Andrew Peck

zilcha.net/links

physics

• https://spideroak.com/browse/share/booksies/uclaPhysics book stash. Shh… don’t tell anybody.
• http://www.gnu.org/software/octave/“GNU Octave is a high-level interpreted language, primarily intended for numerical computations.” More-or-less it is a FOSS alternative to Matlab.
• Wolfram AlphaWolfram Alpha is the best thing online for performing tricky math and finding out weird facts about numbers.
• Wolfram Mathworld“the web’s most extensive mathematics resource.” Just be careful because ? is their azimuthal angle, and ? is the inclination so you’ll get screwed up working in spherical coordinates.

chinese

• MDBG Chinese-English DictionaryA free, online dictionary based of the wonderful CEDICT project. It is very good!
• http://chinese.rutgers.edu/content_e.htmRutgers Multimedia Chinese Teaching System (RMCTS) has lesson texts with vocab and sentence pattern help. It is available from beginning to intermediate levels, and is quite helpful.
• nciku.comchinese dictionary that allows you to draw a character to search for it. the site can be very slow at times, but is useful when it works.
• http://www.mandarintools.com/worddict.htmlfast and simple chinese dictionary with lookup by pinyin, english, or chinese characters (traditional and simplified).
• zhongwen.commy favorite dictionary :] it is also accompanied by the wonderful book Chinese Characters: A Genealogy and Dictionary. includes very interesting and helpful information on character origin and meaning.
• DimSum Chinese Annotator and DictionaryDimSum is free and runs on any computer with Java. It has a Chinese dictionary, text editor with annotation, “draw character” lookup, lookup by radical & stroke count, a flashcard review system and more.. It’s really quite nice, especially considering that it is free.
• Livemocha Language Learning CommunityLivemocha bills itself as “The World’s Largest Language Learning Community”, which it probably is. It is something like Facebook for people learning languages; you can make friends with people who speak your target language and are trying to learn your native language. It has quizzes and worksheets, and you correct and help with one another’s work. It seems really quite nice, but I have (as yet) not found the time to get involved in it.

Computers

• Arch LinuxArch is my favorite Linux distribution. It is fast, minimal, and has a wonderful community supporting it.
• http://dev.baywifi.com/latex/Will convert LaTex input to Adobe PDF. Works wonders if you need to print a LaTex file from the library or somesuch..
• LaTeX Lab“LaTeX Lab is an open source implementation of a web based LaTeX editor for Google Docs” A.K.A. Google Docs with LaTeX A.K.A. Heaven

Fun

• xkcdMy favorite comic strip. Heaps of fun.
• Garfield Minus Garfield“Garfield Minus Garfield is a site dedicated to removing Garfield from the Garfield comic strips in order to reveal the existential angst of a certain young Mr. Jon Arbuckle. It is a journey deep into the mind of an isolated young everyman as he fights a losing battle against loneliness and depression in a quiet American suburb.”
• The Monkeys You OrderedLiteral New Yorker Captions
• The Kingdom of Loathing“A browser-based, multiplayer role-playing game… It uses hand-drawn stick figure graphics and writing characterized by surreal humor, word play, parody and references to popular culture.” Very fun 🙂
• MouchetteI don’t know.
• Google JuliamapEverybody loves fractals!
• Google Art ProjectEverybody loves art too!
• ZooniverseHave fun, help astronomers do cool stuff.
• ToneMatrix“Simple sinewave synthesizer triggered by an ordinary 16step sequencer. Each triggered step causes a force on the underlaying wave-map, which makes it more cute.”
• BallDroppingsTurn your sound up. Draw lines on the black screen to bounce the balls. Enjoy the music.
• Harmony Procedural Drawing ToolA fun tool for drawing. You will be surprised how good your drawings look.