Well, more than one line. Three good things of the day. Managing to drive a motorbike and got to reach a nice beach. Sara catching her first wave ever at the beach. The amazing sea life (colorful fishes, morena, starfishes...) that we could see while snorkeling.

#diary #travel #silly

A picture of today. That was enjoyed with Romeo and Juliet, plus picnic and friends. If only for that, it was a good day.

#diary #silly

Today I was trying to see the relationships between information, entropy, cross entropy, conditional entropy, the Kullback-Leibler divergence and all that fuzz.

As a quick reminder:

• Information content (of a random variable): $I(X) = – \log(P(X))$
• Entropy (of a random variable): $H(X) = E[I(X)] = E[– \log(P(X))]$
• Conditional Entropy (of a random variable on another): $H(X|Y) = E{PY}[H(X|Y=y)]$
• Cross Entropy (between two probability distributions): $H(p, q) = Ep[– \log q] = H(p) + D{KL}(p | q)$
• Kullback-Leibler divergence (from probability distribution $q$ to $p$): $D_{KL}(p | q) = H(p, q) – H(p)$

The Kullback-Leibler divergence is surprisingly useful in many places. For example, it can be something to maximize (its expected value), as a criterion for experimental design. I wish I had known more about it during the time of writing my thesis.

I wish I'd write about the interpretation of $D_{KL}$ as a measure of the information gained when one changes from using the probability distribution $q$ to $p$. But if I do, I'll never click the “Publish” button :)

#diary #maths

Isn't it unsettling that whenever you make the firm statement that you are going to do something that you were more-or-less already doing, it is then when it is more likely to stop?

It's something I have seen countless times in websites when they talk about their updates. And I am no exception.

To me, it is the feeling of being read that puts me off most. Plus simple and pure procrastination.

I'm pretty sure there must be a name for this, and it must be a well-known thing that every psychology student has seen from their first year.

Anyway, this is a possible comeback, and in any case let me talk about this very cool thing I've recently discovered: https://hypothes.is/. It is an extension for the main browsers that allows to annotate webs and pdfs, and share those annotations collaboratively. It has already many of the things that I wanted as a project to make web annotations. And it is free software.

Hypotes.is has many cool features, but for my interests it lacks the possibility of seeing the annotations in a more hierarchical/scored/transitively-interest-oriented way, so even with an immense amount of annotations per page one could easily see the main ones for her. Well, I can collaborate with them.

#diary #programming #life #activism

So colorful! I've walked past a ton of trucks filled with people and music celebrating the pride of being gay (lgtb). Much better, a ton of people celebrating, in small or big groups, smiling and having fun. Openly acknowledging an inclusion that should already be there.

If only because of the concentration of smiles, it was worth having it.

I'm still a bit surprised about the high I get by just walking by the streets. It's great. Crossing paths with many people, seeing cool places, feeling being a part of the city... Yes, I want this.

As a plus, in this not-exactly-small city, it often happens that I get to cross paths with people I know and like. Today it was Ilan who spotted me first. He came back from Ibiza a few days ago, and him and his Uruguayan group of friends were walking by in the opposite direction as I was. I joined them for a while, walked and talked and saw the event together. I love when you randomly get to know nice and interesting people. Later on, I also met Jorge from the Go club, a really cool guy I hadn't seen for a couple of years. Always cool to catch up, even if shortly.

Today I had a little party at home. The theme was to assemble the last furniture that I got sent at home, with which I complete the basics for having a cozy functional apartment. In this assembly-fest we ended up being 7, and we talked and ate and drank more than assemble. But still, one big table and three chairs, not bad! Plus it was really more of an occasion to have good friends at home, a house warming party. Only these days one doesn't want to hear about warmth... so, a cool house party :) I gave a late warning to invite people to the party. Still, it is very interesting to see the people that jumped for it, the people that replied and the ones who ignored it. Anyway, now I feel more at home. And big thanks for all the assembly-friends!

#diary #silly

To a caipirinha. By Juan, one of the friends from the Go club in Madrid. He got a raise today at work, and he decided to invite everyone in the club for one. And I had it, and I thank him :)

Juan also commented on the game that Antonio and I played today, and let us both learn about a few things we didn't know. I'm grateful for that, so today, double thanks to Juan!

It's silly that I am so inconsistent writing entries in this blog. I still would like to treat subjects that matter, to me anyway. At the same time, talking about the little things that happen from day to day is rewarding in its own way. Not the least because it allows me to see some kind of continuity and use of the time. And in that spirit...

Today I received my last batch of important stuff for the house, that I bought at an ikea and they delivered. To assemble everything, I'm throwing a party this sunday.

I also cleaned up the code in mapelia and fixed the Mollweide projection. You can also choose where the cap is going to appear, because Amelia seemed to want that functionality. It's looking good to me. Even if it took me quite a long time to make it all work, I find it really enjoyable.

That's it. Not much to say about today, but better than nothing.

#go #diary #silly

Sorry, too tired to make any justice to the day.