A Couple KickerStarter Projects - Circuits and Plants

A couple of interesting KickStarter projects I found out about:



Circuit Scribe:  (a pen for on-paper circuit drawings that actually literally work)

Could take circuit drawings you draw in class and test them on the spot (instead of waiting to go to a lab to use a breadboard, or buying components, or getting circuits printed).
http://www.inside.com.tw/2013/11/26/circuit-scribe
You can also read about it in Chinese at the link above, especially using that handy mouse-over translator I mentioned in a previous post.  Got this link from a friend of mine.  Thanks bro!



Glowing Plants, natural lighting, no electricity:

Plants to replace lightbulbs?  Ding!  But I thought I already thought of that!  Looks like someone already took my idea lightbulb...and put a plant there.  XD

Falling Gear

Hindi word:
गिरना = to fall
IPA pronunciation:  /gɪɹ.na/
Sounds sort of like "gear - na"

           and water

GAME PROGRAMMED IN VB : Fully intense game Friday - Programming Week! 5/5

Go to this dropbox link: jeu.exe

There's a few levels in this game (plus some hidden levels!).

P.S.:  If you want to see all the other posts for programming week all on one web page, just click on the label below, as shown in this picture:

And if you've noticed, posts are being consistently posted at exactly 10:30 AM, before lunch time.
It's not because I'm a robot.  They are auto-scheduled posts.  Very convenient. :)

MOLECULE/ATOMIC SIMULATION : Thoughtfully atomic Thursday - Programming Week! 4/5

 Steps to using it:

1. Go to the Dropbox link to the Atom Simulation and open the excel file.
2. Enable macros.
3. Hit these keys:  Alt, w, m, v, Enter.
4. Hold:  Enter.
5. Watch as the animation goes (you can also control/manipulate the atoms/electrons, and see what reactions you can create).  It's a little "messy", but I guess that mimics real life better.

(By the way, I more recently learned how to make an animated .gif file using gimp!)

It works even if you don't have some SDK installed for VB; it runs within Excel, so you can run it anywhere you have Office installed.  The only catch I've had with VB inside Excel is that I can't use a timer like when I program the usual exe files, but then again, being able to "control" time with the Enter key makes it convenient to pause (which sorta reminds me of "fail-safe" systems).

With the green commandbutton selected (or recently pressed), you can move the yellow "nucleus/proton" (a,s,d,w = left, down, right, up).

Try playing with it and see what happens.

How do the "electrons" move when they're closer/farther from the nuclei?
Can you create an ionic/covalent bond?
Can you pull/attract the electrons away from the other atom?
Do you see behaviour resembling "filled" shells and hence repulsion or attraction between the "atoms"?
Free radicals?
Other behaviour?

Experiment!

Programmed by yours truly.  Enjoy.  :D

P.S.:  If you want to see all the other posts for programming week all on one web page, just click on the label below, as shown in this picture:

TABATA : W-awesome exercise Wednesday - Programming Week! 3/5

Ta..ba..ta...?  That be ta?  Tabata?  It's another at-home exercise motivator:  20 seconds of pushups or your current favourite exercise, alternating with 10 seconds of break, for 8 reps (I'd recommend really taking the full 10 seconds to breath and relax.  I find it gets harder in the last reps.).  See this post for the 7-minute full-body workout.

P.S.:  If you want to see all the other posts for programming week all on one web page, just click on the label below, as shown in this picture:

NEURAL NETWORK SIMULATION : Totally neural Tuesday - Programming Week! 2/5

Go to:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/87fs1veqa45j7v4/neurons.exe

This is some old code that I made in high school.  The objective of the simulated neural network is to try to get to the "food", and not let it get away for too long.  Right now it's just trial-and-error learning.  I've been learning about some better techniques via the Coursera Machine Learning course to find ways to make the learning algorithm more robust ("educated guesses" instead of just trial-and-error, maybe even "errorless learning"?).

Some Notes:
- Observations

- Future Research Directions Notes

 

P.S.:  If you want to see all the other posts for programming week all on one web page, just click on the label below, as shown in this picture:

PONG x 3 : Mellow fun Monday - Programming Week! 1/5

Relax while testing your reaction time reflexes.

http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/14318317/

I didn't program this game from scratch (I modified a template), but I programmed it using Scratch.  [Haha.]  Anyways, "Scratch" is a free open-source programming language from MIT, a "visual" programming language one might call it (looking at it though, it's not exactly like LabVIEW, it's more like using blocks to replace some of the tedious-ies of text-based programming languages).  You can read more about Scratch and find more links on Wikipedia.

More bounces --> higher speed.

Goal: up to how high a speed can you keep the balls from hitting the ground?

ANNOUNCING: Programming Week!

Starting Monday of next week, I'll be taking out some of my good ol' programs from the cupboards, each day, for your entertainment and semi-practical use.  Why?  I don't know!
And I don't know if "Programming Week" is a real holiday, but I'll be calling it Programming Week.  For me anyways.
...And also, it won't really be a "week" because I'll only be posting for five days...
...
So happy Programming Week!
-2 days

(Sounds almost like something that would be said in Beartato.  Interesting.  Check it out:  http://nedroid.com)

Here's the menu for the week:

Mellow fun Monday
Totally neural Tuesday
W-awesome exercise Wednesday
Thoughtfully atomic Thursday
Fully intense game Friday

It'll be fun.  :D
HTC

PS:  If you want some programs now, see these ones from previous posts:
http://hchiam.blogspot.ca/2013/07/7-minute-workout-another-experiment.html
https://www.dropbox.com/s/dq048ikbawd66ld/FlashCardsHSK1.xlsm

How to Remember Chinese Words - HSK 5 (4) 唉 ai = Alas

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- Original Art, Howard T. Chiam, 2013 -

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ABOUT THIS POST:  The Chinese word today is:  唉 (ai) "Alas".  It's #4 on the new HSK 5 list.  The HSK (Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi) is a standardised test for the Chinese language.  In this case, by "HSK 5 list", I am referring to the list of words in the vocabulary for level 5 of the HSK test.  You can read more about the HSK on Wikipedia.  And if you want all the various words/vocab lists, or all the words in one huge list, you can go here.

SOME NEWS:  The past few previous posts for the last few weeks have been part of a sneak-peak preview of my first self-published book (links below).  The plan for now is to continue with what I announced earlier, to periodically work on HSK 5.  I'll be doing this to demonstrate other aspects/techniques of mnemonics, for your learning and edutainment, as well as for my own learning.  See if you can follow this free-style-imagination story for HSK 5, and maybe you can catch on to the hidden connections (and hidden mistakes) in the story along the way!

• What's HSK?
• More ways to remember:  Chinese Vocab Mnemonics Storybook - HSK 1
• (Black-and-White edition: lower printing costs = 1/2 price)
  
• Free book preview
• Book announcement post
• Practice HSK Level 1 list
• Practice HSK Level 5 list

How to Remember Chinese Words - HSK 1 - 9/9 - It's a Long Story (extract from the book)

Part 1/9 of the extract.

- Original Art, Howard T. Chiam, 2013 -

Go to Part 1/9

Pinyin	Chinese (Traditional = Simplified this time)	Bopomofo/Zhuyin	English
zi\	字	ㄗˋ	word
zuo\	做	ㄗㄨㄛˋ	do

  
Don't get what's going on?

• Check out the book:  Chinese Vocab Mnemonics Storybook - HSK 1
• (Or the new B/W edition: lower printing costs = half price for you!)
  
• See a free preview of the book.
• Practice the new HSK list, Level 1.
• Practice the new HSK list, Level 5.
• See the announcement post for the book.