I actually like having large, one-way lectures at the university, at least for factual classes like math, sciences, economics, etc. If I don't understand something, I can look over my notes after class, or look it up in the book, or ask a classmate, or ask at a help session, or go to the professor's office hours; and I expect the other students to do the same, rather than wasting my time by asking during class.
While it's certainly important to have contacts, whether they're friends, study partners, references for jobs/internships/etc., I don't feel that I need to know everyone in all my classes, or be on a first-name basis with all my professors. Frankly, the majority of students, and some of the professors, are mediocre.
It could be that smaller classes are better for those without the initiative to read their notes, think, ask questions outside of class, etc., but I'm not really concerned about their success. (And of course, for more open-ended subjects, like literature or foreign language, smaller, discussion-type classes are the way to go.)
a short survey of modern English usage (as seen, for example, on Slashdot) will tell you that the usage is changing
I fear the day that Slashdot is used as the standard form of English. I'm not looking forward to hearing this: "I, for one, welcome our drive-through overlords to McDonalds! In Soviet Russia, fries would like you with that!"
I guess I figure, if their plan was to cheat the election to make sure Bush wins, why bother contributing money to his campaign? That's not to say I don't have concerns about electronic voting, but sheesh, not everything has to be a conspiracy...
I think these transistors, if found to be manufacturable, will probably be used in communications not digital logic.
Indeed. The transistors used for digital circuits (i.e., computers) are mostly MOSFETs. The chief benefit of MOS transistors is that no current goes into the gate, so power is only used when switching from one state to the other (i.e. from a 1 to a 0).
Bipolar transistors have a base current (albeit small), so they draw power even when responding to a constant signal. However, they're faster and can output a lot more current than MOSFETs, so they do have plenty of other applications.
Funny thing is I was JUST watching that episode.
Actually, the quote is the funny thing. I doubt anyone got any enjoyment out of knowing that you've seen that one recently.
I thought AND was the default operator on Google, so what's that (misplaced) plus sign for?
I thought so too, but actually run the search (fixing the + to be directly before 'schematics' of course). Without the plus, there are 16000 results, and with it, only 4600.
Ask anyone in America if they know how many kilometers in a pound!
Easy. It varies from time to time, of course, but the mathematics is rather simple.
I filled up on gas the other day, and I had about 245 miles on the trip, and just over 11 gallons. That's 22.3 MPG, or 9.47 km/L. Regular unleaded was at $1.639/gallon, or £0.225/L. That's 4.45L/£. So at current gas prices and exchange rates, and with my recent mileage, there are about 42.1 kilometers in a pound.
Actually I think it's mostly a tactic to keep viewers from changing the channel. If you're watching a show and it ends at 8:59 and then commercials come on for a minute (the traditional way), you're more likely to change the channel. But if your show ends at 9:01 and something else picks up immediately afterwards, it has a better chance at keeping your attention. Besides, you've already missed the first minute of anything else that started on another network at 9:00.
It's worth noting that this should really only work with popular shows. Suppose one station has an unpopular show on before a more popular one. If it goes over by a minute, people flipping stations at 9:00 will see the end of that show and pass it over. In this case it would be more advantageous to end on time and get the popular show started right away at 9:00 sharp.
You say (paraphrasing), in a couple decades we'll all be used to adapting to rapidly-changing interfaces. But the problem of making UIs simpler won't be solved by the users just becoming more complex.
The Economist article brings up old cars, where people essentially hired mechanics to drive them around because the cars were too complex. Today's drivers aren't any more complex than the people who hired chauffeurs 90 years ago. I don't think most people know how to jump start a car, or even change a tire. But the UI for the car has gotten much simpler: speed up, slow down, or steer. That's just about it. You don't have to be a mechanic to operate these things anymore.
This article doesn't really bother with "the analogues" or "digital immigrants," but simply with making our user interfaces better. There are times when the computer simply gets in the way of work getting done.
What if you bought a cell phone with buttons ordered like this: 1 2 4 9 7 # 3 6 5 8 * 0 Regardless of how tech-savvy you may be, that phone is going to be a pain in the ass to dial on. The article brings up Konqueror. I consider myself a mostly-intelligent person, but it takes me a few seconds to figure out what all those buttons in the toolbar do, and I still have no idea what things like "print preview" and "paste" are even doing in the toolbar.
It also discusses stupid dialog boxes that say "The text you searched for was not found," or "Are you sure you want to do [insert piddly little thing here]?" These things condition users to blindly click "OK," which could pose a problem when something that's actually important comes up.
People like those of us reading/. can adapt to each new bad interface, yes. But why the hell should we? Why must every obscure feature of a program be featured prominently in the application's main toolbar, rather than tucked away somewhere that it can easily be found if it's ever needed? Why should the computer get in my way and second-guess everything that I do, rather than just make it easy to undo mistakes?
I hear that too. At night sometimes when I walk through the kitchen I can hear that the TV in the next room was left on, just the cable was turned off.
I can also hear that same ringing in the background of some songs, although most are recorded well enough that that thankfully isn't a problem.
Slashdot Mirror
I actually like having large, one-way lectures at the university, at least for factual classes like math, sciences, economics, etc. If I don't understand something, I can look over my notes after class, or look it up in the book, or ask a classmate, or ask at a help session, or go to the professor's office hours; and I expect the other students to do the same, rather than wasting my time by asking during class.
While it's certainly important to have contacts, whether they're friends, study partners, references for jobs/internships/etc., I don't feel that I need to know everyone in all my classes, or be on a first-name basis with all my professors. Frankly, the majority of students, and some of the professors, are mediocre.
It could be that smaller classes are better for those without the initiative to read their notes, think, ask questions outside of class, etc., but I'm not really concerned about their success. (And of course, for more open-ended subjects, like literature or foreign language, smaller, discussion-type classes are the way to go.)
a short survey of modern English usage (as seen, for example, on Slashdot) will tell you that the usage is changing
I fear the day that Slashdot is used as the standard form of English. I'm not looking forward to hearing this:
"I, for one, welcome our drive-through overlords to McDonalds! In Soviet Russia, fries would like you with that!"
Believe me, I love cynicism as much as the next person
Yeah, right.
I guess I figure, if their plan was to cheat the election to make sure Bush wins, why bother contributing money to his campaign? That's not to say I don't have concerns about electronic voting, but sheesh, not everything has to be a conspiracy...
Close your door and study thermodynamics 101.
Close your thermodynamics book and laugh, it's a joke.
With good behavior, you could be out in less than 2812 years.
With any luck, the copyright might have expired by then!
Well what do you do for a living. When I come to your office - i think you should perform those services for me for free.
Grandparent poster is a professional boxer.
I think these transistors, if found to be manufacturable, will probably be used in communications not digital logic.
Indeed. The transistors used for digital circuits (i.e., computers) are mostly MOSFETs. The chief benefit of MOS transistors is that no current goes into the gate, so power is only used when switching from one state to the other (i.e. from a 1 to a 0).
Bipolar transistors have a base current (albeit small), so they draw power even when responding to a constant signal. However, they're faster and can output a lot more current than MOSFETs, so they do have plenty of other applications.
You smoke marijuana, don't you?
Maybe he's just a scientologist.
The department title is a reference to the They Might Be Giants song, "XTC vs. Adam Ant."
Funny thing is I was JUST watching that episode. Actually, the quote is the funny thing. I doubt anyone got any enjoyment out of knowing that you've seen that one recently.
O(x^n) sounds pretty good, if only we could get x below 1.
I thought AND was the default operator on Google, so what's that (misplaced) plus sign for? I thought so too, but actually run the search (fixing the + to be directly before 'schematics' of course). Without the plus, there are 16000 results, and with it, only 4600.
I think the write-up was just poorly-worded. It should say, "...results in $1 billion loss for studios out of every $27.5 billion in sales."
Home Alone 4 has already been made, as a (terrible) made-for-TV sequel. Your script for Pizza Power will have to become Home Alone 5.
April 13, 2029 will be a Friday, but Good Friday 2029 will fall on March 30.
Ask anyone in America if they know how many kilometers in a pound!
Easy. It varies from time to time, of course, but the mathematics is rather simple.
I filled up on gas the other day, and I had about 245 miles on the trip, and just over 11 gallons. That's 22.3 MPG, or 9.47 km/L. Regular unleaded was at $1.639/gallon, or £0.225/L. That's 4.45L/£. So at current gas prices and exchange rates, and with my recent mileage, there are about 42.1 kilometers in a pound.
Zztxt Flrqtp fnz p47eltnzd.
Oh, I'm sorry, you need to move two steps to the left.
Actually I think it's mostly a tactic to keep viewers from changing the channel. If you're watching a show and it ends at 8:59 and then commercials come on for a minute (the traditional way), you're more likely to change the channel. But if your show ends at 9:01 and something else picks up immediately afterwards, it has a better chance at keeping your attention. Besides, you've already missed the first minute of anything else that started on another network at 9:00.
It's worth noting that this should really only work with popular shows. Suppose one station has an unpopular show on before a more popular one. If it goes over by a minute, people flipping stations at 9:00 will see the end of that show and pass it over. In this case it would be more advantageous to end on time and get the popular show started right away at 9:00 sharp.
The Critic The what?
You've been saving that up for months now, haven't you?
Yeah, probably ever since they used that joke back in September.
You say (paraphrasing), in a couple decades we'll all be used to adapting to rapidly-changing interfaces. But the problem of making UIs simpler won't be solved by the users just becoming more complex.
The Economist article brings up old cars, where people essentially hired mechanics to drive them around because the cars were too complex. Today's drivers aren't any more complex than the people who hired chauffeurs 90 years ago. I don't think most people know how to jump start a car, or even change a tire. But the UI for the car has gotten much simpler: speed up, slow down, or steer. That's just about it. You don't have to be a mechanic to operate these things anymore.
This article doesn't really bother with "the analogues" or "digital immigrants," but simply with making our user interfaces better. There are times when the computer simply gets in the way of work getting done.
/. can adapt to each new bad interface, yes. But why the hell should we? Why must every obscure feature of a program be featured prominently in the application's main toolbar, rather than tucked away somewhere that it can easily be found if it's ever needed? Why should the computer get in my way and second-guess everything that I do, rather than just make it easy to undo mistakes?
What if you bought a cell phone with buttons ordered like this:
1 2 4
9 7 #
3 6 5
8 * 0
Regardless of how tech-savvy you may be, that phone is going to be a pain in the ass to dial on. The article brings up Konqueror. I consider myself a mostly-intelligent person, but it takes me a few seconds to figure out what all those buttons in the toolbar do, and I still have no idea what things like "print preview" and "paste" are even doing in the toolbar.
It also discusses stupid dialog boxes that say "The text you searched for was not found," or "Are you sure you want to do [insert piddly little thing here]?" These things condition users to blindly click "OK," which could pose a problem when something that's actually important comes up.
People like those of us reading
43383282.2
I hear that too. At night sometimes when I walk through the kitchen I can hear that the TV in the next room was left on, just the cable was turned off. I can also hear that same ringing in the background of some songs, although most are recorded well enough that that thankfully isn't a problem.