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I don't believe this is the case. Utilities are considered to be "natural monopolies".

Really? Then who is Julian.Taylor@central.sun.com?

I found Julian here and here .

This doesn't really add credence to the Memo, however, it just proves that the author had access to Google.

There are a lot of Internal references in the Memo on InternalMemos.com that should be verifiable. I would expect Sun to deny that this is real, if it's a fake, or perhaps they won't dignify it with any attention at all.

Kudos to you for giving a darn about the quality of your tutoring, and doing some work on this project.

Do some Googling and see what is happening at writing centers, which provide the same services you will be doing, but for writing instead of math. There are already several centers (like Colorado State and Auburn) who are using chat for writing help online. You might be able to find some general suggestions for tutoring practices which can help you out.

You might also see what folks in electronic library reference are doing, such as the RefeXpress service here at Florida.

If you have a minute, I'd appreciate an email regarding what you find out, how it helps you out, etc. (speaking not only of these suggestions but your research in general).

good luck,
cbd.

I see a lot of comments bashing Auburn for creating a specialized degree. Relax! I've seen it, and it looks like a solid program rooted in good EE principles. As a grad student (now at the University of Texas), trust me: if you want to know a lot about wireless communications, the old answer was: get your Master's degree or PhD. That's still the answer, and if you'll look at the class listings, you'll see that a lot of this effort is concentrated in graduate-level courses.

They're not replacing the EE degree. They're just adding more courses; undergrads can take them until their ears bleed and get a degree with a title that emphasizes their interest, or they can get a graduate degree heavy on wireless.

(That said, I'd still get an EE. But I'm a computer architecture gEEk, not a wireless gEEk.)

Didn't you see Star Trek:TNG? Like Data, they obey Asimov's 3 laws of Robotics.

I think.

They claim to have actually built a Maxwell's Demon. Like all such claims, it is founded on germs of plausibility, and the prospect of beating the thermodynamic game is so interesting that folks line up to play with it. It's hard to imagine that all the objections posted here can be wrong; though perhaps it will turn out that, after you cut through their marketing hyperbole, there's a valid useful nugget of technology that has some practical applications. One hopes that this is what the Boeing geeks have found, and that they didn't get swindled. (It's sad when smart guys get fooled by a scam.) But time will tell, of course.

Yeah, yeah physics again. You might at least reference the square-cube law, such as here for anatomy if you want to educate people on why ants and spiders are so strong. It is also a clue as to why you don't find realy big or tall land animals.

There is also a significant problem with flying dinosaurs & even standing up because of square cube law arguments. Some have seriously proposed that oxygen content was higher for the dino's, other suggest that gravity was lower. Point is, that they are so big, square cube law is a problem for us to understand their existence. There are also huge forms of many modern animals in the fossil record that are a problem for us to understannd because of square-cube law (3 ft wingspan dragonflies, foot long cockroaches, sharks with a 12 ft wide jaw, etc.) Really some interesting problems, albeit somewhat off-topic.

Square cube law is a problem in muscle strenth, bone strength, respiriration, reaction speed, heat dissipation, etc. Unfortunately don't know a really good godd/article to recommend.

http://www.univrel.auburn.edu/tiger/video.html Ok so it is only a clip of their bird flying, but it is clearly from the NBC feed. It appears there are ways to get clips on the web after all.

I had the pleasure^h^h^h^h^h^h^h^hmisfortune of having to take most of my programming courses at Auburn University in the CSE department. For four years I learned about linked lists, trees, etc. using Ada. I will give you that it is a very verbose language, but I would not call it intuitive. It's certainly not as intuitive to read in a float, munge it into text, and then print it all out. Consider that it would take me more lines of code to print "Your order is $29.95" in Ada than it would in Perl, C, C++, or (maybe) Java. It would certainly require more hoop-jumping than Perl, but I'm not biased.

They tell me that the running wage for good Ada programmers is well over $100k/year. Some get 2-4 times that. Perl programmers don't generally get that much, but I'd rather do Perl than Ada because it is so anal-retentive. If you want to make sure your airplane doesn't crash due to software failure, use Ada. For anything else, find another language.

Ada may be stable, but anal-retentive verbosity does not intuitivity define.

I had the pleasure^h^h^h^h^h^h^h^hmisfortune of having to take most of my programming courses at Auburn University in the CSE department. For four years I learned about linked lists, trees, etc. using Ada. I will give you that it is a very verbose language, but I would not call it intuitive. It's certainly not as intuitive to read in a float, munge it into text, and then print it all out. Consider that it would take me more lines of code to print "Your order is $29.95" in Ada than it would in Perl, C, C++, or (maybe) Java. It would certainly require more hoop-jumping than Perl, but I'm not biased.

They tell me that the running wage for good Ada programmers is well over $100k/year. Some get 2-4 times that. Perl programmers don't generally get that much, but I'd rather do Perl than Ada because it is so anal-retentive. If you want to make sure your airplane doesn't crash due to software failure, use Ada. For anything else, find another language.

Ada may be stable, but anal-retentive verbosity does not intuitivity define.

If all you are looking for is good code visualization and compilation, you might try jGRASP http://www.eng.auburn.edu/grasp It's free and it does visualization for Java, C, Objective C, C++, VHDL, and Ada. In addition, there has been the recent addition of a UML modeler.

"Natural" monoplies are those which arise because there cannot be anything else. For example, it's not credible to expect more than one hydro cable to your house, or more than one telephone company: there isn't enough room on the poles for more than one each. Heck, the cable folks often have to sue to get permission to use the other guy's poles... These are existing natural monopolies, along with water, sewers and the like.

They propose that Bill has a natural monopoly, and that it will be broken and replaced with one where we are the monopolists. Well, natural monopolies are not trivial to overturn, so by arguing the we will overturn Bill, they're (accidentally!) arguing that he doesn't have a natural monopoly.

They have argued that some of the prerequisites exist, but they've jumped from there to the conclusion that it does exist, without offering proof.

A cople of references, findable via google: A Glossary of Political Economy Terms, and from http://www1.oecd.org/daf/clp/non-member_activities /dnme10.htm,
Natural monopoly arises in sectors characterised by declining costs of production so that there is room for only one firm to exploit available economies of scale. Typically, natural monopolies occur in industries characterised by large distribution networks with substantial fixed costs, such as gas, electricity, water and railways. In practice, however, it is as rare to find examples of industry-wide natural monopoly as it is examples of perfect competition. Even if some parts of an industry have natural monopoly characteristics others may be potentially competitive. For example electricity supply consists of natural monopoly in transmission but potential competition in generation and the supply of user equipment. Telecommunications was for a long time considered to be a natural monopoly at least for the basic telephone service, whereas value added services and the equipment market are competitive. The creation of new networks for voice transmission has even eroded the monopoly of the basic service.

...and still no sympathy. I graduated in June, CS degree from Auburn University, hired and started August 1 with net32. The coapny sells dental supplies over the web to dentists and hygienists. They cut 50% of the staff--including me--in mid-December. 5 months on the job and I got the ax. I didn't study very hard but I worked my butt off at net32. I still got cut, and after living off savings for 2 months, got another job, still doing web and cgi work.

I have no sympathy for people who don't save and plan ahead when it's well within their means to do so. NONE. I can afford that opinion because I *have* been there. I had enough savings that when I totaled my car two months after starting my new job, I could go out and by another with savings. Understand that I've been working 7 out of 9 months, and I could by a 1991 740 turbo wagon (Volvo) with most of the options OUTRIGHT. I still have savings. I live in a 2 br apartment by myself. I work hard, and I spend next to nothing. On top of that 10% of my gross salary goes to tithing, so you can't say that I'm a miser.

I repeat: I'm exceedingly careful with my money. I don't make a lot, but I make enough. If people don't manage their money properly, it's no concern of mine, but I don't want to hear them whining about how badly they were mistreated.

I'm not going to be sadistic and laugh about poetic justice like the guy who started this thread, but it certainly is poetic. I do this work because I love it. I got cut, I bounced back, and I'm happy again. It's a lot easier to go out and get another job than it is to sit home and collect unemployment and whine. If you have to go elsewhere to get a job, do. If you're that sharp, they'll pay for you to move. Try Utah...try RTP.

</RANT>


if ($user =~ m/shaldannon/i) {
print "\n-- $user :)\n"
}

I graduated in June from Auburn University in June. Auburn is nowhere near a major engineering metropolis and is a pretty small town :)

I got into CS because I liked hacking the UNIXes. I had been in the EE curriculum, but decided fuzzy math and physics weren't for me (fuzzy as in I didn't *get* it). Playing with Solaris (and later Linux) got me pumping.

I didn't have a real clue what I wanted to do when I graduated, so I called the co-op department in my Junior year. Although they didn't place me in a co-op position, I had enough web development skills to wow the man who managed the student information systems. I took a position with the Division of University Computing maintaining any student web systems that needed deployment. The Student Ticket Order System there is my design. I also became involved in the local ACM there, first as secretary, then as webmaster.

This isn't to brag about me. I used these opportunities to find what I enjoyed doing. I became a web developer for the sheer joy of it. The ACM gave plenty of chances to meet companies doing all sorts of things...from AdTran to Chick-Fil-A (yes, they do need people in IT) to Raytheon.

I'm nine months out of school. In that time I've experienced the process of meeting with a company that tried to screw me over in the interview (I won't name names, but they're in Virginia, they're Open Source, and they got bought out recently by another troubled company), a company that hired me, mentored me, and layed me off, and the hiring process again with a company that had no clue what position they wanted to fill, and a company where my position got reorganized within two months of employment. That's a pretty diverse employment record in such a short time :}

My main point is that even if you're isolated from a well-known tech area, you can still find opportunities to discover what you like. And Open Source companies are not necessarily the way to go. Look carefully and remember that you'll probably switch jobs several times before you finally settle down.


if ($user =~ m/shaldannon/i) {
print "\n-- $user :)\n"
}

I graduated in June from Auburn University in June. Auburn is nowhere near a major engineering metropolis and is a pretty small town :)

I got into CS because I liked hacking the UNIXes. I had been in the EE curriculum, but decided fuzzy math and physics weren't for me (fuzzy as in I didn't *get* it). Playing with Solaris (and later Linux) got me pumping.

I didn't have a real clue what I wanted to do when I graduated, so I called the co-op department in my Junior year. Although they didn't place me in a co-op position, I had enough web development skills to wow the man who managed the student information systems. I took a position with the Division of University Computing maintaining any student web systems that needed deployment. The Student Ticket Order System there is my design. I also became involved in the local ACM there, first as secretary, then as webmaster.

This isn't to brag about me. I used these opportunities to find what I enjoyed doing. I became a web developer for the sheer joy of it. The ACM gave plenty of chances to meet companies doing all sorts of things...from AdTran to Chick-Fil-A (yes, they do need people in IT) to Raytheon.

I'm nine months out of school. In that time I've experienced the process of meeting with a company that tried to screw me over in the interview (I won't name names, but they're in Virginia, they're Open Source, and they got bought out recently by another troubled company), a company that hired me, mentored me, and layed me off, and the hiring process again with a company that had no clue what position they wanted to fill, and a company where my position got reorganized within two months of employment. That's a pretty diverse employment record in such a short time :}

My main point is that even if you're isolated from a well-known tech area, you can still find opportunities to discover what you like. And Open Source companies are not necessarily the way to go. Look carefully and remember that you'll probably switch jobs several times before you finally settle down.


if ($user =~ m/shaldannon/i) {
print "\n-- $user :)\n"
}

I graduated in June from Auburn University in June. Auburn is nowhere near a major engineering metropolis and is a pretty small town :)

I got into CS because I liked hacking the UNIXes. I had been in the EE curriculum, but decided fuzzy math and physics weren't for me (fuzzy as in I didn't *get* it). Playing with Solaris (and later Linux) got me pumping.

I didn't have a real clue what I wanted to do when I graduated, so I called the co-op department in my Junior year. Although they didn't place me in a co-op position, I had enough web development skills to wow the man who managed the student information systems. I took a position with the Division of University Computing maintaining any student web systems that needed deployment. The Student Ticket Order System there is my design. I also became involved in the local ACM there, first as secretary, then as webmaster.

This isn't to brag about me. I used these opportunities to find what I enjoyed doing. I became a web developer for the sheer joy of it. The ACM gave plenty of chances to meet companies doing all sorts of things...from AdTran to Chick-Fil-A (yes, they do need people in IT) to Raytheon.

I'm nine months out of school. In that time I've experienced the process of meeting with a company that tried to screw me over in the interview (I won't name names, but they're in Virginia, they're Open Source, and they got bought out recently by another troubled company), a company that hired me, mentored me, and layed me off, and the hiring process again with a company that had no clue what position they wanted to fill, and a company where my position got reorganized within two months of employment. That's a pretty diverse employment record in such a short time :}

My main point is that even if you're isolated from a well-known tech area, you can still find opportunities to discover what you like. And Open Source companies are not necessarily the way to go. Look carefully and remember that you'll probably switch jobs several times before you finally settle down.


if ($user =~ m/shaldannon/i) {
print "\n-- $user :)\n"
}

Another good organization to consider might be the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP page) They have their work cut out trying to debunk lots of fraudulent claims.

There are also science advocacy organizations, for example those listed at this page, who often have their work cut out for them promoting sensible research against the uncompromising efforts of PETA and so on.

There are also organizations like Zero Population Growth, ZPG site who try to do what they can to address what is clearly behind many current and impending problems, the lack of thought that goes into reproductive decisions worldwide.

Libraries of course are historically important for science literacy and depend on contributions. There hasn't been a local library that I know of that hasn't been very happy to get a subscription to Sky and Telescope, for example.

These aren't charities in the traditional sense, but they are underfunded groups working for causes that may be important to geeks.

4 watts is admittedly a nice, small number. However, "two smallish [camcorder] batteries" is still extra weight to carry around--and is neither unobtrusive nor form-fitting.

I wonder if anyone has looked into human-powered systems for this. I think that some of this is being researched. They might not have to completely replace batteries--they could allow the user to recharge the batteries while simply walking or moving around.

I did find one URL with some information on human-powered systems. It's a paper from a conference back in 1997, at http://spi.aubu rn. edu/Workshops/Prospector_IX/prospector_ix.html. If anyone finds anything else, go ahead and post it.

Yeah, that's the really interesting thing about evolution, it's really a giant game of level-N mediocrity. And there's no way to know what the "right" level is to play on.

If you're an individual parasite or germ, you win by reproducing. But if you reproduce too much, you kill your host before your children can jump to a new one and... you lose. If you're an elephant and you eat some trees, you win, but if your herd eats all the trees before the drought... you lose. If you're a human and you hunt some game, you win, but if you kill just about everything, well...

These days, ecologists thinking beyond "charismatic megafauna" (like pandas and whales) haven't really agreed on how to prevent humans from losing, or even, what winning or losing entails.

As a stopgap, many people have come down on ecological diversity with the general idea, if we don't know what we're going to need, let's keep as much as everything possible around.

Problem with cloning and sticking things in is: any time big changes happen (hurricanes, volcanoes, humans killing things, humans adding new species to an ecosystem) things tend to get simpler and less diverse for a while. If these happen regularly on a long term scale (like hurricanes) this lower diversity on one scale can lead to more diversity on a larger scale (there's that level-N thing again). But if not, things get more screwed.

So, the question is--- is the "natural Darwinistic act" of an intelligent species evolving and destroying things before going extinct something that happens every several millioin years? If so, no problem! First the sleestack, next us. I think the crows are next in line. They look like they're bored, overly smart, and waiting for something.

I wasn't at the overall contest, and didn't see the problems given, but...

I was webmaster and technical assistance for the 1999 Southeast Regional Contest. Bill Poucher came to the contest and was quite available. From my interaction with him (albeit on the side of the people administering the competition), he seemed quite reasonable and quite nice.

This is not to say that the contest ran smoothly. A more detailed account of what the tech staff went through is available.

There were some complaints, but they were handled politely, and by the end of the contest, everyone was tired but happy.

Now, back to the international contest. I don't know what happened. I can guess that the judges got hit with a salvo of complaints and joined forces to repel the assualt :) Look at it from their point of view: Some of the teams got the problem the same way you did...this validates (in your mind) your solution. Other teams struggled but didn't. They then bring accusations that the problem was unfair. There are official channels for complaints as per the rules as listed on the official site.

I said it before, and I'll repeat it. From my experience, Mr. Poucher is a decent and courteous individual. Managing a contest like this frays your nerves, and when people start bombarding you with challenges and accusations, it is easy to lose patience with them. There are also established procedures for dealing with appeals, and circumventing them by directly approaching the judges isn't likely to influence them positively.

:)


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I wasn't at the overall contest, and didn't see the problems given, but...

I was webmaster and technical assistance for the 1999 Southeast Regional Contest. Bill Poucher came to the contest and was quite available. From my interaction with him (albeit on the side of the people administering the competition), he seemed quite reasonable and quite nice.

This is not to say that the contest ran smoothly. A more detailed account of what the tech staff went through is available.

There were some complaints, but they were handled politely, and by the end of the contest, everyone was tired but happy.

Now, back to the international contest. I don't know what happened. I can guess that the judges got hit with a salvo of complaints and joined forces to repel the assualt :) Look at it from their point of view: Some of the teams got the problem the same way you did...this validates (in your mind) your solution. Other teams struggled but didn't. They then bring accusations that the problem was unfair. There are official channels for complaints as per the rules as listed on the official site.

I said it before, and I'll repeat it. From my experience, Mr. Poucher is a decent and courteous individual. Managing a contest like this frays your nerves, and when people start bombarding you with challenges and accusations, it is easy to lose patience with them. There are also established procedures for dealing with appeals, and circumventing them by directly approaching the judges isn't likely to influence them positively.

:)


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So, the "geek" internet is under attack by the "suits". The suits want to make more money, if that's at all possible, by lulling us all into complacent consumerism. Now, the internet isn't a passive medium, it's not even a single medium, it's more of a delivery system. The web is a new medium that happens to be close to what the suits know, TV and print.

Fine, when geeks in the 70s and 80s got bored with TV and pop media they took up BBS's and other pre-puclic-internet networks. These "connected" mediums eventually evolved, migrated, whatever, into the internet. Business FINALLY caught on once it got that big. They brought their laws, which are meant to facilitate the interest of business with people secondary, everyone knows that. We live in an oligarky, get used to it. The smart peasants discovered a way of communicating without the powers that be, business, knowing. It might as well have been a trade route in the 17th century to the orient. Thing is, geeks are like the guides that know the way. We are highly skilled woodsmen and those prissy aristocrats can't do anything that can affect us. We are masters of this domain (no scienfeld inuendo intented) and will be for a long time to come. We can also exodus this place any time we want, but do you want to? Thought as much.

The Auburn University Computer Science and Software Engineering Department uses linux in it's cse 405 intro to operating systems course as the basis for the lab. It's been a while since I took the class, but topics included making a device driver, scheduling, and memory and process management. It works well, and the students learn everything from installation to recompiling the kernel.


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Structure and functions of operating systems; process state models and scheduling algorithms; memory management; interrupt processing; auxiliary storage management; disk scheduling algorithms and file systems;resource allocation policies and deadlock; protection; concurrent asynchronous processes; design strategies.

here's the url to the syllabus: CSE405 .

Book: Linux Kernel Internals , 2nd edition

Labs:

Lab 1 -- installing Linux,

Lab 2 -- writing a device driver

Lab 3 -- process scheduling, part 1,

Lab 4 -- process scheduling, part 2, (20%)

Lab 5 -- memory management,

Lab 6 -- disk management and file systems

WAR D*MN EAGLE

Maybe not as my decor, but I'm a student at Auburn University :)


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