Confessions of a researchaholic

March 29, 2025

Taking a break at SIGGRAPH 2025 technical papers PC meeting

Filed under: Real — liyiwei @ 4:21 pm
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Reviewing/handling 20 papers plus attending an intense multi-day program committee meeting is probably a lot of work for some people, but nowadays it is almost like a break to me – reading papers in topics that I might not usually pay attention to, participating in a gathering of about 100 people (like a small conference) to catch up with old friends and get to know new faces, consuming more sweets in 3 days than I would normally do in a year, and temporarily stepping away from my usual product/leadership responsibilities.

https://www.behance.net/gallery/222673301/Your-SIN-is-required-to-claim-any-tax-refund-?

March 28, 2025

Ocean view – imagined story upon seeing a painting

Filed under: Imaginary — liyiwei @ 3:37 pm
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This imagined story came to my mind while looking at a house-like structure built over an ocean in this exhibition on March 16 2025.

The following is the imagined story, accompanied by visuals generated from Reve, a new AI-powered image generation tool built by two former Adobe colleagues.

When I woke up I found myself in this dwelling.
There is nothing inside, and from the two open ends I could see endless blue sky and ocean.

A voice came out asking if I need anything.
I replied that I am thirsty and hungry.
I asked where I am and how I got here, but got no reply.

The food and drink came out of nowhere, and I slowly consumed them while contemplating my situation.

Eventually, I realized that my consumption came from the sacrifice of my loved one(s), who were drained slowly to death.

March 26, 2025

A big guy in a small airplane

Filed under: Real — liyiwei @ 3:31 pm
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Being a big guy like you must have many evolutionary advantages, such as sports, dating, and even fighting for survival (when the need arises). But on this small airplane with tiny seats, you are at a disadvantage. And trying to sweet talking to me won’t change the fact that you have to overflow your body mass towards my side, and your babbling is distracting me from napping and reviewing a paper assigned to me right before the flight.

Next time, buy a bigger seat or multiple seats. You never know if your next neighbor is a big guy like you.

March 22, 2025

Trend following II

Filed under: Real — liyiwei @ 1:21 pm
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Joining a hot research trend is like buying a stock when the price is high.

These neural network pioneers (like Hinton, LeCun, etc.) started their works not when the field was hot, but when it was considered a dead end. And they stuck with it for decades until the right circumstances (e.g., GPU compute finally became feasible). Now, every time a new idea (about generative X or whatever) pops in the head, there might already be 10 arXiv papers on it.

It is important to know any significant new advancements, but it is even more important to figure out what and how to apply these into our own research and be able to formulate our own (unique) vision.

March 16, 2025

Clipping mask for watercoloring

Filed under: Real — liyiwei @ 8:08 pm
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I haven’t figured out how to control the spread and mixing of watercolor painting (physically or digitally), and thus conducted this experiment to use clipping masks for regional control using a mushroom that I spotted in the neighborhood.

https://youtube.com/shorts/Vs3G2c5770I

March 13, 2025

Pleasant surprise by a party companion

Filed under: Real — liyiwei @ 8:28 pm
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I have been to three main types of parties serving food: buffets, small bites, and sit-down meals.
Buffets offer maximum flexibility as I can walk around eating whatever and talking to whomever.
I usually have difficulty with small bites as I don’t know what, when, and where will be carried by the waiters.
Sit-down meals tend to have the best quality, but also be most time-consuming and least flexible.

However, in a recent sit-down party, I was seated next to someone who has an unexpectedly interesting background as program managers working for several major tech companies. I learned about stuff that I wouldn’t usually hear from other researchers/engineers.

I guess this is one example benefit of stochastic sampling in social events.

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