Stephen Donald Huff

This course provides a detailed executive-level review of contemporary topics in supervised machine learning theory with specific focus on predictive modeling and linear regression. The ideal student is a technology professional with a basic working knowledge of machine learning theory. Additionally, to better inform the interested student, the final lesson of this course presents samples in Python describing the essential implementation of described regression methods. To reduce space and improve clarity, this code targets a basic Keras environment - this inclusion is not meant as an endorsement of one system over another (all provide benefits); instead, at the time of this writing, Keras simply offers a popular, facile 'frontend' for managing TensorFlow or Microsoft Cognitive Toolkit deep learning systems, all using this popular script. As an 'executive review', this text presents a distillation of essential information without the clutter of formulae, charts, graphs, references and footnotes. Thus, the student will not have a 'textbook' experience (or expense) while reviewing its contents. Instead, the student will quickly pass through a surprising wealth of actionable, easily-digestible technological information without the distraction of extemporaneous considerations.

This course provides a detailed executive-level review of contemporary topics in graph modeling theory with specific focus on Deep Learning theoretical concepts and practical applications. The ideal student is a technology professional with a basic working knowledge of statistical methods. Upon completion of this review, the student should acquire improved ability to discriminate, differentiate and conceptualize appropriate implementations of application-specific ('traditional' or 'rule-based') methods versus deep learning methods of statistical analyses and data modeling. Additionally, the student should acquire improved general understanding of graph models as deep learning concepts with specific focus on state-of-the-art awareness of deep learning applications within the fields of character recognition, natural language processing and computer vision. Optionally, the provided code base will inform the interested student regarding basic implementation of these models in Keras using Python (targeting TensorFlow or Microsoft Cognitive Toolkit). As an 'executive review', this text presents a distillation of essential information without the clutter of formulae, charts, graphs, references and footnotes. Thus, the student will not have a 'textbook' experience (or expense) while reviewing its contents. Instead, the student will quickly pass through a surprising wealth of actionable, easily-digestible technological information without the distraction of extemporaneous considerations.

Portentously born, his is a dark history of shining nobility and blazing empire. His heritage long since withered pitifully beneath shadows of boastful legend and shades of neglectful disregard, he will claim the familial patriarchy many years before his dying grandfather can fully prepare him for its dangers and demands.Upon ascension and despite his lack of an inherited powerbase, he must somehow regenerate neglected family fortunes or perish violently with his bloodline. Throughout these travails, ominous and disturbing, a mysterious female specter will stalk his childhood with all the steadfast tenacity of a luminous moonshine shadow, her wicked smile the promise of all things impending and evil. Indeed, few of his family's ancient allies forecast his success, while formidable alien adversaries collect in the old man's wake the way sharks will trail a desperate, dying leviathan through cold, uncaring seas.His reign will begin as it must end, with violence and a vast letting of blood. Between these mortal bookends of his life, expect a torrential flood of gore, all of it bound to follow the swell of a first, single drop.

She's a castaway fourteen-year-old orphan, all alone in the world, sigh Nobody notices Moan Nobody cares Groan Heavy pout, mugging for pity Hey Step-off her uterus She knows where she's going, because she knows where she's been Nobody can tell her anything she hasn't already heard Except... this guy... this older guy... Sure, he wears cheap leisure suits and something resembling clown-shoes, but he makes such sweet promises He tells her only what she wants to hear and nothing that bugs her... until one night... the night of Halloween and her fifteenth birthday......something terrible happens Something wonderful and awful and terrifying and beautiful and TERRIBLE

Boogeymen, banshees, werewolves and vampires; all figments of horror drawn upon parchments of fable, each the scrawl of individual phobias revisited by trembling quills dipped into inkwells of collective nightmare. Despite vaguely amusing caricatures, these monstrous legends probably developed from grisly human origins. Indeed, we confront our violent primitives in every new atrocity, and each murder teaches a simple lesson that humankind consistently resists. Consequently, we forever lack viable means for exorcising so-called 'inner demons'. Even now, your secret devil whispers into the blackout parts of your mind. Listen. Of demigods driven beyond far horizons by unreasonable lusts and unquenchable desires; of insatiable murderers presented as captains of commerce; of industrial-strength bloodletting, bad consciences, and impotent wizards stumbling through a fatal loss for words; of primitive human societies drawn from forests by promises in stone; of magic amid darkness, way down deep; and of ghosts that vouchsafe gods; such twisted threads weave life's strange tapestry. Of hidden dominions, here encounter endless landscapes, and of phantoms, flights.

While we collectively fear wild animals and muggers, most contemporary plagues come in the guise of unavoidable corporate logos and unforgettable commercial jingles. This new and most modern form of disease presents symptoms that include unhealthy obsessions, unwise compulsions and preprogrammed responses, all accompanied by an irrepressible tune that inevitably drives a rational mind to the very brink of lunacy. Visualize anything except the latest fad slogan while engrossing yourself in a moment of hysteric interest, and then pause to think. Of dreamscape dominions wrought from the felt fabric of primitive emotion; of futuristic shamans enacting fabulous rites in technology; of a mother's ruined soul, savaged by violence and then transcendent in death for her child's love; of quirky neighbors, outrageous demands, abominable illness, and all the countless human infirmities that rot civilization from within; such twisted threads weave life's strange tapestry. Of fascinating grotesqueries, here study endless cases, and of afflictions, fourteen.

Rascals, rapscallions, villains and varlets; all terms of a bygone era intended to describe the guy in the black hat, that perverse character of low virtue and strayed morality who forever ties the distressed damsel to cold, steel rails. Gasp Within fictional fantasies, they are always guys and damsels, and they must wear black. In reality, we still mostly read about bad 'guys', but the women tend to fight back now, often with devastating effect. Tonight, the devil laces thigh-high boots over fence-net stockings before taking a turn through town. Be warned and beware. Of evil delight in blind infatuation and of criminal disregard for the sanctity of human life; of creepy little dudes, bad boys grown into faultless fathers, and good boys fallen onto hard times; of juvenile delinquents, merciless judgments and capital crimes, and of the occasional hero named 'grandpa', too; such twisted threads weave life's strange tapestry. Of wicked fetish, here find a fiendish gallery, and of rogues, an unlucky thirteen.

While the vast majority perishes in quiet anonymity, a tour of any national monument quickly reveals countless names carved into stone. These names generally identify three classes of people; scribe, conquered and conqueror. Indeed, if anything, life is an endless series of contests, large and small, but these stone-graven records typically ignore the latter for the former. Too often, history overlooks the struggles of mundanity, which perhaps better define those who endure. Pause a reflective moment to ponder the future - anticipate all the boastful elite to be immortalized there. Seeking grandeur in concrete, granite and marble, they will tell. Of dystopias that replace individual freedoms with rigid social order; of government games in assassinations, abandonment, and espionage; of demented human beings living ordinary lives and of ordinary citizens forced into acts of depravity; of wars waged through time and space within the confines of a tormented human mind; such twisted threads weave life's strange tapestry. Of mortal contests, here find many illustrations, and of victors, few.

Are we alone in the universe? To date, all indications tell us we are the only intelligent form of life currently inhabiting our Milky Way Galaxy. Aliens may survive in government laboratories, but they are naturally difficult to record with any convincing fidelity. Yet yesterday's far-out conspiracies too often become today's startling headlines given a bit of unwanted exposure. Pause one moment now to take note of a shadow-bound summons, but beware. Your paranoid shade whispers. Of bright lights on calm nights; of tasks at hand delivered with a foreign understanding and unspeakable demands; of cosmic desperation in dying hopes; of cover-ups, government surveillance gone mad and invasions that challenge human imagination; of a future bound by irrepressible technological achievements, and of hapless souls left to linger in the aftermath when it all goes wrong; such twisted threads weave life's strange tapestries. Of sinister phenomena, here find abundant evidence, and of aliens, eleven.

Tabloids invite us to gorge ourselves on tales of epic personal failures, and so many of us eagerly oblige. Guilty pleasures, we savor these stories most satisfactorily with a garnish of sex scandal, a dash of fiscal malfeasance and a generous dollop of social corruption. Next, we expect a weeping dessert of shame and regret to follow. Afterward, everything ends in a dumpster or the backseat of an aging sedan before we stagger home again, sated, smug and full of improving condemnations. Cup your ears and shade your eyes now. Peer into the gloom of your neighbor's windows to eavesdrop. Hear the doom of a malign understanding bent before a wickeder will; of lost nobodies disappeared into countless nowhere holes; of narcissistic egotism, neglectful self-absorption and conscienceless intellect; of evil embodied in mediocrity and of all the demonic power brokers that grind our bones; such twisted threads weave life's strange tapestries. Of tragically flawed characters, here find deplorable examples, and of losers, legions.

Within each human being lingers a mischievous child, but each of us also cages an unformed primitive. We keep our individual id-monster within the tempered bars of civility, yet it remains our secret delight of a darkened, unobserved evening and we make it our fondest fetish at every available opportunity. No matter how mightily we struggle, history scrawls with endless tales of failed self-control, so each scandal both titillates and disgusts depending upon personal sensibilities. Indulge your inner-beast. How it roars Of broken souls crushed between despair and revenge; of normalcy redefined to openly mock rationality; of tormented logic that inevitably spawns the very demons it maligns, and of the lone eccentric behaving oddly among us; such twisted threads weave life's strange tapestry. Of abnormalities, here encounter a boggling assortment, and of deviants, five.

Peddlers and snake oil, pimps and pornography, lunatics and paranoia... each pair travels the same darkened alleyways to service identical shadow-bound gates. We receive them by the backdoor, thank you, and always well into the evening. These are private matters undertaken and clearly marked by clandestine hush and furtive sidelong glance. Sometimes concealed in the open but more often hidden in a fog of disinformation, our every secret contains a kernel of truth wrapped within a burlap of proficient lies. Patience and due diligence may unwrap the enigma to decipher a hidden message, but let the interloper beware. Secrecy keeps company with slaughter. Of political overwatch run monstrously amok; of corrupt small-town cops playing god; of ancient treasures buried in the most obvious of sites, and of all the mysterious specters that play lethal games of government; such twisted threads weave life's strange tapestry. Of conspiracies, here find intriguing catalogs, and of conspirators, four.

Several of the best human hypocrisies are immortalized in catechisms. We say "violence never solved anything" when history repeatedly teaches us otherwise, and once we prematurely labeled an entire, global war as "The War to End All Wars" long before we recorded its half-formed outcome. Dynasties fall. Empires rise. In marble, granite and concrete, we immortalize these events, large and small, and we celebrate the human beings named heroes there. Rightly so. Pause a moment before The Wall - let your finger trace names in stone. From pits of despair and summits of glory, they report. Of the second war to end all wars and of its exhausted sire, empires' executioner; of a fateful battle fought among history's cruel, azure skies over vast seas named for peace; of one hateful corporal born to innocence yet destined to depravity; and of youth in war confronting the horror of slaughter in the name of sovereign vanity; such twisted threads weave life's strange tapestry. Of warfare's cold compassion, here find merest details, and of soldiers, six.

Within realms of the unknown, superstition stalks. Primitives see god in a rainbow, but they also suspect a deadly serpent beneath every unturned stone. Ignorance and fear sometimes unite to inspire us or spare us, but more often this demonic duality serves to light the torches of enraged mobs. Indeed, history tells stories of witches burned alive amid great celebrations. We know these things happened. We also know witchcraft is a figment. Fearlessly now, step away from the staid, known world that shelters you. Venture into lands of conundrum and enigma to witness ciphered matters of mind. Of a midnight carnival hosting dark celebrations; of lasting drought within the well of souls; of lost places and all the banished who wander there; of fantastic escapes in madness and of moral frailty before inhuman error; of esoteric authority that engenders supernatural potential; of witches, real and imagined, and of all our kind vanished into the never-seen; such twisted threads weave life's strange tapestry. Of answers, here find many startling propositions, and of mysteries, twelve.

Disinfectants, detergents, insecticides, fungicides, herbicides and homicides - everything a human being needs to clear his or her lot and start fresh in life, clean and pure, and it all waits at the press of a finger. Some of us love a good disaster, but we watch from a safe distance and it always happens to someone else... somewhere else... never here. Never us. Distended bellies and skeletal children are always the misfortune of others. Stop and wonder why. Your preferred answer no doubt leaps easily to mind, but the truth is probably quite different, because pestilence comes in all shapes, forms and fashions. Scratch a moment, since you itch, and listen to the incessant rasp of a gathering legion. It twitters. Of gnawing incisors and rapacious fangs; of chitinous exoskeletons and cellophane wings; of mutant monstrosities impossible to kill and of ancient evils never to be purged; of alien leviathans and endangered intellects kept in a multitude; of ravenous lunatics, and of raiding swarms; such twisted threads weave life's strange tapestry. Of pests, here find a restive horde, and of plagues, ten.

Everyone loves a good joke, but nobody enjoys being subjected to the fun. Pranks are an especially childish form of delight, perhaps because they are the ultimate expression of prurient sadism, which we must disavow as civilized adults. We, the same civilized adults who teach our beloved youth the art of warfare while stockpiling an obscene surplus of thermonuclear weapons. Now that is funny So, tease a guilty moment to titillate your secret sadist today. Giggling, it whispers. Of spoiled affluence and nothing better to do; of grotesque victimization that makes monsters from innocent children; of twisted perspectives that render terrible things laughable and of all the bent human beings that make life fun; of deliberate malefactors unknown and ne'er-do-well caretakers on duty; of social misfits tasked by god, and of clever young men directing hidden cameras; such twisted threads weave life's strange tapestry. Of pranks, here find countless examples, and of pranksters, eight.

Mothers no longer name their sons 'Adolph'. Almost everyone knows why. Though all innocent babes do not develop into monsters, all monsters develop from innocent babes. We prefer fiction to reality, because thoughts of the former easily yield to denials of reason, while the latter only reminds us of our common origins in the primitive. Steal a private moment now and listen to your inner voice. It whispers. Of rising mutant domination amid apocalyptic wastes; of grotesque human chimeras practicing ancient arts; of despicable capital criminals kept in unbreakable cages and of the flawed human beings who hunt them; of original sin and practical modern curse, and of chastisement before perverse gods; such twisted threads weave life's strange tapestry. Of depravity, here find endless expositions, and of monsters, seven.

A silly titmouse once sang sweetly to describe love as "a many-splendored thing". Perhaps this is so. For some. For others, love's terrible spectacle shines in its many violent twists and unexpected turns. Each feckless angle of its affection or disaffection invariably leaves a disfiguring blemish that renders exquisite facets of character from alternating impacts of tragedy, disaster, triumph and ecstasy. Too briefly, desire's artistry sparkles the amazed eye with a fateful brilliance before fiery passion fades to leave its victims cold and trembling in its wake. Steal a secret moment now and listen to your heart. It confides. Of teenage angst confronting violent adversity; of lifelong hatred and loathing coming to terms with unavoidable destiny; of grotesque endowments and wicked lusts that render perverse infatuations; of eternity revealed in a bullet and of heaven cut from the fabric of relentless devotion; of desperately needy youth and frustrated motherhood; of black-draped mourning in absence of mercy, and of eternal longing that spans endless highways; such twisted threads weave life's strange tapestry. Of love, here find endless variations, and of lovers, nine.

In pursuit of a na ve, hopeful tradition that once anticipated a cosmos overflowing with advanced civilizations, centuries of continual space exploration ultimately confirmed humankind's terrible loneliness. Beneath the generations-long shadow of this landmark determination, humanity eventually lost its appetite for further discovery. Commercial and political interests diminished, economies collapsed, and the Serpentine withered to a scarcely navigable web of forgotten frontier stations.Passed from one shattered archive to another during the epoch that followed, recollections of alien slaughters faded into folklore, fiction overwhelmed fact, and antiquities yielded to encroaching mythologies. For the first time in recorded history, technological capabilities receded. Ignorant generations followed.A thousand years later, a new breed of adventurer has returned to the Serpentine's abandoned frontiers, rising curious and enlightened from a dark age of internecine warfare, social isolation and grudging interstellar commerce. Forsaking material greed, these altruistic investigators come seeking only truth. Ultimately, they will resolve many long-standing mysteries while making fabulous discoveries, but the fatal costs and disturbing consequences of their success will drive them all past the limits of extremity.

In a limb-mangling medical emergency, semi-sentient robots will save your life, but they will also steal your identity, pilfer your belongings and sexually assault your unconscious body at the same time. In this satirical (but true) depiction of your near future, humanity collectively struggles to accept the horrific and surprising ramifications of the FUST (Fast-Universe-Slow-Technology) conundrum, which proves that the universe will always expand faster than the advance of space travel technology. Thus, thanks to the discovery of some dumbass scientist, everyone knows that they are hopelessly trapped within this crappy solar system. Forever. Amid consequential threats of a social apocalypse and serial exhibitions of public urination, one dedicated bureaucrat will risk his lives (plural) to do the impossible. With only hours to spare before a solar catastrophe entirely obliterates human civilization, he must facilitate the discovery of an effective method for faster-than-light travel and then somehow blast fifty billion neurotic citizens safely across the cosmos. Despite the situation's obvious urgency, his every action confronts the endless frustrations of an apathetic bureaucracy and its soul-crushing lack of interest, which argues clearly for forced sterilization, right now. Today. Seriously.