| Free Kindle Books |
[Aug. 12th, 2009|12:02 pm] |
Amazon has a large number of public domain and copyrighted books available for free on the Kindle.
<3 technology. There are many titles in there that for years I've wanted to devour. |
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| (no subject) |
[Sep. 17th, 2008|05:45 pm] |
I just came across a PhD thesis from a student at the University of Edinburgh, and the author dedicated page 42 to the memory of Douglas Adams.
Very cool. |
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| Book: The Tipping Point |
[Jan. 18th, 2007|12:53 pm] |
This book is a decent overview of the theory of epidemics and social phenomena. Gladwell places the people who are most critical to a social epidemic into groups of mavens, salesmen, and connectors. Each group plays an important role in the onset of market explosions, public opinion shifts, and loads of other group dynamics. The author stays light on the math in order to appeal to a larger audience, but I think that he includes enough substance to show that his argument is credible. He draws on many examples from history (beginning with the comeback of Hush Puppies shoes in the mid-'90s) that make the groups and argument far more compelling than they would otherwise be. |
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| (no subject) |
[Jan. 11th, 2007|10:34 pm] |
On a chalkboard in Ernst Bessey Hall.
I've survived the first week of classes. My courses so far have been fun, and it looks like we're going to cover some neat topics that I've wondered about for a long time. Dr. Ofria, the head of the Digital Evolution Lab, is teaching my compilers course, and he's structured things so that we have a working compiler by the third project. From then on, we simply add new features and optimizations until we have a real, usable compiler for a small programming language.
I'm also taking my first real graduate course, the Design & Theory of Algorithms, which is being taught by one of my professors from last semester (whose style of instruction I like a lot). That class has so far involved a lot of hairy math, causing me to further appreciate my undergraduate courses and all of the time that I spent doing extra practice problems. Analyzing the performance of algorithms seems to lend itself to clever tricks and logarithms with unusual bases, but it all has a certain scruffy charm about it.
DVD Collection
Mine is nowhere near as numerous as some that I've seen (Rachel's in particular), but I've wanted to rip all of the DVD's that I own so that they can be played on my computer on-demand instead of having to locate the disc, which is invariably not where I am at the time. So, after some minor research into the tools available for Linux (and OS X), I settled on using vobcopy and mencoder. This dynamic duo lets me pull the data off the DVD into a raw video format that can then be encoded using a plethora of options to tweak the audio and video as necessary.
There have been a few problems, but it's worked well for most movies. A couple of times the raw video file got corrupted and the disc had to be re-ripped, and several times the movies have been half in English and half in French, which required some additional tweaking. The soundtrack/language can apparently be forced when the movie is first launched, but I'd rather fix it than have the movie suddenly become incomprehensible in the middle -- at least until I decide to pick up French again.
Books
I'm planning to start making a short post whenever I finish a book. I recently set a goal for myself to get through a book per week, and so far I've been successful. Apologies for the LJ-spam that may happen in the next few days. |
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| (no subject) |
[Sep. 3rd, 2006|03:34 pm] |
Each year, our local public library holds a book sale. If you're an avid reader, it's a great thing: for $5 you get a paper grocery bag and are allowed to take whatever you can fit in the bag.
What did I find? A brand new copy of the textbook that we're using for my Networks class this semester. After I just paid $70 for a used copy.
Back to the bookstore I go. |
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| (no subject) |
[Aug. 29th, 2006|09:19 pm] |
First day of classes went well. Two out of three of my professors are native speakers of English, which is a fairly rare occurrence in an engineering curriculum. I got to meet my advisor today, also, and learned more about some of the (very cool) projects going on in the CSE labs. Incidentally, he's also the professor for my network theory course.
Despite the delays and large crowds, I really do enjoy using the CATA bus system here. There's something that I really enjoy about being able to swipe a card and relax/read/people-watch while the driver takes care of the logistics. Using the mass-transit systems is one of my favorite things to do when I travel to Europe or large cities, so it should probably be no surprise that I'm excited to be able to use it closer to home and during my daily commute.
Baghdad Diaries
When my family took a weekend trip to Chicago recently, I brought along a copy of Baghdad Diaries, a paperback that I had picked up at a local garage sale. I've read a lot about the history of the mideast in the past couple of years, but very little from the perspective of an Iraqi (or a woman, for that matter). This book gave me a taste of both, and it added a surprising amount of color and depth to my mental perception of the Iraqi people. Nuha, the author, describes daily life in a disarming and glib way that sometimes made me laugh and other times made my heart ache. Being educated in the West -- in Britain, I believe -- she was able to make many accurate comparisons between life in Iraq and life in Western Europe or the US.
Even more interesting was her commentary on the US's policies during the first Gulf War, at once biting and bewildered. The events that she writes about (in particular the famine and political vacuum) remind me of Robert Fisk's reporting of the Israeli occupation of Lebanon in the 1980's. I think that it's important for us to hear these "stories from the people" in order to keep from completely losing perspective. |
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| (no subject) |
[Nov. 25th, 2005|09:26 am] |
My applications for graduate school are almost finished. I have a bit of work left to do on my statement of intent, and I need to request transcripts for each of the schools, but at long last I am nearly done.
A couple of weeks ago I got a phone call from the department that has been nearest to my heart for the past four years (i.e., the Department of Humanities) informing me that History of Western Philosophy II, the only course standing between me and a minor in philosophy, was cancelled for the winter term. Normally this would not be a problem - I would just wait until the next term when it was available - but I’m due to graduate in either December ‘05 or May ‘06, depending entirely on the existence of that class. Thankfully, Dr. Morris has agreed to teach a mini-class for the two of us students who need that class to fulfill graduation requirements. Yay, Dr. Morris!
I spent part of this morning reading a book about the ancient Celts. It discusses, in fine detail, their culture, their religion, their music, and their politics. They seemed to possess a dedication and internal strength of character that has all but disappeared in modernity. Many of the discussions reminded me of Tolkien’s portrayal (in LOTR) of the Elves - most notably the Celtic value placed on fine art, decoration, and religion. The Celts were a much more war-like people, however, and the similiarities with the Elves seem to end there, since the Elves were not interested in war for its own sake.
I also finished Allan Bloom’s Closing of the American Mind last night after a fine turkey dinner. His conclusion was moving, articulating very clearly the declining and turbulent past of the contemporary universities. I would like to re-read Bloom’s book in a year or so, specifically once I have read and understood the ideas of many of the modern philosophers of whom Bloom speaks so much - Locke, Descartes, Machiavelli, et al. I’ll write up a review in my "Books I’ve Read" [edit: see books tag] section once I have collected my thoughts on this work. |
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