jfleck: If your questions haven't already been answered, you can send me an email (Update: I added my address to my Advogato page). I took an undergraduate wavelets course and have done a little bit of independent work, so I can answer basic questions. Also try to get your hands on a copy of The World According to Wavelets by Barbara Burke Hubbard. This is a great introduction to wavelet theory, and an excellent example of "popular" mathematics writing. A large portion of the book requires no more than (pre-calculus) high-school math. A series of appendices contain more details, for readers with knowledge of calculus and some higher math.

From Hubbard's preface:

There exists, certainly, a limit to what someone without the right background can understand of mathematics, but I am convinced that we are far from having reached that limit. Mathematics contains ideas that can be, and deserve to be, communicated to a wider public--even if what is communicated is at the level of appreciation rather than practical knowledge.

No one claims that only geneticists doing recombinant DNA research should know what DNA is, or that only physicists and chemists should know that matter is made of atoms. In mathematics the reverse is often the case; too often we insist that children and students learn practical techniques without showing them that these techniques are based on interesting ideas, or that they make it possible to tackle interesting questions. No wonder some parents and educators are appaled when a child uses a calculator to solve problems; to them, mathematics is synonymous with computations, and if this work is given to a machine, nothing is left.

The book is in no way "dumbed down," though. As an undergraduate math major, I found it an excellent starting point for my reading in wavelets, and I wish there were similar treatments of other topics I want to study.

Holidays

Sarah and I spent the week between Christmas and New Year's visiting our friends and families in Seattle. It was hectic but very fun.

I got a Canon color inkjet for Christmas. I exchanged it for a similar model from HP, mostly because of HP's support of the hpijs drivers (I sent both manufacturers a note to this effect). Installing and using it on my Debian system was relatively painless, but involved a surprising number of steps. Even knowing a fair amount already about foomatic/cups/gs/ijs, I found myself digging through heaps of documentation trying to find a simple step-by-step installation procedure. After getting everything installed, the printer worked flawlessly, and I'm very happy with the output.