Friday, May 05, 2023

For those who grieve

 I've been grieving a big loss, but I have hope.

First, I'll list some help from the bible, then some resources below.

1 Thessalonians 4:13‭-‬18 ESV

But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.

https://bible.com/bible/59/1th.4.13-18.ESV

And...

Matthew 5:4 ESV

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

https://bible.com/bible/59/mat.5.4.ESV


Here are some resources I've found helpful and others that have suggested.

Griefshare.org - a Christian based ministry offered by many churches.

A few books you might find helpful:

John Eldredge: "All Things New"

Randy Alcorn: "Heaven"

Raymond R. Mitsch and Lynn Brookside: "Grieving the Loss of Someone You Love"

Suggested for Children:

A great book for kids is the invisible string. They actually have a workbook that goes along with it.

There is another book... called the rabbit listened. It's not as much focused on losing the person as it is on how to express your grief. It really helps them know what are helpful and useful ways of expressing their grief to others.

Saturday, July 16, 2022

Low Sodium Low Salt Diet Sources

 

Photo by Bru-nO on Pixabay
 

We all could do with less salt/sodium in our diets. We've been collecting a list of places to get low sodium foods and recipes. I am sharing it here to help others. I'll add to this as I find things.

 Places for Low Sodium Foods:

Trader Joes:

  • Classic English muffins: 70mg sodium
  • Low Sodium Tomato Soup 

Wegmans:

  • Wegmans Sweet Bread & Butter chips No Salt Added (pickles): 0 mg sodium in 1 oz serving (about 6 chips)
  • Pomi Tomato sauce and strained tomatos
  • Wegmans Low Sodium tomato pasta sauce
  • Wegmans organic rotisserie chicken

Uncle Giuseppe's - Morris Plains, NJ

  • Sochil chips no salt
  • Pomi tomato sauce

Shop Rite

  • Francesco Rinaldi Original Recipe NO SALT ADDED homemade past sauce recipe: 40mg in 1/2 cup serving

Low Sodium Recipes:

Low Sodium Food Sources (eat out):

 


Thursday, December 16, 2021

Wonderful Christmas links

Ceramic Nativity made by my wife (photo copyright 2021)

 

We've spent some time watching and listening to some wonderful Christmas programs, most of them while wrapping presents.  We'll share them here and keep adding to this list as we find more.

Concerts:

2021 Salvation Army UK and Ireland territories Christmas Concert with the international staff band, scripture readings, carols, and stories.

https://youtu.be/PvdiUSsqAMM

50th Annual Christmas in Chicago Concert from Moody Church

(Full orchestra)

https://youtu.be/leGLFLzCjXo

Hillsong Christmas Carol spectacular

https://youtu.be/yut-LrgilUg

Sing! An Irish Christmas

Also available other places where TBN is available (Roku, etc.)

https://watch.tbn.org/videos/sing-an-irish-christmas

"The Chosen" Christmas Special (streamed live Dec. 13, 2021)

https://youtu.be/T5ftnTK9-3w

Also available at https://thechosen.tv/watch (and on the free chosen.tv app) which are all part of the #1 crowd funded, Free, multi-season show about the Bible.

Chris Tomlin : Emmanuel Christmas Songs of Worship : Klove on demand (requires free sign-in):

https://ondemand.klove.com/live/mainstage/chris_tomlin_emmanuel_full


A friend shared this: Fellowship for performing arts : A Christmas Celebration (theater, song, scripture)

https://fpatheatre.com/ and https://fpatheatre.com/christmas/

Christmas Eve Services:

Christmas Eve is Friday, Dec. 24, 2021 - the times below are Eastern Time Zone

Liquid Church Christmas Eve : 3pm and 5pm live on website and elsewhere, on demand too.

http://www.liquidchurch.com/christmas-eve

(note: we've heard that 5pm is cancelled so maybe the 7pm will be live online?)

North Shore Fellowship: 4pm Live and Online

YouTube Live - https://youtu.be/l-WQOwY88mM 

https://www.facebook.com/northshorenj.org

Hillside Lutheran Brethren Church - 5pm

https://www.facebook.com/hillsidelbc

 Harrison Presbyterian Church -EPC

Christmas Eve Candlelight Services - 5:30 and 7:30 pm

https://www.facebook.com/harrisonpres/

TBN Christmas Eve Specials

https://www.tbn.org/blog/christmas-eve-specials

 4:30, 6, 7, 8 PM (watch on the website or other popular outlets like Android, iOS, Roku, etc.)

Many of their programs are available later on demand.


... more to come...








Friday, October 08, 2021

All the Things About the Internet of Things

 

Image by jeferrb from Pixabay

Well, maybe not "all the things", but at least some of the things :)

I am doing a FREE webinar titled "A Few Things About The Internet of Things (IoT) – An Introduction" on October 12, 2021. You can register in advance here

Shortly after the live webinar, you should be able to see it listed with the other webinars and presentations I've done with the GreatIT professional and also later I will list it where I update the list of all webinars I've done with various organizations.

Here's some reference information for the webinar.

disclaimer note: I can't make any representation or recommendation on or about any and all of these links nor whether they are safe or not since they are not my own. Beware and use them at your own risk.

Here are some examples and experiments from some friends

phone app is hosted here:
https://github.com/ibm-watson-iot/html5-phone
Deploy button will set up an instance in IBM Cloud that uses Cloudant and Watson IoT Platform.

SNP/P-Tech student info and code
 
Videos
 
here is a good one mapping people gps coordinates ...
 
Use the ISS space station as a sensor and do a Mashup up with the weather api 
 
A cool lab we did for predicting which vegetable to grow on your balcony using weather api AI etc and websockets
 
or
 
The "Thing" that gives thumbs up or down depending on social media feed:

IoT network connectivity:

https://www.twilio.com

https://www.twilio.com/go/supersim-iot-sim-card-trial-1

Some experimenter hardware processor boards:

arduino

esp32

raspberry pi

Types of sensors

 https://www.adafruit.com/category/35

humidity, light, sonar, radar, lidar, humidity, acceleration, GPS location, orientation, heartbeat, pressure, flow, positioning, etc.

Experimenting Software:

node red,  

https://cookbook.nodered.org/mqtt/connect-to-broker

http://noderedguide.com/tag/mqtt/

 

data transmission

MQTT,  bluetooth, cellular, wifi, infrared,etc.

Protocol / Network 7 layer stack

https://www.embeddedcomputing.com/application/networking-5g/long-range-wireless-solutions-wireless-technologies-for-iot-networks

https://behrtech.com/blog/6-leading-types-of-iot-wireless-tech-and-their-best-use-cases/

transmission queues

mqlite, mqtt  - MQTT Tutorial 

https://cookbook.nodered.org/mqtt/

https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/forum/t/mqtt-in-node-red-howto/39909

https://www.hivemq.com/public-mqtt-broker/

https://www.hivemq.com/blog/mqtt-client-library-enyclopedia-hivemq-mqtt-client/

https://learn.adafruit.com/mini-smart-home-with-esp8266-huzzah-feather-raspberry-pi-hassio-crickit/node-red

Public APIs

https://www.postman.com/cs-demo/workspace/public-rest-apis/overview

Other Examples and helpful info

Live IoT demo (on youtube): https://dzone.com/articles/iot-live-demo-100000-connected-cars-with-kubernete 

Sensor Node Free – Turn your cell phone into a sensor node

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mscino.sensornode&hl=en_US&gl=US

Project OWLhttps://www.project-owl.com/

Smart buildings and elevators - KONE information

Microsoft Azure IoT Central Demo

This article is about what sensors a smart phone usually has

And, here is a similar article on smart phone sensors

This older YouTube video shows how to see sensors data from your phone

This article says you can use an app to see data from IoT devices near you.

IBM Watson IoT Phone Device Simulator with Tutorial  - Another link to the same

Here's an IBM post that tells how to set up a program to see your phone sensor data

These IBM Tutorials provide insight on AI, Blockchain, and more.   


https://developer.ibm.com/tutorials/iot-mobile-phone-iot-device-bluemix-apps-trs/




Tuesday, March 09, 2021

Machine Learning and AI for You to Learn

 

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

I am going a webinar/presentation titled "5 Steps to Play With and Learn AI" On March 23, 2021.  The live webinar is free (you can register here) and will be available soon afterward on-demand with other of my webinars.

This is reference information for that presentation.

 The 5 steps to learning:

  1. Awareness / Decision / Goal
  2. Play / Experience / Experiment
  3. Learn
  4. Apply
  5. Share

1. Awareness: 

The fact that you are here shows that you are aware. Now, you need to decide if you want to pursue it. Then, set a goal.

Forbes "Top 10 Tech Job Skills Predicted To Grow The Fastest In 2021" names AI as a top paying job.

Coursera story: "How Stijn landed his new job after completing the IBM Applied AI Professional Certificate"

Data Science compared to Machine Learning "When Data Science Met Machine Learning" (this includes the Five Vs of data: volume, variety, veracity, value and velocity

Towards Data Science: "Data Science vs. Artificial Intelligence vs. Machine Learning vs. Deep Learning" by Sunny Srinidhi.

UpGrad: "Data Science vs AI: Difference Between Data Science and Artificial Intelligence" by Rohit Sharma Dec 17, 2019

SimpliLearn "AI vs Data Science: Mapping Your Career Path" By Ronald Van Loon Last updated on Feb 5, 2021

Thinkful: "Data Science vs Artificial Intelligence" includes salary information and career track information

New Jersey Institute of Technology: One of the only B.S. degrees in Data Science in the Nation

2. Play and Experiment

Google

https://experiments.withgoogle.com/

https://experiments.withgoogle.com/collection/ai 

Includes: AI and Writing, AI and Learning, AI and Drawing, AI and Music

Google Vision AI

Microsoft

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/group/deep-learning-group/

https://lionbridge.ai/articles/10-craziest-ai-experiments-to-try-online-today/

IBM:

https://www.ibm.org/activities/

TJ BOT: https://www.ibm.org/activities/tjbot

Virtual TJ BOT: https://www.ibm.org/activities/virtual-tjbot

Machine Learning for Kids: https://www.ibm.org/activities/machine-learning-for-kids  

Watson Conversation: https://www.ibm.org/activities/watson-conversation

https://www.research.ibm.com/artificial-intelligence/experiments/learn-and-play/

GAN

This x does not exist

https://thisxdoesnotexist.com/

https://machinelearningmastery.com/impressive-applications-of-generative-adversarial-networks/

https://poloclub.github.io/ganlab/

https://www.producthunt.com/alternatives/this-x-does-not-exist

Generative Engine: https://experiments.runwayml.com/generative_engine/ Write and AI will draw a picture.

Image to Image Demo: upload an image and AI will make a corresponding image: https://affinelayer.com/pixsrv/

3. Learn

A great introductory article as an overview: From IBM "A beginner’s guide to artificial intelligence, machine learning, and cognitive computing"

AI and ML for Kids

https://machinelearningforkids.co.uk/

https://machinelearningforkids.co.uk/#!/links

 https://medium.com/stempedia/ai-for-kids-teach-kids-ai-with-the-best-online-ai-course-26575ab57337

https://thestempedia.com/blog/teaching-ai-kids/

https://thestempedia.com/shop/online-courses/artificial-intelligence-for-kids/

8 AI-driven Creative Apps for You and Your Kids

https://towardsdatascience.com/8-ai-driven-creative-apps-for-you-and-your-kids-5fdd71407dc4



Google Youtube video "AI Adventures: What is Machine Learning"

This tutorial and list of ML algorithms might be helpful to learn from:

 https://data-flair.training/blogs/machine-learning-tutorial/

https://www.newtechdojo.com/list-machine-learning-algorithms/

Google Dialogflow tutorials -Try it free https://cloud.google.com/dialogflow

 Medium "The most impressive Youtube Channels for you to Learn AI, Machine Learning, and Data Science"

Python Profits:  Learn ML, Regression, Classification, DL, Big Data https://www.pythonprofits.com/

IBM Watson

FREE cognitiveclass.ai courses include docker, chatbots, cloud, ML, Python, Node-RED, blockchain, TJBot, Big Data, Hadoop, Data Science, R, Serverless computing, Iot, Data Visualization, DL, Istio, Swift, statistics, Spark, GPU, Tensorflow, SQL, Bitcoin, Scala, NoSQL, MapReduce, YARN, Graphx, Kubernetes K8s, OpenShift, Microservices, Predictive modeling, Kafka, zookeeper, Solr, and more. see https://cognitiveclass.ai/courses

Data Science courses https://community.ibm.com/community/user/datascience/coursera

Design Thinking course https://www.ibm.com/design/thinking/page/courses/Practitioner

AI: Deep Learning Course at NYU CDS (Center for Data Science) accessible to all: https://nyudatascience.medium.com/yann-lecuns-deep-learning-course-at-cds-is-now-fully-online-accessible-to-all-787ddc8bf0af

Microsoft

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/group/deep-learning-group/

 Kaggle

https://www.kaggle.com/learn/intro-to-deep-learning

https://www.kaggle.com/learn/overview

https://jonathan-hui.medium.com/gan-some-cool-applications-of-gans-4c9ecca35900

Learn Python 

Python is considered by many to be the most popular language for AI.

For beginners (and children too), you can learn a bit about Python by using Turtle graphics. This was introduced to me by our local library which sponsored an Hour of Code and provided some of the following links:

https://hourofpython.com/  - Click on the "start learning" button for the free lesson of "Python with Turtles" - This might be fun to do with your friends or family too.

Python Turtle sandbox and documentation on how to use turtle and the beginner's guide to python turtle

If you want to learn python, here are some courses and tutorials

Beginners guide: https://wiki.python.org/moin/BeginnersGuide/NonProgrammers

https://www.learnpython.org/ 

Learn DL 

Or you can monitor a class on Coursera or edx.

AI Newsletter: https://thesequence.substack.com/ or https://thesequence.substack.com/p

Ivy League University Online Classes

https://qz.com/1821327/450-free-ivy-league-university-courses-you-can-take-online/

Georgia Tech Course on Machine Learning (need to create a free account):

https://classroom.udacity.com/courses/ud262AI Machine Learning Data Sets:

Data for AI:


Datacatalogs.org

Data.un.org

www.data.gov

europeandataportal.eu/en

Kaggle.com/datasets

Datasetsearch.research.google.com

Community Data License Agreement:

Cdla.io

AWS Data Exchange marketplace

Data Access Exchange: DAX: https://developer.ibm.com/exchanges/data/
Has data notebooks

Model Exchanges
Model zoos:  Pytorch, TensorFlow, Keras, ONYX

MAX – Model Asset Exchange 

https://developer.ibm.com/exchanges/models

When I presented the webinar, there were questions about Project Management and AI. I referred people to my previous webinar on "Project Management and Artificial Intelligence" and my blog post on "Project Management and Artificial Intelligence"

4. Use / Apply

Alexa Skills:  

Alexa has "Skill Blueprints" that can be set up fairly easily. For example, here is the Q&A skill blueprint you can use to have Alexa answer your questions with answers you want. More information in this article by CNBC "How to get Alexa to answer certain questions exactly how you want it to" Updated Thu, Apr 19 2018 by Todd Haselton @robotodd

Learn to program a skill (like an app) for Alexa: "What is the Alexa Skills Kit?"

Compete for good with AI: Kaggle Competitions include some benevolent uses of AI

"How to build a chatbot for your school in less than an hour" by Brooke Gleason on 08 APR 2020

AI Gaming - Competitions at programming bots to win games with bitcoin as the prize https://www.aigaming.com/

 5. Share / Use it for Good / For Benefit

AI for Good organization

Microsoft AI for Good

Google AI for Social Good

DataRobot - AI for Good - For Non-profits - Cohort program open until April 30, 2021 

 https://www.citizenai.nz/



 


Saturday, February 13, 2021

DIY Wood Pickup Truck Bank

 

Photo by Henry Will

Someone's birthday was coming up and they wanted a bank. I asked what types of things they like. The answer was dinosaurs, trucks and helicopters. I had an idea! I could make a wood bank that is in the shape of his dad's pickup truck!

So, I asked for a photo and received this:


I had some wood wheels that I wanted to use. I found from my experience with past projects (see other posts here in my blog) that wood wheels are a bit difficult to make, so I just buy them at the craft store.  

Looking at the picture of the pickup, I measured out the proportions of the real truck with respect to the wheels in the photo. I made a stencil out of paper using the same proportions to the wheels that matched the size of the wood wheels I had. I then traced from the paper stencil onto cardboard and cut it out. 

I saw a wood pickup truck online that was made with layers of wood and decided to follow that method so the middle section could hold coins.

I had a nice piece of oak to use to cut out the left and right sides of the truck. I decided to use some scrap 2 X 4 for the middle section.

I had to create a shape for the 2 X 4 to go in the middle of the truck that would allow coins to be put in the top and be stored toward the back. This piece also had to have a spot to drill holes for the axels for the wheels. Here (below) you can see the two shapes.

Part of the way through cutting out the two sides, I ran into an issue with my jig saw. It gave out. As you can see in the picture below, I wasn't quite done. Isn't amazing that even without planning, the two sides fit together like a puzzle so I wasted very little wood? Thank God!



Our nice neighbor, who makes wonderful wooden furniture, let me borrow his amazing scroll saw to finish the cutting of the 2 sides. 

The scroll saw didn't seem to be willing to cut through a 2 X 4 so I used a jig saw. My good neighbor also loaned me his jig saw (Thank you, you know who you are). I cut the 2 X 4 to the shape. The space between the two wheels was very difficult. There was nothing to sit the jig saw on. So, I cut grooves and then broke them out with a screwdriver. You can see that a file was also helpful and I used my protective eye wear even though I also wear glasses (my grandfather was a carpenter and had a mishap with his eye, so I'm careful).

I used some brown finishing nails to nail it together. Because this is hard wood, I had to drill holes first for the nails so I didn't split the wood. Not shown in this picture was the challenge I had on the other side. A finishing nail broke and split the wood. I had to glue it back together and put in a nail nearby.


I carefully cut a piece of oak to fit exactly where the tailgate was and carefully measured holes for a "hinge". I made a little handle and had to bevel the edges of the tailgate so it fit tight when closed, but allowed space to tilt open. I guess there has to be a way to get the coins out, right?  The file and Dremel tool were very helpful tools for this work.



I was looking into acrylic to cover the windshield, back window, and bed. But, after looking into the tools I would need to drill holes and the issues I've had in the past drilling holes in acrylic, I decided to use my wife's good idea. She suggested using the plastic that held some apple cider donuts we bought at a local farm stand!  It worked very well and doesn't scratch as easy as acrylic!  I just bent it to shape, drilled some holes through it and into the wood so the oak didn't split, and used a screw with a washer. 

All in all, I think it came out well.  Solo Deo Gloria! 

I prayed and God helped me with this. I kept reminding God that Jesus was a carpenter and I needed his help.


 

Please like and comment with your thoughts and stories about DIY projects!

Thursday, February 04, 2021

7 Proven Ways to Manage Your Time and Tasks

 

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

I'm giving a free webinar on 2021-02-10 titled "7 Proven Ways to Manage  Your Time and Tasks."

In this post I will provide some information related to the subject. Anyone attending the webinar can find more detail here in this post. If you want to attend, register at this link.

The 7 Proven Techniques are:

1. The Pomodoro technique ® – focus and eliminate distractions

2. GTD: getting things done – take big tasks (projects) and break down into pieces. Just start on one piece.
3. Inbox 0 – Manage your email inbox - look at each incoming task once
4. Personal kanban – visualize work, limit work in progress
5. Saying "No"
6. Eisenhower's prioritization technique
7. Margin – Don’t over-commit
8. Bonus: bullet journaling

 You'll find links to more information below:

Here is a very recent article about Time Management:

Fast Company:  02-08-21 SECRETS OF THE MOST PRODUCTIVE PEOPLE
3 time management myths messing with your productivity

 1. Pomodoro Technique ® (Registered Trademark)

2. GTD: getting things done – take big tasks (projects) and break down into pieces. Just start on one piece.

3. Inbox 0 – Manage your email inbox - look at each incoming task once

 4. Personal kanban – principles: visualize work, limit work in progress

5. Eisenhower's prioritization technique

6. Saying "No"

 

7. Margin – Don’t over-commit

8. Bonus: Bullet Journaling (aka BuJo)

My past two blog posts on this subject are also helpful:

https://henrywill4.blogspot.com/2020/02/productivity-time-and-task-management-5.html

https://henrywill4.blogspot.com/2018/10/is-it-time-management-or-task-management.html

I am available to do webinars and presentations on a wide range of topics.
Subscribe to emails of future presentations by sending an email to:
speaker-henrywill+subscribe @ groups.io
Or visit my speaking list page to see the other subjects I've spoke on and will be speaking on soon!

  Please comment here with your ideas about being more productive!