I wanted to surprise my wife for Christmas. She is a redheaded Harry Potter fan and mom, which inspired the idea to build a Weasley Clock. I got the idea in February, so I had 10 months to get the project designed and built. For those unfamiliar with Harry Potter and the Weasley Family, the Weasley wizard family owns a magical clock that instead of telling time shows the location of each family member with a separate hand. Here's an excerpt from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (J. K. Rowling, 2000): Mrs. Weasley glanced at the grandfather clock in the corner. Harry liked this clock. It was completely useless if you wanted to know the time, but otherwise very informative. It had nine golden hands, and each of them was engraved with one of the Weasley family’s names. There were no numerals around the face, but descriptions of where each family member might be. “Home,” “school,” and “work” were there, but there was also “traveling,” “lost,” “hospital,” “prison,” an...
I have recently discovered Coursera . They offer hundreds of online courses in a wide range of subjects. Most courses are roughly equivalent to an semester-long undergraduate level course. Some are easier and some are equivalent to graduate-level coursework. I got started with Andrew Ng's Machine Learning (ML) course . I have been curious about machine learning, but a little biased against the field based on my limited knowledge of Artificial Intelligence (AI). My impression (and that of many others) has been that AI has long over-promised and under-delivered. However, recent advances in ML and its use in analyzing big data sets made its potential impossible to ignore. When I started the course, I did not know that Professor Ng had helped found Coursera. Nor did I realize the extent of his influence in the field of machine learning . Learning these facts gave added weight to his personal anecdotes about applying machine learning techniques. When Prof. Ng includes advice on...
http://www.npr.org/2011/08/11/139085843/your-picks-top-100-science-fiction-fantasy-books It is not exactly "top 100 books", as several entries are a series of books. So despite having read 44 books on this list, it looks like I have barely scratched the surface. Progress So far: (bold == read) 1. The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy , by J.R.R. Tolkien (3 books) 2. The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy , by Douglas Adams (4 books) 3. Ender's Game , by Orson Scott Card (and Ender's Shadow ) 4. The Dune Chronicles , by Frank Herbert (just the 1st Dune) 5. A Song Of Ice And Fire Series , by George R. R. Martin (multiple books) 6. 1984 , by George Orwell 7. Fahrenheit 451 , by Ray Bradbury 8. The Foundation Trilogy , by Isaac Asimov (3 books) 9. Brave New World , by Aldous Huxley 10. American Gods , by Neil Gaiman 11. The Princess Bride , by William Goldman 12. The Wheel Of Time Series , by Robert Jordan 13. Animal Farm , by George Orwell 14. ...
Comments