A New Perspective on Holidays

I'm just gonna say it. holidays suck when you spend them alone. They really do. Even it being the kickoff of college football this weekend doesn't redeem it. Cause ultimately, it just means you have a lot of time to sit around and think about how alone you are. :-P

I'm kinda hoping I might happen upon an invitation somewhere at church today. I know that's shameful...but what can I say?

In other news...MD disappointed me more than I expected. What the heck is up with Georgia's offense coughing up the ball and not being able to put any points on the board? And Oklahoma...I know you were playing without one of the best QB's in the country, and without an excellent receiver...but you should have been able to put BYU away. That's shameful. And finally, VT, I KNOW you've got more offense than that.

Need To Know

Here at Reason, we do our part to provide you with all the information that you need to know to live a happy, successful, and rewarding life. Here's a word for today, or rather, the number for today. This is the first number that is evenly divisible by every number from 1-10,000.

57933396702876429686922708791662400986348602979985188253931383511489793001457731823088325981761829221665744176794023407056559491402467891577328326763021299466843118474637852656831938521549472347971073068161679301705472685236926463387338495220571064420250677315000599457941340849496227227628926493771018264821842230370349640102573492881424317306189569467101495834601991270039918780924506495405797923762205360790652073159333382795670426041033566699342449050309786673681670483369155689567554239898879039744147333971988258061042090970476729293484513072443614795766878726325795854855394491290821167148355514749149683707585283381546153703014210442470318180511906691108325146494219343498899382918018246586609827667470329166012110874981104800415741527586280026737848182673635645872230905234515169611121042867043956727839314198728626274066655467846183343599194761590368608472578398169740111485924046986870714883894285841394964627408094161019230662749101230783008668676907211199488107523306410531772045452853957706873238466829988649822157557103503283563398281775464911904789159515900987401574678885942493907604740891878907698622679570965569483682456042918236444719794534411171907606336090534029349351300276141892529795448751826394399153216183270385737795748770508612096374765333578237973395907265484337502903901947799663388329849198045756207969590055686607678195206367273600632909417024224754750428711236917913663419215925830944035539848749163178489614227546656090790164108195741048033614368495827231281392190063051315248070192263400801315095608512139510731469732311313898995746040563433121427776071482655904346538281010668476731132415829844984600414136781404774213539507859790229205890271721600309169926806121871750008163738773911610009508609149665332579632767397078877996926581337419351834754370411008686136818501030862345505385357198060894463821342298717851567836562984344806469613768024764967372979655179066074398198246805104576134474823016488842818077041661676098399378809713894284994865370648616800689225595431967181072865363430005250840767890912164530705704936837915584856606960687347372391339254432119085932175541392954343684716695162629271229789289404752104218596977036941910521266321726821940533986384237994403780618301379099347975260122724194454275088825587044488208965690373706904056926509324696308810974331790119456438147168585552011926921912167450509941646104076818762060881903969616431646384985895944231218505620547093874241169759205450145478746112796898626711966320965057212219958567338851356631739947125096250452942497473309299907612330435197454392788637359253116308685007014249605492659524429134513344137517101872279428202285951652856354827230765931502805341696470148698002737700823078904634554776750169178259216255903968865588749827789888950172452455448248833712309835657561369233157977405579365293671943131412034109901944892819245001657496671822581274180596255340507054499934060282320458240722454209933569735940032859109934686878274110864394924463573852015338428881961843292083566034669814619612606638283615766521897504566616272305253931938372830446073384019299355320864342734019517633662346790422915951954822645137091494126100390104510987373366328615363056042137440808225973600809566845718073791616927784260557845021823094999326904373592319407516660896764388092262510369182153559285446074990941863516247226532653142198551840063631989428776799533286215464660644129411503287306838551341184739976807097763115368031748646043780549055143428297230678053738453010234949008253769355207208167999203353157524666017029803679612131824740794652592875662818479980117505768541194835524231818203552256426752730455115752280837099763237606348192867936457993970866446264015812819179994138642295108872381709181937092290392544335464025324661284746003660247161196698209062164637264114930766444473471083408200329662059064201896721165015687487728300854501780810155844837489798144309942999091774466406270065305461848242329380636274754660519867343112275861821293501112101434868225378041813836808745417606289159904294165941408692922250601127804971962342807927743390030395048263275616935165347620718001157478088456439083590834464409622781693790883289597024043982584220069224170235863458745344365684082114430362867446193601075569803650773018026700003812298460527976219100308016537538008597751565631582745643139434508332515569645426771080000093248326671232352303901422

my program took 52.403000 seconds to compute, which i was pretty proud of.

The original problem was to find the smallest number divisible by 1-20, but aftter realizing that my program solved that in less than .5 microseconds (0.000000 sec) I decided to test how fast it actually was. 1-100 it was still registering a flat 0 seconds. 1-1000 it came in at 0.125. The calculation for 1-100,000 I left running over the weekend at work. no idea if it's solved it yet. but if the time increase is exponential, as it appears to be, I'm guessing not. I'm also somewhat curious what python's limit is on the size number it can handle. just to give you a perspective on how big that number is, a lower limit estimate of the number of atoms in the universe is ~3x10^79. I should have just checked the string length in python, but I forgot to. However, that number is on the order of 6x10^4000.

So that's if for today, and remember, you are a really, REALLY tiny insignificant part of a BIG universe, and yet God knows every hair on your head. how about that, eh?

Code is written in python. I'm not actually positive this is correct...cause I was just trying to remember it here, but it's pretty close. I'll check it when I go to work on tuesday.

n=10000 #Establish search boundary
c1 = c2 = n #Establish dummy variables
for n range (n+1, 1, -1): #Establish range
while c1%n != 0 : #I only pretend I know what I'm doing
c1 = c1+c2 #If you actually read all my comments, you'll realize I am NOT a "real" programmer
c2=c1 #But it's fun anyway
print 'The smallest number divisible by 1-', n, 'is', c2, '.' #Booya baby

The key to this program is recognizing the following. Assume you have a number "a1" that is divisible by "b" and "c", and you want to find the next smallest number, "a2" that's also divisible by "d". By necessary consequence:

a2 = a1+x*a1

where x is a positive integer. The easiest way to convince yourself of this is to realize that since the a1 component of a2 is divisible by b and c, the a2-a1 component must also be divisible by b and c. And since we just stated that a1 is the smallest integer evenly divisible by both b and c, a2 must be some integer multiple of a1. So each iteration of the while loop simply adds another value of "a1" and checks to see if the new number is divisible by the current number in the for loop.

The only other "trick" is to start at the top rather than the bottom. This makes your convergence much faster, since you are working in much larger steps right off the bat. In fact, the program converged to the solution for 1-20 in 81 iterations!

Enjoy!

Man vs. Wild

In this special man vs. wild edition, you'll catch of the real struggle, and what it must have been like to survive in primitive times. No camera men and support crew, just me and the brutal truth that is nature.

5:30 finds me on the side of the lake with my trusty rod and real, trolling for bass. Time passes and I have no success in catching the fish that will provide vital nutrients for my survival. After an hour and a half I decide to try for panfish or bluegills instead. I catch a couple small ones, but nothing that has enough meat on its bones to feed my hungry stomach. after obvserving the movement of some smaller panfish among the rocks in the shallows, I change techniques and let the bait drag and bounce slowly along the bottom rather than zip through the water. On my second cast I meet with great success. I reel in a gorgeous 9" panfish. That should go a long way towards keeping me alive. not having a chain or a bucket to secure the fish, I simply lay him on the grass far enough away from the water that he won't flop in. With those kinds of results, I've got to see if I can get another one to make a full meal out of it. Then I spot him. about 20 yards away, a heron is obviously eyeing my fish hungrily. He slowly stalks the fish, moving when he thinks I'm not looking. Twice I chase him away as he makes a dash for my precious dinner. Then it happens: several quick tugs on my line alert me that I've caught the rest of my dinner. Within seconds the fish is out of the water and on the bank. At that moment my heart lands in my stomach like a brick as I hear a squack and turn to see the Enemy scoop up the fish and take off across the lake. About 200 yards down the bank I watch as the heron gulps down the fish without so much as a please and thank you. The sun has set as I look bleakly at the 5 inch fish on my line, and with a sinking heart, realize that I will be going hungry tonight.

baby dolls

I noticed recently that baby dolls' heads (the ones with the cloth stuffed bodies and the plastic heads and extremities) are held on by zip ties.

There's something awesomely morbid about that.

What message are they trying to send kids?

Surprised, Encouraged, Amazed

Three frames of mind which I went through today.

The past few days I've been down in Iuka, MS for a meeting. Yesterday was fairly interesting, getting to see the project which was just in its final stages, and getting familiar with the facilities down there. But today turned out to be far more interesting.

Surprised

I was surprised today when I saw a dead armadillo by the side of the road. I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised...but I was.

Encouraged

The meeting which i was attending was largely to accomodate Mike Griffin, the former director of NASA. The project which was being presented was one which he had personally commissioned, and thus he was very interested to see the results. What was encouraging was that the entire project lasted two and a half years, from innitial conception, to final production. For any of you familiar with govt. work...that's BLAZING fast. And on top of that it was totally awesome. So it was encouraging to me that there are projects that can still be run in a semi efficient manner by NASA that create state of the art results. They may be few and far between...but they do exist. ;-)

Amazed

...at how God opens doors. Mike Griffin is now on the faculty of University of Alabama in Huntsville. In his position there he is pushing for the university to be very closely alligned with NASA, and other industry members. He and Larry Pelham (not technically my boss...but really my boss. :-)) got to talking, and between the two of them came up with a master plan. They suggested that TJ and I start at UAH on a masters program, and that NASA and the University work it such that our work at NASA counts as research towards our masters. Nothing could be more welcome as I've been trying to figure out how to work in a masters. i am not clear on the details of how it would work, but it means that I could potentially finish a masters program in two and a half years. But at the least it means the people I report to at both work and school will be working towards the same goal, which will hopefully make ballancing things easier. and it also most likely means I won't have to pay a penny to go to school. probably not even up front. In any case, I'm very thankful. pray that everything works out well with this. it would be VERY exciting if I would be able to finish the masters in 2 or so years instead of 5 just doing it part time. but it's all pretty amazing if you ask me.

Barber Shop

Since moving away also meant that I no longer have my sisters/father/mother to give me haircuts periodically, it also necessitated finding somewhere to get my hair cut. As I do with most things, I turned to google to ade me in my search. One of the first results it brought up was this:

http://artofmanliness.com/2008/05/20/rediscovering-the-barbershop/

I highly recommend reading the entire article as it is very well written and explains the barber shop experience FAR better than I will ever be able to. But needless to say, this article inspired me to find a real barber shop, and not just a hair cuttery. My search yielded the following.

http://alroosters.com/

This traditionally styled barber shop is set up in the very quaint and attractive shops on Providence Main Street. I intend to visit this area more in the future...but more on that another time.

When you first walk in, the first thing that strikes you is the smell. It smells like man. A pleasant mixture of aftershave, shaving cream and even a touch of alcohol. (they serve you drinks while you wait) The next thing you realize is that all the people waiting are men. Pretty cool. Give them your name, and they'll give you a time slot. Once you're in the chair, the experience begins. After a brief consultation on what you would like done, the cut begins. Using a combination of scissors, combs, and clippers, your hair is slowly tamed and shaped into a respectable state of being once more. But that is only the beginning, my friend. next a hot, lightly scented towel is brought and wrapped around your face and neck while your hair receives a thorough washing, followed by a complete scalp massage. ooo, life is good. After the wash and scalp massage the towel is removed and you sit back up feeling quite refreshed. But wait, theres more. Using a traditional straight blade razor, your neck and sideburns are trimmed into tip-top shape, followed by a neck and shoulder massage. You pay the smiling clerk and walk out of the barber shop feeling like a new man.

All in all it was completely worth the 24 dollars of my hard earned money. I feel fairly confident that the next time I am in need of a haircut, I'll find my way back to Providence and Roosters.