A portion of the Human Genome Project's budget is dedicated "toward studying the ethical, legal, and social issues (ELSI) surrounding availability of genetic information..." Many interesting issues have already been identified..
and it's possible that your number isn't unique (could be wrong on the latter, but it's not really my point..)
Yes, that's correct. Working on a project for a large telco, during the requirements phase the client made it very clear that they couldn't use SSN as a key because it wasn't unique. Duplicates were certainly rare, but frequent enough to make it a concern.
What if something breaks and a service is down for a while, there will be no company to hold up their software and support it, it is now up to you.
Just a thought. Has anyone put together a tutorial or howto on self-supporting Linux? Sure, there's plenty of help out there, but many folks don't know where to turn for help. Many people don't know what Usenet is, much less the correct newsgroup. Many people don't know which Web-based discussion boards to seek out for help on popular Open Source product XYZ.
Some of the older faces of altavista
Wayback Machine view of AltaVista
Lot's of good stuff on the old homepages, such as how popular it is and accolades it's received.
Yes, this was a horrible move. One way to really screw up your branding is to change the brand (so to speak). Changing a known URL is bad. Changing it to something longer, and compelling people to go to the longer address when they've entered the shorter, known address is just silly.
The first is that you can define compile-time behavior (in the forth sense of compiling)--very cool. For example, you can create your own application-specific branching structures. You're not "limited" to if/then/else for example. Just roll your own quaternary branching statement if that's what you need!
The other is being able to (forced to?) build your own data types from scratch. I actually learned FORTH before I learned C. I was all bent out of shape when I found out that C automatically handled pointer and array offsets for me (e.g. *(x+3) actually means x+3*4 where 4 is the number of bytes for each x). I recall that at the time I felt C took me so far away from the machine whereas I was much closer to it in FORTH.
The entire Mac OS X UI -- while eminently "lickable," like no OS before it -- was tiring to look at.
When I read this my first thought was "oh, he meant 'likable'". Then I thought, "Man, I don't know. Those Apple zealots might really include licking as the final test after establishing that the OS is usable..."
Share your experience - how much input do you want/need/have?
I spent many years on the opposite side of this (i.e. working for a firm that delivers training to progammers), so I'll offer advice from that perspective.
Larger companies have their own training departments/divisions. Often, they'll have their own training rooms and/or facilities. If larger companies can overcome their own bureaucracies, they have the greatest power for getting the best-quality training. Trainers fall all over themselves trying to get large accounts. Before offering a large contract to a training firm, the large company should:
Send out a proper RFP for training services
The screening process should include instructional designers, "end-users" of the training (that's you!), and the end-users' managers.
Have 2-3 finalists fly out and give a live presentation of offerings. It should include a demo teach.
Smaller companies have a harder time making the training firms dance because the potential money made is much smaller. They also won't get the big discount that the big companies can get. That said, the smaller companies can send out an request for information (RFI) and collect basic information from potential trainers in a consistent format (rather than surfing training sites, making calls, etc.). Once the information is collected, the end-users, and a couple other folks could conduct phone interviews with potential trainers.
Questions to grill any potential trainer with (for both large and small companies):
Can we see a copy of the workbook? (would be included in RFP/RFI)
What strategies do you use to contextualize the training? That is, are the exercises/activities presented as part of any sort of "real" situation, or are they decontextualized (e.g. write a program to print your name 10 times)
How much time do students spend working on the computer vs. just sitting and listening
A big problem with training is that after the training occurs, people return to their desks without the slightest idea how to apply what they've learned. They end up relearning the material for their work situation. What do you do to maximize transfer of your material from your classroom to our workplace?
Go into a field that mixes computers and science. Like say bioinformatics or molecular modeling. I'm fairly ignorant on these subjects, but they seem much more interesting to do on a day to day basis. So that's where I'm trying to head.
A year ago I left the programming and management world to go back to get my Master's. The university I'm attending just started offering an option in computational biology. Once I started the computational biology option, it's been tremendously exciting. I've been approached by biologists who want me to roll my thesis work into their efforts--data mining biology-related data, etc. I've also been told by the department that biotechnology companies are just throwing grant money towards bioinformatics like crazy. If I decide to get my Ph.D., I'm assured it will be paid for.
And the best part of all? Check out BioPerl and bioinformatics.org. Open Source is quite popular in this field. It's incredibly refreshing to be hacking away at problems that don't involve the same old corporate data warehouse.
"Getting fellow academics and their students to dip their toes into the Open Source Gnu/Linux waters through a bootable CD like Knoppix is very easy to do."
I'll second this. Most students at the university where I teach programming classes are Windows savvy and Linux ignorant. Making them use Linux for the assignments is much less painful if you can offer them a home solution that doesn't require repartitioning their Windows drive (i.e. Knoppix).
It also had a nice side effect. After trying out Knoppix for a few weeks, many asked for a full distro that they could load on their machines.
Actually, gravity is less up there. By my dc calculations it will take him 8 days to travel the first 1000 meters, and then about 10 minutes for the rest of the trip. I think. Someone want to double-check my math? Hope he brought some food with him.
Anyone can make a program work given a compiler and sufficient time.
Then why do you need to test them?
There's a lot of banter about how CS is about theory and not syntax. Yet for the vast majority of students, a BS in CS is their terminal degree, after which they go into the world and work.
Give the students a take home test that requires them to show that they know their theory by applying it. The take home test deliverables would include at least 2 components:
A written "debate" (or justification if you like) of the algorithms considered, and the one(s) chosen for the given problem
The problem solved through a coded solution
If the problem is rich, authentic, and complex enough, only those who truly know the theory will be able to apply it.
Now if the monitor stalk telescoped, that'd be cool. The base would have to be weighted or attached to something, but I could get into having the base at one end of my desk, and then moving the monitor into my field of vision whenever I needed to access the computer. If I needed to have room on my desk to shuffle papers then I'd just push the monitor back towards the edge of the desk (or push it up, out of the way).
Check out Omnis. They have a RAD tool that might (back in '91) have fit the model you describe. Tbey've been providing application development tools w/UI and DB backends for 20 years.
I had an opportunity to see a pre-screening of Jedi, complete with a survey to fill out regarding the bits that were good or bad.
It was quite interesting to see the movie "in the rough", including half-finished special effects and lots of footage that didn't make it into the final cut.
Two extended scenes of note that were trimmed down in the final cut were Sy Snootles' song in Jabba's palace and Luke's electrocution by the Emperor's zappy fingers. Please, George, leave those on the cutting room floor where they belong. Sy Snootles' song lasted longer that Stairway to Heaven, and Luke's electric encounter was a movie in itself. You could almost smell roasted Jedi in the theater.
Slashdot Mirror
A portion of the Human Genome Project's budget is dedicated "toward studying the ethical, legal, and social issues (ELSI) surrounding availability of genetic information..." Many interesting issues have already been identified..
Yes, that's correct. Working on a project for a large telco, during the requirements phase the client made it very clear that they couldn't use SSN as a key because it wasn't unique. Duplicates were certainly rare, but frequent enough to make it a concern.
What if something breaks and a service is down for a while, there will be no company to hold up their software and support it, it is now up to you.
Just a thought. Has anyone put together a tutorial or howto on self-supporting Linux? Sure, there's plenty of help out there, but many folks don't know where to turn for help. Many people don't know what Usenet is, much less the correct newsgroup. Many people don't know which Web-based discussion boards to seek out for help on popular Open Source product XYZ.
Some of the older faces of altavista
Wayback Machine view of AltaVista
Lot's of good stuff on the old homepages, such as how popular it is and accolades it's received.
Yes, this was a horrible move. One way to really screw up your branding is to change the brand (so to speak). Changing a known URL is bad. Changing it to something longer, and compelling people to go to the longer address when they've entered the shorter, known address is just silly.
The first is that you can define compile-time behavior (in the forth sense of compiling)--very cool. For example, you can create your own application-specific branching structures. You're not "limited" to if/then/else for example. Just roll your own quaternary branching statement if that's what you need!
The other is being able to (forced to?) build your own data types from scratch. I actually learned FORTH before I learned C. I was all bent out of shape when I found out that C automatically handled pointer and array offsets for me (e.g. *(x+3) actually means x+3*4 where 4 is the number of bytes for each x). I recall that at the time I felt C took me so far away from the machine whereas I was much closer to it in FORTH.
or is this plan doomed to be another PCjr
Where can I sign up to get time on the PCjr cluster farm?
The entire Mac OS X UI -- while eminently "lickable," like no OS before it -- was tiring to look at.
When I read this my first thought was "oh, he meant 'likable'". Then I thought, "Man, I don't know. Those Apple zealots might really include licking as the final test after establishing that the OS is usable..."
OS X user for 14 months and counting!I spent many years on the opposite side of this (i.e. working for a firm that delivers training to progammers), so I'll offer advice from that perspective.
Larger companies have their own training departments/divisions. Often, they'll have their own training rooms and/or facilities. If larger companies can overcome their own bureaucracies, they have the greatest power for getting the best-quality training. Trainers fall all over themselves trying to get large accounts. Before offering a large contract to a training firm, the large company should:
Smaller companies have a harder time making the training firms dance because the potential money made is much smaller. They also won't get the big discount that the big companies can get. That said, the smaller companies can send out an request for information (RFI) and collect basic information from potential trainers in a consistent format (rather than surfing training sites, making calls, etc.). Once the information is collected, the end-users, and a couple other folks could conduct phone interviews with potential trainers.
Questions to grill any potential trainer with (for both large and small companies):Time Travel Ad
Go into a field that mixes computers and science. Like say bioinformatics or molecular modeling. I'm fairly ignorant on these subjects, but they seem much more interesting to do on a day to day basis. So that's where I'm trying to head.
A year ago I left the programming and management world to go back to get my Master's. The university I'm attending just started offering an option in computational biology. Once I started the computational biology option, it's been tremendously exciting. I've been approached by biologists who want me to roll my thesis work into their efforts--data mining biology-related data, etc. I've also been told by the department that biotechnology companies are just throwing grant money towards bioinformatics like crazy. If I decide to get my Ph.D., I'm assured it will be paid for.
And the best part of all? Check out BioPerl and bioinformatics.org. Open Source is quite popular in this field. It's incredibly refreshing to be hacking away at problems that don't involve the same old corporate data warehouse.
"Getting fellow academics and their students to dip their toes into the Open Source Gnu/Linux waters through a bootable CD like Knoppix is very easy to do."
I'll second this. Most students at the university where I teach programming classes are Windows savvy and Linux ignorant. Making them use Linux for the assignments is much less painful if you can offer them a home solution that doesn't require repartitioning their Windows drive (i.e. Knoppix).
It also had a nice side effect. After trying out Knoppix for a few weeks, many asked for a full distro that they could load on their machines.
I like to ask candidates what "antsy" means. They always get that one wrong.
Also, I like to ask them to name two adjectives that best describe me.
-TAG
Actually, gravity is less up there. By my dc calculations it will take him 8 days to travel the first 1000 meters, and then about 10 minutes for the rest of the trip. I think. Someone want to double-check my math? Hope he brought some food with him.
Then why do you need to test them?
There's a lot of banter about how CS is about theory and not syntax. Yet for the vast majority of students, a BS in CS is their terminal degree, after which they go into the world and work.
Give the students a take home test that requires them to show that they know their theory by applying it. The take home test deliverables would include at least 2 components:
- A written "debate" (or justification if you like) of the algorithms considered, and the one(s) chosen for the given problem
- The problem solved through a coded solution
If the problem is rich, authentic, and complex enough, only those who truly know the theory will be able to apply it.See:http://www.itworld.com/nl/db_mgr/05142001/
Now if the monitor stalk telescoped, that'd be cool. The base would have to be weighted or attached to something, but I could get into having the base at one end of my desk, and then moving the monitor into my field of vision whenever I needed to access the computer. If I needed to have room on my desk to shuffle papers then I'd just push the monitor back towards the edge of the desk (or push it up, out of the way).
I hear that there is a 15 minute scene that was left on the cutting room floor with Jack Nicholson playing Tom Bombadil.
I had a friend ask about good sports games for Windows. What are the best baseball and football computer games right now?
Why pay top dollar? Bring in the clones. Oh, wait, do I have the right story?
Ask them what 'Antsy' means. They're sure to get that wrong.
Check out Omnis. They have a RAD tool that might (back in '91) have fit the model you describe. Tbey've been providing application development tools w/UI and DB backends for 20 years.
I had an opportunity to see a pre-screening of Jedi, complete with a survey to fill out regarding the bits that were good or bad.
It was quite interesting to see the movie "in the rough", including half-finished special effects and lots of footage that didn't make it into the final cut.
Two extended scenes of note that were trimmed down in the final cut were Sy Snootles' song in Jabba's palace and Luke's electrocution by the Emperor's zappy fingers. Please, George, leave those on the cutting room floor where they belong. Sy Snootles' song lasted longer that Stairway to Heaven, and Luke's electric encounter was a movie in itself. You could almost smell roasted Jedi in the theater.