Difference Between Boston Dynamic's Petman and Atlas

Petman was designed to test chemical suits for humans, so it's geared more towards physiological behavior like humidity and temperature.

Atlas was designed for rescue operations, so it has more capability to manipulate and lift objects, as well as detect its surroundings.

Both are anthropomorphic and bipedal.

Meeting Request Notes

When making a meeting request, it helps the other person a lot to:

• be told when they need to get back to you by
• an agenda of what the meeting will consist of
• how long you realistically estimate the meeting will take

Why EMPs don't "directly" affect biological systems

Biological systems generate electrons through chemical processes. EMPs cause damage to electronics because the magnetic pulses generated cause an induced current (Maxwell's equations) in the wires, which become overwhelmed and burn up/melt due to the amount of energy contained within the pulse. Since humans don't naturally contain wires, their functions still work because nothing melts internally.

However, there may be other effects that affect neural and physiological processes, or result from chain reactions caused by EMPs, so it's not to say that humans are completely impervious from EMPs.

Mechanical mechanisms

The best museum of mechanisms I've seen so far is the science museum in Boston.


http://pie.exploratorium.edu/scrapbook/mechanisms/

http://www.pdnotebook.com/wp-content/themes/thesis_16/custom/images/Five_hundred_and_seven_mechanical_moveme.pdf

Always add your contact info to presentations

Name and email are especially essential so people can follow up with you if they're interested!

Can't Avoid Business

Professors have to do a lot of business tasks, as much as any entrepreneur or investor would. At conferences and client meetings, they are expected to bring back money and grants, in order to fund future projects.

It's possible to find jobs where you spend your time focusing on work, but the people who are in charge of projects will always be on the lookout for business.

Resolution: 4 hours per day per active project

I discussed with Monica a while ago why athletes spend the majority of their time training physically - developing their skills - whereas scientists spending so much time on emails/communication rather than whatever-it-is that scientists do, but then i realized that the collaboration and exchange of ideas is just as much a part of the job.

But, I also think it's important to have time to yourself to think, reflect, and produce. Ideally, I will spend 4 good hours by myself per project per day. The rest of the time can be used for discussion with others, collaboration with others, doing other personal things like email, reflecting, thinking. But 4 hours a day per project isolated work time is a good way to get things done (plus, it also places an implicit limitation on the number of ongoing projects you should have at one time).

Note: I'm a firm believer that people operate in very different ways and that there does not exist a single system method which will work optimally for all people. With that said, this is my personal system. It may or may not work for you, but in the end it's important to find a system that works for you and stick with it.

Social: Scheduling Meetings

Be very clear.

Start by suggesting a time or what your top preferences are, but always provide a schedule of your availability of the few days around the desired time. Explicitly differentiate between am and pm and state both the day of the week and the calendar date.

It's okay if you make other appointments in the meantime, because at least they can reply with a few options and it will reduce the overall number of emails exchanged to set up the meeting.

It's also very helpful to provide an expected duration, as well as an agenda.

Productivity: Collaboration

Before people  with expertise worldwide will collaborate with you, you must demonstrate that you can either get things done or provide resources like money for them to get things done

Social: Housemates

11/5
Living with many people is hard due to different levels of standards with which people live. It's best to live by yourself or with one other person who behaves similarly to you in:

• sleep schedule
• noise tolerance
• cleanliness
• cooking habits
• suitable temperature
• utilities usage

Social: Hazing Culture Starts at the Top

Hazing culture is something that people at the top influence.  "It’s a never-ending cycle of broken people, creating more broken people."

"I thought they would cut my hair when I came to Pittsburgh, but it was the exact opposite here," Polamalu said Tuesday on ESPN's "The Herd with Colin Cowherd." "Guys accepted me with open arms. Anything I needed whether it was a car, whether it was to sleep at their house -- and we only return that favor now that I'm a veteran on the team. Any young guy, whether they need a car or a house or some extra spending cash, whatever it may be we try our best to help them."

According to Polamalu, Steelers veterans voluntarily take young players under their wings to teach them "how to be professional, how to take care of your body, how to train, how to learn the defense, the offense, whatever it may be."

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap2000000277343/article/troy-polamalu-ben-watson-offer-takes-on-nfl-hazing
http://elitedaily.com/women/good-girls-become-unicorns-response-unicorn/

Social: Timeline on Asking for Help

When you make requests for other people, always provide a day to get back by. Don't feel bad if it's soon - it's important for them to know so that they can plan ahead. Just be understanding if it's too short notice and have a backup plan.

Obs: Project Demos

Doesn't take much work to get cool looking demos. Related to the 80/20 rule, but you can get viable demos without much work (in the context of startups), which is perfectly okay because before you invest too much of your own time into a project, you should be able to demonstrate that it's feasible and that people are interested in it.

Resolution: Introspection

If something's not working the way you way you want it to, do something about it. Step back and analyze what's wrong, and make a change. Don't keep using the same behavior because then you won't improve.

Grad School Advice Websites

Lots of anecdotal advice:
http://www.pgbovine.net/grad-school-app-tips.htm

Timeline for grad application:
https://sites.google.com/site/gradappadvice/

Education: Specialization

11/5
Today I asked Carly what will happen in the future when jobs become so specialized that it takes an eternity to learn all the necessary background and be able to contribute. She gave me a very logical answer: everything will become more specialized in terms of education since there will be so much to learn before catching up to the present state of any field. People will have to choose their professions much earlier on and there will be less of an emphasis on equal opportunity in careers, like the situation in the UK.

Education: After College

11/5
I've heard from multiple sources that it's significantly harder to find people with tech interests outside of school. I think that this is particularly true if you don't put any effort into finding suitable groups. Websites like meetup.com and other tech gathering/startup meetups are great for finding like-minded people. Of course, it won't be the same persistent environment, but it's better than nothing.

Personally, I find the school environment hard to beat as long as the emphasis is not on classes, but instead crazy ideas.

Education: Presenting Science in an Entertaining Way

Britney Spears Semiconductor tutorial:
http://britneyspears.ac/lasers.htm

Machine Learning presented like ads:
http://oneweirdkerneltrick.com/

Social: Thanking Lecturers

11/5
A habit I want to better reinforce is to thank my [guest] lecturers and seminar presenters after their talks via email. This gives us an opportunity to communicate in the future, and also allows me to ask more questions, give feedback, or point out helpful takeaways from the talk.

Thoughts on: Hyperloop

11/5
Hyperloop is very intriguing but there seems to be a lot of logistical infrastructure problems with it at the moment, especially maintaining the system and occupying airspace. Looking forward to what happens! The two year timeline seems ambitious at a glance, but nothing worth working for is easy.



References:
http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/startup-sets-sights-rapid-transit-hyperloop-prototype-2015-8C11502210

Motivation: Humanoid Robots

"Today’s robot designers believe that their creations will become therapists, caregivers, guides and security guards, and will ultimately perform virtually any form of human labor.

The key to this advance is the new robots’ form. Roboticists say they are choosing the human form for both social and technical reasons. Robots that operate indoors, in particular, must be able to navigate a world full of handles, switches, levers and doors that have been designed for humans

Roboticists also point out that humans have an affinity for their own shape, easing transitions and making collaboration more natural. Creating robots in humanoid form also simplifies training and partnerships in the workplace, and increases their potential in new applications like caregiving. "

source: http://www.kurzweilai.net/making-robots-more-like-us-2

Resolution: Pick up all phone calls

Unless it's a bad time, my new goal is to pick up all phone calls and respond to them.

If it's an unsuitable time, I will pick up anyways and request that they call back. My goal is to not ignore messages.

---

Although there must be a line somewhere because people like professors and company higher-ups have no time to respond to all inquiries... and if something is really urgent the caller will find another way to contact you (a la Don Knuth's no-email policy and how Sergey Brin only responds to his top k emails). So maybe I can compromise by picking up calls only when it's convenient, and responding to voice mails for missed calls. That way I am not obligating myself to call back every single missed call.

Dr. Ozan Tonguz's talk on Virtual Traffic Lights

can always get money back, can never get time back

if you sit in traffic for too long, there are other side effects like increased blood pressure and bad health from snacking

biologically inspired, based on communication between ants and the different roles individual ants play

Analogy: Gear Backlash and Hysteresis

Gear backlash is a discretized version of hysteresis in materials.

This can be seen by comparing the hysteresis plot (displacement field vs. electric field) to the backlash plot (output vs. input).

It makes sense because depending on the direction of the input (field applied to a material), the output of the system exhibits a different set of responses.

Note Taking: Including Pictures

Pictures can greatly improve note taking, since readers are naturally attracted to visuals and it's easy to highlight the important aspects. However, be careful with color - you will need multiple, and often times a single pen will not suffice and instead end up as a mess.

Learning: Improving on Repetitive Tasks

Ask for someone experienced to watch you perform the task (such as coding, or solving problems), and suggesting any improvements, tricks they know, or things you could do to improve efficiency.

Alternatively, if it's time sensitive, you could also record yourself doing the tasks and ask someone to look at it later on.

Self-Imposed Deadlines via Accountability

I'm finding that the best way to get optional/long term things done is to be accountable to someone. But, it takes practice to get the time estimates right, and doesn't bode well when something else gets delayed and everything subsequently has to get postponed.

So, the trick is to also leave unscheduled time - you can't account for random things coming up, like events with friends or various meetings, and delays of things that must get done.

How I see robotics

Robotics can be split into:
Physics (kinematics, dynamics, control)
Mechanical design (making the physical robot)
Computer science ("coaching" the robots - making the machines do meaningful things. managing their interactions with the world and each other)
Math/signal processing (vision)

Suggestions/modifications?

Reorganized Blog System

I need to work on my writing and communication skills. To work on this, I reorganized my blogs to the following:

• Research log - document my research progress. guilt trip self into spending more time on research
• Organized writing - goal is to write a longer post once a week. currently i plan to focus on things i've learned that week or cool observations I've made. a good example is the gimbal analogy in planes and insects.
• Hobbies - cooking, bike trips, travel destinations, etc
• Project Updates - get myself writing more about what I work on, so that I have a better idea myself when explaining to other people. tech/computer discoveries will also go here. 
• Observations/Thoughts/Comments - life realizations, rants, short thoughts that I want to save, motivational stuff. lot of extra posts from the past, won't bother pruning those.

I will NOT save articles. That's a bad habit. I need to read and absorb the lessons from the articles instead, rather than hoarding browser tabs and links. 

Frustration with motivating myself

I don't think it's occurred to me that, especially now, no one will be monitoring me all the time to make sure that I'm doing something and that I need to take charge of my actions.

The options I have considered are to:

• work with other people - but then I'll get distracted unnecessarily sometimes (not that it's not FUN to work alongside others!)
• Xinhong suggests studying alone at the library or somewhere where people can see me so that I'll feel self-conscious if I slack off. This has worked pretty well in the past for me, but the problem is that it conditions you to be super lazy at home, and I would argue that in fact it makes it harder to work at home. 

I would be really happy to hear any suggestions you have or what you do to overcome this problem. Please leave a comment or email me!

Goal: Write my blog posts without revision

A lot of times I find myself putting too much thought into how I will phrase something on this blog. I don't think that's a good use of time in this scenario, whereas for something like project pages on my website I would put more careful revision and attention to design and content. But for something like a blog, which I shall treat as a mind dump from now on, I shouldn't spend the extraneous amount of time worrying about specific content or word choice or whatever.

My hope is that over time, I will get better at saying the intended things on the first try. Of course, it might not always be the right or best response, but for this scenario I am okay with that.

I will correct typos though!

The lesson for me here is to pick the appropriate response for the scenario/environment.

Troubles with sleeping at night

Ren brought this up. A potential cause for my sleep issues is overexposure to blue/ultraviolet light. Specifically, electronic device screens are probably messing up my circadian rhythm. Things I could do to improve this condition:

• more exposure to sunlight during the day
• stop using technology closer to bed time. Would need to come up with a way to do something at nights. Handwritten todolists + reading books?

Interesting side note: Most of the sun's energy is infrared, but it still contains some ultraviolet and of course visible light. (Integrate the solar radiation spectrum below for each region)

Source:

http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletters/Harvard_Health_Letter/2012/May/blue-light-has-a-dark-side

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgywXlr-lOVrRyn6ztk-eDxlJMX7JG1kI1F5YAP4p4yaxuLQkzowjjpifes-hQtfmkh-l1fvug41tsMRCV_d_joetefH1659rP8XvbDxqKOIlqM_ARAshv4-A6GN0Hw1qAxNfI8yc8IAGYo/s1600/Solar_Spectrum.png

Hiding Desktop Icons on OSX

In terminal:

defaults write com.apple.finder CreateDesktop -bool false

killall Finder

Playing music with shower head

The stream of water coming out of my shower head exits at a certain frequency. By touching the shower head, I can control the frequency of the sound coming out and was able to play hot cross buns!

Mac: jump to beginning/end of line

Beginning: ctrl a
End: ctrl e

Git: Pull a remote branch to your local repository

In order to pull a remote branch to your local repository:

git pull
git checkout -b <new_branch> origin/<new_branch>

Do not:
git checkout -b < new_branch >
git pull origin < new_branch >


Source: http://www.wetware.co.nz/2009/07/pull-a-git-branch-from-remote/

Deleting your most recent git commit or push

If you have committed junk but not pushed,

git reset --soft HEAD~1

HEAD~1 is a shorthand for the commit before head. Alternatively you can refer to the SHA-1 of the hash you want to reset to. --soft option will delete the commit but it will leave all your changed files "Changes to be committed", as git status would put it.

If you want to get rid of any changes to tracked files in the working tree since the commit before head use --hard instead.

Now if you already pushed and someone pulled which is usually my case, you can't use git reset. You can however do a git revert,

git revert HEAD

This will create a new commit that reverses everything introduced by the accidental commit.

Source: http://nakkaya.com/2009/09/24/git-delete-last-commit/

Simulink: Multiple Scope Ports

In order to obtain a scope block with multiple inputs, open the graph, open settings, and change the number of axes.

This allows you to avoid the hassle of using muxes to parse and plot multiple input signals.

Source: http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/5687

Ubuntu - mouse wheel scrolls too much per scroll click

In order to fix the problem, where the mouse scrolls too much down a page each time you move the scroll wheel, unplug and plug the receiver dongle back in. It should reset the settings that cause the scroll wheel to jump too much.

This problem occurs probably because of dual booting ubuntu and windows 7.

Ashton Kutcher's speech

Neat indentation in vim

In order to neatly indent your code in vim, type:

gg=G

, while no command is active.

Another piece by James Altucher

TWO LIFEHACKS THAT WILL GET PEOPLE TO LIKE YOU

I'm taking a day off from writing about crying on the floor. I feel like I've written 600 posts about either failure or naked people. 

Instead, I'm going to share two things I've done that have changed my life for the better and I don't know anyone else who does them. 

A) Get yourself 1000 $2 bills. You can get $2 bills by going to your local bank and asking them to order it from the Federal Reserve. 

The Federal Reserve threw out all of their antique copy machines that were set aside for $2 bills. That said, they still have a million vintage 2003 (signed by John Snow) $2 bills lying around. If you go to your local bank branch and ask for $2 bills it will take about 2-3 weeks to get one thousand of them. 

Why? 

1) When you go to a place where you plan on being a regular, always tip 30% and do it all with $2 bills. Nobody is ever going to forget you and you will always be treated well. Plus people will fight with each other to be the one serving you. That's a nice feeling. You don't have to be rich. You just have to have $2 bills.

Note: DON'T waste $2 bills on tips for cab drivers. They are never going to see you again. 

2) When you are breaking into a new scene, always use $2 bills. For instance, when I started playing chess for money at Washington Square Park I would always pay off with $2 bills but when I won I'd get $1s or $5s. Pretty soon, everyone was hoarding their $2 bills. My currency was flowing through the local economy. Everyone knew who I was. It was a shortcut to popularity because that's how desperate I was for friends among a bunch of drug addict homeless chessplayers. 

3) When I was dating, I would carry a thick wad of cash. A $100 bill on top, $2 bills filling out the whole wad. Time to pay for dinner, I'd bring out the wad (impressive), peel off a $100 bill (pathetic) and then amaze by tipping with non-stop $2 bills. "Where did you get those?" people always ask. Give a cryptic answer. "I do some projects with the government." 

Extra tip: it helps to go to the same restaurant the night before the date so everyone who works there is excited, anticipating what you will do. 

4) Conversation piece. If you pull out a $2 bill people say three things: "what is that?", "where did you get that?", "they are so beautiful"

5) Because as far as money goes, they are beautiful. I love the back of the 2 dollar bill. So much detail. 

 Buy 100 waiters pads. I've written about it before but I can't stress it enough. 

1) It's easy to write ideas. And the width is too short for you to put a lot of details or write a novel or whatever. It's just for writing down ideas. I write at least ten ideas a day on waiter's pads. Over the course of a year that's almost 4000 ideas. I do it seven days a week. 

2) If you are writing down ideas in a restaurant then the waiter thinks you are in the business and serves you faster. 

Trust me, this always works. In fact, if I am getting poor service I just pull out my waiter's pad, put it on the table, and suddenly everyone is very attentive. 

3) At the beginning of a business meeting I pull out the waiters pad and someone always says, "I'll take two cheeseburgers and a coke" and everyone laughs. It's a good conversation starter. 

4) It's a good way of showing you're frugal. When everyone pulls out their moleskin notebooks that cost $40 a pad you can say you paid 10 cents for your waiter's pad. Frugality is great when you are trying to raise money. 

5) I'm bad at remembering names. At the top of every page in the waiter's pad are small shapes representing the different different types of tables. The shapes have numbers representing every sitting position. You can write down the names of who is at the meeting and where they sat. 

6) they fit in your shirt pocket. As opposed to almost every other pad. 

I tried to think of a third lifehack but I couldn't. For 10 years I've carried around waiter's pads and $2 bills every day and have had enormous success with both of them. 

The key is you are inviting people into your universe. To keep them guessing about what might happen next. It's a mystery! $2 bills and waiter's pads are a good start. 

Oh! And my special handshake. But I'll save that for another post.

[Note on rewriting: first draft of this was 1041 words. Final draft: 773 words]

Trouble Connecting to IRC via Pidgin on Windows7

http://wiki.freeculture.org/IRC_with_Pidgin

I was getting a "Could not connect" error, but was able to successfully access irc.freenode.net by using a different port rather than 6660-6669.

Sorting lists in Wunderlist

Hover your mouse over the bottom center of the screen and a task bar will appear. On the far right, there is a sort alphabetically or sort by due date option.

Modifying your origin branch in git

Say you accidentally made a typo while creating your origin branch via 'git remote add'. In order to fix that, you can remote remove the origin branch with:

git remote rm origin




Be careful about doing this for branches where you've made any commits because you will lose those modifications.

Help others when possible

Interview and engineering tips

http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/power/library/pa-enghints1/
http://www.engineerjobs.com/content/2013/9-questions-to-ask-on-an-interview.htm

Aaron Hernandez's Letter

Dear Mr. Caserio,

I am writing in regards to some of the feedback I am receiving from my agents, Florida coaches, and other personnel. These sources have indicated that NFL teams have questions about my alleged use of marijuana. I personally answered these questions during the pre-draft process, but understand that NFL teams want to conduct thorough due diligence before making the significant financial investment inherent in a high draft pick. I have no issue with these questions being asked, but thought that it made the most sense to communicate with you directly regarding this issue so you would not have to rely upon second-hand information.

Any information I volunteer to you about my past will be looked at with great skepticism as I am trying to get drafted as high as possible by an NFL team. As such, I thought that the best way to answer your questions and your concerns was to make a very simple proposition. If you draft me as a member of the New England Patriots, I will willfully submit to a bi-weekly drug test throughout my rookie season (8 drug tests during the 2010 regular season). In addition, I will tie any guaranteed portion of my 2010 compensation to these drug tests and reimburse the team a pro-rata amount for any failed drug test. My agents have explained that a direct forfeiture provision in my contract along these lines would violate the CBA rules. However, I have instructed them to be creative in finding a contract structure that would work on in the worst case scenario, I would donate the pro-rata portion of any guaranteed money to the team's choice of charities. My point is simple -- if I fail a drug test, I do not deserve that portion of the money.

I realize that this offer is somewhat unorthodox, but it is also the only way I could think of to let you know how serious I am about reaching my potential in the NFL. My coaches have told you that nobody on our Florida team worked harder than me in terms of workouts, practices or games. You have your own evaluation as to the type of impact I can have on your offense. The only X-factor, according to the reports I have heard, is concerns about my use of recreational drugs. To address that concern, I am literally putting my money where my mouth is and taking the financial risk away from the team and putting it directly on my back where it belongs.

In closing, I ask you to trust me when I say you have absolutely nothing to worry about when it comes to me and the use of recreational drugs. I have set very high goals for myself in the NFL and am focused 100% on achieving those goals. So, test me all you want during my rookie year ... all of the results will be negative while I am having an overwhelmingly positive impact on the field.

Good luck with your preparations for the NFL Draft and feel free to contact me or my agency (Athletes First/David Dunn) with any questions.

Sincerely,

Aaron Hernandez
University of Florida

Disabling computer wakeup on mouse movement

Software and champions for change

Riddhiman Das is being honored as a Champion of Change for his accomplishments as an immigrant entrepreneur and innovator.

I was born and raised in a town of about a million people at the foothills of the Himalayan Mountains in India. I first used a computer when I was seven years old, and I realized that humankind was about to be transformed by the Information Technology revolution—and that software was going to change a lot about how we had been doing things for the past few millennia. I knew I wanted to play a part in this revolution, and I decided that I was going to one day be a computer scientist and do my bit to help people use technology in their lives.

My father was born in a remote village a few hundred miles away, worked his way through school, and eventually trained to be a hematologist at the University of Cambridge.  He was a living inspiration of what hard work and perseverance could achieve. He had always encouraged me to come to the United States to pursue my dream, since here is where most of the innovation in software happened. When he died when I was 14, my mother, a rheumatologist, stepped up, and with the help and guidance of a few family and close friends, I got into an American college and came over to pursue my goal of transforming the world through software.

During my college years, I got acquainted with the Kansas City technology entrepreneurship community, and I knew I could make a difference through my skills here. I co-founded my first company, Dr. Peet’s Software, with the goal of developing mobile software that would help children and young adults with developmental disabilities learn basic literacy skills. About a year later, I started Talent Helix, a company whose mission was to use social networks to help people find opportunities. The grand vision of Talent Helix was that college students and under-employed people in the community would use the service to find jobs and part time gigs while working full time or being a student. While Talent Helix never gained much traction, the experience taught me a lot about entrepreneurship, and more importantly, about Kansas City’s high-tech entrepreneurial community. I realized that while this community had its strengths, it also had a few major weaknesses.  One such weakness was an acute shortage of tech talent, and I started thinking about ways I could contribute to solving that problem.

With this in mind, I went on to intern, and later work remotely part-time, at a few companies in California and New York City, where the best and the brightest tech talent always seemed to go.  While there, I observed first-hand the processes and workings of several successful tech companies, both big and small. These jobs and internships gave me an opportunity to work on cutting edge technologies that led to my filing of three patents, and learn from the people who write some of the most popular software programs we use every day.

After a very rewarding year of doing this, I felt it was time to see if I could use these experiences to make a difference in the Kansas City tech community—and so I started Galleon Labs, a software consulting company that would handle the technical needs of any tech venture in the city, and hopefully eventually the entire Midwestern region. In just over 13 months of existence, we’ve developed the core products of over 21 different companies from the region. We’ve developed software to improve and maintain pharmaceutical drug adherence, web and mobile applications for pediatricians to keep track of patients away from the clinic, and computer vision applications for digital agencies to measure the effectiveness of their ad campaigns, among many other very interesting and challenging projects. My proudest moment was being able to hire one of my fellow graduates and one of my favorite professors from college.

Lately, I've also been heavily involved with EyeVerify, where we’ve commercialized a software-only, biometric method for verifying the identity of mobile users called 'Eyeprints.' The Eyeprint Verification System is based on the unique vein patterns in the whites of your eyes, and has fingerprint-level accuracy. Eyeprints require only the existing camera in a smartphone, so the system is not dependent on expensive fingerprint or iris scanning hardware. The patented technology is a major advancement in biometric authentication and is the only approach that uses built-in cameras within mobile devices to image and pattern-match the unique veins in the whites of users’ eyes, ensuring highly accurate, fast, and convenient security.

I often think of how different my journey would have been if I did not have to struggle with immigration laws. After I graduated college, I was planning on working for a major software company, but couldn't because my work authorization was denied for a very minor typographical error in the paperwork. As a result, in order to continue to be in the country, I had to exit the country and pursue my entrepreneurial and technical activities while also attending graduate school in the U.S. The United States has been at the forefront of technological and entrepreneurial innovation for decades, and it is my most earnest hope that legislators realize the immense value that highly-skilled immigrants bring into the country, so that the United States can remain in that spot for many years to come.

Riddhiman Das is Founder of Galleon Labs.

source: http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2013/06/04/transforming-world-through-software

Equipment-free abs workout

Summer 2013 plans

Boston Public Garden (afternoon)
Freedom Trail (afternoon)
Archery (half day), zozi tickets
White Mountains, New Hampshire (weekend, requires car)
New England Aquarium (afternoon)
Improv Asylum (evening)
Waterfront (afternoon)
Franklin Park Zoo (afternoon)

Highly Ranked on Trip Advisor
Boston Harbor Islands National Park (http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g60745-d107180-Reviews-Boston_Harbor_Islands_National_Park-Boston_Massachusetts.html, afternoon)
Museum of Science (http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g60745-d104912-Reviews-Museum_of_Science-Boston_Massachusetts.html, afternoon)
Castle Island
Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum
George's Island

Can Machine Intelligence Emerge from a Single Algorithm?

I would like to think it's possible, that our brains are just more complicated versions of the computers that we've created.

Features Andrew Ng from Stanford (Coursera founder, CMU alumni, http://ai.stanford.edu/~ang/) and Alexander Wissner-Gross (http://www.alexwg.org)

http://enterpriseresilienceblog.typepad.com/enterprise_resilience_man/2013/06/can-machine-intelligence-emerge-from-a-single-algorithm.html

Determinants and the vector properties of length, area, volume

Length, area, volume, and higher dimensions of these values have vector associated with them. There is a notion of "negative area", in that it is a "space in a different direction". This property is necessary to preserve 0, from linearity, so that you can add two equal but opposite components and obtain 0.

The directionality of area/volume can also be seen from 2D and 3D cross products, when considering the result to be the magnitude of the area of the parallelogram/parallelepiped that is formed.

Examples include current density, dl in Biot-Savart Law, dA in Gauss' Law.

http://www.askamathematician.com/2013/05/q-why-are-determinants-defined-the-weird-way-they-are/

Mechanical labs at Hopkins, Berkeley

Hopkins:

http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/robotics-hardware/miniature-quadruped-robot-is-blazingly-fast


Berkeley:
http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/robotics-hardware/little-legged-robots-grow-wings-and-tails

Ronald Fearing's lab: http://robotics.eecs.berkeley.edu/~ronf/

Staying humble, competitiveness, and team players in sports

Popovich said the franchise’s commitment to Duncan, Parker and Ginobili and the sustained success of the union is “a total function of who those three guys are. What if they were jerks? What if they were selfish? What if one of them was, you know, unintelligent? If, if, if. But the way it works out, all three of them are highly intelligent. They all have great character. . . . I think it’s just a matter of being really, really fortunate to have three people who understand that and who commit to a system and a philosophy for that length of time.”

“I have something in me that they took in ’07: beat us on our home floor, celebrated on our home floor. I won’t forget that. You shouldn’t as a competitor. You should never forget that,” James said. “It’s the same group of guys for the most part. The same Big Three and Coach Pop. And I look forward to the challenge once again.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/wizards/nba-finals-san-antonio-spurs-miami-heat-are-testaments-to-the-power-of-three/2013/06/05/ffa5bb8a-ce2a-11e2-8845-d970ccb04497_story_1.html

---

There aren’t many Redskins players who are more fan friendly than Alfred Morris. And I don’t mean, “sure, I’ll sign an autograph for you” fan friendly. I mean, “Sure, I’ll play paintball with you” fan friendly.

According to CaptainCrookedFoot on Reddit, Morris did just that when he ran into a group of fans playing paintball.

“We went to Pevs for one of my buddies bachelor party and saw Alfred,” the fan wrote on Reddit. “He played with us for 3 hours and even met up with some of the other guys later to go kart.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dc-sports-bog/wp/2013/06/05/alfred-morris-plays-paintball-with-fans/

“It has some sentimental value to it now,” Morris said Wednesday before the Redskins headed out for practice. “It just keeps me grounded, where I came from and all the hard work for me to get to this point. So that’s what helps me.”

http://blog.redskins.com/2012/09/19/alfred-morris-wont-give-up-his-bentley/

http://imgur.com/a/YZR74

---

Denver believes it can attract an elite coach with its roster; simply didn't want to deal with an unhappy [head coach] in final year of contract.

http://hangtime.blogs.nba.com/2013/06/06/report-nuggets-part-ways-with-karl/

Mass transportation

A lot of money and resources would be saved if there existed some way to transport lots of things very quickly.

The specific example I had in mind was how people will buy a new set of clothes hangers each time they move to a new location, because they are deemed expendable and cheap. However, there is a cost associated with manufacturing, and the plastic/carbon footprint is non-negligible.

Squat workout

squats-based workout x3 a week
warm up (no weight)
stretch (side, down)

pre workload
10x1 @ 35% 1RM
10x1 @ 50% 1RM
5x1 @ 75% 1RM

actual
5x5 @ 80% 1RM

5 sets of single leg dumbell squats
10x2 light
10x2 medium
5x1 heavy

10x10 short circuit (box jump + push up)

Education is yours to seize

No one's going to hand it to you, not even in college where you're paying thousands for it. It's up to you to grab ahold of it.

How to be Successful in Your Internship or First Job

Notes from Carnegie Mellon Career and Professional Development Center.

Look Like a Professional

Observe others to find the proper dress, decoration, carry-items for your workplace.



o It better to be overdressed than underdressed
o It is better to under-decorate than over decorate
o Turn off your cell phone and do not “text” during work until you are told it is OK

In general (not just work):

• Be on time for meetings and appointments
• Be on time for work

Act Like a Professional

Be Friendly - Being well liked counts
o There are so many different personalities that you will be working
with

You need to show up for work and work
• Don’t complain
• Adjust to the culture in which you are employed

The worst career eliminating move of young professionals is “Being cocky overconfident snots who can’t listen to anyone but themselves…..”

So: be eager, be respectful, be curious, be willing to take on ANY project, have a can-do attitude, make your deadline, do the job


Communicate Like a Professional

Breaking-in Skills

You are an outsider until you prove otherwise

• Admit what you don’t know

• You don’t earn acceptance by challenging the system at first; you 

earn it by fitting in

• Build a track record by becoming known for hard work, for fitting in, 

and for professional maturity

1D Kalman Filtering code in Python

Thanks to Udacity.

1 dimensional Kalman Filter

def update(mean1, var1, mean2, var2):
    new_mean = (var2 * mean1 + var1 * mean2) / (var1 + var2)
    new_var = 1/(1/var1 + 1/var2)
    return [new_mean, new_var]

def predict(mean1, var1, mean2, var2):
    new_mean = mean1 + mean2
    new_var = var1 + var2
    return [new_mean, new_var]



for i in range(len(measurements)):
    [mu, sig] = update(mu, sig, measurements[i], measurement_sig)
    [mu, sig] = predict(mu, sig, motion[i], motion_sig)

Questions for your potential bosses

• Does your boss like to have a hands-on approach?
• Does your boss take a more hands-off approach and act more as a mentor and helper than a manager?
• Does your boss make unilateral decisions without consulting his or her workers?
• Does your boss listen to you? Does he or she ask a lot of questions, or just kind of walk around and try to pick up information throughout the day?
• How much input does your boss allow employees to have? Do you find this is useful, or does it waste time?

How to be happier

1. Start spending time with the right people.
2. Start facing your problems head on. 
3. Start being honest with yourself about everything. 
4. Start making your own happiness a priority. 
5. Start being yourself, genuinely and proudly. 
6. Start noticing and living in the present.
7. Start valuing the lessons your mistakes teach you. 
8. Start being more polite to yourself. 
9. Start enjoying the things you already have. 
10. Start creating your own happiness. 
11. Start giving your ideas and dreams a chance. 
12. Start believing that you’re ready for the next step. 
13. Start entering new relationships for the right reasons. 
14. Start giving new people you meet a chance. 
15. Start competing against an earlier version of yourself. – Be inspired by others, appreciate others, learn from others, but know that competing against them is a waste of time.  You are in competition with one person and one person only – yourself.  You are competing to be the best you can be.  Aim to break your own personal records.
16. Start cheering for other people’s victories. 
17. Start looking for the silver lining in tough situations. 
18. Start forgiving yourself and others. 
19. Start helping those around you. 
20. Start listening to your own inner voice.
21. Start being attentive to your stress level and take short breaks.
22. Start noticing the beauty of small moments. 
23. Start accepting things when they are less than perfect.  Sometimes it’s better to accept and appreciate the world as it is, and people as they are, rather than to trying to make everything and everyone conform to an impossible ideal.  No, you shouldn’t accept a life of mediocrity, but learn to love and value things when they are less than perfect.
24. Start working toward your goals every single day. – Remember, the journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.  Whatever it is you dream about, start taking small, logical steps every day to make it happen.  Get out there and DO something!  The harder you work the luckier you will become.  While many of us decide at some point during the course of our lives that we want to answer our calling, only an astute few of us actually work on it.  By ‘working on it,’ I mean consistently devoting oneself to the end result.  
25. Start being more open about how you feel. 
26. Start taking full accountability for your own life.
27. Start actively nurturing your most important relationships. Remember, you don’t need a certain number of friends, just a number of friends you can be certain of.
28. Start concentrating on the things you can control. 
29. Start focusing on the possibility of positive outcomes. 
30. Start noticing how wealthy you are right now.

http://www.marcandangel.com/2011/12/18/30-things-to-start-doing-for-yourself/

How to say no

1. “I can’t commit to this as I have other priorities at the moment.”

2. “Now’s not a good time as I’m in the middle of something. How about we reconnect at X time?”

3. “I’d love to do this, but …”

4. “Let me think about it first and I’ll get back to you.”

This is more like a “Maybe” than a straight out “No”. 

If you’re not interested in what the person has to offer at all, don’t lead him/her on. Use methods #5, #6 or #7 which are definitive.

5. “This doesn’t meet my needs now but I’ll be sure to keep you in mind.”

6. “I’m not the best person to help on this. Why don’t you try X?”

7. “No, I can’t."

http://zenhabits.net/say-no/
---

Spend some time thinking over any requests before answering, and see if there is a compromise available.
Answer people with a respectful no.
Speak in an even, calm manner.
Suggest an alternative to their request. 
Stand your ground when you are challenged. Do not give in to anger, bullying or abusive behavior. You have a right to say no to any request that you are uncomfortable with. Say no, and mean it!

http://www.ehow.com/how_2311444_say-no.html

---

Transfer ownership of your refusal to something else. For instance, say "I can, but my schedule is booked now. How about some other time?" You don't have to explain further. This deflects any resentment they might have towards your schedule.
Don't feel obligated to explain. You have your reasons and they may not be ones you wish to discuss. If this is the case, try saying something like, "I'm just not able to." Leave it at that - if you must, change the subject, or say, "I'm sorry, but I need to go."
Stand firm. If the requester does not want to accept your answer, tell him or her that your mind is made up and that you will not change it.
Do not lie when you explain why your answer is no.


http://www.wikihow.com/Say-No-Respectfully

Visualization vs. Analytical tools

Promotes visualization/simulation tools.


http://worrydream.com/KillMath/

---

because analytic methods offer a fundamentally deeper understanding of phenomena than simulations do, I believe that Victor's time would be better spent making analytic methods accessible to the average person rather than attempting to replace analytic methods wholesale with computer simulations, no matter how mesmerizing and seductive the kaleidoscopic gyrations of the latter may be.


http://www.evanmiller.org/dont-kill-math.html

Intradisciplinary feedback cycle

An intradisciplinary feedback cycle results in mutual growth.

Example: Youtube artists and the software developers who made Youtube
The coders probably said something like, "it'd be great if I could watch whatever I wanted whenever I wanted".
And once the webapp was made, artists were like "great! now i can perform whenever i want, wherever I want!".
The coders then continued to develop the site because so many artists are interested, and more artists join the site because it's a good way to publicize.
Both parties profit! :)


However, we also eat up each other's time. For example:
Scientists/engineers turn to music/movies for entertainment.
Entertainers/performers surf the internet, use their phones for entertainment.
All of the products that both parties produce end up combining to form devices with which we can burn away time.

Of course, both categories use a lot of other forms of entertainment as well. An alternative way to look at this is that all people use the results of scientists/engineers (tvs, computers, phones) to be entertained by entertainers/performers (music, movies).

Lily Allen's resonating quote

She dropped out of school at age fifteen, not wanting to "spend a third of her life preparing to work for the next third of her life, to set herself up with a pension for the next third of her life.

Never forget your origins

Especially if you get good/famous at something, always be thankful for and recognize the people who helped you reach the point you have.

Example:
Rappers and dancers usually have shoutouts to their original crews.

My goal in robotics

I would like to be able to live in a world where I can interact with robots as if they were other creatures. I want to throw a stick and tell my robot dog to fetch. I want to be able to order from my robot waiter. I want to be able to ask my robot coworker for advice, hobbies, or to design a circuit board (haha but first, is this solvable in polynomial time?)

Think before you speak

Avoid bashing on others. Don't tell others' secrets, and don't offend people.


http://www.wikihow.com/Watch-What-You-Say

Conversations [with strangers]

Be casual
Catch their eye
Say something!!! (It doesn't matter a whole lot what you say to get the conversation started. It's more about how you say it. If you can deliver the best opening line in the world with confidence, go for it!

• If not, stick to something more basic, such as "Hi, my name's Mark," and offer to shake hands.)

Start basic. Talk about how you ended up at the party, and ask them how they came to be there, too.

• If the weather is remarkable, remark on it, but don't dwell. Weather conversations are generally short, boring, and indicate that you don't have much to say.

Find out what interests the other party. What sports and hobbies do they enjoy? What classes are they taking, and what's the end result? (Degree, job, etc.)
Listen
Let the other person ask about you. Volunteer things like your name, and anything that's a good conversation starter such as "Hi, my name's Penny. I'd offer to shake your hand, but I broke my arm while rock climbing last weekend."

• If there's something you happen to share with the other person—a sport, a love of food, a favorite political candidate, by all means, share. The goal is not to be silent, just do not introduce yourself to somebody for the sole purpose of talking about yourself.

• If the person you want to talk to doesn't seem like they're interested in talking back, then don't force it. It could be that they're just having a terrible day, or it could mean they just don't want to chat with you.

Avoid the usual boring comments such as, "Lovely day!", or, "Look at the traffic!" Try to start the conversation in an interesting way. Something like, "Did you see that football game on the weekend-a good one, huh?" or, "Cool watch, where'd you get it?" Are much better than the ordinary conversation starters. Try to say something that will most likely start a long and lively conversation. For example, if the watch the cab driver's wearing is an amazingly expensive and dazzling one, asking where they got it and what brand it is would probably provoke a longer conversation than commenting on the weather. Obviously if there's a hurricane going on outside, or an extremely heavy storm, it would be appropriate to mention this

Ask questions that encourage people to talk.
Avoid asking questions that require one-word replies.
Follow-up with "Why?" or "How?" 


Opening: What would you like to talk about today?
What’s on your mind?
Where would you like to start?
What have you been thinking about since we last talked?

Alternatives: What are the possibilities?
If you had your choice, what would you do?
What are the possible solutions?
What if you do and what if you don’t?
What could you do differently?

Appraisal: How do you feel about it?
How does it look to you?
What do you make of it all?
What do you think is best?
What is your basic concern?

Background: What led up to ____________?
What have you tried so far?
How did it happen?
Fill me in on the background.

Clarification: What if this doesn’t make sense to you?
What seems to confuse you?
Please explain what you mean by_________?
What do you make of it all?

Description: What was it like?
Tell me about it?
What happened?
Please describe it in your own words?

Evaluation: In what way?
How is the good or bad or in between?
According to your own standards, how does it look?
How would you evaluate all of this?

Exploration: How about going into that a little deeper?
Let’s explore that some more.
What other angles you can think of?
What were your reactions to these things?

Examples: Give me an illustration?
Give me an example?
For instance?
Like what?

Perspective: What are your ultimate objectives?
What would you like to be doing five years from now?
Where will this lead?
How does this relate to your other problems and successes?
Where did this come from?

Planning: How do you suppose you could improve the situation?
What do you plan to do about it?
What could you do in a case like this?
What plans will you need to make?
What plans have you thought about?
Who could help you with your plans?

Predictions: How do you suppose it will all work out?
Where will this lead?
What if you do or what if you don’t?
What are the chances of success?
How would you like it to work out?

Reasons: How is it that you feel that way?
How do you account for this?
What reasons have you come up with?
What is the logical solution to this?
What makes sense to you?

Relation: How does this fit in with your plans?
How would you describe our discussion to someone else?
Please review for me.
What do you think this all amounts to?

Taking Action: What are you going to do about it?
Where do you go from here?
What are your next steps?
How do you plan to start?

Other: What can you do differently?
How could you do that differently?
If you had a “magic wish,” what would be different?
What would you be doing differently?

Why Questions: Be careful of “why” questions as they can lead to blame or perceived 
accusations.
How did that come about? Or How did that happened” are more effective than
“why” questions.
Avoid Closed Ended Questions: Did you…? Are you…? Will you…?


Coming up with new conversation topics

Watch the world around you, and look for things that interest you. A broad vision of life will expand the subjects you will enjoy talking about.

Look for new friends in different walks of life or different backgrounds. Their perspectives, philosophies, and ideas may be interesting topics of conversation.

Listen to the people you talk with, and if they have unique interests, learn more about them.

Develop hobbies and look for clubs or organizations that support them. This will be a unique ground to learn and share ideas and thoughts as your knowledge grows.

Consider what you might have in common with this personDo you like the same music? Talk about your bands. Don't know what music they like? Ask them! Having stuff in common is the reason most people become friends.

Search for new perspectives in your own interests, and keep current on the leading edge of discoveries in those areas. When Pluto was declared a non-planet some months ago, you can be sure it was a hot topic in the astronomical community, but people on the streets were talking about it too.

Talk about food.

Study the reaction of people you normally talk with when you try to bring up new topics.



http://www.wikihow.com/Avoid-Talking-About-the-Same-Old-Things
http://www.quora.com/How-can-I-have-improve-my-conversation-skills
http://www.wikihow.com/Ask-Open-Ended-Questions
http://www.wikihow.com/Start-a-Conversation-with-a-Stranger