I'm from Princeton (scenic NJ - are you referring to the same?)
Yep, 1981-1985. So my info is obviously dated.
Before Dr. House moved into the neighborhood, but Prof. John Nash was there. He trotted into the computer center, with big decks of punch cards for the IT folks to read in. It was funny to see them ask each other, "Does anybody remember how to read in punch cards?"
We're responsible for both not cheating and reporting those who do.
While I was there this was a big point of contention: students felt uncomfortable about "snitching" on others. Fortunately, I never was confronted with this dilemma . . . during exams I was always so concentrated on the damn exam, that would not have noticed if anyone was cheating.
I did EE & CS, and hell, during the differential equations exam, we were allowed to take the book in. It is interesting to note, that during that time, I could classify them, and select a method to solve them. Now if you hit me over the head with one, I wouldn't notice.
Sometimes, I think that some of the stuff that you need to go through in college is not just about learning stuff . . . it's about learning to learn, and putting you through a boot camp to see if you have the right stuff.
I think if you could teach people values, it would be good, but how exactly would you do it?
Well, I must think back to my professor for microelectronics, Dr. Arthur Lo. At the start of the course he said, "Most students say that they learn most from the lab exercises . . . "
"I think that they learn the much from their lab partner."
After the whole class crawled itself of the floor, from laughing our assess off, we started seriously about what he said. There were many folks at the university from different states in the USA, and different lands, different religions, etc . . .
The big point is, I think I learned a lot from the other students . . .
For the awareness and openness to learn values . . . that needs to come from your parents. But at a good university, you can learn a lot from other students as well.
Well, then a short, ten minute talk with the student should be able to determine if the student simply cut and pasted, or if he or she really understands what they wrote in the paper.
I think a good prof should be able to determine that.
But maybe profs these days don't have enough time for their students.
At my university, in scenic New Jersey, we had an Honor Code that we had to sign after every exam; saying that I didn't cheat. I felt proud signing that, and believe that most of the other students felt the same.
If some folks want to cheat, they will find a way: Chewing gum or no chewing gum. With such measures, you will only force the cheaters to be more creative. Try to teach them values so that they will know that it is wrong instead.
I had a business trip there about 15 years ago. About a year later, I got a snail mail birthday card greeting from the hotel. I thought that is was kind of cute, and mentioned it to another colleague who often traveled to Geneva at that time. He is a security weenie, and told me:
Just think what will happen when the hotel retires their PC, and gives it to a child of one of the employees, without scrubbing the disk.
There goes your name, credit card number, and birthday info . . .
I mean seriously, what did this guy do or fail to do?
He needs to take his head out of his ass.
How about playing golf on the weekend when he needs his life back?
Playing sailor boy on a yacht while fishers on the Gulf are stranded . . . just adds insult to injury.
Someone with his level of pay should know better. I need that on my resume "Hey, I destroyed 2 Billion $ in wealth during my leadership of the company . .."
Or he is just an arrogant, royal fucking dickhead.
Where's my Roger Mellies' Profanisourus when I need some utterly vulgar English curse words?
Maybe a smart military would exploit the blogs/FB pages of its soldiers, to sometimes have fake updates generated that would give an enemy the wrong idea....
This is not a new idea, and was practiced with much success before the Normandy invasion in World War II. Back then it was fake radio traffic, instead of fake Face Book updates, though. The Allies fooled the Germans into believing that another invasion army, which did not exist, was preparing to land at Pas de Calais: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Fortitude
I wouldn't be surprised if stuff like this wasn't practiced today. It depends on the enemy, and what intelligence gathering techniques they have, which can be fooled.
If they could do it back then, I sure hope that they are able to do it today.
Yeah, OPSEC is a tough thing to enforce. When I used to be able to receive AFN, I remember constantly seeing OPSEC ads. Even pointing out simple stuff, like, don't talk about having to stock up on warm/cold clothing in public.
An interesting OPSEC anecdote. During the first Gulf War, a Saudi small shop owner told a reporter that the land invasion was about to take place. How did he know? All the soldiers were coming into his shop, and were buying lots of batteries. They were stocking up for the coming invasion he deduced.
So given that, someone is bound to give away something unintentionally on a blog or social site.
Maybe this "Active Denial System" could be deployed on ships to ward off Somalian pirates? I mean, deploy a series of these around the perimeter of the deck of the ship, so the crew doesn't actually need to aim them, just flip a switch. This would create a "ring of pain" around the ship. The crew can be holed up in their safe room.
First Mate: "Captain! There's pirates off the starboard bow!"
Captain: "All hands to the safe room!"
In the safe room . . .
Captain: "Now let me read the instructions. Set power to 1000 W. Cook until pirates have fled. Cooking times will very depending on how tough or tender the pirates are.
Meanwhile, back at the pirate cove . . .
Pirate #1: "How was your pirating today?"
Pirate #2: "Terrible, I am like totally fried . . . "
Unfunny Comedian: "Thank you! Tip the veal, try the waitress . .."
In the past governments' have relied on information from foreign correspondents . . . either formally or informally. Who else can just walk around asking nosy questions about stuff? Repressive governments know this, and treat every journalist that way; even accredited ones from big international news agencies.
Bloggers have a tougher lot: they are considered to be downright subversives. Ever see an old movie with a group of idealists printing anti-government fliers on a hand printing press in a dark basement? They are the bloggers of today.
This is intrinsically a very dangerous business to be in. Secret police in these states tend to be very effective.
As soon as this gets set up, I am afraid that the governments will just up the ante: try to infiltrate a false blogger, disband student organizations . . . whatever it takes to stop those presses in the basement.
So, as I applaud this initiative, I am doubtful if this will be a "silver bullet" for the problem.
And no, I don't have any other solutions, and applaud the courage of these folks.
Oh, another thing . . . governments like to slip in "legal" spies in their embassies, usually with such titles as "Under-Secretary for Agricultural Exchange", or something like that. How do you spot one of these? From The Economist, "Look for someone who is obviously much too clever for his job."
An interesting question! My favorite personal experiences on business trips to Austin, Texas during summer:
I left a CD on the back seat of the car, before going into work. When I went back after work, the CD was fine . . . but the plastic case was warped!
A colleague bought a bottle of Knob Creek bourbon as a gift for the hotel concierge, because he help us a lot during our extended stay. Our employer has a "no alcohol or weapons on the premises" policy, so we left it in the car. Knob Creek is a premium brand, so instead of a screw top, it has a cork, secured with wax.
So we go out after work, open the car doors . . . and nearly fall flat from the fumes. Yes, the bourbon got so hot that it popped the cork, and the car interior smelled like a distillery. We had to leave the windows down on the ride home, or we would have been Lindsay Lohan drunk.
The gag was that my colleague had to take the car back, and it still reeked of booze when the Hertz guy checked the mileage. He made no comment, but gave him a funny look.
But anyway, back to the point if extended heat really is a problem for batteries, I hope that the car companies do extensive testing in areas with extreme temperatures.
Or, maybe the batteries need an air conditioning system? Run off batteries, of course.
It was my impression that they sold pretty well, despite the newfangled technology. Sure, it was a hybrid, but still . . . was deprecation a concern with buyers?
Admiral Thad Allen, US National Incident Commander for the response, told the media that part of the problem was the number of robots conducting simultaneous operations at an immense depth. A dozen robots are circulating the wellhead.
The operators got bored, and decided to play a few rounds of Robot Wars . . .
Next thing you know, holding a cell phone with the thumb and forefinger by the top right corner will become the fashionable way for any of the cognoscenti to hold their phones.
So how come this problem was not identified during the system test of the device? Were all the testers instructed to hold it that way? Or maybe they identified it, but did not have the courage to report it?
There are a few complexities to work out, such as the -270 degrees Celsius requirement to stop the light.
Isn't that around what CERN keeps the thermostat on its air conditioning set at?
When we find out all that there is to know about particle physics, real soon, we could use the massive cooling systems at CERN to turn the place into a big light stoppage storage facility.
Hell, we could probably come up with some really cool stopping and starting light experiments, as well. I'd pay a high entrance fee to see light stopped!
Top that Mythbusters! I dare you to try to stop light!
From TFA: "Nor would it work in people who are completely blind in both eyes, because doctors need at least some healthy tissue that they can transplant." So it comes from the other, healthy eye.
And I was hoping that it would come from wanking: "It both causes blindness, and cures it too!"
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A more pressing question in my mind is why aren't there any private companies making it for NASA?
Maybe the Boy Scouts can help out . . . ? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Hahn
I mean, they help old ladies over the street, and good stuff like that . . . maybe there is a merit badge for producing Pu-238 for NASA . . . ?
I'm from Princeton (scenic NJ - are you referring to the same?)
Yep, 1981-1985. So my info is obviously dated. Before Dr. House moved into the neighborhood, but Prof. John Nash was there. He trotted into the computer center, with big decks of punch cards for the IT folks to read in. It was funny to see them ask each other, "Does anybody remember how to read in punch cards?"
We're responsible for both not cheating and reporting those who do.
While I was there this was a big point of contention: students felt uncomfortable about "snitching" on others. Fortunately, I never was confronted with this dilemma . . . during exams I was always so concentrated on the damn exam, that would not have noticed if anyone was cheating.
I did EE & CS, and hell, during the differential equations exam, we were allowed to take the book in. It is interesting to note, that during that time, I could classify them, and select a method to solve them. Now if you hit me over the head with one, I wouldn't notice.
Sometimes, I think that some of the stuff that you need to go through in college is not just about learning stuff . . . it's about learning to learn, and putting you through a boot camp to see if you have the right stuff.
But enough of my pontificating . . .
I think if you could teach people values, it would be good, but how exactly would you do it?
Well, I must think back to my professor for microelectronics, Dr. Arthur Lo. At the start of the course he said, "Most students say that they learn most from the lab exercises . . . "
"I think that they learn the much from their lab partner."
After the whole class crawled itself of the floor, from laughing our assess off, we started seriously about what he said. There were many folks at the university from different states in the USA, and different lands, different religions, etc . . .
The big point is, I think I learned a lot from the other students . . .
For the awareness and openness to learn values . . . that needs to come from your parents. But at a good university, you can learn a lot from other students as well.
Well, then a short, ten minute talk with the student should be able to determine if the student simply cut and pasted, or if he or she really understands what they wrote in the paper.
I think a good prof should be able to determine that.
But maybe profs these days don't have enough time for their students.
At my university, in scenic New Jersey, we had an Honor Code that we had to sign after every exam; saying that I didn't cheat. I felt proud signing that, and believe that most of the other students felt the same.
If some folks want to cheat, they will find a way: Chewing gum or no chewing gum. With such measures, you will only force the cheaters to be more creative. Try to teach them values so that they will know that it is wrong instead.
I have been suspicious about these "cat" creatures ever since I saw this site: http://www.catsthatlooklikehitler.com/cgi-bin/seigmiaow.pl
And a couple of weeks ago, we had a thread here about cats with bionic legs . . . we are just begging for trouble . . .
I had a business trip there about 15 years ago. About a year later, I got a snail mail birthday card greeting from the hotel. I thought that is was kind of cute, and mentioned it to another colleague who often traveled to Geneva at that time. He is a security weenie, and told me:
Just think what will happen when the hotel retires their PC, and gives it to a child of one of the employees, without scrubbing the disk.
There goes your name, credit card number, and birthday info . . .
I mean seriously, what did this guy do or fail to do?
He needs to take his head out of his ass.
How about playing golf on the weekend when he needs his life back?
Playing sailor boy on a yacht while fishers on the Gulf are stranded . . . just adds insult to injury.
Someone with his level of pay should know better. I need that on my resume "Hey, I destroyed 2 Billion $ in wealth during my leadership of the company . . ."
Or he is just an arrogant, royal fucking dickhead.
Where's my Roger Mellies' Profanisourus when I need some utterly vulgar English curse words?
the e-mail also went out to people who didn't register and didn't attend the event.
. . . I met a man, who wasn't there.
He wasn't there again today . . . I think he's from the CIA . . .
or: human DNA combined with ape DNA. "well, to tell you the truth, I'm the first one in my family to go to college and walk fully upright".
Admissions Department: "How did he get such good scores on the SATs, without opposable thumbs?"
". . . and no chewing your cud during class!"
. . . oh, never mind, go make your own jokes . . . maybe he needs a meeting with that "Internet Tubes" guy from Alaska . . .
Maybe a smart military would exploit the blogs/FB pages of its soldiers, to sometimes have fake updates generated that would give an enemy the wrong idea....
This is not a new idea, and was practiced with much success before the Normandy invasion in World War II. Back then it was fake radio traffic, instead of fake Face Book updates, though. The Allies fooled the Germans into believing that another invasion army, which did not exist, was preparing to land at Pas de Calais: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Fortitude
I wouldn't be surprised if stuff like this wasn't practiced today. It depends on the enemy, and what intelligence gathering techniques they have, which can be fooled.
If they could do it back then, I sure hope that they are able to do it today.
Yeah, OPSEC is a tough thing to enforce. When I used to be able to receive AFN, I remember constantly seeing OPSEC ads. Even pointing out simple stuff, like, don't talk about having to stock up on warm/cold clothing in public.
An interesting OPSEC anecdote. During the first Gulf War, a Saudi small shop owner told a reporter that the land invasion was about to take place. How did he know? All the soldiers were coming into his shop, and were buying lots of batteries. They were stocking up for the coming invasion he deduced.
So given that, someone is bound to give away something unintentionally on a blog or social site.
Awareness is the key to fighting this.
. . . So there is more room inside than the outside size.
Probably.
Maybe this "Active Denial System" could be deployed on ships to ward off Somalian pirates? I mean, deploy a series of these around the perimeter of the deck of the ship, so the crew doesn't actually need to aim them, just flip a switch. This would create a "ring of pain" around the ship. The crew can be holed up in their safe room.
First Mate: "Captain! There's pirates off the starboard bow!"
Captain: "All hands to the safe room!"
In the safe room . . .
Captain: "Now let me read the instructions. Set power to 1000 W. Cook until pirates have fled. Cooking times will very depending on how tough or tender the pirates are.
Meanwhile, back at the pirate cove . . .
Pirate #1: "How was your pirating today?"
Pirate #2: "Terrible, I am like totally fried . . . "
Unfunny Comedian: "Thank you! Tip the veal, try the waitress . . ."
But will it keep them off my lawn . . . ?
Eh? Boring? You're not supposed to watch the races, the exciting stuff in Formula 1 takes place off the track, involving the directors of the sport: http://jalopnik.com/373884/f1-boss-max-mosley-caught-with-five-hookers-in-nazi-orgy-video-scandal
Now that is a good, wholesome sport for the whole family to participate in!
Root for the hooker of your choice!
In the past governments' have relied on information from foreign correspondents . . . either formally or informally. Who else can just walk around asking nosy questions about stuff? Repressive governments know this, and treat every journalist that way; even accredited ones from big international news agencies.
Bloggers have a tougher lot: they are considered to be downright subversives. Ever see an old movie with a group of idealists printing anti-government fliers on a hand printing press in a dark basement? They are the bloggers of today.
This is intrinsically a very dangerous business to be in. Secret police in these states tend to be very effective.
As soon as this gets set up, I am afraid that the governments will just up the ante: try to infiltrate a false blogger, disband student organizations . . . whatever it takes to stop those presses in the basement.
So, as I applaud this initiative, I am doubtful if this will be a "silver bullet" for the problem.
And no, I don't have any other solutions, and applaud the courage of these folks.
Oh, another thing . . . governments like to slip in "legal" spies in their embassies, usually with such titles as "Under-Secretary for Agricultural Exchange", or something like that. How do you spot one of these? From The Economist, "Look for someone who is obviously much too clever for his job."
An interesting question! My favorite personal experiences on business trips to Austin, Texas during summer:
I left a CD on the back seat of the car, before going into work. When I went back after work, the CD was fine . . . but the plastic case was warped!
A colleague bought a bottle of Knob Creek bourbon as a gift for the hotel concierge, because he help us a lot during our extended stay. Our employer has a "no alcohol or weapons on the premises" policy, so we left it in the car. Knob Creek is a premium brand, so instead of a screw top, it has a cork, secured with wax.
So we go out after work, open the car doors . . . and nearly fall flat from the fumes. Yes, the bourbon got so hot that it popped the cork, and the car interior smelled like a distillery. We had to leave the windows down on the ride home, or we would have been Lindsay Lohan drunk.
The gag was that my colleague had to take the car back, and it still reeked of booze when the Hertz guy checked the mileage. He made no comment, but gave him a funny look.
But anyway, back to the point if extended heat really is a problem for batteries, I hope that the car companies do extensive testing in areas with extreme temperatures.
Or, maybe the batteries need an air conditioning system? Run off batteries, of course.
It was my impression that they sold pretty well, despite the newfangled technology. Sure, it was a hybrid, but still . . . was deprecation a concern with buyers?
Anyway, I don't know, I'm just asking . . . ?
Maybe if BP drilled for vinegar, and just let all that flow out as well . . . they could turn the whole disaster into a tasty salad dressing?
Admiral Thad Allen, US National Incident Commander for the response, told the media that part of the problem was the number of robots conducting simultaneous operations at an immense depth. A dozen robots are circulating the wellhead.
The operators got bored, and decided to play a few rounds of Robot Wars . . .
Next thing you know, holding a cell phone with the thumb and forefinger by the top right corner will become the fashionable way for any of the cognoscenti to hold their phones.
So how come this problem was not identified during the system test of the device? Were all the testers instructed to hold it that way? Or maybe they identified it, but did not have the courage to report it?
There are a few complexities to work out, such as the -270 degrees Celsius requirement to stop the light.
Isn't that around what CERN keeps the thermostat on its air conditioning set at?
When we find out all that there is to know about particle physics, real soon, we could use the massive cooling systems at CERN to turn the place into a big light stoppage storage facility.
Hell, we could probably come up with some really cool stopping and starting light experiments, as well. I'd pay a high entrance fee to see light stopped!
Top that Mythbusters! I dare you to try to stop light!
From TFA: "Nor would it work in people who are completely blind in both eyes, because doctors need at least some healthy tissue that they can transplant." So it comes from the other, healthy eye.
And I was hoping that it would come from wanking: "It both causes blindness, and cures it too!"