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David Beazley – Programming Courses
22 days ago
- The author taught project-based programming courses from 2007 to 2026 in week-long immersion formats, but these are no longer scheduled.
- Due to a market collapse in continuing education since 2023, which was their primary income source, the courses ended, impacting their ability to teach into retirement.
- With children going to college and a desire for change, the author is pursuing a Professional Educator's License in Secondary Education instead of continuing with the courses.
Why don't people use Git properly?
21 days ago
- The author introduces Arca, an educational project with a landing page, offering early access soon and free slots for donors.
- Git is a crucial version control system widely used in software development, but many people struggle with it, leading to issues like merge conflicts, poor commits, and misuse of repositories.
- The problem stems from inadequate education and experience with git, especially among those who are not in core software roles and lack institutional support or motivation to learn.
- A significant barrier is git's reliance on command-line interfaces, which many developers, especially those on Windows or using IDEs without CLI familiarity, find non-intuitive and difficult to master.
- People often don't understand the problems git solves, such as fast rollbacks, deployment automation, and risk-taking in development, because they lack hands-on experience with projects that require these features.
- The author compares git to Roman armor, explaining that the safety it provides allows developers to take more risks and be more ambitious, but without experiencing this security, users may develop defensive habits and avoid new tools.
- To improve git usage, the author suggests integrating version control early in education and promoting DevOps rotations in companies, but acknowledges the challenges in scaling these solutions.
Trees are mostly made of air and a generalizable lesson for AI safety
21 days ago
- Many people engage in activities labeled as 'AI Safety' without a deep conceptual understanding of the basics, which may inadvertently worsen the situation.
- A lack of foundational knowledge, such as instrumental convergence and inner alignment, is common in AI safety education, where focus often shifts to prosaic empirical methods over strategy and fundamentals.
- Understanding basics like 'trees are made out of air' illustrates the importance of foundational knowledge for sample-efficient epistemology, crucial in AI alignment due to sparse rewards.
- AI safety basics are often not internalized or exercised in practice, leading to incoherent answers about existential risks from AI among students and researchers.
- Deep understanding of AI safety fundamentals helps maintain focus and motivation, preventing distractions and fostering meaningful contributions to the field.
Ergo: Long Form Philosophy Lectures
17 days ago
- Ergo is a nonprofit organization publishing long-form philosophical lectures online.
- Content is ad-free and accessible without paywalls.
- Lectures feature thinkers known for depth and clarity in teaching.
- Inspired by Aristotle's idea that philosophy begins in wonder.
Immersive Linear Algebra Book with Interactive Figures
9 days ago
- The book introduces vectors and teaches addition, subtraction, and other operations.
- It covers the dot product, a tool that takes two vectors and produces a scalar.
- In 3D spaces, the cross product is introduced, producing a vector from two others.
- Methods for solving systems of linear equations are discussed.
- Matrix concepts are introduced, including fundamental properties of square matrices.
- The behavior and power of matrices are explored, emphasizing linearity.
ArsDigita University: Five Years Later (2006)
9 days ago
- The author describes their experience attending Arsdigita University, a free intensive computer science program founded by Philip Greenspun in 2000.
- The program aimed to provide world-class computer science education to those unable to access it, lasting 10.5 months with lectures from MIT professors.
- Despite initial enthusiasm, challenges arose including lack of certification, funding cuts, and the dismissal of foundation staff, leading to no second class.
- The curriculum covered topics like mathematics, programming, systems, and a software engineering course, though plans changed with unexpected Microsoft involvement.
- After graduation in 2001, alumni pursued diverse careers at organizations like IBM, The New York Times, and various tech firms, and some continued their education.
- The author reflects on the program's legacy, noting its influence on online education and open courseware, while expressing gratitude to Philip Greenspun and director Shai Simonson.
Czechia moves to ban mobile phones in schools from September 2027
5 days ago
- Czech government bans mobile phones in kindergartens and elementary schools from September 2027, applicable during both classes and breaks.
- President Petr Pavel highlights cultural festivals as key to fostering dialogue and social cohesion in divided societies.
- Government approves pension increases for people over 80 and working pensioners, starting in 2027 and 2028.
- Metro line C in Prague experiences temporary disruption due to collision with a stroller; escalator issues also occur at another station.
- Ticket price for Petřín funicular to rise in September, with discounts for digital purchases via Lítačka app.

education

David Beazley – Programming Courses

Why don't people use Git properly?

Trees are mostly made of air and a generalizable lesson for AI safety

Ergo: Long Form Philosophy Lectures

Immersive Linear Algebra Book with Interactive Figures

ArsDigita University: Five Years Later (2006)

Czechia moves to ban mobile phones in schools from September 2027