I don't know about the GOM specifically, but models of oceanography of most regions around the U.S. have been under development, availability, testing, and use for quite a while, and substantial toolkits exist, so it's just a matter of putting some fluid of the right density in the right place and getting present starting conditions. The crunch is really getting the computer time to run the models which is what the new money addresses.
And yes, there's also a lot of graphical toolboxes so whipping together a quick display isn't B-movie territory (though using VB is contraindicated: Xwindows and fortran are preferred).
Nice try. But actually, think non-academic (though Ph.D. filled) biomedical-type private, staid, serious lab environment with scientists who don't go in for the overt "geek == games == internet == star wars posters" ethos. Not up on the internet geek memes. Generally older, wife, kids, watch sports/BBQ on the weekends, not "social rejects" at all. But as scientists they look at these cartoons and say "how true."
That said, I'll be the first to admit to the percentage of meme-driven XKCDs that aren't that funny to me. But being hit-or-miss is a sign of originality, not the obverse, when the hits are true hits.
The Far Side is, as well. Dilbert is somewhere in between them and xkcd, where it makes references to other funny material, but does have significant originality and creativity. Then there's xkcd, which is unoriginal,
My test is this. I work in a scientific establishment - not a super-geeky-web type place but an "old established science" type place. Over the last 2-5 years, "xkcd's on the door" have largely replaced the yellowing Far Sides... maybe about 1/4 of the doors around here are thus infected independent of each other.
On my own door is this and let me tell you I get more people just stopping to say how funny that is -old guys nearing retirement shaking with laughter and saying "how true" - than with any cartoon I've had up over the years.
It's because they're aimed at business travelers, who don't care what the bill
As a business traveler I avoid Hilton like the plague for its tacked on rates for everything. I just don't like feeling gypped even if I'm not paying (and sometimes I am, like for exercise room access). Even when the conference is at the Hilton I'll stay a mile away. There's usually plenty of business-class hotels that don't nickle-and-dime like this.
Last time I was booked into a Hilton for and there truly wasn't a choice, from the 8th floor I could pick up several free WiFis, and took pleasure in doing so.
Mine came here LEGALLY. Know and understand the distinction...
I got a fistful of broken treaties with those who walked over that says "legal" is a stack of BS post-justification written by the occupiers. Just sayin'.
Woah, skipping a few steps, are we? I hope he built an ALU and then a microprocessor before that!
You jest, but (also in answer to other replies) I was more suggesting interesting parallel tracks rather than something proscriptive - a 12-year old can get it. If your 12-year old likes learning things by reading, a really really good resource is A.K. Dewdney's Turing Omnibus - a non-major comp-101 level text that's really REALLY good at describing everything from electrons and bare metal to theory and practical coding. Puzzle-oriented and v. accessible to pre-high school nerds.
Followup to my last post: another suggestion in asm-type space (if you don't want to start with electronics) is to download a corewars emulator (or perhaps a similar Robowars type game) and beat each other up in core/logic space for a while. I remember a real "aha" when I learned about Imps, Dwarves, and self-modifying code in general that way.
teaching him assembler so he knows what's actually going on.
You may think I'm crazy, but I'd go even more bare metal than that. Teach him resistors and capacitors (make weird noises through a speaker), then transistors and flip-flop logic with some projects that make LEDs blink.
Then jump asm (to learn to address the metal) to Basic/Python (to learn logic and structure and say Hello World) to C (put the two together). Use plug-together electronic kits (what radio shack used to make but is now rebranded as "Maker" type stuff or robots). The truly hands-on path worked wonders for me, kept me interested at all stages, and I tell you I was grateful to learn each new abstraction tool. My daughter is five and loves to fiddle with my scope/things on my bench; I can't wait.
The weakness in the teaching toolchain I see at the moment is the asm-teaching stage, at my young age it was the Apples and Commodores, nowdays I'm thinking microcontrollers but I haven't really looked for good intro projects yet, any particularly good specific suggestions?
Many OSS projects offer prefered "development direction" for donors, though. If you want a feature in a certain tool, get into contact with the maker and see whether the project offers this option.
Beware, though, that anything like this would likely have to be structured like (would actually be a) government contract with timelines, deliverables, and accountability. It would be difficult to get away with a mere "donate for a preferred direction." (If the developers are up for committing themselves to such a contract, no worries, but don't lead them to think there aren't necessary strings attached).
Lest some of these myths perpetuate, at the federal agency I work for, supervisors have an annual budget (say $10K over the year for supplies) and can indeed walk right down to the local Target or Office Depot for individual purchases up to $3,000 as long as it balances monthly. The limitation is that you have to take a training/ethics course to be authorized to make the purchases with a government credit card, but that's sensible. Above $3K, yes there's a bidding process.
So while it may vary from agency to agency, the myth of "no petty purchases" in in fact a myth.
working in R&D for the federal government... open source ELMER finite element code
Oh, excellent! As another fed in R&D, I was just starting to look for something like ELMER for a new project this week. (For those against "durn gummit wasting mah tax dollars" the above post just saved at least a couple hours of taxpayer-paid salary). thx!
And yeah, if a bit of Octave bugfixing saved us from buying another Matlab license, that's well-spend time and cost-effective.
...stop/minimize hunting sea turtles or that species of fishes that controlled their numbers.
Not everything is subject to predator control. Jellies may be more limited (historically) by competition for food with small fishes. It's possible a combination of changing climate conditions favoring jellies over small fishes, and removal of competitors for zooplankton leads to these events rather than removing predators.
Wouldn't the proliferation at least help the predator population? At least they're less likely to go hungry.
Being able to eat jellyfish profitably (they are not very nutritious) is an adaptation a relatively small number of predators (in particular turtles, a very limited number of mostly non-commercial fish) enjoy; those predators are mainly limited by other factors (like habitat damage on beaches) - hunger isn't a main issue for them right now.
That's the thing about jellies; they're really the end of the food chain (despite being low down) so if they bloom, there's not much predator control to bring then in check.
AND also think that copyright holders should be encouraged to protect their copyrights when someone breaks copyright for the sole purpose of turning a profit. The two are completely different discussions. You are aware of that, right?
They're not different discussions if we're encouraging artists to "protect" a copyright that has been stolen from the public domain through unconstitutional extensions. Hence for the Beatles they are the same discussion. If this was a post-1970s band (without quibbling about exact appropriate length) I would agree with you.
Slashdot Mirror
FUCK Cory Doctorow. Where is the latest story on the new iPhone?
Actually, there's one on Boing Boing.
Dang I'm old.
Sounds to me like a case of the Existential Blues.
And yes, there's also a lot of graphical toolboxes so whipping together a quick display isn't B-movie territory (though using VB is contraindicated: Xwindows and fortran are preferred).
the media seems to be gradually going to a "feel good" news dystopia.
Well, then, that's a welcome relief from the current "you're surrounded by terrorists and child rapists panic Panic PANIC!!" news dystopia.
Ah, you work in academia.
Nice try. But actually, think non-academic (though Ph.D. filled) biomedical-type private, staid, serious lab environment with scientists who don't go in for the overt "geek == games == internet == star wars posters" ethos. Not up on the internet geek memes. Generally older, wife, kids, watch sports/BBQ on the weekends, not "social rejects" at all. But as scientists they look at these cartoons and say "how true."
That said, I'll be the first to admit to the percentage of meme-driven XKCDs that aren't that funny to me. But being hit-or-miss is a sign of originality, not the obverse, when the hits are true hits.
The Far Side is, as well. Dilbert is somewhere in between them and xkcd, where it makes references to other funny material, but does have significant originality and creativity. Then there's xkcd, which is unoriginal,
My test is this. I work in a scientific establishment - not a super-geeky-web type place but an "old established science" type place. Over the last 2-5 years, "xkcd's on the door" have largely replaced the yellowing Far Sides... maybe about 1/4 of the doors around here are thus infected independent of each other.
On my own door is this and let me tell you I get more people just stopping to say how funny that is -old guys nearing retirement shaking with laughter and saying "how true" - than with any cartoon I've had up over the years.
It's because they're aimed at business travelers, who don't care what the bill
As a business traveler I avoid Hilton like the plague for its tacked on rates for everything. I just don't like feeling gypped even if I'm not paying (and sometimes I am, like for exercise room access). Even when the conference is at the Hilton I'll stay a mile away. There's usually plenty of business-class hotels that don't nickle-and-dime like this.
Last time I was booked into a Hilton for and there truly wasn't a choice, from the 8th floor I could pick up several free WiFis, and took pleasure in doing so.
NASA has a reputation for crashing and burning.
Does Toyota work in metric or imperial? Because we might all be screwed.
This is illegal INVASION. See the Fall of Rome for more details on why that's FUCKING BAD you dickless twits.
The European settlement of North America (often 100% illegal as it happens) is another fine example of this.
Mine came here LEGALLY. Know and understand the distinction...
I got a fistful of broken treaties with those who walked over that says "legal" is a stack of BS post-justification written by the occupiers. Just sayin'.
This being MY country and MY birthright, fuck them.
So which boat did your ancestors come in on?
- which would be a shame.
Is this the slashdot mafia coming out? "Nice article. Shame is something were to... happen to our link to it."
Teachable moments are so rare.
Woah, skipping a few steps, are we? I hope he built an ALU and then a microprocessor before that!
You jest, but (also in answer to other replies) I was more suggesting interesting parallel tracks rather than something proscriptive - a 12-year old can get it.
If your 12-year old likes learning things by reading, a really really good resource is A.K. Dewdney's Turing Omnibus - a non-major comp-101 level text that's really REALLY good at describing everything from electrons and bare metal to theory and practical coding. Puzzle-oriented and v. accessible to pre-high school nerds.
Followup to my last post: another suggestion in asm-type space (if you don't want to start with electronics) is to download a corewars emulator (or perhaps a similar Robowars type game) and beat each other up in core/logic space for a while. I remember a real "aha" when I learned about Imps, Dwarves, and self-modifying code in general that way.
teaching him assembler so he knows what's actually going on.
You may think I'm crazy, but I'd go even more bare metal than that. Teach him resistors and capacitors (make weird noises through a speaker), then transistors and flip-flop logic with some projects that make LEDs blink.
Then jump asm (to learn to address the metal) to Basic/Python (to learn logic and structure and say Hello World) to C (put the two together). Use plug-together electronic kits (what radio shack used to make but is now rebranded as "Maker" type stuff or robots). The truly hands-on path worked wonders for me, kept me interested at all stages, and I tell you I was grateful to learn each new abstraction tool. My daughter is five and loves to fiddle with my scope/things on my bench; I can't wait.
The weakness in the teaching toolchain I see at the moment is the asm-teaching stage, at my young age it was the Apples and Commodores, nowdays I'm thinking microcontrollers but I haven't really looked for good intro projects yet, any particularly good specific suggestions?
Many OSS projects offer prefered "development direction" for donors, though. If you want a feature in a certain tool, get into contact with the maker and see whether the project offers this option.
Beware, though, that anything like this would likely have to be structured like (would actually be a) government contract with timelines, deliverables, and accountability. It would be difficult to get away with a mere "donate for a preferred direction." (If the developers are up for committing themselves to such a contract, no worries, but don't lead them to think there aren't necessary strings attached).
So while it may vary from agency to agency, the myth of "no petty purchases" in in fact a myth.
working in R&D for the federal government... open source ELMER finite element code
Oh, excellent! As another fed in R&D, I was just starting to look for something like ELMER for a new project this week. (For those against "durn gummit wasting mah tax dollars" the above post just saved at least a couple hours of taxpayer-paid salary). thx!
And yeah, if a bit of Octave bugfixing saved us from buying another Matlab license, that's well-spend time and cost-effective.
I think this is one of those ideas that just sounds good on paper.
Perhaps you'd like me to... rephrase that, laddie?
Anyone remember Quark, a space garbage scow show from the 70's? :D
We should re-task the Enterprise... it's nothing but a garbage scow anyway.
...stop/minimize hunting sea turtles or that species of fishes that controlled their numbers.
Not everything is subject to predator control. Jellies may be more limited (historically) by competition for food with small fishes. It's possible a combination of changing climate conditions favoring jellies over small fishes, and removal of competitors for zooplankton leads to these events rather than removing predators.
Wouldn't the proliferation at least help the predator population? At least they're less likely to go hungry.
Being able to eat jellyfish profitably (they are not very nutritious) is an adaptation a relatively small number of predators (in particular turtles, a very limited number of mostly non-commercial fish) enjoy; those predators are mainly limited by other factors (like habitat damage on beaches) - hunger isn't a main issue for them right now.
That's the thing about jellies; they're really the end of the food chain (despite being low down) so if they bloom, there's not much predator control to bring then in check.
AND also think that copyright holders should be encouraged to protect their copyrights when someone breaks copyright for the sole purpose of turning a profit. The two are completely different discussions. You are aware of that, right?
They're not different discussions if we're encouraging artists to "protect" a copyright that has been stolen from the public domain through unconstitutional extensions. Hence for the Beatles they are the same discussion. If this was a post-1970s band (without quibbling about exact appropriate length) I would agree with you.