Happy Pi Day!

March 14th, 2015

Although τ is better, today is π.

Using the code from One R Tip A Day Twitter, I give thee 1,000 decimal places of π.

3.141592653589793238462643383279502884197169399375105820974944592307816406286

2089986280348253421170679821480865132823066470938446095505822317253594081284

8111745028410270193852110555964462294895493038196442881097566593344612847564

8233786783165271201909145648566923460348610454326648213393607260249141273724

5870066063155881748815209209628292540917153643678925903600113305305488204665

2138414695194151160943305727036575959195309218611738193261179310511854807446

2379962749567351885752724891227938183011949129833673362440656643086021394946

3952247371907021798609437027705392171762931767523846748184676694051320005681

2714526356082778577134275778960917363717872146844090122495343014654958537105

0792279689258923542019956112129021960864034418159813629774771309960518707211

3499999983729780499510597317328160963185950244594553469083026425223082533446

8503526193118817101000313783875288658753320838142061717766914730359825349042

8755468731159562863882353787593751957781857780532171226806613001927876611195

909216420199

And what is π day without the following video of Danica McKellar (Winnie from the Wonder Years) singing about π.

Yes, this posted on 3/14/15 at 9:27 (I couldn’t get seconds, so posting it at 9:26:54 was out of the question!)

/A

“If there were Internet slow lanes, you’d still be waiting”

September 10th, 2014

I saw that on Reddit today, and it is a real reminder that if you like reading my site or any like it, Net Neutrality is pretty damn important.

If you haven’t filed comments with the FCC or taken action otherwise, please do so and show your support for an open Internet so you can still read this blog and the many other fine blogs out there.

/Andrew

Quick Update

February 25th, 2014

I’m falling behind on my weekly posts.  Things have been extraordinarily busy here – so much so I’ve been working on things on evenings and weekends (and more than just quick checks of model runs).

Normal posts will resume soon, although I don’t know exactly when.  I also pushed back the ISLR Fridays posts for the same reason.

Annual Meeting Notes

January 8th, 2014

This is a journal (of sorts) of thoughts leading up to, during, and after the TRB Annual Meeting.  I don’t want to post a million little updates, so this may be posted at some point and updated throughout with things that aren’t big enough for one topic.

This is going to be updated as I have tidbits to add.

The format of this is like a shuttle launch… T-5 days, etc…

TRBAM-5d

For the second time in four years, I will not be at the Hilton with the rest of the modelers.  That doesn’t bother me, but what does is that the Fairfax at Embassy Row’s website wants to tell me that “Original crown molding and floorboards provide a historic feel to each room”, but not if they have a pool, hot tub, or exercise room.  I’m now WELCOMING the thought that they are moving the annual meeting to the convention center.

Aside from that, I emailed the hotel asking for a list of amenities.  Website fail.  At least it’s closer to the subway station which will make Saturday easier.

I also ordered two things via Amazon:

(Note: these are affiliate links – if you buy them after clicking on this link, you directly support this blog 🙂 )

 

Things To Do

Aside from finishing and plotting the poster, there’s a few things I’ve thought are pretty important to do:

  • Email the hotel asking if they have something like an exercise room.  Wait >24 hours for response that may have been flagged as spam
  • Check supplies (paper, pens, small stapler, post-its, binder clips) and get them into the bag. Also, remove items that the TSA won’t like (except my handheld ham radio, they’ll question it, but they’ll let me through)
  • Print hotel and registration information

TRBAM-4

This was spent with finishing the poster.  A draft version of this is now on display for tomorrow’s board meeting… we have board orientation tomorrow, and the only place in our board room where I could fit a 90″ poster is behind where the donuts will be.  Pics coming tomorrow.

Things To Do

  • Make sure I have business cards and a business card holder
  • Figure out the airline/security/logistic side of getting the poster from Cincinnati to DC
  • Double-check Saturday travel plans (I.e. make sure I have a list of expected times and which subways to ride)
  • Check balance on Metro Card and make sure it is in my wallet

TRBAM-3

This was a very busy day at the office and at home.

Things To Do

  • Charge power devices (like backup batteries)

TRBAM-2

Last day in the office… gotta make sure I get everything.

I created a handful of file folders for “TRB SAT”, “TRB SUN”, etc.  Everything for those days goes in there, and everything from those days (i.e. receipts) goes in those.  Hopefully that makes

Things To Do

  • Make sure I have all my notes for the ADB50 committee
  • Make sure I have everything else
  • Check supplies (e.g. pens, paper clips, etc)
  • Download EVERYTHING.  The wifi at the Hilton sucks.  This is not limited to papers I may want to read, but also videos I may want to watch.  I’m not expecting the wifi at any other hotel to be any better.

TRBAM-1

This is the day of Transportation Camp.

Things To Do

  • Board the plane
  • Have fun at camp!

Blog Updates

August 28th, 2013

There are many things going on, but unfortunately not blog-post writing.

There was a post about a New Project in the Works a few weeks ago.  I’ve completed it, but need to do some documentation.  Maybe one of these days.

I haven’t forgot about the series on R in Transportation Modeling, I just haven’t moved forward myself – many things have bogged me down from being able to move forward with it.  I have one post half-written, and I am working towards finishing it.

I’ve been looking at doing more visualization in R.  Expect to see some stuff from there.

My amateur radio blog has had a few updates (weekend work!).  I have a post in mind I need to write for it, I just need to sit down and start typing.  If you really want to read my writing and you don’t care about the topic, go there for now!  I do have to do a redesign for that blog, so someday it’ll happen.

…yeah, I didn’t really think I’d lose many people on that 🙂

The one thing I DID do for this blog is I added a Welcome page.  I was reading a recipe off another website and stumbled on that person’s blog, and their very first post was a welcome post and talked about what that blog was about.  I think that’s a pretty smart thing to do, so I decided I’d add a similar page.

Hopefully, I’ll have a post of some sort ready for next week and get back on the posting schedule I started adhering to a while back.

-A