You said, "I'm sure the average research neurobiologist would be far more proficient at eliminating confounding factors, since it is a critical part of the job..."
Actually, I haven't found that to be the case. Only a few of the people doing "science" actually have a careful scientific orientation.
Anyone who practices finger-tapping will become a faster finger-tapper. Probably the results of the study only show that younger people are more likely to have played computer games. Practicing motor coordination improves response times.
In my grandparent post I meant to say that "should" indicates a theory, not that nothing is known with more sureness than theory.
Fraud Alert: The results are wildly over-interpreted. The conclusions are guessing, not science.
Maybe older people don't take finger-tapping seriously. Maybe younger people are far more likely to have played computer games.
I met a man who was 55 who told me that he didn't get a good score on a computer pinball game he had just begun playing because he was old. Two weeks later, when I saw him again, he said his score had tripled.
Quote from the article linked by Slashdot: "Significantly, the research suggests that the myelin breakdown process should also reduce all other brain functions for which performance speed is dependent on higher AP frequencies, including memory;..."
That's wild over-interpretation. There is no "should" in science. There is only theory, and it is necessary to emphasize that theories are only that, theories.
Oprah's "Book Club" is go to the library and get the book. Only that. Either she does not recommend books for profit, or the publishing houses pay her.
The big, big, big issue is documentation. Other things being fairly equal, the library that is explained best will get used more, and receive much more support.
It's said when EVERY user must do extra work, rather than just one writer.
For those who don't think about version control systems every day, when he says "bzr" he is talking about Bazaar, the VCS Mark Shuttleworth supported for Canonical because he didn't like the other VCS.
"The documentation is far from perfect."
Unfortunately, Canonical is supporting the usual Open Source tradition of communicating poorly, forcing everyone to use weeks of their time to learn something new, instead of having one person spend weeks writing good documentation. In a lot of ways, Canonical is just the same old pig, wearing a bit of lipstick.
You said, "So, Dr. Ioannidis either show us some data from chemistry, maths
and physics or stop complaining that all of science has a problem on this
scale."
I'm sympathetic to the direction you are going, but I don't agree
completely.
The problem is due to being able to get extra money by
exaggerating claims. The problem is in every area of science, in my
experience. If there is no chance to get more money by exaggerating claims,
then I agree, the problem seems minimal.
In computing, claims about "Artificial Intelligence" have been
extremely exaggerated.
In physics, there are those who claim they may have found a method of
cold nuclear fusion. Search for Sonofusion,
for example, fusion that is caused by extremely intense ultrasonic sound. Some
of those claims are exaggerated, or there are omissions of the limitations.
You said, "This illustrates how fiendishly corrupt government is, and how you have to be diligent, how can't depend on them doing something bad in a blatant manner to warn you you're about to get hosed."
Good point. Thanks for your entire explanation.
Could you provide more information about the bank de-regulation that allowed the current, even more serious, crisis?
A few of the problems with the U.S. Congress: 1) Insufficient understanding or
caring about the issues. 2) Hidden agendas. 3) Blatant corruption. 4) Passing
laws quickly, without allowing debate. 5) Writing laws so that it is difficult
to understand their implications. 6) Combining good legislation with bad, so
that the bad will pass. 7) Providing descriptions that present laws as
different from their true purpose.
An example of number 3 was removing the regulations that required
banks to have assets similar to their liabilities, with the understanding that
taxpayers would pay for the resulting bankruptcies.
Another example of number 3 was removing the regulations that required
savings and loan organizations to have sufficient assets
to cover their loans, with the understanding that taxpayers would pay for the
resulting bankruptcies.
MOD PARENT UP!! Good link. Nice photo of Erin Brockovich. LOL.
Quote from the paper referenced in the Slashdot story: "Using the mismatch in the dielectric constant or magnetic permeability between the suspended particles and the base liquid, we can apply an electric or magnetic field to aggregate the small particles into large ones."
You don't think "box of rocks" is a good name? LOL.
Other poor names:
Image manipulation software: GIMP. A gimp is a cripple.
Beatles: They named their band after a kind of insect? Some unlikely names don't stop success.
I am very impressed with the fact that the Rockbox team lists all the contributors.
My parent comment has 39 replies, many of them very interesting, but it is moderated -1 Off Topic at this time.
So, I'll repeat what I said: Alaska's population is like that of a small city, 683,478. Sara Palin has been Alaska's governor for less than 2 years. Before that, she was mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, a city of less than 10,000 people.
AT&T is no longer the old AT&T, because the name was sold to SBC. My understanding
is that the SBC trademark was worse than useless because the company is so
abusive. So, the managers decided to use another name.
Those interested in how
that happened can watch Stephen Colbert explain in a 1 minute 14 second video:
The New AT&T.
Quote from the parent comment: "Firefox continually degrades in performance and memory usage over time where you can feel the tabs taking longer and longer to switch. And the memory leaks and left overs from long since closed tabs won't go away without quitting out of Firefox."
I wonder why, when Firefox gets $50 million a year from Google, they don't fix the bug that bothers users the most. Is it that they don't have the technical ability, or is there a lack of corporate will?
Slashdot Mirror
You said, "I'm sure the average research neurobiologist would be far more proficient at eliminating confounding factors, since it is a critical part of the job..."
Actually, I haven't found that to be the case. Only a few of the people doing "science" actually have a careful scientific orientation.
Vioxx is an example. Read Dangerous Deception - Hiding the Evidence of Adverse Drug Effects in the New England Journal of Medicine.
It is my observation that fraud and incompetence is widespread in what is called "science".
LOL. Yes, I'm saying that.
Read what Sockatume had to say below: Bad reporting, more like.
Anyone who practices finger-tapping will become a faster finger-tapper. Probably the results of the study only show that younger people are more likely to have played computer games. Practicing motor coordination improves response times.
In my grandparent post I meant to say that "should" indicates a theory, not that nothing is known with more sureness than theory.
Fraud Alert: The results are wildly over-interpreted. The conclusions are guessing, not science.
..."
Maybe older people don't take finger-tapping seriously. Maybe younger people are far more likely to have played computer games.
I met a man who was 55 who told me that he didn't get a good score on a computer pinball game he had just begun playing because he was old. Two weeks later, when I saw him again, he said his score had tripled.
Quote from the article linked by Slashdot: "Significantly, the research suggests that the myelin breakdown process should also reduce all other brain functions for which performance speed is dependent on higher AP frequencies, including memory;
That's wild over-interpretation. There is no "should" in science. There is only theory, and it is necessary to emphasize that theories are only that, theories.
Javascript of the ACLU map not working? Use this URL. Replace NY with the desired state code:
www.aclu.org/privacy/spying/cfz_map/constitutionfreezone-NY.html
It's rather weird, in my opinion, when Oprah, a woman who has problems with her weight, sells weight-loss products.
Oprah's "Book Club" is go to the library and get the book. Only that. Either she does not recommend books for profit, or the publishing houses pay her.
The CDC 6600 had a version of Pong. Only $5,000,000 and 14 people to run and maintain it.
Should be: "It's sad when EVERY user must do extra work, rather than just one writer."
The big, big, big issue is documentation. Other things being fairly equal, the library that is explained best will get used more, and receive much more support.
It's said when EVERY user must do extra work, rather than just one writer.
The Version Control Blog references an article, Choosing a Distributed Version Control System that is almost a year old, but has interesting comparisons. That article says the documentation of Bazaar is good. Is that because the others are even worse?
For those who don't think about version control systems every day, when he says "bzr" he is talking about Bazaar, the VCS Mark Shuttleworth supported for Canonical because he didn't like the other VCS.
"The documentation is far from perfect."
Unfortunately, Canonical is supporting the usual Open Source tradition of communicating poorly, forcing everyone to use weeks of their time to learn something new, instead of having one person spend weeks writing good documentation. In a lot of ways, Canonical is just the same old pig, wearing a bit of lipstick.
You said, "So, Dr. Ioannidis either show us some data from chemistry, maths and physics or stop complaining that all of science has a problem on this scale."
I'm sympathetic to the direction you are going, but I don't agree completely.
The problem is due to being able to get extra money by exaggerating claims. The problem is in every area of science, in my experience. If there is no chance to get more money by exaggerating claims, then I agree, the problem seems minimal.
In computing, claims about "Artificial Intelligence" have been extremely exaggerated.
In physics, there are those who claim they may have found a method of cold nuclear fusion. Search for Sonofusion, for example, fusion that is caused by extremely intense ultrasonic sound. Some of those claims are exaggerated, or there are omissions of the limitations.
Correction: The car Tesla Motors has for sale now costs $109,000.
The L.A. Times article has more detail: Tesla Motors hits the brakes amid credit crisis.
There is limited desire for the first generation of a car that costs $110,000.
Dun Malg,
You said, "This illustrates how fiendishly corrupt government is, and how you have to be diligent, how can't depend on them doing something bad in a blatant manner to warn you you're about to get hosed."
Good point. Thanks for your entire explanation.
Could you provide more information about the bank de-regulation that allowed the current, even more serious, crisis?
A few of the problems with the U.S. Congress: 1) Insufficient understanding or caring about the issues. 2) Hidden agendas. 3) Blatant corruption. 4) Passing laws quickly, without allowing debate. 5) Writing laws so that it is difficult to understand their implications. 6) Combining good legislation with bad, so that the bad will pass. 7) Providing descriptions that present laws as different from their true purpose.
An example of number 3 was removing the regulations that required banks to have assets similar to their liabilities, with the understanding that taxpayers would pay for the resulting bankruptcies.
Another example of number 3 was removing the regulations that required savings and loan organizations to have sufficient assets to cover their loans, with the understanding that taxpayers would pay for the resulting bankruptcies.
That paper is very poorly written, at least.
MOD PARENT UP!! Good link. Nice photo of Erin Brockovich. LOL.
Quote from the paper referenced in the Slashdot story: "Using the mismatch in the dielectric constant or magnetic permeability between the suspended particles and the base liquid, we can apply an electric or magnetic field to aggregate the small particles into large ones."
What? The "magnetic permeability" of a non-magnetic substance?
There is a band named Puddle of Mudd? Yup.
You don't think "box of rocks" is a good name? LOL.
Other poor names:
Image manipulation software: GIMP. A gimp is a cripple.
Beatles: They named their band after a kind of insect? Some unlikely names don't stop success.
I am very impressed with the fact that the Rockbox team lists all the contributors.
Mod parent informative!
My parent comment has 39 replies, many of them very interesting, but it is moderated -1 Off Topic at this time.
So, I'll repeat what I said: Alaska's population is like that of a small city, 683,478. Sara Palin has been Alaska's governor for less than 2 years. Before that, she was mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, a city of less than 10,000 people.
AT&T is no longer the old AT&T, because the name was sold to SBC. My understanding is that the SBC trademark was worse than useless because the company is so abusive. So, the managers decided to use another name.
Those interested in how that happened can watch Stephen Colbert explain in a 1 minute 14 second video: The New AT&T.
... for very low values of "they". Alaska's population is like that of a small city, 683,478, with basically one kind of business, oil.
Sara Palin has been Alaska's governor for two years.
Before that, she was mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, a city of less than 10,000 people (not counting moose and caribou).
Quote from the parent comment: "Firefox continually degrades in performance and memory usage over time where you can feel the tabs taking longer and longer to switch. And the memory leaks and left overs from long since closed tabs won't go away without quitting out of Firefox."
Those bugs are over 8 years old, and exist in Firefox 3.0.1. See the, CPU hogging bug not fixed: Top 20 excuses.
I wonder why, when Firefox gets $50 million a year from Google, they don't fix the bug that bothers users the most. Is it that they don't have the technical ability, or is there a lack of corporate will?