RSR

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Suk 11, Bangkok

SUK 11 is a great boutique hotel/hostel in Sukhumvit,Bangkok.

Friendly staff and a great atmosphere where backpackers of all ages mix in the lobby during the free breakfasts.

The street vendor at night sells the best satay chicken skewers!

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Lobby

 


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Lobby

 


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Street Vendor outside SUK 11

 


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Twin-beds Room

 

2008 Beijing Olympic Medal Ranking by Population and GDP

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*Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is measured at purchasing power parity.
For more information, check CIA World Factbook Glossary: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/docs/notesanddefs.html#2001

**GDP and Population data from CIA World Factbook: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/index.html
***Medal data from Official Beijing Olympic Site: http://results.beijing2008.cn/WRM/ENG/INF/GL/95A/GL0000000.shtml

Full Data Available here:

Jim Rogers on Politicians

Images

From Background Briefing, Food Futures, 3 August 2008.
(Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Link: http://www.abc.net.au/rn/backgroundbriefing/stories/2008/2318764.htm)

"Let the politicians outlaw the laws of supply and demand, they've done it a few times. ... That's why these guys become politicians, they don't know what they're doing. If they knew what they were doing, they'd get real jobs."

How to Create a Detailed Wall Map of your Favourite City

(Use Google Maps to print a large-sized wall map)

Step 1

Using Google Maps, find your favourite city and zoom to the level of detail you want.
Select "Link to this page and then "Customise and preview embedded map"
Select the custom size - 4000*4000 pixels is usually sufficient.

Step 2

Using Firefox and the PageSaver Add-on, rigt-click the white area of the page and select, "Save entire Page as Image"
You can get the add-on here: http://pearlcrescent.com/products/pagesaver/
(install the basic version - it is free)

Step 3

Using image editing software, crop the image as appropriate.
(If you are printing to a black and white printer, you may wish to increase the contrast of the map)

Use Postaganda, to print the map across multiple pages.
You can get the freeware Postaganda here: http://users.bigpond.net.au/postaganda/

Links:

http://gorndog.blogspot.com/2006/07/once-again-print-google-maps-larger.html

http://users.bigpond.net.au/postaganda/

Annals of Transport

The New Yorker
ANNALS OF TRANSPORT 
THERE AND BACK AGAIN 
The soul of the commuter. 
by Nick Paumgarten 
APRIL 16, 2007 

An interesting article about transportation to and from work.

Some interesting points mentioned:
  • Commuting is a predictor of social isolation
  • “There’s a simple rule of thumb: Every ten minutes of commuting results in ten per cent fewer social 
    connections. Commuting is connected to social isolation, which causes unhappiness." ,Robert Putnam, a Harvard 
    political scientist

Mathematica Optimisations (Project Euler: Problem 12)

From http://ProjectEuler.net , Problem 12 is:

"The sequence of triangle numbers is generated by adding the natural numbers. So the 7th triangle number would be 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 7 = 28. The first ten terms would be:
1, 3, 6, 10, 15, 21, 28, 36, 45, 55, ...
Let us list the factors of the first seven triangle numbers:
 1: 1
 3: 1,3
 6: 1,2,3,6
10: 1,2,5,10
15: 1,3,5,15
21: 1,3,7,21
28: 1,2,4,7,14,28
We can see that 28 is the first triangle number to have over five divisors.
What is the value of the first triangle number to have over five hundred divisors?"

Solution (1), Mathematica Code:

Triangle[n_] := n (n + 1)/2
i = 1; While[Length[Divisors[Triangle]] < 501, i++]; T

Solution (2), Mathematica Code:

Triangle[n_] := n(n + 1)/2
Do[
  If[Length[Divisors[Triangle[n]]] > 500, Print[Triangle[n]] Break[]]
  ,
  {n, 1, 10000000}
  ]

Why does Solution (1) in Mathematica take over 40 minutes to solve*, and Solution (2) take only 2 seconds?

*Using a Macbook, 2.16Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2GB Ram