Acknowledged

As mentioned on earlier posts, I am taking the MITx 6.00x course, Introduction to Computer Science and Programming. The textbook is available online in the edx platform for the students, but it is such good value for money that deciding to buy the paper version is a no-brainer. 

As it happens, I found a couple of typos while reading the book and, since it is a print on demand book, I decided to write back to the author, Prof. John Guttag, to make my humble contribution to the course. To my complete amazement, I got an answer encouraging me to keep up sending typos, which I did. Eventually Prof. Guttag asked me if I would agree to appear in the Acknowledgements for the Spring edition. I cannot even start describing the joy I felt... It was about the same I felt a few minutes ago when I noticed the Spring edition is already available as e-book and, indeed, I am in the Acknowledgements page!

Como ya he mencionado antes, estoy haciendo un curso online de la plataforma edX. Hay un libro de texto disponible online para los alumnos, que también se puede adquirir como libro impreso. Dado su reducido precio y la alta calidad del contenido, no tuve que pensar mucho si merecía la pena comprarlo o no.

El caso es que cuando empecé a leerlo encontré un par de errores tipográficos en los primeros capítulos y los fui marcando igual que hago cuando reviso los informes técnicos de mi equipo en el trabajo. Pensando en ayudar, aunque fuera mínimamente, a mejorar un poco la experiencia de aprendizaje del curso, le mandé un mensaje al autor, Prof. John Guttag. La sorpresa fue mayúscula cuando me contestó él mismo agradeciéndome el mensaje y pidiéndome que siguiera mandando mensajes similares al continuar con el libro. Para cuando lo acabé, había hecho suficientes comentarios como para que el autor me ofreciera estar en la página de agradecimientos, algo imposible de rechazar. La edición de primavera ya está disponible como e-book y, efectivamente, el J.C. Cabrejas que aparece mencionado soy yo!

Como +Enrique Dans dice muy a menudo, la bidireccionalidad que ofrece internet es una gran diferencia y algo impensable no hace tanto.

Merry Christmas

Bola navideña hecha por mi hija. La otra variante de la felicitación está en +JC Cabrejas

Saludos y felices fiestas a los que pasáis por aquí de vez en cuando.

Around Schloss Charlottenburg

Weihnachtsmarkt

Este mercado es bastante espectacular (hasta tiene página web). Paso por aquí casi cada día y tenía (tengo) ganas de hacer esta foto con nieve. Pero siempre voy con prisa y sin la cámara, así que creo que ya este año no va a poder ser porque se acaba de derretir toda la nieve de las últimas dos semanas. Quizás el año que viene...

MITx - 6.00x Midterm Exam 2

So far so good. Just finished the second midterm exam, well below the two hours provided and with a score which is even higher than in the first one.

It´s been a hectic week, at work, at home, online finishing the last pset and reviewing the book in preparation for today. Time to relax now and go out and play in the snow with the kids.

PS: This blog only receives an extremely modest number of views per day. Somehow, during the midterm exams the number of visitors grows by an order of magnitude. While you are all welcome, I hope it is not fellow 6.00x students looking for the answers. Remember the honour code!

MITx - 6.00x midterm exam

The first midterm exam of 6.00x was due today. I woke up at 5am so that I could have some peace and quiet before the kids get up. It took me two hours to go through the exercises, which were not particularly easy (but doable).

This T-shirt must be more than 15 years old. I found it on my wardrobe a few days ago and thought it was quite appropriate.

In case you are wondering, I scored 1011111 out of 1100100 :-)

Sombras del pasado

Esta película trata un tema que me era completamente desconocido, la creación durante el franquismo de pueblos con colonos que trabajaban las tierras en pago de los bienes recibidos (una casa, una yunta de vacas y una parcela de tierra). Los directores y productores, Lucía Palacios y Dietmar Post, han logrado una película que no te deja indiferente, un sólido retrato social de gran valor.

Al término de la proyección en el cine Babylon hubo una mesa redonda con Felipe González, Carlos Castresana y Emilio Silva, moderados por Harald Jung.

Por cierto, los productores de la película están buscando financiación a través de este programa de micromecenazgo y apoyo para proyectar la película en otros sitios en una gira que llaman cine ambulante. No entiendo que ninguna emisora de televisión se interese por esta cinta, quizás piensen que el tema es todavía demasiado controvertido?

HarvardX - CS50x - Scratch entry

For the first problem set of CS50x, the goal is to explore programming without actually writing lines of code, but instead using the Scratch environment. For me, the most difficult bit was thinking of an idea. Until I remembered a very simple game we had when I was around 12 or 13 (i.e. a long long time ago). In this game a cat was standing on the top of the screen and would try to catch mice, which were running in different levels below. This is a variation of that game, with fish instead of mice and a shark to give it a twist. Actually coding this was fun, and my children like it, so complete success!

To start the game, click on the green arrow and then press the down arrow key. Try to eat as many mice as possible in the given time.

Los colores del otoño

Hoy hemos estado en un concierto de música española del siglo XVII en Kleinmachnow. Los colores del otoño son fantásticos en Berlín.

El otro día vi a una vecina tailandesa sacándoles fotos a los árboles. No me extraña...

Domäne Dahlem

Apples waiting to become freshly squeezed juice... I´m actually more of an Android person anyway!

ILA 2012

This shiny DC-6 was flying over the south of Berlin as I had my camera with me (shortly before taking the shot of the shopping center). You can see it here as well (much closer).

Boulevard Berlin

Yet another shopping center in Berlin.

Taking a break in the Alps

I don´t know who brought this bench to this place. But it was just the right spot And facing the right direction.

Neu Schwanstein

Dentro no está permitido hacer fotos y esta zona del patio está vallada así que por lo menos es posible hacer una foto sin que salgan turistas, que los había a montones.

edx.org

Esto no tiene nada que ver con la fotografía, y va a requerir una cantidad de tiempo que en realidad no tengo, así que en los próximos meses habrá menos fotos en este blog. Todavía tengo algunas programadas, luego, ya se verá.

edX

Hohenschwangau (ii)

Another view similar to this one. I kept going up to this bridge so that I could take the famous shot shown a few days ago. And, suprise, surprise, half way up you are blessed with this view. I fought my way through the fellow tourists to the rail and took a quick series of shots with a panorama in my head. On the way down I took a detour and jogged downhill just in time to catch my family in the village. They had gone down on a horse-drawn carriage from Neuschwanstein and I was there just on time to take some snapshots of them. You should have seen people´s faces as I was jogging down on a rather steep footpath just on my sandals, camera on one hand and holding my rucksack with the other.

Burg Wernfels (ii)

Esta es la vista desde un pueblo cercano, Theilenberg, en el que, como peculiaridad, ¡se acababa la carretera!

Burg Wernfels (i)

A la vuelta de Baviera hicimos un alto en el camino a unos treinta kilómetros de Nürnberg (que por cierto ni llegamos a visitar). El alojamiento era en un castillo reconvertido en albergue. Otro sitio ideal para pasar unos días disfrutando de la naturaleza.

Vista desde la Alte Nationalgalerie

Ya que la foto a la Alte Nationalgalerie no me quedó como yo quería, enseño la foto desde la Alte Nationalgalerie. Bajando la escalinata hay una fuentecilla y unos bancos de piedra. Hacer una foto sin turistas no es difícil, pero requiere tiempo, paciencia y suerte. Yo sólo tuve una de las tres.

Algo que no se ve en la foto es una bandada inmensa de pájaros que volaban todos juntos en lo que parecía un enjambre de abejas gigantes desde la distancia. Había mucha gente grabándolo y alguien se ha tomado la molestia de subirlo, así que no ha sido muy fácil encontrar uno similar de una semana antes en youtube.

Humpty Dumpty

Sorpresas te da Berlín...

Deutsches Historisches Museum

Otro sitio en el que nunca había estado. Lo descubrí porque en el camino de vuelta quería hacer una foto de la Alte Nationalgalerie (que no quedó muy bien, así que no ha pasado el filtro, aunque no lo parezca no hago entradas con todas las fotos que hago :-) ). Me enoctré con esto a la vuelta de una esquina y dado que la hora azul se acababa y ya llegaba tarde para hacer otra foto que tenía en la cabeza, me detuve e hice ésta.

Hay una exposición de la DDR que me apetece mucho ver con mi mujer.

Bode Museum (ii)

Mientras espera mi turno para hacer esta foto, una pareja (madre e hija) mi hizo señas con su cámara. Yo les dije que encantado les hacía una foto. Resultaron ser españolas (es increíble la cantidad de turistas españoles en Mitte) y en realidad lo que me preguntaban es si quería que me hicieran una foto con el museo a la espalda. No, gracias, en mis fotos no salgo yo. Pero al final les hice una foto juntas. Donde he oído algo parecido? Aquí.

La hija estaba pensando en venirse a Berlín a buscar trabajo. Para desencanto de la madre, yo le dije que aquí se vive muy bien y que lo intentara.

Bode Museum (i)

Después de once años en Berlín creo que ya tocaba hacerle una foto al Bode Museum. De hecho le hice dos. Aquí la falta de un gran angular estropea la foto, porque parece que le falta algo por debajo. Pero no podía alejarme más (está tomada desde el puente que cruza el Spree en este tramo).

New Synagogue

Mi idea era bajarme en Oranienstrasse e ir hasta Hackeschr Höffe con la bici. Pero claro, ya que iba con la cámara, era imposible no pararse en un par de sitios a tomar un par de fotos. Quien sabe cuanto tiempo pasará hasta que pase por aquí otra vez mientras se pone el sol.

Rosenstrasse

Este es el edifico contiguo al Instituto Cervantes en Berlín. No voy muy a menudo a Mitte, lo cual es una lástima porque hay muchas cosas que fotografiar.

¿Y tú qué miras?

Hofgarten

Another one of these quick shots, pretty much done with about one second preparation. I usually stroll with my camera in my hand, simply carrying it with a hand strap rather than with the usual neck strap (which is not even attached to my camera any more since a long long time).

Neuschwanstein

Old churches

During our holidays we had the opportunity to have a look at an church organ. Our daughter was even allowed to put to practice her piano lessons!

While looking for the church we ended up in another one in the same village with some amazing wooden banks. In fact the whole church was amazingly decorated, definitely not what I expected in a small village at the foot of the Alps.

Interflug 2012

The 2012 edition of the Interflug Hat Tournament took place on the hottest weekend in Germany this year. I happened to have some spare time and came round on Sunday to take some photos and enjoy the atmosphere, which brought me loads of nice memories, as I used to train in these sport grounds when I first arrived to Berlin. Last time I was here to watch the tournament was four years ago. From the photographic perspective, not really the usual photos I take, but precisely because of this, a nice challenge. To keep up with the sport theme, and since I was not playing, I pedaled the nine kilometers from home carrying the camera, the monopod and the 75-300mm (which I very rarely use). Good for the legs and good for the soul.

Just before the final game started the polish girl pictured above asked me if I was part of the organization and if I could take some shots of her during the game. The answer was no, I am not part of the tournament organization but I can definitely take some pictures. I learned that this actually helps to keep focused on something during the game, which made it more interesting and, not surprisingly, the photos came better than in the other games, in which I was shooting randomly waiting for the great layout (which this time I didn´t catch).

And since she actually liked the photos and was kind enough to provide some feedback to my e-mail, I will post a snippet here: "And I have to tell you, that the photos are awesome! :) "

The Spirit of Ecstasy

"Strive for perfection on everything you do" Sir Henry Royce

Just by chance I was wearing a polo shirt from work when we went to visit BMW Welt. I got to talk to one of the guys who are there to make sure nobody puts his hands on these pretty expensive examples of British engineering (albeit BMW owned). After a while he nodded to a colleague and we were given the chance to enter the glass barrier, where we were given a thorough tour of this Phantom II. We were allowed to sit down inside (me and my wife hoping that the children don´t break anything in the back seats!) and, to top it up, the guy took a couple of family photos.

I made it clear that I don´t work for the Rolls-Royce Motor Cars (in which case I would not have been as impressed by the car), but rather for the aerospace sibling. Maybe they thought I was an executive coming from Goodwood to check the courtesy standards!

Whatever the case, it was highly enjoyable.

Picking up your car with style

Hats off to BMW for a truly impressive place to pick up your car (not mine!).

Hill in Olympia Park

I don´t like this photo. But I like misleading weather forecasts even less. So here is my rant for today...

We organised the day around a forecast saying nice weather in the morning (mix of sun and clouds), with showers in the afternoon. Good, that means park first and museum later. What happened was that the rain was actually in the morning, pretty much all the way up to the top of the hill, and all the way down. It only stopped when we decided to get some cover in a nearby Imbiss. The moment we ordered, it stopped raining (so up again for me to take this greyish photo!) and the sun came up through the clouds.

We ended up the day in BMW Welt (the small tower to the right is the BMW headquarters) but we should have really done it the other way round if the forecast had been a bit more accurate. It would have been a much brighter photo. I guess people in Madrid do not have this sort of problems in July. And to compound pain with misery, the stitching did not work very well anyway...

Munich Olympic Stadium

Another impressive example of architecture / engineering which is doing fine after 40 years.

Piscina olímpica

Al día siguiente de hacer esta foto vinimos a bañarnos a esta piscina. Una cosa que me impresionó es que había una piscina para que los niños aprendan a nadar y la profundidad se podía regular moviendo el suelo de la piscina! Muy interesante.

Al fondo se pueden ver las plataformas y los trampolines y, como dato anecdótico, decir que diez metros son muchos metros. Yo me subí al trampolín de 3m (que era el más alto desde el que estaba permitido tirarse) y después de pensármelo un ratito me tiré de pie. Repetí unas cuantas veces y me fui tan feliz como si hubiera dado un salto en las Olimpiadas.

Olympiapark München (i)

Rathaus München

Estudiando

Golden bike

No idea how come there is a bicycle inside the pond. But sure it got my eye.

Neues Schloss Bayreuth

We stopped in Bayreuth on the way South and took the opportunity to have a look at the Neues Schloss. But (and it is a big but for me), photos are not allowed. I asked if photos without flash are permitted. Clear question, clear answer: No. Not sure if what they have in display is more valuable than what this other museum has.


So this is the staircase to the exhibition, which I actually enjoyed apart from the photo glitch.

Hohenschwangau

De vuelta de unas muy buenas vacaciones en el sur de Alemania, con muchos buenos recuerdos en la memoria y alguna que otra foto en la retina.

Breitenbachplatz (iv)

Breitenbachplatz (iii)

Breitenbachplatz (ii)

Breitenbachplatz (i)

Campeones!

La eurocopa empezó en casa de unos amigos viendo el partido contra Italia en su jardín haciendo una barbacoa. Me pasé más tiempo comiendo y cuidando de los niños que viendo el partido y justo cuando mi hija me dijo que la acompañara porque tenía que ir al baño, va España y marca...

Regatta Princesa Sofía

There was an added bonus to our Easter holidays in Mallorca, as we happened to stay on the same hotel as the Spanish Olympic sailing team. That was the week of the Regatta Princesa Sofía, and it seems pretty much every country was there in preparation of the Summer Olympic Games.


I got to talk quickly to the guy in the photo and he mentioned he was doing a time lapse. We exchanged addresses and I´m looking forward to receiving the link of the video when it is finished. If this is something to go by, it will be superb.

Otro patio

Hauptfeuerwache

Speck´s Hof

Seems like it does not matter how often I go to Leippzig, I keep finding fascinating places.

WGT 2012 Leipzig

The amount of effort, time and possibly money that people attending the Gotik Treffen in Leipzig invest on their outfits probably explains why they were also so willing to have photos taken from them. Many of them had cameras, which looked strangely out of place.

This is me!

This is the best photo from our holidays. It was taken by my daughter while I was setting the camera on the tripod to do some light painting.