Vincent Marsland

Recently I signed up for a pair of Coursera courses in topics in which I have little background, electrical engineering and robotics. When I shared this with my wife, she didn't so much as bat an eye as it has become commonplace for me to go off on educational tangents every few months. Through chatting with her I realized that not only do I never seem to stop learning, but that I'm a bit odd for doing so. There is something that I find very pleasant in exploring new topic

While sipping my morning coffee I learned that Stephen Hawking passed away last night at the age of 76. This news has hit me surprisingly hard. It is not as if I knew Stephen Hawking personally or had any special connection with him. He was someone I found inspirational, who overcame adversity, and shared his love of physics and space in a way that was infectious. When I first read A Brief History of Time in high school it inspired me to be more inquisitive and to ask the

When I look down at my left hand while typing I can still see the scar on my pointer finger from when I was 8 years old and made a mistake while whittling. Oddly I’ve become fond of the scar. Not only does it represent a memory from my childhood, during a particularly happy time, but it is also a constant reminder to try something new. As we grow older we tend to become more risk adverse. Stop and think about it for a moment. When you were 8 years old every tree was a cl

Recently I’ve found that my perspective has changed. Perhaps it is summer (finally) arriving here in the UK or maybe it is getting admitted into a great grad school for my MBA, whatever the cause I’m finding that I feel more optimistic than I have in a long time. I’m also finding that in conjunction with this wave of optimism I’m identifying opportunities and coming up with new ideas where recently I have struggled. This recent change has gotten me thinking about the impact