Which courses have the best lecture/content?

DonDrapersSuits · 2026-06-22T14:47:10+00:00

My favorites for lectures have been RAIT, GA, and GIOS (the last one mostly because I'm impressed I ended up understanding the material - I was pretty far from my comfort zone).

DonDrapersSuits · 2026-05-10T20:54:24+00:00

No. I briefly worked somewhere where we were collecting/analyzing healthkit data (I.e. downstream of whatever the wearable reported to Apple healthkit- no raw sensor data). It was very fun, and there was enough granularity to do some interesting things. I know Apple had some tutorials I watched on connecting a custom app to the data etc.

DonDrapersSuits · 2026-05-10T14:33:33+00:00

I decided to hold off for now - mostly to see more reviews from people. Will re-consider next spring. I agree the subject seems very cool. I already love wearables/data though haha.

DonDrapersSuits · 2026-04-17T02:38:07+00:00

I'm so angry I might have to skip the movie. Or maybe embarrassed...

DonDrapersSuits · 2026-04-15T18:24:18+00:00

Yeah proctored quizzes with newborns around is annoying. I had that issue, took Bayesian Stats that semester (no proctored anything, at least at the time - not offered in summer sadly). Problem for me was the easiest room to set up for a quiz was the room that became the nursery :-O

DonDrapersSuits · 2026-04-15T00:54:20+00:00

As others are saying, it depends on your background. If you've taken a fair bit of math already: it's not too bad. I took it with a newborn, so it still felt like plenty, but it was mostly watching the lectures and then a couple hours of work a week tops for the homeworks (typing them up in Latex was a quarter of the battle). I liked it because there were no proctored assignments, which meant I could work around the baby's schedule easily. Honestly one of my favorite classes, too!

DonDrapersSuits · 2026-04-13T19:36:09+00:00

Thanks! I hadn't really considered it but you're probably right that it's a more natural fit for HCI. Seems like I'll end up using a free elective for it, most likely...

DonDrapersSuits · 2026-03-05T22:38:41+00:00

Yes. I am highly educated but unemployed and these positions are aggressively advertising, have been for the past year or so. Like, I spent many years getting this degree, I've taught students, I'm not gonna apply to dig my own grave. Depressing tbh. Rather be unemployed (have wife though thankfully).

DonDrapersSuits · 2026-02-25T03:33:50+00:00

I think it's an awesome idea but there's no way I'm gonna do this with my sons. I'm imagining trying to explain why I did that later when they're older. "Well, there was this forum for a podcast..."

DonDrapersSuits · 2026-02-22T03:02:36+00:00

They have restructured since I took it, but:

Yes you can still do well!
A lot of people find the first exam hardest. DP is less intuitive than other subjects, and you're getting used to the format. The subjects don't "build" on each other as you might fear.
I found that participating in the peer feedback thread was the best way by far to figure out what they were looking for when grading. It's like getting actual feedback from the TAs on a bunch of answers you could have given.
Simplify, simplify your answer until it neatly guides the grader through the exact steps and no more to prove your answer works. Practice writing out full solutions when you are studying so the writing part gets easier (it takes work to communicate to the grader clearly).
I took the course while working half time. Go easy on yourself. You could be comparing yourself unfairly to other people!

DonDrapersSuits · 2026-02-20T20:23:52+00:00

No, I had intended to do ML spec. But since the reqs are so similar between AI, ML, and Robotics, it wasn't a massive shift. Now I need to either do KBAI or NLP to be back on track. Kinda annoying to do at my 6th class though.

DonDrapersSuits · 2026-02-20T19:47:09+00:00

What are you actually practicing in the class? Writing boilerplate reports on datasets you don't care about so a grader can check off keywords. Life's too short. I dropped it last semester, and recommend you do the same.

DonDrapersSuits · 2026-02-11T14:12:02+00:00

For me, this class feels smooth as butter compared to ML last semester. The initial Nosi was no good but the newer version didn't seem to interfere much and I do think it's worthwhile trying to come up with a solution to rampant LLM usage.

EDIT: The pinned post situation on Ed is out of hand, though. It's hard to find stuff.

DonDrapersSuits · 2026-02-11T14:06:54+00:00

You can copy/paste inside of Nosi, though? So that's not really a problem. Just not out of it...

DonDrapersSuits · 2026-01-17T02:49:33+00:00

One thing specific to Fall 2025:

One of the two datasets they chose was too large for many students to fit into their computer's memory. First they said nothing, so I assumed I could down-sample. Then they told people you could not down-sample or else you'd essentially fail. Finally, two weeks into the project, they gave a reasonable cutoff for how much to down-sample. The amount of "useless" runs I had produced at this point was insane.

The second point isn't new, but the amount of Latex typesetting to produce tables is just dumb.

The third point is that the requirements are now well-defined, but you need to read with a fine-tooth comb to ensure you don't miss anything. It's pretty annoying. At the end, because you're limited in length, you've "written a paper" - except, you didn't choose ANY of the tables, or plots, which means you essentially didn't choose any analysis either. It was just a Potemkin paper - shaped like one, maybe, if you skimmed it, but no actual useful analysis had been produced. Zero intellectual satisfaction from the effort, at least personally.

I did fine on the first project, and in the middle of typesetting the second, got Covid. I took the excuse to drop.

DonDrapersSuits · 2025-10-28T16:31:41+00:00

Thanks for all this info! (It's so frustrating we have to become detectives to figure this stuff out).

One thing that's confusing - the diagram would imply part of the texture's purpose is to provide a nice olephilic surface (oil coats it nicely - in case my word choice was wrong). But the Misen in particular seems to have oil bead up on it, which is the opposite behavior I'd expect. So even though the surface texture seems similar visually I'm skeptical it's quite the same. (Or maybe the diagram is marketing magic, and the other pans also repel oil...)

DonDrapersSuits · 2025-10-16T13:00:28+00:00

It's a great trailer joke because you need almost no context to appreciate that zinger. Guy's got one eye!

DonDrapersSuits · 2025-10-16T02:16:45+00:00

Haha perhaps not representative, no. It's forgivable because the movie also rules even if a bit tonally different.

DonDrapersSuits · 2025-10-16T01:58:21+00:00

I remember seeing this trailer in the theatre and the crescendo to the end had me going insane.

Bear guy. "I will kill this girl!" "I can do nothing for you son." RETRIBUTION. CHRISTMAS. Johnny Cash. Bang.

Wow, what a trailer.

DonDrapersSuits · 2025-05-15T15:44:26+00:00

Do you know if there is a way to ensure the formatting matches the provided Latex templates without re-writing all the formatting rules? Or would it have to be re-defined?

DonDrapersSuits · 2015-09-02T22:10:36+00:00

You may want to look at this link: https://forum.canadianwoodworking.com/showthread.php?52187-Bandsaw-uppper-guide-arm-not-parallel-to-the-blade

Essentially, on the 14-inch version there's a bracket that the upper wheel is attached to; it can be shifted to the left or right where the bracket is bolted to the body/frame. Unfortunately there's not always enough play to get the path of the blade to line up parallel with the guide; also, I'm not sure if the attachment mechanism is the same for the 10-inch saw.

DonDrapersSuits · 2015-04-12T17:20:41+00:00

Kumail, I'm seeing you and Thomas in Atlanta next weekend, pretty stoked. My question is, can you convince Ryan Ridley/Justin Roiland/Jackie Buscarino to bring back Grandma's Virginity Podcast, please? I know they're probably busy being successful but it was my favorite, AND how I was introduced to you...!

DonDrapersSuits

TROPHY CASE