NorthStarNerd.Org

Virtual Machine Shop

One complaint I often hear from older engineers is how many of their younger brethren don't have hands-on experience in the "shop". If that description might apply to you, or you just could use some occasional help with a machining problem, link on over to the Virtual Machine Shop! It has some great drawings, tutorials, animations, etc. I added this content to the mechanical engineering section of the engineering learning wiki.
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The Cultural Aspects of Product Design

Toyota has changed the economic and business landscape. Author and professor Jeffrey K. Liker explains that this success was the result of consistently applying four key management principles for organizational excellence-Philosophy, People, Problem Solving, and Process. The Lean Blog has now published a three part series / podcast of interviews with Professor Liker on his new book, Toyota Culture. In this book he notes that a key aspect to Toyota's success is culture ... in fact it is the "heart and soul of the Toyota Way"

• Jeff Liker Interview - Parts One | Two | Three

A Keynote Speech to Deliver

I'm off to Seattle early tomorrow for the annual China Tomorrow Education Foundation annual benefit dinner. I will be one of their keynote speakers. I owe a dept of gratitude and thanks to my buddy, Dj, who has taught me the meaning of dedication and compassion. While I help the children from afar except for an occasional trip to southern China, Dj left a high paying job with Microsoft to help educate the children.

If you have a few extra dollars, help me rebuild the LingYun dorm.  Send a pledge via email to Rich Hoeg, at [email protected]. Thank you!

Create Your Own WikiBooks PDF's

Stormbringer commented yesterday about a very cool tool, WikiBooks2PDF. This simple and easy to use tool allows one to convert Wikibooks to pdf for offline use. Just do the following:

1. Link to Wikibooks
2. Find the "book" in which you are intersted
3. Copy the URL
4. Link to WikiBooks2PDF
5. Paste the URL in the window indicated
6. Voila ... about 30 seconds later!

Wireless Sensors Networks+

Following up on yesterday's post (my thanks to Peter Skomoroch over at Data Wrangling Blog), I've added the following courses to the Engineering Learning Wiki and it's embedded Google Co-op search engine. The links given below take you to the correct wiki section.

• Convex Optimization - Stanford University
• Fundamentals of Physics - Yale University
• Fundamentals of Wireless Broadband Networks - RPI
• Machine Learning - U Cal Berkeley
• Thermodynamics - Cambridge University
• Wireless Sensor Networks - University of Freiburg

Remember to check out the courses page of the Engineering Learning Wiki. This page has the search engine and lists the LARGE curriculums (i.e. not just individual courses).