The topic of Kentucky Derby bubbled up in one of my conversations with a co-worker and we talked about the odds as to which horse will win. I have been taking up a Data Mining class and we are going through a lot of data modeling techniques and algorithms. A lot of these can be easily done using a wonderful open-source Java application called WEKA which is "a collection of machine learning algorithms for data mining tasks".
It dawned on me that it may be a good exercise to model the data from the Kentucky Derby and try to predict the winner based on selected variables. Rick Janava has done some neural net analysis in the past to determine winners in six-furlong [0.75 miles] claiming races [Kentucky Derby is 1.25 miles]. Using his approach ".. so far in the first 300 races, 39% of the winners have been predicted at odds which average better than 4.5 to 1".
Janava's work lends a good starting point for identifying the more significant variables that need to be used in the model. The data modeling for the Kentucky Derby is a good exercise in determining the most successful WEKA learning algorithm/s for this sort of data set. Hopefully by the next Kentucky Derby I can have some work to show for this problem.
Saturday, May 1, 2010
C# Development in OSX Using MonoDevelop
"MonoDevelop is an IDE primarily designed for C# and other .NET languages. MonoDevelop enables developers to quickly write desktop and ASP.NET Web applications on Linux, Windows and Mac OSX. MonoDevelop makes it easy for developers to port .NET applications created with Visual Studio to Linux and to maintain a single code base for all platforms." - MonoDevelop
The OSX binary can be downloaded downloaded here. You will also need the Mono 2.4+ GTK# framework library.
One thing that seems to be missing from MonoDevelop is the ability to interact with the built-in application console. If you have a line that requires input using Console.readLine(), you will get a runtime "System.ArgumentNullException" error because your application will just ignore the console input and try to run the succeeding lines. The preference for setting an external console does not seem to exist in the OSX version. I have not looked into other platforms to check if this is the prevailing trend.
In any case, in order to get past this bump, open Terminal and navigate to your project's folder executable file. In my OSX MonoDevelop installation where I have a project called TestProject this is the path:
/Users/macflores/projects/TestProject/TestProject/bin/debug
Assuming you have successfully compiled your project, type in from the Terminal prompt:
tux:debug macflores$> mono TestProject.exe
And that's it! You're on your way to hacking in another language!
The OSX binary can be downloaded downloaded here. You will also need the Mono 2.4+ GTK# framework library.
One thing that seems to be missing from MonoDevelop is the ability to interact with the built-in application console. If you have a line that requires input using Console.readLine(), you will get a runtime "System.ArgumentNullException" error because your application will just ignore the console input and try to run the succeeding lines. The preference for setting an external console does not seem to exist in the OSX version. I have not looked into other platforms to check if this is the prevailing trend.
In any case, in order to get past this bump, open Terminal and navigate to your project's folder executable file. In my OSX MonoDevelop installation where I have a project called TestProject this is the path:
/Users/macflores/projects/TestProject/TestProject/bin/debug
Assuming you have successfully compiled your project, type in from the Terminal prompt:
tux:debug macflores$> mono TestProject.exe
And that's it! You're on your way to hacking in another language!
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Firefox Slow Reloading jQuery Page With Firebug Enabled
For a page that has jQuery interactions, a page using Firefox with Firebug enabled loads veeeery slowly when the jQuery interaction is activated. If you disable Firebug without reloading the page, the jQuery interaction responds normally. Enable Firebug again without reloading the page and this time the jQuery interaction improves.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
WOT Book 12: 'The Gathering Storm"
The first book of a trilogy to end the Wheel of Time series written by the late Robert Jordan. Brandon Sanderson has taken the helm in writing the final books to recap this exciting saga of Rand al'Thor. I'm glad that they split up the books. I'd hate to see the end written in just one book especially since there seem to be a lot of characters in the book that deserve buildup.
My only qualm about this book is that they should have provided a character list from the major to the minor characters, those that are dead, and further categorize the cast by group like Aes Sedai, Aiel, Borderlanders, Forsaken, etc. They do have a Glossary but it's not as useful.
Overall the book was pretty exciting. It resolves one of the major Aes Sedai subplots and leaves a cliffhanger with Rand al'Thor. 'can't wait to read the next book!
My only qualm about this book is that they should have provided a character list from the major to the minor characters, those that are dead, and further categorize the cast by group like Aes Sedai, Aiel, Borderlanders, Forsaken, etc. They do have a Glossary but it's not as useful.
Overall the book was pretty exciting. It resolves one of the major Aes Sedai subplots and leaves a cliffhanger with Rand al'Thor. 'can't wait to read the next book!
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Jake Shimabukuro Concert In Chicago
My wife and I will be at Jake Shimabukuro's concert on April 26 at the Old Town School of Music.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Worth CT Tenor Ukulele Strings
During this past winter, the #1 ukulele string on my Pono tenor suddenly broke without any reason. I figure it was too cold in our basement [~67F] and the string just contracted too much. This is quite surprising because I've left my ukulele in the basement the previous year but the strings held true. The difference was that I was using Ko'olau Gold tenor strings during the previous year. I just switched to the Aquila nylgut strings last year.
Anyway, this gave me the opportunity to try out some Worth CT strings which were highly recommended in the ukulele forums that I've been in. I was able to snag a set of clear strings from eBay for ~$17 including shipping. The set consists of 63" lengths for each string. Hence, you're actually paying for 2 sets of strings. The price then is almost the same as what I spent for the Aquila nylgut strings.
The Worth strings are thinner than the Ko'olau Gold and Aquila nylgut strings. While the Ko'olau Gold had volume and the Aquila nylgut was crisp, the Worth CT was more mellow. It did not quite have the volume as the other two, however, the sound is very polished. They're also easier on the fingers and I recommend these strings for beginners.
Overall, I like these strings and I will stick to them for now ... until they snap again next winter.
Anyway, this gave me the opportunity to try out some Worth CT strings which were highly recommended in the ukulele forums that I've been in. I was able to snag a set of clear strings from eBay for ~$17 including shipping. The set consists of 63" lengths for each string. Hence, you're actually paying for 2 sets of strings. The price then is almost the same as what I spent for the Aquila nylgut strings.
The Worth strings are thinner than the Ko'olau Gold and Aquila nylgut strings. While the Ko'olau Gold had volume and the Aquila nylgut was crisp, the Worth CT was more mellow. It did not quite have the volume as the other two, however, the sound is very polished. They're also easier on the fingers and I recommend these strings for beginners.
Overall, I like these strings and I will stick to them for now ... until they snap again next winter.
Sunday, October 15, 2006
Pono Koa Tenor: Another Ukulele Upgrade
After reading through the ukulele forums and consulting with a few people who know more ukulelia than I do, I decided to go for the Ko'olau Pono tenor. There was a solid mahogany version [PT] sold at Bounty Music for under $300. However, I opted for the koa version [PKT] with the gloss finish for about $30 more. I also got the hard case although there was already a gig bag included.The PKT came with Ko'olau Gold strings with a #3 wound string. The sound was beautiful with these strings. The sound projection from the PKT was impressive to me who was used to trying to coax a little more volume from my OU5 concert by strumming or plucking harder. With the PKT, there was also a crispness in the sound. However, as I soon found out, the strings were a little bit too hard on my amateur fingers.
I've played electric, acoustic and classical guitar before but I've never had so much fatigue and soreness from playing for long lengths on these strings. Also, I was not used to the squeaking sound that the wound string makes when I do slides and chord transitions across the fretboard. These squeaks are OK for guitars but they have no place in a ukulele. Part of the reason I went from a guitar to a ukulele was to unload the complexity of a guitar's 2 additional strings. The sqeaks are an additional baggage that I can forget about.
Although there are Ko'olau Gold strings that have the #3 unwound, I still decided to ditch these strings. In any case, I have replaced the Ko'olau strings with Aquila Nylgut strings. These strings were a little more gentle on my fingers. Maybe someday when I'm a little more seasoned, I will go back to the Ko'olau Golds which I still believe are excellent strings.
Below are some views from the PKT:
The sound from the PKT is fabulous coming from someone who started with an OU5 concert uke. I've gotten used to the Aquila strings and they do seem to have a sharper and clearer tone to them. The PKT stays in tune for quite a while now that the new strings have stabilized. I usually still check the tuning out of habit and I rarely do any adjustments anyway.
There was a discussion in the EZFolk forum about the type of wood used in the PKT. I checked with teh dealer and they stated that the PKT is actually solid mahogany with a koa [veneer] top. In any case, it looks and sounds great.
Saturday, September 16, 2006
The Oscar Schmidt OU5 Concert Ukulele
The OU5 does not seem to be as resonant as my entry-level Hilo. I have read reviews about the OU5 and they recommended changing the strings. After 2 weeks of using the OU5, I changed the strings to D'Addario J65 Ukulele Strings. The string change made the sound crisper although I still do not notice any substantial change in resonance.
In any case, the OU5 is a good unit to play. The fingerboard is smooth and the fretboard metal strips are nicely ground so there are no rough edges. It stays in tune quite nicely for this summertime. I keep it in our basement where the temperature ranges from about 70-78 degF and it stays tuned for about a week before I start tuning it again. I still have to see how long it stays in tune during the other seasons.
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All in all, the OU5 is worth its price. You get a decent ukulele that you can enjoy playing and showing off to your family and friends.
Ukulele
After more than 20 years of getting myself interested in guitar playing, I finally switched to playing the ukulele.
My first ukulele was a Hilo which I purchased from Guitar Center. I did not enjoy playing it because the strings were too high above the fretboard. Moreover, I constantly had to tune it since the friction tuners provided were low quality and they slipped a lot after playing a few chords. I would not recommend this ukulele to beginners since it may just frustrate you and you may lose interest in ukulele-playing altogether. I recommend getting a good ukulele that's reasonably priced. Some good ones come in the $75-$200 range. My ukulele is an Oscar Schmidt OU5 concert model that's priced about $180. I bought it at a discounted price of $120 [including tax] from Elevation Music Store. Shipping was free. You can probably buy this now for $100. More on the OU5 in my next post.
There are 4 ukulele sizes [from smallest to biggest] -- soprano, concert, tenor and baritone. Unless you have limited airspace within 1 foot of your body, I recommend getting a concert or tenor ukelele. The baritone ukelele is tuned like the four bottom strings of a guitar [EBGD]. The 3 other ukuleles are usually tuned using the standard GCEA. If you put a capo on the 5th fret of a baritone, then you essentially have the standard GCEA ukulele.
Some of the more contemporary ukulele masters are Jake Shimabukuro and James Hill. Their playing styles transcend the barriers of the stereotypical perception that the ukulele is just a toy and not a musical instrument. I may not be as good playing the ukulele as Jake or James but their virtuosity provide mortals like us with exciting musical possibilities that we can eke out from such a tiny instrument.
My first ukulele was a Hilo which I purchased from Guitar Center. I did not enjoy playing it because the strings were too high above the fretboard. Moreover, I constantly had to tune it since the friction tuners provided were low quality and they slipped a lot after playing a few chords. I would not recommend this ukulele to beginners since it may just frustrate you and you may lose interest in ukulele-playing altogether. I recommend getting a good ukulele that's reasonably priced. Some good ones come in the $75-$200 range. My ukulele is an Oscar Schmidt OU5 concert model that's priced about $180. I bought it at a discounted price of $120 [including tax] from Elevation Music Store. Shipping was free. You can probably buy this now for $100. More on the OU5 in my next post.There are 4 ukulele sizes [from smallest to biggest] -- soprano, concert, tenor and baritone. Unless you have limited airspace within 1 foot of your body, I recommend getting a concert or tenor ukelele. The baritone ukelele is tuned like the four bottom strings of a guitar [EBGD]. The 3 other ukuleles are usually tuned using the standard GCEA. If you put a capo on the 5th fret of a baritone, then you essentially have the standard GCEA ukulele.
Some of the more contemporary ukulele masters are Jake Shimabukuro and James Hill. Their playing styles transcend the barriers of the stereotypical perception that the ukulele is just a toy and not a musical instrument. I may not be as good playing the ukulele as Jake or James but their virtuosity provide mortals like us with exciting musical possibilities that we can eke out from such a tiny instrument.
Friday, January 2, 2004
Poems and Raytraces
I have just uploaded my poems and raytracing projects. I have intermittently dabbled with the Moray wire modeller and POV-Ray raytracer last year. It's been quite some time since I did any raytracing. I can't wait to see how both raytracing programs have evolved.
All of my traces were done on a PIII 1.1 GHZ laptop. Maybe I can crank out more raytraces now that I have a faster workstation. Watch out for more raytracing projects from moi.
All of my traces were done on a PIII 1.1 GHZ laptop. Maybe I can crank out more raytraces now that I have a faster workstation. Watch out for more raytracing projects from moi.
Raytracing: Glass of Water Molecules
A glass of water molecules [sic]. No effort was made to check surface intersection between water molecules inside the glass.
Render time: 16 minutes 02 seconds.
Think Tank
My first raytracing project.
First of all, this is a light bulb with a water closet inside. This was modelled using Moray and rendered using POV-Ray. The image was manipulated with WebGrafix to add the starburst.
This was originally an image that was used for the main page of this site. The idea [sic] is that the washroom [representative of the water closet] is a wellspring of ideas.
Isn't that sickening?
Glass Ledge
This is a rendering of one of the ledges that we have in the dining room of our house. The legs of the taller candle holder makes use of Moray's B-Spline plugin. Most of the other forms like the votive, the brass flame snuffer [?] and blue glass votive used the rotational sweep technique.
Some rendering details [notice the white area where a shadow would have been] lost due to conversion from tiff to png.
Render time: 2 minutes 36 seconds
Miscellaneous Shapes
Testing Moray and POV-Ray settings. A study in various shapes with different reflectivity and refraction indices.
A blue metal cone at the back, chrome sphere, gold torus, glass ruby cylinder with a green glass-colored cube, glass superquartic -- all resting on a refelctive surface of revolution.
Render time: About 2 minutes.
Piggy
Another basic use of primitive shapes. This one uses a the union, merge and difference composites using the USG Moray plugin.
Render time: 5 minutes
Tuesday, November 18, 2003
Get The Load Off Our Backs!
Subsidies.
It seems like Uncle Sam has a habit of giving breaks to others on one hand and screwing up the rest on the other hand.
Just recently, a report came out on NBC Dateline describing how the government, in its effort to boost the use of ethanol additives for gasoline, subsidizes the corn industry. The report stated that it actually takes more energy to produce ethanol than it is to have the same amount of gasoline. Now ain't that a woozy?
I am not against additives in gasoline. For all I care, my car can run on additives alone AS LONG AS it is cost effective doing so. Such cost effectiveness should not come only in terms of the fuel being cheaper. How it is produced should also require less energy. Uncle Sam sells us the fuel cheaply and all of us look like we just won the sweepstakes. However, Uncle Sam sticks us with a big tax increase because we now have to increase subsidies to the corn and the ethanol industry. What goes around comes around. The Laws of Thermodynamics at work here.
We should just drop these subsidies, drop the high tarrifs on foreign produce and get competitive in the global market. I bet we can cheaply import a lot of products like corn instead of paying locally for higher corn prices.
Oh, and the reason why corn prices sometimes go down is that the government subsidizes it. Remember to equate "subsidy" with "just increase my taxes again, thank you!".
And what about the steel industry? Yessiree, bub! We're subsidizing it, too! Our local steel industries use antiquated technology that they can't compete with foreign steel manufacturers interms of output and quality. So what does the government do? Uncle Sam cuddles the local industry with subsidies at the expense of taxpayer's dollars. We're actually paying for our own industries' inefficiencies.
It's so pathetic that our local industries can't justly compete with the foreign markets. We are blindsided by the fact that we think that our economy is strong when in fact it is built upon a rickety system of subsidies and blatant protectionism.
If only our government will open up the markets to the world, perhaps we can truthfully see where the US economy lies in the global commerce. Perhaps then we can be more patriotic in promoting our local products and justly compete in the global market without thinking twice that we're shooting ourselves in the foot.
It seems like Uncle Sam has a habit of giving breaks to others on one hand and screwing up the rest on the other hand.
Just recently, a report came out on NBC Dateline describing how the government, in its effort to boost the use of ethanol additives for gasoline, subsidizes the corn industry. The report stated that it actually takes more energy to produce ethanol than it is to have the same amount of gasoline. Now ain't that a woozy?
I am not against additives in gasoline. For all I care, my car can run on additives alone AS LONG AS it is cost effective doing so. Such cost effectiveness should not come only in terms of the fuel being cheaper. How it is produced should also require less energy. Uncle Sam sells us the fuel cheaply and all of us look like we just won the sweepstakes. However, Uncle Sam sticks us with a big tax increase because we now have to increase subsidies to the corn and the ethanol industry. What goes around comes around. The Laws of Thermodynamics at work here.
We should just drop these subsidies, drop the high tarrifs on foreign produce and get competitive in the global market. I bet we can cheaply import a lot of products like corn instead of paying locally for higher corn prices.
Oh, and the reason why corn prices sometimes go down is that the government subsidizes it. Remember to equate "subsidy" with "just increase my taxes again, thank you!".
And what about the steel industry? Yessiree, bub! We're subsidizing it, too! Our local steel industries use antiquated technology that they can't compete with foreign steel manufacturers interms of output and quality. So what does the government do? Uncle Sam cuddles the local industry with subsidies at the expense of taxpayer's dollars. We're actually paying for our own industries' inefficiencies.
It's so pathetic that our local industries can't justly compete with the foreign markets. We are blindsided by the fact that we think that our economy is strong when in fact it is built upon a rickety system of subsidies and blatant protectionism.
If only our government will open up the markets to the world, perhaps we can truthfully see where the US economy lies in the global commerce. Perhaps then we can be more patriotic in promoting our local products and justly compete in the global market without thinking twice that we're shooting ourselves in the foot.
Thursday, April 10, 2003
In Oil We Trust
Here we are again all riled up with dreams of bountiful oil supplies! It's just a matter of time when the big V8 SUVs with the tiny drivers and their big egos start to plow their way across 2 lanes of roadway.
Watch as the auto industry drops its efficient car program and jumps into the gas guzzler bandwagon.
Make hybrid cars ... wha? Moi? That's just for show! They never were serious about it anyway. It's all just so they can comply with some government program that they are indeed developing "cleaner" cars. D'oh!
Speaking of hybrid cars. They sure are butt ugly! No wonder people don't buy them! Design one that looks like a normal looking Audi or a Mercedes and they will sell like hotcakes!
Watch as the auto industry drops its efficient car program and jumps into the gas guzzler bandwagon.
Make hybrid cars ... wha? Moi? That's just for show! They never were serious about it anyway. It's all just so they can comply with some government program that they are indeed developing "cleaner" cars. D'oh!
Speaking of hybrid cars. They sure are butt ugly! No wonder people don't buy them! Design one that looks like a normal looking Audi or a Mercedes and they will sell like hotcakes!
Master of the Universe
All our boys are giving up their lives to subdue
Some "terror" halfway around the world.
Pulled out from their lives of productivity
Sent to sow destruction on some foreign land.
Armed with bullets and family pictures.
All because there was a nagging oily itch
On the derrière of the one and only
Master of the Universe.
Some "terror" halfway around the world.
Pulled out from their lives of productivity
Sent to sow destruction on some foreign land.
Armed with bullets and family pictures.
All because there was a nagging oily itch
On the derrière of the one and only
Master of the Universe.
Saturday, April 5, 2003
Taxation
it's tax season again . . .
forgive my ignorance but why is it that we pay
for sales tax when the government
already takes the taxes
before they give us our money? weird!
forgive my ignorance but why is it that we pay
for sales tax when the government
already takes the taxes
before they give us our money? weird!
Tuesday, March 18, 2003
Get Real!
The average TV viewers' IQ has just gone down! Just look at all the TV shows that clog the networks of every major TV station and you'll agree with my opening statement.
Tonight, they're showing 3 consecutive reality TV shows on NBC5 Chicago. When it gets to this point where the only way that TV executives can lure viewers is to create these shows, then you know that it's time to get either a satellite TV or a subscription to digital TV. Then you can watch real TV shows without necessarily sacrificing a dip in your viewing intellect.
br>
What's with these shows that attract viewers?
They're "easy" on the brain, that's for sure! What's there to ruminate about somebody putting a big roach in her mouth? That's plain stupid! Even a moron can figure that out! And what about these dating games? Would you want to marry one of these scheming, whining, hypocritical people who have the gall to wash their laundry in public? These "Made in TV" pairings never seem to work out anyway. The last one about this Joe $$ guy looked like he was really screwed when the verdict was out on who he was going to marry. Boy! Did he really look f#@$d up! You'd think that he was going to puke.
Viewers also love reality drama. That's understandable. However, is it really that "real"? Can you really let it all out in front of 10 million TV viewers? Talk about drama, just give the participants some baseball bats and have them whack each other. That is, after they whack the show producers on their heads first for being so stupid when they can't even be morons!
Maybe all the other non-reality TV shows are really crappy. Has there been any TV show in the major networks that you really, really like? Aside from the news, there's Fraser, which is still funny after all these years. ER used to be OK but the concept got a little old when the original stars started jumping ship. Jeez! I think that's it! All the other good shows are on cable and not in the major networks! There does not seem to be any TV show nowadays that has a really revolutionary or innovative concept. Most of them seem to play on one another's tired concept.
On the production side, it seems like reality TV shows are cheaper because they don't have to hire high-caliber actors. When you're aching for publicity, go to some reality TV and embarass yourself. The public will love you and the network bean counters will shower you with pocket change. You get the publicity, they get the moolah. Of course, all these is at the participants' expense. You can't scrape your respect from the sidewalk with a nickel ...
So, my friends. TV is doomed. Reality TV shows have laid claim to what little attention we have left. It's a sad fate ...
Now give me that remote and surf over to Bravo and let's watch some foreign films!
Tonight, they're showing 3 consecutive reality TV shows on NBC5 Chicago. When it gets to this point where the only way that TV executives can lure viewers is to create these shows, then you know that it's time to get either a satellite TV or a subscription to digital TV. Then you can watch real TV shows without necessarily sacrificing a dip in your viewing intellect.
br>
What's with these shows that attract viewers?
They're "easy" on the brain, that's for sure! What's there to ruminate about somebody putting a big roach in her mouth? That's plain stupid! Even a moron can figure that out! And what about these dating games? Would you want to marry one of these scheming, whining, hypocritical people who have the gall to wash their laundry in public? These "Made in TV" pairings never seem to work out anyway. The last one about this Joe $$ guy looked like he was really screwed when the verdict was out on who he was going to marry. Boy! Did he really look f#@$d up! You'd think that he was going to puke.
Viewers also love reality drama. That's understandable. However, is it really that "real"? Can you really let it all out in front of 10 million TV viewers? Talk about drama, just give the participants some baseball bats and have them whack each other. That is, after they whack the show producers on their heads first for being so stupid when they can't even be morons!
Maybe all the other non-reality TV shows are really crappy. Has there been any TV show in the major networks that you really, really like? Aside from the news, there's Fraser, which is still funny after all these years. ER used to be OK but the concept got a little old when the original stars started jumping ship. Jeez! I think that's it! All the other good shows are on cable and not in the major networks! There does not seem to be any TV show nowadays that has a really revolutionary or innovative concept. Most of them seem to play on one another's tired concept.
On the production side, it seems like reality TV shows are cheaper because they don't have to hire high-caliber actors. When you're aching for publicity, go to some reality TV and embarass yourself. The public will love you and the network bean counters will shower you with pocket change. You get the publicity, they get the moolah. Of course, all these is at the participants' expense. You can't scrape your respect from the sidewalk with a nickel ...
So, my friends. TV is doomed. Reality TV shows have laid claim to what little attention we have left. It's a sad fate ...
Now give me that remote and surf over to Bravo and let's watch some foreign films!
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