Grad-Student Vacations

Cicconet’s -takeAVacation instance method implementation:

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Marcelo Cicconet.

PS: Knowing a little bit about programming is a pre-requisite to understand this post. But if you don’t fill the requirements, don’t worry. It’s probably a not-so-funny joke…

Filed under: Academic World

Speeches Versus Thoughts

Meanwhile, in a distant and unimaginable world called Academics, where publications is the most valuable good…

Inhabitant A: (Speech) Guess what? The paper I’ve applied to the Conference got accepted! (Thought) Take that! I can do this stuff of publishing too! You are not that special!

Inhabitant B: (Speech+Smile) That’s awesome! Congratulations! (Thought+Disdain) I don’t remember asking you about it! Please talk to me again when you are in a top Journal!

Inhabitant A: (Speech) Besides, the conference will take place in X City! I can’t believe I’ll visit that world tallest skyscraper… (Thought) Have you ever been in X City, eh?

Inhabitant B: (Speech) Wow! You lucky guy… Don’t forget to show me the pictures when you’re back. (Thought) So what? As if you are going to the 4th-Moon Space Station…

Inhabitant A: (Speech) Oh. I almost forgot. And an extension of the work will appear in a top Journal, my advisor just said. (Thought) Moua-ha-ha. Final blow!

Inhabitant B: (Speech) Told you to apply! No need to thank me… (Thought) I bet your advisor is the Jounal’s editor…

Inhabitant A: (Speech) All right. (Thought) I wouldn’t do it anyway…

Inhabitant B: (Speech) Now I gotta go. Bye. (Thought) You annoying.

Inhabitant A: (Speech) See ya. (Thought) You looser.

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Marcelo Cicconet.

Filed under: Academic World

Mom’s Dangerous Call

Mom: “When the hell will you get married?”

Silence.

Mom: “Hello?!”

26-years-old-gradschoolboy-child: “Hello, Mom? Can you hear me?”

Mom: “Yes, I was saying-”

26-years-old-gradschoolboy-child: “MOM?? CAN YOU HEAR ME?”

Mom: “DANG YES! WHAT ABOUT YOU? CAN YOU HEAR ME?”

26-years-old-gradschoolboy-child: “MOM?? I CAN’T HEAR YOU. I’LL CALL YOU LATTER. LOVE YA!”

Mom: “BYE. BUT IF YOU CAN HEAR ME, DON’T FORG-”

Beep-beep-beep-beep-…

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Marcelo Cicconet.

PS: Please visit the “SketchToon” blog I’m writing (I mean, sketching) with Italo Raony: sketchtoon.tumblr.com.

Filed under: Crazy Life

iPad

Just a few words to say about iPad, Apple’s new product, introduced today.

iPad’s iBooks app implements the page-flip effect. Wow! And what about books displayed in a bookshelf? Just amazing.

Take that, Kindle.

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Marcelo Cicconet.

Filed under: Technology

The Learning Process

Filed under: Pictoons

Audible Frequencies

Filed under: Pictoons

Blood, Toil, Tears and Sweat

Last weekend I read “Bood, Toil, Tears and Sweat: The Dire Warning”, by John Lukacs.

It’s a small book, about Winston Churchill’s first speech as prime minister of England during World War II.

“I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.”, Churchill had sad. The sentence is so famous there’s even a Wikipedia article about it.

It was a “dire warning”, indeed, as Lukacs put it, but I like to repeat “Blood, toil, tears and sweat.” to myself when I’m feeling down, or have hard work ahead.

Churchill’s one of the historical figures I admire most. Not only for his funny and serious quotes, but especially for his role and influence in the way things ended up last century.

Recently I’ve being very interested in the World War II. I’m planing to read some not-too-long book about it soon, perhaps “The Real History of WWII”, by Alan Axelrod.

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Marcelo Cicconet.

PS: This is one of my first posts in English. If you find something I write, you know… bizarre (read “wrong”), including this PS sentence, please comment the corresponding post, pointing out the problem. I’ll be very grateful for that.

Filed under: Books

The Laws of Simplicity

John Maeda, a MIT Media Lab’s researcher, has written an interest book about simplicity.

In a work I’ve done, regarding interfaces for music composition and improvisation, some of that laws were used. Interestingly the work was done before reading Maeda’s book. But now I’m using it as reference.

It’s worth reading, being you a designer, a computer scientist, an artist or whatever you are. You’ll find very useful Maeda’s ten laws of simplicity:

1. The simplest way to achieve simplicity is through thoughtful reduction.

2. Organization makes a system of many appear fewer.

3. Savings in time feel like simplicity.

4. Knowledge makes everything simpler.

5. Simplicity and complexity need each other.

6. What lies in the periphery of simplicity is definitely not peripheral.

7. More emotions are better than less.

8. In simplicity we trust.

9. Some things can never be made simple.

10. Simplicity is about subtracting the obvious, and adding the meaningful.

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Marcelo Cicconet.

PS: This is one of my first posts in English. If you find something I write, you know… bizarre (read “wrong”), including this PS sentence, please comment the corresponding post, pointing out the problem. I’ll be very grateful for that.

Filed under: Books

One Fifth Avenue

I’ve recently read Candace Bushnell’s book whose title entitles this post.

It’s about the stories of five women who live in a building in Manhattan: One Fifth. It’s kind of Sex and The City, for obvious reasons. One of them has a blog, where she writes about “the joys of not having it all”.

The book’s good. I recommend it. Concerning the joys of not having it all, however, there’s no much I can say.

Despite wanting it all and wanting it now, as Queen’s song states, the only things I have now are those Winston Churchill offered, back in 1940: blood, toil, tears and sweat.

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Marcelo Cicconet.

PS: This is one of my first posts in English. If you find something I write, you know… bizarre (read “wrong”), including this PS sentence, please comment the corresponding post, pointing out the problem. I’ll be very grateful for that.

Filed under: Crazy Life

Who are you Internet?

Some days ago I posted something about leaving FaceBook and MySpace, and then deleted it because we never know when we’ll need to use them.

Well, I realized this is just the tip of the iceberg, to use a jargon. The big question relates with this monster people call Internet. (Dogs would call it Internet to, could they speak… But veterinarians still doesn’t agree about that, where by “that” I mean “the fact dogs would call it Internet”, not “the fact dogs could speak” – veterinarians do agree dogs can speak.)

Anyway, unfortunately for us, the answer is not 42. At least not obviously.

So, as a blogger, I used Google and Wikipedia to peak up some hints about the answer. And I grabbed this phrase from the International Society of Information Fusion website, talking about the problem of Information Fusion:

“We are drowning in information but starved for knowledge. This level of information is clearly impossible to be handled by present means. Uncontrolled and unorganized information is no longer a resource in an information society, instead it becomes the enemy.”

It’s perfect. Internet is a sea of information. A dangerous one, it should be pointed. And so, surfing becomes a good metaphor.

Now think seriously about surfing…

Than read this article.

I know you may be thinking I’m just throwing more water in this sea. Well, that’s true.

I hope you at least find it colorless, odorless and tasteless…

–

Marcelo Cicconet.

PS: This is one of my first posts in English. If you find something I write, you know… bizarre (read “wrong”), including this PS sentence, please comment the corresponding post, pointing out the problem. I’ll be very grateful for that.

Filed under: Stuff...