Re:If I were to change the US educational system..
on
Let Them Eat Khan Academy
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· Score: 4, Interesting
One of my college physics professors had a novel solution for using scan-trons for easy grading while avoiding the multiple choice dilemma. Instead of selecting from a series of 4 or 5 choices to choose from, he gave us scan-tron sheets with the columns of numbers from 0-9 like the ones you see when you fill out your social security numbers. You work out your physics problem and then input the number on 3 or 4 columns.
It's a great way to make exams easy to grade while avoiding multiple choice. We always had our physics exam grades back the next class for that class.
Abstract: A binary quantized TV video signal of any single one of a plurality of different symbols is generated and then successively sampled at respective dot positions thereof, with the binary value of each sample being stored at a corresponding dot position of an individual one of a plurality of dot matrices of the memory, that dot matrix being located at a preselected address location of the memory. The whole process is under the control of a programmed sequence control generator which is capable of automatically controlling the loading of each of the plurality of different symbols, in turn, into its own preselected address location dot matrix of the memory.
Is IE9's touted energy efficiency really a feature that sets it apart from the other browsers? It really feels like Microsoft was reaching pretty hard when they released that data, much of which only showed that IE9 was only marginally more energy efficient on many of the tests than Firefox.
Arbitration clauses means that you can be prevented from suing someone. That's the whole point of arbitration clauses - that a company can force you into binding arbitration instead allowing you to take them to court. Essentially, you have agreed to not sue them and that contractual clause will be binding on you.
Class action suits are good for one thing, though. Class action suits means that a firm doing something wrong will get punished with a hefty fine, especially if punitive damages are added in, which discourages them from continuing their wrongdoing.
By contrast, arbitration claim means that individual claimants must make individual claims which is harder and results in fewer claims against the company, and thus a much lower payout.
A company would much rather get 1000 people making individual arbitration claims and pay them 100 bucks each instead of a 10,000 people class action suit and pay out $5 million at once.
I didn't say penalize non-STEM majors with higher costs to support science and technical majors. I said keep it as is so it doesn't discourage people from studying STEM majors.
As for your second assertion that STEM students can shop around - this is true, however, this is a state university, which is generally more affordable to people who live in the state. In-state students must now choose between a more expensive state university degree or going to a private school with higher tuition rates or going to a school out-of-state. This prices poor students interested in STEM out of the market.
Plus it can be used as leverage by these students to demand more from the schools for charging more.
This isn't leverage. Students have been complaining about not getting much for the price of their tuition for decades now since school tuition started massively outpacing the rate of inflation. Universities have rarely, if ever, acquiesced to their demands. If anything, universities just wind up cutting more and more services while charging more and more in tuition.
We're a country that's lagging behind on STEM (science, technical, engineering & math) education and experiencing somewhat of a shortage of people from the technical fields to fill jobs in our country because our educational system is a joke. What's the best way to go about remedying this? Why, yes, it's clearly to penalize people who want to study STEM majors by making them pay more for their education than for someone who wants a degree in comparative literature.
If you want to charge STEM majors more money for their degree, then fine, but don't go crying when you start attracting less talent to your school and your research grants start to dry up. In the short run, you'll raise a few bucks. In the long run, you're killing your most productive and profitable departments so you can have a tiny shortfall today.
I understand that the slashdot community might be anxious to see the PSN come back up, but do we seriously have to start publishing nothing more substantial than speculation?
Also, I've met Dick Blumenthal. He's a very nice man. However, he is, by no means, "the government", nor does a single letter from a freshman senator constitute "attention from the government".
Is Youtube's business model really competing with Netflix? The 24-hour $2.99 rentals look and feel a lot more like Amazon's video rental service (excluding Prime) than it does Netflix's all-you-can-eat model. Frankly, I think this model is kind of doomed from the get-go. Amazon and Apple have tried this kind of video rental service, and while I'm sure it's somewhat of a success, it has done absolutely nothing to stop Netflix from gaining market share and subscribers. Even Amazon realizes that the future of video services lie in all-you-can-eat services like Netflix rather than per-title rentals. And, frankly, I think that's what most consumers nowadays want anyway. Unless Youtube is going to actually go toward a more Netflix-like model, or find a model that's even more appealing to consumers, I can't see it as being terribly successful.
Wow, a device that measures brain activity while watching the idiot box? Be prepared to record a whole lot of nothin', especially during American Idol.
I realize that the ones studying this are testing the hypothesis that distance from Africa would result in decreased phoneme complexity, but the graph that was provided doesn't seem to jive with that idea. That chart of languages (clearly, not all 504 languages are included) seems to imply that languages are all over the map as far as phoneme complexity and distance to Africa.
It's really easy to monetize this. Just make microtransactions available where you can buy gifts or whatever for your virtual girlfriend. People already spend stupid amounts of money to buy crap like a virtual fountain for their virtual house on their virtual farm. Imagine if they also had some sort of virtual emotional attachment to go along with it.
I think the inevitable end result of ad-supported e-Books is subtle (or not so subtle) product placements inserted into books. I can't wait until "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times" becomes a product placement for Timex, and Tom Sawyer takes a refreshing sip of Coca-cola as he rafts down the Mississippi.
Personally, I think as far as math education should go, the more crippled, the better. The most advanced calculators make kids dependent on them when learning. Let's let them use calculators that can only give them the most basic info like a replacement for Trig tables or for basic calculation. Anything more and the kids will learn more about the calculator and less about the subject.
Of all the stupid features from Chrome to pick up, the version numbers is, by far, the dumbest. Has anyone considered how stupid a version number in the high double digits might be? Firefox 81 seems kind of clunky, doesn't it?
The House Republicans kept none of their campaign promises, really. They promised to "repeal and replace" the Healthcare reform bill. The only thing they've managed to do is vote to defund portions of it, which isn't a repeal at all. A repeal requires the Senate and and the President to sign on board, which Congressional Republicans haven't managed to even come close to achieving. Secondly, they've failed to "replace" the Healthcare reform bill with their own reform bill, because there is no replacement bill proposed by the House thus far. Remember, the promise is to "repeal and replace", not "make an attempt at repeal and replace".
Oh, and their other major campaign promise of cutting $100 billion for fiscal year 2011? Yeah, that looks like it's going nowhere as well. Right now, the House Republicans are playing the "lower your expectations game" with their base right now.
Thirdly, laws must be made by the House and Senate - so that the House and Senate must work together and compromise in order to get a law passed. Just because the House passed a budget doesn't mean their role is over and it's completely up to the Senate. Both houses still need to negotiate on the total number of budget cuts to be done, which is what is being done right now, although all indicators point to stalemate.
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One of my college physics professors had a novel solution for using scan-trons for easy grading while avoiding the multiple choice dilemma. Instead of selecting from a series of 4 or 5 choices to choose from, he gave us scan-tron sheets with the columns of numbers from 0-9 like the ones you see when you fill out your social security numbers. You work out your physics problem and then input the number on 3 or 4 columns.
It's a great way to make exams easy to grade while avoiding multiple choice. We always had our physics exam grades back the next class for that class.
Mr. Haselton can compress the least ideas into the most words of anyone I've ever seen.
Despite it being a terrible browser, it managed to hold on for 10 years and is still the de facto browser for business machines.
As far as I can tell, the patent in question is US 4,028,724, which was filed in 1975.
http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=4,028,724.PN.&OS=PN/4,028,724&RS=PN/4,028,724
Abstract:
A binary quantized TV video signal of any single one of a plurality of different symbols is generated and then successively sampled at respective dot positions thereof, with the binary value of each sample being stored at a corresponding dot position of an individual one of a plurality of dot matrices of the memory, that dot matrix being located at a preselected address location of the memory. The whole process is under the control of a programmed sequence control generator which is capable of automatically controlling the loading of each of the plurality of different symbols, in turn, into its own preselected address location dot matrix of the memory.
Is IE9's touted energy efficiency really a feature that sets it apart from the other browsers? It really feels like Microsoft was reaching pretty hard when they released that data, much of which only showed that IE9 was only marginally more energy efficient on many of the tests than Firefox.
Arbitration clauses means that you can be prevented from suing someone. That's the whole point of arbitration clauses - that a company can force you into binding arbitration instead allowing you to take them to court. Essentially, you have agreed to not sue them and that contractual clause will be binding on you.
Class action suits are good for one thing, though. Class action suits means that a firm doing something wrong will get punished with a hefty fine, especially if punitive damages are added in, which discourages them from continuing their wrongdoing.
By contrast, arbitration claim means that individual claimants must make individual claims which is harder and results in fewer claims against the company, and thus a much lower payout.
A company would much rather get 1000 people making individual arbitration claims and pay them 100 bucks each instead of a 10,000 people class action suit and pay out $5 million at once.
It's like Jesus healing the lepers, only instead of a miracle, this is pseudoscience bunkum.
MBAs are graduate degrees. Clearly graduate classes cost more than undergraduate classes.
I didn't say penalize non-STEM majors with higher costs to support science and technical majors. I said keep it as is so it doesn't discourage people from studying STEM majors.
As for your second assertion that STEM students can shop around - this is true, however, this is a state university, which is generally more affordable to people who live in the state. In-state students must now choose between a more expensive state university degree or going to a private school with higher tuition rates or going to a school out-of-state. This prices poor students interested in STEM out of the market.
Plus it can be used as leverage by these students to demand more from the schools for charging more.
This isn't leverage. Students have been complaining about not getting much for the price of their tuition for decades now since school tuition started massively outpacing the rate of inflation. Universities have rarely, if ever, acquiesced to their demands. If anything, universities just wind up cutting more and more services while charging more and more in tuition.
We're a country that's lagging behind on STEM (science, technical, engineering & math) education and experiencing somewhat of a shortage of people from the technical fields to fill jobs in our country because our educational system is a joke. What's the best way to go about remedying this? Why, yes, it's clearly to penalize people who want to study STEM majors by making them pay more for their education than for someone who wants a degree in comparative literature.
If you want to charge STEM majors more money for their degree, then fine, but don't go crying when you start attracting less talent to your school and your research grants start to dry up. In the short run, you'll raise a few bucks. In the long run, you're killing your most productive and profitable departments so you can have a tiny shortfall today.
I understand that the slashdot community might be anxious to see the PSN come back up, but do we seriously have to start publishing nothing more substantial than speculation?
Also, I've met Dick Blumenthal. He's a very nice man. However, he is, by no means, "the government", nor does a single letter from a freshman senator constitute "attention from the government".
Is Youtube's business model really competing with Netflix? The 24-hour $2.99 rentals look and feel a lot more like Amazon's video rental service (excluding Prime) than it does Netflix's all-you-can-eat model. Frankly, I think this model is kind of doomed from the get-go. Amazon and Apple have tried this kind of video rental service, and while I'm sure it's somewhat of a success, it has done absolutely nothing to stop Netflix from gaining market share and subscribers. Even Amazon realizes that the future of video services lie in all-you-can-eat services like Netflix rather than per-title rentals. And, frankly, I think that's what most consumers nowadays want anyway. Unless Youtube is going to actually go toward a more Netflix-like model, or find a model that's even more appealing to consumers, I can't see it as being terribly successful.
Wow, that is unprecedented, unless you count the Kno:
http://www.slashgear.com/kno-dual-screen-tablet-hands-on-07124780/
Or the Acer Iconia 6120:
http://technolog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/03/29/6367167-acers-dual-screen-tablet-behaves-like-a-laptop
Or the Toshiba tablet concept:
http://techtickerblog.com/2006/03/17/dual-screen-tablet-from-toshiba/
Or the MSI dual screen tablet:
http://blog.laptopmag.com/msis-dual-screen-tablet-video-hands-on-much-more-than-an-ereader
Or the Toshiba Libretto
http://www.gottabemobile.com/2010/08/16/toshiba-libretto-dual-screen-tablet-hitting-the-u-s/
Or the Asus Dual Screen concept:
http://www.geeky-gadgets.com/asus-dual-screen-laptop-features-a-touchscreen-keyboard/
Wow, a device that measures brain activity while watching the idiot box? Be prepared to record a whole lot of nothin', especially during American Idol.
I realize that the ones studying this are testing the hypothesis that distance from Africa would result in decreased phoneme complexity, but the graph that was provided doesn't seem to jive with that idea. That chart of languages (clearly, not all 504 languages are included) seems to imply that languages are all over the map as far as phoneme complexity and distance to Africa.
Gee, too bad I'm not a western guy.
It's really easy to monetize this. Just make microtransactions available where you can buy gifts or whatever for your virtual girlfriend. People already spend stupid amounts of money to buy crap like a virtual fountain for their virtual house on their virtual farm. Imagine if they also had some sort of virtual emotional attachment to go along with it.
Well, as atrociously bad as I am at dating, it's always nice to know that there will always be somebody sadder and more pathetic than you.
Tom Sawyer also rafted down the Mississippi. See Chapter 13 of the Adventures of Tom Sawyer (or flip to page 116 of the Google Books link here: http://books.google.com/books?id=yBYmAAAAMAAJ&dq=Tom%20sawyer&pg=PA117#v=onepage&q=raft&f=false).
He rafted down the river with Joe Harper and Huck Finn. I never said he rafted by himself.
I think the inevitable end result of ad-supported e-Books is subtle (or not so subtle) product placements inserted into books. I can't wait until "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times" becomes a product placement for Timex, and Tom Sawyer takes a refreshing sip of Coca-cola as he rafts down the Mississippi.
Personally, I think as far as math education should go, the more crippled, the better. The most advanced calculators make kids dependent on them when learning. Let's let them use calculators that can only give them the most basic info like a replacement for Trig tables or for basic calculation. Anything more and the kids will learn more about the calculator and less about the subject.
I think the easier option would probably to mix the water into concrete, then burying the radioactive concrete somewhere.
Of all the stupid features from Chrome to pick up, the version numbers is, by far, the dumbest. Has anyone considered how stupid a version number in the high double digits might be? Firefox 81 seems kind of clunky, doesn't it?
The House Republicans kept none of their campaign promises, really. They promised to "repeal and replace" the Healthcare reform bill. The only thing they've managed to do is vote to defund portions of it, which isn't a repeal at all. A repeal requires the Senate and and the President to sign on board, which Congressional Republicans haven't managed to even come close to achieving. Secondly, they've failed to "replace" the Healthcare reform bill with their own reform bill, because there is no replacement bill proposed by the House thus far. Remember, the promise is to "repeal and replace", not "make an attempt at repeal and replace".
Oh, and their other major campaign promise of cutting $100 billion for fiscal year 2011? Yeah, that looks like it's going nowhere as well. Right now, the House Republicans are playing the "lower your expectations game" with their base right now.
Thirdly, laws must be made by the House and Senate - so that the House and Senate must work together and compromise in order to get a law passed. Just because the House passed a budget doesn't mean their role is over and it's completely up to the Senate. Both houses still need to negotiate on the total number of budget cuts to be done, which is what is being done right now, although all indicators point to stalemate.