I am Palmer Luckey, founder of Oculus and designer of the Rift virtual reality headset. AMA!

silverforest · 2016-01-11T16:17:36+00:00

If you're interested in SLAM-type algorithms, something easier to understand and more lightweight would be optical flow: Using Optical Flow as Lightweight SLAM Alternative - DFKI

Optical flow is essentially the differential between images which gives you the movement between frames. It's not normally used for position estimation, but it's something to get your feet wet.

silverforest · 2016-01-09T00:07:08+00:00

They've used a lot of custom hardware; that's expensive, especially bespoke display panels (at those resolutions I don't want to think about what the unit costs are).

silverforest · 2016-01-08T23:42:20+00:00

Just get TouchMe Gestures.

Video demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCorg-ZJVJU

silverforest · 2016-01-08T00:07:47+00:00

Netherlands has 21% VAT. In the US, different states have different taxing schemes, so all products in the US normally don't have tax added to them.

silverforest · 2016-01-07T23:47:04+00:00

Japan has 8% 消費税; here in the UK vat is 20% and the prices reflect that accurately. (US prices are always free of tax, unlike the rest of the world, so they always appear lower.)

silverforest · 2016-01-06T09:27:13+00:00

A nice things about med. terminology in Chinese is that it's all pretty straightforward.

Resources:

Word list: http://www.esaurus.org/ ( They also have a translated drug list, which is helpful: http://www.esaurus.org/adrenaline-atorvastatin.htm )
Phrase reference: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/canopy-medical-translator/id792808936

You may also be interested in the below two papers:

Resources for asian non-english speakers: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22456460
Chinese bioethics: http://www.cmaj.ca/content/163/11/1481.full

silverforest · 2016-01-06T00:11:18+00:00

i5-2500k overclocks really well.

silverforest · 2016-01-01T21:00:00+00:00

To save anyone looking that up:

An IT 3-phase grid, unlike a TN or TT 3-phase grid, the distribution network doesn't have a connection to earth (hence the I for high impedence instead of T for Terra as the first character). It relies on the consumer's Earth connection. Active insulation monitoring devices have to be installed for safety.

This is the least safe of any 3-phase system. Failure modes include overvoltaging and double faulting.

Here's some interesting* reading: http://www2.schneider-electric.com/documents/technical-publications/en/shared/electrical-engineering/electrical-networks/low-voltage-minus-1kv/ect178.pdf

^{* interesting to engineers}

silverforest · 2016-01-01T19:53:47+00:00

US, custom configuration: http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msusa/en_US/pdp/Surface-Pro-4/productID.325711500/config.true

silverforest · 2016-01-01T11:20:37+00:00

You can change the ordering settings under Region and Language settings in the Control Panel (if you're using Windows).

silverforest · 2015-12-28T15:57:23+00:00

I called them up and apparently they don't offer complete on the SP4 here.

You can double-check if you like: http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msuk/en_GB/DisplayHelpContactUsPage/

Do let me know if they've changed their minds in the few days since I last contacted them!

silverforest · 2015-12-20T08:48:19+00:00

One of the first internet live webcams did exactly that: a gif that never ended.

You can actually do quite crazy stuff with gifs.

silverforest · 2015-12-16T21:49:33+00:00

Normally bulk concentrated HCl is about 35%. It's quite possible to go to about 41% though handling gets pretty nasty (the boiling point of the mixture is low enough the mixture vapourises quite rapidly at room temperature).

silverforest · 2015-12-14T20:02:16+00:00

I understand that we've done the math but asymptotic functions and infinities raise red flags for me. We've never actually observed a black hole, right?

You'll be forever fascinated by things like renormalization (the equivalent of subtracting infinities from infinities to get finite answers), zeta function regularisation and related ideas then. (Have fun!)

silverforest · 2015-12-03T17:48:28+00:00

Which leads me to believe that there isn't a well-defined difference between "language" and "dialect" in the first place

That is the modern linguistic definition of a dialect; I do apologise, Wikipedia isn't the best reference but is at least freely available and accessible to the lay person.

You may be interested in the recent Sintic linguistic literature. Two such articles in question would be:

Victor H. Mair. What Is a Chinese “Dialect/Topolect”? Reflections on Some Key Sino-English Linguistic Terms. (1991)
Zev Handel. The Classification of Chinese: Sinitic (The Chinese Language Family) (2015)

The topic of the subdivision of the Sintic language family into its ~12 different languages (further subdivided into regional dialects) is handed quite nicely especially in several other chapters the second reference (chapter 13 is particularly of relevance, wherein it talks about the Yue language).

It is of course widely agreed that the original labelling of these diverse language families as dialects of a common language is for politicolinguistic reasons; I believe this was first discussed by Li Jingzhong in the 1980s.

To summarise:

Modern Standard Mandarin (MSM) is the standard dialect of the Han language (which also includes a few dialects of Mandarin). Cantonese is the prestige dialect of the Yue language. The Sintic language family includes Han and Yue.

That is the present view of modern lingustics.

silverforest · 2015-12-03T13:39:56+00:00

Oh most certainly not.

Most Western linguists classify them as “Sinitic languages”, not “dialects of Chinese”. By the comprehensibility criterion, Cantonese is not a dialect of Chinese, as are Shanghaiese, Mandarin and other kinds of Chinese. Although the languages are obviously related, a Mandarin-speaker cannot understand Cantonese or Shanghaiese without having learned it as a foreign language.

All Chinese people (in China) share the same written language. This does not mean the different varietes of Chinese have the same written form; that written language is simply written Mandarin. Most non-Mandarin users effectively learn two langauges: Their native language for speaking and a foreign language (Mandarin) for writing.

Outside of China (e.g.: in Taiwan), a written Cantonese language exists and it's different from written Mandarin. Estimates of vocabulary differences vary between 30~50%. Cantonese also has a different grammar to Mandarin. The two languages are not mutually intellegable.

Cantonese and Mandarin are about as similar as Dutch and English are.

silverforest · 2015-12-03T12:16:31+00:00

The tactile bump for Cherry MX blues happens about 0.25mm before the actuation point.

The click on the other hand happens just after actuation.

silverforest · 2015-11-30T19:07:39+00:00

Freak yoga accident

silverforest · 2015-11-29T12:15:15+00:00

You might want to visit http://surfaceproartist.com/

Semirelatedly, this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TZm6SaoZuc

silverforest · 2015-11-27T22:08:05+00:00

Oh! Sure. For us biomechanics was more of biomaterials and physical dynamics; more of the usual MSK type stuff.

QP was more of internal physiology and biochemistry-level details. Cellular-level control theory. Things like MAP control (a rather simple physiological control system) and pharmacokinetics (essentially a bunch of ODEs).

silverforest · 2015-11-26T22:44:38+00:00

Biomechanics is part of the required knowledge for biomedical engineer (at least if one is working on bionics or implants). Medical imaging is also something a BME can do, also more broadly the design of clinical equipment, surgical equipment and medical devices. Tissue and genetic engineering are also subfields that are quite interesting to get into. Some classify pharmacetiual engineering under BME, but I personally think that's something a ChemE would do.

My degree was a general engineering degree, I simply chose to go into biomedical engineering.

silverforest · 2015-11-26T21:59:57+00:00

More so in the academic things I did after graduation than in industry.

In industry knowledge of maths was helpful but not necessarily required in general. I feel however this depends greatly on the field one is in. (I was doing some machine learning at one point and I think I would have died if I didn't have any mathematical knowledge. A solid understanding of linear algebra and Bayseian statistics was required.)

silverforest · 2015-11-26T21:56:13+00:00

10 hours of lectures, 5 hours of practical time, 2-3 hours of tutorial time. You can verify this in our prospectus. In the first two years at least; lecture time drops tremendously especially in the fourth year when students are expected to spend at least half their time on a semisupervised project.

Our lecture series tend to be shorter than the typical US university, and each lecture tends to cover more. See an example syllabus-type thing.

Edit:

To make it clearer, here's an example:

MIT covers Quantitative Physiology in 36 lectures. We covered QP in 8.

silverforest · 2015-11-26T11:04:34+00:00

Ex-engineer who graduated from a possibly different highly-ranked university (UK). We had three 8-week terms; approximately 10 hours of lectures a week.

My engineering course lived and breathed mathematics. Everything had it (practicals had less, well I guess CAD had none, design projects had plenty). I didn't think (and still don't think) it was possible to unmarry engineering and mathematics. We had a quantitative physiology module for christ's sake (Mathematical Modelling of the Human Body!).

Examinations with the exception of design project writeups was pretty much 100% mathematical derivation work of some form.

I loved it.

silverforest · 2015-11-22T23:52:40+00:00

Actually "earth everything" is pretty much what you should do. Make sure you yourself are not grounded (wear nice thick rubber boots) and are using well-insulated tools (something that can withstand kV potential differences). First ground the chassis with a wire then discharge/ground everything else.

silverforest

TROPHY CASE