"...the evil one"

Today, I found my doppelgänger. Wiki defines it as: "...any double of a person, most commonly in reference to a so-called evil twin." You probably think I'm crazy, or believe that I was to hasty and that I shouldn't jump to conclusions. Ok, lets take a look at this twin. His alias name is "Mystro" according to his profile. He's a male, residing in Canada (which I must confess, is not very convincing..Canada is a very big country) But here's the shocking facts. Take a look at this so called "Mystro"'s interests:

Similarly, I, too, am interested in Computers, biking, TV, books, Movies, ENGINEERING, friends and etc...
As for Music taste: I love Muse, and Pink Floyd and of course Queen.

Ok, you're still skeptical, I don't blame you, here's another proof. Looking at this mysterious shadow of mine, his last blog entry was July 7th, 2004. He was working on a summer project to build his own computer. It's here where the line is clearly drawn. As I stare down at his webpage, with the eerie glow of the computer screen projected on my face, a shiver crawls down my spine which could only be explained from a shriek of terror. Looking at his list of specs for his sub par piece of machine was all the evidence I could muster.

In the mean time, July 2004, I had just finished high school and got a handsome sum from my parents, and was eager to start university in a couple of months. I deserved to have something new and powerful for University. [I am sure you see where this is going]. So with the money I got, I went out to buy components to...build my own computer. I don't need to go into detail, but his specs almost matched mine, except for his poor choice of an AMD 2400+. Mine was a stunning AMD 3200+. All other components aside, it was disturbingly similar.

I hope you're feeling unease as I do right now. Because I forgot to mention one thing..."In some mythologies, seeing one's own doppelgänger is an omen of death. Queen Elizabeth I of England was shocked to see her doppelganger laid out on her bed. The queen died shortly thereafter." (wikipedia)

So now that we know this person is my double, it's hard to pin him as the "evil" twin, this guy could be a nice guy, who helps people and has never hurt a fly. On the other hand, I'm not the nicest guy in the bunch. I'm quite mysterious in my own ways, no one knows exactly what my intentions are. And I have certainly plotted several evil schemes in the past. Which only leaves one thing......I am the evil one.

So it's in my professional opinion that I should get rid of this "Mystro", before he gets rid of me. It's not as easy as it may seem; Referring to the Medusa paradox..how can you kill Medusa without looking at her and turning into stone?

This good "Mystro" is my kryptonite and anyone out there could use this weakness against me.

....I shall have the last laugh

See you on the dark side,

Evil Mystro

"The mind is a chaotic database" Pt. 1

This is my first blog post. I'm starting this mainly for myself, to keep track of my own thoughts. If I happen to get a few subscribers, I will try and keep up with my posts. But at this time, I cannot ensure the fact that I would keep writing on this blog.

Moving on...About a month ago, I had an interview at a consulting company in the GTA. During the interview process, I was asked several technical design questions. The first one was "draw an inverting amplifier [using op-amps]". This was quite easy, I must say. But the question that stumped me, was to connect an LED to the output pin of a micro-controller. And it is known that the output voltage on that pin is 3.3 volts. I had to make the observation that this potential was not enough to power the LED. OK, so I can't just connect the LED straight to the pin and expect it to work. I proposed to add the amplifier drawn in the first question, with a specific gain to be able to power the LED.
At the time I thought my design idea was great, and that I did very well at the interview without giving it a second thought.

I'll tell you now that I did not get the job, for several reasons I'm in no mood to mention.
Three nights ago, just after lying in bed for less than 5 minutes, for no logical reason, I thought of another much better design circuit for that question. I wasn't even thinking about the question, or asking myself if I could find a more efficient solution. NO, the solution was the first thing to pop into my head. Which made me realize how the mind is a chaotic database. I am more stunned by how I had no control on my own train of thoughts. A normal person would ask himself if there's a better way to implement this LED circuit, then put his/her thoughts to use. I seem to have skipped this normal pattern of behavior and went straight to a solution. Now this may not seem like a bad thing, "I found the solution to a problem even without thinking about it".
I'll get to this point in a bit, but here is the alternative solution which is better than the one I had provided during my interview. Simply use an NPN BJT, where the output of the micro-processor is at the base, and the LED at the emitter. The collect is driven by a source enough to power the LED (ie: 5 volts). A BJT is much cheaper and smaller then an Op-amp which comes usually in an IC and usually includes 2 op-amps. Why didn't I think of that at the interview? Could be just the pressure to perform on such short notice, but I don't blame myself for that. Any smarter person would have probably given a million better designs than my op-amp configuration.

It is on this note that I shall retire. I will come come back and dwell on this later.

Cheers,
Mystro