LaTeX Links

Here is a list of the most useful links. I say that without qualification just to prove my nerditude.

• The Comprehensive LaTeX Symbol List. "This document lists thousands of symbols and the corresponding LaTeX commands that produce them." For instance, learn how to write
  
  
  
  among other, more useful things. This, along with the Short Math Guide for Latex, are obvious choices.
  
• Short Math Guide for LaTeX. "This guide is a concise summary of the essential features in LaTeX for writing math formulas, including features provided by the packages amssymb and amsmath. This is not a mere listing of everything available but a careful selection of the LaTeX commands that are especially recommended for authors' use. There is also some discussion of certain common uses and misuses of various commands that are better avoided for reasons of typographical quality or logical markup."
• Squeezing Space in LaTeX. "Here are some tips on how to squeeze a little more onto LaTeX pages. Note that these methods may adversely affect the appearance of the document, so use them with caution. Rephrasing and editing your text often leads to better results."
  
• LaTeX Wikibook. "This is a guide to the LaTeX markup language. It is intended that this can serve as a useful resource for everyone from new users who wish to learn, to old hands who need a quick reference."
• LaTeX/Tables Chapter. "In academic writing, tables are a common feature, often for summarising results from research. It is therefore a skill that needs mastering in order to produce good quality papers. However, if there is one area about LaTeX that I feel is the least intuitive, then I am afraid that this is it. Basic tables are not too taxing, but you will quickly notice that anything more advanced can take a fair bit of construction. So, we will start slowly and build up from there."
• LaTeX/Packages/Installing Extra Packages Chapter. How to manually install missing LaTeX packages. Related: CTAN, where to get missing LaTeX packages.
• LaTeX/Formatting, in particular The Space Between Words.
• The Indian TEX Users Group Online Tutorials for Latex.
• TeXcount. "TeXcount is a Perl script for counting words in LaTeX documents. It parses any valid LaTeX document, interpreting the text as text words, headers, formulae (mathematics) and floats/begin-end groups. To run the scipt, you can either download it and run it on your own computer, or you can use this web-interface."
  
• PS Tricks, and Documentation. How to draw stuff in LaTeX. Like these examples (the first two are from the documentation, the last one is from my research exam on belief propagation):
  
  
• Putting LaTeX in stuff:
  
  • textext for Inkscape.
    
  
  
  • LaTeX for Blogger. How to put math equations in your blog. You have to reach a supreme level of nerdidosity to want to do that. I had to update the Javascript to point to an authorized location of mimetex (actually, now using mathtex instead). Here is my edited version: latexforblogger.user.js.
    
    
    
    
    
  
  

I think er no I mean er yes but it's all wrong

For some reason (maybe a lack of cool bugs to photograph?) I got busy, and did not post here for a while. Then, I was less busy, but I thought my comeback post had to be like the cat's pajamas (aka the bee's knees). I also thought that maybe this blog could do with some actual words, emotions, whatever, not just pictures of and links to stuff. I thought I should write something about the election so that someday I could look back and see what a momentous occasion it was in my life, or whatever. But, of course, writing is hard, and I am no philosopher. Plus, pictures are pretty. I like pictures. Here's a picture:

Now tell me that didn't just spice up this whole post! It is turtles at the turtle+lily pond (not to be confused with the turtles-only pond) at Caltech, beginning of October. Anyways, my idea this morning was to post my latest (i.e. second) crossword, but maybe I'll do that in my next post.

Right now, I'll expound on why I woke up at 4:30 this morning. It is a fairly common occurrence for me, waking up Way Too Early, then getting stressed that maybe I should get some work done, then getting thirsty/hungry, so I get up for a drink/snack. Today I had Earl Grey tea. Tea is warm. That was nice. It got cold here yesterday. That was not nice. We'd been having such a lovely fall, if you don't mind the occasional wild fire. I spent much of last week working outside on my laptop, alternating between two fountains at school, and appreciating that I live in California and not, say, Alberta. But, all things must pass, I hear. Stupid winter. Makes me so cold. I am sitting in my winter coat, as we are cheap, environmentally-conscious (maybe), and scared to turn on the heater because we have not done so yet, and it will either (a) blow up the apartment or (b) smell really bad. Possibly both. That would really suck. Okay, yes, it is early. Perhaps it is a sign of my everlasting optimism that I wake up early? I'm always just so excited to get started with the day? And then a sign of my neverending disappointment with life that I want to go back to sleep at like 7am? Yeah, so, I like to take a nap at about 7am. In between 5 and 7, I sometimes get some work done. Because I am up so early, tho, I figure I have time to goof off, and I'll usually do my daily xword (it has to be done sometime, after all). Then, I'll usually find some other thing to waste time on. For instance, pictures of animals doing silly stuff:Photo from msnbc Animal Tracks

Silly cow! Okay, my expounding is getting less fun for me, and probably I should get to work for real now. Or at least start my daily xword. Ta ta!