Happy Holidays!!!

Finally, the exams are over! Woohoo! =) Instead of finding time to find more time, I shall, for the time being, enjoy passing time that I've finally found. And as such, here's a list of things that I aim to do during the holidays:

- Look for a programming job
- Create a real resume (yup, yup, the one I did for the Professi*nal Co*munication module was a fake. Why bother crapping up a real one when I don't intend to apply for an aer*spa*e job?)
- Do some leisure programming here and there
- Complete as much of my FYP as possible

Then again, if that is all to this blog entry, then it wasn't typed by me. Cause hey, since when did I blog merely about what I'm going/planning to do and blah blah this, blah blah that and just end like that without games and crap? And as such, this leads to the second list:

- Blog about more crap in the word
- Display more quirks that this world has to offer, beyond means of understanding
- Guess/explain why the quirks are they way they are and their possible insights
- Game in the morning
- Game in the afternoon
- Game at night
- Game at midnight
- Game at twilight (hey, it's starting to rhyme - by accident)
- Game with all my might (hey, it's rhyming even more! - not by accident)
- Game till I'm at twilight zone (yup, yup, the rhyming spree has been stopped due to a lack of vocabulary database size)
- Ensure that I do not game till I see a bright light and seemingly disapproving angel(s) escorting me to you-know-where =P

Hmmm, I suspect the other cookie's shaking her head at this blog entry. Sigh, so I suppose there's one more thing left to do during the holidays:

- Explain/report to the other cookie for my actions of excessively fun, exciting, happy gaming

To begin with, here's a quirk:

The Money Eating Machine

If you're thinking that this is merely a simple postage stamp machine, think again... This machine will eat up whatever coins you insert and return whatever change in paper value. So, let's assume that you intend to get a 22 cents stamp, and all that you have is a one dollar coin. Slot the coin in and voila! While you get your 22 cents stamp, you also get 78 cents worth of postage labels (as for the denomination, I guess you'll have to try it to know. I can't be bothered, seriously)! =) Hmmm, what a tricky machine...

Irony of Ironies...

Summary of statictics/facts/events
- Number of profs for the dreaded AE4**3 = 3
- Total number of notes as depicted earlier = 545 to 650+
- Cheat sheet restriction = 2 pages of whatever you can squeeze in

- Prof 1: Seemingly mr nice guy who told us that:
(1) Transfer functions will not be tested
(2) The paper would be 70% theory, 30% calculation for his part
(3) Calculations would be basic ones, nothing too difficult

- Prof 2: No information othe than he's usually black faced

- Prof 3: Seemingly cannot-make-it who cannot count bits and bytes for nuts

As it turned out...
Prof 1: Bas***d of all ***tar*s, hidden knife in smile (ie. 笑里藏刀)
(1) Transfer functions came out
(2) His parts were 80% calculations, 20% theory
(3) Full derivation of perturbation theory tested together with an iterative solve-10-multiplication-matrices problems posed
(4) The calculations were tedious
(5) Some cannot be done
Note: This prof earned the record of being the second person whom i cursed and swore at during the examinations all my life.

Prof 2: Quite an OK guy
- Questions were just very descriptive

Prof 3: Mr nice guy
- All descriptive questions, and they were so basic that basic was an understatement

Conclusion: Ironies of ironies...

Smoke Gets In Your Eyes =|

Nope, I'm not about to spoof another set of lyrics here, but, with the crappy lecturer (that is not computer trained) teaching computer architecture (the internal components and workings of a computer), one cannot help but be exasperated after being smoked like crazy... especially if one has been programming for over 10 years and learnt computer architecture for 2 years.

Just some background information... a kilobyte is 1024 bytes, 8 bits make a byte, a word is made up of a number of bits which could be 4, 8, 16, 32, 64... etc. And so, the question was how many kilobytes is a 32K word x 4 bit equivalent to? From my computer science knowledge, in computers, all K = 1024. So, we have:

No of Kilobytes = 32 x 1024 x 4 bits per word / 8 bits per byte / 1024 bytes = 16 Kb. (My answer)

My prof's answer: No of Kilobytes = 32 x 1024 / 1000.

I wonder what happened. And so I emailed my prof, bringing to his attention the obvious errors (probably known only to me in my course) he had and the above question.

This is the email correspondance that I suffered (please read from bottom-up):

From: [Filtered] (Assoc Prof)
Sent: Thu 11/20/2008 5:47 PM
To: [Glass Cookie]
Subject: RE: General Enquiry
Dear [Filtered],

I can only tell you that my questions contain no calculations.

Good luck!

Regards,
[Filtered]

From: [Glass Cookie]
Sent: Thursday, November 20, 2008 5:50 PM
To: [Filtered] (Assoc Prof)
Subject: RE: General Enquiry

Hi Prof,

Will we be tested on such questions in the exams? If we are, I pretty much have to get to the bottom of this...

Best regards,
[Glass Cookie]

From: [Filtered] (Assoc Prof)
Sent: Thu 11/20/2008 5:47 PM
To: [Glass Cookie]
Subject: RE: General EnquiryDear [Filtered],

You may come to see me after exam for clarification if you want. You should move on to other topics on your course.

Regards,
[Filtered]

From: [Glass Cookie]
Sent: Thursday, November 20, 2008 5:37 PM
To: [Filtered] (Assoc Prof)
Subject: RE: General Enquiry

Hi Prof,

Hmmm... then why shouldn't the answer for q14 be 32K words * 4 bit per word / 8 bits per byte = 16 kilobytes but rather, 32*1024/1000? If K refers to strictly units of 1024, how could 32X1024 4-bit words be equal to 32 KB?

Best regards,
[Glass Cookie]

P.S. Thank you for all your time

From: [Filtered] (Assoc Prof)
Sent: Thu 11/20/2008 5:47 PM
To: [Glass Cookie]
Subject: RE: General Enquiry

Dear [Filtered],

A kilobyte is 1024 bytes or 1000 bytes depending on the context used. A byte is 8 bits. A nibble is 4 bits. A word can be of any length of bits. You may check out the link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilobyte. I did not cover the organization of the memory chip in depth.

Regards,
[Filtered]


From: [Glass Cookie]
Sent: Thursday, November 20, 2008 5:26 PM
To: [Filtered[ (Assoc Prof)
Subject: RE: General Enquiry

Hi Prof,

Since you've neglected the 4 bit per word in the calculation of the total number of kilobytes, can it be interpreted that in some cases, a kilobyte consists of 512 bytes instead of 1024 bytes or a byte consists of 4 bits? Because that was the very exact way that they interpreted the question: each word=4 bits, 32K words=32*1024 words. Hence no of kilobytes=32*4/8bits as a byte is defined as 8 bits.

Best regards,
[Glass Cookie]

From: [Filtered] (Assoc Prof)
Sent: Thu 11/20/2008 5:47 PM
To: [Glass Cookie]
Subject: RE: General Enquiry
Dear [Glass Cookie],

Yes, it is possible as your computer friend has a different interpretation of the question. The tutorial question that I posed may be a bit of confusing depending on the context used. The question refers to a memory chip that can contain 32K of words. Each word is 4 bits. That is the interpretation in the context of the reference book that I used for the course.

Regards,
[Filtered]

From: [Glass Cookie]
Sent: Thursday, November 20, 2008 4:55 PM
To: [Filtered] (Assoc Prof)
Subject: RE: General Enquiry

Hi prof,

From what I gather from my computer engineering friends, if it is to be in kilobytes, the answer should be 32 * 1024 * 4 bits / 8 bits / 1024 bytes = 16 KB instead of the 32*1024 bytes answer provided earlier. Any enlightenments? Thank you for your time

From: [Filtered] (Assoc Prof)
Sent: Thu 11/20/2008 5:47 PM
To: [Filtered]Subject: RE: General Enquiry
Dear [Glass Cookie],

Yes, it can be confusing and ambiguous. You may check out Wikepedia link on kilobyte http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilobyte.
In our context, 32K words x 4 bits. Each word stored in the memory is 4 bits. The K means 1000 bytes, but memory storage 1 K should be equaled to 1024 bytes. Thus, the total capacity expressed in bytes should be 32 x 1024 = 32768 bytes which is sometimes shortened to 32KB.

It is good to know that you are all studying for the exam.

Regards,
[Filtered]

From: [Glass Cookie]
Sent: Thursday, November 20, 2008 2:23 PM
To: [Filtered] (Assoc Prof)
Subject: RE: General Enquiry

Hi Prof,

Assuming that for Q14, it was actually in kilobytes (which was I thought it to be anyway), wouldn't 32K words contain 32000 words? And since these 32000 words are 4 bits each, the total number of bits would be 32000 X 4. Since a standard byte consists of 8 bits and a kilobyte = 1024 bytes, shouldn'd the number of KB be 32000 X 4 / 8 / 1024? Sorry... I'm confused... could you explain in a little more detail?

Best regards,
[Glass Cookie]

From: [Filtered] (Assoc Prof)
Sent: Thu 11/20/2008 5:47 PM
To: [Glass Cookie]
Subject: RE: General Enquiry
Dear [Filtered],

Q14: The confusing part may be due to my question. Is it expressed in Kb (kilobits) or KB (kilobytes)? Following the reference book that I used, it is kilobytes. Then the answer would be 32 x 1024 bytes. If it is in kilobits, then the answer would be 32 x 1024 x 4 bits.

Question on instruction set: Yes, you are right that the “next instruction reference” is implicit in the instruction format for the PC system that we are looking at. You don’t have to mention the reference, it would be automatically handled by the control unit. But in some other system, you may want to specify the next instruction reference explicitly. That means you have to specify the memory address where the next instruction is fetched from.

Stack pointer: Yes, it points to the top of the stack. The stack is often accessed via a register called the stack pointer, which also serves to indicate the current top of the stack. Stack pointer is classified as special purpose register. You may check out the link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Processor_register.

Hope this helps.

Regards,
[Filtered]


From: [Glass Cookie]
Sent: Thursday, November 20, 2008 2:38 AM
To: [Filtered] (Assoc Prof)
Subject: General Enquiry

Hi Prof,

Please disregard my previous mail as it is duplicated in this mail. I have a few questions that I would like to ask on behalf of the aerospace cohort:

I've got a query with regards to Q14 of your tutorial question. Is the answer: 32 x 1000 x 4 bits_per_word / 8 bits_per_byte / 1024 byte_per_KB? Cause I was told that the actual answer was 32 x 1024 / 1000 and I would like to clarify it and understand it working.

With regards to instruction set, does 'Next instruction reference' refer to control flow instructions (ie. goto , #IF, call statements... etc)? Because if I recall correctly, next instruction addressing operations are handled by the control unit rather than it being an instruction sent to the processor from the programming/program/software side.

As for the stack pointer, I thought that it points to the 'top location' of the stack after the instructions are being 'popped out' after execution rather than the address/location of the last executed instruction?

Could you kindly clarify these queries? Thank you very much for your time =)

Best regards,
[Glass Cookie]


And so, it really makes one wonder why can't he just see what I'm trying to ask him. Was the idea too difficult?

Conclusion: Anti-youniversity airosp*ce is going downhill at this rate... Next time, a sociologist could teach laplace transformation equations for flight mechanics.

Conclusion 2: It's hard not to get smoke in your eyes when profs like that drop smoke bombs (note: not grenades) all over the place.

Conclusion 3: The prof himself is the most confused, I think...

Feelings Before The Quasi-Final Paper

Considering that I was given a 2 sided cheat sheet to bring into the examination room which will contain the summary of over 600 slides of that AE4**3 crap notes, I'm exasperated exasperated exasperated!

The lecture material could somewhat make sense, then make totally no sense anymore. The following is a typical scenario while reading through the notes:

The easy part
What we like to do is to calculate the mass of bricks that a 2000kg car could transport, given that it is able to provide a 10,000N force. Assume that a brick is 1 kg.

Given that Force is a product of mass and acceleration of the body, we have:
F = ma

Since the mass of the car is 2000 kg with an unknown load of bricks, let the number of bricks be x. Thus, m = 2000 + x kg.

[Up till this point, it is still understandable. However...]

The not-so-easy part which would be tested in the examinations...
Considering the frictional constant of the road, together with any variable impedance due to the road surface roughness, we obtain the formula:

x = AX + Bu + log(g)C

whereby A is a n by n matrix and B is a m by n covariance matrix, u is the input condition of the loop with the 2nd order transfer function s/(s^2 +4s + 8). X is the expected input of the readings, C is a matrix which accounts for all errors that might have been obtained - it being the difference between the expected error and the actual error.

Solving for the above gives x, the number of bricks. (QED)

Hmmm, solve for A, B and C? What on earth are those errors? How do you even solve it? OK, let's assume that we could solve it anyway. What is A, B and C to begin with? Hmmm... Hmmmm.. Hmmm...

Conclusion: Man, they really lost me back then, a looooong time ago...

I Will Survive (Edited)

First I was afraid I was petrified
Kept thinking I could never excel with you in my life
But I spent so many nights thinking how you did me wrong
But I grew strong
I learned how to carry on and so you're back
From outer space
I just walked in to find you here
With that sick look upon your (exam) script
I should have changed that stupid course
I should have made you float and sputter
If I had known for just one second you'd be back to haunting me

Go on now go
Walk out the door
Just turn around now 'cause you're not welcome anymore
Weren't you the one who tried to break me with Bs & Cs
You think I'd crumble you think I'd lay down and xi4 (ie. 'die' in hokkien)
Oh no, not I
I will survive
Oh as long as i know how to mug
I know I'll stay alive
I've got all my life to live
I've got all my time to give and I'll survive
I will survive

It took all the strength I had not to fall apart
Kept trying hard to mend the pieces of my broken transcript
And I spent oh so many nights
Just feeling sorry for myself
I used to sigh
Now I hold my head up high
And you see me somebody new
I'm not that chained up little person
Still stuck with you
and so you felt like being difficult
and just expect me to be muggin'
now I'm saving all my time
for programming who's loving me

[Repeat Chorus]

Woohoo! =)

2 horrid papers down and one more to go. Hmmm, technically, it's 2 more to go but non-technically speaking (or rather, 'pressing' [cause I'm typing off my good ole trusty keyboard {Then again, it might also be known as an underdamped spring compression action. Oh no, the exams are getting into me! (Gasp!) Anyway, back to the topic...}]) , it's one more. If you're wondering what I'm babbling about, it's simply this: There are 2 more papers to go and I simply do not put the last one in my eye (i.e. 不放在眼里).

If you're wondering why, it's simply this: It's a module that tells you how important engin**rs are to society, their achievements, all this and that wouldn't have been possible without them and all and blah blah blah... (and all they are getting paid is peanuts). It is also a module that requires the st*dent to come up (in my opinion, 'crap up') with fanciful ideas about achievements, projections into the future in terms of economy, history, technology, idealogies and whatever-else-nots that cannot be found in the lecture notes. So, this would cause one to wonder if one should even bother studying this module.

In any case, I'm off to my loooooong awaited mini-break after the worst 3-modular-credit paper of the semester**

**Cookie verbal poll, rated by ae*o*pace st*dents. The reduced version of this paper is a 4-modular-credit paper for current year 3 mec*anica* engin**ring students of anti-younivarsity.

Thought: (Lyrics) I will surrrrrvive, I willlll surrrrrrviveeeeee...

My Alternative Pain Theory

Since I'm sick of staring at endless lecture materials for the coming exam, here's an alternative theory to the previous one that I had about pain...

Disclaimer: This is strictly my formulated theory, thus you may not agree with it.

When one encounters itch, one would find means to remove it although the main method employed is via increasing the magnitude of pain. However, some have employed other means in reducing the itch by medicated plasters, creams or lotions.

In short,

Itch = minute pain = Neither painful nor non-painful = Decision:
1) Increase it till it hurts
2) Decrease it close to zero/negligible

Hence, my conclusion of the matter is that: Itch is a 'lukewarm' kind of pain such that one would rather that it were either painful or non-existent at all (ie. a parallel to Revelations 3:15-16).

The First Examination Aftermath...

Consider a vacuum system consisting of a cookie as shown below.

a) When an object called examinations is added to the system, calculate the energy increase of the cookie. (3 marks)

Let the energy of the system be E.
As the object is a great source of stress, the pressure on the system increases.

Stress = Pressure = F/A

Where F = Force exerted by the object, examinations
A = Surface area of the cookie.

Since work done = Force x distance,
hence increase in energy of the system, ΔE = F × A × Distance travelled.

Distance travelled cannot be measured within the system since the boundary of the system is arbitrary, and it is not stated from which point the object was being placed in the system. Thus, the assumption would be that the object was placed directly above the cookie, neglecting any kinetic energy the object might have obtained. Thus, only the change in height of the cookie due to the compression would be accounted as distance travelled.

Let the compressed height of the cookie be δz.

Hence, ΔE = F × A × δz.

b) Assuming that the massless object, examinations, does not exert any pressure on the cookie and is weightless in an ideal situation.

If the object, examinations, has a heat generation of 50 MW, determine the temperature of the system after an 2 hours 30 minutes. Assume that the system is a closed system. Mass of cookie, m = 50g, Specific heat of the cookie, c = 10,000 J/kgK. (3 marks)

Time conversion: 2 hours 30 minutes = 2 × 3600 + 30 × 30 = 8100 s
Hence, total energy generated by object, Ė = 50 MW × 8100 s = 400.5 GJ

Assuming that no energy is lost via radiation in the vacuum system, by principle of conservation of energy:
Energy generated, Ė = energy absorbed by cookie = mcΔθ
Therefore, Δθ = Ė/mc = 400.5 GJ/( 0.050 × 10,000 ) = 810000000 K

c) Comment on the stability of the system and practical aspects of such a system. (3 marks)

On stability: Such a system would be very unstable due to the high amount of energy. Any attempt to store such a cookie with the object, examinations, would be futile as no material could currently handle such an object.

On practicality: Such a system would be appropriate in replacing the nuclear bomb as the energy of the cookie is equivalent to such bombs. Moreover, upon explosion, the particles are biodegradable and would not have any radioactive effects on the surrounding environment for over 10 years and a radius of a few hundred kilometers.

Conclusion: If you thought this was a whole lot of crap, that was exactly how I felt towards my paper today where only 9 pathetic marks was awarded to formation of a 6 by 6 global matrix [K] which took at least 30 minutes. And guess what? I actually blogged in less than 30 minutes!

My Pain Theory...

Arrrgh, I'm tired from studying matrices upon matrices and hence, I shall take some time off in blogging. And so, this is a random thought that I had...

Disclaimer: This is strictly my formulated theory, thus you may not agree with it.

From my experience from pain and mosquito bites, I conclude that itch is a very minute amount of pain (and hey, sometimes the process of a mosquito bites feels painful to me). And it is a natural reaction for most, if not, all to scratch it. Or at least I would like to assume so in order to conclude my conclusion (Hmmm, this sentence sounds duh. Could I possibly unconclude a concluding conclusion? Anyway, I shall not babble anymore on this lest I should go out of point...).

In short...

Minute pain + Scratch = Theoretically more pain = Happiness/Satisfaction = Masochism

And hence, my conclusion of the matter is that: Most, if not, all humans have a certain degree of masochism in them.

An Email...

Every once in a while, I'll receive a ranting email from a fellow male (you'll understand why I had to state this at this point in time as you read on) coursemate. This time round, it was with regards to the coming AE4**3 CA due 6 days before the final examinations (what a "great" timing man). Anyway, here's the contents of his email:


From: Felicia [mailto:Aerosp@ce.Girl]
Sent: Wed 11/5/2008 7:43 AM
To: [*filtered*]
Subject: Sick of it

I give up. Every slide inside AE4**3 is like a mad man babbling nonsenses to me. The crazy thing is that after the mad man finishes talking, I will be tested on what he just says! And it is a closed book test, which I need to pass in order to graduate from this asylum! This is seriously depressing. I might in turn become a mad man after that!

When I look at Random Signals and GPS, I almost [*filtered*] my pants! I realise I dont like to build aeroplane, I only like to travel in one. You feel the same? Enrolling for the wrong university course is like marrying the wrong person. It is seriously wasteful and expensive to divorce an university course after 3 years of living together. You more or less need to have [*filtered*] with your course from now until 27th November, even though you dont like your course!

I just want to graduate fast

-Felicia


Note to all aer* coursemates: Felicia is formally known as Belinda.

Note to the other cookie: I have no female friends by the name Felicia or Belinda

Note to all: This is a straight guy. Not a transvestite or an ah gua.


Conclusion: Oh well, once again the AE4**3 notes has caused the paralysis of many camels out there with the last straw being a tonne of bricks (since bricks are created using straws).

Conclusion 2: Guess I'll be updating my ae*osp*ce head on the course after I graduate...