I will read more books in 2019. That is my resolution! Reading is Fundamental...to life. To start with, I am going to read the 5 books that Bill Gates loved in 2018. You can't go wrong with recommendations from a "bazillionare". The first will be 21 Lessons for the 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harari. Here is what Bill has to say about the book: "I’m a big fan of everything Harari has written, and his latest is no exception. While Sapiens and Homo Deus covered the past and future respectively, this one is all about the present. If 2018 has left you overwhelmed by the state of the world, 21 Lessons offers a helpful framework for processing the news and thinking about the challenges we face".
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New Pennsylvania Flyer Lionchief
Champion of the rails, The Pennsylvania Flyer includes LionChief remote control for easy operation and walk-around fun. Easy-to-setup Train set, track, and wall-pack power supply included Ready-to-run out of the box! Easy-to-use power and control system Basic wall-pack power supply Terminal track section with a jack for connecting the wall pack Kid-friendly hand-held remote Run more than one locomotive on the same track! Distinct frequencies available for different LionChief locomotives allow for multiple remote engines to run at the same time LionChief locomotives can also run on any track powered by a conventional transformer at a constant 18 volts LionChief locomotives can operate at the same time as any Legacy or TMCC-controlled engine on the same 18 volt-powered layout and track Set Includes: 6-18791 0-8-0 locomotive and tender 6-29789 Three-dome Tank Car 6-29790 Boxcar 6-29788 Caboose Eight curved O-36 FasTrack sections, one 10" straight FasTrack section, one FasTrack wall-pack terminal section Wall-pack power supply Remote for locomotive Locomotive Features: Electric locomotive controlled by remote Operating headlight Puffing smoke On/off switches for smoke and sound RailSounds RC sound system with steam chuffing and background sounds, whistle, bell, and user-activated announcements Operating couplers Maintenance-free motor Rolling Stock Features: Operating couplers Opening doors...Read More
Google AIY Voice Kit for the Raspberry Pi
The Google AIY Voice Kit lets you build your own natural language processor and connect it to the Google Assistant. All of this fits in a handy little cardboard cube, powered by a Raspberry Pi. More information While on vacation, I am going to build this and I'll report back my findings. UPDATE I successfully built the kit and tested the example python code. I am looking for new features to add and will report back on what I find. More Information url1 url2 url3 url4 url5 url6 url7 url8 url9 History of the Google and Raspberry PI Voice Kit Growing up, the free toys on the covers of magazines were made of plastic. They were cheap, and cheerful. Yet the last thirty years has reduced the price of computing to the point where cheap and cheerful plastic toys have been replaced by other things. Around this time last year Google and Raspberry Pi did something rather intriguing. Together they packaged machine learning — the ability for your Raspberry Pi to think and reason — as a kit, and made it available free on the cover of a magazine. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the print run of the magazine sold out in hours. To be fair,...Read More
Steelers schedule for 2018
The NFL saved the best for last for Pittsburgh. The Steelers schedule has a relatively harmless early stretch punctuated by a Week 7 bye, but close with three of their final five games against future Hall of Fame quarterbacks -- Philip Rivers' Chargers, Tom Brady's Patriots, Drew Brees' Saints. The league's late-night darlings from 2017, Pittsburgh is slated to play in eight nationally televised games this time around; that's half of its season in prime time. Thanks to a random but significant quirk, the Steelers could have the AFC North wrapped up by midseason. How? They play five of their six division games between Week 1 (Cleveland Browns) and Week 9 (Baltimore Ravens), and only one more over their final eight games. If the Steelers perform well in those games -- and, overall, they have the NFL's easiest first half of the season based on opponents' 2017 winning percentage -- they could bury the Browns, Ravens and perhaps the Cincinnati Bengals early and provide all three little chance to make up ground. Pittsburgh's final division game will come in Week 17, at home against the Bengals. Steelers Toughest Test You know the drill by now. There will be a lot on the...Read More