Shame on me, but this is the first time I visited the mars rover website. It struck me as slightly odd that NASA researchers call the Martian Solar Day the sol.
In the article itself, fingers are clearly pointed
But Don Sadoway, a professor of Materials Chemistry at MIT who is an expert in advanced battery technologies, worries about off-shoring of a chemistry he asserts "needs to be treated with respect."
"I have 100% confidence in the Japanese battery manufacturers," he says. "And my guess is that they never had the problems they're seeing now when the same batteries were manufactured from start to finish in Japan."
I don't think anybody realizes just how shoddy quality control is in China. Just as there is absolutely no respect for intellectual property, the Chinese, being new to capitalism, don't understand the value of quality control. They've never had to suffer the consequences of legal action.
The culture just does not exist. Some argue that this is a good sign, a necessary phase in capitalism that China is passing through that the USA passed through once before.
I'm not trying to be a troll. China I'm sure will improve and their industry is surely chastened by the huge hue and cry around the world. But until things get better, watch out, and for more than just exploding batteries:
/.ers could guide me to some good resources for homeschooling.
I have an 11 year old sister who recently shocked me by being unable to divide by 12 (to convert inches to feet). She could perform the math operation trivially when she was 8 or 9. If anything, she's backsliding in regular school. With exams like this, I fear for her performance. Earlier today my mom and I had a bitter fight over whether we should just homeschool her until the XIth grade when hopefully she can take the IB.
It doesn't matter what the demand is. All that matters is the number of people who care about engineering to begin with.
I fully agree with you. My point is that demand is distorted by factors such as grade inflation. At my alma mater, Latin honors (which are % based) are awarded to Economics students who attain a GPA of ~3.7. The comparable GPA for engineering is ~3.3. Math and Hard Science students literally can almost never get Latin Honors b/c their honors calculations are lumped in the 3.7 pool.
Why the gap? Simple answer: grade inflation in non-engineering/math/hard science subjects. So for jobs, graduate school (esp professional degrees like MBA and Law), many students who are in fact drawn to engineering switch over.
Another factor distorting demand is the poor nature of HS system (in general). Declining standards, especially at the bottom, mean that poor HS students don't know the job market at graduation, nor have they truly been exposed to the joys of engineering/hard science/math. Increased social stratification only makes this worse. If in poor communities the idea of a "good job" is some mid-level service job -- eg Bank Manager, then kids from these communities have no clue that engineering or math are indeed a way out.
So wait -- do physical fuzzy dice count as prior art in patent challenge?
I thought obviousness was a grounds for dismissal. Although the need for "virtual fuzzy dice" is far from obvious, the patent proposal itself slaps you in the face. I mean, it's the same concept as a bloody "digital" speedometer or fuel guage isn't it?
Then again, one could hardly have foreseen the popularity of a "virtual" solitaire.
Thank God the US Supreme Court seems to agree
1. I think if you make the selectivity stringent enough, you'll find that you are mostly targeting kids smart enough to make that decision for themselves.
2. Dropping out _is_ a valid option. Remember, it's "free". *Minimal strings attached*.
3. Does anyone have an idea of how tight the market is for science and engineering majors? Especially materials, comp sci and EE. Domestic enrollment rates are falling through the floor year on year. There's a great number of hidden disincentives in the current system from pursuing a science or engineering degree -- grade inflation, for example. Consequently CS enrollment, for example, has been dropping 5-10% YoY since 2000. I'm reasonably sure similar drops are being registered Math, Stats and hard Sciences, and in all engineering but Biochemical (cybernetics/systems bio/mol bio) and possibly Materials.
To put that in freaking proportion, the number of students attending college doubled from 1967 to 2000. So as a proportion of the college-going proportion, engineers are dropping to the bottom. Also the number of foreign-born graduate students in Engineering is at a solid 20-30%, masking a huge drop-off in domestic numbers there, too.
Plus these falling numbers come at the peak of a college-age baby boom! More people are going to college now (2003-10) than ever before. And you can't argue that this generation will have as much, if not more need, for scientists, engineers and math/stat guys than possibly ever before.
So IMHO the more incentives in this direction, the merrier.
Students saddled with debt
The recent student loan scandals have shown us that most student "aid" in America is in the form of loans, and the whole industry is one big racket engineered to rob the unprepared (students) and the taxpayer (govt subsidy on interest). Recent college graduates, not to mention dropouts, are saddled with insane amounts of debt.
Finally, my personal hypothesis is that was placement in college affordable for a demanding major, the more incentive for children from poorer sections of society to avidly pursue it. "Free" is a very powerful word. As long as it's reasonably strenuous to get in (i.e. quality and selectivity are not being sacrificed for price or subsidy), I think the demand could be great enough to drive reform in individual high schools. Inspiring such bottom-up reform in the bloated bureaucracy that is our public school system is far more worth it than any "top-down", watered down establishment approach.
I think the last generation of consoles were so far ahead of the previous generations that they truly inspired a "golden" age, if that's what you want to call it. The PS2 and the XBox have given us some remarkable and truly creative games -- just think of GTA, unbelievable platformers like Jak, perfection in FPSs and multiplayer games with Halo and Half Life. We've had offbeat games like Psychonauts, Dance Dance, Katamari and the return of the adventure game in games like Fallout. Sports games made insane developments -- Madden as we know it was created for the PS2 and XBox. NBA Street, anybody? Action gaming reached a new height with Ninja Gaiden and the new PoPs. And what about MGS and Rainbow six? Battlefield Earth? Perfect Dark? No One Lives Forever? Each fantastic. Franchises like Metroid and Zelda reached new highs too. Even the Dreamcast pitched in with modern classics like Samba de Amigo, Seaman and of course Soul Calibur.
Now, in the current generation, that initial spurt of creativity seems to be reaching it's tail end. Great games are still being made here and there, but most are just competent sequels, trapped in the same genres defined by the last spurt in creativity. Although great strides have been made in portable gaming - the DS is fabulous, the PSP technically ridiculously comptetent, by and large mainstream games are dull. On consoles and the PC games seem to have temporarily reached a dead end. They're all big budget filler, pretty polygons with AI and gameplay that's hardly advanced. The market is dominated by sequels and rehashes of the same genre - Madden 07, GTA 5, Call of Duty 2, Civ IV, V whatever. When consoles are peddling nostalgia and backwards compatibility, you know that not much new is happening. The thrill of anticipating new games is largely gone. I'm intrigued by the new Wii controller, but I don't think I'm excited enough to preorder it. It's not something I _must_ have. There are a few bright sparks in the landscape - WoW and Oblivion spring to mind, as do Prey and Fear in the FPS genre. But with earlier games if I didn't play them I felt that I was missing out on the great zeitgeist. These are amazing games, but not playing them is not anything to lose sleep over.
If anything, we're at the tail end of a great spurt in gaming. I hope there's a resurgence -- the DS is promising, as is the Wii. But the Xbox 360 and the PS3 only offer more of the same -- bigger and bolder perhaps, but not really much better.
Re:Languages continue to evolve into ... Lisp
on
Python 2.5 Released
·
· Score: 1
There are very many competent programming languages out there.
But if you learn any well-entrenched programming language - C, Java, C#, Python, Ruby and even Lisp, once you achieve a certain level of competence, implementing almost any algorithm, creating almost any application, in that language becomes a straightforward process.
However, it's easy, especially with languages with enormous library and industry support, to get locked into one particular language or family (eg C++ and Java, Python and Ruby) of languages, and then lose the ability to discern what other programming languages do to make implementing some subset of algorithms or applications _better_. And by _better_ I mean easier to program in a straightforward fashion.
This is why it is important to keep one toe dipped in a distinct family of languages different from the one you are most accustomed to programming in. Most of my programming work is done in C++ or Java, but I like to extensively tool around with Python and Lisp, just to keep my mind free of being trapped into thinking exclusively in the C++ paradigm. I hope to dabble in Haskell, and maybe go back to a little OCaml programming too, just to keep things more interesting.
IMHO all languages don't eventually tend towards Lisp, but an understanding of functional programming truly improves programming (and oftentimes, frustration and resentment) with C++.
imagine if you can hack it so the turbine shatters, taking your computer down with it.
Also I don't know how comfortable I am about more moving parts. The more solid state a laptop, the better imho. less shit that can break when you drop it (ask me, i've destroyed 5+ laptop hdds in the last 3 years)
does anyone else feel that their charging for what was planned as a free (ad-supported) service (i.e. google library) is just a ploy to get users for checkout?
i have a hunch that that's the case -- it can't be significantly more expensive to ocr newspapers than their library project is.
or is the charge because they are doing some kind of revenue sharing with the original publication? though that doesn't make sense either.
i want to wish her. in the past i would not have hesitated to write a short and sweet note on her wall. since we now live halfway across the world from each other, a phone call is unreasonably complicated (especially given our acrimonious breakup). an email is too personal (i don't really want her to respond). so the wall is an ideal private/public combo. A personalized message in a public setting.
unfortunately, the new facebook *news feed* would, without my explicit permission, broadcast my post to EVERYONE we know in common, along with the ENTIRE TEXT. At least half of them would have a chuckle at my expense, or at least that's the way I feel. So, before posting, I hesitate. And send an email instead.
Facebook has lost a significant utility for me. Similar public/private conundrums are going to result when somebody invites me to RSVP for a party via Facebook, wants me to join a group, etc. Updating my profile is now difficult because each change i make will be publicly broadcast to all my Facebook "friends" (some of whom I don't even know). And I don't want that.
The illusion of privacy that facebook gave -- that it was a reasonably intimate network of peers -- is now destroyed.
oh yes and finally 6. Success in school is determined by performance in state-wide or national 'board' exams. If you are a needy scholarship student from rural areas (as many are), then these exams can make or break your future. Computers only detract from studying for written exams, many of which rely heavily on rote-learning. Yes, the system itself is flawed, but until the entire educational system itself is overhauled (not happening anytime soon), computing is more of an aside in public K-12 education, rather than the focus of it.
1. one laptop per child demands a hell of a lot in terms of teacher training. Any such program would have to be gradually introduced, as most teachers have never used a computer themselves, forget using it as an educational tool.
2. i highly doubt the laptop supports all of India's 33-odd "recognized languages", disregarding others commonly taught in schools (Arabic, Farsi, etc). The vernacular lobbies would have a field day claiming that the government is deliberately excluding their languages. Which is a valid point. People would sue the government and the education boards.
3. kids in India are already prone to watching excessive amounts of television. Many parents therefore worry that sitting in front of a laptop will "strain their eyes". This sounds stupid but its actually a very commonly held widespread belief across the country. Growing up there myself, none of us were allowed more than half an hour or an hour of TV a day. Remember, parents of these children grew up without tvs, or if they had any, there were only 2 or 3 channels. they therefore instinctively challenge the health effects of all screen-based technologies, excluding movies, which are common and popular.
4. working with computers is a highly regarded profession in India -- being a cs engineer is pretty much the sexiest job anybody can hold -- kind of like being an i-banker in the US. with many kids already gravitating to computers, many public schools already having computer labs, why go all out and give each child a computer at what is a ridiculous cost?
5. The monthly salary for a teacher in rural india is around $100. School fees in public schools vary from around $3-$25 a month, depending on the area (cost is subsidized by govt). these laptops are too easy to steal. Corruption in India is a big big deal. I shudder to think of the implications of thousands of these going "missing" and reappearing on the black or grey markets. In truly poor areas, parents would happily pawn the device -- which can be as much as 2 or 3 months income to some of the poorest parents.
Far better to let charities, private schools and the free market distribute these devices, as and when needed. I can easily see this laptop becoming a valuable device for farmers and other small businesses in rural areas -- they can carry the thing into the fields, and use it for inventory, stock keeping, taxes etc. They need cheap computers far more than their kids do.
Nonlinear editing systems are incredible, but if it was done on the Cell, it would be even more incredible... The difference will be obvious. I think other PC applications, like photo-retouching software, will also be able to be done on the PS3
I think the PS3 would be uniquely positioned as a cheap non-linear editing box -- even if it costs around $450, a PC with comparable graphic handling capabilities will easily cost double that.
This could be huge for amateur video -- and even for smaller TV and film production companies.
Slashdot Mirror
Shame on me, but this is the first time I visited the mars rover website. It struck me as slightly odd that NASA researchers call the Martian Solar Day the sol.
Anyway, for those similarly bemused and/or further intrigued, here is the explanation of Mars Solar Time as Adopted by the Mars24 Sunclock
No, the reasons are not ambiguous, they are clearly outlined. There is nothing wrong with the technology, the entire problem is the lack of quality control in battery factories in China. Sony is not the only one to get screwed by poor QC in Chinese factories, so has Mattell who are scrambling to recall ~20 million toys painted with lead paint, and J&J, who are scrambling to recall 10 million fake diabetes kits
In the article itself, fingers are clearly pointed
I don't think anybody realizes just how shoddy quality control is in China. Just as there is absolutely no respect for intellectual property, the Chinese, being new to capitalism, don't understand the value of quality control. They've never had to suffer the consequences of legal action.
The culture just does not exist. Some argue that this is a good sign, a necessary phase in capitalism that China is passing through that the USA passed through once before.
I'm not trying to be a troll. China I'm sure will improve and their industry is surely chastened by the huge hue and cry around the world. But until things get better, watch out, and for more than just exploding batteries:
Just setting the record straight
/.ers could guide me to some good resources for homeschooling.
I have an 11 year old sister who recently shocked me by being unable to divide by 12 (to convert inches to feet). She could perform the math operation trivially when she was 8 or 9. If anything, she's backsliding in regular school. With exams like this, I fear for her performance. Earlier today my mom and I had a bitter fight over whether we should just homeschool her until the XIth grade when hopefully she can take the IB.
Any thoughts? Feedback? Resources?
while i'm dispensing free advice ...
always use the preview button b4 submitting a comment
In logic, <b>begging the question</b> describes a type of logical fallacy, petitio principii, in which the conclusion of an argument is implicitly or explicitly assumed in one of the premises.[1] Stephen Barker explains the fallacy in The Elements of Logic: "If the premises are related to the conclusion in such an intimate way that the speaker and listeners could not have less reason to doubt the premise than they have to doubt the conclusion, then the argument is worthless as a proof, even though the link between premises and conclusion may have the most cast-iron rigor".[1] In other words, the argument fails to prove anything because it takes for granted what it is supposed to prove.
/.ers to cut their use of this two-faced phrase.
Begging the question is related to the fallacy known as circular argument, circulus in probando, vicious circle or circular reasoning. As a concept in logic the first known definition in the West is by the Greek philosopher Aristotle around 350 B.C., in the Prior Analytics.
<b>In non-standard usage, the phrase is commonly used to mean "suggests the question" or "raises the question".</b>
</a>
That said, the question is emphatically a valid one. This is just a plea to
So wait -- do physical fuzzy dice count as prior art in patent challenge? I thought obviousness was a grounds for dismissal. Although the need for "virtual fuzzy dice" is far from obvious, the patent proposal itself slaps you in the face. I mean, it's the same concept as a bloody "digital" speedometer or fuel guage isn't it? Then again, one could hardly have foreseen the popularity of a "virtual" solitaire. Thank God the US Supreme Court seems to agree
2. Dropping out _is_ a valid option. Remember, it's "free". *Minimal strings attached*.
3. Does anyone have an idea of how tight the market is for science and engineering majors? Especially materials, comp sci and EE. Domestic enrollment rates are falling through the floor year on year. There's a great number of hidden disincentives in the current system from pursuing a science or engineering degree -- grade inflation, for example. Consequently CS enrollment, for example, has been dropping 5-10% YoY since 2000. I'm reasonably sure similar drops are being registered Math, Stats and hard Sciences, and in all engineering but Biochemical (cybernetics/systems bio/mol bio) and possibly Materials.
To put that in freaking proportion, the number of students attending college doubled from 1967 to 2000. So as a proportion of the college-going proportion, engineers are dropping to the bottom. Also the number of foreign-born graduate students in Engineering is at a solid 20-30%, masking a huge drop-off in domestic numbers there, too.
Plus these falling numbers come at the peak of a college-age baby boom! More people are going to college now (2003-10) than ever before. And you can't argue that this generation will have as much, if not more need, for scientists, engineers and math/stat guys than possibly ever before.
So IMHO the more incentives in this direction, the merrier.
Students saddled with debt The recent student loan scandals have shown us that most student "aid" in America is in the form of loans, and the whole industry is one big racket engineered to rob the unprepared (students) and the taxpayer (govt subsidy on interest). Recent college graduates, not to mention dropouts, are saddled with insane amounts of debt.
Government money better spent this way
Finally, my personal hypothesis is that was placement in college affordable for a demanding major, the more incentive for children from poorer sections of society to avidly pursue it. "Free" is a very powerful word. As long as it's reasonably strenuous to get in (i.e. quality and selectivity are not being sacrificed for price or subsidy), I think the demand could be great enough to drive reform in individual high schools. Inspiring such bottom-up reform in the bloated bureaucracy that is our public school system is far more worth it than any "top-down", watered down establishment approach.in my personal experience, almost all cases now come in black, grey, blue or a similar dark shade. I haven't seen a beige box in a long, long time.
for NSFW keycaps!
I think the last generation of consoles were so far ahead of the previous generations that they truly inspired a "golden" age, if that's what you want to call it. The PS2 and the XBox have given us some remarkable and truly creative games -- just think of GTA, unbelievable platformers like Jak, perfection in FPSs and multiplayer games with Halo and Half Life. We've had offbeat games like Psychonauts, Dance Dance, Katamari and the return of the adventure game in games like Fallout. Sports games made insane developments -- Madden as we know it was created for the PS2 and XBox. NBA Street, anybody? Action gaming reached a new height with Ninja Gaiden and the new PoPs. And what about MGS and Rainbow six? Battlefield Earth? Perfect Dark? No One Lives Forever? Each fantastic. Franchises like Metroid and Zelda reached new highs too. Even the Dreamcast pitched in with modern classics like Samba de Amigo, Seaman and of course Soul Calibur.
Now, in the current generation, that initial spurt of creativity seems to be reaching it's tail end. Great games are still being made here and there, but most are just competent sequels, trapped in the same genres defined by the last spurt in creativity. Although great strides have been made in portable gaming - the DS is fabulous, the PSP technically ridiculously comptetent, by and large mainstream games are dull. On consoles and the PC games seem to have temporarily reached a dead end. They're all big budget filler, pretty polygons with AI and gameplay that's hardly advanced. The market is dominated by sequels and rehashes of the same genre - Madden 07, GTA 5, Call of Duty 2, Civ IV, V whatever. When consoles are peddling nostalgia and backwards compatibility, you know that not much new is happening. The thrill of anticipating new games is largely gone. I'm intrigued by the new Wii controller, but I don't think I'm excited enough to preorder it. It's not something I _must_ have. There are a few bright sparks in the landscape - WoW and Oblivion spring to mind, as do Prey and Fear in the FPS genre. But with earlier games if I didn't play them I felt that I was missing out on the great zeitgeist. These are amazing games, but not playing them is not anything to lose sleep over.
If anything, we're at the tail end of a great spurt in gaming. I hope there's a resurgence -- the DS is promising, as is the Wii. But the Xbox 360 and the PS3 only offer more of the same -- bigger and bolder perhaps, but not really much better.
There are very many competent programming languages out there.
But if you learn any well-entrenched programming language - C, Java, C#, Python, Ruby and even Lisp, once you achieve a certain level of competence, implementing almost any algorithm, creating almost any application, in that language becomes a straightforward process.
However, it's easy, especially with languages with enormous library and industry support, to get locked into one particular language or family (eg C++ and Java, Python and Ruby) of languages, and then lose the ability to discern what other programming languages do to make implementing some subset of algorithms or applications _better_. And by _better_ I mean easier to program in a straightforward fashion.
This is why it is important to keep one toe dipped in a distinct family of languages different from the one you are most accustomed to programming in. Most of my programming work is done in C++ or Java, but I like to extensively tool around with Python and Lisp, just to keep my mind free of being trapped into thinking exclusively in the C++ paradigm. I hope to dabble in Haskell, and maybe go back to a little OCaml programming too, just to keep things more interesting.
IMHO all languages don't eventually tend towards Lisp, but an understanding of functional programming truly improves programming (and oftentimes, frustration and resentment) with C++.
imagine if you can hack it so the turbine shatters, taking your computer down with it.
Also I don't know how comfortable I am about more moving parts. The more solid state a laptop, the better imho. less shit that can break when you drop it (ask me, i've destroyed 5+ laptop hdds in the last 3 years)
does anyone else feel that their charging for what was planned as a free (ad-supported) service (i.e. google library) is just a ploy to get users for checkout?
i have a hunch that that's the case -- it can't be significantly more expensive to ocr newspapers than their library project is.
or is the charge because they are doing some kind of revenue sharing with the original publication? though that doesn't make sense either.
today is an ex's birthday.
i want to wish her. in the past i would not have hesitated to write a short and sweet note on her wall. since we now live halfway across the world from each other, a phone call is unreasonably complicated (especially given our acrimonious breakup). an email is too personal (i don't really want her to respond). so the wall is an ideal private/public combo. A personalized message in a public setting.
unfortunately, the new facebook *news feed* would, without my explicit permission, broadcast my post to EVERYONE we know in common, along with the ENTIRE TEXT. At least half of them would have a chuckle at my expense, or at least that's the way I feel. So, before posting, I hesitate. And send an email instead.
Facebook has lost a significant utility for me. Similar public/private conundrums are going to result when somebody invites me to RSVP for a party via Facebook, wants me to join a group, etc. Updating my profile is now difficult because each change i make will be publicly broadcast to all my Facebook "friends" (some of whom I don't even know). And I don't want that.
The illusion of privacy that facebook gave -- that it was a reasonably intimate network of peers -- is now destroyed.
i'm imagining a pool with a message that reads "wet surface"
oh yes and finally
6. Success in school is determined by performance in state-wide or national 'board' exams. If you are a needy scholarship student from rural areas (as many are), then these exams can make or break your future. Computers only detract from studying for written exams, many of which rely heavily on rote-learning. Yes, the system itself is flawed, but until the entire educational system itself is overhauled (not happening anytime soon), computing is more of an aside in public K-12 education, rather than the focus of it.
1. one laptop per child demands a hell of a lot in terms of teacher training. Any such program would have to be gradually introduced, as most teachers have never used a computer themselves, forget using it as an educational tool.
2. i highly doubt the laptop supports all of India's 33-odd "recognized languages", disregarding others commonly taught in schools (Arabic, Farsi, etc). The vernacular lobbies would have a field day claiming that the government is deliberately excluding their languages. Which is a valid point. People would sue the government and the education boards.
3. kids in India are already prone to watching excessive amounts of television. Many parents therefore worry that sitting in front of a laptop will "strain their eyes". This sounds stupid but its actually a very commonly held widespread belief across the country. Growing up there myself, none of us were allowed more than half an hour or an hour of TV a day. Remember, parents of these children grew up without tvs, or if they had any, there were only 2 or 3 channels. they therefore instinctively challenge the health effects of all screen-based technologies, excluding movies, which are common and popular.
4. working with computers is a highly regarded profession in India -- being a cs engineer is pretty much the sexiest job anybody can hold -- kind of like being an i-banker in the US. with many kids already gravitating to computers, many public schools already having computer labs, why go all out and give each child a computer at what is a ridiculous cost?
5. The monthly salary for a teacher in rural india is around $100. School fees in public schools vary from around $3-$25 a month, depending on the area (cost is subsidized by govt). these laptops are too easy to steal. Corruption in India is a big big deal. I shudder to think of the implications of thousands of these going "missing" and reappearing on the black or grey markets. In truly poor areas, parents would happily pawn the device -- which can be as much as 2 or 3 months income to some of the poorest parents.
Far better to let charities, private schools and the free market distribute these devices, as and when needed. I can easily see this laptop becoming a valuable device for farmers and other small businesses in rural areas -- they can carry the thing into the fields, and use it for inventory, stock keeping, taxes etc. They need cheap computers far more than their kids do.
now that this kid has seen all from a fresh perspective, which side is he on?
is he childishly rooting for Luke and co, or has he instinctively come to appreciate the case for the empire?
who the **** wears nanopants?
mary-kate and ashley?
Nonlinear editing systems are incredible, but if it was done on the Cell, it would be even more incredible... The difference will be obvious. I think other PC applications, like photo-retouching software, will also be able to be done on the PS3
I think the PS3 would be uniquely positioned as a cheap non-linear editing box -- even if it costs around $450, a PC with comparable graphic handling capabilities will easily cost double that.
This could be huge for amateur video -- and even for smaller TV and film production companies.
"without your space helmet Dave, you're going to find that rather difficult"
2001
all i want to know is... when can we have adventure games back?
they can't be that expensive to develop -- i don't know about you guys but I liked guybrush threepwood better in 2D.
how about if they got a BSOD
or an RSOD?