video

Quadcopters

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I’m evidently behind the times, but autonomous quadcopters are apparently quite the rage in University robotics research these days. The quadcopters in the following videos were designed and programmed by the GRASP Laboratory at the University of Pennsylvania and the Flying Machine Arena at ETH Zürich. According to Wikipedia, MIT’s Aerospace Controls Lab has also engaged in similar research.

If you like these, hit the link at the bottom of this post for more information and more videos from the Flying Machine Arena at ETH Zurich.

More info and videos at the Flying Machine Arena website ›

Fifteen

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The university I work for, Western Governors University, is celebrating fifteen years this year, and it just occurred to me I’ve been around for nearly half those years (the last seven). It started out a pretty amazing idea by some pretty amazing people, turned out to be a pretty amazing university, and I consider it a pretty amazing place to work. Happy birthday, WGU!

Prepare to be very bored

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I blogged rather cryptically several months ago about correlation and causation, referencing one of my favorite web comics. Today, as promised in that blog post, I’m finally able to provide more information.

I wrote a research paper a couple years ago for a language and communications course in my bachelors degree program: Essential fatty acids and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. This week I finally finished the second half of that language and communications course, a video presentation on the same subject, and I’m proud to be able to share it with you.

I want to say you should turn the lights down low, pop some popcorn and sit back and enjoy, but the reality is this will probably bore you to tears. Maybe you insomniacs out there can use this instead of your sleeping pills tonight.

Here are the documents I mention right at the beginning of the video:

1955–2011

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Someone mentioned to me just the other day that I ought to watch the commencement speech Steve Jobs delivered to the Stanford University class of ’05. So, when I heard the news of his passing today, I decided to find it and watch it. I can’t think of a better way to honor him than by posting it here. It’s fifteen minutes long, but well worth watching.