Every computer science student at Hiram College is required to perform two research projects, called IRCs, prior to graduation. Of the two projects I completed I am proudest of my Computer Vision project because it not only was one of the coolest things I’ve ever studied, but it also required an extensive amount of hard work to complete. The satisfaction is still a source of motivation for me to this day.
The project’s in-depth details can be found at http://www.geigel.com/signlanguage/, however, briefly, I was able to employ computational methods, initially researched in the 1980s, to recognize American Sign Language letters within computer images. (Note: The initial research performed in the 1980s focused on recognizing faces in images which have popularly become known as Eigenfaces). The process is called Principal Component Analysis (PCA)and is widely considered to be a breakthrough discovery in the advancement of Computer Vision. Much of PCA’s attractiveness comes from it’s ability to train similar, yet slightly different, images of a given class. In my research, for instance, the classes I dealt with were signed letters corresponding to different hand orientations. When it boils down to it, PCA is able to mathematically define (using Eigenvectors and Eigenvalues) the most important features of a given class (for example a fist for letter A versus the open cirlce for the letter O), and then when a new unknown image is presented to the system a calculation can be performed and a mathematically reinforced estimate can be made as to what class the unknown image belongs.
Ellen Walker, my Computer Vision professor at Hiram College, oversaw my research and offered help when I ran into issues. Ultimately, I was able to develop/program/execute a fully functional PCA system in C++ for recognizing American Sign Language letters. In fact, once the PCA system was trained, I was able to test it on 10 sample images with 100% recognition accuracy. The project was a huge success! Both in it’s results and in the lessons, knowledge, and gratification it left me. Though Ellen has never explicitly said this to me, I think that she was also impressed and surprised with how well the results turned out.
This all took place in 2005 — the year I graduated from Hiram. As the years went on I would occasionally correspond with Ellen and then on 11/29/2006 I received an email from her asking if my project could serve as a possible AI/Vision project that she would be submit to the University of Hartford’s “Machine Learning Experiences in AI” shared curriculum. Of course I was excited and happy that my project would be the inspiration for such a project.
What caught my eye — almost immediately — was the fact that the image used for the “General Information” menu item was of Ireland’s Powerscourt Garden. Most people wouldn’t notice this, but I did. I was there just 2 years ago, and the unique layout of the garden/walkway set against the unforgettable mountainscape is not something you fail to recognize.
This lead me to question whether it was appropriate for the Home & Flower Show to utilize this image, and more to the point legally, if they’re even authorized to use it. Did the person who built this website take that picture? Did the person who built this website acquire the picture from a stock photography suite? Did they steal it from Powerscourt’s website or another source? Does Powerscourt need to authorize the use of pictures taken of its property if they’re to be used commercially? And, of perhaps less import, does it hinder the advancement of the Home & Flower Show’s mission, which is presumably to advocate the gardens built and maintained here in Ohio. Surely an image of some magnificent garden locally would be better than using an image of gardens thousands of miles away in a country that has no real connection to Ohio.
Of course the benefit of the doubt has to play a role here as it always does. Chances are that the Home & Flower Show does have the right to use the image. Chances are they were simply interested in making their menu look cool by using a picture of a really cool garden. Chances are no one in Ohio (save for me) will even notice this and comment on it.
But, I couldn’t let it go without giving Powerscourt the props it rightly deserves. It’s an amazing place with perfect architectural landscaping, pristinely manicured lawns, hundreds of species of flora and a number of fountains/ponds that stop you in your tracks. I’d like to see a garden like that in Ohio… if it exists.
My life is owned by Google. Seriously. I use Gmail as my only email program and their calendar as my only calendar. I’ve also recently decided to use their documents software instead of Word/Excel. Having Google maintain my digital life has made things a lot easier.
So when I got my new iPhone a few weeks ago I was eager to setup my Gmail account. Just as I expected it was painless and easy.
Then I moved on to my calendar which I thought would be just as easy. Unfortunately it wasn’t. I was hoping that the iPhone would support a pull architecture for iCal synchronization — basically allowing me to tell the iPhone that it’s time to sync between the iPhone and my Google calendar. A lot of calendar software packages support the iCal standard, and Google calendar allows you to export your calendar in this format. Naturally I thought this would be supported on the iPhone, but it wasn’t.
I then searched online to find what I was looking for. I found a syncing program that works with the iCal standard, but only with the iCalendar application in OSX. Since I run XP on my machine this wasn’t any help. I then found an application that said it could do what I needed, called NemuSync, but it required that I jailbreak my iPhone — something I wasn’t looking to do.
Just as I was about to give up I found the answer to all of my problems. It was called NuevaSync and it has been the best thing I’ve ever setup for my iPhone. NuevaSync is free, and allows you to setup an account with them that bridges information on your iPhone with Google’s calendar without ever having to install an app. On a more technical level, they offer a Microsoft Exchange layer to push syncing between your iPhone and Google’s calendar.
Because Exchange is a push architecture you never have to worry about activating a sync request — it’s done automatically when you add a new event in your calendar either on your iPhone or on your Calendar webpage. So let’s say you’re on the road and enter an event on your iPhone. By the time you get home and log on to your Google calendar it will already be there. NuevaSync is a real-time ongoing syncing of your iPhone calendar and Google calendar.
I was so happy when I found this out that I emailed their staff to thank them for the service. They could easily charge $99 a year for this service and I would have paid. It’s so seamless and translucent that I literally had to write a blog article singing its praises.
It’s been nearly a year and a half in the making, but my friends and I finally got our Pi tattoos. Chris Armenio, John Belter, Sean Teller and I went to Smokin’ Tattooz last night (11/29) in Kent and all got inked — some of us for the first time. Noticeably wussing out and NOT getting a tattoo (even though she promised she would) was half-Asian Sarah Scroggy who nonetheless provided event planning services, and moral/emotional support.
The tattoo appears slightly to the left of the center of my wrist, and along my watch band (so it can be hidden when it needs to be). The entire tattoo fits within a 1 inch square. The image on the bottom shows off 3.14 – 3 fingers up, wring finger down (point), pinky finger up for 1and the entire count of up fingers being 4.
Other important attendees during this historic event include: Mike Pavis, Lou Colorito, Katherine Dunn, Matt Coleman, Jeff Zimmerman, Caitin Ganley and Jeff Burk. All of whom looked on as the rest of us endured. Honestly, the needle wasn’t painful at all, and I was expecting much worse.
Why get Pi as a tattoo? I can’t answer for anyone else, but for me I’ve wanted it for a long time. There is beauty in mathematics, and Pi is an important number (ratio) used in calculations that define our world. It’s infinite, never repeats itself, powerful in its simplicity and unique. Pi is God’s number.
Additionally, the Greek letter Pi resembles neolithic Irish dolmens – or altars. Dolmens pepper Ireland, and my dad and I saw a lot on our first visit there. So in that way, my Pi tattoo will help remind me of those fun times.
Some of the dolmens my dad and I saw on our first Ireland trip. Notice how similar dolmens are to the Greek letter Pi?
