I avoid Duolingo Pro so that I won’t have enough hearts to to too many exercises.
January 17, 2024
January 14, 2024
Chewie
The dog slept a lot and thus remained stationary for a good drawing subject.
https://www.behance.net/gallery/188961613/ChewieJan2024
January 7, 2024
Embodied computing
I spent the evening on some manual household installation/repair tasks and felt a visceral sense of satisfaction of using my body, which tends to be missing for sitting in front of a computer all day.
Given that our bodies are designed (or more precisely, evolved) to be moving around, I wonder if there are ways to structure our work routines so that we can use our bodies more.
The existing design for “spatial computing” is mostly for content consumption and authoring tasks that are inherently spatial (e.g., 3D modeling).
How to extend that for more abstract tasks (like programming) is an interesting question (personally I doubt if spatial manipulation of node graphs or the like is the right answer).
January 4, 2024
3-hour PhD defense
This is by far the longest PhD defense I have ever attended, and I have attended many.
The first half was spent on the presentation, with the second half on discussions (among thesis committee members and later the candidate) about how to deal with the lack of publications.
I enjoyed the first half much more than the second.
December 31, 2023
Buffet
Is buffet an expression of gluttony, aside from catering for workspace events which can be more convenient than sit-down meals.
https://www.behance.net/gallery/186107513/PortraitsMotoGStylus/modules/1062082245
December 30, 2023
Water-pipe bumper
I spotted this water tanker with a front bumper made of water pipes, took a photograph, and later photoshopped imaginative water spills and other effects.
https://www.behance.net/gallery/187784895/WaterPipeBumper
December 27, 2023
Mental accounting
When I go through repetitive exercises (e.g., swimming laps), I often group the repetitions via integer factorization, such as 6 by 6 for 36, with a little voice in my head saying something like: 6 times are easy, and you just need to do 6 of these.
So psychologically I perceive the repetitions differently even though they are all the same.
Pareidolia
Some nebulous patterns, such as a few strokes, can be perceived as something meaningful (e.g., faces) due to how our brains works with respect to evolution, and may look like something else to other species.
Art is perhaps an application/exploitation of pareidolia.
https://www.behance.net/gallery/186107513/PortraitsMotoGStylus
December 25, 2023
2023 academic volunteering hours
Since my company allow us to report academic services as part of our volunteering hours for matching donations*, I have been keeping track of mine in a spreadsheet (down to the levels of the hours/minutes spent in each paper across different stages of the review processes).
According to the spreadsheet, so far this year I have spent 190+ (!) hours in total, including TVCG AE and paper committees in SIGGRAPH, SIGGRAPH Asia, EG, EGSR, HPG, etc., mostly during my “spare time” in the evenings and weekends.
I won’t be able to serve for SIGGRAPH and SIGGRAPH Asia next year, so hopefully I can get back some time for other activities.
* For Adobe folks: remember to report your volunteering hours before the end of the year.