Almer S. Tigelaar
A Little Bit of Everything
Recent Posts
Three Perspectives on the Pandemic
Since 2018 I own a board game called Pandemic. The goal of this cooperative board game is to slow down the spread of four diseases across the globe, while simultaneously finding a cure for each of...
On Voting Systems
Voting is simple, right? You just choose a candidate or party and then vote. If everyone does this, the election outcome represents what the majority of people want, and the country gets the leadership that reflects...
Huffman Encoding
In this post we take a look at Huffman encoding. A way to efficiently compress sequences of characters by making use of their frequency.
More Recent Posts
Tenet
Tenet was the first major blockbusters to hit the theaters since the start of the corona pandemic. Delayed several times, it served as litmus test to see if people could be drawn back to the big...
Quicksort
Some people put their things in a pile, for example clothes. When they need something they search through that unorganized pile. That approach makes me cringe. I like my things to be organized, whether it comes...
Run-Length Encoding
A brief look into run-length encoding, one of the data compression techniques that is easiest to understand, and permeates many modern applications.
Featured Posts
Chronoception
I was once took part in a class where the instructor performed an interesting experiment. He asked us all to close our eyes, and then raise our hands and open our eyes when each of us...
The Machine Learning Myth
“I was recently at a demonstration of walking robots, and you know what? The organizers had spent a good deal of time preparing everything the day before. However, in the evening the cleaners had come to...
Sleep
If you do not sleep you will die within months. Though, it’s unlikely that you would voluntarily stay awake twenty four hours for days at a time, modern society with its many distractions, makes it tempting...
Random Posts
Colombiana
Luc Besson's two most memorable films for me are The Fifth Element and Leon: The Professional. The latter stars a very young Natalie Portman that wants to learn the trade of being an assassin, and this...
End of the Housing Woes: Part I
"Beep-beep, beep-beep, beep-beep." I rolled over quickly to grab my phone and turned the alarm off. I had been lying on the bed awake, waiting for it to go off. My head was pounding like a...
The Pet Detective
This video is the result of a collaboration among many people, see the ending credits for details. A brief history: during the first CMU Filmmaking Club meeting a representative of every group had to draw a...
Popular Posts
Social Networking Services – Part II: Usage
From the Oscar-winning movie "The Social Network" to the recent introduction of Google Plus, no-one can deny it: on-line social networking services are here to stay. But, what does it mean for you and me? [part...
Social Networking Services – Part I: A Brief History
From the Oscar-winning movie "The Social Network" to the recent introduction of Google Plus, no-one can deny it: on-line social networking services are here to stay. But, where did they come from? [part one of a...
How long would it take to read Wikipedia?
Wikipedia has become the de facto encyclopedia on the Internet. A traditional encyclopedia spans many textbook volumes which would take any normal person ages to read. Few people would likely engage in such an endeavor. However,...
