Agreed. I'll work long hours to ethically protect the interests of my community, but the military-industrial pork pie of the U.S. "cyberwar" doesn't really show much promise in that regard. It seems that a couple volunteer hours a week for the EFF would secure far more freedoms in the "cyberwar" than a cyber career with the CIA.
There are all sorts of fantastic contributions you can make simply through daily observation. Wherever you live, nature is happening all around you, and if you are so disciplined as to make daily observations about anything over a significant length of time, you WILL contribute. There are so many factors for which there simply isn't enough solid information. Even the freaking TEMPERATURE can vary ridiculously across short distances. If you have a stellar thermometer and the resources to record that regularly, you can contribute to work done by meteorologists in the area. If you know anything about microbiology, you can study your local lake/river water - you may find something with real world implications for future generations or even just the fisherman next year. Are you into time lapse photography? Think of what you could show your community about how plants behave over time. Are you interested in publicly available growing food in your area? Making an online map of accessible food-bearing trees means creating access to a sustainable food source for a slice of your community.
And if you're into "bio-hacking", why not engage in one of the oldest bio-hacking traditions: growing edible plants. Once you have the experience to do it yourself, you can contribute to your community by sharing that experience, and, even better, helping local organizations grow food for your local food bank.
No, you won't make it into a textbook, but you definitely can create real change on a tangible level through hobbyist science.
This is going to hit that city like a brick in the face.
I don't think it will. These interns are hard to find by regulators, and when you do find them, they generally don't want to step on any toes. In my experience, interns that are willing to stick up for themselves leave within the first few days. The ones that get suckered into doing menial labor for a year tend to avoid badmouthing their first "employer."
Statistics are a wonderful thing... barring bad design or the possibility that they repeated the experiment until they got a good result, inferential stats says it is a solid result. If anything, seeing an effect with small N suggests that it is more likely to be actually significant instead of just statistically significant.
That doesn't make sense to me -- though I'm no statistician. But doesn't a smaller N mean less significance? If I take your second statement to the extreme (N=1, the smallest N you can get), you are reduced to an anecdote. Maybe you could elaborate a bit more?
The one thing about these foods that I don't agree with is that the poor need to eat them because they can't afford food that is good for them. That's a load of rubbish. My wife has been able to buy enough good, canned vegetables like beans, chickpeas and corn to feed a family of four for at least a week for $50. You can do a lot with those staples if you try.
And if you already have the land for it (or even a small sun-exposed area), a garden is even cheaper--not to mention healthier--and doesn't require a resume.
I do think food culture is an issue, however. Millions of dollars are being pumped into advertising mac 'n' cheese, hamburgers, beer, and crappy candy bars. Meanwhile, the very name "Whole Foods" represents a chain of grocery stores that targets the condo-purchasing elite.
I'm no electricity-ologist, but wouldn't you get signal quality loss from all that resisting and gaining? It seems like the audio equivalent of having your copy machine make a zoomed-in copy of a zoomed-out copy.
You honestly think the government makes up the 'noble class?' They are just servants of the noble class, bought and paid for. If they do what they are asked, they may be let into the noble class after they retire from politics. If you aren't getting at least seven figure bonuses, you aren't noble, you're a peon.
I heartily disagree. Remember that in most feudalist societies, "nobility" is actually a large class of individuals. In feudal Japan, the nobility made up as much as 12% of the population. These were all the individuals charged with administration and protection, and they were afforded special status and respect because of that. Also consider the courts of the pre-Revolution French kings, in which it might be your honorable birthright to be the person in charge of selecting the king's shoes. A servant, yes, but still a noble, with a life of leisure, gossip, and assurances of a full belly, sturdy roof, and the pleasantries of high society.
Nowadays, a government job still remains one of the most stable types of jobs out there, almost unilaterally paying above the average compensation for the private sector equivalent, and providing AMAZING benefits and retirement. Sounds like a noble class to me. Luckily, the entry process is a lot more egalitarian than the old days.
It's sad that the Internet has devolved to the point where an emoticon is considered the less annoying alternative for ending a sentence.
I don't see what's so sad about that. Just about every human can communicate more easily with just about any other human using facial expressions. A quick-and-dirty image of a facial expression is a great way to simulate that. I find it far more preferable than "LOL," which is literally communicating that the typist is laughing out loud in front of the computer.
PS "savory" comes from French, so funny that you're all anti-Japanese (even implying he lied by saying he "supposedly" discovered the taste receptors) when the word you want to use isn't even ENGLISH ORIGINALLY.
To be fair, a lot more English words come from French than Japanese. Using French-derived words--especially ones that have been part of English for centuries--is generally much more comfortable for native English speakers.
That said, I do think you make an absolutely valid point that "umame" is a valuable term because it's more specific than "savory."
What if we ran an open data project like an open source project? What would this look like?
Wikipedia. With all the inherent problems of self-proclaimed authorities who don't know what they're talking about; bored trouble-makers who inject bad information because they're, well, bored; petty little squabbles which result in valid data being deleted; and so on.
Gee, you make it sound so terrible when you put it like that. It also happens to be an amazing source of information and the perfect resource for an initial foray into any research topic. It's a shining example of what happens when huge amounts of people want to share their knowledge and time with the world. Sure, it's got a few flaws, but in the grand scheme of things, it has made a massive body of information ever more accessible and usable.
Moreover, I've seen all the flaws you've listed in closed collaborative projects as well. Like all projects, Wikipedia is both a beneficiary and a victim of human nature.
Or the townspeople grab their knives, pitchforks, and torches and have an impromptu town meeting at this businessperson's place of business, not-so-politely requesting a price reduction so they can feed their children. At the risk of sounding like an ideologue, never underestimate the power of an angry underclass!
So we're talking the amount of water New York City uses (directly, not indirectly, since we're not including the water required for its food needs) in 145 days.
Actually, it's quite common for the legislature to vote positively on issues that only a small percentage of Americans agree on. It's supposed to be one of the things that make our system work: if 30% of Congress REALLY wants something, but only kind of don't want something else, they may be willing to trade away votes by approving the thing they don't want and getting their colleagues to approve what they want. Vote-trading is a way for a minority with major needs to still be represented in our government. It's more equitable than the initiative process, which doesn't allow for any vote-trading because every vote is anonymous, so the majority will vote pass something it barely cares about, even if the minority absolutely hates it.
Unfortunately, this doesn't happen so much anymore, especially when you have a certain conservative political party voting that votes as a bloc and is unwilling to make compromises because they think they're in the middle of a conservative revolution.
Yup. And don't forget WildTangent. I remember playing with 3D graphics in my browser back in 2002. Same limitations: Windows-only, annoying to load, different performance on different computers. It was a fun learning experience, though.
Quite a few people use transit on the 520 bridge. Our park 'n' rides are bursting at the seams (it's hard to find a parking spot at the one I use!) and commuter buses are quite often standing room only during rush hour (even mine, which leaves every 8 minutes).
Anyway, McGinn wants DEDICATED mass transit lanes, while the Microsoft executives want carpool/bus combo lanes. That's the big rift. I personally like McGinn's plan: there are already enough people driving across that bridge, and it's a mess every rush hour. Reward mass transit users by assuring them a quick commute and we will dramatically reduce emissions and waste.
I believe some style guides (maybe Chicago?) recommend using the spelled-out word instead of the numerical symbol for single-digit numbers. This is generally for the social studies world, not the hard science world, though. And I'm not sure if the rule still stands when comparing two numbers.
Slashdot Mirror
Agreed. I'll work long hours to ethically protect the interests of my community, but the military-industrial pork pie of the U.S. "cyberwar" doesn't really show much promise in that regard. It seems that a couple volunteer hours a week for the EFF would secure far more freedoms in the "cyberwar" than a cyber career with the CIA.
There are all sorts of fantastic contributions you can make simply through daily observation. Wherever you live, nature is happening all around you, and if you are so disciplined as to make daily observations about anything over a significant length of time, you WILL contribute. There are so many factors for which there simply isn't enough solid information. Even the freaking TEMPERATURE can vary ridiculously across short distances. If you have a stellar thermometer and the resources to record that regularly, you can contribute to work done by meteorologists in the area. If you know anything about microbiology, you can study your local lake/river water - you may find something with real world implications for future generations or even just the fisherman next year. Are you into time lapse photography? Think of what you could show your community about how plants behave over time. Are you interested in publicly available growing food in your area? Making an online map of accessible food-bearing trees means creating access to a sustainable food source for a slice of your community.
And if you're into "bio-hacking", why not engage in one of the oldest bio-hacking traditions: growing edible plants. Once you have the experience to do it yourself, you can contribute to your community by sharing that experience, and, even better, helping local organizations grow food for your local food bank.
No, you won't make it into a textbook, but you definitely can create real change on a tangible level through hobbyist science.
This is going to hit that city like a brick in the face.
I don't think it will. These interns are hard to find by regulators, and when you do find them, they generally don't want to step on any toes. In my experience, interns that are willing to stick up for themselves leave within the first few days. The ones that get suckered into doing menial labor for a year tend to avoid badmouthing their first "employer."
Statistics are a wonderful thing... barring bad design or the possibility that they repeated the experiment until they got a good result, inferential stats says it is a solid result. If anything, seeing an effect with small N suggests that it is more likely to be actually significant instead of just statistically significant.
That doesn't make sense to me -- though I'm no statistician. But doesn't a smaller N mean less significance? If I take your second statement to the extreme (N=1, the smallest N you can get), you are reduced to an anecdote. Maybe you could elaborate a bit more?
A one-point difference on a seven-point scale among only twenty volunteers? Doesn't smell very solid to me.
The one thing about these foods that I don't agree with is that the poor need to eat them because they can't afford food that is good for them. That's a load of rubbish. My wife has been able to buy enough good, canned vegetables like beans, chickpeas and corn to feed a family of four for at least a week for $50. You can do a lot with those staples if you try.
And if you already have the land for it (or even a small sun-exposed area), a garden is even cheaper--not to mention healthier--and doesn't require a resume.
I do think food culture is an issue, however. Millions of dollars are being pumped into advertising mac 'n' cheese, hamburgers, beer, and crappy candy bars. Meanwhile, the very name "Whole Foods" represents a chain of grocery stores that targets the condo-purchasing elite.
Processing rocks to extract gold, copper, etc, is relatively straight forward; its a lot harder to extract it from it from heterogeneous trash.
One would think an army of $1/day workers with rubber gloves could do the initial separation and still lead to a return on the investment.
Dr. Petra Boynton has a much more critical analysis of this issue on her blog here.
I'm no electricity-ologist, but wouldn't you get signal quality loss from all that resisting and gaining? It seems like the audio equivalent of having your copy machine make a zoomed-in copy of a zoomed-out copy.
Microphone jacks have gain. Gain leads to clipping. And clipping leads to the dark side.
Wow, that's awesome. I had no idea Ardour existed. Thank you.
Or, I could just use Linux, where my Delta 1010LT is supported perfectly
Hey! I have that card too! Can you do low-latency multi-track recording with it in Linux? If so, what software do you use? Audacity?
You honestly think the government makes up the 'noble class?' They are just servants of the noble class, bought and paid for. If they do what they are asked, they may be let into the noble class after they retire from politics. If you aren't getting at least seven figure bonuses, you aren't noble, you're a peon.
I heartily disagree. Remember that in most feudalist societies, "nobility" is actually a large class of individuals. In feudal Japan, the nobility made up as much as 12% of the population. These were all the individuals charged with administration and protection, and they were afforded special status and respect because of that. Also consider the courts of the pre-Revolution French kings, in which it might be your honorable birthright to be the person in charge of selecting the king's shoes. A servant, yes, but still a noble, with a life of leisure, gossip, and assurances of a full belly, sturdy roof, and the pleasantries of high society.
Nowadays, a government job still remains one of the most stable types of jobs out there, almost unilaterally paying above the average compensation for the private sector equivalent, and providing AMAZING benefits and retirement. Sounds like a noble class to me. Luckily, the entry process is a lot more egalitarian than the old days.
It's sad that the Internet has devolved to the point where an emoticon is considered the less annoying alternative for ending a sentence.
I don't see what's so sad about that. Just about every human can communicate more easily with just about any other human using facial expressions. A quick-and-dirty image of a facial expression is a great way to simulate that. I find it far more preferable than "LOL," which is literally communicating that the typist is laughing out loud in front of the computer.
PS "savory" comes from French, so funny that you're all anti-Japanese (even implying he lied by saying he "supposedly" discovered the taste receptors) when the word you want to use isn't even ENGLISH ORIGINALLY.
To be fair, a lot more English words come from French than Japanese. Using French-derived words--especially ones that have been part of English for centuries--is generally much more comfortable for native English speakers.
That said, I do think you make an absolutely valid point that "umame" is a valuable term because it's more specific than "savory."
This makes logical sense
Has anyone ever stumbled upon an idea that made "illogical" sense? Why not just say "This makes sense"?
What if we ran an open data project like an open source project? What would this look like?
Wikipedia. With all the inherent problems of self-proclaimed authorities who don't know what they're talking about; bored trouble-makers who inject bad information because they're, well, bored; petty little squabbles which result in valid data being deleted; and so on.
Gee, you make it sound so terrible when you put it like that. It also happens to be an amazing source of information and the perfect resource for an initial foray into any research topic. It's a shining example of what happens when huge amounts of people want to share their knowledge and time with the world. Sure, it's got a few flaws, but in the grand scheme of things, it has made a massive body of information ever more accessible and usable.
Moreover, I've seen all the flaws you've listed in closed collaborative projects as well. Like all projects, Wikipedia is both a beneficiary and a victim of human nature.
People with artificial intelligence are changing music.
Or the townspeople grab their knives, pitchforks, and torches and have an impromptu town meeting at this businessperson's place of business, not-so-politely requesting a price reduction so they can feed their children. At the risk of sounding like an ideologue, never underestimate the power of an angry underclass!
What if a condition of purchase is that the purchaser can't resell the tickets for a higher value?
New York City uses 1.086 billion gallons of water a day, so with a weight of 8.35 lbs/gallon (3.78749629 kg/gallon), that's 4,113,220.97 metric tonnes a day.
So we're talking the amount of water New York City uses (directly, not indirectly, since we're not including the water required for its food needs) in 145 days.
Actually, it's quite common for the legislature to vote positively on issues that only a small percentage of Americans agree on. It's supposed to be one of the things that make our system work: if 30% of Congress REALLY wants something, but only kind of don't want something else, they may be willing to trade away votes by approving the thing they don't want and getting their colleagues to approve what they want. Vote-trading is a way for a minority with major needs to still be represented in our government. It's more equitable than the initiative process, which doesn't allow for any vote-trading because every vote is anonymous, so the majority will vote pass something it barely cares about, even if the minority absolutely hates it.
Unfortunately, this doesn't happen so much anymore, especially when you have a certain conservative political party voting that votes as a bloc and is unwilling to make compromises because they think they're in the middle of a conservative revolution.
Yup. And don't forget WildTangent. I remember playing with 3D graphics in my browser back in 2002. Same limitations: Windows-only, annoying to load, different performance on different computers. It was a fun learning experience, though.
Quite a few people use transit on the 520 bridge. Our park 'n' rides are bursting at the seams (it's hard to find a parking spot at the one I use!) and commuter buses are quite often standing room only during rush hour (even mine, which leaves every 8 minutes).
Anyway, McGinn wants DEDICATED mass transit lanes, while the Microsoft executives want carpool/bus combo lanes. That's the big rift. I personally like McGinn's plan: there are already enough people driving across that bridge, and it's a mess every rush hour. Reward mass transit users by assuring them a quick commute and we will dramatically reduce emissions and waste.
I believe some style guides (maybe Chicago?) recommend using the spelled-out word instead of the numerical symbol for single-digit numbers. This is generally for the social studies world, not the hard science world, though. And I'm not sure if the rule still stands when comparing two numbers.