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Stories and comments across the archive that link to umn.edu.

Comments · 835

  1. Re:I think we're stretching things a bit... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative · on Why Human Rights Requires Free Software
    (I don't have a ./ acct, so posting as AC) - I'm the guy the article is about, and a couple of points are worth noting:

    the "confirmation of results" & peer review point I was making had to do with crypto and offsite backup software more than with statistical software. When we're talking about crypto or storing someone else's data, it's super important to be transparent. Re: stats, well, one of my slides pointed out that up 'til now, I've always hacked numbers & graphs in Stata, which is proprietary (though most of the really good stuff is published freely, but that's another matter). We should use R, but for cost & "who controls the license" reasons as much as (if not more) than verifiability.

    While we're on the verifiability point, human rights data organization techniques tend to be pretty complicated, and it helps to be able to use free software. While distributing the data (via XML) may or may not be useful, it is very important to open the data specifications. I think that means opening SQL scripts, too, and all the database software (in our current mix, the backend is postgres, the front end is Java). That's coming in about a month.

    But human rights folks are pretty underfunded, and the "free as in beer" part of open source and free software is a big help, too.

    slashdotters might be interested in the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, Article 15(b), which states that everyone has the right "To enjoy the benefits of scientific progress and its applications." This is a real, live, human right.

    But the real bottom line to human rights and free software has to do with power. Our core rights -- to freedom of speech and free association -- are increasingly exercised in electronic media. Who controls the online world? Can any contractual obligation resulting from a license abridge your human rights? IMHO, these questions make software a human rights concern.

    -- PB.

  2. Re:I think we're stretching things a bit... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative · on Why Human Rights Requires Free Software
    (I don't have a ./ acct, so posting as AC) - I'm the guy the article is about, and a couple of points are worth noting:

    the "confirmation of results" & peer review point I was making had to do with crypto and offsite backup software more than with statistical software. When we're talking about crypto or storing someone else's data, it's super important to be transparent. Re: stats, well, one of my slides pointed out that up 'til now, I've always hacked numbers & graphs in Stata, which is proprietary (though most of the really good stuff is published freely, but that's another matter). We should use R, but for cost & "who controls the license" reasons as much as (if not more) than verifiability.

    While we're on the verifiability point, human rights data organization techniques tend to be pretty complicated, and it helps to be able to use free software. While distributing the data (via XML) may or may not be useful, it is very important to open the data specifications. I think that means opening SQL scripts, too, and all the database software (in our current mix, the backend is postgres, the front end is Java). That's coming in about a month.

    But human rights folks are pretty underfunded, and the "free as in beer" part of open source and free software is a big help, too.

    slashdotters might be interested in the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, Article 15(b), which states that everyone has the right "To enjoy the benefits of scientific progress and its applications." This is a real, live, human right.

    But the real bottom line to human rights and free software has to do with power. Our core rights -- to freedom of speech and free association -- are increasingly exercised in electronic media. Who controls the online world? Can any contractual obligation resulting from a license abridge your human rights? IMHO, these questions make software a human rights concern.

    -- PB.

  3. Re:they're screwing community radio by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0 · on FCC Approves Digital Radio, Kills Satellite Merger

    For anyone who doesn't believe Clear Channel is trying to put the community stations out of business (from the University of Minnesota radio station page Radio K):

    Q: Why does Radio K sign off the airwaves at dusk?

    A: Stations like Radio K (KUOM) go off the air at night so they don't interfere with the so-called "clear channel" 50,000 watt powerhouses like WCCO-AM. There are other station around the country that operate during the daytime on 830, WCCO's frequency. But those stations have to go off the air at monthly average local sunset so they don't interfere with WCCO's signal.

    The reasons for this are:

    AM radio waves travel much farther at night than in the daytime.

    Back when this clear channel system was set up (in 1934), there were radio stations only in larger towns and big cities. The clears were established and protected at night so that people in the countryside and small towns would be able to get news and entertainment over the radio.

    The fact that every small town has a radio station now days is generally ignored as the clears are generally owned by the big media conglomerates who don't want to give up any of their power and range, and have the clout to keep that from happening.

    Radio K, by the way goes off the air at sunset to protect WABC in New York City. WABC is owned by the same conglomerate that owns KQRS, 93-X and V105.

  4. Re:Co-operation? by Calcbert · · Score: 1 · on Small-Scale Warrior Robot Truck

    Take a look at U of MN Center for Distributed Robotics. They've been working on a rover/scout plan for a few years now, and were featured on slashdot a year and a half or so ago, but I can't find the article.

  5. Re:2 Meg of ram? by RevAaron · · Score: 2 · on Palm Introduces Affordable Zire
    I know that I am not an average PDA user, but for me, the cost of a PDA is as or more justifiable as a desktop machine.

    What do I do with my Newton 2000u? (and have tried to do with a iPAQ 3150 and Jornada 720)

    • Development: I do NewtonScript development directly on the Newon with or without a keyboard. For creating first class apps, just like you would with the desktop dev tools. You can even get a GUI builder. On WinCE machines, I worked on Dynapad- a full Smalltalk environment in 6 MB, including a full-blown IDE and a bunch of PDA applications all extensible and modifyable directly on the PDA itself. (in addition to the built-in WinCE apps!) Of course, this it what *I* do, but there are ways to program in Perl (with Tk!), BASIC (with GUI builders), PocketC, Java, Python, ISLISP, Scheme and many more- see the Dynapad link below for a list of self-hosted PDA coding environments.
    • Communication:Email, IRC, web browsing, ssh/telnet. XML-RPC and SOAP clients for those like me who have various services for my own away-from-home use.
    • PIM Stuff Assumed, of course. :) I take all of my college lecture notes using real HWR (not Graffiti). And the drawings within the notes. Unlike paper, I can easily distribute copies of the notes, index and search them. Great for studying on a test- when I'm wondering about something, I can just tap "Find-" no wasting time paging through textbooks and paper notes.


    And a lot more. But that includes most of what I do on a computer. Any computer, PDA or desktop or notebook. Also, I listen to mp3s on both PDA and desktop. If I can get Squeak working on the Newton (I will be porting it soon!), I will seriously consider whether or not it's worth it for me to keep my iBook 500 and OpenBSD P5 machine.

    For the most part, you need much more expensive units to do this.

    No, you don't. You could spend $100 on a Zire, with about as much power as a Ti-89 calculator. :P Or, you could spend $150 or so for a new (harder to find new now though!) iPAQ 3150/3135, with a 16 MB ROM, 16 MB RAM, 206 MHz StrongARM, and the CompactFlash sleeve. A real computer running a real OS, at least compared to the PalmOS. You could even put Linux on it if you wanted to impress your LUG. Or you could install QNX.

    You can get used Newton MessagePad 2100s for less than $100 now a days, a 162 MHz StrongARM, 5 MB RAM, a luxurious 480x320 screen, good battery life and a lot of useful apps. 2 PCMCIA slots used for PCMCIA flash cards, ethernet, modems, 802.11b, or ATA/CompactFlash memory. Yes, you can use one of those 10 GB Toshiba PCMCIA drives in a Newton.

    Why wouldn't it be cheaper to build a system that has NO features but is just an infastructure for plugged in addons?

    Pervasive modularity comes at a fairly steep price. It's almost always cheaper to build something a Zire than a the Chipslice. The Chipslice is exactly this modular system you speak of, at least what I imagine you mean. Of course, it's not been released to anyone anywhere yet, but it does exist. It has old Palm-like hardware, unfortunately. Perhaps they'll ugprade the spec to something fast and ARM based by the time they release it, if they ever do. It runs Linux, which is a weakness at this moment, but at least it runs PicoGUI, which is an awesome display system that is fast and works on very little resources.
  6. Re:I've never understood... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0 · on GRE Computer Science Exam Canceled For '02

    A colleague of mine recently published a large meta-analysis of studies relating the GRE to future performance (I wish I could give you a better link but you'll have to go to a journal index for that). Basically, he meta-analyzed over 1500 studies on the GRE's predictive validity, and found that it was predictive of all sorts of stuff, including research productivity.

    Ironically, if I recall correctly, the GRE subtest tests that best predict performance are those typically overlooked by graduate admissions committees--the subject tests and the analytic subtest. The subject tests seemed to do particularly well.

    Of course, the GRE shouldn't be used alone to admit a graduate student, but it is very valuable.

    The argument that standardized tests shouldn't be used to classify people or predict their behavior is a very old one, and found in all fields, whether it be personnel selection, education, or mental health. Time and time again, as Nathan found in his meta-analysis, these criticisms are usually not borne out by the data. Standardized tests are predictive of many things, and often--but by not means not always--are predictive of things that you might not expect just looking at test content.

    Again, I agree with you--as many variables need to be taken into consideration as possible when predicting anyone's behavior in any domain, including graduate school. But tests are a particularly useful tool that shouldn't be overlooked, whether we like it or not.

  7. You're making this stuff up by smiff · · Score: 1 · on That Link Is Illegal
    It is illegal for public institutions to directly compete with private industry ... ie the university can't allow these organizations to point .com domain names at their servers since they are taking potential business away from the private sector

    Would you care to provide a single shred of evidence to back that up? You're making this stuff up. Public Universities themselves compete with private non-profit and for-profit schools. Student fund-raisers compete with private businesses. Public libraries compete with private libraries, book stores, and publishers. Public roads compete with private toll roads (and have driven virtually all private toll roads out of business). Public transportation competes with private cab companies and auto dealers. Legal Aid competes with private law firms. SE Linux competes with private Linux distros.

    Since Universities are not allowed to compete with ISPs, they make things easier to monitor by only allowing their domain name to be pointed at their servers. Hence, no outside domain names are supposed to be pointed at their servers. This prevents cheap grad students from starting a business in their office or cheap undergrads in dorms from starting a server farm.

    The public university I attended is a partial owner of a local broadband provider. They have thousands of customers. Before that ISP existed, the school used to function as an ISP itself. Furthermore, the school can not stop someone from registering a .com domain and pointing at the school's servers. I could register pricegougers.com and point it at 160.94.23.13. Such an action would not instantly make the University of Minnesota a law-breaker.

  8. Another bad English teacher, but different by AragornSonOfArathorn · · Score: 1 · on "L33T" Speak Invades Schools

    I had a very bad English teacher in 8th grade, but bad in a different way. The was very stupid. We had to write a research report, and had most of the quarter to do it.

    Well, I never did it (8th grade was a bad year for me; I didn't really give a rats ass about a lot of things, for various reasons; I'm sure many fellow geeks can imagine...).

    About 3 or 4 weeks before the end of the quarter, she asks me if I handed in this report, because she couldn't find it. I looked her in the eye and told her I did, and she bought it. The next week she handed out our preliminary quarter grades, and I had gotten a 95% or something on this paper I never wrote!

    Many people in that class took advantage of her because of her stupidity, or perhaps senility. Her teaching style sucked too; I didn't learn a thing in that class.

    I feel kind of bad about it now, but then I didn't care. I never did anything like that again, though. I've almost always done well in writing courses, and now have a few scientific publications(although only one of which I did any real writing, and it wasn't that scientific...)

  9. Re:If you want to be environmentally friendly... by foobar104 · · Score: 3, Funny · on Toro iMow - A Robotic Mower that Works?

    To heck with that. If you really want an environmentally sound way of dealing with your grass problem, get one of these.

  10. yeah that's just what they need. by BenLutgens · · Score: 1 · on DebianEdu Announced

    As is debian can't seem to release in a timely manner why add more fuel to the fire. Wouldn't it be simpler to accomplish the same thing with task packages? Why a whole seperate distro? I mean the base system would be the same, only difference should be the additional packages installed. Seems pretty silly to me.

    Perhaps some good will come of it, maybe some .edu(s) will donate cash to debian (not just bandwidth and such as the UofM does.

  11. Linking with additional devices by ThesQuid · · Score: 2 · on Sony Presents Bluetooth Digital Camera

    What I would like to see would be the ability for the camera to add metadata to the pictures via input from the Bluetooth connection. For example, getting the current Lon/Lat from a Bluetooth enabled GPS and embedding it in the picture's metadata ("Where the heck did we take THIS picture?"). I could then do some interesting GIS applications, such as a photoalbum on a map using Mapserver (a great Open Source GIS program)

  12. Re:publish or perish by rnd() · · Score: 2 · on Peer-Reviewed Research Over The Web
    Well, there are technologies like collaborative filtering that go a long way toward solving the problem much more efficiently than moderation + metamoderation.

    With collaborative filtering, an individual's preferences over a small set of data are used to predict likely preferences over a large set of data. So to take an example that is successfully in use here, one could rate 15-20 movies and have the system predict with a fair bit of accuracy that person's ratings of most any movie. Of course, you need a lot of people's preference data to do this, but I'm sure it wouldn't be a major hurdle to acceptance of Brown's idea, since he has so many researchers' signatures already.

    Plus, with a system such as CF, one could view the articles that the system determined he/she would find most useful, OR, one could view articles only based upon aggregate ratings, etc.

  13. Re:Good...maybe they'll fix a major problem. by nathanm · · Score: 2 · on Fully Endowed FW Olin College of Engineering Opens
    Here's the catch: do all the ME stuff first, get it done in 8 semesters, then go for the mind expanders, with a couple graduate classes interspersed. This way, if you can't fund the liberal arts stuff, you can still apply to graduate with a BSME, but if you do, then you can get 2 bachelor's degrees in 6 years with most of a master's thrown in.
    Unfortunately, many schools won't count those graduate credits towards a graduate degree.

    At my school (U of MN), they would count for your undergraduate studies though. You must be enrolled in graduate school for them to count towards a master's degree.
  14. Re:Read it... by PlanetJIM · · Score: 2, Insightful · on Hacking as Scholarship

    I'm not a computer scientist, but even if I were I don't think I'd dismiss the computing done in the humanities as fluffy or trivial.

    When I was at Michigan State University I worked with their Humanities Computing unit Matrix. A lot of the work they did humanities-wise was preservation of spoken and visual texts and making those texts available to scholars digitally. The interest here is obvious for linguists working in oral histories. Some of those tapes have barely been played more than to be transcribed. It's great that they're getting digitized and made available to people online.

    Computing wise, the thing that interested me most in their work is how complicated it is to come up with accurate and helpful metadata to describe the stuff that's getting digitized and cataloged. They work pretty hard to make sure that these texts will be easily searchable and usefully listed for the people that will be using them to write dissertations.

  15. Environment Files by Bklyn · · Score: 2, Informative · on Managing Environment Specific Config Files?

    See environ for a nice package that does this sort of thing and uses Perl code to manipulate your environment.

  16. Dijkstra's shunting yard... by donnz · · Score: 2, Funny · on Edsger Wybe Dijkstra: 1930-2002

    Remember that? Only algorithm on my CS course I ever put into practical use. aka "No bracket required", (for Phil Collins fans).

  17. karma whore strut... by 4of12 · · Score: 4, Interesting · on Effective Project Management Software?

    Also seriously flawed in that you need IE on Windoze to use its web access features.

    [Leave it to MS to never miss an opportunity to turn a great concept on its head to leverage the rest of their product line:) The folks at MS who actually implemented the web access feature in Project must have had the breath knocked out of them at the "IE specialization".]

    Nevertheless, the concept of web based project management is still a really good one. Not only for read-access to view what's going on, but also to help formulate project plans.

    I prefer to spend my time programming, but have had brushes with project planning exercises and noted the dearth of good open source alternatives to MS Project (which, practically, seems to require some training in order to learn the quirks of how to use it.)

    The most intriguing development I've seen is out of the Horde Project (a PHP framework for web applications).

    They mention something called Nag that came out 1.0 on June 11 of this year, but I don't know what it's really like.

    But I can see where having an XML database for projects that is accessed via PHP would be a good thing. That, and having some SVG enabled browsers (and server code) to create and view Gantt charts on the fly.

    Since I'm throwing buzzwords and wishlists about, I may as well suggest that WebDAV would be a great part of such a tool because it would offer a good means for collaborative authoring of project plans, which is really how the best ones get done. (The worst ones are guesses and dictats that make everyone mad.)

  18. Re:mirrors by dotgod · · Score: 0, Redundant · on Mandrake Linux 9.0 Beta 1
    Oops...these are the real ones

    Austria

    ftp://gd.tuwien.ac.at/pub/linux/Mandrake-iso/i586/ (Vienna)
    Czech Republic

    ftp://mandrake.redbox.cz/Mandrake-iso/i586/

    ftp://sunsite.mff.cuni.cz/OS/Linux/Dist/Mandrake/m andrake-iso/i586/ (Prague)
    Estonia

    ftp://ftp.aso.ee/pub/os/Linux/distributions/mandra ke-iso/i586/
    France

    ftp://fr2.rpmfind.net/linux/Mandrake-iso/i586/ (Lyon)

    ftp://ftp.ciril.fr/pub/linux/mandrake-iso/i586/ (Nancy)

    ftp://ftp.proxad.net/pub/Distributions_Linux/Mandr ake-iso/i586/ (Paris)

    ftp://linux.ups-tlse.fr/Mandrake-iso/i586/ (Toulouse)
    Germany

    ftp://ftp-stud.fht-esslingen.de/pub/Mirrors/Mandra ke-iso/i586/ (Esslingen)

    ftp://ftp.join.uni-muenster.de/pub/linux/distribut ions/mandrake-iso/i586/ (Muenster)

    ftp://ftp.uni-bayreuth.de/pub/linux/Mandrake-iso/i 586/ (bayreuth)
    Hungary

    ftp://ftp.linuxforum.hu/mirror/Mandrake-iso/i586/
    Netherlands

    ftp://ftp.nluug.nl/pub/os/Linux/distr/Mandrake/Man drake-iso/i586/

    ftp://ftp.surfnet.nl/pub/os/Linux/distr/Mandrake/M andrake-iso/i586/
    Russia

    ftp://ftp.chg.ru/pub/Linux/mandrake-iso/i586/ (Chernogolovka)
    Sweden

    ftp://ftp.chello.se/pub/Linux/Mandrake-iso/i586/

    ftp://ftp.du.se/pub/os/mandrake-iso/i586/ (Dalarma)
    Taiwan

    ftp://linux.cdpa.nsysu.edu.tw/pub/Mandrake/mandrak e-iso/i586/
    United Kingdom

    ftp://ftp.mirror.ac.uk/sites/sunsite.uio.no/pub/un ix/Linux/Mandrake/Mandrake-iso/i586/ (Canterbury)
    United States

    ftp://ftp.cse.buffalo.edu/pub/Linux/Mandrake/mandr ake-iso/i586/ (NY)

    ftp://ftp.orst.edu/pub/mandrake-iso/i586/ (Oregon)

    ftp://ftp.software.umn.edu/pub/linux/mandrake/Mand rake-iso/i586/ (Minnesota)

    ftp://helios.dii.utk.edu/pub/linux/Mandrake/Mandra ke-iso/i586/ (Tennessee)

    ftp://mirror.mcs.anl.gov/pub/Mandrake-iso/i586/ (Illinois)

    ftp://mirrors.secsup.org/pub/linux/mandrake/Mandra ke-iso/i586/

    ftp://raven.cslab.vt.edu/pub/linux/mandrake-iso/i5 86/ (Virgina)

    ftp://videl.ics.hawaii.edu/mirrors/mandrake/Mandra ke-iso/i586/ (Hawaii)

  19. A repeating argument & (long-winded) Rant w/ l by teamhasnoi · · Score: 4, Insightful · on Interview with MusicNet Chief
    I am a musician. Making music is not 'free', it costs money. You buy strings, sticks, gas for the van, amp repairs, blank CDs, t-shirts, ink cartridges, etc, etc. This of course varies for the individual. It is certainly possible to make great music in the basement with a crappy old guitar and never spend a dime (until your rusty strings break). Or spend millions on an mediocre "assembly line band" arena tour with enough lights and PA to suck the power out of a small town.

    The argument used constantly on /. (and elsewhere) is, "I'd rather send my money to the artist, than to the RIAA..." Great!

    Do you?

    Do you go to that artist's website and buy a CD directly from them? Do you send them a check every time you nab a song off of gnutella? When your pal burns a copy of "The Greatest Hits of God's Favorite Band", do you send some $$$ to the guys?

    If you do, excellent. You are avoiding the Recording Industry that will screw a band over for breakfast, and laugh over lunch at how an A&R rep has "this band by the short hairs...". You are helping to end an Industry that doesn't care what YOU want, only what they can market to you.

    You are supporting artists who have incurred expense to bring their music to you.

    They wrote it, arranged it, taught it to the band, rehearsed it, changed it, rehearsed some more, played it at a dive for $25 and two beers each, rehearsed some more, went into a studio, paid an engineer to roll knobs, move faders, and lay it on tape. They listed to it, rehearsed the vocals, and overdubs. They went back into the studio, paid the engineer some more to get that on tape. The engineer mixed it, gave it to the band, remixed parts again, mastered it to DAT or CD. They sent it to a duplication house, they paid to have artwork done, (saved money by doing some themselves), they purchased 1000 CDs. They paid to have a website hosted, (saved a little by doing their own site), drove all over consigning CDs at record stores (small independents). They played some more shows for 50 bucks each (show. not per member), they paid the soundman 50 bucks.

    Repeat every year and a half.

    This is just a taste of what an average unsigned band goes through to get music "out there". There are many exceptions to this example. Some can record at home on "lo-fi" equipment. Some never rehearse. Some don't play shows. Some release everything on gnutella for the hell of it. Some try to get you interested in their CD in this manner.

    Add label interest and, well, look at the links below. The point being made is: Good music is hard to find for a reason. Being a GOOD musician (not to mention songwriter) is one of the toughest (and thankless) jobs ever! The artists who go though the trouble to bring this to you should be rewarded. After all, they could have just sat in the basement writing and performing for themselves, not worried about "how is this record going to do?". The next time you grab a tune off the net, think for a moment. If you actually sent your favorite artist some money for the work that you enjoy, that artist will be able to make more music. Finally, a win win situation.

    Unfortunately, artists represnted by the Industry are in a different boat altogether. For some real examples of what it costs the major label band to be a major label band, see here, here, and here. Additional info here (my fav)

    Yup. What was I talking about? That's right.

  20. Re:Doomed to fail by betaray · · Score: 1 · on GM's Billion-Dollar Fuel-Cell Bet

    Just like we never mastered flying, I mean if Leonardo Da Vinci couldn't get his flying machine off the ground no one will!

  21. You can't win, you know... by billbaggins · · Score: 3, Interesting · on Seventeen Years of Tetris
    Someone at the U of MN Geometry Center created a proof that if the S and Z shapes alternate for long enough (the ceiling he gave was something like 70,000 pieces) you absolutely must lose (depending, of course, on the exact geometry of the well). Even had a Java applet that allowed you to try it yourself...

    Blindingly obvious? Probably. Just the sort of blinding obviousness that makes this country great...

    You can see the applet and a link to the paper here.

  22. More Recipes from the Internet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0 · on Build Your Own Virus
    Variola genome (Bangladesh strain)

    Expression of Mouse Interleukin-4 by a Recombinant Ectromelia Virus Suppresses Cytolytic Lymphocyte Responses and Overcomes Genetic Resistance to Mousepox

    Oh shit.

  23. Re:Why not just paint a target on your shirt? by orangepeel · · Score: 1 · on US Army to Test Laser Based Mine Clearing Device

    I wasn't suggesting trying a mine-clearing operation using sound in immediately hostile territory. There are plenty of countries where security is not a major concern, but where mines are. Humanitarian organizations such as InterSOS would benefit from technology that makes the normally painstaking process of demining easier. They are older links, but there is still some information about humanitarian demining projects here.

  24. Re:tell me... by CProgrammer98 · · Score: 2 · on Mathematical Lego Sculptures

    It cannot be embedded in R^3, but it sure can be represented in r^3. See here

    It's like saying you cant represent a cube in R^2, or any other 3d shape we commonly see represented on our computer monitors and tv screens, which are 2d last time I looked :)

  25. Mathematical Isolation by matroid · · Score: 2 · on Options for Adults with Renewed Interest in Math?
    Learning from books is all well and good, but I truly feel that for one to fully develop one's mathematical abilities, one must be part of an academic community, engaging in academic dialogue with living, breathing "math-people." Whether you are a Ph.D., or a middle-schooler, the BEST way to learn mathematics is by actively and routinely doing it with others.

    Anyway, if you're serious about learning mathematics but scared of the cost, go to your nearest University and just sit in on the class. Listen to the lecture, ask questions, take notes, do homeworks, take tests, just don't pay. I teach mathematics at the college level... if a students showed up in my classroom who seriously wanted to learn, but didn't want to pay tuition, I would be more than supportive of his/her presence in my class. A number of my colleagues feel the same way -- learning should transcend economic boundaries. (On the other hand, though, some of my peers in our University's Physics department like the fact that tuition weeds out the middle-aged crackpots with their pseudo-scientific TOEs). For math books freely downloadable online, dig around at http://www.math.umn.edu/~garrett

  26. Re:Why Hardware? by morcheeba · · Score: 2 · on Yamaha CD-RW Drive Writes Images In Substrate

    Uh, they use relatively high-power lasers in fibre optics to achieve gigabit speeds easily. It's not that hard - usually diodes are driven with a constant-current source, and a fast-switching FET is used to short out the diode to turn it off. The power supply isn't shorted because the constant-current source limits the amount of current the circuit can draw.

    Let's do some math: CD players turn at 1.2-1.4 m/s Constant Angular Velocity. To get 250 dpi at that speed (1X), each dot is 78 uSec, or about 12,800 dots/second. Gigabit speeds are literally a million times faster.

    I'm not so sure that the laser is actually burning through the reflective backing, though - it looks like the pattern is only visible on the underside data area - just like you can see the difference between burnt and unburnt data.

  27. More info by texchanchan · · Score: 3, Informative · on Like a Moth to a ... Piece of Plastic

    http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/dec97/moth12 97.htm Popular-style article
    http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/biopesticides/factsh eets/fs-generic_lep.htm very technical, EPA-oriented
    http://www.wcrl.ars.usda.gov/cec/papers/jce93-9.ht m Article about an insect population simulation program.
    http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/2000/2174.html Using bt instead
    http://fwie.fw.vt.edu/rhgiles/Trevey/Gypsy.htm Vermont, long piece, "gyplure"
    http://www.orst.edu/instruction/bi301/chemcont.htm Dr. Pat Muir's notes for a college class, short, readable. Excerpt:
    "The advantages of pheromone use include the facts that they:

    * are nontoxic
    * are biodegradable
    * can be used at low concentrations
    * are highly species specific

    Hazards or difficulties associated with their use include the facts that:

    * resistance to pheromones could potentially evolve (although it would then be difficult for insects to find mates!)
    * it is expensive and takes a long time to achieve commercial production."
    More than you wanted to know about gypsy moths

    In reading up about this I found that some of the same people who don't like pesticides also don't like Bt and pheromones. You wonder how they're going to like a deforested Pacific Northwest if those moths get loose up there.

    P.S. URL for the meetup

  28. KaZaa report? From OIT? What the... by TheCubic · · Score: 1 · on Kazaa Usability Study

    The U of M's OIT (office of information tech.), outlawed kazaa and rate limited it, so you'd think they'd hate it enough not to study it... (hey, it was a big deal while I was in The Dorms)

    They must have done it at HP to get around Packeteer.

  29. Gopher Info Links by digital_freedom · · Score: 2 · on Latest IE Hole Lets Gopher Root You

    For those of you who don't know what gopher is or where it's being used, here is a little info and some links to projects and sites related to this good old protocol.

    About gopher:
    Gopher is an infoserver which can deliver text, graphics, audio, and
    multimedia to clients. Keeping documents "link clean", making linking a
    function of the server info-tree and not in the doc, layout is kept to
    its most frugal minimum, and is standard across all docs. No graphic
    design means its the ideal navigable interface, a hypertext Eden. It
    gives simplified usage for sight-impaired users, same contents for
    wired/wiredless, and requires no capital investments in layout and
    "design". Gopher is real -- and it was fully functional in 1992, even
    without advertisements!
    Taken from the gopher manifesto

    Google's Gopher stuff
    Yahoo's Gopher stuff

    For those that want to go gopher hunting. Here's a link to a gopher server at the University of MN. I don't think they will install BackOrifice or something, but user beware!

    I wonder how secure a gopher server is?

  30. Loads of historical fun! by Ashurbanipal · · Score: 3, Interesting · on Ornithopters on Mars

    Wouldn't it be cool to see how many pre-industrial flying machine designs would or wouldn't work on Mars?

    A Leonardo da Vinci design that you can get a kit for.

    Or how about one of these things?

    'Course, there might be a shortage of lumber on Mars, what with the lack of trees and all. We'd have to be sure to bring lots of supplies.

  31. Re:The Chewbacca Defense by npsimons · · Score: 1 · on Steffi Graf Wins Case Vs. Microsoft
    This is a civil case. Jury = criminal case.


    Not always. Besides, this case was held in Germany.

  32. Re:Are these the tools for decompiling DNA? by lukesl · · Score: 1 · on A New Kind of Science

    I'm doing a PhD in biology, so trust me: the map from gene to protein sequence is 100% fully understood and has been for many years. It was the basis of the 1968 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. In biology it's referred to as the genetic code. So when people throw around the term, they should understand that it has a very specific meaning and that it is well understood. Anyway, the mapping from protein sequence to protein structure is the one that is not well understood. Well, it's not an issue of whether or not it's well-understood, it's just so complex that doing it based on the physical properties of the actual atoms involved requires profoundly unattainable amounts of computing power. So structure prediction methods generally fall into two categories: ab initio with fancy mathematical shortcuts, and "threading," in which evolutionary relations between proteins are exploited so that you can use known structures to help predict similar unknown structures. CA are unlikely to help with this.

    CA models ARE likely to be helpful at the level of multicellular organization. Hepatocytes in the liver somehow self-organize into a hexagonal lattice...how? This type of thing happens all the time in development, but it's hard to understand how cells can self-organize without any kind of overarching supervisory signal (though such things sometimes exist in the form of concentration gradients of signaling molecules, etc.) Anyway, I don't see any immediate application of CA-type methods to the study of intracellular processes, which is not to say that there aren't any.

  33. The author speaks by heinzkeinz · · Score: 1 · on Comic Book Physics



    Prof. Kakalios himself wrote an op-ed piece for the Minnesota Star-Tribune here

    There's a bit more info here.

    The course description:

    Science in Comic Books
    James Kakalios, Physics
    Phys 1905, section 4 (#28788)
    2 credits
    T 2:30 - 4:25 p.m., FordH 155

    How much energy is required to cause the planet Krypton to explode? If you were born on a more massive planet, would you be able to leap tall buildings in a single bound here on Earth? Using concepts and characters from comic books, this class will explore basic notions of physics, chemistry, and biology. In addition to identifying scientific bloopers, we will discuss those cases where the comic creators got the science right. Requires high school algebra and geometry.

    </karma whore>

    Two hours a week. Seems pretty easy to me, and that's coming from an artsy-type who took a course at the University of Toronto called "The Magic of Physics". I like easy credits.

  34. Re:Milikan Oil Drop Experiment by huie · · Score: 1 · on The Most Beautiful Experiments in Physics

    And of course, the problem with doing that experiment was the even for Millikan's it was only selectively filtered data points that got published.

    See this or this.

    So there you go, an interesting experiment and insight into fraud when the experimenter knew what the results were supposed to be.

  35. The SCUD MISSILE caused the deaths... by TheMonkeyDepartment · · Score: 1 · on Debug your Code, or Else!

    I enjoyed this article, but regarding your statement that "misfiring of a US Patriot missile ... caused 28 deaths because of accumulated floating point error", I would argue that the SCUD MISSILE LAUNCHED BY THE IRAQIS caused the deaths , NOT the misfiring of the Patriot missile. The referenced article says that the Patriot "failed to track and intercept an incoming Iraqi Scud missile." Uh... don't the Iraqis deserve 100% of the blame for the deaths here? They launched the damn missile! What software bug caused THAT little problem?

    It is true that the Patriot missile did not succeed, but don't ever forget that those 28 people would be alive if the SCUD was never launched to begin with.

  36. Re:especially important in healthcare.. by ComaVN · · Score: 2, Funny · on Debug your Code, or Else!

    Yes, crashing planes and scuds hitting army barracks are funny, but patients losing their lives is not.

  37. KISS by catfoo · · Score: 2 · on Getting Started with GIS?

    GIS is a vast field even if you dont throw in web access to data. narrow down your interest or hire someone to do the GIS side and you do the web access side.

    web server..
    MapServer - works and is mature and stable
    ESRI's GIS data server is super expensive but the new version runs on Linux
    PDFMap - combine this with mapserver so that your users can download maps they make
    SVG - ive seen some cools things happening with SVG
    MRSID - for image compression, costs for the compressor but i have built some cool stuff with thier free server.

    desktop...
    ESRI has a free viewer which reads a XML file. its works ok. there is a Linux version but i havnt used it yet. all of the free (not open source) GIS viewers suck in one way or another cause the companys have some "real" version they really want you to buy (ala ESRI).
    Free GIS .. if its open source and GIS its at freegis.org but frankly there isnt allot built out yet thats simple yet modular and will grow with GIS users as they begin to get specialized (image interp, business siteing, habitat annalysis, etc).

    theres GRASS and some others but nothing close to the commercial products (unfortuantely). furthermore all of the commercial products are over priced. you have to spend 3,000$ US (single licence) to get anything at ESRI that works. If your going to manage a GIS data collection you should get ArcView but try to find a free solution for end users on the desktop. look at combining MapServer and some of the Content Management systems that are out there for developing GIS access online.

  38. Internet GIS by TurboThy · · Score: 1 · on Getting Started with GIS?

    If you're interested in a free, Linux-based internet mapserver, check out MapServer. It even imports ESRI shapefiles, which I guess is the most widespread data format for GIS (it being very much a Window$ World)

  39. Links by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative · on Software for Social Networking Diagrams?
    Node Graphs? The answer is Graphviz. It is not oriented to 3D but handles the difficult layout problem well. Definitions are in a simple text format that I've found I can easily create from many datasets.

    You mentioned molecular figures, so I assume you already looked at software for creating molecular stick figures. Not much, is there?

    Gnuplot has amazing capabilities. It's not oriented to 3D realtime animation, but you can get 3D plots...and make animated PNGs to rotate around a plot. Ignore the function abilities, look at the point and line plotting.

    Did you do a search for scientific visualization? If you had, one of the things you'd have found is Geomview from the U of MN Geometry Center. Don't know how easy you'd consider it.

  40. Correction. by bihoy · · Score: 4, Funny · on Linux Network Install Options?

    Here are the correct links. (Note to self: Drink more coffee, less vodka.)
    Jumpstart Design Notes
    Redhat Kickstart
    Kickstart How-to

  41. Re:Focus on Security... by dgroskind · · Score: 1 · on March Netcraft survey

    when i hear the word 'culture' i reach for my revolver" - Henry Miller

    The quote is actually from Hanns Johst, a Nazi playwright. It is often attributed to Goering, who conceivably repeated it.

    It is an unlikely thing for Miller to say. He wrote in a tribute to Kenneth Patchem: "In our society the artist is not encouraged. not lauded, not rewarded, unless he makes use of a weapon more powerful than those employed by his adversaries. Such a weapon is not to be found in shops or arsenals: it has to be forged by the artist himself out of his own tissue."

  42. Re:I can't believe some of this crap by captin+nod · · Score: 1 · on Corporate Anthems Go Corporate

    Dilbert has a lot to say about the general topic here

  43. Re:OpenSource GPS Mapping (Topographical)? by mikeboone · · Score: 3, Informative · on Garmin Rino-GPS Show and Tell

    While there is a lot of "open source" map data out there, there aren't a whole lot of free tools that will help you use it.

    The tools and data fall under the GIS heading. Check out these sites to get started:

    • FreeGIS - A good index of available stuff.
    • MapServer - A tool mainly targeted toward serving map data on the web, but I've used it to make one-off images.
    • Data Catalog - I've downloaded free USGS topo maps here. The files are large and it takes some effort to know what you're looking for.

    I've used these tools to build maps of GPS tracks on my website. A couple examples:

    I've done most of these maps with a lot of manual labor...if anyone knows of open source/free ways to improve the process, I'd appreciate it!

  44. Re:liquid fuel? by stinky+wizzleteats · · Score: 1 · on NASA Satellite Stranded

    Yeah, the Ariane is really great, but make sure you've got the right firmware on it.

    As old as the Shuttle is, the fact remains that it is without peer because nothing else can service an already orbiting sattelite.

    I don't mean to be U.S. centric about this, but until you've played golf on the Moon, you just aren't in the club. Sorry.

  45. Meanwhile, In other news ... by gewalker · · Score: 4, Informative · on Larsen Ice Shelf Collapses

    According to most scientistics, the retreat in the West Antarctic ice sheet has been occuring for 10,000 years.

    Also on BBC, Ice thickens in West Antarctica

    Sun is hotter, but shrinking (mass energy conversion, you know).

    Maybe we should realize that perhaps some of the global warming hype is just hype. Everytime there is a heat wave on the news coasts, there a new round of global warming stories. Normal climate variability is large, and modern winters are not the warmest ever (or even in modern history). Check out Minnesota 1877. The observed long-term warming trend since 1900 is not unusual in terms of climate history.

    BTW, risk of Kyoto protocol is followed in 100% of the expected cost, because it is certain damage to world economy.

  46. Hard to say.. by Mike+Hicks · · Score: 2 · on Will CS Students Switch From Microsoft?

    It's really hard to say how things will play out.. Most CS students here at UMN have programmed on Unix, Windows, and Mac (okay, the Mac was just m68k assembly, but whatever). I've done assembly, C, C++, Perl, Java, JavaScript, and Scheme (how could I forget Scheme!). I've avoided Windows systems personally, but most of my friends have at least done some Visual Basic work.

    I definitely don't think it's appropriate to box students in and only let them use one platform, ever, though there is a strong push here that software must run on the Solaris systems. Of course, since the languages we use most of the time are cross-platform, it's usually possible to do most of your development on your favorite platform, then twiddle a few things to get it to work on the lab machines.

    I personally wish that the labs used Linux machines, but that's just my own pet peeve. I figure in the grand scheme of things, this is probably the way to go..

  47. Late post, just wanted to say, it's a good idea... by BadlandZ · · Score: 1 · on Thin Clients in a Computer Lab Environment?
    http://www.ltsp.org/LTSP has the most complete source of info now days. Back a few years back a friend Rich and I started to develop a Debian based distribution to do this, but it ended up with this: "people who care, figure out to do it themselfs, people who don't care, don't care anyway."

    Anyway, I've been doing this since the moment I owned more than one computer. Everything networked (local, 192.168.x.x) was either fast and running xdm, or slow and just running "X -indirect hostname" so it was only an Xterminal for the faster boxes.

    Today, I am rewiring my house with CAT 6 everywhere and a few wireless access points (big house, 3 story, full basement, so lot's of space to cover. As far as Comcast knows, I have 1 computer. In fact, I have a Linksys BEFW11S4 on the cable modem. Result? 2 fast computers, and a lot of slow old boxes around the house, but even the slow ones have a good vid card and monitor, so it doesn't matter. I added a couple cheap laptops to the mix with wireless cards, and there isn't ANYWHERE (including the neighbor's back yard at a BBQ) that I can't go, and have the fastest box ever...

    May sound odd, but now I grab a cheap laptop insted of a magizine when I go into the bathroom for a, well.... Anyhow, I can read slashdot insted of TV Guide in there now, and, if I want, there's always tvguide.com!

    This is old school UNIX stuff. It's always been terminals on a server. Now, a cheap P200 laptop with a decent display and wireless for $250 total will get you access to your killer linux box, from anywhere, any way... And, you can show how easy KDE is and convince people to try Linux at the neighbors BBQ (even though I use BlackBox myself....).

  48. info sources by osworks · · Score: 2, Informative · on Thin Clients in a Computer Lab Environment?

    K12linux.org is a great site for info and their Red Hat Distro. I have meet Eric and Paul a few times, really great people. They have developed quite a following because they are making implimenting a thin client setup really easy.

    K12ltsp is based on www.ltsp.org which is in version 3.0 right now. I use this software to set up computer labs in non-profits in and around Portland. We are a NP ourselves) It is gaining maturity, system administration is barely more work than working on a box running programs locally. You need to have DHCP running on the server, TFTP setup, and allow it to serve applications to remote X-Clients, and that is about it.

    Here are some links for further reading on what others have done.
    umn
    olinux
    solucorp
    askslashdot
    gbdirect
    tucows
    XDM

  49. This has been done before in the US by maddogsparky · · Score: 2, Informative · on Nuclear Mutant Flies Are Good For Africa?
    This is a highly successfull program when applied to some types of insects; see http://ipmworld.umn.edu/chapters/bartlett.htm.

  50. I've got pics to back it up! by The+Rabid+Rabbit · · Score: 0 · on Microsoft Enters the Cell Phone OS Market

    acm.cs.umn.edu/~fuzz/MS-Ericsson.jpg