Learning Deep Learning

Category: Writing

  • Boost profits, analyze metrics

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    wombat
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    Once upon a time in math, I studied metric spaces, spaces for which there exists a way to measure distances between points. At first glance the non-mathematician might say: yuck, this is the genesis and justification of corporate bean counting and turning people into numbers, stay the heck away from me. But this is not…

  • says René Magritte

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    wombat
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    I despise the past, my own and everyone else’s. I despise resignation, patience, heroism and all the obligatory sentiments. This is a favorite quote from the Belgian surrealist painter René Magritte. As the author of a novel set in the past, it puts me on my toes. The quote is a little outré, and I…

  • Girl Mechanic Review: asianmommy.com

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    wombat
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    Yay, another blog review of the The Girl Mechanic of Wanzhou, at asianmommy.com Much appreciated!

  • Gender and The Hobbit

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    wombat
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    It’s time to come out of the closet. I love The Hobbit. I love it so much that I love the movie too. And while I usually agree with articles that deplore the absence of women in popular media and stories, in this one case I have to make a rebuttal to those who say…

  • Girl Mechanic Review: dontmesswithmama.com

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    wombat
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    Great new year’s news: a review of The Girl Mechanic Of Wanzhou on Tracey Black’s wonderful blog, dontmesswithmama.com Check it out!

  • ‘Ockey Night du Canada

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    wombat
    in

    When I was a child, ice hockey was the bane of my TV watching. It pre-empted everything, for hours. And I didn’t care for it. I knew nothing about it, which made me the worst sort of philistine. There were small parts of Hockey Night In Canada that I enjoyed. The opening theme music–who couldn’t…

  • Make fifty pots

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    wombat
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    I don’t recall the exact reference for this story, so I’ll have to go by memory. A ceramics teacher did the following experiment, with two beginning classes. To the first class he said, “all you have to do to get an A in this class is make fifty pots.” To the second, he said, “all…

  • The zeroth rule

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    wombat
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    I recently saw the documentary Still Bill, about the songwriter Bill Withers. He wrote Ain’t No Sunshine When She’s Gone, Lean On Me, Lovely Day, and many others. He’s one of the greats, and still writes songs, very inspiring. One of the things so fun for me to see in the documentary is how moved…

  • Math problem fun

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    wombat
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    Yep, I like math problems. But just like anyone, I feel frustrated and stupid when I don’t get them. The thing is, the harder the problem, the more satisfying it is to solve it. Here’s a pretty easy one I did recently (it had me stumped for a while though): Find three positive, distinct integers…