I use Excel for hydraulic calculations. Yes Excel has accuracy limitations at about the 7th decimal place. Engineering calculations are rarely done to this level of accuracy.
If you a sending probes to the moon and planets, yes you need more accuracy, but for my needs, the ripple on the surface of the channel or the additional friction from the slime on the wall of the pipe is many orders of magnitude larger than any inaccuracy introduced by a spreadsheet.
Just about every engineer I know (and yes, IAAE)uses Excel for calculations with no issues at all. Yes they use more specialised (and expensive) tools for things like Finite Element analysis (ie bridges, etc.) and so on, but a lot of everyday stuff gets done on spreadsheets.
Everything from hydraulic calculations to reinforcing quantities can be done in a spreadsheet.
However it would be a mistake to rely solely on results produced by any software without using some judgement on the results. Problems come when people get too trusting of software, whether its a spreadsheet or a $20,000 Analysis package.
Mind you, none of the engineers I know are using Excel 2007 yet, and aren't likely to while this sort of problem is out there.
It won't be long before this kind of usage is common.
"He did not remember any ending to his interrogation. There was a period of blackness and then the cell, or room, in which he now was had gradually materialized round him. He was almost flat on his back, and unable to move. His body was held down at every essential point. Even the back of his head was gripped in some manner. O'Brien was looking down at him gravely and rather sadly. His face, seen from below, looked coarse and worn, with pouches under the eyes and tired lines from nose to chin. He was older than Winston had thought him; he was perhaps forty-eight or fifty. Under his hand there was a dial with a lever on top and figures running round the face.
'I told you,' said O'Brien, 'that if we met again it would be here.'
'Yes,' said Winston.
Without any warning except a slight movement of O'Brien's hand, a wave of pain flooded his body. It was a frightening pain, because he could not see what was happening, and he had the feeling that some mortal injury was being done to him. He did not know whether the thing was really happening, or whether the effect was electrically produced; but his body was being wrenched out of shape, the joints were being slowly torn apart. Although the pain had brought the sweat out on his forehead, the worst of all was the fear that his backbone was about to snap. He set his teeth and breathed hard through his nose, trying to keep silent as long as possible.
'You are afraid,' said O'Brien, watching his face, 'that in another moment something is going to break. Your especial fear is that it will be your backbone. You have a vivid mental picture of the vertebrae snapping apart and the spinal fluid dripping out of them. That is what you are thinking, is it not, Winston?'
Winston did not answer. O'Brien drew back the lever on the dial. The wave of pain receded almost as quickly as it had come.
'That was forty,' said O'Brien. 'You can see that the numbers on this dial run up to a hundred. Will you please remember, throughout our conversation, that I have it in my power to inflict pain on you at any moment and to whatever degree I choose? If you tell me any lies, or attempt to prevaricate in any way, or even fall below your usual level of intelligence, you will cry out with pain, instantly. Do you understand that?'
They won't work in your SLI rig. Only NVidia cards support SLI. ATI have a different system that uses a different motherboard, so you'd have to replace that too, if you want SLI type performance.
I mean that puts Australia more towards the Fascist end of the scale than even the US doesn't it? (and that's hard to do) You weren't here for APEC, were you?
Anyway as someone else pointed out, this incident was in New Zealand.
Remember that it's a Russian article. They lump Three Mile Island in with Chernyoble because people remember it happened (if not the details) and it helps reinforce the idea of "well, those Americans had a nuclear disaster as well you know."
Funny no-one mentions the Windscale fire, which really was a disaster.
Here in Australia, the Government funds a TV network called the ABC. That doesn't stop people from challenging what the govt does and even getting arrested for it.
In Australia, mod chips are legal, but copyright infringement is not. It is OK to mod your console so it will run Linux for example, but it is not legal to pirate games.
Unlocking your phone so you can use it on another network is also perfectly legal. that's probably why the iPhone isn't available here yet.
Here's a thing. Instead of punishing people for their unhealthy workaholic lifestyles, why don't they ensure that people's workloads are such that they don't have to spend their life in a cubicle, with no time to get of their fat ass. Why don't they provide fresh fruit in the break room, subsidised gym memberships, discounted massages - even training. Things that encourage a healthy lifestyle.
My employer does a lot of these things, because they recognise that the issue for them is not just stopping people from getting sick, but keeping them. If they are healthy and happy, they will stay. If not, at the very least they will be absent a lot and at worst they may leave or die.
It's no use punishing people for an unhealthy lifestyle if they don't know how or don't have the means to have a healthy one. You can't punish someone for his high blood pressure and high weight, if his job keeps him sitting on a chair for ten hours a day. Adjust his workload a bit so he can relax with his family and get that blood pressure down, or go to the gym and lose some of that weight.
There are friendlier ways of achieving these ends on a population wide basis than fining people.
High blood pressure has hereditary factors, but there are plenty of lifestyle ones as well. Punishing people for it is still counterproductive because it makes people anxious, which raises their blood pressure...
Slashdot Mirror
Oh please.
I use Excel for hydraulic calculations. Yes Excel has accuracy limitations at about the 7th decimal place. Engineering calculations are rarely done to this level of accuracy.
If you a sending probes to the moon and planets, yes you need more accuracy, but for my needs, the ripple on the surface of the channel or the additional friction from the slime on the wall of the pipe is many orders of magnitude larger than any inaccuracy introduced by a spreadsheet.
So you're suggesting we use calculators instead? or FORTRAN subroutines?
Get real.
Rubbish.
spreadsheets have their place.
Just about every engineer I know (and yes, IAAE)uses Excel for calculations with no issues at all. Yes they use more specialised (and expensive) tools for things like Finite Element analysis (ie bridges, etc.) and so on, but a lot of everyday stuff gets done on spreadsheets.
Everything from hydraulic calculations to reinforcing quantities can be done in a spreadsheet.
However it would be a mistake to rely solely on results produced by any software without using some judgement on the results. Problems come when people get too trusting of software, whether its a spreadsheet or a $20,000 Analysis package.
Mind you, none of the engineers I know are using Excel 2007 yet, and aren't likely to while this sort of problem is out there.
Do they need to improve the cooling to prevent your brain from crashing?
It won't be long before this kind of usage is common.
"He did not remember any ending to his interrogation. There was a period of
blackness and then the cell, or room, in which he now was had gradually
materialized round him. He was almost flat on his back, and unable to move.
His body was held down at every essential point. Even the back of his head
was gripped in some manner. O'Brien was looking down at him gravely and
rather sadly. His face, seen from below, looked coarse and worn, with
pouches under the eyes and tired lines from nose to chin. He was older
than Winston had thought him; he was perhaps forty-eight or fifty. Under
his hand there was a dial with a lever on top and figures running round
the face.
'I told you,' said O'Brien, 'that if we met again it would be here.'
'Yes,' said Winston.
Without any warning except a slight movement of O'Brien's hand, a wave of
pain flooded his body. It was a frightening pain, because he could not see
what was happening, and he had the feeling that some mortal injury was
being done to him. He did not know whether the thing was really happening,
or whether the effect was electrically produced; but his body was being
wrenched out of shape, the joints were being slowly torn apart. Although
the pain had brought the sweat out on his forehead, the worst of all was
the fear that his backbone was about to snap. He set his teeth and
breathed hard through his nose, trying to keep silent as long as possible.
'You are afraid,' said O'Brien, watching his face, 'that in another moment
something is going to break. Your especial fear is that it will be your
backbone. You have a vivid mental picture of the vertebrae snapping apart
and the spinal fluid dripping out of them. That is what you are thinking,
is it not, Winston?'
Winston did not answer. O'Brien drew back the lever on the dial. The wave
of pain receded almost as quickly as it had come.
'That was forty,' said O'Brien. 'You can see that the numbers on this dial
run up to a hundred. Will you please remember, throughout our conversation,
that I have it in my power to inflict pain on you at any moment and to
whatever degree I choose? If you tell me any lies, or attempt to
prevaricate in any way, or even fall below your usual level of
intelligence, you will cry out with pain, instantly. Do you understand
that?'
'Yes,' said Winston."
From 1984, By George Orwell
I find your lack of faith... disturbing.
"Ah! But they don't know that we intend to attack without mercy!
Nothing in the world is more surprising than the attack without mercy!"
From the movie Little Big Man for those who don't get the reference.
So,
How can they continue with no money to pay their lawyers when no-one will lend them any?
They won't work in your SLI rig. Only NVidia cards support SLI. ATI have a different system that uses a different motherboard, so you'd have to replace that too, if you want SLI type performance.
So you get a little jigsaw puzzle piece instead of an ad? Did you really want the ad?
(and that's hard to do) You weren't here for APEC, were you?
Anyway as someone else pointed out, this incident was in New Zealand.
Remember that it's a Russian article. They lump Three Mile Island in with Chernyoble because people remember it happened (if not the details) and it helps reinforce the idea of "well, those Americans had a nuclear disaster as well you know."
Funny no-one mentions the Windscale fire, which really was a disaster.
Here in Australia, the Government funds a TV network called the ABC. That doesn't stop people from challenging what the govt does and even getting arrested for it.
Another prototype
And the production version
What, both of the surviving ones?
I kid, I know Neil Diamond still has a huge following, but never let the truth get in the way of a good joke...
Not only that, but what if you accept the tag from the company, and then they go broke.
You find a job somewhere else, but they use a different type of tag, so you have to go do it all again?
Go for it. But you'll have to write your own compiler, and build the OS and hardware to run it on.
it just means the FSM reused his code. Doesn't everyone?
In Australia, mod chips are legal, but copyright infringement is not. It is OK to mod your console so it will run Linux for example, but it is not legal to pirate games.
Unlocking your phone so you can use it on another network is also perfectly legal. that's probably why the iPhone isn't available here yet.
See Cuba and North Korea for examples of why this won't work.
When the rockets go up
who cares where they come down?
"That's not my department"
says Werner Von Braun.
I see your Schwartz is as big as mine...
A couple of funnelwebs ought to do it. They like hiding in boots.
Here's a thing. Instead of punishing people for their unhealthy workaholic lifestyles, why don't they ensure that people's workloads are such that they don't have to spend their life in a cubicle, with no time to get of their fat ass. Why don't they provide fresh fruit in the break room, subsidised gym memberships, discounted massages - even training. Things that encourage a healthy lifestyle.
My employer does a lot of these things, because they recognise that the issue for them is not just stopping people from getting sick, but keeping them. If they are healthy and happy, they will stay. If not, at the very least they will be absent a lot and at worst they may leave or die.
It's no use punishing people for an unhealthy lifestyle if they don't know how or don't have the means to have a healthy one. You can't punish someone for his high blood pressure and high weight, if his job keeps him sitting on a chair for ten hours a day. Adjust his workload a bit so he can relax with his family and get that blood pressure down, or go to the gym and lose some of that weight.
There are friendlier ways of achieving these ends on a population wide basis than fining people.
High blood pressure has hereditary factors, but there are plenty of lifestyle ones as well. Punishing people for it is still counterproductive because it makes people anxious, which raises their blood pressure...