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I Won Both Best Evaluator and Best Table Topics

I Won Both Best Evaluator and Best Table Topics at Early Risers Toastmasters in Palo Alto, CA

I won both Best Evaluator and Best Table Topics at Early Risers Toastmasters (Club 2117) in Palo Alto, CA. I often win Best Evaluator but have room for improvement in Table Topics. First time I have won both in several years. Yay!!!

(C) 2019 by John F. McGowan, Ph.D.

About Me

John F. McGowan, Ph.D. solves problems using mathematics and mathematical software, including developing gesture recognition for touch devices, video compression and speech recognition technologies. He has extensive experience developing software in C, C++, MATLAB, Python, Visual Basic and many other programming languages. He has been a Visiting Scholar at HP Labs developing computer vision algorithms and software for mobile devices. He has worked as a contractor at NASA Ames Research Center involved in the research and development of image and video processing algorithms and technology. He has published articles on the origin and evolution of life, the exploration of Mars (anticipating the discovery of methane on Mars), and cheap access to space. He has a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a B.S. in physics from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).

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Best Table Topics at Startup Speakers Toastmasters April 3, 2019

I won Best Table Topics at Startup Speakers Toastmasters (Sunnyvale, CA) on April 3, 2019. I am winning Table Topics more frequently! 🙂

(C) 2019 by John F. McGowan, Ph.D.

About Me

John F. McGowan, Ph.D. solves problems using mathematics and mathematical software, including developing gesture recognition for touch devices, video compression and speech recognition technologies. He has extensive experience developing software in C, C++, MATLAB, Python, Visual Basic and many other programming languages. He has been a Visiting Scholar at HP Labs developing computer vision algorithms and software for mobile devices. He has worked as a contractor at NASA Ames Research Center involved in the research and development of image and video processing algorithms and technology. He has published articles on the origin and evolution of life, the exploration of Mars (anticipating the discovery of methane on Mars), and cheap access to space. He has a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a B.S. in physics from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).

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I Won Best Speaker at Early Risers Toastmasters (March 26, 2019 in Palo Alto, CA)

Best Speaker at Early Risers Toastmasters in Palo Alto, CA (Silicon Valley)

I won Best Speaker at Early Risers Toastmasters in Palo Alto, CA for my inspirational speech “The Man Who Knew Infinity”

(C) 2019 by John F. McGowan, Ph.D.

About Me

John F. McGowan, Ph.D. solves problems using mathematics and mathematical software, including developing gesture recognition for touch devices, video compression and speech recognition technologies. He has extensive experience developing software in C, C++, MATLAB, Python, Visual Basic and many other programming languages. He has been a Visiting Scholar at HP Labs developing computer vision algorithms and software for mobile devices. He has worked as a contractor at NASA Ames Research Center involved in the research and development of image and video processing algorithms and technology. He has published articles on the origin and evolution of life, the exploration of Mars (anticipating the discovery of methane on Mars), and cheap access to space. He has a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a B.S. in physics from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).

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I Won Best Table Topics at Early Risers Toastmasters in Palo Alto

I won Best Table Topics at Early Risers Toastmasters in Palo Alto, CA (March 12, 2019)

(C) 2019 by John F. McGowan, Ph.D.

About Me

John F. McGowan, Ph.D. solves problems using mathematics and mathematical software, including developing gesture recognition for touch devices, video compression and speech recognition technologies. He has extensive experience developing software in C, C++, MATLAB, Python, Visual Basic and many other programming languages. He has been a Visiting Scholar at HP Labs developing computer vision algorithms and software for mobile devices. He has worked as a contractor at NASA Ames Research Center involved in the research and development of image and video processing algorithms and technology. He has published articles on the origin and evolution of life, the exploration of Mars (anticipating the discovery of methane on Mars), and cheap access to space. He has a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a B.S. in physics from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).

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I Won Best Table Topics at Early Risers Toastmasters

Best Table Topics Early Risers Toastmasters (Palo Alto, CA) Feb. 26, 2019

(C) 2019 by John F. McGowan, Ph.D.

About Me

John F. McGowan, Ph.D. solves problems using mathematics and mathematical software, including developing gesture recognition for touch devices, video compression and speech recognition technologies. He has extensive experience developing software in C, C++, MATLAB, Python, Visual Basic and many other programming languages. He has been a Visiting Scholar at HP Labs developing computer vision algorithms and software for mobile devices. He has worked as a contractor at NASA Ames Research Center involved in the research and development of image and video processing algorithms and technology. He has published articles on the origin and evolution of life, the exploration of Mars (anticipating the discovery of methane on Mars), and cheap access to space. He has a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a B.S. in physics from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).

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I Won Best Evaluator at Startup Speakers Toastmasters

I Won Best Evaluator at Startup Speakers Toastmasters (Jan 30, 2019)
I Won Best Evaluator at Startup Speakers Toastmasters (Jan 30, 2019)
I Won Best Evaluator at Startup Speakers Toastmasters (Jan 30, 2019)

(C) 2019 by John F. McGowan, Ph.D.

About Me

John F. McGowan, Ph.D. solves problems using mathematics and mathematical software, including developing gesture recognition for touch devices, video compression and speech recognition technologies. He has extensive experience developing software in C, C++, MATLAB, Python, Visual Basic and many other programming languages. He has been a Visiting Scholar at HP Labs developing computer vision algorithms and software for mobile devices. He has worked as a contractor at NASA Ames Research Center involved in the research and development of image and video processing algorithms and technology. He has published articles on the origin and evolution of life, the exploration of Mars (anticipating the discovery of methane on Mars), and cheap access to space. He has a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a B.S. in physics from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).

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I Won Best Speaker at Early Risers Toastmasters

Best Speaker at Early Risers Toastmasters (Dec 18, 2018)
Best Speaker at Early Risers Toastmasters (Dec 18, 2018)

I won Best Speaker at Early Risers Toastmasters on Dec. 18, 2018 for my speech: How to Tell Scientifically if Advertising Boosts Profits

This was a short speech for a non-technical audience on the subject of my last blog post: How to Tell Scientifically if Advertising Boosts Sales and Profits


(C) 2018 by John F. McGowan, Ph.D.

About Me

John F. McGowan, Ph.D. solves problems using mathematics and mathematical software, including developing gesture recognition for touch devices, video compression and speech recognition technologies. He has extensive experience developing software in C, C++, MATLAB, Python, Visual Basic and many other programming languages. He has been a Visiting Scholar at HP Labs developing computer vision algorithms and software for mobile devices. He has worked as a contractor at NASA Ames Research Center involved in the research and development of image and video processing algorithms and technology. He has published articles on the origin and evolution of life, the exploration of Mars (anticipating the discovery of methane on Mars), and cheap access to space. He has a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a B.S. in physics from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).

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English Grammar Gotcha: “year old” versus “years old”

English Grammar Gotcha: “year old” versus “years old”

In English grammar, in general the plural (more than one) form of a noun is formed by adding “s” at the end of the noun. For example: dog (singular), dogs (plural), cat (singular), cats (plural), car (singular), cars (plural), etc.

There are many special case exceptions to the adding “s” rule: mouse (singular), mice (plural), goose (singular), geese (plural), sheep (singular), sheep (plural), etc.

There is subtlety with using units of measure as an adjective. When units of measure are used as adjectives, or as part of a compound noun, they are singular. When expressed as simple nouns, they are plural.

For example, these are correct English:

Bob is an eight year old.
Bob is eight years old.
My eight year old’s name is Bob.

The Bay to Breakers is a 7.46 mile race.
The Bay to Breakers race is 7.46 miles long.

More at: https://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/6434/a-ten-years-old-boy-or-a-ten-year-old-boy

(C) 2018 by John F. McGowan, Ph.D.

 

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I Won Best Table Topics and Best Evaluator at Early Risers Toastmasters

I Won Best Table Topics and Best Evaluator at Early Risers Toastmasters in Palo Alto, CA on June 5, 2018.  Yahoo!  Especially Table Topics!  I win Best Evaluator frequently but am not as good at Table Topics.

Best Table Topics and Evaluator at Early Risers Toastmasters
Best Table Topics and Evaluator at Early Risers Toastmasters

(C) 2018 by John F. McGowan, Ph.D.

About Me

John F. McGowan, Ph.D. solves problems using mathematics and mathematical software, including developing gesture recognition for touch devices, video compression and speech recognition technologies. He has extensive experience developing software in C, C++, MATLAB, Python, Visual Basic and many other programming languages. He has been a Visiting Scholar at HP Labs developing computer vision algorithms and software for mobile devices. He has worked as a contractor at NASA Ames Research Center involved in the research and development of image and video processing algorithms and technology. He has published articles on the origin and evolution of life, the exploration of Mars (anticipating the discovery of methane on Mars), and cheap access to space. He has a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a B.S. in physics from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).