...makes a line of inexpensive desktop conversions for sit-or-stand. I too work for a non-profit and the price was decent enough that I was able to justify the purchase on health grounds. I love mine and would never go back to just sitting.
Er, no. The publication process hasn't been muzzled as far as I know (and I'd probably know, see my comment further down). But this does point to some interesting challenges for the current generation of scientists.
Take a guy like Dave Schindler - when he ran ELA for the feds, he published and publicised ground-breaking work on nutrient loading and acid rain (to cite a couple of examples) that resulted in improved regulation. Today he's not employed by the feds, so he can and does tackle the oil sands issue, but those scientists who are employed by the feds are the ones who are told to vet their public comments.
My parents are retired scientists of world-class standing, previously employed by the Canadian federal government, with extensive networks of colleagues around the world as well as here in Canada. The current government's efforts to muzzle and control what scientists say is widely viewed as completely unacceptable by the scientists themselves, but the highest levels of the departments which employ them have long been taken over by bureacrats.
I would not be concerned with bias toward government goals on the part of the scientists, though. The government's attempts to vet and spin their public communications speaks quite eloquently to the scientists' integrity... and to this government's perfidy.
I've used a LOT of mice over the years, and I went wireless way back. Currently I use a Logitech MX Revolution on my main home machine and another on my work notebook when it's docked. For travel, I use a Logitech V470. I'm no hardcore gamer, but the Revolution has always performed very well in every application up to and including casual gaming. The V470 is my second Bluetooth mouse (on my second Bluetooth notebook) and also performs very well.
I use my notebook all day every day at work, so I only get about a week of battery life out of the office Revolution, but it charges fairly quickly and I always have the Bluetooth mouse for backup if the Revolution runs low while I'm working. No manual switching necessary, it just works. The V470 runs on AAs, and I have yet to need a battery change, but I've only had it for a few months.
The one thing that will drive you crazy with some Logitech wireless mice, the MX Revolution among them, is their crappy charger design. I love the mouse, but you have to keep the charging contacts very clean (especially on the mouse, where a small pencil eraser helps) and fiddle with placement in the charging cradle waaaaay more than you should, especially with an older one. It's enough of a problem that I've seriously considered "acquiring" some electrolytic paste (like they use on ECG contacts) to make charging easier. That being said, it's still worth it.
To zero in on your original question - I would avoid USB dongles unless they are tiny enough that you can leave them plugged in all the time. I killed my first notebook (the one before the one before this one) by plugging a USB dongle into it one or more times a day - eventually the USB port separated from the motherboard, and everything went to hell after that. This, incidentally, is why I use a dock at work... and why both of my subsequent notebooks have had Bluetooth and a Bluetooth mouse.
So... I'd say go Bluetooth, and the V470 is a good choice if you're after a compact ambidextrous mouse with good battery life and a power switch (you want a power switch). Good luck!
I don't disagree with anything you're saying, I'm merely arguing that the natural/unnatural distinction is a dangerous one because it tends to change humanity (in the mind of the one making the distinction) from participant in the system to something outside the system. That's not so bad when you're talking about the disruptions humans cause, but it is part of the mindset that leads to those disruptions in the first place, I think.
My real issue lies, I think, with the very concept of "unnatural". It's a useless and wrong concept that directly interferes with our ability to see ourselves as the "part of the whole" we truly are.
Food for thought, anyway; I never knew I disliked the term so much until this discussion. Cheers!
Artificial = made by hand. An artifact. One species killing off another may be shortsighted, sad, stupid, unnecessary, and a whole host of other adjectives, but it's a real stretch to call it artificial... and completely incorrect to call it unnatural.
But that's exactly the point. The idea that there is some kind of "natural" world that exists apart from and in contrast to humans and their works is rooted, I believe, in the belief that humans were created (and I use the term advisedly) as something distinct from the rest of the world. A dangerous idea, to my mind; if we don't recognise our participation in ecosystem, it is easy to rationalise away the effects of our behaviour. We do not have dominion over the planet and its lives - we are inextricably bound up with them, and must bear this in mind.;-)
If you want to distinguish events caused by humans, how about calling them events caused by humans?
Bogus argument. Humans are part of nature and the natural world. Therefore human activity is as "natural" as a beaver dam. Any other definition of "natural" is... unnatural.;-)
The notion that human activities can somehow create an "unnatural" ecosystem is equally bogus. The problem, really, is that our activities lower the _diversity_ of ecosystems. A less diverse ecosystem is no less natural than any other, but it is certainly less resilient. This may cause sustainability problems in the short term, evolutionarily speaking (i.e. until open niches and selection pressure re-diversify the ecosystem).
Ahem. I happen to know Dave Schindler--he and my father were colleagues--and his contribution to our knowledge of aquatic ecosystems has been quite important. Among other seminal research out of ELA were definitive papers on phosphorus and nitrogen loading (per TFA) and a little thing called acid rain. Not long ago Schindler was given a $1M award for lifetime contributions to science, and I'm not aware of anyone who would say it wasn't richly deserved.
"The gender ratio in the sampled workforce is quite heavily male-biased, which implies that the only women who are likely to survive there are the ones that are really good at their job."
Er, really? I don't think that logically follows. In fact, I work in a field that is heavily female-biased, and if anything, some of the men are there precisely because (for legitimate reasons I won't go into) we need a minimum number of men... so we sometimes end up hiring men with less education or qualifications than the women who don't get hired.
I would suggest that the same dynamic may apply to other fields with unbalanced sex representation.
...I have to say that the geekubator concept is already up and running, and has been for a long time. It's called WCRI. It was well-established when I was there in the 80s.
Perhaps. Or, given the incidence and severity of earthquakes in that area (historically very low), and the fact that we're talking about the backup to the second pumping system, and the fact that nobody involved has said that the pumping system is required to shut down the reactor in an emergency, perhaps not.
A guy who teaches nuclear engineering and is very familiar with Chalk River was on "As It Happens" last night, and apparently the "problem" is even more minor than that: the backup system that is uncertified and offline is uncertified because it hasn't been cleared to maintain integrity during an earthquake.
Now, earthquakes aren't unknown in Ontario (I experienced one there in 1986, in fact), but the risk is pretty freakin' low.
Interestingly, the conflict in Darfur has its roots in semi-nomadic herder tribes moving into the traditional territories of agricultural tribes (gross oversimplification, yes, but basically correct). The reason the herders are on the move? Drought in the Sahel... attributed to climate change by Tim Flannery and many others.
I have made the transition from knowledge/skill worker to management, and the most useful management books I have found are Marcus Buckingham's. Start here:
In my experience, most management gurus suffer from one or both of the following: their experience is limited to a given field or company, and therefore not replicable elsewhere, or their success is due to personal characteristics not obtainable by others. Another problem is anecdote-based books... nothing against anecdotes, but I like something a little more rigorous.
Buckingham's work is solidly research-based, abstracting general principles expressed by the managers with the best-performing employees who were also rated very highly by the employees themselves. My organization has had great success (as reflected in employee retention and satisfaction) by using his performance planning approach.
The main thing to remember, though, is just that management is about working with people. Technical skills will help you work with technical people, but people skills are absolutely essential. Tact, diplomacy, insight, empathy, and firm and unflinchingly honest support of the people you manage will see you in good stead. Finally, a deep understanding of the principles (ethical, financial, legal) of your business will give you the foundation to make sound decisions without undue effort. Good luck!
Hell, while they're at it, they should add a scientist general, and do the same damn thing. This stuff isn't about opinion. There is a right answer.
Agreed, but see, that's precisely what they don't want to admit. If you admit that there's a right answer, it's only a matter of time before someone notices that the right answer contradicts your deeply cherished position, and THEN how do you cling to power?
You jest, but that's what I have, and it's great. The Blackberry Pearl is a nicely implemented smartphone, available through various cellular providers with or without data plans but independent of RIM's Blackberry service either way. I like it for handy access to my calendar and seamless integration with my notebook. I love it for the keyboard - I use SMS incessantly for keeping in touch with my band and with my partner when one of us is out of town (especially overseas).
I'm not really interested in email or web browsing on mine, so I don't have a data plan - but the Blackberry without Blackberry service is actually quite awesome. Just so you know.;-)
Actually, the females have them too, only smaller... at least some of them do. And some males have two, with one smaller than the other. Narwhal are beautiful, I used to love watching them glide past the beach in Resolute. There were about two days each summer when large groups went past.
Interesting notes upthread on the polar cod. They are central to the arctic ocean ecosystem; they feed on copepods, which in turn feed on tinier plankton and (especially) the algae that grow on the underside of the sea ice.
Diving under the ice (yes, I've done it) is fascinating - there's this whole inverted world, with the algae and the grazing copepods and the seals (very curious, not at all scared) and of course the cod. It's an immensely productive system, too, hence the huge numbers of migratory seabirds nesting in the arctic in the summer.
OK, now I want to go back. I guess ten years wasn't enough.;-)
...because for me, and for almost all of my friends, entertainment IS a piano in the living room (ike at my keyboard player's house, or my girlfriend's house, which has the best music parties in town). And a bunch of guitars, and a bass, and a banjo or two, and a mandolin, and a set of uillean pipes, and some good whistle flutes, and an accordion, and some percussion, and fifteen or twenty good singers who have been getting together (professionally and casually) for twenty years or so.
We do like to learn new material every now and again; in fact, with a computer in the music room at my gf's place, we can look something up and try it out spontaneously (once everyone has drunk enough, heh).
There are still plenty of DIY entertainers out there, and my city (Winnipeg) has a thriving music scene because of it. Internet lyric sites don't provide anything you can't do for yourself with a pen, paper, and ears, they just make it easier. Long live the folk process, and fuck the music "industry"!
Slashdot Mirror
...makes a line of inexpensive desktop conversions for sit-or-stand. I too work for a non-profit and the price was decent enough that I was able to justify the purchase on health grounds. I love mine and would never go back to just sitting.
http://www.ergodesktop.com/products
No, I'm not affiliated with them in any way - just a satisfied customer.
Er, no. The publication process hasn't been muzzled as far as I know (and I'd probably know, see my comment further down). But this does point to some interesting challenges for the current generation of scientists.
Take a guy like Dave Schindler - when he ran ELA for the feds, he published and publicised ground-breaking work on nutrient loading and acid rain (to cite a couple of examples) that resulted in improved regulation. Today he's not employed by the feds, so he can and does tackle the oil sands issue, but those scientists who are employed by the feds are the ones who are told to vet their public comments.
My parents are retired scientists of world-class standing, previously employed by the Canadian federal government, with extensive networks of colleagues around the world as well as here in Canada. The current government's efforts to muzzle and control what scientists say is widely viewed as completely unacceptable by the scientists themselves, but the highest levels of the departments which employ them have long been taken over by bureacrats.
I would not be concerned with bias toward government goals on the part of the scientists, though. The government's attempts to vet and spin their public communications speaks quite eloquently to the scientists' integrity... and to this government's perfidy.
In my experience, most Diesel-powered cruising yachts have a separate Diesel genset. The good reasons for this should be fairly obvious.
I've used a LOT of mice over the years, and I went wireless way back. Currently I use a Logitech MX Revolution on my main home machine and another on my work notebook when it's docked. For travel, I use a Logitech V470. I'm no hardcore gamer, but the Revolution has always performed very well in every application up to and including casual gaming. The V470 is my second Bluetooth mouse (on my second Bluetooth notebook) and also performs very well.
I use my notebook all day every day at work, so I only get about a week of battery life out of the office Revolution, but it charges fairly quickly and I always have the Bluetooth mouse for backup if the Revolution runs low while I'm working. No manual switching necessary, it just works. The V470 runs on AAs, and I have yet to need a battery change, but I've only had it for a few months.
The one thing that will drive you crazy with some Logitech wireless mice, the MX Revolution among them, is their crappy charger design. I love the mouse, but you have to keep the charging contacts very clean (especially on the mouse, where a small pencil eraser helps) and fiddle with placement in the charging cradle waaaaay more than you should, especially with an older one. It's enough of a problem that I've seriously considered "acquiring" some electrolytic paste (like they use on ECG contacts) to make charging easier. That being said, it's still worth it.
To zero in on your original question - I would avoid USB dongles unless they are tiny enough that you can leave them plugged in all the time. I killed my first notebook (the one before the one before this one) by plugging a USB dongle into it one or more times a day - eventually the USB port separated from the motherboard, and everything went to hell after that. This, incidentally, is why I use a dock at work... and why both of my subsequent notebooks have had Bluetooth and a Bluetooth mouse.
So... I'd say go Bluetooth, and the V470 is a good choice if you're after a compact ambidextrous mouse with good battery life and a power switch (you want a power switch). Good luck!
Next I expect you'll want me to watch this "television" thing.
I don't disagree with anything you're saying, I'm merely arguing that the natural/unnatural distinction is a dangerous one because it tends to change humanity (in the mind of the one making the distinction) from participant in the system to something outside the system. That's not so bad when you're talking about the disruptions humans cause, but it is part of the mindset that leads to those disruptions in the first place, I think.
My real issue lies, I think, with the very concept of "unnatural". It's a useless and wrong concept that directly interferes with our ability to see ourselves as the "part of the whole" we truly are.
Food for thought, anyway; I never knew I disliked the term so much until this discussion. Cheers!
Artificial = made by hand. An artifact. One species killing off another may be shortsighted, sad, stupid, unnecessary, and a whole host of other adjectives, but it's a real stretch to call it artificial... and completely incorrect to call it unnatural.
But that's exactly the point. The idea that there is some kind of "natural" world that exists apart from and in contrast to humans and their works is rooted, I believe, in the belief that humans were created (and I use the term advisedly) as something distinct from the rest of the world. A dangerous idea, to my mind; if we don't recognise our participation in ecosystem, it is easy to rationalise away the effects of our behaviour. We do not have dominion over the planet and its lives - we are inextricably bound up with them, and must bear this in mind. ;-)
If you want to distinguish events caused by humans, how about calling them events caused by humans?
Bogus argument. Humans are part of nature and the natural world. Therefore human activity is as "natural" as a beaver dam. Any other definition of "natural" is... unnatural. ;-)
The notion that human activities can somehow create an "unnatural" ecosystem is equally bogus. The problem, really, is that our activities lower the _diversity_ of ecosystems. A less diverse ecosystem is no less natural than any other, but it is certainly less resilient. This may cause sustainability problems in the short term, evolutionarily speaking (i.e. until open niches and selection pressure re-diversify the ecosystem).
Ahem. I happen to know Dave Schindler--he and my father were colleagues--and his contribution to our knowledge of aquatic ecosystems has been quite important. Among other seminal research out of ELA were definitive papers on phosphorus and nitrogen loading (per TFA) and a little thing called acid rain. Not long ago Schindler was given a $1M award for lifetime contributions to science, and I'm not aware of anyone who would say it wasn't richly deserved.
Thank you sir, that's the funny of the morning.
"The gender ratio in the sampled workforce is quite heavily male-biased, which implies that the only women who are likely to survive there are the ones that are really good at their job."
Er, really? I don't think that logically follows. In fact, I work in a field that is heavily female-biased, and if anything, some of the men are there precisely because (for legitimate reasons I won't go into) we need a minimum number of men... so we sometimes end up hiring men with less education or qualifications than the women who don't get hired.
I would suggest that the same dynamic may apply to other fields with unbalanced sex representation.
I agree completely; this is the conclusion I reached before dismissing all talk of "free will vs. determinism" as ill-defined nonsense.
There is no discernible difference in the real world.
...I have to say that the geekubator concept is already up and running, and has been for a long time. It's called WCRI. It was well-established when I was there in the 80s.
Perhaps. Or, given the incidence and severity of earthquakes in that area (historically very low), and the fact that we're talking about the backup to the second pumping system, and the fact that nobody involved has said that the pumping system is required to shut down the reactor in an emergency, perhaps not.
A guy who teaches nuclear engineering and is very familiar with Chalk River was on "As It Happens" last night, and apparently the "problem" is even more minor than that: the backup system that is uncertified and offline is uncertified because it hasn't been cleared to maintain integrity during an earthquake.
Now, earthquakes aren't unknown in Ontario (I experienced one there in 1986, in fact), but the risk is pretty freakin' low.
Interestingly, the conflict in Darfur has its roots in semi-nomadic herder tribes moving into the traditional territories of agricultural tribes (gross oversimplification, yes, but basically correct). The reason the herders are on the move? Drought in the Sahel... attributed to climate change by Tim Flannery and many others.
So, ah, it's relevant.
...but I completely agree with your sig.
I have made the transition from knowledge/skill worker to management, and the most useful management books I have found are Marcus Buckingham's. Start here:
r ently/dp/0684852861/ref=pd_sim_b_title/102-8240354 -6750512
http://www.amazon.com/First-Break-All-Rules-Diffe
In my experience, most management gurus suffer from one or both of the following: their experience is limited to a given field or company, and therefore not replicable elsewhere, or their success is due to personal characteristics not obtainable by others. Another problem is anecdote-based books... nothing against anecdotes, but I like something a little more rigorous.
Buckingham's work is solidly research-based, abstracting general principles expressed by the managers with the best-performing employees who were also rated very highly by the employees themselves. My organization has had great success (as reflected in employee retention and satisfaction) by using his performance planning approach.
The main thing to remember, though, is just that management is about working with people. Technical skills will help you work with technical people, but people skills are absolutely essential. Tact, diplomacy, insight, empathy, and firm and unflinchingly honest support of the people you manage will see you in good stead. Finally, a deep understanding of the principles (ethical, financial, legal) of your business will give you the foundation to make sound decisions without undue effort. Good luck!
Hell, while they're at it, they should add a scientist general, and do the same damn thing. This stuff isn't about opinion. There is a right answer. Agreed, but see, that's precisely what they don't want to admit. If you admit that there's a right answer, it's only a matter of time before someone notices that the right answer contradicts your deeply cherished position, and THEN how do you cling to power?
You jest, but that's what I have, and it's great. The Blackberry Pearl is a nicely implemented smartphone, available through various cellular providers with or without data plans but independent of RIM's Blackberry service either way. I like it for handy access to my calendar and seamless integration with my notebook. I love it for the keyboard - I use SMS incessantly for keeping in touch with my band and with my partner when one of us is out of town (especially overseas).
;-)
I'm not really interested in email or web browsing on mine, so I don't have a data plan - but the Blackberry without Blackberry service is actually quite awesome. Just so you know.
Quoth Drinkypoo: Wow, you found a casino that's still using coins in slots?
Well, considering it's a Canadian story, and we have $1 and $2 coins rather than bills, it's not really ALL that surprising, is it?
Actually, the females have them too, only smaller... at least some of them do. And some males have two, with one smaller than the other. Narwhal are beautiful, I used to love watching them glide past the beach in Resolute. There were about two days each summer when large groups went past.
;-)
Interesting notes upthread on the polar cod. They are central to the arctic ocean ecosystem; they feed on copepods, which in turn feed on tinier plankton and (especially) the algae that grow on the underside of the sea ice.
Diving under the ice (yes, I've done it) is fascinating - there's this whole inverted world, with the algae and the grazing copepods and the seals (very curious, not at all scared) and of course the cod. It's an immensely productive system, too, hence the huge numbers of migratory seabirds nesting in the arctic in the summer.
OK, now I want to go back. I guess ten years wasn't enough.
...because for me, and for almost all of my friends, entertainment IS a piano in the living room (ike at my keyboard player's house, or my girlfriend's house, which has the best music parties in town). And a bunch of guitars, and a bass, and a banjo or two, and a mandolin, and a set of uillean pipes, and some good whistle flutes, and an accordion, and some percussion, and fifteen or twenty good singers who have been getting together (professionally and casually) for twenty years or so.
We do like to learn new material every now and again; in fact, with a computer in the music room at my gf's place, we can look something up and try it out spontaneously (once everyone has drunk enough, heh).
There are still plenty of DIY entertainers out there, and my city (Winnipeg) has a thriving music scene because of it. Internet lyric sites don't provide anything you can't do for yourself with a pen, paper, and ears, they just make it easier. Long live the folk process, and fuck the music "industry"!