Will the robot news never cease?

The geniuses at the Pentagon are going to build robot soldiers that supposedly won't commit warcrimes.

Check out the photo at the top of the article. Now Skynet doesn't even have to create itself, we will do that oursevles.

You might want to check out this video for some good tips on how to get by.

More Good News

Apparently the criteria for the May 2009 internal assessment has been changed as well. You can take a look at the new criteria and see what has been done. The documents are called New portfolio criteria and New project criteria. Read through it and I will go over it in class.

For those of you working on the HL Extension I have also posted two presentations from another teacher about what to do in the interview and report. They are called PFXInterview and PFXReport. They have the main points and we can go over this in class as well.

We have some editing to do.

For the 12IB ITGS HL Students

I just read this at the OCC:

In terms of the Porfolio Extension pieces, are you having students provide a brief 100 word description prior to Criterion N? Do you think it's necessary? Charles Newman

Answer
Absolutely! I take up all offers that will maximise my students' marks and this is a big opportunity!

I did this last November and it was most successful. It meant that they didn't waste words in Criterion N writing introductory information that didn't gain marks. It also set the scene for the moderator who, unlike me, was not familiar with my students' topics.

To summarise for other teachers it is suggested that students:

Begin the Extension with an introduction (not part of the word count)
-Use the heading introduction
-Write no more than 100 words (otherwise they count!)
-State briefly the issue, and the stakeholders, as identified in criterion C
-State the interviewee(s), and justify their qualifications as a stakeholder Elizabeth

This is the first I have heard of it, but it seems that you are allowed to write introductions that are not part of the word count.

UBC Update

The reps from UBC and Toronto will be at our school on Tuesday at 8am. If you have applied get your documents together and get ready to present yourself.

If you want to meet either of the reps individually you must arrange it with me in advance. This will not be a full presentation, it is for interested students only.

This week in ITGS

For the seniors, you will be writing the Robotics essay question in your first class on either Sunday or Monday. The second class we will be watching the video The Intelligence Revolution from the BBC. It will be a good wrap up for this chapter.

For HL seniors, you need to have your interview subjects and questions settled before we break so that you can write the first draft over the break.

For the juniors, we will be covering software piracy this week. Both classes will include discussion and analysis. We will also be watching both parts of Steal This Film, it will give the other side of the downloading debate.

When we get back from break I am going to start a section on your internal assessment, so you will need to be thinking about choosing either HL or SL.

Tuesday we have a visit from the University College of Bahrain at 9:30. This will be during the period 2 12IB class. I also received an email from the UBC and Toronto reps. They are going o come on Tuesday as well, but just to meet with the students who are applying. If you want to be on this list let me know so I can arrange it for you.

I will see you all tomorrow.

Robots from China

This guy has a lot of free time on his hands.

Linux Rules

If you needed more proof, here it is.

The best part of the article is where the writer says

'You see, there are no Microsoft programming tools to write supercomputer compatible applications. That will come years from now with Visual Studio 2010 and when Microsoft's F# is more than a research project language. In short, Windows HPC isn't ready for prime time.'

Microsoft doesn't even have tools for developers at this point. Meanwhile, over 90% of the pros are using Linux.

I couldn't have said it better myself

Once again, more evidence from the real world on the advantages of using my favorite Linux flavor. When a tech support guy tells you it's good you can probably believe him.

My favorite part was where he runs Ubuntu from the live CD because windows won't recognize the hardware correctly. Why not just install Ubuntu and be done with it. I have been using Linux exclusively for almost two years without a hitch, or a license fee.

Happy Birthday Pirate Bay!

My favorite Website the Pirate Bay is turning five years old today.

I have been using it for about the last two years and many of the videos we have watched in class have come from here. Read the history of how the site got started and how it has grown. It just goes to show what you can do with a little creativity and effort.

Some more college counseling help

I have found a few great articles today that I think you should check out.

The first is from a local news station in the US and talks about the admission tests that many of you will take. This article is especially useful for the table at the bottom where it gives some admission formulas that are used by different schools. You are always asking me how colleges make their decisions, well this gives you some insight.

The second is an article about what sophomores and juniors can do to prepare for college when they are still a couple of years out. I know that it is very brief, but it makes the point again that organization is everything.

The third one is an article about a site that does interest assessment and career guidance, it is called Rastopia. I know that many of you have chosen majors that you are pretty sure you want, but this can help give you clarity. It may also point out some things about yourself that you may have suspected or not known, and couldn't articulate.

Late edit.

One more I just had to add. This article gives you some good warnings about what you put online. Don't leave anything on Facebook or MySpace and assume that nobody will ever find it. A good technique is to go deep on Google. Enter your name and search ten pages. Then enter your name and Bahrain, again look at search results for ten pages. Lastly enter your name and the school's name (MKS) and search. If you find nothing bad then chances are neither will admission officers. If you do, start deleting now and hope that you don't get cached.

Check them out. If you have any of your own, put them in the comments.

For all my students

We have had a few interruptions this week, but we are going to have a strong finish before the break.

For the seniors, period 2 you will have a short answer question on robots at the beginning of next class and then we will continue with robotic surgery and other special applications of robots. Period 7 your question will come one class later after we cover the material.

Also for the HL seniors I want to have your interview contacts next week and I want the survey first drafts by the end of next week.

For the juniors, you will also have a short answer question at the beginning of class on Sunday. This will relate to what we have covered in the chapter so far. After that we will start operating systems, move on to interfaces and finish with piracy and other issues before we break.

My son Yousif on his first trip to Hong Kong Restaurant in Um Al Hassam.

OSC at MKS

We had our first ever visit form Oxford Study Courses on Wednesday at it went great. Rosanna and Aisha gave a lot of great information and good advice for all who attended.
I thought the time management presentation given by Rosanna was very helpful. As an IB student you have more to do than there are hours in the day. Learning to manage your time effectively is important and will help you avoid the last minute frenzy that so man students go through.









One thing that really stood out for me was the way that so many students connected with Aisha after the presentation was over. She talked to you for almost thirty minutes and everybody was completely engaged. After you left both Rosanna and Aisha told me that they absolutely loved you. That was Aisha's first comment to me. They were very impressed.


For those of you seriously considering taking one of their courses, either a summer course or an exam prep course, you should go to the website and sign up as soon as possible. There will be a few thousand students attending this year, so get a spot while you can.

More Robot news

Here we enter the final frontier. The Mail has an article about a robot which looks human and can imitate human expressions. I wonder, when robots do become intelligent, will they really want to look like us? Or will they want their own features?

Mount Allison University Returns

We had another good visit with Charlie Hunter from Mount Allison University. Aside form being a great speaker, he always gets all of the students engaged in what he is talking about. And what he is talking about is always important. It also helps that this year we have a couple of students that are seriously considering Mount Allison as their first or second choice.











I think what his presentation did best was make clear the advantages of attending a smaller school that is focused on the student. I try to make this point with you as well. Many of our students would benefit from this close personal attention when they attend university. Going to a larger school may seem like the best choice because of its ranking or name, but is that what you want from your university years?



What you should really look for is the 'best fit'. This is a term you see a lot in counseling and it means finding a place that is best for you, not best because of a subjective ranking which is totally remote from you. Maybe a large school in the heart of a large city is best for you, in that case you should choose the best one. If it isn't, don't make the mistake of going to one because other people think it is the best for you. We will have more visits throughout the year, with two more next week.

And finally, a picture of my son Yousif, the artistic genius.

First chess, now music

For the 12s.

Now there is a robot that can play music flawlessly!

I thought that music and creative pursuits were our strong point. I guess we will have to cede this territory also. Keep in mind that it plays, it doesn't compose. What would a robot composition sound like anyway?

There are AI guys working on programs that can compose music among other things. They are usually set up according to music rules that humans find pleasant. Would a truly intelligent machine want to follow our preferences when it comes to music? I think that they would want to create their own.

It reminds me of the Matrix, more specifically the making of DVD. The conceptual planners were all talking about hot they came up with the idea of the Machine City and the large machine at the end which negotiates with Neo. They went deep into the creative well to design a look that would be something machines would make for themselves, rather than something we would make machines design. Anyway, it was way metaphysical, you can check it out for yourself.

We will be back to AI and expert systems when I get back on Sunday.

Update

Well, I just met the doctor a few minutes ago here at Bahrain Specialist Hospital and she wants me to stay home until next week. So I guess I won't see you tomorrow.

I will put up a post for the work that we are going to be doing to get everyone started.

I'm not dead

I am just sick.

I have stayed away from school because the doctor ordered it and told me I was contagious. Apparently I caught some type of Bahraini virus making the rounds that seems to resemble Scarlett Fever. I'm not saying it is the fever, just seems to resemble it.

Anyway, I am feeling better today than yesterday and I should be back on Wednesday. I sent Mr. Dewey an email with all of your grades, and I increased them (yes, yours too). If there are any problems I will be hearing supplications upon my return.

C U soon.