Finally!

Finally, I finished the online task manager! You can register an account here:
http://www.jjtchiu.com/task_manager

It's a program to let you manage things to do everyday and because it's online, you can access it from everywhere. Also, your information will be protected and not leaked out to anybody, so don't worry about what you put.

Also, I welcome bug reports, suggestions, and comments.
PS: I might get my own domain and server soon!

Chip Art

Microchip designers have been doodling on the chips since the first one emerged into the market. Throughout years, hundreds of them have been found by high power microscope and they are quite interesting. I will show you some of the best ones, and there are lots of others in this site.

The Crayon:


The Disclaimer:


Aspen Leave:


Penguin:


Citrus Slice:


Pyramid:


Abacus:


Telephone:


Note: these images are from this site mentioned above.

How High Can You Count?

http://isthe.com/chongo/tech/math/number/howhigh.html

It's a very interesting article about the English number system and it teaches you how to say 10^10000000000 and larger numbers.

I will give a summary of that article here...

Here's the sequence (not complete): million, billion, trillion, quadrillion, quintillion, sextillion, septillion, octillion, nonillion, decillion (10^33), undecillion, dodecillion,..., vigintillion (10^63),..., trigintillion (10^93),..., centillion(10^303), cenuntillion(10^306),..., ducentillion(10^603),..., milliatillion(10^3003),..., and to infinity.

prefixes for 1~10:
un, do, tre, quattuor, quin, sex, septen, octo, novem

prefixes for 10, 20,...., 90:
dec, vigin, trigin, quadragin, quinquagin, sexagin, septuagin, octagin, nonagin

prefixes for 100, 200, 300,..., 900:
cen, ducen, trecen, quatringen, quingen, sescen, septingen, octingin, nongin

prefix for 1000: millia

So, let's say you want to know how to say 2 * 10^654

1. because the number system goes by every 3 digits, we divide 654 by 3

654 / 3 = 218

2. then, we subtract one from it because "thousand" goes before the million, billion...etc

218 - 1 = 217

3. we say that using the prefixes by the order: hundreds -> ones -> tens and the thousands act as in normal English

217 = 200 + 7 + 10 = ducen-octo-decillion = ducenoctodecillion

4. we got it!
2 * 10 ^ 654 = two ducenoctodecillion!


Wanna try a harder one?

987654 000,...., 000 (1756 sets of 000's)

We break that down to each set

987654 000,...., 000 = 987 * 1000^1757 + 654 * 1000^1756

Then, we subtract one from the power and convert that into words

1757 = millia-septingen-septen-quinquagin-tillion

1756 = millia-septingen-sexa-quinquagin-tillion

We are done!

987654 000,...., 000 = nine hundred eighty-seven milliaseptingenseptenquinquagintillion six hundred fifty-four milliaseptingensexaquinquagintillion

Mandelbrot Set

Well, after a few hours of work, I finally made it (see image below)



It's a famous fractal with a quite complex formula. It is actually, believe it or not, a set of complex numbers. Remember complex numbers are formed by a + bi where i = square root of -1? Well, the Mandelbrot set is drawn by plotting dots at (a, b) on a plain for every complex number (a + bi) in the set. Each complex number in the set is defined by this sequence when it does not escape to infinity
{f(0), f(f(0)), f(f(f(0))),....}
where f(n) = n² + C and C is a complex number.

This fractal contains a great variety of graphics through out the entire fractal, and of course infinite smaller versions of itself amongst it. The demo is just a tiny version of it, and there are a lot more great images of it zoomed in from 100 times to 6 billion times. It surely is fascinating. Click here to see them.

Fractals

Fractals are images that have multiple copies of the original images in it, and those tiny copies have even smaller copies of it in it, and goes on until infinitively small. The Mandelbrot set is a famous example of a fractal. However, my math skills aren't enough to understand them, so I cannot show a demo of it - not yet.

Today, I'm going to show you a fractal called the "dragon." fractal. It is tillable, makes it very special, and it is made entirely out of straight lines filling the space.

Click here to see the flash demo

It's a pretty neat fractal, and its basis is very simple. First, take a strip of paper, then, fold it in half horizontally. Do that 5+ times, and then open it. Make sure every angle is a right angle (90 decrees). Now you should see the dragon slowly forming. What's that based on? Well, here's the pattern (R = clockwise, L = counter-clockwise):
level0: R
level1: RRL
level2: RRLRRLL
level3: RRLRRLLRRRLLRLL
level4: RRLRRLLRRRLLRLLRRRLRRLLLRRLLRLL
...... and so on, adding alternating R and L between each element.
Then, just draw lines turning clockwise if it is a R, and counter-clockwise if it is a L.
like this:
--
|
--
|
--
|
--
...... this continues

What happened in the dress rehearsal

Well, 90% of the performances were bad (seriously), and the people were not coordinated. I just don't know how the performance is going to take off. One of the class' performance was a so-called "dance" which is just walking around the stage doing nothing. At the end, virtually only 40% of the audience clapped... Also, back to our class, our "CSI" was not good either (too many repetitions), but it's better than 70% of the others... (those "chorus based" dance with walking around the stage doing nothing)

By the way, some teachers were "thinking wrong" during the dress rehearsal (see the Spy HQ for more details)... I don't want to say much, but my classmates already knew about this.

Dance Performance

Well, we are having a dance performance tomorrow, and today is the dress rehearsal. I really think our dance is stupid, but most of the others are stupid too. I don't like the entire thing. I just don't know how the school came up with such an idea of a school dance night (the so called "Spring Concert"). Besides that, I have 2 projects going on right now, and I don't know the due date. I hate our teacher, never give out due dates until 1 week advance; how are we supposed to plan our project? Also, I'm getting an interview this Friday... that probably means missing art class (dang!). This week is quite busy.

Tests and Projects

Well, the salmon test was today, and it turned out to be quite easy - 2 page, 4 sides. I think I can get a high mark on it. However, we don't know yet until we get our test back. The reason those last year students said that it's 10 pages is because they had 1 huge test, and this year, we had 2 small tests.

Although the test is over, it doesn't mean that the trouble and hard work is over... I just got 2 projects handed out... a science fair project and a roman project... and we have to present both to the whole school! Argh! I just hope we get until end of June to do it. (which we probably won't)

If that's not enough, I just got notified that I need to have another interview with this private school I'm applying to for grade 8, and it might be this Saturday! This is really getting annoying... Oh well, I just have to accept it. *gotta get to work*

The Salmon Dissection Takes Place...

Well, the real dissection took place today. There were 5 salmons, and each group get one. They were pretty small, unlike the one teacher used last week. However, as you know, salmons are usually big enough for dissection.

As for the dissection, I did about 80 percent of the cutting (everything except the gills). I cut and pull out all the organs except the gills and the tongues. First, we had to make a cut from its vent to its throat. It was very slippery and frankly, not easy. I did the cutting, barehanded, because nobody else in our group, including the ones that brought gloves, wanted to cut it. Then, I pulled out the milt sac, the liver, the spleen, and the entire digestive system including the esophagus, the stomach, the pyloric caeca, and the intestines. After that comes the swim bladder and the kidney, which is a long blob of black jelly stuck to the backbone. At last, we took out its gills, eyes, and its tongue (believe it or not). I included a brief description (no pictures, sorry about that) on each organ.

Mouth
Obviously, this is the first place that food is processed. Salmons don't have grinders in their mouth; they have only sharp teeth that snatch and rip the food. Their favorite food is herring - small fish that often travel in large balls with thousands of them.

Esophagus
This is the first place that food come in after it goes through the mouth. It's a passage way between the stomach and the mouth.

Stomach
Well, you all know this, but food digestion take place in the stomach. It's pretty much like our stomach, except that it's much smaller. It breaks down food chunks into tiny ones and pass them to the pyloric caeca. Also, we found nothing in it because salmons don't eat when they return to their spawning ground.

Pyloric Caeca
This spaghetti-like organ is sort of like our small intestines. Here, the nutrients and minerals in the food get absorbed into the body and turn into energy and other stuff. It's a very important organ, and it's appearance is very obvious - the first thing you might notice besides the liver.

Intestines
The intestines are the last step of digestion. It's pretty much like our large intestine, and it absorbs water and other stuff. The poop will just get pushed into the vent/anus and out of the body.

Liver
The liver secrets liquids to help digestion and it break down chemicals so that it can be turned into energy for the body. It's quite large compare to other organs, and you can just pull it out easily.

Spleen
The spleen is a tiny organ with lots of blood vessels in them. It's purpose is to produce white blood cells and to store extra blood in case there are emergencies. It's very tiny, and it's just right beside the pyloric caeca. It looks like a tiny version of the liver, but of course, it's purpose is much different.

Heart
Well, same as most animals, salmons have a heart. It's a tiny triangular shaped organ that pumps blood to the circulatory system. It's location is close to the head, and it's right beside the gills. Surprising, eh? Well, think about it, our heart is right beside the lungs, why? Because so that it can have the fastest access to fresh oxygen! That's the same in salmons.

Gills
The gills are one of the hard areas to dissect. It's pretty hard to cut it out, and what I did was I just ripped it out some of them. Also, my friend cut out some of the gills. Anyways, the gills are the lungs of salmons. Water goes through their mouth, and pass by the gills. There, tiny blood vessels absorb the oxygen from the water and transport it to other places in the body.

Swim Bladder
The swim bladder is like a balloon. It can inflate and deflate to support buoyancy for salmons. If you are careful enough, you can use a straw to inflate it. However, because when I was ripping out the milt sacs, I accidentally ripped a hole, we didn't inflate it successfully.

Kidney
The kidney cleans and filters the blood and produce urine from the waste that passes out of the vent. Unlike humans, salmons have only 1 kidney, and it's a long black strip attached to its backbone. It's very easy to get it out by running your finger along the sides of the backbone. Well, it's pretty gross too. However, I did it - and took out the "black jelly."

Eyes and other organs
Well, we took out the eyes and the tongue too. It's pretty easy to get the eyes; just poke it out from inside and then rip it. The tongues were a bit harder. I first opened the mouth, and then other people just pull it out from the throat. It's gross, I tell you, but not as disgusting as the internal organs. Also, salmons have brains too, but it's very tiny (about the size of a pea), and hard to dissect. We didn't do it because the teacher didn't allow us to do so. It's amazing how salmons can go back to the stream they were born by instinct and without any guide.

If you have any more questions about this, feel free to email me. Also, there's an exam on Thursday, so I'd better get to study... I heard that it is 10 pages long... Although it might not be, but it's better to study too much rather than not studying enough.

Anyways,
Have fun!

Happy Easter!

I know it's kinda early, but anyways,
HAPPY EASTER!

A Guide to Salmon Dissection......

Ok......
http://www.pskf.ca/sd/
....
Even this, which is a very clean one, as you can see,

is still quite disgusting.

Also, I don't want to touch the kidney either.

Think about it - a blob of black gooey jelly. Yuck!

Salmon Dissection

Last Tuesday, our class had a salmon dissection. The teacher was cutting a female salmon, and it was pretty gross... I hate seeing those blobs of red and black floating around. If that's not enough, next Tuesday, we are dissecting in small groups! What's worst is that the school doesn't provide rubber gloves! I don't really want to handle those pieces of crap.

New Blog!

Yay! Finally I got blogger working! Welcome to my new blog! I will continuously add more content as time goes on.

test2

Another test post!

Testing

OK, test test test test test
I will ad more later