Ceva sau cineva acolo sus
May 22nd, 2010De mai multe ori mi s-a întâmplat să discut cu cineva şi să aud "Dumnezeul pe care îl promovează biserica - nu există; dar totuşi acolo sus este cineva (sau ceva)".
E trendy să fii aşa în ziua de astăzi. Probabil că lumea începe să piardă încrederea în biserică, sau poate s-au săturat de faptul că biserica începe să capete un caracter "money-oriented" deschis. Poate sunt pur şi simplu dezamăgiţi?
Poate e o tactică defensivă? În acest mod poţi să te detaşezi de credinţă, iar mai apoi să spui "niciodată nu am fost credincios, din toate timpurile eram aşa [şi Oceania era întotdeauna în război cu Eastasia]".
Poate e o încercare de a exprima superioritatea? "Eu nu sunt împreună cu acei primitivi care pleacă în fiecare duminică la biserică, care îşi fac cruce atunci când trec pe lângă un crucifix. Those people? Naaa... give me a break..."
Introduction to network sniffers
May 21st, 2010This is an instructional video I made for my students, as an aid to a practical assignment.
The tutorial explains
- What a network sniffer is and how it can be used
- How to look at a network sniff and tell what happens at various layers of the network stack
- Some bits about the HTTP protocol, specifically, how it resumes a broken download
The video doesn't claim to be a comprehensive guide to network sniffers, it barely scratches the tip of the iceberg.
Definition
May 14th, 2010Saying the same words,
meaning it every time;
breaking the speed of light,
leaving the past behind.
Having the same feelings
over and over again;
"But now they are true and authentic,
I'm really, completely awake!
I'm finally, clearly awake!
I'm perfectly, truly awake!"
Going to see the same places.
Sharing most favourite songs,
using the same unique gestures,
doing the same rights and wrongs.
Telling the same special secrets...
and after you get them bewitched,
a switch can be done in an instant,
no one can say which was which.
Power of persuasion
May 5th, 2010This is a review of Robert Cialdini's "Power of persuasion" (a ~1h talk in which he describes some basic ways of influencing people).
I recommend you to go through the original video, but if you have a shortage of time, you can take a look at my notes.
I needed the space on my whiteboard - so I got a sudden motivation to digitize its contents before clearing it.
Here's a photo (click to enlarge) of the original notes.

A mind-map (click to enlarge) and its text equivalent were generated in XMind:
Prediction
May 5th, 2010Flipped bit in a database
tells me winter lasts longer
than I thought.
Metafeedback on education
April 18th, 2010This one is for my students, but generally the answers apply to anyone else who is studying - so I decided to share this.
Here are the answers to some questions I got when collecting feedback about my classes.
Despre limbi şi adevăr istoric
April 5th, 2010Un cioban se odihnea pe un butuc, întâlnea amurgul sub un brad de lângă baltă. Alături îi erau dulăul şi o barză. Dulăul îl întrebă: "stăpâne, spune-mi ce cărţi să citesc?".
Orice limbă are o proprietate - perioada de îmbrăţişare^.
Write right rite subtitles
February 27th, 2010Some time ago I held a special lecture about efficient note taking and learning in class. It was filmed, I have the edited the pieces and made a video. The sound is not perfect, so comprehension suffers; the plan was to write the subtitles and then go public.
Education vs employment
February 8th, 2010There is a trend among students - skip classes because they have a job. I've seen this happen to my colleagues when I was a student, and I see this happen to my students today, when I am a teacher.
I always disagreed with this, for a very simple reason - education is the best investment you can ever make.
A job gives you money, but with a better education you can get a better job and even more money. If money is what you're optimizing, then the calculus is trivial: "money" << "even more money"; the choice should be obvious. Shouldn't it?
De ce e mai bine să am mai mulţi utilizatori în Windows?
January 15th, 2010Articolul dat îţi va fi de folos dacă eşti în situaţia în care mai mulţi oameni utilizează calculatorul tău. Nu e o lecţie de istorie, nu-ţi voi povesti că înainte sistemele de operare nu erau "multi user" şi nu erau nici "multi tasking". Îţi voi povesti de ce ar trebui să faci câte un cont pentru fiecare persoană care foloseşte computerul tău, sau cel puţin să divizezi sistemul în "eu" şi "ceilalţi".
Ce vei afla din acest articol:
- Convenience
-
- no need to log off or log on to your programs all the time
- individual settings
- easier password management
- no socially awkward situtations
- Privacy
-
- no one sees your stuff
- Security
-
- need to know
- mind-controlling aliens
- compartimentalization
- Social factors
- How to