It doesn't see a school bus in static 99.99% of the time, the percentage is a measure in the confidence measure of the ANN. Given certain images of static the program will say "I am 99.99% confident that is a school bus".

If whoever owns The Cosby Show was recalling all DVDs, and cancelling all syndication contracts, you might have a point. It is perfectly fine to revile Cosby, and this guy. It is perfectly fine not to associate with them. However the product of their previous work shouldn't be censored. Cosby's behavior doesn't taint the content of The Cosby Show, and this professors behavior doesn't taint the content of those lectures.

My uncle worked for a business (can't remember what it was) that used Logo, that was his job, to write Logo programs for the company.

I don't think everyone needs to learn C, however I think it is important to try to understand at least the level below where you are working. If you are working in Java, learn how the Java runtime behaves. Learn how the Java compiler interacts with different code constructs to produce different bytecode. Learn how the Java libraries implement their various functions so that you understand their underlying behavior and possible performance implications. Most of my work these days is done in C#, and while 90% of the time I don't have to worry about all the underlying details, knowing them is invaluable the other 10% of the time.

While I did learn Assembly (MIPS and SPARC), C, and C++ in school rather than Java, I don't think those low level things actually had a significant impact on my job coming out of college. You don't need to understand how C allocates memory if you are not working in C. You do need to know how the environment you are working in allocates memory though, even if that behavior is hidden from superficial inspection.

His Robot Car class was much better, although still not quite up to the standard where I would pay for it. Now the MITx Circuits class..... THAT is freakin awesome and very professionally done. I can't wait for the next set of course offerings from MIT and Harvard over that system.

What I would like to see is integration of online learning with things like this Techshop. I would love a 'Bioshop' which contains lots of medical/biological lab tools allowing people to learn lecture material online, and do lab work after of course passing some safety courses. The problem of course, is that such a thing is fairly niche compared to Techshop, but I can dream.

Your problem (and most people's it seems) is that you think higher ed is supposed to be vocational training. That is what trade schools and community colleges should be for. Universities exist not only to train you in a particular field, but also to make you a well rounded educated person. Yes, that even involves some level of education in physical skills you may not possess (I certainly enjoyed my Archery class). Unfortunately our society has grown to value the Bachelor's degree so much, that institutions of higher education are being pushed more and more into being really long, expensive, trade schools.

This is why I think this is a better model for things like computer science and engineering, rather than subjects in the humanities for instance. You can't automatically grade essays, but you can automatically grade software projects, which demonstrate an understanding of the subject matter.

I didn't care much for the AI class (I took the Machine Learning class at the same time, which I felt was far superior), however his Robot Car class was really good. It took the practical application aspect the Machine Learning class had, making it far more engaging. I love Udacity, Coursera and MITx, the problem is I think I'm a little ADD, I sign up for just about everything and can't keep up given the limited time I can devote to them outside work.

Polygraphs are not generally used as 'lie detectors' but as interrogation tools. They are the flourish made by the magician with his left hand while he palms the coin with his right. Their purpose is to be a prop used to throw the person being interrogated off balance.

The US does not have an official language at the Federal level. If a state only wants to issue ballots in English, I believe they can, but they are also allowed to issue them in other languages if they want to. If Nevada wanted to they could provide you with options for every single written language in the world.

And people are absolute idiots if that pacifies them, because the everything works out exactly the same either way. Seriously, if you actually care about this sort of thing what Blizzard did is equivalent to saying "well it wasn't rape, it was surprise sex!"

That just isn't the way the human mind works. We get pleasure not just from a thing, but from the context of the thing as well

People can be given the same food, and if it is delivered in fast food boxes vs. fine diningware, they will tell you it either tastes so-so, or GREAT! Give people generic cola in it's generic container and they will tell you it isn't as good as Coke or Pepsi. Put that same cola in a Coke or Pepsi container and they can't tell the difference between it and Coke or Pepsi.

These are not delusions people have, we are not just being shallow, the exact same stuff really tastes better to our brains under different circumstances.

The same reasoning applies here, even if the end result is the same, being rewarded for playing less feels better, than being punished for playing more.

The Egyptian symbolism is there presumably because it was brought by some of the people Jacob brought to the island

The Egyptian symbolism has nothing to do with Jacob for a couple reasons: First, as a Latin speaker, Jacob was born long after the height of Egypt (at the earliest around 400BC if they were speaking Old Latin) By even that earliest time very few, if any Egyptians could still write or understand hieroglyphics. Second, the same Egyptian glyphs and structures appear within the Source of Light, where Jacob has never been, and without the hieroglyph'd artifact stuck in the hole there would be no light, so it was obviously there long before Jacob.

The fact of the matter is that there is no particular reason for the Egyptian stuff. The writers obviously thought it would be all mysterious and mystical, with no depth of thought as to how it would be explained.

Except what you typically do at a computer isn't reading. You are typically looking away a lot, gazing at images, or gazing away from the monitor. Reading is something different. Reading is sitting there entirely engrossed in what you are reading never really looking away for extended periods of time. For that type of reading something like a Kindle is IMO far better. I have a Safari Books Online subscription, and I'll occasionally try to read extensively at my computer. Most of the time I end up just pulling out my Kindle DX and bringing up the mobile version of their site to read it on there. There is a level of distraction trying to read at my computer, and there is a level of discomfort reading on a high contrast black on white screen. Contrary to the low contrast "problem" people like to complain about with the Kindle. I find the images low contrast but still with crisp letters and very easy to read.

I have to agree with a few other posters, nothing makes me more productive than listening to techno while I program (Specifically the DI.fm Eurodance channel). It almost feels like my thought processes get structured on top of the beat, using it is a foundation for the flow of my work. It is only really useful when I am actually writing the code though, when I am working on high level design I tend to turn it off. Weird thing is, I don't even really like techno. It isn't something I listen to at home, and I don't like the club scene. When I'm working though, nothing is better.