== Bernie's brain dump as of September 2009 ==
+=== Sep 15th: Yet another geek party ===
+
+I'm really too busy to go to parties... but the parties come to me all the time! ([[pictures/home/acetarium/20090916-star-party/ | see all photos ]])
+
+{{pictures/home/acetarium/20090916-star-party/00022.jpeg|maxwidth=480}}
+{{pictures/home/acetarium/20090916-star-party/00009.jpeg|maxwidth=480}}
+{{pictures/home/acetarium/20090916-star-party/00006.jpeg|maxwidth=480}}
+{{pictures/home/acetarium/20090916-star-party/00003.jpeg|maxwidth=480}}
+
+Let's party arriba!
+
+=== Sep 9th: XO-1.5 unveiling ===
+
+{{http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2542/3919811479_fd68350f71.jpg | "I void warranties" | class=thumbright}}
+
+I joined the XO-1.5 unveiling ceremony in DC... and got the opportunity to rip one of
+the prototypes apart. [[http://www.olpcnews.com/mt/mt-cp.cgi?__mode=view&blog_id=4&username=wayan | Wayan]]
+of [[http://oplcnews.com | OLPCNews]] was next to me, so this enjoyable operation made the news!
+
+ * [[http://www.olpcnews.com/laptops/xo15/olpc_news_exclusive_xo-15_laptop.html | OLPCNews article ]]
+ * [[http://www.flickr.com/photos/dcmetroblogger/sets/72157594232448993/ | Filckr photo stream ]]
+ * [[http://www.youtube.com/v/9N4PD219fcE&hl=en&fs=1 | XO-1.5 vs XO-1 boot comparison]] (You Tube)
+{{http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3524/3919814287_4eef4b64e6.jpg}}
+
+=== Sep 7th: Class Acts ===
+
+I'm in DC for a sprint called [[http://wiki.laptop.org/go/ClassActs | Class Acts]]
+([[http://www.flickr.com/photos/curiouslee/sets/72157622056452421/ | Flickr coverage]]).
+
+{{http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2619/3893514667_26655c8908.jpg|First day meeting}}
+{{http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2447/3895420980_f53a4ebc4c.jpg|Dinner event}}
+
+=== Sep 5th: Goodbye Aids ===
+
+Our housemate [[Adelaida]] (aka Aids for reasons we don't care to know) is
+going back to Hampshire college tomorrow so we organized a great party at
+the [[Acetarium]].
+
+{{pictures/home/acetarium/20090905-goodbye-aids/00043.jpg|maxwidth=800|The usual bunch of weirdos}}
+
+Photos here: [[pictures/home/acetarium/20090905-goodbye-aids]]
+
+=== Sep 3rd: Calculus ===
+
+{{HarvardHannenbergHall.jpg|maxwidth=640|Hannenberg Hall @ Harvard}}
+
+Ok, today it was precalculus. I arrived on time, but I still had no paper with me, so I had to
+ask to someone next to me for a bunch of sheets. Quickly filling up a dozen of pages with
+notes after so many years of little hand-writing practice has been a bit challenging. My
+calligraphy still sucks the same way it did back when I was enrolled in Florence.
+
+I'm starting to build some confidence that this crazy idea of going to school is actually
+feasible. This Calculus A may even be too easy, but I'm still afraid I'd be unable to
+keep up with Calculus B considering my many little handicaps which include lack of practice
+for many years and being unable to keep my concentration for long spans of time.
+
+The dilemma is: should I take it easy and aim for the rewarding satisfaction of being
+good at maths for a change? Or would Calculus B be a better use of my time and money,
+even if there's a high risk of failing the tests?
+
+I have one week left to change my course plan without loosing any money.
+
+
=== Sep 1st: Back to school ===
+{{HarvardYard.jpg|maxwidth=800|The Harvard Yard}}
+
+Today I attended my first class of **discrete matematics** (E-104). I was too optimistic in estimating the
+time it takes to bike from the FSF to the Harvard Science Center, and as a result I arrived 5 minutes
+too late. Next, I entered the wrong classroom, and it took me another 5 minutes to figure out
+that kinetic laws had nothing to do with my course.
+
+When I finally got seated in the correct classroom, I realized I had no paper! So I started
+taking notes on my laptop, but I was really the only one doing so. Not much because it's
+not customary for Harvard, but mostly because ASCII is not very well suited for writing math.
+Luckily, the first class was about logic operations, whose notation is very easy to transcribe
+on computers. To make things worse, the battery ran out near the end of the class, producing
+an embarrassing alarm sound that everybody could hear.
+
+My #1 fear, being unable to follow the professor in English, dispelled almost immediately.
+Besides, this first lesson wasn't very hard in itself. I noticed that the professor accompanies
+the explanations with several small questions directed at the audience. These days this is
+one of the few reasons left to prefer a real university over a set of videos on You Tube.
projects / wiki.git / blobdiff