[Or in general, what has been going on]

nce a year I take a break from the Internet, usually for about a week. This need not mean being absent from the Net altogether, just a lot less omnipresent (if present at all). Last year I took my longest break ever (well, since the 90s) from the Internet, lasting about 5 days of zero access to the Net. It was an interesting experience. Usually I take these breaks in summer, but due to problems with the Internet connection (although I do work to have it restored in the new house as quickly as is feasible) this time it happens in spring. Anyway, for those who might be interested, here are my experiences when stepping offline after virtually ‘living’ on the grid on a daily basis for 51 weeks.

First of all, despite initial expectations, there is not much of a yearning to get back online. When the train of thought is interrupted and online activity slips out of mind, so is the desire to get back in there. Typically, there is a feedback loop such as conversations with people and it’s this type of cycle that make it disruptive upon departure. Productivity-wise, being offline is not more productive, but it depends on the definition of productive; activities merely change a bit. It is probably a lot harder taking 7 single days off throughout the year than it is to take one week off. It’s something to do with workflow. Similarly, when it comes to coding, it often works better if a week is set aside and dedicated just to code; transitions that are too frequent lead to mental baggage and distraction; separation between home and work computer sometimes helps eliminate the temptation to mix the two.

Anyway, as I digress, hopefully (if BT keeps its promise) I will be properly back online next week. The ISP is a very bad deal (more expensive than the rivals), but it’s supposed to be unlimited without restrictions, although BT loves to embed antifeatures like throttling and Phorm (spying on packets). Until then I am focused on getting research and development done; in addition, when time permits, I re-plan the operation of Techrights which once a year requires a rethink because technology changes and means of disseminating information (e.g. IRC, microblogging, audiocasting) make delivery a constantly-changing turf. Those who stick to “traditional” paradigms like “old media” did (e.g. newspapers) are doomed to become extinct because everything evolves.

I currently have three jobs, one of which is the business I start with some friends and people whom I know can offer me contracts. This oughtn’t interfere with my operation of this site as well as Techrights (I own about 6 domains at the moment, but these two are by far the most major ones), in fact in some ways these are complementary. There has been a lot of social life recently; now, that — unlike the jobs — can really come to the expense of hobby Web sites. Maybe sleep can give way.

Helping hand for Free software entrants in science

arlier this month I wrote about a new ‘umbrella’ under which I’ll be able to accept contracts, as I’ve been doing for about a decade now. The banner chosen for it is “Scientific Freedom” and the official site for it is still not finished even though I’m reasonably happy with the state that it’s in, so it’s now public. I’m fortunate enough to have met skilled people around the Web — people with whom I can share work in case it’s geographically suitable or in cases where workload is high. So even though there’s nothing too new here, the site is new and it makes it abundantly clear that I only ever code for freedom (preferably GPLv3) because it’s beneficial to everyone, the client included.

hroughout my career I’ve always had many eggs in the basket. I’ve usually had multiple jobs and I was never fired; I always succeeded in job interviews (since 2003), except the ones with Google, which came to me three time (I never approached them regarding a job). One thing I’ve learned over the years is that one must choose a job one enjoys, otherwise it’s a chore. I never accepted a job that I disliked. I have been working in two jobs simultaneously several times (simultaneously as in overlapping months/years), sometimes on top of already being a full-time Ph.D. candidate/student. I still work two jobs and I very much enjoy both; it’s like leisure as there is a sense of achievement. Besides all of this, as a hobby I maintain some sites that promote freedom; I was never paid for this. This is part of my reading of material; it’s like a learning experience which also proved beneficial to many others — those who share interests with mine. Being enthusiastic about freedom comes very naturally.

After many years wanting to be running an independent business on the side I’ve decided to start creating a professional site. The original idea was to come up with a new name (and domain), but after much consideration I came to the conclusion that giving visibility to a new name and new site would be a lot of work. As this new blog post from Forbes correctly indicates, reputation matters a lot when seeking business. That’s why I decided to stick with my surname and in the coming days/weeks there will be a formal announcement regarding my third job, in which the work capacity cannot be guaranteed (depends on clients). The focus is affordable scientific computing solutions that put the client in control. In essence, it is about spreading free/open source software and charging for the scarcity, which is skill and (wo)man hours. There is nothing unethical about it.

Together with some friends (I shall add people to the appropriate pages), a new logo, CMS theme, and a soon-to-be redirection (dupe of index.htm will ensure all the older pages remain accessible), schestowitz.com will soon have a sort of relaunch. The site no longer attracts about 3,000 visitors per days like it used to (back in the days when it was regularly updated), but we shall see if it takes off not just as a personal workspace with a lot of informal pages. I remain very much committed to all my jobs; starting something as my own ‘boss’ will just be something on the side.

ikileaks is currently mirrored on 1426 up-to-date sites (updated 2010-12-21 20:29 GMT)

Here is the mirror list sorted by apparent bandwidth

via wikileaks.ch

FEW DAYS ago I wrote about some plans for the coming year. One promise that I managed to fulfill was the revival of this Web log, which was started way back in 2004. I post less in Techrights these days because a lot of the content is being put in the audiocast and because there are some moving goalposts for any freedom fighter. Microsoft, for example, is losing its place in the world of technology (the media trends confirm this) and issues relating to free speech (including protests) and free Internet (communication) help show that our society is being closed down. It’s at times like these that speeches like the following one ought to be watched and shared.

T HAS been a week or so since I last made a research-related post, so here is a quick update. I am currently coding some bits that can detect and measure rotation in the heart, including tangential/centrifugal components. The goal is to calculate the twist and also the scale changes separately, giving a figure indicative of each. The notions found in flow/vortex mathematics ought to enable this to be calculated from a set (or matrix) of points, each of which being a vector of directions around a central point. To quote Wikipedia on vortex: “A vortex (plural: vortices) is a spinning, often turbulent, flow of fluid. Any spiral motion with closed streamlines is vortex flow. The motion of the fluid swirling rapidly around a center is called a vortex. The speed and rate of rotation of the fluid in a free (irrotational) vortex are greatest at the center, and decrease progressively with distance from the center, whereas the speed of a forced (rotational) vortex is zero at the center and increases proportional to the distance from the center. Both types of vortices exhibit a pressure minimum at the center, though the pressure minimum in a free vortex is much lower.”

My implementation of this is simplistic as it merely uses an accumulator whose value increases for each point that moves in a given direction (e.g. for each clockwise arrow) and decreases for the opposite.

An issue we face here is that circular motion in the heart walls is far from trivial to see. A careful look at image sequences taken with about 20 frames for each cycle and each slice does not quite expose a ‘squeeze’ of the heart, not unless there is tagging of the image which also enables reconstruction of a higher quality. So, to calculate rotation of the sides based on just intensity is rather hard, unless there is something in the signal that can be detected. Generally, looking at the tracking typically carried out, there is hardly a tendency to pick up any traces of tangential motion and where it does exist it is not consistent. Assuming a direction is known and then estimated with a probabilistic model, there is room for improvement, maybe even a significant change in contrast. Different slices show different directions for the twist and it requires a look inside the heart too, in order to visually compare intensities and assume a rotation of some sort. I will post some images soon to illustrate this.

Additional code was completed to calculate and plot the centre of the points around the heart, based on the fitting of a circle to all the surrounding points (best match). At the end of each tracking sequence a plot if shown to give a statistical analysis of how points move around the walls and whether they move in and out throughout the cardiac cycle. The goal here is to, based on several cycle, find out if and how the algorithm can detect wall motion and quantify it. There is clearly a correlation to be found here.

Today’s addition (it’s a holiday, so lots of spare time for coding and also to read literature) will soon be uploaded along with more material, all of which will be shared not just for the sake of transparency. I’ll post results shortly.

As a side note, I’ve begun looking into the possibility of writing a book about Novell and another possibility I’m looking into is initiating a startup around the code I’ve been writing since 2003 to achieve something nobody achieved before, even with free/libre software (the whole stack). I’m currently doing cardiac analysis but still considering a situation where come back to a more CS-oriented work, at least when the existing contract is over. There are many projects on my mind and choosing just the best one/s is not easy. Then again, it’s good to have possibilities and I’m still in my twenties, so there is no pressure.

few days ago I wrote about Mr. Fitness because it might be the last such event that I participated in. I might not have as much time as I once did to work out, but that’s okay. I got my trophies at the time and I am now 28.

Earlier today I went through some old photos of mine. It then occurred to me that I never published the following set from 2005 (I rarely ever went through some older photos due to lack of time). These are photos from a few years ago, around the time of competitions, i.e. when I was relatively slim and agile. The photos are raw and unedited, just resized for the blog. I’m also just throwing the set along with bad pictures rather selecting just few good ones.

For the record: I am natural by all means and in all senses of the word; Never took a single illegal drug in my entire life (no steroids, either) and as far as nutrition is concerned I just ate very few protein shakes, maybe once a day until I was 21. That’s when I stopped and replaced that with fish.