Saturday, March 12, 2011
Friday, March 11, 2011
Tsunami's impact on the Pacific coast
Tsunami's impact in the SF Bay Area:
http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_17595398
Animation of the tsunami waves spreading. Pretty amazing:
http://nctr.pmel.noaa.gov/
http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_17595398
Animation of the tsunami waves spreading. Pretty amazing:
http://nctr.pmel.noaa.gov/
Mega Earthquake in Japan
If you haven't heard the news, there has been a Mw 8.9 earthquake in Japan that has caused a tsunami in Sendai. It's about 400 km away from Tokyo. The ground motions seem to be very strong because the hypocenter is very close to surface of the Earth. I never knew that the depth of an earthquake has such a big impact until I started subscribing to USGS updates.
Here's a LA Times article:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-japan-quake-20110312,0,2015595.story
I read a Japan Times article that was more detailed but I haven't been able to get back onto Japan Times after that. I think too many people are trying to access it to get the latest information. A lot of the sources I've read have used words like "devastating" but the damage seems pretty contained, except for the coastal areas of Sendai. But Sendai is one of the most prepared communities in the world for tsunamis. The people there evacuated after they got the warning.
Our TA for our earthquake hazard and risk send us an email from Tokyo. He was there for a conference and was at airport security when the earthquake hit. He describe the evacuation from the building, structural engineers coming to check on the building, etc. He's safe but his flight is delayed and now he won't be able to make it back for office hours! He also said that there has been pretty big aftershocks following the big earthquake.
Actually, I have been getting reports from USGS about earthquakes in that region for a couple of days now. There was a Mw 7.2 one on Wednesday. I was getting notifications all day long but I didn't check to see if they were updates about the same earthquake or aftershocks. I think sometimes I check too early for news about these earthquakes. I usually try to check right after I get the notification from USGS. I suppose no one has had time to write about such an event. Maybe I should start a Tweeter account. Might get faster updates.
This is all happening so soon after the latest New Zealand earthquake. The EERI team is currently on the ground in Christchurch assessing damages. I've been getting emails about their preliminary reports and progress with that. At the EERI Annual Conference, they said that they spent 3 years' worth of budget on earthquake assessment trips last year because there were 3 years' worth of earthquakes last year. This year seems like it might be the same.
Here's a LA Times article:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-japan-quake-20110312,0,2015595.story
I read a Japan Times article that was more detailed but I haven't been able to get back onto Japan Times after that. I think too many people are trying to access it to get the latest information. A lot of the sources I've read have used words like "devastating" but the damage seems pretty contained, except for the coastal areas of Sendai. But Sendai is one of the most prepared communities in the world for tsunamis. The people there evacuated after they got the warning.
Our TA for our earthquake hazard and risk send us an email from Tokyo. He was there for a conference and was at airport security when the earthquake hit. He describe the evacuation from the building, structural engineers coming to check on the building, etc. He's safe but his flight is delayed and now he won't be able to make it back for office hours! He also said that there has been pretty big aftershocks following the big earthquake.
Actually, I have been getting reports from USGS about earthquakes in that region for a couple of days now. There was a Mw 7.2 one on Wednesday. I was getting notifications all day long but I didn't check to see if they were updates about the same earthquake or aftershocks. I think sometimes I check too early for news about these earthquakes. I usually try to check right after I get the notification from USGS. I suppose no one has had time to write about such an event. Maybe I should start a Tweeter account. Might get faster updates.
This is all happening so soon after the latest New Zealand earthquake. The EERI team is currently on the ground in Christchurch assessing damages. I've been getting emails about their preliminary reports and progress with that. At the EERI Annual Conference, they said that they spent 3 years' worth of budget on earthquake assessment trips last year because there were 3 years' worth of earthquakes last year. This year seems like it might be the same.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Tiger Blood
I read an interesting article lately about what it takes to keep cool under pressure:
http://www.slate.com/id/2287216/pagenum/all/#p2
Apparently, about 10% of the population is born (pre-destined) with the gift of being able to react while under pressure, 10% freaks out, and the rest of us just become sheep-like. But for those of us who are not so fortunate to be born with the ability to think clearly under fire, the article goes onto say that there is hope.
First, there is training: "the most effective single thing we can do is to practice the task under realistic conditions until it becomes second nature".
And then there's your overall outlook in life, "Study after study has shown that people who function well under stress share several core beliefs: They tend to see times of change and uncertainty not as dangerous but as exciting opportunities; they focus on what they can do to improve a stressful situation, rather than growing helpless; and they maintain a sense of commitment to the world around them, instead of withdrawing."
http://www.slate.com/id/2287216/pagenum/all/#p2
Apparently, about 10% of the population is born (pre-destined) with the gift of being able to react while under pressure, 10% freaks out, and the rest of us just become sheep-like. But for those of us who are not so fortunate to be born with the ability to think clearly under fire, the article goes onto say that there is hope.
First, there is training: "the most effective single thing we can do is to practice the task under realistic conditions until it becomes second nature".
And then there's your overall outlook in life, "Study after study has shown that people who function well under stress share several core beliefs: They tend to see times of change and uncertainty not as dangerous but as exciting opportunities; they focus on what they can do to improve a stressful situation, rather than growing helpless; and they maintain a sense of commitment to the world around them, instead of withdrawing."
24th Birthday! busy, busy, busy
This is the one day in a year when my facebook (and consequently, my inbox) gets flooded with posts. Actually, it started the day before because of friends from other time zones. I wanted to post this on my actual birthday but it's going to be too late by the time I finish writing. This is partly because: My Hong Kong work visa got approved!!
I've been waiting for news on this for a while now and trying to imagine what would happen if I don't get the visa. I have to say that I didn't get very far into the imagination part. Sometimes I would take a thought pretty far and think out an entire scenario. The scenarios that I take the time to imagine are definitely things that I want to happen and so far, a lot of them have come true.
For example, back in high school, I thought about what I would do if I got accepted to MIT. This was after I had applied and was waiting to hear back from the early decision process. I even thought about which teacher I would go tell first and what would be the most efficient way to tell everyone. Everything happened pretty much the way I thought it would. The only thing that I didn't account for was my friends spreading the news. By the time I made it to some of the classrooms, my teachers and counselors already knew.
This was all to say that I didn't get very far into the scenario where I didn't get the visa and that that was probably a good thing. A lot of people have been asking me about HK and I didn't want to say anything for sure.
Anyway, I guess I should recap these past few days. Such unbelievably long days. Monday started out pretty normal. I had classes and ate lunch with some friends. When I got to my office for office hours though, there was a flood of people wanting to figure out why they were not getting the same answer as the back of the book. I was really hoping to work on a homework but ended up not having any time until after my 7pm class. That homework involves using a finite element program. I can access the program by ssh-ing into one of the shared computers but my computer has been very slow. So I had to go to a computer cluster and use one of those computers. So painful to have to go out again after coming back from a long day.
Tuesday a even longer day. Had a group meeting in the morning for the infrastructure class. And then foundations class. Finished grading the homework for foundations. Went to office hours for my finite element model. Went to foundations class again. Went to the ESW presentations briefly. Got back, showered, and worked on the finite element model until 2am when I finally submitted my presentation.
This morning (Wednesday), I got up and played around with the numbers for the finite element thing some more. Made the presentation. Met up with a friend for lunch. Went to another class. And then went to a talk by Bill Nye (the Science Guy)!! It was supposed to be for Aero/Astro students only but the room was filled with people from all over. The room was so unbelievably packed. I couldn't even save a seat for my friend. Then I attempted to start grading the newest homework for foundations and found another error in the book. You would think that by the time you publish a 7th edition of a book, there would be no errors! And then the 4 hour group meeting for infrastructure class started. Our RFP is due on Thursday so we sat down as a group and read the entire proposal, word for word. We fixed everything and printed it out. I almost caused a fiasco by suggesting that we go to Mitchell to print. I forgot the code to the door (or maybe they changed it). We ran back to Huang and printed it there. Anyway, it's now done. Just need to make the presentation for this class.
So what's left for this quarter? Grading the latest foundations homework by Friday. Then I have a take home exam that will be handed out Friday afternoon and needs to be turned in Saturday afternoon. A long homework/project that is due on Monday. I haven't started on this so I'm worried. A presentation for the infrastructure class. Then I'm pretty much free. I will be holding some office hours for the foundations students. Their final is on Wednesday so I'll stop by there as well. I should also help wrap up the Indonesia project before I leave. And then making sure that I do lunch or dinner with friends!
I've been waiting for news on this for a while now and trying to imagine what would happen if I don't get the visa. I have to say that I didn't get very far into the imagination part. Sometimes I would take a thought pretty far and think out an entire scenario. The scenarios that I take the time to imagine are definitely things that I want to happen and so far, a lot of them have come true.
For example, back in high school, I thought about what I would do if I got accepted to MIT. This was after I had applied and was waiting to hear back from the early decision process. I even thought about which teacher I would go tell first and what would be the most efficient way to tell everyone. Everything happened pretty much the way I thought it would. The only thing that I didn't account for was my friends spreading the news. By the time I made it to some of the classrooms, my teachers and counselors already knew.
This was all to say that I didn't get very far into the scenario where I didn't get the visa and that that was probably a good thing. A lot of people have been asking me about HK and I didn't want to say anything for sure.
Anyway, I guess I should recap these past few days. Such unbelievably long days. Monday started out pretty normal. I had classes and ate lunch with some friends. When I got to my office for office hours though, there was a flood of people wanting to figure out why they were not getting the same answer as the back of the book. I was really hoping to work on a homework but ended up not having any time until after my 7pm class. That homework involves using a finite element program. I can access the program by ssh-ing into one of the shared computers but my computer has been very slow. So I had to go to a computer cluster and use one of those computers. So painful to have to go out again after coming back from a long day.
Tuesday a even longer day. Had a group meeting in the morning for the infrastructure class. And then foundations class. Finished grading the homework for foundations. Went to office hours for my finite element model. Went to foundations class again. Went to the ESW presentations briefly. Got back, showered, and worked on the finite element model until 2am when I finally submitted my presentation.
This morning (Wednesday), I got up and played around with the numbers for the finite element thing some more. Made the presentation. Met up with a friend for lunch. Went to another class. And then went to a talk by Bill Nye (the Science Guy)!! It was supposed to be for Aero/Astro students only but the room was filled with people from all over. The room was so unbelievably packed. I couldn't even save a seat for my friend. Then I attempted to start grading the newest homework for foundations and found another error in the book. You would think that by the time you publish a 7th edition of a book, there would be no errors! And then the 4 hour group meeting for infrastructure class started. Our RFP is due on Thursday so we sat down as a group and read the entire proposal, word for word. We fixed everything and printed it out. I almost caused a fiasco by suggesting that we go to Mitchell to print. I forgot the code to the door (or maybe they changed it). We ran back to Huang and printed it there. Anyway, it's now done. Just need to make the presentation for this class.
So what's left for this quarter? Grading the latest foundations homework by Friday. Then I have a take home exam that will be handed out Friday afternoon and needs to be turned in Saturday afternoon. A long homework/project that is due on Monday. I haven't started on this so I'm worried. A presentation for the infrastructure class. Then I'm pretty much free. I will be holding some office hours for the foundations students. Their final is on Wednesday so I'll stop by there as well. I should also help wrap up the Indonesia project before I leave. And then making sure that I do lunch or dinner with friends!
Monday, March 7, 2011
United and Continental Mile Merge
You can now merge your United and Continental mileage. This is great news!
http://thepointsguy.com/2011/03/major-enhancement-united-and-continental-miles-and-status-now-combineable/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+thepointsguy+%28The+Points+Guy%29
http://thepointsguy.com/2011/03/major-enhancement-united-and-continental-miles-and-status-now-combineable/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+thepointsguy+%28The+Points+Guy%29
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