Comparing this type of data mining to "finding a needle in a haystack" isn't a good analogy.
Finding a needle in a haystack is relatively easy - you just look for anything that isn't hay.
But in this case, since you don't know what "hay" is (i.e. it's often hard to define "normal"), it's more like searching through a garabage heap hunting for something that you don't know what it looks like.
Would that qualify as a beowolf cluster of children?
Or maybe this would require a new "Grid Kid" architecture with an advanced resource broker to farm out the questions based on difficulty and school grade level.
I use several machines on a daily basis. I run Mozilla on all of them for web browsing and mail. I often run across a great plugin and install it on the machine I am currently using. I then have to remember/make a note/etc to install it on the other machines (or I find myself trying shortcuts that don't work because my plugins are out of sync).
Is there an easy way to manage plugins across multiple computers so that I can keep them all the same?
Maybe it's not possible to replace gasoline with soy bidiesel, but have we forgotten the not so old article about using algae? Maybe there's not a DIY method for algae (like in this article), but it's certainly one of the more viable ways to consider for a nation-wide system.
In particular, this link offers a pretty good breakdown of the amount of biodiesel needed to replace gasoline - and the amount of algae needed to get there. It also looks at a couple of other alternative fuels.
Maybe that's the problem. Too many times we worry about creating the "grid of flexible cells" and forget that the real user just wants to "input the various factors". There's a good usability lesson to be learned here...
I have a system very similar to this and others listed.
I have a pile that I still need to deal with
I enter all bills in Quicken as I pay them
I put all paid bills in to a big box, adding them from the front (like a stack, and mostly sorted by date)
I also keep separate tax related boxes (that I can compare against Quicken records when needed)
In addition:
I also use something akin to this
or
this for keeping receipts. You can usually find one of these smaller expanding files with each pocket labeled by month. When I come in each day I empty my wallet of receipts and add them to the current month's pocket. (Okay, I'm usually lazy and drop them all in a pile on the corner of my desk until sometime near the end of the month, but you get the idea.) At the end of the year, I put the folder in the cabinet beside the box with the rest of the paid bills. Combined with Quicken records, I can usually find anything I need in a matter of minutes.
Receipts and bills aren't a problem for me. More difficult for me is figuring out how to organize other important documents - retirement funds, medical benefits, etc. Here "sorted by date" isn't as useful and unlike bills, I find myself having to return to them from time to time to look up information. I've ended up just using hanging folders for each in a file cabinet, but I still find it frustrating to determine how much of the fluff you get in the mail should be stored, where to put it, and how to find it.
The Ceiva Frame is an interesting idea. I have seen the ones that let you use a memory card to rotate through a set of pictures, but never one that updates.
Although, what I'd prefer, is a frame with wireless built in so it can update from the web via my existing internet connection rather than having to dial out every night. Has anyone see something like this?
Doing a quick google search didn't give me a commercial product, but I did find the following link that might be of interest to someone:
We had an opening for an entry-level or mid-level developer position... Most employers are not interested in being a way-station on someones career
While I understand your reasoning, I normally look at an entry-level position as just that - a "way-station on someones career". As an employeer, I would want to keep new hires for an extended amount of time. I would also want to hire competent, capable people. The problem is, competent, capable people are going to quickly outgrow the entry-level job (as you pointed out). On the other hand, though, hiring someone with less experience/education to better match the job may not accomplish my long term goal of staffing quality workers. You have to find a good balance somewhere.
I agree with your reasoning. I had a professor describe it this way...
I can type 90+ wpm. That would be pretty good for a secretarial job - but they probably wouldn't hire me as a secretary with a PhD in Computer Science. Yes, my education limits my career options, but would I really want to be a secretary?
That's an extreme of course, but you can apply it to the "average joe programming job" vs "a more stimulating research or development job" situation as well. Maybe I won't be able to get a basic programming job when I finish my PhD, but I wouldn't be happy doing that anyway. On the other hand, there are guys (and girls) I know who hate the stuff I'm interested in. They'd much prefer staying deep in the code a majority of the day. They stopped at a BS or MS, are making good money, and enjoy what they do.
You've got to decide what it is you really want to do - what type of job would you be happy doing? Then pick the education that matches.
The one exception to this that I might add... If you're out of work but have the opportunity to continue in school, that's a no brainer to me. Although many comments here have insightfully pointed out the importance of practical experience over all academics, having been in school with a lack of practical experience is leaps and bounds above sitting on your tail lacking practical experience.
Like the parent post said, you might have to look a little longer, or move farther, or be willing to accept less compensation than what you're "qualified" for, but I don't think you can go wrong with the PhD if that's the type of work you're really interested in.
It may be prestigious to be the first nation with a base on Mars...
I just wonder, why MARS? This type of major construction project is of course going to run into unexpected difficulties. Why don't we at least practice building something easier first. A simple base on the Moon seems like a much more practical starting point. Let's do it somewhere (relatively) close to get a better feel for the challenges we'll face. Then take those lessons and apply them to more exotic missions. (Although I'd still consider a base on the Moon pretty exotic and plenty "prestigious" to do first!)
I actually tried these out at the local Brookstone. I found that the pedals kept scooting away from me, but that could be easily fixed...
I'm sure other companies offer something similar and cheaper than Brookstone. (I just happened to have seen them this last week and knew I could find a good link.)
I would recommend Dell, Amazon.com and Viking Components for rebate deals - never had problems with either one of those...
Believe it or not - Microsoft has been the most successful for me in actually getting a rebate. They've usually come fast, for the right amount, and easily distinguishable from other junk mail (so I don't throw it away accidentally).
Good luck cleaning out your box. I actually had something similar happen yesterday. I got a message from a web host saying that I was over my disk quota. I immediately thought "what the heck" because I haven't uploaded anything to that site in a long time. I got to checking and I had over 100MB of mail in the default mailbox. The problem was, they only allow webmail access to the account and only display 25 messages per screen...
The other problem is, the webmail server tried to copy the files to a Trash folder automatically. It kept overflowing and I'd have to go load that folder periodically and empty it before I could continue.
I never use that email address for anything. It's just a simple web page sitting there. I had to spend A LOT of valuable time cleaning up after spammers...
Does anyone have a good link describing the programmers behind Deep Junior? All I could find were news articles and press releases. I'd like to read more information about their strategy, search algorithms, etc.
I had the same problem. I consider myself a fairly intelligent individual and it took me a while (longer than I'm usually willing to wait on a website) to figure out the right answer. Several of the warped four letter words were extremely difficult to distinguish between a' and d's for example. Some of the letters with serifs where especially difficult to determine if it was a warped serif or actually part of the letter. Etc. And I have no idea what a picture of some guy with crazy hats on his head has to do with "television".
Someone else mentioned this earlier, but I also wonder about things like 508 compliance. There's no way I could get get by with using something like this on a federal website. The idea of making it impossible to read by computer is mutually exclusive with making it readable by computer for special disability software.
[quote]Both methods are ultimately insecure...[/quote]
This goes back to one of the basic security principles: there are three basic forms of authentication - what you have, what you know, and who you are. You need _at least_ two of the three to be truly secure.
Of course in this situation, it's alot easier for the potential thief to break the cheap glass on the front windows, reach up and grab the latch, raise window... Sometimes you feel like you might as well leave the door unlocked (with the security system still on of course). At least then you don't have to pay to fix the window.
I had already suggested to some of my friends (half joking / half serious) that it would be cool to construct at least a shell of the Statue of Liberty and store it somewhere in sections. Then if someone ever tries to hit that as an emotional target, you bring in the cranes and helicopters over night, assemble the "backup", and there she stands in all her glory the next morning. Turn an attempt at an emotional blow to the country into a patriotic high!
Slashdot Mirror
A better review is available from Tom's Networking, including comparison to one of the $4000 Cognio devices:
i spy/
i spy/page2.html
http://www.tomsnetworking.com/2006/02/12/review_w
Comparison table on page 2:
http://www.tomsnetworking.com/2006/02/12/review_w
Finding a needle in a haystack is relatively easy - you just look for anything that isn't hay.
But in this case, since you don't know what "hay" is (i.e. it's often hard to define "normal"), it's more like searching through a garabage heap hunting for something that you don't know what it looks like.
Or maybe this would require a new "Grid Kid" architecture with an advanced resource broker to farm out the questions based on difficulty and school grade level.
I might also recommend Financial Peace and More Than Enough for other books along this same line.
Is there an easy way to manage plugins across multiple computers so that I can keep them all the same?
In particular, this link offers a pretty good breakdown of the amount of biodiesel needed to replace gasoline - and the amount of algae needed to get there. It also looks at a couple of other alternative fuels.
That is a really great cartoon! Thanks for sharing - I'd love to know where it originated as well...
Maybe that's the problem. Too many times we worry about creating the "grid of flexible cells" and forget that the real user just wants to "input the various factors". There's a good usability lesson to be learned here...
In addition:
I also use something akin to this or this for keeping receipts. You can usually find one of these smaller expanding files with each pocket labeled by month. When I come in each day I empty my wallet of receipts and add them to the current month's pocket. (Okay, I'm usually lazy and drop them all in a pile on the corner of my desk until sometime near the end of the month, but you get the idea.) At the end of the year, I put the folder in the cabinet beside the box with the rest of the paid bills. Combined with Quicken records, I can usually find anything I need in a matter of minutes.
Receipts and bills aren't a problem for me. More difficult for me is figuring out how to organize other important documents - retirement funds, medical benefits, etc. Here "sorted by date" isn't as useful and unlike bills, I find myself having to return to them from time to time to look up information. I've ended up just using hanging folders for each in a file cabinet, but I still find it frustrating to determine how much of the fluff you get in the mail should be stored, where to put it, and how to find it.
Although, what I'd prefer, is a frame with wireless built in so it can update from the web via my existing internet connection rather than having to dial out every night. Has anyone see something like this?
Doing a quick google search didn't give me a commercial product, but I did find the following link that might be of interest to someone:
Building a digital picture frame from a PowerBook Duo 270c/280c
While I understand your reasoning, I normally look at an entry-level position as just that - a "way-station on someones career". As an employeer, I would want to keep new hires for an extended amount of time. I would also want to hire competent, capable people. The problem is, competent, capable people are going to quickly outgrow the entry-level job (as you pointed out). On the other hand, though, hiring someone with less experience/education to better match the job may not accomplish my long term goal of staffing quality workers. You have to find a good balance somewhere.
I can type 90+ wpm. That would be pretty good for a secretarial job - but they probably wouldn't hire me as a secretary with a PhD in Computer Science. Yes, my education limits my career options, but would I really want to be a secretary?
That's an extreme of course, but you can apply it to the "average joe programming job" vs "a more stimulating research or development job" situation as well. Maybe I won't be able to get a basic programming job when I finish my PhD, but I wouldn't be happy doing that anyway. On the other hand, there are guys (and girls) I know who hate the stuff I'm interested in. They'd much prefer staying deep in the code a majority of the day. They stopped at a BS or MS, are making good money, and enjoy what they do.
You've got to decide what it is you really want to do - what type of job would you be happy doing? Then pick the education that matches.
The one exception to this that I might add... If you're out of work but have the opportunity to continue in school, that's a no brainer to me. Although many comments here have insightfully pointed out the importance of practical experience over all academics, having been in school with a lack of practical experience is leaps and bounds above sitting on your tail lacking practical experience.
Like the parent post said, you might have to look a little longer, or move farther, or be willing to accept less compensation than what you're "qualified" for, but I don't think you can go wrong with the PhD if that's the type of work you're really interested in.
I just wonder, why MARS? This type of major construction project is of course going to run into unexpected difficulties. Why don't we at least practice building something easier first. A simple base on the Moon seems like a much more practical starting point. Let's do it somewhere (relatively) close to get a better feel for the challenges we'll face. Then take those lessons and apply them to more exotic missions. (Although I'd still consider a base on the Moon pretty exotic and plenty "prestigious" to do first!)
How about something like this or this?
I actually tried these out at the local Brookstone. I found that the pedals kept scooting away from me, but that could be easily fixed...
I'm sure other companies offer something similar and cheaper than Brookstone. (I just happened to have seen them this last week and knew I could find a good link.)
Believe it or not - Microsoft has been the most successful for me in actually getting a rebate. They've usually come fast, for the right amount, and easily distinguishable from other junk mail (so I don't throw it away accidentally).
"Select All...", "Delete Selected...", "Select All...", "Delete Selected...", [hours later], "Select All...", "Delete Selected..."
The other problem is, the webmail server tried to copy the files to a Trash folder automatically. It kept overflowing and I'd have to go load that folder periodically and empty it before I could continue.
I never use that email address for anything. It's just a simple web page sitting there. I had to spend A LOT of valuable time cleaning up after spammers...
I'm the same way. I often times use my email box instead of special calendar software...
(For those who don't know the conversion and are too lazy to look it up...)
Does anyone have a good link describing the programmers behind Deep Junior? All I could find were news articles and press releases. I'd like to read more information about their strategy, search algorithms, etc.
David
Thanks
Someone else mentioned this earlier, but I also wonder about things like 508 compliance. There's no way I could get get by with using something like this on a federal website. The idea of making it impossible to read by computer is mutually exclusive with making it readable by computer for special disability software.
This year's competition is to be held in Padua, Itally July 2nd - July 11th.
This goes back to one of the basic security principles: there are three basic forms of authentication - what you have, what you know, and who you are. You need _at least_ two of the three to be truly secure.
Of course in this situation, it's alot easier for the potential thief to break the cheap glass on the front windows, reach up and grab the latch, raise window... Sometimes you feel like you might as well leave the door unlocked (with the security system still on of course). At least then you don't have to pay to fix the window.
Actually, I found it's blatant troll qualities quite humerous - thus the link.
I had already suggested to some of my friends (half joking / half serious) that it would be cool to construct at least a shell of the Statue of Liberty and store it somewhere in sections. Then if someone ever tries to hit that as an emotional target, you bring in the cranes and helicopters over night, assemble the "backup", and there she stands in all her glory the next morning. Turn an attempt at an emotional blow to the country into a patriotic high!