Just like you, I am a no-nonsense person. I use my iPad (Air, 4th gen) to read academic papers, annotate them and write notes on them on the fly. Or when I don’t want to carry a laptop around.

Since my use cases are pretty limited, I only use the accessories that I absolutely need. The ones I consider the best, and cheap ones at that. So they won’t be costing you a liver or kidney, but will do exactly what you want it to do. Here they are.

This October, I was invited to discuss and share Cybersecurity related Policy suggestions at the Joint Commission on Technology and Science (JCOTS), a permanent legislative agency of the Commonwealth of Virginia. I should mention that I was hosted by the Joint Commission on Technology and Science (JCOTS), Commonwealth of Virginia to work as a Commonwealth of Virginia Engineering and Science - COVES Policy Fellow from May to August 2022.

I discussed the Cybersecurity issues JCOTS needs to focus on, specifically related to the Internet of Things and NextGen Televisions. Furthermore, I stressed that Policymakers and Researchers need to collaborate more to create better policies for the greater public interest.

The JCOTS Chairman agreed and stressed that JCOTS needs to consider not only public policy creation but also enforcement as I mentioned.

Finally, the JCOTS Chairman on behalf of the Commission thanked me for my contributions.

Personally, I am happy and humbled as the Virginia Academy of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (VASEM) chose me as a COVES Policy Fellow, and JCOTS for hosting me.

🙏

Today I received a gift that relates to Southern American history and culture.

Engraved on the cup was this: Virginia Academy of Science, Engineering and Medicine (VASEM), COVES 2022 on the other side.

Of course, I am one of the Commonwealth of Virginia Engineering & Science (COVES) Policy Fellows for year 2022!

But why a cup? Of this rather peculiar shape?

I had this brilliant idea of adding a cornell style note page after every single page of a paper I am reviewing. Because why not, right? Everyone loves tinkering around the reviewing process instead of actually reviewing, so … there.

Turns out that it is fairly simple to do this programmatically using python these days. You need a PyPi packaged called pypdf2 package before, and a template style cornell page that you can generate from here.

You are golden at this point. Here are the steps:

It has been (a little over) nine years since I first started working on Brightness Controller for Linux. My goals were simple when making this,

a) learn Python as a programming language and

b) solve a pain point for me.

Turns out that my pain point is also a pain point for other people!