Inigo Quilez   ::     ::  
1402 blog posts, written between 2008 and 2016. These are mostly short observations, funny thoughts and word playing. Some are embarrasingly corny, some more deep. I keep it here mostly a little time capsule for myself, organized by month:



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November 2014
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so pretentious
2014-11-30
those empty, minimal-design cafeterias. self-important cafeterias. so snobbish. so conceptual. so pretentious.
cute trick - branchless sort
2014-11-28
say you have three numbers (in a vec3 for example), and you want to sort them from small to big without branching. you can do this:
vec3 cuteSort( in vec3 n )
{
float mi = min(min(n.x,n.y),n.z);
float ma = max(max(n.x,n.y),n.z);
return vec3( mi, n.x+n.y+n.z-mi-ma, ma );
}
isn't it cute?? i'm very proud of my find (on how to get the middle element, that is).
intentionally made to confuse
2014-11-26
san francisco parking signs:

"don't park from tuesday to friday from 9am to 5pm, or sundays, unless noon to 7pm, or 4rth thursday of the month if no full moon or main cultural festivity, except if commercial area or school around and not in vacation period unless it's between 7am and 9pm."

now solve that equation in 5 seconds before it is too late and somebody else takes the spot.
surprise
2014-11-24
today, after five years, i flipped the computer keyboard at work, and i got enough bread crumb to feed a family for a week.
prejudices
2014-11-22
i must remind you that there are assholes of all colors, sizes, sexual orientation and ages, no matter with what minority group you choose.

for example, little adorable looking old ladies can be true assholes too. just saying.
phrase of the week
2014-11-20
"don't sloth me down"

because laziness is tempting and contagious
c'mon, you are late!
2014-11-18
besides distance units, weight units, volume units, temperature units, date formatting, and the day the weeks start with, it's being a while now that the world has standardized the electrical sockets, the paper sheet sizes and the bed sizes as well.

and somebody has still to catch up...
no need to continue
2014-11-16
if your sentence starts with "in the morning", i already don't like it
other information
2014-11-15
- para español, diga "español"
- 1
- for schedule information, say "schedule information". for ticketing information, say "ticketing information". for other information, say "other information". to go back to the previous menu, say "back"
- "other information"
- sorry, i did get that. for schedule information, say "schedule information". for ticketing information, say "ticketing information". for other information, say "other information". to go back to the previous menu, say "back"
- "other", "information"
- sorry, i did get that. for schedule information, say "schedule information". for ticketing information, say "ticketing information". for other information, say "other information". to go back to the previous menu, say "back"
- "Other", "Information"
- sorry, i did get that. for schedule information, say "schedule information". for ticketing information, say "ticketing information". for other information, say "other information". to go back to the previous menu, say "back"
- "FUCK YOU"
- sorry i did get that. for shcedule information...
hot news
2014-11-12
speaking of science. it's 2014 but i still like going to the book store sometimes. and look, i found this crazy new book that this guy called "Charles Darwin" just published with his ideas around the natural selection of the species that involves some crazy evolutionary explanation for the forms of life we observe around us. as you might know if you live the USA, this it's very a HOT new take on things, even revolutionary, and so people are now all over the country arguing about it and having controversial disputes!

fractals and self esteem
2014-11-10
if the ratio between the size of the biggest thing in the universe (observable) and the size of the smallest thing in the universe (measurable) is 10^63... then why exactly are people obsessed with zooming into fractals to limits such as 10^1000?
wrong again
2014-11-08
speaking of values again (sorry), in economy and business this time, i believe the idea of measuring success through growth is not necessarily the best metric and philosophy. the simple observation that resources cannot grow forever should be a good hint. i feel.

(reading again how proud companies are to announce their quarter's growth figures, and shacking my head as a result)
osmosis
2014-11-06
osmosis, as a method for studying, totally works. or did work for me, at least in this form:

look at the pictures in your books. think about then while in the shower, or the metro. but don't read the text just yet, or if you do, do a very light diagonal read only. don't study just yet, keep, at best think about the pictures during shampooing, your commute or in the supermarket. let the knowledge slowly filter into you and crystallize into intuitions.

then, before the exams, go study as needed, if needed.

it's not 100% effective, but it always worked for me to some degree. if you are student, i recommend it. really.
it's a solved problem, people
2014-11-04
i have this phone which is 2 generations old. it works great though, it does its thing smoothly and effectively.

however, i have just be given a new phone for free which is the latest of the latest. specs lovers who brag on numbers such as megapixels, gigahertz, cores and optics would masturbate to it for sure. it is the newer and fancier. supposedly.

because in my humble opinion, everything looks the same as in my old phone, i can't tell if there's any relevant difference. same software, same experience, same photos, same everything.

to be honest, i feel the mobile phone, as a product, has reached it maturity and there's no need for further improvement. it seems to me that from now on new galaxy and iphone versions will simply be released by pure marketing inertia, or perhaps as planned by pre-programmed obsoletion. but to me, mobile communications and entertainment is a solved problem ladies and gentlemen, just like the word processor or the dinning table. unless there's something new presentation paradigm arriving to our smart phones (such as virtual reality), the phone as we know it to day is a solved problem. thanks, lets move on.

of course i'm simplifying here for the sake of brainstorming. but i do feel this way. in fact, because of it and some other personal reasons, i have decided to put this new supposedly fancy phone away in a forgotten drawer and keep using my old phone.
the best and the worse
2014-11-02
saw this at the store today. offensive thoughts to the left, playful ideas to the right,