(Part 2) Best products from r/berkeley

This is the one I've been using since freshman year:

https://www.amazon.com/Brother-HL-L2300D-Monochrome-Printer-Printing/dp/B00NQ1CLTI/

It's currently going for $95, which is actually a lot more expensive than usual. I think it usually goes for like $60-$70, so maybe wait a bit and see if it comes back down.

It is only black-and-white, but it does have automatic duplex (double-sided-printing), so it's very convenient for printing out essays and readings and stuff.

It's been very reliable, and if you buy the off-brand toner cartridges (these are the ones I get), it's pretty cheap as well.

EDIT: One thing to note that caught me off guard when I bought it- It doesn't come with a USB cable, so maybe pick up one of those as well if you don't have one laying around.

I'm making this recommendation not because I had one and liked it, but because I didn't have one and it's probably the one thing that would have increased my comfort greatly.

I found this on amazon for $50, but tbh I have no idea whether it actually is a good product or not. However as long as it holds up to use and doesn't give off an offensive odor it should be appreciated.

HW 1&2 are probably logic, proof methods and induction. These are very basic stuff that should always be the same. Course might have changed in advanced material. For example, when I took CS70, we saw Graph Theory, Countability, some Computability and a little Measure; but these are not necessarily thought every semester. Also, probability part (as far as I understand) change pretty profoundly (it is the very last part of the course).

When I took CS70 I went over this textbook: https://www.amazon.com/Discrete-Mathematics-Applications-Kenneth-Rosen/dp/0072899050 but I must say the course was significantly harder than this textbook; and homeworks and class notes were much more beneficial than this book.

Bearded guy here. I'm not averse to paying someone to groom me, if that person does a better job than I can. But I've had only bad experiences. Temescal Alley, where I've gotten great haircuts, once fucked my beard up so severely they didn't charge me for the haircut either. Fellow Barber once gave me a great haircut, then as she was trimming my beard, confessed she's only done this a few times before in her life. It showed!

My advice? Get a good-quality pair of clippers and do it yourself. This Wahl haircut kit is one of the best $20 I've ever spent. Comes with a million different guards, so you can choose the length that's right for you. Do that once a week for the dapper look.

I knew him very well. He was in a band with my girlfriend and his wife, and I learned to play the banjo on his banjo when he moved away from Brooklyn and left it behind.

Of note, their band played a total of two public performance: One at his wife's mother's book release party about the Empress Theodora (http://www.amazon.com/The-Eagle-Swan-Carol-Strickland-ebook/dp/B00GIR54MI), and the other at a Chinese retirement home. And I will forever remember the many performances, which I guess were just for me, when they held band practice so long ago back in Brooklyn.

:) Nice picture.

I brought the bubbles. If anyone else wants more bubbles, they're totally worth getting from Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/Funrise-32417-Gazillion-Bubble-Machine/dp/B000197NXM/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1321461356&sr=8-2

I recommend reading this advice by Babak on getting better at solving problems in CS 70, I think it's still applicable here. You can always get better at solving these types of problems with practice; you just need to do the right kind of practice.


You ask an excellent question. There are books written about this matter. You won't have time to read any of them now, before the midterm. But I'll give you a reference, so you (and everyone else reading this message) can give it a good read, or its audio book a good listen as soon as you get a chance. The book is called

Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise
by Anders Ericsson and Robert Poole
https://www.amazon.com/Peak-Secrets-New-Science-Expertise/dp/0544456238/

It's the kind of book I wish someone had written, and someone else had introduced to me, when I was your age, or even younger. I've given a hard copy to my eight-year-old daughter and I've been nudging her to read it. She's intrigued by what she hears in the car when I play portions of the audio book for her.

At the core is what the authors describe as "deliberate practice," or purposeful practice. This is in contrast to mindless practice, which is to repeat the same thing over and over, expecting to improve (like a person who keeps swinging the tennis racket or playing the violin the same way 1000 times, without a deliberate focus on how to improve). Mindless practice doesn't work.

As you read Ericsson's book, you'll also begin to unlearn much of what you may have heard about the 10,000 hour rule, which Malcolm Gladwell promoted. Ericsson wrote his book in part to dispel some of the misunderstandings that Gladwell's popular book (I believe Outliers) caused.

In the case of studying, you have to not only tackle each problem with an eye toward what it is that the problem is trying to get at, but also do post-mortem analysis. After you solve a problem (or solve it partially, or fail to solve it, or solve it incorrectly), you should review what you did right, what you did wrong, what you could have done more efficiently, how many different angles from which you could've looked at the problem, and what different types of tools you could've tapped into as you attacked the problem.

When I chat with my advisees or students, I recommend that they keep a log, as in a notebook or an electronic equivalent. Each page of the log consists of three columns. The first column you can name "Concept(s)"; the second column "Address(es)"; and the third column "Technique(s)." When you look at a problem, say on a previous midterm, ask yourself, "What is the concept or set of concepts that this problem is covering?"

Sometimes the answer is fully apparent from the surface of the problem. Sometimes it's only partially apparent from a cursory read, and you must read more carefully or think more deeply before you gain access to the treasure inside. And sometimes there's deliberate or unavoidable camouflage that hides the inner core of the problem. With deliberate practice, you get better at dealing with the third kind of problem---by cutting through the clutter or the veil and glimpsing inside.

You can list the identified concepts in Column 1. In Column 2 you write the address of the problem---for example, MT2.3(a)-F18, which might stand for Midterm 2, Problem 3, Part (a) in Fall 2018. In Column 3 you write down the various techniques you can use to tackle the problem. You'll encounter a richer set of tools if you work in a group. I recommend that you get together with study buddies to go over old exams. Each member of your group is bound to see each problem from a unique angle, in a way that the others may have missed. This way you accumulate an arsenal of tools in your toolbox. Interacting with peers, even when you're the one doing the explaining, sharpens your own understanding. The goal is that after some time, you gain proficiency and can dip your hands in your toolbox blindfolded, take the appropriate set of tools, and chisel away at the problem like an expert.

Adapting the words of one of my favorite mathematical writers, G. W. (Pete) Stewart, at the University of Maryland, I'll say that solving problems "is like cutting diamonds. Tap a problem in just the right way, and it decomposes into one or two informative expressions. Smash it with a hammer and it shatters into ugly, uninterpretable pieces." The aim of deliberate practice is to cultivate the craft of problem solving with the dexterity of a diamond sculptor.

Do the practice I suggested for every problem that you encounter---whether in lecture, in discussion, during random conversations about the course with the TAs or with fellow students ... wherever a relevant problem appears before you.

Then, as an exam nears, you have in your possession a full list of concepts that you've come across in the prior weeks. By then you have a good sense of what you're comfortable with and what you're shaky on. Go attack those concepts that you're shaky on.

In front of each concept you'll have at least one (hopefully many more than one) address, telling you where you need to go to strengthen your understanding of that concept or set of concepts. And try to tackle the problem without looking at Column 3. Look at Column 3 only after you've exerted your fair share for that problem (never keep banging your head against the wall on any problem ... this should not be an issue if you work in a group).

The other important aspect of deliberate practice, as Ericsson discusses, is the necessity of feedback. You can get that feedback from the staff, but given the student/TA ratio we have it's not going to be anywhere near enough. Here enter your study buddies or other fellow students, who can given you feedback on what you did right, what you did wrong, and how you can tackle the problem more efficiently.

Yes, all this takes effort. But it's not mindless effort. It's a focused, methodical effort with a vigilant eye toward what you need to do to improve.

It's the valuable interaction with peers that a student misses when they skip lecture I'll issue a separate tome about that in the coming days. Right now, I have to make some exam problems for you! :)

I hope this helped.

Cheers,

Babak.

Hope this helps! Please don't give up; I believe that I actually had the biggest delta in knowledge and grew as problem solver the most in the last third of 61A, which you're in now.

Hi, I am going to take the math 1A this fall and my friend has this book and will give it basically for free. Will it work? Or do I need the Berkeley edition

There are a ton of hidden staircases sprinkled throughout the East Bay. I've always thought it was fun to stumble across them randomly, but when I found out there was a book, I was all over it. Not as exciting as steam tunnels, maybe, but I've loved the hikes I've taken from the book!

Edit: Made an info thread for more info on respirators here.

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Mask (better named as respirators if they filter) needs to be rated for N95 filtration or above - regular surgical masks do not filter the microscopic particles harming your lungs right now. Aside from that, the MOST important part of wearing a respirator mask for filtering PM2.5 particles (from the wildfires) is ensuring a proper face seal - without it, effectiveness is reduced to that of a non-filtering surgical mask of something like ~60% filtration, which is crap.

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If you're using the disposable versions, make sure you adjust the metal nose strip properly - mask should cover all of your nose up to the bridge, and down to a bit of a lip around the bottom of your chin. Feel for airflow around the edges as you breath in and adjust accordingly. Shave facial hair if you have any, it prevents sealing.

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If you're buying a better respirator for a better rubber face seal (and an expectation that CA will be on fire again in the near future), try a 3M 7500 Respirator with a corresponding N95 or higher cartridge.

Not sure if it covers the same topics as Math 110, but this textbook is extremely friendly: https://www.amazon.com/Numerical-Linear-Algebra-Lloyd-Trefethen/dp/0898713617

(1) They didn't ban sugary drinks like NY, so it's not quite legislating choice.

(2) They voted to PUT IT ON THE BALLOT. So it's certainly not legislating choice.

(3) Kickbacks? I didn't see a connection between kickbacks and this story..unless Michael Pollan is paying city governments to ban sugar.

(4) The "Sugar is really bad" theory is now as accepted as "Global warming is real" within scientific circles. Yet, I bet, less than half as many people realize this. If this tax only serves to make people more aware of this, I'll be happy!
http://www.amazon.com/Good-Calories-Bad-Controversial-Science/dp/1400033462

https://www.amazon.com/LeapFrog-My-Own-Leaptop-Pink/dp/B0038APD2E

On the serious though, windows machines are much cheaper than Macs. The Dell XPS line has a wide variety of options at different price ranges and they're really great quality.

> That is a smug statement.

That's a perfect indirect answer to my question: you will read seemingly anything as smugness. I'm not well versed enough in psychology to know how to explain that, though. A shot in the dark might be a superiority complex, that any tiny iota of challenge to a feeling or superiority would appear as an affront.

> Actually I like doing this

If you do, then I really want to recommend this book to you. It's a short read, and very worthwhile. From all your previous statements, and what we discussed about, I already thought that it would be a good recommendation for you, but with that last comment, well, you reveal so much about yourself.

> That's an incredibly smug statement.

According to the dictionary definition, no. But, as is the usual course of internet arguments go, it now devolves into semantics: perhaps you are working on an "emergent" or "personal" definition of smugness.

Use one of these It works by attaching the third prong to the metal screw I think, I used them in my two prong outlets and it works great. Any hardware store should have them if you're in a hurry.

All misconceptions and propaganda.

One book among others if you're interested in the truth: https://www.amazon.fr/Dans-coulisses-Proche-Orient-journaliste-diplomate/dp/2213671435

Also I would suggest: https://www.amazon.com/Israel-Lobby-U-S-Foreign-Policy/dp/0374531501

Haha this.

I've bought two of these so far. Cheap and good for diffusing essential oils.

100% hearsay: 2 prong plugs are compliant as is. if any electrical work needs to be performed, then the landlord needs to upgrade to 3 prong.

if you don't have any sensitive electrical equipment, you can get adapters