Prank a Frosh Day

Today was a very special day for us Frosh, the prank.  Because most of the upperclassmen do not have class on Friday, while all of the Freshman (Frosh) have an early chemistry class, today was the perfect opportunity for the upperclassmen to orchestrate their prank.  So, when we all got out of class, we returned to our dorms to find them all done up in a number of different ways.

The first that something was going on was the site upon walking up to my dorm.

The entrance of Atwood blocked off with steamers.

First, here is what happened in the various suites of Atwood.  My suite first:

This is my suite.  Notice the mattress blocking the hallway.

The first obstacle was to navigate the pool.

Because of the mattress, the only way to my dorm was this tunnel.

Now, this was not actually too bad for our suite.  The worst was probably what happened to the 1st floor proctor suite:

All of their clothes strung up in the courtyard.

And you can see the Halloween pumpkins, unrelated to the prank.

Besides the rope, a net held a bunch of other clothes.

And the people from this suite were also lucky enough to have their room toilet-papered as well.

Clothes missing, room destroyed, and mattresses switched with another suite.

Another suite on the third floor had all of their stuff moved out of their room, and placed in the suite.  While I did not go into this room, I also heard that their room itself was covered with porn.

All of their stuff moved into the suite area and piled all over the place.

On the first floor - in what is considered the party suite - they decorated the girls' room with all of their alcoholic stuff, including a full beer-pong table in their dorm room.

The entrance to their room was set up like the bar.

One of my favorite things from Atwood, was the complete removal of someones room onto the lawn.  They also left a picture of the stuff photo-shopped onto Scripps in the room, so he would think his stuff was completely gone.

It is so funny having it set up like the room, with clothes hanging in the tree.

Next, the dorm Case - which is known for having only one entrance - blocked this area off with an obstacle course and a group of upperclassmen above with water balloons, a hose, and full buckets of water.  I am so glad that I did not have to deal with that:

It was easy to see what was going on, but some people had to go in.

I am sure they must have been freezing.

North dorm was not particularly exciting as far as I could tell.  We did not actually go in to look around the dorm rooms, but they had blocked off the entire courtyard with a wall of furniture.

Pretty boring, since it was still easy to get inside.

South removed the mattresses from everyone's rooms - and of course left the placed trashed.  But what they did with the mattresses was interesting.  They created a very large mattress pile, and had people jump onto it from the second floor.  The distance is not very high, so it was not a problem.

It did not look particularly safe, but not too dangerous either.

In East, for one of the Frosh rooms, they moved everything from their dorm room to the lounge and vice versa.

All of the furniture was replaced with couches and tables, with all their stuff removed.

When it came to West, Linde, and Sontag, we did not really see any pranks worth noting, which is too bad.

Overall, it was very entertaining and definitely a surprise since I had completely forgotten that they were planning on pranking us, and I had no idea it would be happening today.  Of course, it seemed like everyone took it in good humor, and it was just another normal occurrence at Mudd.  One we will be sure to replicate in the years to come.

Mandelbrot Set

The lab assignment for CS this week was to create a function which determines if various complex numbers are in the Mandelbrot Set.  To determine if the number is in the set, begin with the complex number z = 0 +0i.  Then, follow the sequence such that z(sub x+1) = z(sub x) + c.  In this case, c is the complex number which you are attempting to identify in the set.  If the sequence diverges (meaning that it continues towards infinity), then the complex number c is not in the set.  Then, the program I wrote plotted all of the points which are in the set, creating a fractal like this:

The black points are in the Mandelbrot Set.

This image in and of itself is pretty, just because it is a fractal and has a interesting shape which has been computed mathematically.  There is a special trick to determine if a Mandelbrot set diverges: if the magnitude of the complex number z every exceeds 2, the complex number c is not in the set.  For convergence, there is no definitive formula, which means that the absolute accuracy of the image (the plotting of the points) depends on how many iterations (the number of times you step through the sequence).

Since there is this definitive sequence, it is possible for the points not in the set to diverge at different rates depending on the value of c.  Because of this difference, it is also possible to look at the rate of divergence and plot diverging points in different colors to signify how quickly they diverge.  I spent about two hours playing with this part of it, since there are so many things you can do with the different colors.  Consider the following examples:

The varying degree of red signifies the rate of divergence.

In this example, the colors are assigned not in a gradient, but in a rainbow.

In this example, it is easier to see the gradient of various velocities.

An interesting part of the Mandelbrot Set (and other fractals) is the ability to zoom into the image and to be able to see a high degree of detail even at some of the smallest stages.

Zoomed into the medium circle in the image above.

Fractals are beautiful and so much fun to play with.  I would really love to look into some other fractal equations and implement them myself in order to create other interesting and attractive images, if only for fun.  If you would like your own personal fractal for a background or whatever, let me know what color you would like and I can said you one.

The remainder of this CS assignment consist of the option to program a couple games: Nim and Mastermind, which I am really looking forward to since it should be fun to play with these as well.

Dad's Visit 2

Today, Dad and I visited the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles.  This consisted of the Page Museum and surrounding area containing the tar pits themselves.  It was a wonderful day, so it was a great time to visit since we spent a lot of time walking around outside.  Besides the larger tar pits, there are small pits throughout the park that are fenced off with waist-high fences.  The first thing Dad and I saw was a woman plucking her child out of one of these enclosures after he fell in.  It was not particularly dangerous, but it was really funny.

The smaller pits had a lot of stuff thrown into them.  This was our first encounter.

Before exploring the park and larger pits, we went into the Page Museum.  The tar pits have claimed the lives of thousands of different animals, from small rodents to large mammoths.  The museum houses many full skeletons which had been excavated from the various tar pits, many of which were in beautiful condition since the tar preserved the bones.

The skull of an extinct Camel.

For many of the skeletons, an artistic rendition displayed the animal itself.

The Columbian Mammoth was particularly magnificent with his large twisting tusks and his substantial size.

I thought the curvature of his tusks was particularly interesting.

The next part of the museum had a display of the various birds trapped in the tar.  I thought it was clever how they included the artist rendition of the birds behind each specimen drawn in the same position as the skeleton was placed.

The museum itself had a number of interesting features.  For example, they had an area where they placed two polls into barbells of tar.  One of them was simply a straight bar, while the other had significantly more surface area; it is no surprise that it was almost impossible to pull the second out of the tar and the example really instills a fear of the tar itself, since it is more than willing to simply consume those creatures that are stupid enough to wander into the pits.  The museum also contained what they called a "Fishbowl laboratory."  This was an area where you could watch as the paleontologists cleaned up or worked on some of the fossils taken from the tar.

A paleontologist cleaning a bone taken from the tar.

A work station in the fishbowl with some bones and tools.

The tar bits have existed for tens of thousands of years, and consequently, they have consumed the lives of many animals (and a single human).  This means that it is not necessary to display every skeleton found.  For instance, there was a display with the skulls of nearly 400 Dire Wolfs, a minuscule portion of those found in the pits.  A portion of the museum had a window into a small storage area, filled with racks of sorted bones.

A single wall of storage, with a tray of bones sitting out.

At the center of the museum, was a small park-like area.  Though I am not sure what significance it holds in terms of the tar pits themselves, the area was beautiful with lovely green foliage and flowers.  In the water, there were a bunch of turtles and koi fish.

Some beautiful white flowers from the Atrium.

The atrium was beautiful, with clean water for the turtles and koi.

The park area outside the museum has a number of large tar pits, a couple of which are currently being excavated.  Project 23 is the current focus of the site, though we were unable to find a direct way to view this site.  However, Pit 91 consisted of a viewing station for the pit.

A overall view of Pit 91.  I want to point out a couple things.  One, notice the ladder in the lower right, yuck!  Also, the red flag is making the location of a Harlon's Ground Sloth Pelvis.

Here, the blue flag marks a Western Horse Radius, the flag below it (green) marks a Sabertooth Cat Scapula, and the yellow marks the location of a Dire Wolf Scapula.

Although it is fairly evil, the tar really could be beautiful.  There was one small pit that kept producing these beautiful bubbles.  I have some video of their quick creation and dissipation, if you would like to see them, send me an email or remind me when I see you next.

This one is so clear and amber colored, it is beautiful.

This time there are two bubbles!

As I mentioned above, we could not really see Project 23.  When we were walking past the area where we believed it was located, Dad pointed out that you could kind of see the start of results of some excavation in a tent towards the back.

Under the white tarp, you could sort of see the excavation product.  I also love this picture for the repetition of shape.

Besides the various tar pits, the area worked as a park as well, with flowers and other fun plants.

If you have never seen a bee pollinate a flower, it is a weird thing.

These plants were all over, and they have such a great texture and appearance.

A dew drop in the plant above.

This whole area of LA was filled with different museums.  Right next door was an art museum, and outside there were a bunch of sculptures.  Like usual, some of them were pretty silly and uninteresting (but fun to photograph) and others seemed very familiar.

Not the most exciting piece of art...

This seems very familiar, right?

Within the biggest tar pit - or the "Lake Pit" - the museum has set up a very tragic display of the terror of the tar pits in ancient times.  The despair is clear.

A large elephant-like creature being sucked into the pit...

... and on the shore the baby wails in terror.

It was a wonderful experience, and I would certainly recommend this museum to anyone visiting LA.  The one word of warning I would add, would be to avoid bringing young children: there were more than a couple that left the park tar smeared and filthy.

Dad's Visit 1

Dad came to visit to me since he was able to come down to California for work.  We met up around noon, and walked through the Claremont Colleges towards the village in order to find something for lunch.  To my surprise, the village was full of booths in some sort of street fair.  It was huge, maybe even bigger than the Fremont fair, at least the way I remember it.  After lunch, we walked around the fair to do some shopping.  I came across a great booth, which had a lot of beautiful steampunk jewelry.  Dad bought me one of the necklaces, which was great!

Made out of the pieces of an old pocket watch.

After we finished exploring the fair, we headed back to campus.  I showed Dad my dorm room, and then we left for Target.  I was in desperate need of some new food, so I stocked up so that I have a substantial supply which should last me a long time, hopefully until winter break.  Then, back to campus to drop off the food.  By this point, it was getting late into the evening.  We went to a nice Mexican restaurant, where I had some delicious flan!  Finally, back to campus for the night to finish up some homework before Sunday's excursions.  Ultimately a satisfying day, thanks Dad!

New Classes and New Professors

The first half semester of college is over.  Which means a shift in both classes and professors.

Instead of writing, I am in special relativity, which consists of two class sessions a week, and one lecture.  While the class seems kind of interesting, I prefer the lecture because the professor is more interesting which makes the topics more engaging.  But in both, the information seems kind of weird and against some of the regular information we have learned before.  Professor Townsend opened the first lecture by saying that everything we learned in earlier courses of physics are not entirely correct.

Also, I am not longer in chem Energetics, but Structure instead.  This transition was great because my new chemistry professor is much younger and more interesting, and she seems a lot more friendly overall.  Not to mention the fact that structure is inherently easier then energetics, especially since the energetics class assumed that we had a non-existent background in structure.

While my math class is the same, there is a new professor teaching this half semester.  She seems kind of nice, but I prefer the teaching style of Prof. Yong from last half semester, so the net change is negative.

Everything else (Physics Lab, Computer Science, and Spanish) remains the same as before - though Prof. Ran is teaching CS again, thankfully.  I think in the grand scheme of things, I will enjoy this semester a bit better.  Things are always changing, which ensures that nothing ever gets boring or redundant, thank goodness for that.

Pigs

Okay, yes, I admit it.  They are very cute.  But this is getting a little bit ridiculous.

Now, I don't actually have all that much change since I buy all my meals with my student ID and I haven't actually spent that much time off campus.  I love getting packages!  It is wonderful to go in all the time and have another present waiting.  So by no means do you all need to stop sending them.  But maybe refrain from Piggy Banks for a while, I'm running out of shelf space.

I think I will try to brainstorm new uses for them... we'll see what I can come up with.

End of the Week

I mentioned how this week was going to be absolutely crazy, and I am here to confirm that it was.  Besides the wild amount of homework (the majority of which is due to the two essays) I've found myself staying up a bit later than usual this week.  Yesterday, for instance, I did not go to bed until 1:30.  Now, lucky for me I do not have classes until 1:15 on Thursdays, so that really was not much of a problem.  Tonight will be just about the same, with another full evening of Dr. Who.

In preparation for my trip home, I had to do a bunch of laundry, which I have been slowly working at all day long.  Tomorrow afternoon I will pack (hopefully) everything that I need for the vacation, but in the spirit of things, I will probably end up forgetting some major homework piece.  Oh well, that's what Tuesday will be for.

Now, I know that homework was really the only thing I have had to talk about this week, but for something more fun, a package arrived for me yesterday!!

The hint before his arrival: "Think Halloween and Bacon"  However, I don't think he has much bacon...

 

It was a really fun surprise and I have enjoyed getting presents from everyone, though I will eventually run out of space at this rate.  Thank you Aunt Alice!!  Even your bacon packers tape fit the theme, hahaha.

Now, back to work.

The Last Week of the 1st Half Semester

The end of the 1st Half Semester signifies a number of important facts.

1. It is time for midterms, since we have been in school for a full quarter year.
2. Two of my classes are reaching their ultimate conclusions, so it is time to wrap up.
3. Together, this equals work.

When it comes to midterms, I have not had a huge load, but in combination with everything else, it seems like a lot of work.  A couple weeks ago, I had my first Spanish test, which went very well.  The teacher is wonderful and prepared us all well for the test, so it was not much of a problem.  This past weekend, I had my math midterm, which was a bit more exciting.  While I did study for it, and I think that it went fairly well, there were a couple of points where I had a bit more trouble.

On top of the midterm, there is the problem of the end of classes.  Since my writing and chemistry classes are only half semesters, the last class is on Friday.  This means that I need to finish two essays for my writing portfolio, and start preparing for the chemistry final which will be available after Fall Break.  So, I spent the weekend revising both essays multiple times, taking the exam, and then working on the normal amount of homework which is assigned for every class.  All in all, it was a rough weekend.

And of course, it is not over yet.  I've spent a couple hours revising my essay yet again, and there are still more revisions to come.  Along with Spanish, math, chemistry, and CS homework - I am sure that this week will seem both really fast and agonizingly slow.  If it helps at all, add a flu shot to the list and you basically know my plans for the next week.  The break will not be here soon enough.

A Nice Big Update

Okay, I know I am supposed to update this thing every couple days.  But that is so hard to do with everything being so busy.  I promise I will try harder to update more often.

Now, the majority of my time is spent working on homework, which is not all that exciting.  However, every class assigns it, and it is going to be pretty bad for the next couple weeks as the end of the half semester and a couple of my courses approaches.

The other part of my normal routine are the trips to the Hoch for meals.  Unfortunately, the food is completely boring.  There is always salad, pasta, and burgers, but this is very repetitive.  Also, the food is not of any amazing quality or variety, so I am getting pretty sick of eating there.  There is one meal that they serve which is delicious!  'Muddgolian' noodles - although the line is long, this would be one of the best things that they serve.

Next, an update on the more fun portions of the last week or so:

Thursday September 30, 2010:
The village of Claremont put on an event inviting all of the colleges to the village.  There were a bunch of stores up that night which were giving out free food, promotions, or other fun stuff.  It was sort of like trick-or-treating in that we walked around to each store collecting goodies.  It was a lot of fun and there were a good number of people that went to the village to do it.  The overall point was to introduce the stores in the village to the students.  It was great because now I know a bit more about what kind of stuff is available and I know more about all the stores.

After this event, we had a dorm meeting, which really was not all that interesting.  But following the meeting, as always, there was Thursday Night Dr. Who.  I am really enjoying this show and it is great to hang out and watch it with other people in the dorm.  Normally, the turn out is pretty small, with just a couple of the frosh and mentors.  However, a lot of people came to this showing for some reason.  It was crowded, but fun to have more of the dorm present.

Friday October 1, 2010:
In the evening, Katie invited me to join her and a bunch of people from a different dorm to play 'Milk Pong'.  Earlier that day, that had gone out and purchased eight or so cartoons of milk and then took a bunch of cookies from the Hoch.  A bunch of people came at the beginning, but since only four people can play at a time, people did not stay for very long.  It was really fun to play though, however, I was pretty sick of milk by the time it was over.

After that, we went back to the dorm and watched some TV.  However, it was late enough and everyone was exhausted from the heavy 'drinking' that we went to bed pretty early.

Monday October 4, 2010:
I was really excited because my new Woot shirt and my Threadless shirts came in the mail!  From Woot, I got the cute penguin one with the bunny disguised as a penguin.  I like it, it is super cute!  The one I got from Threadless is really cool!  It is the best rocket shirt I have ever seen, I love it!

From Threadless.com

Then, that night I ended up hanging out with a bunch of my friends (who are also in Atwood).  We stayed up pretty late watching Inglorious Bastards, which was fun even though the movie is definitely violent.  It was great hanging out though (and nice since I generally finish my homework pretty early).

Tuesday October 5, 2010:
I slept in pretty late since I did not go to bed until about one o'clock.  Besides homework and classes, I have not done a whole lot today.  I went to the innertube waterpolo game, which was boring since there were not very many people attending, so it was a quiet game.  But we won!

Also, today was the first day of Humans vs. Zombies.  I am not actually playing, but it is hilarious to watch.  There are people wandering all over campus with huge nerf guns and creepy together in packs for protection.  I am dying to get some pictures of it, so I will post them once I do.  It is so amusing, and apparently Mudd makes up the majority of the people around the 5Cs who are playing.  It is good to know that the school is so intensely reading for a zombie invasion.  I am sure it would be safe here, should a true apocalypse occur.

Now, I will watch some TV or something before bed.  The days are going very quickly since there is always so much going on, which is crazy.  I promise to post again soon.