A PhD nowadays is an award to persistence, not excellence.
To strengthen your point, I don't know of anyone who failed his or her PhD. Some people abandon but if you stay there and get some results, you will get your PhD. In most labs I know, when a PhD student doesn't get anything because the project is badly designed (happen often) or because he or she is not up to the task, he or she gets shifted to someone else's subproject and gets a quick low impact first author paper. A PhD student failing is bad PR for the lab since it suggests to the university authorities that the lab cannot select/attract good candidates or is simply bad at managing projects.
These 12 years are really exaggerated. I got mine in less than 4 years as most people I know in the life sciences and physics. A friend got his PhD in economy in the same number of years. The only notable exception I know is a friend of mine who got his PhD as a geologist in about 6 years but that was mostly his choice not to finish it earlier. All these people studied in Europe though and it is possible that American PhDs take longer.
When did we suddenly start trusting other people with our important shit?
Exactly, Dropbox is a great free service though. I use it to easily share a computing project with a student. But why in hell would you store important private information through it?
To claim that a tablet can't be rectangular with rounded corners and a border? Dear lord, that's just ridiculous.
It is indeed, but because I know Slashdot, I choose to believe the most probable explanation, that no one read TFA which does not state anything about the shape of tablets.
So they are going to finance businesses and projects? Open line of credits? Offer credit and debit cards? Offer mortgages? Maybe even trade highly valuable FarmVille stocks? Yeah right...
Weren't there similar claims some years ago about Second Life's virtual money? And what is the user base of Second Life today?
Same people behind both. You can read more here http://www.alzforum.org/new/detail.asp?id=2472. There are also interesting Nature articles about the person in charge of this Roskamp Institute.
It is free on Zattoo as well but delayed by I think 20 sec. The experience of watching a game live (e.g. soccer in Europe) is usually ruined when the whole neighborhood starts screaming while the players are still 20 meters away from the goal.
Plus it is not the first app to offer a similar service. Zattoo has had an app with which you can watch tv on the iPad for months. Plus it works on any WiFi network.
Probably the worm was under the radar back then and was not noticed until it propagated significantly outside of Iran. So the relevant time lag is from that time point till the alarm was rung.
What credibility? What has Wikileaks done for peace?
The mention of Tunisia is ridiculous. None of what was mentioned in the cables was news to Tunisians. It was not even news for me who never really researched about the situation in Tunisia. Ben Ali's regime collapsed because he oppressed its population for 20 years and at some point people got sick of it. They did not need anyone to tell them how much the Ben Ali clan was abusing its situation and robbing the country. Plus it remains to be seen how much good this whole revolution will bring.
They seem quite desperate to make a buck these days. I wonder if they are really worth 50 billion $. My guess is that they aren't and that we might see a beautiful collapse in the coming years.
Right, but banking in Switzerland is not only tax evasion and blood money. The two largest banks, UBS and Credit Suisse, are also business banks and UBS lost tons of money during the recent financial turmoil. I guess it is reasonable to assume that most $ earned in that industry come from trading, investments, etc... Plus most of deposits are probably pensions from average Joes.
Frankly, IMO the Swiss have a LOT of blood on their hands being the bankers for war lords, dictators and tax cheats. It's what they do and it's basis of most of their economy.
In 2003, the financial sector comprised an estimated 11.6% of Switzerland's GDP and employed approximately 196,000 people (136,000 of whom work in the banking sector); this represents about 5.6% of the total Swiss workforce.
I think it is not too unrealistic to assume that most of these 11.6% come from trading and other perfectly "moral" banking activites. The largest and richest Swiss companies are Glencore (raw materials), Nestlé (food), Novartis (pharma), Hoffmann-La Roche (pharma), ABB (power and automation) and Adecco (HR). But I guess that is too complicated to fit in your average Hollywood movie.
Two other things, the text is really bad. He would be laughed at by reviewers and editors for his scientific writing style. For instance:
The story started ten years ago when one of us (L.M.) studied the strange behaviour of a small bacterium, a frequent companion of HIV. [...] Then the question was raised: what kind of information was transmitted in the aqueous filtrate? It was the beginning of a long lasting investigation bearing on the physical properties of DNA in water.
More of a problem, they do not show any evidence. The only "data" on display are poorly made drawings of the setup (why not take a picture?) and a screenshot of some curves whose resolution is so low that it is impossible to read anything. I had already read some time ago that he is now a proponent of the infamous "water memory" theory. It is sad to think that someone who was arguably at the top of his field some years ago has sunk so low and is humiliating himself like this.
Slashdot Mirror
A PhD nowadays is an award to persistence, not excellence.
To strengthen your point, I don't know of anyone who failed his or her PhD. Some people abandon but if you stay there and get some results, you will get your PhD. In most labs I know, when a PhD student doesn't get anything because the project is badly designed (happen often) or because he or she is not up to the task, he or she gets shifted to someone else's subproject and gets a quick low impact first author paper. A PhD student failing is bad PR for the lab since it suggests to the university authorities that the lab cannot select/attract good candidates or is simply bad at managing projects.
These 12 years are really exaggerated. I got mine in less than 4 years as most people I know in the life sciences and physics. A friend got his PhD in economy in the same number of years. The only notable exception I know is a friend of mine who got his PhD as a geologist in about 6 years but that was mostly his choice not to finish it earlier. All these people studied in Europe though and it is possible that American PhDs take longer.
I probably wouldn't keep my plans for world domination on there
Dammit! I did not think of THAT!
When did we suddenly start trusting other people with our important shit?
Exactly, Dropbox is a great free service though. I use it to easily share a computing project with a student. But why in hell would you store important private information through it?
To claim that a tablet can't be rectangular with rounded corners and a border? Dear lord, that's just ridiculous.
It is indeed, but because I know Slashdot, I choose to believe the most probable explanation, that no one read TFA which does not state anything about the shape of tablets.
So they are going to finance businesses and projects? Open line of credits? Offer credit and debit cards? Offer mortgages? Maybe even trade highly valuable FarmVille stocks? Yeah right...
Weren't there similar claims some years ago about Second Life's virtual money? And what is the user base of Second Life today?
Same people behind both. You can read more here http://www.alzforum.org/new/detail.asp?id=2472. There are also interesting Nature articles about the person in charge of this Roskamp Institute.
It is free on Zattoo as well but delayed by I think 20 sec. The experience of watching a game live (e.g. soccer in Europe) is usually ruined when the whole neighborhood starts screaming while the players are still 20 meters away from the goal.
Plus it is not the first app to offer a similar service. Zattoo has had an app with which you can watch tv on the iPad for months. Plus it works on any WiFi network.
Probably the worm was under the radar back then and was not noticed until it propagated significantly outside of Iran. So the relevant time lag is from that time point till the alarm was rung.
And I assume a very cheap and simple to deploy solution in a rioting country.
The 19-year old claims that his solar device has the intensity of 5,000 suns.
Yeah right! Sure!
What credibility? What has Wikileaks done for peace? The mention of Tunisia is ridiculous. None of what was mentioned in the cables was news to Tunisians. It was not even news for me who never really researched about the situation in Tunisia. Ben Ali's regime collapsed because he oppressed its population for 20 years and at some point people got sick of it. They did not need anyone to tell them how much the Ben Ali clan was abusing its situation and robbing the country. Plus it remains to be seen how much good this whole revolution will bring.
"All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing"
I mean it is nice to know but since the /. crowd is clearly on the clever side of the cleverness scale, we should all be well off right? Right?
They seem quite desperate to make a buck these days. I wonder if they are really worth 50 billion $. My guess is that they aren't and that we might see a beautiful collapse in the coming years.
http://xkcd.com/566/
Right, but banking in Switzerland is not only tax evasion and blood money. The two largest banks, UBS and Credit Suisse, are also business banks and UBS lost tons of money during the recent financial turmoil. I guess it is reasonable to assume that most $ earned in that industry come from trading, investments, etc... Plus most of deposits are probably pensions from average Joes.
It would have swam several kilometers in from the river, across Evan Marginson Park and the motorway
It's probably the perspective to reach a McDonald's that drives them.
If you call a few percents a large basis yes.
Frankly, IMO the Swiss have a LOT of blood on their hands being the bankers for war lords, dictators and tax cheats. It's what they do and it's basis of most of their economy.
Facts please! If you think that the Swiss economy is mostly based on its banking system, think again. According to Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Switzerland
In 2003, the financial sector comprised an estimated 11.6% of Switzerland's GDP and employed approximately 196,000 people (136,000 of whom work in the banking sector); this represents about 5.6% of the total Swiss workforce.
I think it is not too unrealistic to assume that most of these 11.6% come from trading and other perfectly "moral" banking activites. The largest and richest Swiss companies are Glencore (raw materials), Nestlé (food), Novartis (pharma), Hoffmann-La Roche (pharma), ABB (power and automation) and Adecco (HR). But I guess that is too complicated to fit in your average Hollywood movie.
Yes, today! And it speaks volume that you did not say this week or this month.
Yeah great and where are these data plotted? Tables? Figures? Statistical tests anyone?
The story started ten years ago when one of us (L.M.) studied the strange behaviour of a small bacterium, a frequent companion of HIV. [...] Then the question was raised: what kind of information was transmitted in the aqueous filtrate? It was the beginning of a long lasting investigation bearing on the physical properties of DNA in water.
More of a problem, they do not show any evidence. The only "data" on display are poorly made drawings of the setup (why not take a picture?) and a screenshot of some curves whose resolution is so low that it is impossible to read anything. I had already read some time ago that he is now a proponent of the infamous "water memory" theory. It is sad to think that someone who was arguably at the top of his field some years ago has sunk so low and is humiliating himself like this.
Ironic isn't it? Probably the reason why the parent got modded up funny.