Author: Justin Kunimune

Map projections, constructed languages, nuclear fusion, and carbon pricing.

Stop using Bridson’s algorithm!

tl;dr: Bridson's algorithm is slow. If you're considering using it, know that it would be both easier and faster to do dart-throwing with a grid to check validity. In 2007, Canadian computer scientist Robert Bridson sumbitted a paper to the annual SIGGRAPH conference presenting a new algorithm for generating spacial distributions of points ("Fast Poisson … Continue reading Stop using Bridson’s algorithm! →

Contour bands: how to put error bars on 2D data

Uncertainty quantification is an important part of scientific analysis, and one that's become more widespread and complex with the rise in popularity of Bayesian analysis techniques. And what would uncertainty quantification be without uncertainty visualization – error bars or histograms for zero-dimensional data, and simultaneous or pointwise credibility bands for one-dimensional data. Unfortunately, there has … Continue reading Contour bands: how to put error bars on 2D data →

Fusion company tier list 2024

In the last five years, the number of private start-up companies pursuing fusion energy has increased ten-fold. They promise a variety of outcomes – from cheap and abundant dispatchable clean energy to world peace – if you'll only open your wallet and help them keep the lights on. Map of fusion companies' headquarters. Deutelio isn't … Continue reading Fusion company tier list 2024 →

An animated description of Landau damping

When an electron plasma wave passes through a plasma with a high enough temperature at a low enough phase velocity, its energy is siphoned into the plasma, and the wave decays. This is Landau damping, one of the most infamous plasma physics phenomena known to science. While the concept is relatively simple, explaining the mechanism … Continue reading An animated description of Landau damping →

A comprehensive colormap style guide

Say you’re writing a scientific paper, and you need to plot the geographical prevalence of a gene. Or a snapshot of the phase-space particle density in a PIC simulation. Or the measured temperature along an array of thermocouples as a function of time. In such contexts, our ancestors have long turned to the humble pseudocolor … Continue reading A comprehensive colormap style guide →

How to make a TypeScript webapp in IntelliJ without frameworks

This post outlines how to create a webapp with multiple files and third-party dependencies in TypeScript without relying on Node.js or Require.js, using the IntelliJ IDE. For such a seemingly simple task, there is a dearth of useful tutorial material online; most TypeScript guides assume a level of familiarity with JavaScript that I don't think … Continue reading How to make a TypeScript webapp in IntelliJ without frameworks →

Rescriptivism: the new school of linguistic thought

If you've ever heard (or been a part of) an argument on the finer points of english grammar that's stretched on long enough, you've likely heard the words "prescriptivism" and "descriptivism". For those who haven't had the pleasure, these are the two main schools of linguistic thought, which often butt heads when the unsuspecting pedant … Continue reading Rescriptivism: the new school of linguistic thought →