Hung Truong: The Blog!

Family Feud – Starring J. Peterman!

So lately, I’ve been watching Family Feud on TV. It’s only because all the other shows that are on at that time are either soap operas, or Anna Nicole Smith documentary shows. And by that, I mean gossip shows that only talk about Anna Nicole Smith.

For some reason, I thought that Louie Anderson was still hosting Family Feud. He’s kind of depressing and scary, so that’s why I have a bad image of Family Feud. Well, they finally kicked out Louie Anderson (probably a long time ago) and now John O’ Hurley is hosting! Who is John O’ Hurley, you ask? I dunno, but he played J. Peterman on Seinfeld!

It’s kind of weird seeing a character actor like him hosting Family Feud. Like there was a contestant named “Elaine” and when he said “come up, Elaine” I had weird Seinfeld flashbacks! He even said it in J. Peterman’s voice! I guess technically it’s his actual voice, but still.

Oh, and speaking of Family Feud, I really hate how they show the answers at the end of each round. Like they have the audience read them to us slowly as if we’re blabbering, illiterate idiots. I suppose most people who watch Family Feud are, though. (Not me, of course)

Also, where do they find these families? Can people be so out of touch with reality that they think funerals are a good time to have a family portrait taken? Or that Wal-Marts exist in malls!? Who are these people!?

Grad School Update: Michigan

I was accepted to the University of Michigan School of Information a few days ago, and I just got an email regarding my scholarship. They’re offering me a half tuition merit scholarship which reduces my tuition to the same that a resident would pay (around $7000 a semester).

This is pretty cool! They’re also going to pay for me to fly over there and visit the school on March 24-26. I have the Google College Day thing on the 23rd though. Maybe I can just fly over there directly from California. I’m gonna be tired when I get back!

As for the whole grad school thing, if the Google thing works out, I may decide to not go to grad school. I’m definitely keeping my options open, though. The scholarship offer from Michigan makes it feasible (at least, I think) for me to go to school there. If I get some kind of assistantship or maybe a paid internship (Google has an office in Ann Arbor), I could make it work.

All in all, I’m very happy to have options, as they help to keep my stress levels down (if one thing doesn’t work I could go to the next, etc). I’ll post updates as soon as I get them.

Always Have Exact Change With Only 10 Coins!

I hate having spare change. Change sucks because it usually just sits in your house and it’s a waste of money. I found a way to use the change you have and never get change back when purchasing with cash. With a set of just 10 coins, you can make change for any amount from 1 cent to 99.

I’ve already read about the 10 coins somewhere else online. It’s not really interesting to have the answer given to you. Since I’m a nerdy computer scientist, I was trying to come up with an algorithm to produce this set of coins. I came up with an iterative solution that goes like this:

Start out with no coins.

From 1 to 99 cents:

If you can make exact change for the current amount, go to the next amount.

Otherwise, try adding the largest denomination coin to your set of coins (a quarter) that will allow you to pay the exact amount. If it’s too big, go to the next smallest until you hit a penny.

End Loop.

I came up with this in the shower. When I got out and tried it, it actually worked! Here’s a portion of the trace through the loop:

No coins, I need to make change for 1 cent. Add a penny. Yay, I can make change for one cent!

…

4 pennies, need to make change for 5 cents. Add a nickel.

…

4 pennies 1 nickel, need to make change for 10 cents. Add a dime.

And so on. I believe the algorithm works because it uses a greedy heuristic of choosing the largest denomination coin first before defaulting to the penny. Am I a nerd? Yes.

Oh, I just realized I didn’t actually say which 10 coins were the ones you need. They’re 4 pennies, one nickel, two dimes, and three quarters. You can also do it with two nickels and one dime but that’s not what my algorithm came up with, plus two dimes are lighter than two nickels!

Have fun getting rid of your change!

Toothpaste For Dinner: Awesome Webcomic

So I thought I had written about this before, but looking back, I haven’t. Toothpaste For Dinner is a crazy awesome minimalist webcomic by Drew. It’s not always funny, but when it is, it’s super funny!

Um, and I bought a Toothpaste For Dinner shirt recently, so that’s why I thought of it. Okay, that’s it.

PS2 – Karaoke Revolution Party Review

I got Karaoke Revolution Party in December for around $10 at Toys R Us. It was a pretty sweet deal. I already had a microphone from Socom, so I figured I wouldn’t need an extra mic. Luckily it worked.

So the basic premise of Karaoke Revolution is that you sing songs, and you get more points if you sing in tune with the correct vocals. There are note “tubes” that show up indicating whether you’re singing too low or high. It’s not quite like reading music or anything, but I guess it’s pretty good for public use.

I really like the idea of playing a game with only your voice. It’s a pretty interesting idea and I’m kind of mad that I waited so long to finally buy a Karaoke Revolution game. I sort of secretly wanted to buy it ever since seeing these guys playing it.

The gameplay isn’t perfect, though. It seems like the game has an easier time recognizing pitch in higher octaves, so if you’re a guy, you already have a disadvantage to the girls. Also, the game is really strict in telling you exactly how to sing a song. So when I add some “soul” it ends up costing me points. Boo! It’d be pretty sweet if the game could detect freestyling and reward players for doing it well. I guess that would be pretty hard though.

The song selection is varied. There’s a lot of songs from the 80s up to current popular songs. They even have Neil Diamond, which my brother was happy about. I think most people will find at least one song they’d be interesting in singing, if they’re interested in singing a song to begin with.

Overall, Karaoke Revolution Party is a pretty cool party game. I wish I had bought two mics so I could test out the versus and duet modes. I think there’s some duets… Maybe I’ll buy the new American Idol version.