BrainBuilding with Khanacademy

I’m one of the >85,000 subscribers worldwide for the Artificial Intelligence Class taught by Sebastian Thrun and Peter Norvig. Great, but not special, since at least 84,999 other people did that too. I’ll only be proud when I finished the course, because it troubles me if my math skills are still up-to-date – I left […]

Posted by kuehleborn on September 16th, 2011 | No Comments Posted in Geeks

Roger Penrose’s Road to Reality

A few weeks ago I was in London for a short vacation. Being there wih my wife and daughters there was a lot of shopping on the programm and of course we had to visit Harrod’s. While the ladies were just browsing the goodies that were way too expensive for them, I was in the […]

Posted by kuehleborn on April 8th, 2010 | No Comments Posted in Geeks

Stephen Wolfram: ‘I’m an information pack rat’

Newscientist has an interview with Stephen Wolfram online. Stephen Wolfram reckons he can model the entire universe using tiny computer programs. But despite being the creator of a “search engine” that provides answers, he still has to convince his peers that he’s on the right track, as David Cohen discovers He is the author of […]

Posted by kuehleborn on December 17th, 2009 | No Comments Posted in Geeks

Speedy Math in Your Head

A few months ago I bought “More Rapid Math Tricks and Tips – 30 days to number mastery” by Edward Julius. Since the invention of the calculator my math skills have decreased dramatically – I have learned how to use a slide rule but since this device has become obsolete, I’m only capable of doing […]

Posted by kuehleborn on December 6th, 2009 | No Comments Posted in Geeks

  • The Aesthetics and Beauty of Knowledge

    Shih was the opposite of facts and raw information; shih was the elegance of knowledge, the insight and skill to organize knowledge into meaningful patterns. As an artist chooses colours or light to make her pictures, a master of shih chooses textures of knowledge – various ideas, myths, abstractions, and theories – to create a way of seeing the world. The aesthetics and beauty of knowledge – this was shih.

    – David Zindell, The Broken God, 1993

  • Geek Attitude

    The attitude thing is about flexibility, portability, creativity, sociability and jamming (ran out of suitable “ity” words!). It’s about improvising – in the practical and musical senses of the word; not getting tangled in boundaries and the “right” way to do things.
    Definitely the only way to travel.
    – Martin Delaney – “Laptop Music”.