Slashdot Mirror

Yes I'm sure you've very happy with yourself that you avoided one hazard when choosing a location.

It is only rational.

but just also make sure to avoid anywhere near the ocean at all in case of tsunamis

Not necessary, and your parodying tone suggests that you know that you're shooting your own argument in the foot.

You only need to be sufficiently far above/ inland from the normal coast to reduce the likelihood of experiencing direct problems to the (literally) astronomical. At the moment, we don't have any technologies for deflecting an incoming asteroid (in the continent-wiper size range), so the approximate 1 in 100k/year (very approximate) probability level is a suitable baseline.

In my region, that means being more than a km inland and more than 50m amsl, this being the approximate run-up of the tsunami from the Storegga Slide of 9ka BP. Our current house is at 80m amsl (but you could have predicted that).

and any cities over fault lines

Errr, fault lines that have significant activity on-going. I've spent plenty of time in Inverness (Great Glen Fault ; killed someone with an earthquake in about 1835, so passes the astronomical criterion), which is about the biggest surface-expression fault in the country. But I've no real worries about holidaying or working in "active" areas, because the duration of holiday/ work is low enough to dilute the increased risk to acceptable levels.

and anywhere in Tornado Alley

Why would I want to go to America ; it's full of dangerous nutters with guns and on it's own this raises the risk level sufficiently.

and anywhere which often experiences hurricanes and anywhere that has or could have problems with wildfires

They'd be in or near the tropics ; pay me and I'll go there, but I won't go of my own volition, it's too hot. Probability between 0.5 and 1.0, which exceeds the ~10^-5 criterion.

and anywhere bellow cliffs or steep hillsides in case of landslides or avalanches

I take care around cliffs etc (I'm a geologist by trade, and a mountaineer by hobby) because I've been on the receiving end of rockfall, and attended funerals because of rockfall. I've no illusions about what gravity can do to rocks.

and anywhere near an active or dormant volcano

Fine for holiday (we're just back from Tenerife ; last year we were on Santorini ; I'm pushing for Etna next year because it's cheaper than Iceland) ; not for living. In the order of 100,000 people died last century because they lived too close to volcanoes for too long.
BTW, as a geologist, I treat the concept "dormant volcano" as a piece of real-estate marketing speak ; i.e. it's a lie. If something is visible as a volcano, then it's likely enough to be active. Treat with care.

and anywhere near deep lakes in case of limnic eruptions

Ah, you're clearly not any sort of earth scientist, are you?

and anywhere which experiences serious dust storms

Shit : not given.

and anywhere which experiences extreme cold

My wife spent a decade and a half living and working in Siberia (the pension benefits are better), and I've visited there in winter while courting her ; "extreme cold" is a manageable risk. As I said, I'm a mountaineer for fun.

and anywhere where the land is unstable and might have large sinkholes.

Again, read your geology text books. I cave for fun.
Actually, I have an ongoing conversation with a South African speleologist about a technique for detection of subsurface cave from (potentially) ground level or even a

Piezoelectric Eels for Energy Harvesting in the Ocean.

This article, "How to be a Good Graduate Student" by Marie desJardins is considered a pretty good "getting started" reference. Part of it covers tips on finding a good program and advisor.

http://rcir.sjtu.edu.cn/en/resources/HowtoBeaGoodStudent.pdf

Nice troll, but I don't think so. You must be confusing china with your government.

http://www.ipv6ready.org.cn/
http://www.ipv6.net.cn/
http://www.conference.cn/ipv6/2009/
http://www.cernet2.edu.cn/
http://ipv6.zju.edu.cn/
http://ipv6.sjtu.edu.cn/index.php

and one mil of other hits http://www.google.com/search?q=ipv6+site%3A.cn

The best students in the world go to the best Universities in the world. The Universities in the United States consistently dominate the top universities in the world.

Considering that graduation in the USA is a big business, any claim that universities from that country are the best should be treated with suspicion.

Now what is this site you're linking to? I've never heard about that.

That thing looks like made by someone who just learned to create html pages.
The about page is hosted in what looks like being from a Chinese university.

If you want such argument to be taken seriously, try at least to provide some reliable sources.

For the first part I have to accept your expertise. I thought I read in the OP that the programs made money.

As for the capitalism in education part. Nine out of ten of the world's top universities are American, so there must be something you guys are doing right (I'm Dutch and I presume you're American). The 1st Dutch university is in the 40th place of this list:

http://ed.sjtu.edu.cn/rank/2006/ARWU2006_Top100.ht m

It's quite possible that Dutch universities are better on *average*, but I happen to believe that excellence is worth striving for. In that area the US seems to be doing a lot better than 'socialist' Holland.

I think we could do with a little less socialism in our country and perhaps the US could do with a little less capitalism, but whatever you do, don't sacrifice excellence for politically correct ideas of social justice.

X.

I'm not sure what source he was using, but I can give at least one example:

http://ed.sjtu.edu.cn/rank/2005/ARWU2005TOP500list .htm places UBC at 37th world-wide (30th in North America, 2nd in Canada) - http://ed.sjtu.edu.cn/rank/2005/ARWU2005_Top100.ht m.

That study was published by the European Commission, the executive body of the European Union, and compiled by researchers at the Shanghai Jiao Tong University Institute of Higher Education http://www.publicaffairs.ubc.ca/media/releases/200 4/mr-04-08.html.

I'm not sure what source he was using, but I can give at least one example:

http://ed.sjtu.edu.cn/rank/2005/ARWU2005TOP500list .htm places UBC at 37th world-wide (30th in North America, 2nd in Canada) - http://ed.sjtu.edu.cn/rank/2005/ARWU2005_Top100.ht m.

That study was published by the European Commission, the executive body of the European Union, and compiled by researchers at the Shanghai Jiao Tong University Institute of Higher Education http://www.publicaffairs.ubc.ca/media/releases/200 4/mr-04-08.html.

For one, I fail to see what research has to do with it

This is about as much that is worth replying to. Unfortunately, this pretty much proves you do not understand why Universities are successful nor why some are considered "top" and others are not. Stephen Hawking isn't at Cambridge because he wants to teach undergrads. The best and brightest don't take positions at MIT and Stanford and Cambridge to lecture. Research is what attracts these people, and consequently these people through their work bring fame and fortune to their schools.. and up the lists they go. There is nothing beyond research. It is, entirely, everything, when it comes to academic reputation.

I can sit here and find stuff that proves my points. Like this. Which gives the US 17/20 best universities in the world, and 53/100, and 90/200. However, it misses the point entirely. They don't make rankings on "Neural Networks for Computer Vision" or "Micro-Antenna" or "Lightning" or any of the other actual areas of research. Some giant averaging function that goes through and pumps out some number for each school is completely and utterly meaningless. The moral of the story is, through my field and the people I've met throughout neighboring fields, I believe my points is valid... At least half of the (meaningful) work is done in the US.. and much of it is done by foreign students or immigrant students. People come to the US because it's the best enviornment for them.

According to this,

http://ed.sjtu.edu.cn/rank/2005/ARWU2005Statistics .htm

the UK has more universities in the top 100 per head of capita than the US does. You can make statistics say whatever you want.

I have no doubt that the top universities in the US are excellent, but are they really indicative of the education that the average graduate receives.

It seems like it would be fairer to rank every university in each country, then pick the median and then compare that value.

Well, the resason for the confusion is because, if you read "Top University" as "Top 10" or something like that, the statements are basically synonymous. According to most rankings, America does have a near monopoly at the very top, though Oxford and Cambridge will always be there, and the best Asian universities are certainly improving very rapidly. According to this, America has 8 of the top 10 and 17 of the top 20. So I'd forgive someone of the "error" of believing all the top universities are American. I'm not saying it's a good thing, but it's not far off.

What I've always found especially curious is the mismatch of the American higher-education system with the open and blatant anti-education attitude of much of the American public.

That's a bit of an oversimplification. Pretty much the *entire* American public is pro-education. Some of them simply differ on *what should be taught*, which is a pretty significant distinction. And there are a handful of very conservative American universities - not many, but some - so even the most conservative Americans support education and send their kids off to college. And also, the Bible-thumping crowd is a very vocal minority, but a minority nonetheless. I believe the average American doesn't really care about the whole evolution thing to get very riled up.

signs of education and intelligence are carefully hidden by most American politicians, because they understand that this would be a major flaw to a huge fraction of the voters.

I'd say that's a little off too. It's more that the southern and rural voters I believe you're referring to - who may lack sophistication, but not intelligence - don't take well to condescending intellectuals *at all*. Like, say, John Kerry, who came off that way. Contrast that with Bill Clinton, who is brilliant but not condescending, and got on very well with voters of all classes.

To disclose, I grew up in the south, went to undergrad at a bottom-tier university, grad school at a top-10 American school, and now live in a major city on the east coast. So I've seen a few different perspectives on the whole "Education in America" thing.

If you check out their methodology, it's basically built around Nobel/Field prize awards won by alumni and faculty, and article citations in various journals. In other words, it seems to be entirely built on the research accomplishments of faculty, and alumni who have gone on to academic careers. It totally leaves out the performance of alumni who go into non-academic life (98%?), so while interesting, these rankings just provide a partial view.

That said, it's good to see my alma mater at #21 - Go Blue!

Well, based on the world rankings I found, There's 25 in the top 500 universities in Canada. Pretty good for a country with only 30 million people, and none of the schools listed being private. Granted, many of the top schools are US based, but many schools aren't. I'm not even going to get into how they ranked the schools, since it seems hardvard (#1) received a total score of 100, and cambridge (#2) received a total score of 73.6. How they got such a large gap between the top 2 schools is beyond me.

I question the validity of lists like these, but Shanghai Jiao Tong University's annual Academic Ranking of World Universities--originally compiled in order to help improve China's own system of higher education--is very well-regarded and frequently cited among international liberal arts and sciences academics.

Glancing casually through the list, it looks like the majority of the "best" are from the US, including Harvard, Columbia, Stanford, etc. Methodology and other goodies here.

I question the validity of lists like these, but Shanghai Jiao Tong University's annual Academic Ranking of World Universities--originally compiled in order to help improve China's own system of higher education--is very well-regarded and frequently cited among international liberal arts and sciences academics.

Glancing casually through the list, it looks like the majority of the "best" are from the US, including Harvard, Columbia, Stanford, etc. Methodology and other goodies here.

And if you their methodology for reaching their conclusions you'll see that it's all about research grants, papers published, Nobel Prizes of faculty etc etc, and absolutely nothing to do with the quality of education being offered to undergraduates. In fact, the number of Nobel Prizes held by faculty makes up for a total of 20% of the score, and I'd argue that this indicator for example, is utterly irrelevant.

Bob

Here is a list of the top 100 universities in the world: http://ed.sjtu.edu.cn/rank/2005/ARWU2005_Top100.ht m

Yeah, why go anywhere except the very best CS school? I mean, it's not like Wisconsin is a major research university or one of the world's leading universities.

Couldn't read the full article as it is now "premium content" but if you can make compressed air you can make electricity, and use that electricity for more than refrigeration. The comments about the vortex tubes' inefficiency are correct, so even if you figure the inefficiencies of (solar/labor/water power) to electric then operation of either a freon or Peltier cooler, you are better off.


If someone wants to do something really interesting for the third world, make an adsorbtion freezer using solar concentrators for the heat source. This article discusses some issues: http://me.sjtu.edu.cn/english/scientific_research/ tpad.htm

nah, not really:
http://ed.sjtu.edu.cn/rank/2004/top500(1-100).htm

even the british don't think so:
http://www.thes.co.uk/statistics/

is oxford very, very good? yes. i'm visiting now, and it's a great place to be. commonly held to be the finest in the world? that's a stretch.

Last time I checked, no less than the Chinese didn't think so.
(Shanghai Jiao Tong University)

All these are in Chinese and I don't have time to translate them (though Babelfish helps a little), and they are from BBSs, so they might not be all that accurate. Also, given current events I'm not sure that these links will continue to work.

I don't think it is dangerous in any way to post these links here, even if the government is as oppressive as you seem to think. Heck, I'm just helping you get the facts straight.

All these are in Chinese and I don't have time to translate them (though Babelfish helps a little), and they are from BBSs, so they might not be all that accurate. Also, given current events I'm not sure that these links will continue to work.

I don't think it is dangerous in any way to post these links here, even if the government is as oppressive as you seem to think. Heck, I'm just helping you get the facts straight.

All these are in Chinese and I don't have time to translate them (though Babelfish helps a little), and they are from BBSs, so they might not be all that accurate. Also, given current events I'm not sure that these links will continue to work.

I don't think it is dangerous in any way to post these links here, even if the government is as oppressive as you seem to think. Heck, I'm just helping you get the facts straight.

All these are in Chinese and I don't have time to translate them (though Babelfish helps a little), and they are from BBSs, so they might not be all that accurate. Also, given current events I'm not sure that these links will continue to work.

I don't think it is dangerous in any way to post these links here, even if the government is as oppressive as you seem to think. Heck, I'm just helping you get the facts straight.

All these are in Chinese and I don't have time to translate them (though Babelfish helps a little), and they are from BBSs, so they might not be all that accurate. Also, given current events I'm not sure that these links will continue to work.

I don't think it is dangerous in any way to post these links here, even if the government is as oppressive as you seem to think. Heck, I'm just helping you get the facts straight.

All these are in Chinese and I don't have time to translate them (though Babelfish helps a little), and they are from BBSs, so they might not be all that accurate. Also, given current events I'm not sure that these links will continue to work.

I don't think it is dangerous in any way to post these links here, even if the government is as oppressive as you seem to think. Heck, I'm just helping you get the facts straight.

>Really ?

Yes. I provided an example by showing that a disproportional number number of nobel prize winners reside in the US. As another example, take the listing of the top universities in the world . In the top 10, only Oxford exists outside of the US. In the top 25, only 6 are outside of the US. In top 100, the US holds over 50% of the slots. One of the main reasons for this is the ability for the US to draw in the best talent in science and engineering from around the world.

>You mean like stem cell research ?
>Ummm ....

Stem cell research is very active in the US. A simple google search would show you the research centers at NIH and University of Wisconsin-Madison . Even California is floating a $3billion dollar bond to support stem cell research. However, yes, the current ban on the harvesting of embroyonic stem cells is not doing much good to foster research in this area in the US.

>I've always thought it wise to actually do the thinking part *BEFORE* the speaking part.

You obviously think one way and act another.