bart, originally uploaded by justonlysteve.

I can’t help but feel a little left behind.

Working with a large code base, it’s easy to just make the required modifications and keep moving.

So you probably have some code like this:

//imagine a situation when you actually need dynamic cast,
//it’s difficult. if you use it all the time, you need to reevaluate
//your class hierarchy and coding style!

B b;
A* b_a = dynamic_cast<A*>(&b);
if (b_a) { /* yep, it worked */ }

I find this behavior to be quite unbelievable, especially because if you disable exceptions (-fno-exceptions), GCC will not compile the code and complain about the flag being enabled; why isn’t this the behavior for RTTI?

“I wonder how long it will take before I pass out, drunk off night skies.” –Saves The Day

…The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) is the first and only federal legislation that will provide protections against discrimination based on an individual’s genetic information in health insurance coverage and employment settings.

Hopefully we’ll also be launching shuttles 12 times a day, too!

I found the article really illuminating. This professor talks about the struggles of teaching students at the absolute bottom rung of the academic ladder and the internal struggle he faces when failing them. Additionally, he discusses the current idyllic vision people have that everyone should go to college and how this mentality degrades the quality of education. I promise this is a worthwhile read.

They’ve all seen The Wizard of Oz. Some have caught it multiple times. So we work with the old warhorse of a quest narrative. The farmhands’ early conversation illustrates foreshadowing. The witch melts at the climax. Theme? Hands fly up. Everybody knows that one—perhaps all too well. Dorothy learns that she can do anything she puts her mind to and that all the tools she needs to succeed are already within her. I skip the denouement: the intellectually ambitious scarecrow proudly mangles the Pythagorean theorem and is awarded a questionable diploma in a dreamland far removed from reality. That’s art holding up a mirror all too closely to our own poignant scholarly endeavors.

Even the title of the article is clever.

Speaking of research and funding, I was recently notified that I won the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship! I couldn’t have won it without the help of all of the people who read my essays an told me why they sucked. Specifically, Erika, John, Mark and Parisa spent way more time than they should have and I am so grateful that they took the time to give me advice; it made all the difference.

Besides that, Mark and I participated in a climbing competition at Iron Works. We both did really well for our first informal competition. Lately, we’ve been flashing V3-4s and getting V5-6s after a few times. I am so glad I got into this sport, it really levels me out; especially when I get so stressed out (read: end of the semester grind!).

I’ve slacked on photography. I carry my camera everywhere, but lately my free time has been extremely limited. I’ll be sure to update the page with more fauxart as soon as I have a chance.

Also, I killed a few minutes with Leo’s poetry slam. How fun!

peeking at me from the tree, originally uploaded by justonlysteve.

I am really busy right now. I take these pictures on my walk from soda to home or vice versa. I got my 18-200mm nikkor. I have another picture of this dude coming up and trying to grab the lens. Seriously, animals love me. I am one with nature.

I finally landed a sumer internship. I’ll be working at the company that is trying to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful. I was originally going to MSR but I had issues with residency.

Right now I plan on spending my break learning a whole bunch of things related to my current research that I currently don’t understand very well. Which means I’ll be staying in the Bay for spring break, much to the chagrin of my parents. As it turns out, I probably should have taken a compilers course as an undergrad. Oh well, I’ve been reading the dragon book and playing with all kinds of static and dynamic analysis stuff, as well as reading a ton of papers. Even though I feel a little behind, it feels great to have focus.

Otherwise it’s just been the usual, climbing, coding, going out, rinse repeat (sometimes without rinsing, eww).

new flash!, originally uploaded by justonlysteve.

Isn’t it glorious?

Speaking of projects, I am buried in them. I’m taking Network Security and Advanced Systems this semester which both require projects and I am working on a project with my adviser in addition to that. Not to mention when I am not doing school work I am either consulting, climbing, or gallivanting around the city. I’m got an antiphishing project lined up for the network security class and ideally I’d love to combine project but I’ve having trouble solving any interesting systems problems with the phishing project. So it’s back to brainstorming.

Aside from school, I’ve finally found a few minutes to devour some books and I’ve recently joined GoodReads. You should too! Also, climbing has reached a new level of fun. Mark and I have been bouldering and top roping a lot and we’ve recently moved to the V4-V6 (although mostly on the lower end) range of bouldering and we’ve both recently accomplished some 5.12a top rope climbs. Really exciting stuff. I think I’ve actually developed a love for bouldering a bit more than top roping, when else can you do a double toe-hook from a jug and have both your hands off the wall?

I’ve also been passing the time walking from my office back to my house by taking pictures. I just got a SB-600 Speedlight flash for my camera and the 18-200mm nikkor will be next. You can see some of the latest below.