One less rodent...

Today after class I saw a bunch of people standing around looking up at a tree on campus, so I went over to investigate. They were all gawking at this Red-Tailed Hawk as it enjoyed a tasty squirrel. I snapped this picture while it was gobbling down some intestines...

Oh well, one less rodent running around campus!

I've got three exams this week and two homework assignments due... so it's going to be a busy week...

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Fall Semester, Batman, Mastering Olypmus

Well fall semester has started, and I've been enjoying my classes for the most part so far. My favorite is Intro to Oceanography, which looks like it will be a really easy one. I'm also taking Chemistry, although I couldn't get into a lab so I'm only doing the lecture this semester. It is really interesting but it looks like it will come to some hard work eventually, as memorizing the molecules and stuff might be complicated.

For those of you wondering about the results of my summer precalc class, I'm sorry to say that I did not put enough effort into it and I will have to retake it this semester. The fast pace of summer was something I just couldn't keep up with, and it especially didn't help that I am a huge slacker in the first place.

Classes take up most of my time nowadays but I got my hands on a copy of Batman: Arkham Asylum , and I must say that it is one of the best games I've played this year, and its definitely got my vote for game of the year 2009... although I'll wait to cast a final verdict until I've played Dragon Age: Origins (I'm a huge Bioware fan if you didn't know) and The Beatles Rockband (also a HUGE Beatles fan).

An awesome game

Continuing my retro gaming that started with FFVIII (which has unfortunately taken a backseat to Batman at the moment), I've been sinking quite a bit of time into an old favorite: Zeus- Master of Olympus, a city builder from Impressions Games, which is now Tilted Mill. Its your basic city-builder where you conquer the mythical  world of ancient Greece. Its really cool to play now that I've actually been to Greece though, and seen the ruins of some of the cities that I've built in the game.

A picture I took of the ruins of Mycenae

What else has gone on in my life since my last update ages ago... hm, oh yes, I've learned a new song on my acoustic: Norwegian Wood, off of the Beatles' Rubber Soul album. Such a great song.

I'll try to keep this blog updated fairly frequently even though I'm pretty sure that nobody reads it...
Until next time, peace.

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Math is Hard

So remember that "Mersenne Prime Number Finder" that I talked about in my last post? Well as some of you have noticed it does not find Mersenne primes at all. It just finds regular old Mersenne numbers, which are of the form 2^n-1. Being a Mersenne number does not guarantee primality obviously, as the program returned results such as 15.

Thanks to the help of CRGreathouse, a moderator at Math Forum, I've realized these mistakes.

So, my goal is to find Mersenne Primes. I'm half-way there by finding regular Mrsn numbers... and luckily there is a thing known as the Lucas-Lehmer Primality Test, which applies only to Mrsn numbers. So now I have to find a way to implement this test into my program and I should be finding primes in no time!

CRGreathouse also introduced me to a programming language that is more suitable for numbers and mathematical operations than Java: Pari/GP. It is actually quite similar to Java in respect to syntax, but it handles numbers much more easily. Hopefully I'll be able to write my program soon! I have quite a bit to do today though and I'm working for most of the weekend, sadly.

Next week I'll have plenty of free time though, since I'm officially and finally done with summer classes. I'm not 100% sure that I passed Pre-calc... I did less than average on most of the quizzes and tests. I have no one to blame but myself, but this is just wrong. Here I am doing a math project in my spare time and yet I can't put forth the effort to pass a class? I don't lack the ability to understand the concepts, and I have an interest in math, but... I guess my fault lies in that I don't have an interest in doing homework. Oh well, as of now I'm still scheduled to take Calc I in fall semester, so hopefully that doesn't fall through even if I don't pass. I do NOT want to retake precalc and sit through 15 weeks of the same stuff I just learned.

Haha, well here's to slacking off and getting nowhere!

-Cheers!

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Not Good at Goodbyes

I had to say goodbye to my girlfriend this morning as she left for school in Chicago. We did a lot of fun stuff over the summer, but its hard to know that there won't be any more hugs or kisses for a long time. We talk online or call eachother every night, and I randomly send flowers to her dorm address to let her know I'm thinking of her.

Chicago is such a cool city- I'm jealous. Its good to have an excuse to visit the Windy City though!

This was just a short post, but I wanted to say what has been in my mind all day.

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Site Changes, Adventures in Precalculus

I know its early in my blog's life, and I don't think anyone has even read it yet, but I've made a few changes to the layout. I added a picture of some swirling galaxies to the header and added a subtitle which I think goes well with the purpose of my blog. I also have been fiddling with the fonts and colors of the text to see what works well. I think I've found a good setting I like with red and black as the main colors.

Tomorrow I get back my analytic trigonometry quiz, which I'm pretty sure kicked my butt. I should have studied more... those questions about proving identities were not good to me. Professor says after the test on thurs we are all done with trig (thank goodness) and on to more "random topics to prepare for Calc I." Great.

Other than that I've got a research paper to write and present for thursday. This is the last week of English. I doubt I'll take another summer course again if I can help it. The pace is just too much to keep up with, especially while working. Having a girlfriend who expects to see you takes up quite a bit of time too. I haven't seen many of my other freinds for weeks, months even.

Yet still I blog. I don't know why, but I'm trying to be honest in it. Maybe its a way to be introspective, a way to analyze myself as I read what I've written. Maybe I just hope that someone will actually read it and care. Maybe I'll forget to update for a month and then decide to screw it and abandon the whole thing to the unforgiving wasteland that is the internet.

Oh, if anyone does read this, you can read some short stories I wrote (mostly science fiction) if you are into that sort of thing. Just click on the EditRed banner on the bottom of the page or my link on the sidebar. Its pretty good stuff, if I do say so myself.

I'll probably wind the night down with a couple rounds of Counter-Strike or L4D before I go to bed, sleep, wake up and do some research...

Hakuna Matata

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