I call absolute bullshit on this one. Language testing is about measuring a student's performance against one or more criteria. What Khan is apparently hoping to patent is a method for measuring the effectiveness of a piece of media, in this case video.
In the realm of text readability analysis this has a long history, perhaps the best-known technique being the Gunnar Fog Index, invented in 1952. The ubiquitous Cloze test, invented in the early fifties, was originally intended to measure and grade the reading difficulty of a piece of text.
So prior art aside, as far as I can make out Khan's product has nothing to do with the measurement of language skills.
Perhaps the main reason the hovercraft never took off is a more prosaic one - limited ability to operate in bad weather and rough seas. I have happy memories of sitting in an ever-lengthening queue in an English Channel ferry port for the best part of a day because of high winds and wave heights.
There are two curses of modern book publishing that cause problems whatever hardware you use. The first is so-called 'perfect binding' in which the folds of page gatherings, through which the sections are traditionally sewn together, are instead sliced off and glued to make a rigid spine with an exceedingly narrow angle of opening; the second is the use of low-grade, thin paper with high show-through that mucks up the scan.
The best software I've found to scan and collate is Softi ScanWiz. With it you may scan one stack of pages, flip the stack and scan the other side - the program then shuffles the page images into the correct order. It also automatically adjusts brightness and contrast so as to minimise ink show through.
"sure there's a few islands and it's pretty big geographically"
Something tells me this AC has never set foot in Indonesia. In reality there are about 6,000 inhabited islands out of a total of 17,508, and end-to-end the country stretches 3,977 miles.
When you scratch the 4G wireless and fibre optics surface, the telecommunications sector here is a shambles. Even in Jakarta, whether or not you can get cable Internet depends on which side of the street you live - the original franchise was for a broad coverage of business and living areas, but the reality is that almost all the quality access is restricted to a handfull of prestige business zones and a smattering of upmarket (and high-priced) residential developments.
The new kid on the block is 4G wireless access, but even in Jakarta coverage is so patchy it's frustratingly inadequate - and a lot of domestic Internet access is still through good old copper telephone wires. Google balloons are just so much pie in the sky, a sticking-plaster solution for the country's systemic communications problems.
"There is no valid reason for demanding pseudonymity except you have something to hide and are up to no good."
So George Eliot, George Orwell, Anatole France, Anthony Burgess, C S Forester, Daniel Defoe, Ford Madox Ford, George Sand, Boz, John le Carre and Joseph Conrad - and many, many more writers - were 'up to no good'?
And you posted as 'Anonymous Coward'. Need I say more?
'Agendas' are things that governments fabricate to con the people into believing that they are governing.
Victorian Britain didn't have an 'industrial agenda' - scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs and investors were far too busy creating the industrial revolution to footle around with fine words that buttered no parsnips. Brunel is the paradigm.
The USA still seems to have something of that 'just-do-it' spirit; the day the government announces that it has a 'digital agenda' is the time to cash in your investments and perhaps look elsewhere for cutting-edge work.
"Look at the credits to many Doctor Who episodes, especially those in the 1960s. The character is called "Dr Who" not "Doctor Who."
Wrong. The opening credits have been 'Doctor Who' since series one, episode one.
"war is what happens when two bad leaders can't get past their differences and reach a compromise they drag their populations into their petty personal spat"
Slashdot Mirror
This UC professor may most charitably be described as a clockwork loony. It has been a rare privilege to read such turgid pseudo-intellecual garbage.
I call absolute bullshit on this one. Language testing is about measuring a student's performance against one or more criteria. What Khan is apparently hoping to patent is a method for measuring the effectiveness of a piece of media, in this case video.
In the realm of text readability analysis this has a long history, perhaps the best-known technique being the Gunnar Fog Index, invented in 1952. The ubiquitous Cloze test, invented in the early fifties, was originally intended to measure and grade the reading difficulty of a piece of text.
So prior art aside, as far as I can make out Khan's product has nothing to do with the measurement of language skills.
"That's pretty sick.
heh, i got it"
Sikh and ye shall find.
"Are you going to ask a teenager if their pimples are real?"
No, because it would put them on the spot.
Perhaps the main reason the hovercraft never took off is a more prosaic one - limited ability to operate in bad weather and rough seas. I have happy memories of sitting in an ever-lengthening queue in an English Channel ferry port for the best part of a day because of high winds and wave heights.
"They have a plan"
Even better - they have a cunning plan.
There are two curses of modern book publishing that cause problems whatever hardware you use. The first is so-called 'perfect binding' in which the folds of page gatherings, through which the sections are traditionally sewn together, are instead sliced off and glued to make a rigid spine with an exceedingly narrow angle of opening; the second is the use of low-grade, thin paper with high show-through that mucks up the scan.
The best software I've found to scan and collate is Softi ScanWiz. With it you may scan one stack of pages, flip the stack and scan the other side - the program then shuffles the page images into the correct order. It also automatically adjusts brightness and contrast so as to minimise ink show through.
"he [a redneck] may be part American Indian"
Can you give a citation, or is this just a pigment of your imagination?
"sure there's a few islands and it's pretty big geographically"
Something tells me this AC has never set foot in Indonesia. In reality there are about 6,000 inhabited islands out of a total of 17,508, and end-to-end the country stretches 3,977 miles.
When you scratch the 4G wireless and fibre optics surface, the telecommunications sector here is a shambles. Even in Jakarta, whether or not you can get cable Internet depends on which side of the street you live - the original franchise was for a broad coverage of business and living areas, but the reality is that almost all the quality access is restricted to a handfull of prestige business zones and a smattering of upmarket (and high-priced) residential developments.
The new kid on the block is 4G wireless access, but even in Jakarta coverage is so patchy it's frustratingly inadequate - and a lot of domestic Internet access is still through good old copper telephone wires. Google balloons are just so much pie in the sky, a sticking-plaster solution for the country's systemic communications problems.
A simple and effective response is "I don't discuss financial matters on the phone - please communicate with me in writing."
"The BBC is already exceptionally biased without advertising. Any claim to the contrary is absurd."
Don't you just love sweeping statements without a jot of justification, and a dash of pompous bombast thrown in for good measure?
"Baaaa you sheep"
Obviously, just sheeps that pass in the night.
"Sounds pretty misogynistic to me..."
Sounds l ike you didn't get beyond grade school.
"a bunch of clothing no sane reasonable person would ever wear or buy."
You might say they're exchanging tit for tat.
" these rules are law on many American university campuses, if you didn't know."
No. They are regulations made (and only enforceable by) a university. They are not 'laws'.
"Was there a little pork in the budget?"
Enough to bring home the bacon.
"some kind of mini-elephant"
A truncated elephant, presumably?
"bro' has a gender problem"
No. North America has a gender problem.
"There is no valid reason for demanding pseudonymity except you have something to hide and are up to no good."
So George Eliot, George Orwell, Anatole France, Anthony Burgess, C S Forester, Daniel Defoe, Ford Madox Ford, George Sand, Boz, John le Carre and Joseph Conrad - and many, many more writers - were 'up to no good'?
And you posted as 'Anonymous Coward'. Need I say more?
"why not just ignore it and not click on it?"
Silence implies acceptance. Response shows attitude.
"I don't come to slashdot for these stories"
Agreed. If this sort of padding continues, along with the downward slide of quality and relevance of comments, it'll be time to move on.
'Agendas' are things that governments fabricate to con the people into believing that they are governing.
Victorian Britain didn't have an 'industrial agenda' - scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs and investors were far too busy creating the industrial revolution to footle around with fine words that buttered no parsnips. Brunel is the paradigm.
The USA still seems to have something of that 'just-do-it' spirit; the day the government announces that it has a 'digital agenda' is the time to cash in your investments and perhaps look elsewhere for cutting-edge work.
'Acceptable ads' is an oxymoron.
"Look at the credits to many Doctor Who episodes, especially those in the 1960s. The character is called "Dr Who" not "Doctor Who." Wrong. The opening credits have been 'Doctor Who' since series one, episode one.
"war is what happens when two bad leaders can't get past their differences and reach a compromise they drag their populations into their petty personal spat"
I take it that you're not a historian?