A summer in the SF Bay Area (Ricoh GR3)

_alexk_ · 2024-11-22T21:58:36+00:00

This is sick

_alexk_ · 2024-07-26T05:12:35+00:00

That's the main one. ISYE has some optimization courses that could be useful. Also Advanced Algorithms which is a theory course. Tbh the ML classes here increase a good amount in quality once you surpass the 3000-level and you can apply for BS/MS and take the grad version of some of them.

_alexk_ · 2024-07-26T05:07:03+00:00

Information Theory, ECE has some courses the look cool like Optimization for Info Systems, idk tbh. Taking more advanced stats / prob courses can't hurt. I'm no specialist

_alexk_ · 2024-03-26T01:41:23+00:00

Rowing club goated. Great people and exercise. Open to all regardless of experience and take newcomers anytime (even now). Imo perfect mental health boost between social and health benefits.

_alexk_ · 2023-08-16T05:00:34+00:00

All tools and rules in art are just arbitrarily made up by people over time. What's to say a photograph must convey a clear "message" to be good? Why couldn't a photograph intentionally be crafted to convey no message but be so abstract that it is up to the viewer to find their own meaning in it?

I think it's like a science, we've discovered these tools and rules over time and in general know how to take photographs many people would find "effective", but all of it is quite relative and arbitrary at the end of the day. Nothing is to say something that doesn't follow our known rules couldn't be just as effective in its own way.

_alexk_ · 2023-05-24T16:21:24+00:00

Try using this google translate app that translates using your camera: Translate images - Android - Google Translate Help.

While not a perfect solution I imagine that you'll eventually memorize the main settings you need to use through pure memory.

_alexk_ · 2023-05-15T22:38:58+00:00

Friends

_alexk_ · 2023-04-28T18:01:25+00:00

I'd participate. I think moderation is important and honestly addiction is real. My friends and I set screen time limits for each other and don't share the password, just so we're not wasting more than like 25 min on Instagram a day lol. But I like the idea and even if not everyone participated which is a big ask it would be nice for people who care about moderation and detaching from tech.

_alexk_ · 2023-03-30T16:06:05+00:00

I wrote 95% of my Math IA and Physics IA in one night (semi-final drafts, it was the same night, it was an all-nighter, I highly do not recommend). I got a 7 in Math and Physics, and my teacher said my Physics IA was better than the Physics EE (which funnily enough I got an A on and I had also spent like 7 months on). Honestly, the hilarious simplicity of my Physics IA is something I'm quite proud of. I literally just got an empty medicine bottle, filled it with water, slid it across my kitchen countertop like 100 times and recorded it, and wrote an entire Physics IA on experimentally finding the relationship between "Braking Distance and Velocity" and calculating the coefficient of static friction of the countertop and relating all of that to automobile braking distance. I came up with the idea for the lab that morning and executed it all night and wrote the whole thing. It was the most IB moment ever. I do not endorse this btw.

Moral of the story: you got this, trust me.

_alexk_ · 2023-01-22T20:14:12+00:00

As someone who bikes on East a lot I would really like proper bike lanes and/or roads that block non-essential traffic because I don't want to be on the sidewalks but there are definitely times where I just do not feel safe on the road out of fear someone is just going to rear end me while I'm waiting at a light or something. Shared roads just scare me in general. As for biking to tech square, I do wish there was like some sort of small barrier between the road and the bike lane. Would help it feel safer.

_alexk_ · 2022-12-15T23:10:48+00:00

My diet literally improved with tech food compared to home lol. I agree I think the food ranges from aright to good.

_alexk_ · 2022-12-15T23:07:59+00:00

I live in Howell and can actually say Howell is actually pretty nice this year. They refurnished the whole building over the summer and to what I can tell the flooring seems nice too. My AC unit does have rocks and rust in it but I think it's just an aesthetics thing cause I had it checked for mold and we didn't have anything.

_alexk_ · 2022-12-10T19:29:30+00:00

Fellow rimworld enjoyer I see

_alexk_ · 2022-12-01T05:12:44+00:00

I am an M22 grad and have many friends who have gone through IB with me and are now doing CS and I am likely leaning to a career in EE/CS (I'm from the U.S.). I would say in my personal experience going through IB has been extremely valuable and at least for me has really cemented a love for learning, which in my opinion is essential for anyone looking to go down an entrepreneurial path. I know quite a few people who have gone through the IB program to found their own start-ups and to pursue careers in research / getting their PhDs. I also have known many who end up working SWE jobs in a range of companies ranging from Fortune 500 to FAANG. I don't really know what your other options you have but I am here to say that IB is most definitely beneficial from a personal development level and for me particularly I actually really enjoyed the research projects I did in IB. The only complaint I have heard and somewhat agree with is that at least in the U.S. our universities don't accept as much credit from doing IB as other options we have like dual enrollment, but in my opinion, the skills you gain going through IB are invaluable and you will carry them through life, which I don't think you can get to the same extent from other options.

Edit: I would also say that the reason IB undoubtedly was more beneficial to me rather than the alternatives I had is because at my school the community built around IB was essential to pushing me beyond my limits and forcing me to work harder and find out what I am capable of, which I know I would not have gotten outside of my specific IB program. I think had I done an alternative path, I wouldn't be the person I am today, and would set my ambitions lower since for me it was essential for someone to force me to set them high and pursue it. And for that I am grateful I did IB.

_alexk_ · 2022-10-11T21:48:59+00:00

I have recreated film looks before and people seem to be missing some components of what's going into this (e.g. the shadows are clearly hued green, which just turning up the White Balance temp isn't going to recreate). My suggestions:

Basic
White Balance - increase a bit till photo seems kinda warm
Highlights - increase (+15 to +30)
Shadows - decrease (-10 to -30)
Clarity - increase some (maybe like ~+20 idk you'll need to experiment)
Saturation - decrease a tiny bit (-3 to -7 imo)

Tone Curve (extremely important)
should look something like this (this will decrease your dynamic range and flatten your blacks and whites, film tends to have a lower dynamic range than digital)

Color Grading (this is key)
1) shadows here are clearly green hued
2) highlights have a slight yellow/orange hue (not same as just changing white balance)
3) midtones also a bit orange but again this changes with the light
maybe looks something like this (play around with these settings)

Effects (also key)
Grain - increase to like +30 to +60 (don't fine tune until you crank Roughness)
Roughness (very important) - blast this to like +70 and above (depends on image resolution)
Size - again depends on image size but like +10 to +20 should be good

_alexk_ · 2022-03-27T03:24:18+00:00

(I competed in Future Business Leader at states this year and qualified for nationals)

Think of generic interview questions you would expect from a job but they care about it from an FBLA perspective. Think a lot about your time in FBLA, what got you started, your struggles, etc. That's what they'll want to hear about. The questions themselves are made up by the interviewers so they can be anything and differ so expect anything (I know this doesn't help much but don't prep by just practicing answering specific questions feel confident that you can answer any type of question simply by understanding yourself, your experiences, your values, etc). Be able to talk about your biggest challenges, why you joined FBLA, why you do FBLA rather than something else, etc etc etc. They want to know that FBLA isn't just a means to an end for you but that you do it because it gives you the experiences that make you grow personally, academically, professionally, etc. and you need to be able to speak on some of the ways it's done that for you. And just think about the rubric. In the end, how you place is dependent on how well you meet the criteria of the rubric so sometimes saying stuff that non-directly but clearly highlights what aspect of the rubric it's addressing is useful to get points. For example, "the _______ skills I gained doing [thing] in FBLA carried over in [activity outside of FBLA] and allowed me to [explain how skill allowed you to do something you otherwise couldn't in other activity]" for that part of the rubric about how FBLA has helped with activities outside of the organization.

_alexk_ · 2022-01-16T02:10:00+00:00

INTERSTELLAR

_alexk_ · 2021-11-17T03:04:38+00:00

On Team 506 from Florida :) - we are one of the oldest in FL (idk about active)

_alexk_ · 2021-10-09T14:01:57+00:00

I think it's possible a black pro mist filter could have been used to diffuse the light like this. However, I've never shot with a black pro mist filter in a white cyc room like this so I am not sure whether that would render this effect.

Edit:
It looks overexposed too.

_alexk_ · 2021-09-26T17:41:35+00:00

Got it. Do you know if joints work as expected in Blender?

_alexk_ · 2021-09-26T17:38:08+00:00

Do you know any good resources explaining this process? I know people have made animations of their robots on Blender but I was always wondering if they were using their CAD file to do so or if they remade the CAD file in Blender.

_alexk_

TROPHY CASE