Scientific culture has also become a tyranny with regard to publishing books. Anybody involved in academic life and/or research and having organized a scientific Conference is currently feeling it: you cannot publish a proceedings volume or an edited papers collection unless you can convince the publisher that there will be at least xxx copies sold by providing a detailed description of the target audience and projected sales figures. On the other hand, there are plenty of debatable quality science TV shows hosted by superstar scientists. I hope I'm not the only one firmly believing that in the 21st century science has become fully Bieberized and unless you have patrons with real cohones, you cannot really sustain or run a Tevatron.
Since at least in three occasions I've seen a hard disk die because of PSU/UPS/mains failure, I'd say that an electrical problem could be a possible cause. For example, ground loops can cause large currents flow between the electrical ground and water pipes, if the installation is particularly faulty.
What bothers me is the inadequacy of their lawyer - how can he sue a construction company without having an expert research report/testimony on the problems? Did he even care to google for "magnetized joists"?
+1 knowledgeable. I guess you are a physicist too?
Precision relates to the number of (significant) figures and has nothing to do with accuracy, which is a measure of "closeness" to the truth (and what we are seeking in those estimates). Unfortunately, in everyday language these two terms are used interchangeably. Analysts know this and exploit everybody (including the/. crowd).
My guess is that the analyst just divided the grand total cost by say 1,000,000 (a batch production run) and then rounded the result to only two decimal places because the third decimal has no meaning in retail pricing.
I should stress however that any estimate, without an estimate of its uncertainty is worthless in Science. Apparently this does not apply to economics.
I fully understand and sympathise... This was and still is the major plague of mobile apps since the Symbian/Palm era - nothing is guaranteed 100% that will work. The Android versions, forks and customisations will eventually destroy the platform:-(
Question: Did you care to send your bug report to the app developers? If you didn't, and don't do it regularly with every app you try, you don't deserve to expect quality from free or FOSS apps.
I am also conducting all sorts of strange experiments too, trying out Lite versions of XP and 7 in virtual machines with the sole aim to benchmark how faster all apps run in the guest than in the host.
Don't forget that Microsoft themselves also produced Windows For Legacy PC (Win FLP) and Windows 7 Signature, aiming at the lower-specced netbooks, with no better results than the lite versions found in ThePirateBay.
The fact is that XP wins all the time, and therefore I absolutely agree with you, XP's market share is not shrinking much. The demand for XP is still so high that every month you will regularly find in software blogs and torrent sites slipstreamed editions like "Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP3 Integrated September 2011 + SATA Drivers" (meaning it includes all updates up to September).
Don't joke about wallpapers: I consider myself a WPU (without being able to code), however some months I had to read at least 50 different solution threads and try at least 10 different recipes before I was able to change my default wallpaper on Win 7 Pro x64. It's a widespread and well documented Win7 annoyance. (For the curious, for some reason, the default admin account policy was set to disable changes of the wallpaper).
The most difficult to troubleshoot problems are those where something that's totally idiot-proof, totally locked-in and supposed to "just work", actually doesn't. If the experience in solving such problems does not qualify you as a Power User, then what does?
"I don't expect the kids to recompile themselves" was a joke on parent post "no options for self compilation" (self-compilation vs. program compilation):-)
Toys and school/work don't always mix. Your kid now sees the iPad (or any laptop/computer/gadget) as a toy and uses it to play with. As soon as she sees it used in school as an incentive and a trick to force her to study (and be graded for her work!) her feelings might change.
The worse walled garden and lock-in is in the heads, not in products and appliances. It is an essential capitalist axiom that has been established long ago (by Marx!) that the latter inevitably leads to the former.
The education system is perpetually underfunded and will remain so. To be cynical, on average less than one out of the 20 or so pupils in each class will ever become an "important" citizen i.e. a politician or a company executive. Therefore, from a financial point of view, education was always a lossy investment, while at the same time being an essential human and kids right. The extent to which a government finances education depends on the political/financial decision of where to define the equilibrium point between "sustainability" and the Constitution. Isn't capitalism great?
Software and content are necessary but not sufficient for this scenario - you need teachers that are not technophobic and adequately trained. I wonder how many of them have ever used a smartphone.
The kindergarten is a walled garden by definition - so Apple products are the obvious choice. But I don't expect the kids to compile themselves anytime soon.
I'd also add one more equally important factor: those kids have self-discipline. The know when there's time to play and when to work, because for them responsibility, humility, self-restraint, hierarchy and respect are considered as features of the Universe itself, not as rules of the grown-ups.
is the ultimate nudging machine. Pretending to be objective, unbiased and ethical, it's rewiring billions of brains.
I'm not a Luddite, but sometimes I think that the only "ethical" way to use technology is to not use it at all, because it's most probably built in a sweatshop by slave labors, and the 500 bucks I spent on it could save a thousand starved dying people for at least one month.
Reddit is not an IT site. Its stories are mainly centered about having fun, internet memes and the decline of America. The discussions are at most at college level, with that characteristic childish obsession on puns.
However, there is much humanity in there. What impresses me most is that discussions, as childish they may be sometime, are never aggressive and in general follow an implicit politeness etiquette. Boobs may be shown or implied, but female members are extrovert, do participate, explain how they think and have fun. Posts where random people/professionals open themselves in the "ask me anything" vein are very interesting. The "today I learned" theme is full of interesting facts. Also, some of the pics posted have real artistic/factual/curiosity value.
I wouldn't say it's what slashdot should have been, but for those that have time on their hands, it's a fun and rather healthy pastime that reminds them of their innocent college/school years.I'm 53 and I'm not ashamed to admit that often reddit makes my day.
Slashdot Mirror
Scientific culture has also become a tyranny with regard to publishing books. Anybody involved in academic life and/or research and having organized a scientific Conference is currently feeling it: you cannot publish a proceedings volume or an edited papers collection unless you can convince the publisher that there will be at least xxx copies sold by providing a detailed description of the target audience and projected sales figures. On the other hand, there are plenty of debatable quality science TV shows hosted by superstar scientists. I hope I'm not the only one firmly believing that in the 21st century science has become fully Bieberized and unless you have patrons with real cohones, you cannot really sustain or run a Tevatron.
Since at least in three occasions I've seen a hard disk die because of PSU/UPS/mains failure, I'd say that an electrical problem could be a possible cause. For example, ground loops can cause large currents flow between the electrical ground and water pipes, if the installation is particularly faulty.
What bothers me is the inadequacy of their lawyer - how can he sue a construction company without having an expert research report/testimony on the problems? Did he even care to google for "magnetized joists"?
+1 knowledgeable. I guess you are a physicist too?
Precision relates to the number of (significant) figures and has nothing to do with accuracy, which is a measure of "closeness" to the truth (and what we are seeking in those estimates). Unfortunately, in everyday language these two terms are used interchangeably. Analysts know this and exploit everybody (including the /. crowd).
My guess is that the analyst just divided the grand total cost by say 1,000,000 (a batch production run) and then rounded the result to only two decimal places because the third decimal has no meaning in retail pricing.
I should stress however that any estimate, without an estimate of its uncertainty is worthless in Science. Apparently this does not apply to economics.
I fully understand and sympathise... This was and still is the major plague of mobile apps since the Symbian/Palm era - nothing is guaranteed 100% that will work. The Android versions, forks and customisations will eventually destroy the platform :-(
Question: Did you care to send your bug report to the app developers? If you didn't, and don't do it regularly with every app you try, you don't deserve to expect quality from free or FOSS apps.
I am also conducting all sorts of strange experiments too, trying out Lite versions of XP and 7 in virtual machines with the sole aim to benchmark how faster all apps run in the guest than in the host.
Don't forget that Microsoft themselves also produced Windows For Legacy PC (Win FLP) and Windows 7 Signature, aiming at the lower-specced netbooks, with no better results than the lite versions found in ThePirateBay.
The fact is that XP wins all the time, and therefore I absolutely agree with you, XP's market share is not shrinking much. The demand for XP is still so high that every month you will regularly find in software blogs and torrent sites slipstreamed editions like "Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP3 Integrated September 2011 + SATA Drivers" (meaning it includes all updates up to September).
Don't joke about wallpapers: I consider myself a WPU (without being able to code), however some months I had to read at least 50 different solution threads and try at least 10 different recipes before I was able to change my default wallpaper on Win 7 Pro x64. It's a widespread and well documented Win7 annoyance. (For the curious, for some reason, the default admin account policy was set to disable changes of the wallpaper).
The most difficult to troubleshoot problems are those where something that's totally idiot-proof, totally locked-in and supposed to "just work", actually doesn't. If the experience in solving such problems does not qualify you as a Power User, then what does?
I suppose you meant HarmAn and not Harmon - look it up.
"I don't expect the kids to recompile themselves" was a joke on parent post "no options for self compilation" (self-compilation vs. program compilation) :-)
Toys and school/work don't always mix. Your kid now sees the iPad (or any laptop/computer/gadget) as a toy and uses it to play with. As soon as she sees it used in school as an incentive and a trick to force her to study (and be graded for her work!) her feelings might change.
Please clarify your position regarding the NASA budget, or you will be misunderstood.
The worse walled garden and lock-in is in the heads, not in products and appliances. It is an essential capitalist axiom that has been established long ago (by Marx!) that the latter inevitably leads to the former.
The education system is perpetually underfunded and will remain so. To be cynical, on average less than one out of the 20 or so pupils in each class will ever become an "important" citizen i.e. a politician or a company executive. Therefore, from a financial point of view, education was always a lossy investment, while at the same time being an essential human and kids right. The extent to which a government finances education depends on the political/financial decision of where to define the equilibrium point between "sustainability" and the Constitution. Isn't capitalism great?
Software and content are necessary but not sufficient for this scenario - you need teachers that are not technophobic and adequately trained. I wonder how many of them have ever used a smartphone.
The kindergarten is a walled garden by definition - so Apple products are the obvious choice. But I don't expect the kids to compile themselves anytime soon.
+1
I'd also add one more equally important factor: those kids have self-discipline. The know when there's time to play and when to work, because for them responsibility, humility, self-restraint, hierarchy and respect are considered as features of the Universe itself, not as rules of the grown-ups.
Where did you get that 25% CPU? On my Q6700 @ 2.66 and FF4.01 it was less than 5%.
That's too much.. on my Q6700 @ 2.66 and FF4.01 it was less than 5%. Something must be wrong with FF7
is the ultimate nudging machine. Pretending to be objective, unbiased and ethical, it's rewiring billions of brains.
I'm not a Luddite, but sometimes I think that the only "ethical" way to use technology is to not use it at all, because it's most probably built in a sweatshop by slave labors, and the 500 bucks I spent on it could save a thousand starved dying people for at least one month.
They wouldn't dare send e human. Imagine he saw god and twitted a picture of him!
Three days ago the BBC had a story about "Why is Indonesia so in love with the Blackberry?". Three million users there and rising.
Reddit is not an IT site. Its stories are mainly centered about having fun, internet memes and the decline of America. The discussions are at most at college level, with that characteristic childish obsession on puns.
However, there is much humanity in there. What impresses me most is that discussions, as childish they may be sometime, are never aggressive and in general follow an implicit politeness etiquette. Boobs may be shown or implied, but female members are extrovert, do participate, explain how they think and have fun. Posts where random people/professionals open themselves in the "ask me anything" vein are very interesting. The "today I learned" theme is full of interesting facts. Also, some of the pics posted have real artistic/factual/curiosity value.
I wouldn't say it's what slashdot should have been, but for those that have time on their hands, it's a fun and rather healthy pastime that reminds them of their innocent college/school years.I'm 53 and I'm not ashamed to admit that often reddit makes my day.
Could we please have some references on this aspect of Watson's activities?
I'm not surprised. Rumors about a topic being censored is more effective than censorship itself - it discourages people to search in the first place.
Definitely the comment of the year and a major candidate for the comment of the decade to come.