I used one of the TTS pre-trained models to turn the Frankenstein e-book from Project Gutenberg into a podcast, and it worked pretty darn well (especially when I compared it with the terminal "say" command). Here's my write-up:
Not as much time as I'd like. Mostly been playing games so far (I just scored two vintage Apple II joysticks!). But one of my upcoming projects will be experimenting with its serial card. I have a vision of being able to "remote in" to the Apple II from my laptop. Then I'm thinking it will be easier to actually write code for it, since I'll be more easily able to version control it (rather than saving it down to tape or something on the actual machine). Anyway, that's what I'm thinking lately, but we'll see!
Thank you for this reply. I completely forgot to add the nerve-damage potential to my post and I'm going to amend it to add that, since that is a risk (and one of the other huge reasons that we elected 3 months instead of 6 months).
Yeah, my analogy is definitely hampered by my novice-level guitar chops.
I'm definitely intrigued by the idea of better understanding these complex signal pipelines. In fact, a usesthis.com style website that shows the pedal box arrangements and signal flow diagrams for various guitarists would be a website I'd quite enjoy visiting.
You definitely can pop off the last layer in the loop stack, but my particular pedal seems to require another accessory in order to be able to do that (there's a separate pedal you attach to this one).
I've had some fun with Cozmo by Anki, with the caveats that the company recently went under and the required local wifi setup with your phone and the robot is incredibly clunky.
Thanks for the suggestions. I do plan on watching these videos about how the robot does what it does, but only after I put a little more time between me and my surgery!
Thanks! I've been writing these #3Sentence reviews of everything I read and posting to Goodreads for over a year now. It's just fun to go back and skim this little library for a quick taste of where my brain's been traveling.
FWIW, I had to get Covid tested and cleared before both my colonoscopy and my surgery. My hospital has been very serious and strict about covid, and I felt safe to proceed as a result.
Like others, I encourage you to bring it up with your doc and ask about getting tested.
Glad to hear you are staying on top of your situation.
As far as triggering my cancer, I have no idea. And I don't think anyone is going to give me any more clarity than that. I don't think it's possible to do so. What they have told me is that more and more young people are getting colon cancer, and they aren't quite sure why.
That's great. Congratulations! One thing I didn't understand before this was how meaningful hearing stories of success like yours would become for me and my family.
You can Google and see more symptoms. Things like unexplained weight loss and overall fatigue are signs. They also say "gas" can be a sign, and I actually did notice I was "tooting" a lot more than normal, although after a certain amount of time, you forget what normal is. I'm not sure if that itself was another symptom, but it certainly was part of my overall feeling of my situation that did lead me to book the doctor appointment.
Thanks - I've been reading a lot "about writing" recently, mostly as a distraction from editing my novel about robots and childhood. I think this is a common pattern for struggling writers - "if I just READ about WRITING, then that's almost as good as actually sitting down and DOING THE WORK." All that said, I just finished John McPhee's "Draft No. 4" and highly recommend. McPhee's a master of "creative storytelling" and I tried to incorporate some of his advice into this post (plus some gifs).
MUSASHI is so good! I'm still about 3/4 of the way through it. It's so heavy to carry I was worried it would be over my 10 lb limit during recovery haha, but I'm all good.
Not sure. My meeting with the "survivorship" clinic is coming up, and I'll be discussing that with them, among other things I'll need to do to stay on top of this. Obviously there is a physical cost to chemo, and they don't want to overprescribe if not needed. So, in my case, I don't think I'll be getting it, but that may change over time.
Well, the software I had to use didn't allow for grandparent's siblings (so I added those in the notes). But it did ask for grandparents (also also aunts, uncles, and cousins). My mom's one of nine, so this took quite some time!
Good advice, and I've edited my comment above to clarify. I've only had to two rounds of bowel prep so far - albeit on two different types of prep stuff. Had the jug the first time. I'm sorry to hear about your experience with it.
Yes, this, totally this. Even the bowel prep [was] easy and painless [for me -- added this edit]. It's a good excuse to just binge a show, too.
I think the traditional guidance has been to go for your first colonoscopy around age 50. My doc mentioned that they're recommending that move down to 45, because they're seeing more and more young people with issues. You should bring this up with you doc if you have any similar symptoms or if there's any family history of colon cancer.
Watching someone "explore" is still entertaining, I think. You don't need to be a comedian, although that's fun, too. But what I like about livestreaming is that it's a pure, real form of seeing someone's brain in real-time.
Woah! OP here, first of all, thank you for all the memories and skills and laughs and friendship bracelets. How did you and the team decide what to "build" / "write" next? You really did seem to have every "kid essential" covered, but was there research or chatting with real-life kids? And what would you write today if you could make a new Klutz book?
Because I never had the knots book! And my knots are still suffering for it (I lost a fishing lure yesterday as a direct result of not having this Klutz book as a kid).
I'm not surprised this has been shared many times before, and yet I'm glad people are still discovering it. My journey to Engelbart's demo came through reading "The Dream Machine" book about JCR Licklider, which itself is an incredible computer history record.
I love these extensions, and completely agree. If I write a follow-up, I'll definitely add these levels. Especially because, right now, my article doesn't talk at all about where these systems come from in the first place. They are not invented by gods, but real people who have traveled this journey. By adding these levels to the model, the notion of making a "Claude Shannon-like" invention or discovery (something at its core that is simple yet powerful, and obvious-in-retrospect) becomes more approachable for a mere learner.
OP here. I love the concept of "re-purpose" - I was thinking that Level 5 meant that you could build/re-build the system however you choose. But there's definitely a difference between re-building to a spec versus building something new from same components or, as you say, designing something the designers never intended. Would love to hear your ideas for what you want to re-purpose on your car!
My economics professors in college followed the same school of thought for our midterms and exams. So many students couldn't handle the idea that we were going to see things on the test that "hadn't yet been taught" to them. The tests were brutal, but felt like real learning was happening.