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 July 12 2007, 2:30 AM |
Deb
"Giostaire"
Joined: 02 Nov 2002
Location: Richmond, Texas, USA
Posts: 3,664
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I know you were doing a robotics thing when you first arrived at IGTF, is that still one of the focuses of your studies? What are your PhD thesis' (or would that be thesisi  ) subjects going to be?
And if I may be permitted another question....
If you could live one day over again (but not have the power to change anything that happened that day) what day would it be and why?
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Tá mé ag foghlaim i gcónaí. With translations, it is best to wait for someone more adept than I to confirm.
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Deb
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When the one man loves the one woman, and the one woman loves the one man, the very angels leave Heaven and come and sit in that house and sing for joy. |
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| July 12 2007, 9:25 AM |
Caffler
"Andúileach IGTF"
Joined: 26 May 2005
Location: Neamhláithreach
Posts: 10,178
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cad é an fhíor fhíor atá ar an gcóta? 
Agallamh le hAibigéal?
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éist leis an gceol
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bíonn an diabhal le díol nuair a stopann an bíol
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| July 12 2007, 20:12 PM |
Aibigéal
"Scríbhneoir d'Éigean"
Joined: 22 Sep 2004
Location: An Eilvéis
Posts: 20,463
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| Deb wrote: |
| I know you were doing a robotics thing when you first arrived at IGTF, is that still one of the focuses of your studies? What are your PhD thesis' (or would that be thesisi ) subjects going to be? |
Sure is! It's a different robotics thing than it was, though. The setup I was working with at first turned out to be intrinsically unstable, which means even if we could solve the equations efficiently the physical mechanism wouldn't be of any use to anybody. So that's set me back a couple of years - I'd hoped to be finishing the engineering dissertation this year. It was a mathematically interesting, worthwhile problem though, and I learned a lot by tackling it. I'm not sorry I did (although I'm glad to be moving on now.)
The other dissertation - the math one - will be on coding theory. Basically, there are two ways to reduce errors in communication: yell louder (takes more energy) or speak more clearly (takes more time.) In electronic terms, this translates into either broadcasting a stronger signal, or transmitting some sort of redundant information that can be used to correct errors at the receiving end. Coding theory is the mathematics involved in figuring out how much redundancy you need (more is safer, but it slows you down) and designing schemes for adding and extracting it.
| Deb wrote: |
And if I may be permitted another question....
If you could live one day over again (but not have the power to change anything that happened that day) what day would it be and why? |
February 16, 2006. Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill came to the university to do a poetry reading; I went to it (naturally!) and wound up talking to her and a couple of Irish Studies people at the reception afterward. I could barely string three sentences together in Irish at the time - my vocabulary was decent but I'd only been speaking for about six months - but she was very patient and we had an interesting conversation. At the end of it she asked if I could join them for dinner. So there we were - Nuala, five Irish language professors, and me with my three sentences. They were having a rare old time of it, telling jokes, discussing history, swapping stories about teaching experiences, gossiping about publishers... all of it in Irish, and most of it therefore going right over my head. I was trying so hard to understand that my memory of the whole dinner is a bit of a blur. Even so, it was an incredible experience. The language was alive to me that night like I'd never felt it before.
If I could I'd love to revisit that day. I don't know whether I'd experience the same half-dazed exhilaration all over again, or just understand more and sharpen the memories I have of the day, but either one would be just fine with me. 
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Fáilte roimh cheartúcháin. / I'm still a learner!
 Nach í an chuid súl í! |
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| July 12 2007, 20:16 PM |
braoin
"Scéalaí Mór"
Joined: 25 Feb 2007
Location: Éire
Posts: 1,670
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Péire dochtúireachtaí! Bhuel níl le rá agamsa ach fair play duit! Mórmheas ort agam - agus go n-éirí go seó le haon rud a dhéanfas tú amach anseo!
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Translate ideas not words... and three heads equals one Irish translation ...  |
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| July 12 2007, 20:45 PM |
Aibigéal
"Scríbhneoir d'Éigean"
Joined: 22 Sep 2004
Location: An Eilvéis
Posts: 20,463
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Go raibh maith agat a Bhraoin - is deas uait é sin a rá!
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Fáilte roimh cheartúcháin. / I'm still a learner!
Nach í an chuid súl í! |
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| July 12 2007, 21:03 PM |
kgleoite
"Scéalaí Mór"
Joined: 06 Mar 2006
Location: Ireland
Posts: 2,857
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Aibigéal
Tá bua chun matamaitice agat. I'm not even going to pretend to understand the robotics thing and the coding theory, well maths never was my strong point.
But you are one of the most amazing people I have ever met!
Tá tú éirimiúil thar cách! |
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| July 12 2007, 21:54 PM |
Aibigéal
"Scríbhneoir d'Éigean"
Joined: 22 Sep 2004
Location: An Eilvéis
Posts: 20,463
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| Caffler wrote: |
| cad é an fhíor fhíor atá ar an gcóta? |
Ar aon dul lena abhatár, 'deile?
_________________
Fáilte roimh cheartúcháin. / I'm still a learner!
Nach í an chuid súl í! |
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| July 12 2007, 22:02 PM |
Tiarnan2
"Craic Pusher"
Joined: 09 Apr 2006
Location: An taobh thall
Posts: 9,882
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Did Notre Dame University have a large influence on which language you Wanted to learn? Apart from the obvious Irish Connection...would you have the same Zeal to learn... say... Swahili..in a University of that persuasion?
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Nár laga Dia do lámh ná caighdeán do chuid Ghaeilge
She was only a whisky maker, but I love her still.
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| July 13 2007, 6:14 AM |
Amharc
"New Arrival"
Joined: 09 Jul 2007
Posts: 6
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Just some curiosity...
You mentioned that you were learning (or did learn?) Latin. Besides Irish, what other languages do you speak? |
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| July 13 2007, 19:10 PM |
Aibigéal
"Scríbhneoir d'Éigean"
Joined: 22 Sep 2004
Location: An Eilvéis
Posts: 20,463
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| Tiarnan2 wrote: |
| Did Notre Dame University have a large influence on which language you Wanted to learn? Apart from the obvious Irish Connection...would you have the same Zeal to learn... say... Swahili..in a University of that persuasion? |
No influence at all on the choice of language - I've wanted to learn Irish since I was fourteen - but certainly, I think it affected the timing of the decision. On the surface, the second year of grad school is not the most sensible time to "start making time" for a new language that's utterly unrelated to your graduate work. I can be impulsive but I doubt I'd have been quite that impulsive, if it hadn't also been for the realization that there were opportunities here I might never have again.
Now, with that said, Irish wasn't a factor in the decision to come to Notre Dame either - in fact I didn't know there were any Irish classes offered until after I got here. I'm here because I wanted to work in both math and robotics, and Notre Dame seemed more enthusiastic about letting me do that than the other grad school I was considering.
_________________
Fáilte roimh cheartúcháin. / I'm still a learner!
Nach í an chuid súl í! |
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