Come explore the exciting world of the 5th element!

How can a computer assign a caption to a picture (e.g. http://tinyurl.com/jzus4h7)? How could a computer tell you what disease someone has based on the symptoms (like WebMD)? We'll give you a broad overview of lots of machine learning algorithms popular today.

Learn how to play Mao! (It's a card game.) When we say you have to learn how to play the game, we really mean you have to learn it. We won't be giving you any of the rules! For the full experience of Mao, please don't go and search up the rules before coming to class. That just spoils the fun. Don't worry though; at the end you'll take back a sheet containing the basic rules, so even if you haven't figured out the rules by then, you'll know how to play the game.

Come fold paper airplanes with me using old ESP flyers! I'll provide some diagrams for some cool plane/glider designs. (Be sure to clean up after yourself!)

Transition metals are cool. You probably know that they have multiple oxidation states and form compounds with pretty colours. But they're way cooler than that! Come learn about (a small subset of) random things transition metals can do!

Come learn how things can kill you in obvious and not-so-obvious ways because of chemistry! The things I will talk about will range from things that are obviously designed to kill you, like all those awful things used in chemical warfare, to (things and combinations of things) you didn't know could kill you that you'd probably find lying around your house. You'll hopefully walk away from this with a little bit of paranoia and a whole lot more knowledge about how not to accidentally kill yourself.

Whether or not you've heard of multiple-choice role playing games, you're welcome to take this class! Here we'll go through some basic elements of how to go about designing a multiple-choice RPG, and possibly play through (part of) an actual multiple-choice RPG as a class (we'll decide the options by majority rule.) (Also, if you've played the RPG I'm using, don't spoiler it for people!). If there's extra time, you can even try your hand at designing your own multiple-choice RPG and discuss the details with people who are just as excited about it as you are.

Do you like role-playing games full of strategy, intrigue and backstabbing? Come and play Avalon with us! If you've played the Resistance before, Avalon is very similar to the Resistance, with some special rules. Whether or not you've played Avalon before, drop by walk-ins to play with us! Warning: you might end up staying for a lot longer than you expect to.

Like folding paper? Want to learn some basic organic chemistry to show off to your friends? This class lets you do both! You don't need to know anything about organic chemistry (in fact, if you do, it might end up being slightly boring, unless you're here to learn the origami part.) Depending on how quickly people learn how to make the origami part, I will cover variable amounts of chemistry. Most likely though, it will cover up to hybridisation, CIP rules and chirality, and if I have time, nucleophilicity and electrophilicity. Note that this is a class for you to have fun folding paper and learning a bit of chemistry in the process, and not intended to be a hardcore organic chemistry class. Those probably exist elsewhere.

Learn how to play Mao! (It's a card game.) When we say you have to learn how to play the game, we really mean you have to learn it. We won't be giving you any of the rules! For the full experience of Mao, please don't go and search up the rules before coming to class. That just spoils the fun. Don't worry though; at the end you'll take back a sheet containing the basic rules, so even if you haven't figured out the rules by then, you' know how to play the game.

No, unfortunately you won't get to make explosives in this class. But you do get to learn about what makes an explosive an explosive, and learn about some cool explosives along the way.

Come learn how various chemicals can kill you in obvious and not-so-obvious ways! These range from things you can find in your house to some very specific chemicals used in chemical warfare (and we'll get to talk about the ethics and history of chemical warfare along the way as well.) I will not be responsible if you develop a phobia for everything around you after this class. (Well, at least now you'd be a lot more careful when handling stuff!)

Are you thinking of going on a trip to Beijing (or maybe just somewhere in China) this winter break? Do you want to be able to impress your Chinese friends by pronouncing their names accurately with the right tones and inflections? Do you like languages and want to learn some basic conversational (Mandarin) Chinese? If you answer is yes to any of the above questions, you might want to consider signing up for this class! We will start off with learning the four tones and 汉语拼音 (hanyu pinyin), the romanization of the pronunciation of chinese characters (very useful for reading road signs), followed by some basic useful conversational phrases, with some geographical knowledge of Beijing thrown in somewhere. At the very least, you would (hopefully) be able to pronounce characters accurately based on the romanization by the end of this class! Disclaimer: This class will be teaching Mandarin Chinese and not Cantonese/some other dialect of Chinese. The focus of this class is on speaking and not reading/writing so it will not focus on the recognition of Chinese characters (though you might end up recognizing some by the end of the class anyway). This class is a beginner class, so it may not be very helpful for those already studying Chinese as a foreign language, unless they wish to perfect their pronunciation or just find someone to practice speaking Chinese with.

Tennant vs. Smith? Hiddleston or Cumberbatch? Marvel or DC? Which Avenger would you rather have as World Dictator? Where would you rather live- Middle Earth or the Wizarding World? You've got opinions, come voice them here, and listen to the ensuing debate. But go fast- you've only got 5 minutes!