.

CIA. I entertained joining this organization for all of, oh, three seconds. It completely goes against the grain of my being and most normal people's idea of a good time. You know you're doing a good job when noone knows about what you do? Any false move and you can be eliminated without a trace? The recent movie The Recruit captures the ethos of the Company well. A friend has been able to verify the setup when they recruit operatives. He was treated to a battery of tests and made it to the second round. The scenario if you make it past that round is you go to a small city that has been planted with other CIA operatives for 6 months for a life-simulation. Everything can be real or can be part of the game. You don't know if the cop that pulled you over is really who he says he is. Oh, you have to leave your spouse at home.

Spring Break. I couldn't wait to be in the West Coast and sure enough, my 11 days in the Bay area was a great recharger. I saw most of the people I wanted to see. I spent at least an hour or two with each of these people, in the order that I saw them: Wilbur M., Alfred L., Drew Y., Leon K., Jack. T., Phil D., Albert T., Winchell C., Jimmy T., Eli K., Jason C., Andy L., Mike T., Gary L., Lory N., John Y., Annie C., Alvin W., Wade A., Bun L., and Dave W. (On the recommendation of Greg W., I'm changing my previous policy of using initials in favor of a compromise solution that helps me to remember the relevant characters in the future while retaining a modicum of anonymity.) I missed Greg and Bernie N. I had brief conversations with Aileen O., Owen T., and Henry L. I found out my prayer for Jen H. was answered in an unexpected way. I had prayed that she will have the opportunity to share the gospel on the job. Little did I know she didn't receive any training and was sent on the streets to counsel prostitutes immediately. The result? She has had to turn to God more and was able to share the gospel. :)

I played ball 4 times, two times at Lowell, once at the Sunset rec center, and once at Stanford Middle School. I watched two movies, Bang the Machine at the Asian American Film Festival and My Sassy Girl on DVD. The former examined the video game subculture through the Street Fighter scene in the US, culminating in a matchup against the creators of the game, the Japanese in Tokyo. The guys in the documentary provided ample comic relief unwittingly through their manic dedication to the game and drive to be the best. A telling portrayal of the differences between teams near the climax of the movie showed the US team suffering infighting right before the final tournament while the Japanese hosts shared a chummy camaderie displayed through joking around and tossing each other in the air. The second movie is a Korean drama that tells the story of a guy who accidentally becomes involved in a woman's life. The girl is unusually cruel towards him and basically bosses him around. Nevertheless, a romance develops despite the girl's inhibitions. There are some twists and turns where they break up and attempt to live separate lives, but the conclusion wraps up the tale nicely by bringing them back together in a demonstration of destiny. This is not the usual tearjerker soap opera piece, and I wouldn't say either of the characters are that compelling, but it does present a case of how "real" romance can develop and evolve.

Brain-teaser answer. I used numbers to help simplify the problem. Take for instance, ten liters of each liquid in the buckets. Assume each cup holds one liter. After you take one cup of blue liquid and dump it in the second bucket, the first bucket has 9 liters of blue and the second has 11 liters of a solution with 10 liters of red and 1 liter of blue. In other words, the second bucket has 10/11 red and 1/11 blue liquid. When you take one cup now from the second bucket, you are taking one liter of solution that is 10/11 red and 1/11 blue assuming the liquids mix equally throughout the bucket. Add it to the first bucket, and you get a solution with 9 1/11 liters of blue and 10/11 liters of red. By the same reasoning, the second bucket now has 9 1/11 liters of red and 10/11 liters of blue liquid. So the answer is the amount of red liquid in the mostly blue liquid bucket is the same as the amount of blue liquid in the mostly red liquid bucket.

I was briefed on the function of the US General Accounting Office from a friend who worked there. I discussed being a walking target if I work at a US embassy abroad with another friend. I discussed transcoastal relationships and changing relationship dynamics with a few others. I heard a girl's perspective on a guy's airing of his views. I found out about drama that occurred in the weeks prior to my arrival. I was encouraged by principled brothers who insisted that doing the will of God was the best course. I played Sagarian (a game with trivia questions, physical challenges, and tongue twisters) at my sister's birthday party. I almost broke a friend's lock on his front door by jamming the key into it. I attended City Church twice and heard a series of sermons on the temptation of Christ in the desert recorded in Matthew 4. I found out about two friends in the process of buying their first houses. I heard about a brother who is constantly asked to move out of his parents' place. It was a great time. To top it off, I arrived back in Syracuse to 48 degree weather. Spring is here.

Before I depart, I have to relate a couple stories. It seems like I have a polarizing effect on babies. Exhibit 1: dinner with Albert's family. His 16-month old daughter wakes up from her stupor and upon seeing my mug, immediately launches into a tirade with her shrieks startling the other patrons. Exhibit 2: inter-service snack time at City Church. I was sitting at a coffee table when in walks a lady with an infant draped on her arms about 20 feet from me. I lock eyes with the blond toddler girl. For some reason she was in a jubilant mood and waved energetically at me. I waved back. Next she clapped. I clapped in reflective mirroring. Then she did something that blew my mind. She blew me a kiss! I was stunned but quickly recovered my composure. I returned the kiss through the air. That about sums up my time in SF.