i'd like to see documents start trending towards landscape format, with two ore more columns per page. if MS word defaulted this way out-of-the-box, it would become the defacto standard since a lot of users wouldn't change it. or couldn't.
or what about the history teacher down the hall who always forgets to turn his lights off after class. should we hold HIM accountable for the electricity? you see how quickly this can get ridiculous.
Just because of the magnitude of the role he held, the million dollars is easy to come up with. But also due to that magnitude, a million dollars is really not a big deal. When employers start holding people accountable financially like that, productivity freezes out of fear. I mean, what if when he purchased the machines, he bargained for a great deal and saved $200 on each one? Now he's even, but nobody's threatening to GIVE him that money. It's a bad path to head down - dollar for dollar liability at your job.
And besides, didn't thousands of children learn about Fourier transforms? That's got to be worth at least a few bucks per student.
On contract, I charge a few bucks an hour, 24/7, for being on call. If a call comes through, my normal hourly rate goes into effect on top of it.
Working with a company, I've had arrangements in the past where we simply traded on-call time for flexibility, some random afternoons off, etc. If you're working with good people who trust each other (as we did) we all felt like it was fair, and things ran smoothly.
I recall someone with pet rabbits doing this to keep them from chewing on electrical cords in their living room, and they claim it worked. Worth a shot!
The Computational Beauty of Nature, by Gary William Flake. It's an interesting high-level look at algorithms that define natural systems (genetic algorithms, game theory, fractals, cellular automata, etc.)
I enjoyed it way back when, because it was high-level enough to give you a sense of the topics quickly, but had just enough detail (graphs, formulas, specific discussion of algorithms) that you could dig into it a little.
Maybe a little heavy for high-school, but I guess it depends (and what doesn't?)
OH and I second the motion for "Flatland" by Abbott!
Did I read correctly - 1.5km below sea level?!?
how did it get sunk so far without disturbing those man-made walls? it must have been an incredibly gentle and gradual catastrophe.
Has anyone even proposed some geological process by which an island could "sink", intact, to a depth of 1.5km?
Rapid continental drift - vertically?
you could start by teaching them about Babbage's Difference Engine, the Universal Turing Machine, etc.
(but it would take a long time and probably be a digression into anecdotal history more than a useful starting point)
if you want to arm people with a useful conceptual and visual toolkit, UML would get my vote. I wish someone would have started me out that way instead of letting me stumble my way into it.
I'm not sure we can count on accurate of translationedspecific words in article, however...
I concur that "hardness" and "strength" are not the same thing. Even "strength" has many facets. I'm not sure exactly what property is the most significant in stopping bullets, but I'd imagine it's compressive strength? A breaking window in say, a vehicle, shatters from failure in tensile strength, but bullet creates a local compression failure I would imagine.
If "hardness" stopped bullets would we be nailing DeBeers for all their stockpiled diamonds and using them to make tanks?
(which, btw, would look REALLY awesome I bet - a solid diamond tank!)
in the pacific northwest there's an arrangement where the power system is used to transmit data... but in a slightly different way.
since the power companies have uninterrupted easements (like a right-of-way, utilities have them everywhere) to everyplace where power flows, they use those areas to bury fiber.
so in a way it's the same principle - but using those "geographical/political" lines, not the actual power lines. There's a little less apparent "intrusion" (as perceived and expressed by a lot of posters here) and a lot more bandwidth. It also allows high-speed access to get out to rural utilities.
I think it's interesting how immediately parallel the two systems' physical architectures are anyhow - wherever there's data, there's electricity.
i'd guess they meant what would be more commonly called load following meaning they can control resources to meet load on a realtime basis.
although there are certain systems where large loads which are not needed on a moment's notice can be controlled by a power scheduler - but this requires pretty careful contractual arrangements and communication as you might imagine.
they wouldn't really be able to, say, "reduce your load" overall - they'd need to turn off specific appliances as you mentioned, which would require special equipment to be installed within your property i.e. in the breaker or beyond. so I wouldn't worry too much about it - at least for now...
that's a good point droh... but my feeling is that we're not playing the same game as creationists.
It already HAS been disproved, at least to a point were any reasonable scientist would consider it down for the count, unless new information surfaces. But somehow they're still not convinced! I don't think science has the tools to convince creationists...
why must people try to persuade and disprove creationists ? This is a fascinating finding all on its own, and it's science.
We shouldn't be concerned with how it addresses (or does not address) the beliefs of nomadic desert tribes, fashion designers, creationists, lumberyard employees... it doesn't really matter.
I got my bachelors and masters degrees in architecture (BSAS and MArch), and loved every single minute of the educational process that architecture puts you through.
The scope is incredible - there's the obvious art vs. engineering issues, but then there are quite a few things that pop up along the way - linguistics, artificial intelligence, computer science, music, history, theory, psychology, sociology...
And now I'm a systems analyst/developer - and I'm finding that analyzing, designing, and executing a software project has amazingly direct parallels to the same processes in architecture.
of course, the school you select is very important - a lot of them are much more strict and traditional and will let you take 2 electives then cram arch.history and HVAC systems down your throat the rest of the time.
just a thought anyhow. probably something better achieved through serendipity than through planning.
You're forgetting weaklings, obese people, and the exceptionally stupid.
Also I believe "apathy" and "malaise" are considered qualifications for disability by the ADA.
How about "During the past 12 months, reported that problems with people skills, concentration, or stress seriosly interfered with their ability to manage everyday activities" - that counts most computer programmers I know, including myself!
and then things will get very cold and boring for all eternity.
since none of you will be around to say "told you so" I choose to vote for the recollapse-into-singularity model. makes me feel like there's some continuity.
Slashdot Mirror
i'd like to see documents start trending towards landscape format, with two ore more columns per page. if MS word defaulted this way out-of-the-box, it would become the defacto standard since a lot of users wouldn't change it. or couldn't.
those are metric billions
or what about the history teacher down the hall who always forgets to turn his lights off after class. should we hold HIM accountable for the electricity? you see how quickly this can get ridiculous.
Just because of the magnitude of the role he held, the million dollars is easy to come up with. But also due to that magnitude, a million dollars is really not a big deal. When employers start holding people accountable financially like that, productivity freezes out of fear. I mean, what if when he purchased the machines, he bargained for a great deal and saved $200 on each one? Now he's even, but nobody's threatening to GIVE him that money. It's a bad path to head down - dollar for dollar liability at your job.
And besides, didn't thousands of children learn about Fourier transforms? That's got to be worth at least a few bucks per student.
On contract, I charge a few bucks an hour, 24/7, for being on call. If a call comes through, my normal hourly rate goes into effect on top of it.
Working with a company, I've had arrangements in the past where we simply traded on-call time for flexibility, some random afternoons off, etc. If you're working with good people who trust each other (as we did) we all felt like it was fair, and things ran smoothly.
I recall someone with pet rabbits doing this to keep them from chewing on electrical cords in their living room, and they claim it worked. Worth a shot!
The Computational Beauty of Nature, by Gary William Flake. It's an interesting high-level look at algorithms that define natural systems (genetic algorithms, game theory, fractals, cellular automata, etc.)
I enjoyed it way back when, because it was high-level enough to give you a sense of the topics quickly, but had just enough detail (graphs, formulas, specific discussion of algorithms) that you could dig into it a little.
Maybe a little heavy for high-school, but I guess it depends (and what doesn't?)
OH and I second the motion for "Flatland" by Abbott!
Raul Jobs
well we've apparently already wiped out all the *terrestrial* brine shrimp, so we should proceed with caution.
i think the mod should stand, and we should develop a way to mod the mod itself +5 funny
Did I read correctly - 1.5km below sea level?!? how did it get sunk so far without disturbing those man-made walls? it must have been an incredibly gentle and gradual catastrophe. Has anyone even proposed some geological process by which an island could "sink", intact, to a depth of 1.5km? Rapid continental drift - vertically?
in which amendment was that task mandated? did they pass a new one while I wasn't paying attention?
you could start by teaching them about Babbage's Difference Engine, the Universal Turing Machine, etc.
(but it would take a long time and probably be a digression into anecdotal history more than a useful starting point)
if you want to arm people with a useful conceptual and visual toolkit, UML would get my vote. I wish someone would have started me out that way instead of letting me stumble my way into it.
I'm not sure we can count on accurate of translationedspecific words in article, however...
I concur that "hardness" and "strength" are not the same thing. Even "strength" has many facets. I'm not sure exactly what property is the most significant in stopping bullets, but I'd imagine it's compressive strength? A breaking window in say, a vehicle, shatters from failure in tensile strength, but bullet creates a local compression failure I would imagine.
If "hardness" stopped bullets would we be nailing DeBeers for all their stockpiled diamonds and using them to make tanks?
(which, btw, would look REALLY awesome I bet - a solid diamond tank!)
in the pacific northwest there's an arrangement where the power system is used to transmit data... but in a slightly different way.
since the power companies have uninterrupted easements (like a right-of-way, utilities have them everywhere) to everyplace where power flows, they use those areas to bury fiber.
so in a way it's the same principle - but using those "geographical/political" lines, not the actual power lines. There's a little less apparent "intrusion" (as perceived and expressed by a lot of posters here) and a lot more bandwidth. It also allows high-speed access to get out to rural utilities.
I think it's interesting how immediately parallel the two systems' physical architectures are anyhow - wherever there's data, there's electricity.
i'd guess they meant what would be more commonly called load following meaning they can control resources to meet load on a realtime basis.
although there are certain systems where large loads which are not needed on a moment's notice can be controlled by a power scheduler - but this requires pretty careful contractual arrangements and communication as you might imagine.
they wouldn't really be able to, say, "reduce your load" overall - they'd need to turn off specific appliances as you mentioned, which would require special equipment to be installed within your property i.e. in the breaker or beyond. so I wouldn't worry too much about it - at least for now...
that's a good point droh... but my feeling is that we're not playing the same game as creationists.
It already HAS been disproved, at least to a point were any reasonable scientist would consider it down for the count, unless new information surfaces. But somehow they're still not convinced! I don't think science has the tools to convince creationists...
why must people try to persuade and disprove creationists ? This is a fascinating finding all on its own, and it's science.
We shouldn't be concerned with how it addresses (or does not address) the beliefs of nomadic desert tribes, fashion designers, creationists, lumberyard employees... it doesn't really matter.
I'm pretty bored with the creationism "debate"...
I got my bachelors and masters degrees in architecture (BSAS and MArch), and loved every single minute of the educational process that architecture puts you through.
The scope is incredible - there's the obvious art vs. engineering issues, but then there are quite a few things that pop up along the way - linguistics, artificial intelligence, computer science, music, history, theory, psychology, sociology...
And now I'm a systems analyst/developer - and I'm finding that analyzing, designing, and executing a software project has amazingly direct parallels to the same processes in architecture.
of course, the school you select is very important - a lot of them are much more strict and traditional and will let you take 2 electives then cram arch.history and HVAC systems down your throat the rest of the time.
just a thought anyhow. probably something better achieved through serendipity than through planning.
You're forgetting weaklings, obese people, and the exceptionally stupid. Also I believe "apathy" and "malaise" are considered qualifications for disability by the ADA. How about "During the past 12 months, reported that problems with people skills, concentration, or stress seriosly interfered with their ability to manage everyday activities" - that counts most computer programmers I know, including myself!
and then things will get very cold and boring for all eternity. since none of you will be around to say "told you so" I choose to vote for the recollapse-into-singularity model. makes me feel like there's some continuity.
rtfm