The website for Travel in Chinese fort some reason isn't playing any of the videos. This wasn't an issue last night so I think it's a problem with the actual website and not my computer.
Articles:
There was an interesting article in the New York Times about a language dictionary that's being periodically updated. The language is Demotic Egyptian. Contrary to popular belief, the hieroglyphs most people associate with ancient Egypt were only used by the pharaohs and other nobility. Demotic Egyptian was the language used by the common people. While it would seem that the language is dead, it surprisingly lives on through other languages. Words in Hebrew, Arabic, and Spanish can all be traced back to Demotic Egyptian.
There was another interesting article on idealab.talkingpointsmemo.com about the latest 3D printer made by the company MakerBot. The printer allows users to print objects that are 37% larger and like it's predecessor, it can print objects with moving parts already assembled. It's intended for people who have an active interest in 3D printing, usually professionally. If people have the money, they can buy it and use it as more of a hobby but it's not just a beginner printer.
Lastly, there was an interesting article on the BBC website. One big step in artificial intelligence is being able to program a robot that can recognize itself in a mirror. Very few non-human species have this ability and so far, robots have been programmed to recognize movements in a mirror but the goal is for robots to recognize their reflection in a mirror, without any movement. What makes this goal so significant is that it would show that a robot is self-aware, which so far, hasn't happened in robotics yet.
Philosophy:
I read about the axiom "existence exists". This axiom basically says that to make an observation, one must think of something, as opposed to nothing. An observation can't come out of nothing. It has to originate somewhere. And by making that observation, one is acknowledging that something exists. Even denying something exists isn't possible unless something else exists.
Internships:
I found an internship in something called Human Factors Engineering. I'm not entirely sure what it is but it doesn't sound terribly difficult.
To-Do (9/19/2012):
- Call doctor and set up appointment for a check-up
- Will do tomorrow
- Sign up for Lean Launchpad Udacity class
- Find out what it takes to start a web design business with Google and Amazon
- Finished lecture 1
- Check blog comments on yesterday's post
- Done
- Watch Prof. Lewin video lecture in 10-15 increments and try to derive formulas on my own
- Change blog format to allow comments on individual points of the post
- Will find out how to do this tomorrow
- Health insurance waiver
- Done. Waiting for an email saying it's being approved or audited.
No comments:
Post a Comment