ESP Biography

Have you ever found the games you get at Target to be a little... boring? Board games shouldn't leave you bored! Join this class to learn about the games that your parents never knew about! Have you ever had this great idea for a game and wanted to make it into a video game, but don't know how to program? Well, you don't always need a computer to make a good game. Many professional game developers make physical prototypes of their games before coding them up! This 4-hour class will teach you take you through a overview of non-standard board games, teaching you the various gameplay elements that make up different games. After some history, we will split into groups and start brainstorming! Each person will present their idea, and together we will pick a subset (4-5) to make into a full board game! Once the games are made, you should sign up for the "Board Games Workshop Playtesting" class, where you will teach other students how to play your game! >>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Disclaimer: All Games developed during this workshop will have the Creative Commons license: Attribution-ShareAlike CC BY-SA This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work even for commercial purposes, as long as they credit you and license their new creations under the identical terms. This license is often compared to “copyleft” free and open source software licenses. All new works based on yours will carry the same license, so any derivatives will also allow commercial use. This is the license used by Wikipedia, and is recommended for materials that would benefit from incorporating content from Wikipedia and similarly licensed projects.

Sign up for this if you want to play the games that we developed in the Board Game Prototyping/Design Workshop! We will be playing various games made by students like you! If you've taken the Design class, you HAVE to sign up for this as well!

You may have heard about the recent news about Toyota's unwanted acceleration problems. Have you wondered what may have caused it? Have you ever gotten in the shower and turned on the hot water, only to find that the water goes from cold to WAY TOO HOT? At which point you turn down the hot water and find yourself FREEZING? And eventually you made the water settle down to a comfortable temperature? If so, you've been in your own control loop! This class will provide examples of many more control loops, and answer many questions. What is the science behind modern control systems? What is the math behind the theory? Why should I care?

An alternative title was: "G33K W4RS!!!1" In this wacky new class idea (conceived at 2:10am), two teams of Stanford engineers will face off in the geekiest contest yet. And all the while, you'll learn something too! You, the audience, will be charged with bringing questions related to how things work to ask them. One team will explain how one thing/concept works, and then the other team will explain how another thing/concept works. It is then up to the audience to be the judge of who explained the concept better. The team with the most points at the end of 2 hours will win! Who will reign victorious? And who would go home with -5 nerd cred? Come find out... in THINGS ABOUT STUFF!

This course will use fun and interactive methods to get students engaged in meaningful and stimulating discussions about sex and sexuality. The class will be as much me teaching you as you teaching me. We will discuss issues ranging from relationships to STDs to pop culture. If you've never gotten a chance to explore these topics, but have always wanted to - then this is the class for you!

Ever wondered how computer chips are made? People always talk about computers being made from silicon transistors. And that they run on "1's" and "0's". But how do 1's and 0's allow you to check facebook? And what is a transistor-ma-jiggy? The first part of a 3-class series on Silicon Valley industries, this class will attempt to cover the basics of Device Physics and Fabrication, with a little bit of VLSI thrown in. You will learn about how these tiny MOS transistor devices are made, and why they are useful. Stick around for another exciting class, "From Atoms to Apps - Part 2: C-P-YOU!"

So you know how a transistor works. But how does it become a "computer". Transistors sitting on silicon don't magically start doing the things you ask them to in your code. This class explains how code you write "magically" gets executed by the millions of non-sentient (dumb) transistors. This class requires student participation and interaction, despite the abstraction of the subject. Come prepared to run around and act out silly things, like pretending to be a Register File, or the Arithmetic/Logical Unit. And stick around for Part 3 of the series, "From Atoms to Apps - Part 3: Software Isn't Hard".

Everyone knows what CPU stands for. But do you know how one really works? Why do science books teach you that binary numbers are the key to modern computing and expect that you to leave it at that? Ones and zeros don't really do anything useful by themselves, you know. By using the framework of the basic MIPS processor often studied in university-level digital design classes, we will turn the complex workings of a modern processor into a fun group activity. Beyond just learning how a computer works, you and your friends will actually BE the computer! Topics include how binary numbers work for computing, instruction set architectures, and forwarding.

Interactive Literature, or sometimes known as Live-Action Role-Playing (closely related to "Mystery Dinner"), is an engaging and fun activity that requires a lot of planning on behalf of the organizers. How does one run a successful IL evening for friends? What is the best statistical combat system? How should we write the characters to best suit the players’ personalities? How does one get in character? This class will cater to people of all backgrounds. No previous role-playing experience necessary. Just bring creativity and the willingness to be a little silly!

By using the framework of the basic MIPS processor often studied in university-level digital design classes, we will turn the complex workings of a modern processor into a fun group activity. Beyond just learning how a computer works, you and your friends will actually BE the computer. Topics include how binary numbers work, instruction set architectures, and forwarding.

Interactive Literature, or sometimes known as Live-Action Role-Playing, is an engaging and fun activity that requires a lot of planning on behalf of the organizers. How does one run a successful IL evening for friends? What is the best statistical combat system? How should we write the characters to best suit the players' personalities? How does one get in character? This class will cater to people of all backgrounds. No previous role-playing experience necessary. Just bring creativity and the willingness to be a little silly!

An astable multi-what? Come to this class to find out! This class gives you the background to the basic components ...

What? Buildings made of computers? No, this class will be about the components that make up modern processors, with a ...

Ever wondered how those people on TV seem to be able to solve Rubik's Cube in less than a minute? ...