I found the Java applet interesting. I was wondering if anyone ever did a CAD mockup of a working difference engine? I did some gear boxes in TrueSpace back in the day which took some effort. I believe you can do a lot a scripting in Studio Max and it might have the power of creating a simulacrum of a Babbage computer. Once the basic mechanisms have been crafted they could be cloned and reused ad infinitum.
A more efficient means of generating alternative energy would be to install a system of pusher plates along active fault lines connected to generators. Since natural seismic activity is not reliable enough; small controlled nuclear explosions could maintain a constant state of seismic activity. The best part is that there are many active faults near dense urban areas; so infrastructure would not be a problem.
I know of two reasons. First, foreign students are drilled and drilled on problems. Undergraduate education in the US is not as intense. Foreign students work together and build up problem books to cram with,(I know I have seen them and they are available from China on Amazon).Also all the solutions manuals to the basic texts in my field, Physics, are easily available in India and China, (once more I have seen them).US students compete in a rigged game. But who cares? If you are good you'll do fine, if you are average you will not advance beyond an MA.
Another reason is that foreign professors actively recruit their own nationals for US schools. American professors couldn't give a rat's ass. Research assistants reflect the nationality of the professors (as well as their sexism). US grad students get relegated to teaching physics 101 to 300 freshman because they speak comprehensible English.As far as I am concerned who cares how Harvard or MIT spends their money on graduate assistantships, but for state schools to fund foreign nationals at the expense of their own residents betrays their very charters as public institutions.
I like NoScript but I occasionally disable it. I don't know any web programming so I find what it reports going on behind the scenes very interesting. With that and Web Developer I get a better idea of what web pages are really all about. It is a drag for YouTube links, you get a bunch of script and then have to navigate up with Digger and search for the link.
After six solid months leave. Don't worry about the money. Look for two jobs every day, first a career replacement and then a "joe" job just in case.I went to grad school in upstate NY and the job market was awful. It is as easy to pack up and move to somewhere new as it is to watch your resources dwindle away in an area with a poor job market while you fruitlessly search. Since you are posting to Slashdot I assume you are some sort of "techy" and would recommend Boston. It is just as tough to find a career track job here as anywhere else but there is contract work and short term assignments (MIT, Harvard,Biotech,...) and there is a life to live outside of work. You might have to get roomates and go back to living like a student but from your post you seem young enough to handle it. A job is a contract between equal parties. If it does not work for you exercise your option to leave. Don't voice your unhappiness at work however, just give them the old " this is a great opportunity but I need to be near my family" and split. Good Luck!
The Problem is:
The deserts already "bloom", just not with the plants what you want. Rice is not supposed to have vitamin A in it, you are supposed to get that somewhere else.Vitamin A is also highly toxic in excess.
Luddites aren't and weren't idiots. They were responding to a real threat to their livelihoods.People all over the world are being impoverished by a forced participation in a global economy that must always achieve growth to maintain itself. The science behind Monsanto's products has already been discovered, it is the implementation of that science that is being called into question.That is an economic and therefore a political issue.Remember the farmers raising crops in the desert can only survive if they can sell enough to pay off Monsanto or are we all going to "owe our soul to the company store".
The issue goes beyond the actual changes made to the corn. Monsanto finds the natural agricultural cycle incompatible with their business model.They want farmers to buy their seed every year, not plant the best seeds from their own fields. It's sort of a DMCA vs. fair use battle involving biology. I am sure Monsanto would say cross breeding their crops, (even accidentally), would violate their patents. This scares me more than the Frankenfoods scenario because I doubt in the long run that GM crops could survive without constant human oversight. I do realize I am being simplistic and modern farmers probably buys new seed stock every season anyway, but I am not ready to put our future in the hands of " Mother Monsanto".
Slashdot Mirror
I found the Java applet interesting. I was wondering if anyone ever did a CAD mockup of a working difference engine? I did some gear boxes in TrueSpace back in the day which took some effort. I believe you can do a lot a scripting in Studio Max and it might have the power of creating a simulacrum of a Babbage computer. Once the basic mechanisms have been crafted they could be cloned and reused ad infinitum.
A more efficient means of generating alternative energy would be to install a system of pusher plates along active fault lines connected to generators. Since natural seismic activity is not reliable enough; small controlled nuclear explosions could maintain a constant state of seismic activity. The best part is that there are many active faults near dense urban areas; so infrastructure would not be a problem.
A Greek euphemism for the Furies.
Must...find....water!
I know of two reasons. First, foreign students are drilled and drilled on problems. Undergraduate education in the US is not as intense. Foreign students work together and build up problem books to cram with,(I know I have seen them and they are available from China on Amazon).Also all the solutions manuals to the basic texts in my field, Physics, are easily available in India and China, (once more I have seen them).US students compete in a rigged game. But who cares? If you are good you'll do fine, if you are average you will not advance beyond an MA.
Another reason is that foreign professors actively recruit their own nationals for US schools. American professors couldn't give a rat's ass. Research assistants reflect the nationality of the professors (as well as their sexism). US grad students get relegated to teaching physics 101 to 300 freshman because they speak comprehensible English.As far as I am concerned who cares how Harvard or MIT spends their money on graduate assistantships, but for state schools to fund foreign nationals at the expense of their own residents betrays their very charters as public institutions.
I like NoScript but I occasionally disable it. I don't know any web programming so I find what it reports going on behind the scenes very interesting. With that and Web Developer I get a better idea of what web pages are really all about. It is a drag for YouTube links, you get a bunch of script and then have to navigate up with Digger and search for the link.
After six solid months leave. Don't worry about the money. Look for two jobs every day, first a career replacement and then a "joe" job just in case.I went to grad school in upstate NY and the job market was awful. It is as easy to pack up and move to somewhere new as it is to watch your resources dwindle away in an area with a poor job market while you fruitlessly search. Since you are posting to Slashdot I assume you are some sort of "techy" and would recommend Boston. It is just as tough to find a career track job here as anywhere else but there is contract work and short term assignments (MIT, Harvard,Biotech,...) and there is a life to live outside of work. You might have to get roomates and go back to living like a student but from your post you seem young enough to handle it. A job is a contract between equal parties. If it does not work for you exercise your option to leave. Don't voice your unhappiness at work however, just give them the old " this is a great opportunity but I need to be near my family" and split.
Good Luck!
The Problem is: The deserts already "bloom", just not with the plants what you want. Rice is not supposed to have vitamin A in it, you are supposed to get that somewhere else.Vitamin A is also highly toxic in excess. Luddites aren't and weren't idiots. They were responding to a real threat to their livelihoods.People all over the world are being impoverished by a forced participation in a global economy that must always achieve growth to maintain itself. The science behind Monsanto's products has already been discovered, it is the implementation of that science that is being called into question.That is an economic and therefore a political issue.Remember the farmers raising crops in the desert can only survive if they can sell enough to pay off Monsanto or are we all going to "owe our soul to the company store".
The issue goes beyond the actual changes made to the corn. Monsanto finds the natural agricultural cycle incompatible with their business model.They want farmers to buy their seed every year, not plant the best seeds from their own fields. It's sort of a DMCA vs. fair use battle involving biology. I am sure Monsanto would say cross breeding their crops, (even accidentally), would violate their patents. This scares me more than the Frankenfoods scenario because I doubt in the long run that GM crops could survive without constant human oversight. I do realize I am being simplistic and modern farmers probably buys new seed stock every season anyway, but I am not ready to put our future in the hands of " Mother Monsanto".