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Did you see my RT re: NASA budget? NASA environment spending went up 41%, space only 7%. goo.gl/ixcstK [Lonny Eachus, 2015-03-12]

... NASA's climate study budget has gone up 41% while their space budget only went up 7%. ... [Jane Q. Public, 2015-03-16]

Sure, let's ask Sky Dragon Slayers how many satellites should observe and protect our home planet. As soon as they finish mocking NASA's director because Slayers claim that "global warming" is nonexistent. But even when Slayers insist that "NASA needs to pull its head out of faulty climate science and get back to space," they should remember that not even space is compatible with Sky Dragon Slayerism.

After all, what if NASA just sends more missions to Venus and Mercury? Again, if CO2 isn't the reason, then why is Venus hotter than Mercury? Is Venus hotter than Mercury because of CO2, gray Oreos, or basketball player gloves?

Shouldn't Sky Dragon Slayers be able to answer such simple questions before determining NASA's aims and goals?

Furthermore, Jane should explain why he emphatically rejected the standard physics definition of the term "net". If Jane/Lonny Eachus ever accepts the standard physics definition of the term "net", he'd find that the Sky Dragon Slayer nonsense he's been regurgitating for years is based on a misunderstanding of a basic physics definition.

On that glorious day, Jane/Lonny Eachus would finally have a more credible case for influencing NASA's aims and goals.

But net radiative power out of a boundary around the source = "radiative power out" minus "radiative power in", so the equation Jane just described also says:

NO!!!!! .. [Jane Q. Public, 2014-12-16]

After Jane emphatically rejected the standard physics definition of the term "net", it became clear that Jane is hopelessly confused about the term "net". Sadly, this is typical for Jane/Lonny Eachus and other climate contrarians.

After it became clear that Jane is hopelessly confused about the very term "net" which he keeps screaming in ALL CAPS, I explained conservation of energy in a way that didn't require using that troublesome word. At this point, a real skeptic would either try to address this disagreement about a fundamental definition, or agree to disagree about the definition and solve the problem like I did without using the disputed word. But not Jane/Lonny Eachus:

.. No NET incoming radiation from cooler bodies is absorbed, therefore no NET radiation is crossing your boundary FROM those cooler bodies. It comes in and goes right back out. .. no NET cooler radiation is absorbed in the first place.. [Jane Q. Public, 2015-01-01]

Instead, Jane kept repeatedly screaming "NET" in ALL CAPS, completely ignoring the fact that his emphatic rejection of its standard physics definition reduces his rant to gibberish. Jane/Lonny Eachus also ignored me after I asked him simple questions about the definition of the word "net", so there doesn't seem to be any way to correct Jane's fundamental misconception.

I try to be tolerant of those who appear to suffer from Dunning-Kruger Syndrome, but one can only be so patient. :o) [Lonny Eachus, 2015-01-09]

Jane/Lonny tries to be tolerant of those he thinks suffer from Dunning-Kruger syndrome, but only if "tolerant" includes endless cussing and screaming garnished with ball washing fantasies. If Jane/Lonny wonders what a Dunning-Kruger victim looks like, he need only look in a mirror:

.. I'm really not sorry to say this after your past behavior, but showing you're wrong is just plain dirt simple. And not JUST wrong, but so ridiculously wrong that I can (and will, believe me!) use it as entertainment for certain of my friends. .. [Jane Q. Public, 2014-09-02]

.. It feels as though I'm explaining to a high-school student who has never seen a physics problem before. .. [Jane Q. Public, 2014-09-04]

I keep finding myself in a position where I feel I should explain, but I am at a loss as to why I should have to, becau

In most states over 10% of the voters register as Independent. How do you gerrymander those to vote Republican?

You don't. You set gerrymander so the Republican has a 11% lead* so even a solid lock on Independents doesn't matter.

Democrats cluster in large cities. How do you evenly distribute their votes out into Republican districts on the other side of the state?

Austin, TX Area Congressional Districts, Chicago, IL Area Congressional Districts. You give Republicans/Democrats one district which they'll win overwhelmingly and the rest you win by 10-20 points. And every 10 years you get to refix the maps as people move, ideology changes, etc. Still, with the Parents Vote R -> Child Votes R, Parents Vote D -> Child Votes D being such a huge trend, for a lot of states that have large R or D populations and not much immigration, then that's enough.

*Obviously if the distribution is that most of that 10% is in the high-Democrat area, you just allocate most of the people into the easy-win Democrat area to undercut their vote and don't have to consider the Independents in most districts.

1. I am a bit taken aback at the responses referencing this Huffington Post article - a couple of quick notes:
2. The University policy restricts access to these websites for students as well as staff, in some cases it is possible to still click through to the page after the filter message, but visitors are issued a warning informing them that accessing the site is likely against policy and, in essence, that that they are being watched (as shown in the source referenced in the article).
3. I cannot speak to the intentions of the University, but (as seen in other responses here) the policy itself specifically states, "By using NIU services, all individuals, including, but not limited to, employees, students, customers, volunteers, and third parties, unconditionally accept the terms of this policy."
4. In addition, the accusations presented go deeper than just social media - to the point that any controversial material, or discussion of such material, would be a violation. Again, I cannot say if this is the intention, or speak to how the policy will be enforced, but this is the way the terms are written.
5. .
6. I understand that we tend to rely heavily on the media to fact check our news for us - and frankly, I am shocked at the lack of research The Huffington Post seems to have done prior to publishing this article. Simply reading the terms of the policy in question seems to point out numerous contradictions to the University's statements.

http://doit.niu.edu/doit/polic...

Using the resources for political activities, including organizing or participating in any political meeting, rally, demonstration, soliciting contributions or votes, distributing material, surveying or polling for information connected to a political campaign, completing political surveys or polling information, and any other activities prohibited under the ethics act and/or other state/federal laws.

Emphasis mine, and this makes sense from a CYA perspective. The next one though it bizarre:

Use of personal social media sites, following specific direction to cease or not utilize university equipment or time to an extent or during time periods that would interfere with professional responsibilities, including, but not limited to

??? - can somebody explain what the heck this means. Oh wait, next link.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...

That only applies to employees. I think that's where the confusion is. Students -- unless they are an employee

Sorry, this was a poorly planned, executed and communicated rollout. Sounds like a new position for Vice President of IT will be opening for a major university soon...

That's the schools PR spin, but it's undermined by the fact the policy itself specifically says it applies to students:

Northern Illinois University information technology resources, including the electronic communications network (NIUnet) on the NIU campus and off-campus education and research centers, computers attached to this network, and any associated computational resource or service are for the use of persons affiliated with Northern Illinois University, including faculty, staff, emeritus personnel, and students in good standing. Information technology resources are provided by the university to further the university's mission of research, instruction, and public service. The use of these resources should be consistent with this mission, this policy, and the University’s other use, security policies, and other applicable regulations including the State Officials and Employees Ethics Act (SOEEA). Pursuant to the NIU Electronic Mail policy, the email system may be utilized for personal messages subject to the limitations set forth in these and other applicable policies and to the extent that personal usage does not interfere with assigned responsibilities. By using NIU services, all individuals, including, but not limited to, employees, students, customers, volunteers, and third parties, unconditionally accept the terms of this policy.

Why do you need that to prove the heliocentric model?

Because stellar parallax had been suggested as a necessary requirement for the heliocentric theory to be correct since the 1500s. Various attempts to measure it by Galileo's time had failed. So, the absence of parallax was one significant strike against heliocentrism in Galileo's day, if you go by evidence and scientific method. (Of course, the reality is that the "fixed stars" were much farther away than anyone thought possible, so it took much longer to measure the tiny movements necessary to show parallax.)

You just need to look at the planetary movement of one of the outer planets, like Mars. The outer planets appear to make a loop if watched from earth. The apparent retrograde motion could also be explained with deferent and epicycle but then you already left the geocentric model.

You should read some actual history of science, rather than the inaccurate executive summary version from some TV documentary.

In case you didn't know, Galileo's model of the solar system used perfect circles rather than ellipses (contrary to Kepler's elliptical model at the time, which actually fit the data -- Galileo frequently ignored inconvenient data when it didn't fit his astronomical theories). Thus, Galileo's model (and Copernicus's too) still required the whole Ptolemaic apparatus of epicycles. Contrary to popular belief, the circular heliocentric model that Galileo endorsed -- 'cause circles are cool and "perfect"! -- did not result in significantly easier math to explain the orbits.

Dig a little further into the controversy (for example, here or here, just to start with a few articles that are ~40 years old, showing how long historians of science have been pointing out significant problems), and you'll discover all sorts of other problems with Galileo's theories. For one, he originally wanted to publish his book as a theory of the tides -- because, frankly, that was the ONLY reason he had according to empirical science of the day that would differentiate a geocentric and heliocentric model. Of course -- well, the tides were caused by the moon, not the sun (again, Galileo thought Kepler's ideas that the moon caused the tides were stupid). But the bigger hole is that Galileo's theory required there to be only one high tide per day. As anyone who lived near the ocean at the time knew, there were two tides per day... but, well, that didn't fit with Galileo's theory. Oh well.

And, yeah, that was basically the only incontrovertible evidence Galileo put forward that proved heliocentrism over geocentrism (and note these were not just ignorant geocentrists: many of those in the Church at the time favored the Tyconic model, based on ideas from Kepler's teacher Tycho Brahe, who actually spent decades doing detailed empirical observations).

Seriously -- there were all sorts of valid objections to the earth's motion at the time when Newton's laws of motion weren't yet fully understood. Like why don't we fly off if the Earth is moving at such high speeds? Why don't we feel the motion? Why aren't there ridiculously high winds caused by rotation at high speed? Etc. We now know why these things don't happen, but actual scientists at the time weren't sure.

And Galileo's astronomical evidence really didn't amount to much (if he accepted Kepler's models, he might have something that fit the data better, but it still couldn't prove the motion of the Earth).

So, he hung his whole assertion of the proof of heliocentrism on the tidal theory -- which was so idiotic and so obviously contrary to observable evidence (one tide per day that has to come at noon?!?) that the censors refused to let him title his book "On the Tides" or whatever he wanted to call it, so he came up with the "Discourse on the Two World Systems" title.

Galileo was a great

Yes, I grew up on one, outside the town of Coal City (with neighboring towns of Carbon Hill and Diamond, no joke). It's the closest thing I've seen to paradise. Here's a neighbor's house that's on the market, for reference of habitability.

Ok, I'm not saying strip mines are a good thing, but everything we do affects the environment. Our advancements in agriculture have significantly increased humidity in the whole Midwest, and everyone knows the problems caused by miles of asphalt and buildings. It'd be crazy not to assume that wind turbines do the same, but how much more do they affect an area compared to an office building of the same size?

The dark matter halo around our galaxy is theorized roughly as a large sphere, not just extra mass along the flattened wheel of the spiral.

I guess no one knows such things, but I wonder what would prevent it from clumping up like normal baryonic matter. Maybe it's too diffuse to form dark matter nebulae, but those are only held together by gravity too, right? Or would fast-moving particles just fly apart before gravity could act? Or maybe we just can't see the clumps. Or maybe it's a happy medium—loosely bound to the galaxy but nothing more...

Argghh! So many questions and so little knowledge of cosmology and particle physics!

I guess here's a good start, if you're not afraid of a little math.

Here's a 1976 article on cumulative voting in Illinois. The writer saw it as promoting intraparty strife (creating more competition between candidates of the same party than with the candidates of the other party) and was hard for voters to understand.

The...name car is believed to originate from the Latin word carrus or carrum ("wheeled vehicle")...

Excellent point! You've totally refuted the OP's point about this not being a real car.

Let me show you a few "cars."
Here's one!
Here is another "car"
These are all really fast cars!

There's no separate league for cars driven by internal combustion engine, but here is the fastest of those.

You both make good points about the privacy issues. Games like this are wide open to be data mined. But then the whole Internet is effectively an extension of this datamining. The whole Internet is becoming like a giant storage system to the data miners.

Its like the old say, knowledge is power. Unfortunately some people fail to realize everything they do online giving someone else small fragments of power over them (and the small fragments add up) because that is the way the companies want it. They want to data mine everyone. No company or government is looking out for people's privacy. They don't want to protect privacy because they are the people who want to abuse everyones privacy. They all want as much information on everyone as possible. Knowledge is power. The only time they ever want to consider controls on privacy, is when its their own privacy at stake.

Its also the boiling frog principle as each small loss of privacy on its own doesn't seem important. It'll only be years later, when we all look back and they have our every thought and movement stored in their databases that we can see just how much total power it gives companies and governments. But by then it'll be too late.

The more information people give away, the more easy they are to control and manipulate. Which is exactly what companies and governments want. The irony is, psychologists have shown the people who think they're not easily manipulated have been shown they are the most susceptible to manipulation. (It makes sense because the most susceptible to manipulation have not learned to look out for manipulation).

Here's a paper on the subject...
"Creating critical consumers: Motivating receptivity by teaching resistance."
http://www.niu.edu/user/tj0bjs1/papers/sc04.pdf

Datamining is becoming a huge growth industry because knowledge is power and the minority of people in power want to keep (and grow) their money and power over people. Its been the same thoughout history but now they have access to more information than their predecessor's could have every dreamed possible.

Plus its going to get worse. Much worse. Even the UK Lords constitution committee has warned at how far surveillance of people is going. Where the UK is now, the US and other countries are going to rapidly follow...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7872425.stm

So 60's. I remember this. Some scholarly scientists published a study that proved that bumblebees can't fly. Of course, nobody could tell the bumblebees, so they continued flying.

No, there was nothing like that published in the '60s. It's a story that goes way back to the '30s and is essentially hearsay.
http://www.math.niu.edu/~rusin/known-math/98/bees

However, in response to the myth, physicists went out of their way to prove that bumblebee flight *is* aerodynamically sound:
http://www.news.cornell.edu/releases/March00/APS_Wang.hrs.html

There are many documented stories from drowning survivors who recall the pain before losing consciousness. A quick search brought up the following quote, I'm sure you can find others.

One myth about drowning that survives to this day is that it is a painless, almost pleasant way to die. Survivors testify otherwise: "...When the cramp hit me, I sank to the bottom of the lake 12 feet down, in a doubled-up position. Compounding the wracking pain in my trunk was a mounting choking sensation. (Try holding your mouth and nose after taking a deep breath. Hold your breath until it becomes unbearable; then try holding it a few seconds past the unbearable point. It's a horrible sensation and would give you a dim idea of just one aspect of how it feels to drown.) The pressure of the water caused a stabbing pain in my eyes and ears... try to keep your head when water begins to seep into your already tortured lungs and your body is a mass of pain and you know you are dying... I remember that I screamed down there against a solid wall of waterï½I remember that I threshed and bobbed, but only succeeded in burrowing my head into the slime of the lake floor...."

Axiomatic beliefs or "epistemic foundationalism" is only one possible solution to the pyrrhonian problematic (the problem of what justifies our beliefs). It's not clear that it's the correct one. Another way our beliefs might go, is that they ultimately bottom out in circularity (epistemic circularism or coherentism): belief A justifies belief B, and belief B justifies belief A, where neither here is axiomatic. Finally there's solution 3, epistemic infinitism, which is that our beliefs go down infinitely far, and we all have an infinite number of beliefs (even if we don't consciously experience that, because they're not all at the "forefront of consciousness" or something). It's unclear which of these is the way beliefs really are. For example, peter klein has defended infinitism for quite a while, some think successfully. see http://sun.soci.niu.edu/~phildept/ipa/Klein.html

So the point is that your teacher's lesson was presupposing a particular solution to the pp, and it's not obviously the correct one (or maybe the lesson proved it correct? unless telling people they have axiomatic beliefs influences them to squeeze their belief-structure into such a framework.)

Are low-cost low-tech, not adequate for baseload.

> photovoltiacs are 4-10 times as expensive.

Again: the TCO is the only good measure. 10 times more expensive lasting 50 times more is a good deal. I'm not the one ignoring arguments, there.

> Biomass makes plenty of sense in some areas - Heck, my grandmother uses it to heat her house. Still, there's very little sense in trying to use it for electricity

One many usages it replaces gridpowered or oil-burning stuff.

> we're better off rendering it to ethanol or biodiesel

It may be true on a large scale.

> I've never liked Sen. Kennedy, but that was one of my head shakers. The current hypocrisy of many of the 'green' politicians irk me tremendously

I agree, but judging anything by the use most politicians have of it is often condemning it

>> That's one of the most weird assertion touted by the nuclear industry. It is not solid and leads to implicit very disputed "conclusions". Briefly: radionuclides emitted by coal plants are not very active nor concentrated.

> They're the same particles

Indeed. This was not my main argument

> studies of high-background radiation areas vs low-background radiation areas have found no increased levels of cancer.

Some found a relationship, that's why the linear model is the official one. There is also this radiation homeostasis thing. All this is pretty complicated, moreover we will only be able to count the harmed when the last nuclear waste will be cold. Putting abruptly "coal-plants emissions are more dangerous than nuclear ones" is absolutely ridiculous.

> Coal electricity generation is one of the larger producers of CO2 in the USA. Shutting them down, besides eliminating all the real pollution they produce, would drop our CO2 emissions by quite a bit. Cheap power can help to develop affordable alternatives to oil powered vehicles.

I agree, but some messages are at least understood by some as "nuclear power plants will solve the CO2 problem", this is ridiculous

> you could collocate an ethanol plant to help make use of the waste heat.

Co-generation is no specific to nuclear (it is much more rarely used in a nuclear plant because of some risk, induced or at least perceived)

> you'll never be able to convince me that nuclear power isn't safe

Chernobyl. TMI (no one knows for sure why it did not degenerate into a complete meltdown). Yeah, there are people saying that the tech is OK now, just as some said, before the disaster/incident that those Cherno/TMI plants were safe.

> I won't be able to convince you that it can be done safely.

Mostly because I somewhat know about security. In a word: there is no perfect answer nor absolute shield. Also: because the nuclear "camp" is one of the most secretive and propagandist (there is a bunch of plain liars, there).

> the highest target you've mentioned is 40% renewable In 2025, for a switch which began in 1997. That's 35 years. We now have 150 years of coal use, and 100 of oil use (with approx 70 of hard dependence). Given the ridiculous amount of R&D done on renewable those 30 last years (worldwide), this is an ambitious achievement.

> we'd still need to make up the remaining 60%

Coal produces 52% of US electricity (grid power). Let's add clean coal (it already started, at the federal and local level) and energy conservation, and we are done with the coal problem with no new nuclear plant.

I live in Fort Wayne, IN, where there are well over 2,000 Burmese refugees living, (I recently heard another huge number of them have moved in due to the refugee camps in Thailand closing, but haven't heard an official estimate yet) and we supposedly have the largest Burmese population outside of the country of Burma itself. At least that's the claim. At any rate, I've learned a few Burmese phrases, and while I don't know how they pronounce their countries original name in their language, the name of their language ("Burmese" in Burmese) is something like Buh-Muh-Zuh-Gah. So the "Buh-Muh" is probably where the "Burma" came from. More interesting information about the language and culture can be found at this site.

Whoa....that would mean that some college was teaching COBOL as recently as 10 years ago, I'd surmise, which should get their program de-accredited. Unless your coworkers were aliens.

COBOL is still being used in some coursework at a few universities including Northern Illinois University. There are still A LOT of companies looking for people with COBOL programming skills and those companies recruit heavily at NIU. At NIU they have kind of an "intro" course to get you going in COBOL and then later on there is an external data structures class that focuses on COBOL programming and JCL using COBOL on a mainframe (OS 390). Proof of the classes can be found here:

http://www.cs.niu.edu/courses/ugradcatalog.shtml#2 50
http://www.cs.niu.edu/courses/ugradcatalog.shtml#4 65

I think the CS department including mainframe programming is GREAT because it really exposed me to things that almost no other CS program would and I am happy for that since it gives me more options when looking for jobs. It was a great way to get some mainframe experience, learn about COBOL and JCL programming (among many other things), and it was also an interesting way to learn about external data structures. I assume you are joking but why should using and teaching COBOL (a language still WIDELY used in the industry) in a CS program be thought of as something that is horrible? Sure, it would be great if those companies could magically move on to a more modern language for some of their applications but that isn't going to happen for sometime so experienced COBOL programmers will still be needed for a while.

I also did 3 years of CS at The Ohio State University before transferring to NIU and that program was excellent for preparing a student to pick up and easily use nearly any programming language by focusing on the fundamentals and not specific languages. The mixture of solid fundamental skills along with a whole lot of practice with a few modern languages (C/C++(even C++/RESOLVE yuck), Java, Perl, VB) as well as with some older langauges (COBOL,FORTRAN,x86 assembler,OS 390 assembler) has really turned me into an versatile and agile developer and I am extremely happy with the education I received. I am still at the same company that I started at right after graduating about 3 years ago and I am still extremely happy working here. Thankfully, I mainly use C/C++ and Perl and not COBOL at all but I still could go the COBOL route if I wanted to.

In closing the actual language used in CS courses should not really matter, it is the fundamentals that count. It does not matter what langauge CS programs use in their courses as long as they are relevant to the subject matter. Having a little mixture of old and new languages can be very interesting to some people and I definitely found it interesting. Don't knock something until you have tried it.

Whoa....that would mean that some college was teaching COBOL as recently as 10 years ago, I'd surmise, which should get their program de-accredited. Unless your coworkers were aliens.

COBOL is still being used in some coursework at a few universities including Northern Illinois University. There are still A LOT of companies looking for people with COBOL programming skills and those companies recruit heavily at NIU. At NIU they have kind of an "intro" course to get you going in COBOL and then later on there is an external data structures class that focuses on COBOL programming and JCL using COBOL on a mainframe (OS 390). Proof of the classes can be found here:

http://www.cs.niu.edu/courses/ugradcatalog.shtml#2 50
http://www.cs.niu.edu/courses/ugradcatalog.shtml#4 65

I think the CS department including mainframe programming is GREAT because it really exposed me to things that almost no other CS program would and I am happy for that since it gives me more options when looking for jobs. It was a great way to get some mainframe experience, learn about COBOL and JCL programming (among many other things), and it was also an interesting way to learn about external data structures. I assume you are joking but why should using and teaching COBOL (a language still WIDELY used in the industry) in a CS program be thought of as something that is horrible? Sure, it would be great if those companies could magically move on to a more modern language for some of their applications but that isn't going to happen for sometime so experienced COBOL programmers will still be needed for a while.

I also did 3 years of CS at The Ohio State University before transferring to NIU and that program was excellent for preparing a student to pick up and easily use nearly any programming language by focusing on the fundamentals and not specific languages. The mixture of solid fundamental skills along with a whole lot of practice with a few modern languages (C/C++(even C++/RESOLVE yuck), Java, Perl, VB) as well as with some older langauges (COBOL,FORTRAN,x86 assembler,OS 390 assembler) has really turned me into an versatile and agile developer and I am extremely happy with the education I received. I am still at the same company that I started at right after graduating about 3 years ago and I am still extremely happy working here. Thankfully, I mainly use C/C++ and Perl and not COBOL at all but I still could go the COBOL route if I wanted to.

In closing the actual language used in CS courses should not really matter, it is the fundamentals that count. It does not matter what langauge CS programs use in their courses as long as they are relevant to the subject matter. Having a little mixture of old and new languages can be very interesting to some people and I definitely found it interesting. Don't knock something until you have tried it.

no one has (yet) mentioned using the missing rDNS sendmail hack. i block about 100,000 messages and servers per week using a combination of send_pause, blacklists, spamcop, iptables and the rDNS hack. rDNS routinely accounts for more than 50% of the spam that never makes it to my server.

any mail server that doesn't have an rDNS lookup, in this day and age, is imho not worth accepting messages from.

See http://www.cedu.niu.edu/blackwell/multimedia/high/ library.html for some fascinating lookback, including

* bonobo trail blazes

* the Edison electric pen

* Baird mechanical television

and my personal favourite

* Rene Dagron, Pigeon Post Microfilm Balloonist

How would one go about learning COBOL today?

Believe it or not some educational institutions still teach it. I graduated with a CS degree from Northern Illinois University and COBOL classes were required. Here are links to two that they still have:

http://www.cs.niu.edu/undergrad/coursecat.html#250
http://www.cs.niu.edu/undergrad/coursecat.html#465

I wish I could recommend a book for you but the classes I took all used "books" printed by the university bookstore which were special made for the classes. They weren't that helpful anyway. Anyway, while it is unlikely, depending where you live you might be able to find someplace local that still has COBOL classes so I recommend checking around.

How would one go about learning COBOL today?

Believe it or not some educational institutions still teach it. I graduated with a CS degree from Northern Illinois University and COBOL classes were required. Here are links to two that they still have:

http://www.cs.niu.edu/undergrad/coursecat.html#250
http://www.cs.niu.edu/undergrad/coursecat.html#465

I wish I could recommend a book for you but the classes I took all used "books" printed by the university bookstore which were special made for the classes. They weren't that helpful anyway. Anyway, while it is unlikely, depending where you live you might be able to find someplace local that still has COBOL classes so I recommend checking around.

COBOL may be dying, but it's lingering on...

You are 100% correct and like the article mentioned COBOL is still not only used at many companies but also taught in some universities Computer Science programs including the one I graduated from being Northern Illinois University in DeKalb. Here are two examples:

http://www.cs.niu.edu/undergrad/coursecat.html#250
http://www.cs.niu.edu/undergrad/coursecat.html#465

There are A LOT of companies that still use COBOL out there (I saw many of them at every job fair I went to) and the langauge is far from dead. Thankfully I didn't have to go the route of being a COBOL programmer and found a job I love doing C/C++ development but at least I have the option and I definitely did learn a lot about the langauge as well as mainframe programming from taking the COBOL classes.

Another great class they teach at NIU is Assembler on an IBM System 390. That class was HARD but I love the experience and knowledge it gave me regarding how a computer works at the lower levels and I wouldn't trade that experience for anything. Here is more info on the assembler class:

http://www.cs.niu.edu/undergrad/coursecat.html#360

While I am not exactly happy that COBOL is still around it still is a fact that it is going nowhere anytime soon.

COBOL may be dying, but it's lingering on...

You are 100% correct and like the article mentioned COBOL is still not only used at many companies but also taught in some universities Computer Science programs including the one I graduated from being Northern Illinois University in DeKalb. Here are two examples:

http://www.cs.niu.edu/undergrad/coursecat.html#250
http://www.cs.niu.edu/undergrad/coursecat.html#465

There are A LOT of companies that still use COBOL out there (I saw many of them at every job fair I went to) and the langauge is far from dead. Thankfully I didn't have to go the route of being a COBOL programmer and found a job I love doing C/C++ development but at least I have the option and I definitely did learn a lot about the langauge as well as mainframe programming from taking the COBOL classes.

Another great class they teach at NIU is Assembler on an IBM System 390. That class was HARD but I love the experience and knowledge it gave me regarding how a computer works at the lower levels and I wouldn't trade that experience for anything. Here is more info on the assembler class:

http://www.cs.niu.edu/undergrad/coursecat.html#360

While I am not exactly happy that COBOL is still around it still is a fact that it is going nowhere anytime soon.

COBOL may be dying, but it's lingering on...

You are 100% correct and like the article mentioned COBOL is still not only used at many companies but also taught in some universities Computer Science programs including the one I graduated from being Northern Illinois University in DeKalb. Here are two examples:

http://www.cs.niu.edu/undergrad/coursecat.html#250
http://www.cs.niu.edu/undergrad/coursecat.html#465

There are A LOT of companies that still use COBOL out there (I saw many of them at every job fair I went to) and the langauge is far from dead. Thankfully I didn't have to go the route of being a COBOL programmer and found a job I love doing C/C++ development but at least I have the option and I definitely did learn a lot about the langauge as well as mainframe programming from taking the COBOL classes.

Another great class they teach at NIU is Assembler on an IBM System 390. That class was HARD but I love the experience and knowledge it gave me regarding how a computer works at the lower levels and I wouldn't trade that experience for anything. Here is more info on the assembler class:

http://www.cs.niu.edu/undergrad/coursecat.html#360

While I am not exactly happy that COBOL is still around it still is a fact that it is going nowhere anytime soon.

Ironic how they give grants to other people trying to help them in learning math when they cant even deal with there own problems. http://www.niu.edu/northerntoday/2005/july5/smile. shtml

I think Verizon should use a little bit of that grant money on their own employees!

Verizon grant helps teens learn math, science at CEET

So here's more detail elsewhere.

Don't be too quick to dismiss bad stereotypical behaviour. The Daily Show devoted an extended segment to the subject, so it must be true.

The one I went to -- mediocre old NIU. At least 50% of all the coding assignments done at NIU's CS dept. are done on the mainframe in either COBOL or ASM, with JCL thrown-in to make it all compile, execute, etc..

The other school is Penn. State U., with which NIU has partnered on some of the apps they both use, like the "MVSBatch" 16-bit DOS app we use to submit code to the mainframe (which is all done via FTP. I wrote a Perl script to handle it *vastly* more elegantly and portably, but other people have written Python scripts to do the same thing). But I don't know anything about Penn. State, and thus can't comment about them.

I will say that if you want to do non-mainframe development, or if you want to learn "Software Engineering" or "Computer Science" -- instead of "Mainframe Technologies with a few basic data structures and algorithms that MIT students learn at the 100-level, plus about 10% Unix use, 1 class relating at all to Java, and 1 course that deals at all with X86 stuff" -- that you avoid NIU. It took my graduating with a BSCS from NIU to come to that conclusion...

The one I went to -- mediocre old NIU. At least 50% of all the coding assignments done at NIU's CS dept. are done on the mainframe in either COBOL or ASM, with JCL thrown-in to make it all compile, execute, etc..

The other school is Penn. State U., with which NIU has partnered on some of the apps they both use, like the "MVSBatch" 16-bit DOS app we use to submit code to the mainframe (which is all done via FTP. I wrote a Perl script to handle it *vastly* more elegantly and portably, but other people have written Python scripts to do the same thing). But I don't know anything about Penn. State, and thus can't comment about them.

I will say that if you want to do non-mainframe development, or if you want to learn "Software Engineering" or "Computer Science" -- instead of "Mainframe Technologies with a few basic data structures and algorithms that MIT students learn at the 100-level, plus about 10% Unix use, 1 class relating at all to Java, and 1 course that deals at all with X86 stuff" -- that you avoid NIU. It took my graduating with a BSCS from NIU to come to that conclusion...

Using the Undergraduate Catalog and viewing the CSCI course listing, you will see which mainframe classes students are required to take.

If any recruiters or IT professionals are looking for good mainframe developers, this would be a good place to start your search.

It seems that when people talk about this they seem to beat around the bush a lot and never outright say that maybe the reason people aren't going to see movies is because most of them suck? There. I said it. The industry is in denial, and denial is the first stage in coping with a death apparently, or more like the death of a once great venue for entertainment? But seriously, there hasn't been anything out there recently that seems worthwhile seeing excpet maybe March of the Penguins! (Wobble, wobble -- cracks me up every time.)

Northern Illinois University actually has 3 emphasis's for CS majors: General, Applied, and Theoretical. Follow the link to find out more:

http://www.cs.niu.edu/undergrad/chooseemphasis.htm l

Now imagine going to school for 4 years where the CS dept. punishes you with exactly the sort of mainframe torture you describe.

Oh, and all jobs are submitted via FTP -- insecure, plaintext-passwords, FTP. Job output is received the same way. A cumbersome, insecure interface to a cumbersome, prehistoric computing environment.

And the school wonders why the majority of the students hate the curriculum in the dept. Duh.

Now imagine going to school for 4 years where the CS dept. punishes you with exactly the sort of mainframe torture you describe.

Oh, and all jobs are submitted via FTP -- insecure, plaintext-passwords, FTP. Job output is received the same way. A cumbersome, insecure interface to a cumbersome, prehistoric computing environment.

And the school wonders why the majority of the students hate the curriculum in the dept. Duh.

I made a piece of art like this a few years ago (though not as functional as his), and guess what I found out? A hard drive on canvas is still ugly! Imagine my surprise...

math-atlas tends to have better material on advanced(i.e. undergraduate and graduate level) mathematical topics. Here's an example: mathworld page on motives, and math-atlas page on motivic. Another example: math-atlas page found by looking for ``Postnikov towers", and a page from mathworld on Postnikov systems. math-atlas doesn't have a history of disappearing for long stretches of time either. At any rate, all of the big math sites(Planetmath, wikipedia, mathworld, math-atlas) have good material and are worth checking out.

math-atlas tends to have better material on advanced(i.e. undergraduate and graduate level) mathematical topics. Here's an example: mathworld page on motives, and math-atlas page on motivic. Another example: math-atlas page found by looking for ``Postnikov towers", and a page from mathworld on Postnikov systems. math-atlas doesn't have a history of disappearing for long stretches of time either. At any rate, all of the big math sites(Planetmath, wikipedia, mathworld, math-atlas) have good material and are worth checking out.

There is a search box, it's just not so easy to find. Overall, a very good site, though it badly needs some web design improvements.
Wolfram is quite good as well. I've used it several times and found exactly what I wanted, fast. I'll be using both from now on.

Chomsky, who originally debated/antagonized B.F. Skinner, is now locked in debate with Steve Pinker, also of MIT, and, also a theorist attacking the problem of language learning.

Iraqi Printer Virus

Hoax Alert.

It was an April Fool's Day joke in InfoWorld that some clueless reporters were suckered into believing.

http://www.soci.niu.edu/~crypt/other/adams.htm

The same thing happened to me. I am running a mail server from a static ip DSL connection. I got bounced from businesses using a mail service provider because my HELO/EHLO didn't reverse DNS to my ip number. It was bounced from the server with a nasty message saying they do not accept spam.

The admin who bounced me says he was following the RFC's in doing this. Fortunately, my provider was able to set up the reverse DNS for me and the admin whitelisted me for a few days.

I looked up the RFC's. I "must, if possible" make sure that the reverse dns matches the HELO. It also says that the receiver must accept the email, no matter what.

Please see http://www.cs.niu.edu/~rickert/cf/bad-ehlo.html/

The worst thing was the guy thinks he was doing his customers a service by disallowing potential business. If every mail server on the net started doing this, spammers will find a way around it while legitimate mail servers are blacked out.

Catholic Bishops of Texas for instance. TEXAS!!
The movie Dead Man Walking was based on the true story of Sister Helen Prejean, a Catholic Nun.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church of America has issued statements against the Death Penalty.

About the only mainstream Christian groups in the US that have vocally and publically supported the Death Penalty are the Southern Baptists and the Evangelicals (not the same as the Evangelical Lutheran Church mind you). You can throw the LDS in there as well. The Catholic Church and the ECLA have roughly 71 million members between them in the US, the Southern Baptists have 16 million...just to give an idea of where the actual number lie. This is not to say *all* Christians are either pro or anti anything, simply to show that there is severe disagreement on this issue, among others, in the US Christian community. (and hell, I'm not even Christian)

I think you are extrememly ignorant about what US "Christians" believe in and really are in no position to generalize a damn thing about them. It's amazing to see so many internet experts on Slashdot (and elsewhere) point out minute difference in Shi'ite and Sunni Muslim faiths, quote the Koran or the Bible ad nauseum to play tit-for-tat debating on theological points but yet be so WILLFULLY ignorant about the Christian faith in its many forms.

I think it was a joke, being that music is a lot of math:

http://www.math.niu.edu/~rusin/papers/uses-math/mu sic/

... wherease we get no trains. Bush is planning to cut all federal funds for Amtrak, which will pretty much kill it.

I want my uber-trains with wifi, darnit!

Abel's proof, and related proofs by Galois, have stood the test of time for 200 years. It would throw most of abstract algebra and modern mathematics on its head if true.

Of course by now I'm sure every floor has a Comp Sci major who has figured out how to break through the protections on the media service

As a well-heeled undergrad in CS at NIU, I would say that this is unlikely.

Most of our CS students are incompetent at any real hacking like the reverse-engineering problem you describe (including me). This is in part due to our outdated-since-1985 curriculum which strongly emphasizes coding ASM and COBOL on our IBM S/390 mainframe. Of course, almost none of our undergrad curriculum has anything to do with security, networking, copy-protection, or reverse-engineering. People in our Java course (CSCI480) don't know what an IP address is or why DNS is important, for god's sake! And don't even ask a junior or senior what even a "buffer overflow" is, despite having had 2 courses in C.

There's probably a couple dozen of our CS students who are actually thinking about getting around the protection on this service, and of those, 1 or 2 are actually trying to do something about it. The rest of them are probably doing homework or drinking and playing games, because most NIU CS'ers, in my experience, go into CS thinking that "playing games" == "writing games" (which obviously is not true). And most of them, in truth, want to play games, not write them - and that isn't the hacker spirit by any means.

Give the Ruckus Network to the genius kids who form the pride of Illinois -- then I'd agree with you. :)