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Tech Tuesday: Finite State Machines (Continued)
Albert Wenger – Oct 29, 2013
Last Tech Tuesday, I presented the idea of a Finite State Machine (FSM) using a Nespresso machine as an example. We saw that what makes an FSM attractive is that we can easily analyze it using formal methods and answer [...] Read more
Unabashed Utopia
Albert Wenger – Oct 28, 2013
I wrote about Russell Brand’s call for an unspecified revolution this past Friday. I liked his eloquent and indignant dismissal of the current political and economic system but he did not provide a vision of what a revolution should aim [...] Read more
Russell Brand and the Revolution
Albert Wenger – Oct 25, 2013
Russell Brand helped edit the latest issue of New Statesman. He leads off the magazine with an epic rant that is worth reading in its entirety. If you need some motivation, watch this 10 minute clip of him. Essentially, Brand [...] Read more
Forget Zombies: Start Worrying about Bacteria
Albert Wenger – Oct 24, 2013
Halloween is coming up. But if you really want to scare yourself, I suggest you read this interview with an associate director at the CDC about the “end of antibiotics.” Essentially we are not only seeing more bacteria that are [...] Read more
Homeschool Wednesday: University Courses
Albert Wenger – Oct 23, 2013
Growing up in Germany I was always bored in math class, despite going to “Gymnasium” (the branch of Germany’s multi-tiered system that leads up to university) and even taking the most advanced math class in our school (the so-called “Leistungskurs [...] Read more
Tech Tuesday: Finite State Machines (Introduction)
Albert Wenger – Oct 22, 2013
As promised (threatened?) Tech Tuesday is embarking on a look at the theoretical side of computer science. We also call this the theory of computation and it deals with two big questions: first, what are the limits to computation (known [...] Read more
Reclaiming Control of My Schedule
Albert Wenger – Oct 21, 2013
I am implementing a radical change to my scheduling: my default is going from saying yes to a meeting request to no. For a long time I have tried to meet with pretty much everybody who sincerely reached out to [...] Read more
SecureDrop: Fighting Government Secrecy
Albert Wenger – Oct 17, 2013
I was asked on Twitter what I think about SecureDrop. The short answer is that I am thrilled to see it. Just like I was thrilled about the New Yorker’s StrongBox which is based on the same original code by [...] Read more
Homeschool Wednesday: Math Motivation
Albert Wenger – Oct 16, 2013
It is definitely Homeschool Wednesday in our household, as Susan has a blog post out about raising active decision makers. My post today will be about math. There are a great many problems with how math is taught in schools [...] Read more