Monday Links - Week 245

The Simpsons’ secret formula: it’s written by maths geeks

I loved reading about how David Cohen generated a near-miss solution to Fermat’s equation and included it in the show. — JM

Peachy Printer - The world’s first $100 3D Printer

I think the simplicity of this is ingenious. It uses a photo-lithographic process whereby a controlled beam of light cures light sensitive resin into hard objects. A laser beam moves along the X and Y axes to create the shape of the object, while using a drip system to control the level of the resin on the Z axis. You can obtain a kit by backing it on Kickstarter. — JM

The boy genius of Ulan Bator

This story about a 15 year old Mongolian becoming one of only 340 (out of 150,000) getting full marks on a MIT Circuits and Electronics MOOC is inspirational. Not just as an individual’s story, but also in showing for potential of MOOCs to deliver education all around the world. — TW

Carousel-Based Web Design

I feel a bit naughty including this, but it did make me chuckle and I think it does serve some purpose. — JM (via Neil Williams)

The Docker Book

I’ve been playing around with docker a fair bit recently, but it hasn’t been as easy as it might have been to find great documentation. This e-book only has a sample chapter so far, but even reading just this has helped me enormously. Highly recommended. — TW

ActiveRecord: Enhanced Query Objects

Being able to extend an ActiveRecord::Relation object with custom scopes looks like a useful trick. — JM