[3329] in Central_America
New quotes for Sun Apr 7
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Initializer.SysDaemon)
Sun Apr 7 01:30:21 1991
Date: Sun, 7 Apr 91 01:26:33 EST
From: root@charon.MIT.EDU (Initializer.SysDaemon)
To: ca-mtg@bloom-beacon.mit.edu
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batman (Kohta Ueno--Die Fledermaus):
Me? Having a plan? Yikes. Maybe becoming a carpenter, piano tuner, an
electrician, a locksmith, a cabinetmaker, a mechanic or an HVAC repairman
But not a plumber. Plumbing sucks and is really messy and nasty and dull.
So why am I at mit? "I'm in it for the angst."
When I was a young child, I liked to dismantle, modify, and fix mechanical
things. Adults saw this and said,"You should become a scientist or an
engineer." Well, now that's I'm learning about these things, I think that
maybe I don't want to become a scientist or an engineer.
Maybe liking to dismantle, modify, and fix things just means that I like to
dismantle, modify, and fix things.
a successful tool is one used to do something undreamed
of by its author.
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eichin (Mark W. Eichin):
Too much sleep is not a good thing...
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jik (Jonathan I. Kamens):
Today is the eighth day, being one week and one day of the Omer.
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jtidwell (Jenifer P. Tidwell):
The Siggraph `91 Conference On Computer Graphics and Interactive
Techniques will be held July 29 - August 2 in Las Vegas, NV. The following
contains selected portions of the recently released Siggraph '91
Preliminary Program:
[cont'd from yesterday -jt]
EXTENDED ABSTRACTS OF SELECTED TECHNICAL PAPERS
=============================================================================
Paper : Subpixel Rendering of Bicubic Patches
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Third-order patches have been rendered by subdividing them into
second-order patches, first-order polygonal surfaces (Lane-Carpenter), and
zero-order pixel-sized surfaces (Catmull). We suggest continuing the
subdivision until the subpatch is the size of a molecule, where it can be
rendered by a standard molecular modeling package.
Molecules have advantages also in creating realistic models. In the
same way that Euler operations guarantee that a model is topologically
realizable, modeling with molecular primitives guaranteed that a model could bemanufactured with real molecules. To verify the modeler, we invoke the
Weierstrass theorem, which states that any object can be made from any
primitive if you use alot of them. We implemented uncharged atoms in C, ions
in C++.
Paper : Laser Beam Tracing
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ray tracing is slow, which is ironic since the rays are supposedly
traveling at the speed of light. Most of the time is spent in the
ray-surface intersection. The authors feel that, having done all the work
of intersecting with a surface, the ray should do more when it gets there.
Laser rays provide the energy for this work.
Instead of antialiasing the image, the ray locally melts the surface
colors, blurring them. Likewise, when a laser ray hits a polygonal object,
the sharp angles are eroded away to create a smooth surface.
If the force of rays is varied, then bumpy surfaces are realized.
Translucency occurs when some rays are strong enough to blow right through
the surface. Likewise, penumbra is accomplished when some rays blast through
objects while proceeding to the light source.
Paper : Scaling Properties of Patents on Fractals
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The author has patented "fractal" functions for the creation of
synthetic images. A fractal exhibits statistical "self-similarity", wherein
the function reveals the same statistical composition regardless of the scale
at which it is considered. Thus, the author's patent applies at all possible
scales.
Fractals can be characterized by their "fractional dimension", which
is intuitively a measure of their roughness. Since changing the fractional
dimension of a fractal creates a new fractal, the author's patent extends to
fractals of any roughness. A fractal surface of zero roughness is a smooth
surface, so the author's patent subsumes all smooth surface methods in computergraphics.
While fractals describe the smooth surfaces of man-made objects, they
also describe the irregular, intricate objects of the natural world, and thus
fall under the author's patent. Even if nature was not composed of fractals,
the retinal veins in front of the rods and cones are fractal, so nature would
look fractal anyway. Fortunately for the author, nature really is fractal.
The geometry of galaxies can also be described by fractals. Thus, all
natural and man-made objects are fractal when considered at a very large scale.Thus, because the author's patent exhibits scaling, it applies to all natural
and man-made objects.
Due to self-similarity, fractals exhibit small variations over small
distances and large variations over large distances. Since length, width, and
height can only change by small amounts over small distances but can change by
large amounts over large distances, space itself is fractal and thus is coveredby the author's patent.
========== Coming in Tomorrow's .plan: MORE EXTENDED ABSTRACTS ===========
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lnp (Lisa N Paradis):
In the future:
Monday 4/8: fly out to Virginia for another interview with ERA
Tuesday 4/9: another report due for 6.033
Thursday 4/11: My brother's bday
questionnaire and finalized proposal due for 1.101
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Words-n-stuff for the day:
"You can't get snot off of a suede jacket."
-- Lenny Bruce
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maschaub (Marc A Schaub):
{From system: This user's .plan file is not world readable}
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therese (Suntioinen Therese M.):
Corpulent generals safe behind lines
History's lessons drowned in red wine
Poppies for young men, death's bitter trade
All of those young lives betrayed
All of those young lives betrayed
All for a children's crusade
- Sting
Dream of the Blue Turtles
--- End of Central America ---
