Even including all of those vandalized wikis that just go "**** ****...", the information to misinformation ratio on Wikipedia is much better than the knowledge base of any high school student I've ever met. Just because it's not necessarily as accurate as a book doesn't mean that it's worthless and should be shielded from children.
Should we set an age limit on tabloids just because almost every article that goes "New Cancer Cure ____" is bogus?
Wikipedia is a great way to teach children how to check sources and have them think critically. When they get into college those are the skills they are going to need. When I read books I'm lazy and don't check the facts and just accept them, which is a big mistake. On Wikipedia I'm on my toes and I rarely get misinformation because I filter it all out.
You're only teaching kids to be sheep and just accept everything they are told from a credible source. There are a lot of credible sources out there that say crazy stuff and children need to know better and challenge those people.
You're school is teaching your kids to be soft, uninquiring, subserviant, and complacent. Your school obviously doesn't think highly of it's students to feel that they need to shield them so much.
"entirely possible" is an understatement, because it has been restandardized several times, and along with new questions they make it 100 point average with a 15 point standard deviation all over again.
I was a rep for i2hub on the UMass campus (UMass is where the founder Wayne Chang went to school and i2hub was based out of Amherst). Working with Wayne was quite an experience. He was constantly thinking of new ideas and strategies. I have no doubt he'll be successful in the future. However, Wayne needed money to take the RIAA to court, and even with a solid defense he wouldn't have a chance without the resources.
The students I collaborated with on i2hub were some of the more motivated and intelligent students I know. I'm sure that their support and campus networking will help foster bigger and better projects in the future. Over 500 of the more active i2hub users still chat every day on IRC, which is a testament to the strength of the i2hub community. I hate to say this, but i2hub marketed itself as a "student collaborative network" but the closure of the hub by the RIAA might just prove to force i2hub into the true collaborative network we had envisioned.
per capita the 130-160 IQ bracket (98% percentile to genius level) is much more successful than the 160+ IQ bracket. That's a fact. [I think that answers all those questions I was seeing before about genius level accomplishment]
Reading this article reminded me of the valedictorian of my father's graduating class at Bronx HS of Science. Graduated at age 15, committed suicide at age 18.
It takes more than raw intelligence to get something done. Why do you never find kids that are prodigious at analyzing poetry? Because it takes perspective and maturity of mind, not intelligence. A computer can be taught to describe all of physics and mathematics, but you can't teach it how to make progressive research. And you certainly can't teach a computer to analyze Shakespeare. It has no insight whatsoever. While this young boy has more perspective than a computer, and his encyclopedic memory will give him a leg up, it doesn't mean he'll win the Nobel prize.
Find me a prodigious philosopher, then I might give the kid some credit. You'll never find one though, because philosophy is outside their intellectual realm. Yoo-geun might be able to explain Schroedinger's equations, but ask him to propose an original stance on the problem of Schroedinger's cat and you'll get nothing, no matter how many more IQ points you bestow onto him. That takes maturity of mind, something that prodigies rarely attain.
I have 2 of them sitting right here if you are interested:)
They are black and white Cirgular phones with GSM capabilities. They have an address and a few games and ringtones (I tried to delete them and failed). Battery life is 5-6 days with minimal calling. You can e-mail me if you are interested:D
There was an article a few years back on the 25th aniversary of the cell phone, and it was an interview with one of the creators of the cell phone. He paraphrased all my frustrations with cell phones now adays. Companies should be putting all their money into signal strength/coverage and battery life, but they don't. Options sell, and cell phone makers concentrate on features.
Getting a free phone with all the frills isn't bad, but it can be annoying (especially when looking for a ring tone that sounds like a phone). You aren't a sell out by taking the free phone (though, I'll still sell you mine;)
Watch out horses, Vegas, and greyhounds. Make way for the next level in high stakes betting. Who wouldn't be willing to put down a few real dollars ( or pounds) on a real live Monopoly game for once?
I can see it now, Hasbro goes from clean cut toy company and becomes a modern day Mafia. Leading the way to high tech illegal gambling and racketeering.
Their passions are not related to what they do that's techy, but what they enjoy doing in their spare time. Where-ever smart, motivated, skilled individuals are needed you'll find geeks. I know MIT grads that are butchers, lawyers, etc... It's not technology that makes the geek. It's their intensity, knowledge, and enthusiasm.
I mentioned this before in a post of mine and TheCamper (827137) mentioned this above, but most geeks were probably in the church. All the smartest people joined the church, which would include geeks. It's just that now geeks have returned into the gene pool (sorta), so there's a preponderance of them, and they have just latched onto the feild of technology because it's geared to their skills and an area where major advancements by individuals is common.
Just before computers, geeks were in the feilds of physics and chemistry. These feilds are more challenging, so not all geeks could get involved. Computers and much easier and more widely available, so it's no wonder that their are more computer geeks than any other type of geek.
I'm a Jew with family from Galizia (not France's Galicia), Romania (Transylvania), and Ukraine. While I am not sure if Jews are genetically smarter, there is a simple answer to the problem. Selection (not really natural). Which is what Cochran says in his study (seems like most people commenting haven't really read the study, sadly). However, he states it a little differently than I do:
The smartest Christians for over 1000 years became priests. If you had 10 kids (as was common), the smartest one went on to be a priest, because they could read/write well, had good memories for scripture, and they could teach. So, the smartest Christians were taken out of the gene pool (*thinks Copernicus and Aquinas*). Repeat this process for centuries and you get a sub-par gene pool.
On the flip side. The smartest Jews went on to be rabbis and businessmen, they got the best and brightest wives and had many children. Repeat this process for centuries and you get an intelligent group.
Simple as that. You don't need a study, just common sense:P
I don't think I'm smarter because I have Jewish BLOOD. It's a cultural thing, those who are intelligent are respected in the Jewish community and have a lot of smart kids, and Jews of average intelligence still pursue education, because that's what is expected of them.
In the words of Richard Feynman, "Jews have a history of respecting learning: They respect their rabbis, who are really teachers, and they respect education. The Jews pass on this tradition in their families all the time, so that if a boy is a good student, it's as good as, if not better than, being a good football player."
I even experienced this as a child, and this is why I say it's a cultural thing: My second grade teacher's name was Mrs. Einstein (no direct relation), and somewhere during the course of the year I expressed my pride in the fact that Albert Einstein was Jewish and that I was also Jewish. One of the students taunted, "Why would you want to be related to a guy that looked like a toad?"
Sure Sure. First of all, it's not kosher, because you can't make an accurate copy so tiny (with all the crowns and such). Also, they don't use a quill when doing their work, they use other tools, and you really need the quill. However, there is a form of microscanning in Israel so that you can put the whole Tanach (Jewish Bible) on a slide. I had a Tanach professor that kept one of them in his breast pocket.
tell your company to think again. Migrating to Windows on such old machines will reduce productivity by a ton. Your machines will just be too slow. Keep Linux and just get Wine, unless you want to buy 250 new computers.
I had the exact same problem when I was a senior in high school. I wanted to take a year off and intern at a university, but didn't know where to start. I had other friends who had interned over summers, but no one knew how I could get in for a year.
I live in the Boston area, so I just started calling up universities. I was interested in physics, so I called up MIT, BU, Harvard, Tufts, Northeastern, etc. I made sure to talk with the chair of the department or someone high up. This is very important, otherwise you will become just another name on a secretary's post-it-note. You need to make sure that you sound interested, and talking to the chairman is the best way.
Some of the Universities were just looking for a way to say "no" to me nicely. Don't let that get you down though. Many of them wanted to help out but just didn't have the time/space.
I ended up interning at Tufts, and it was a wonderful experience. I was able to learn in a low pressure atmosphere, and it served as a great way of exposing myself to physics. I was a volunteer intern, but I could have gotten a $3000 grant or applied for credits, but I didn't. This reduced the stress and responsibility on me, which was exactly what I wanted:)
If you want to intern at a university I hope that what I said was helpful. However, If you go for a money making venture, all I can say is "good luck."
I was off the grid for 5 months and 10 days when I hiked the Appalachian Trail from Maine to Georgia in 2003. I had a cell phone, but if you look at Cingular's maps, there is a thin strip up the East coast where you can't get reception. That strip is the AT, which I hiked. It was really easy, I didn't miss the internet at all, didn't miss IMing or e-mail, and I sure as hell didn't miss all the spamming and ads all over. I would write letters to my parents that they would type up and e-mail to my friends, but that was about it for the internet. Not having to deal with technology was a great relief. But, being back here it's hard to live without it, my lifestyle at the time just didn't require it.
I remember when I stopped by a town in NH and I saw the last week's newspaper in the trash. It read "Great 2003 Blackout!". It's amazing to have missed something like that. I even heard stories of hikers who didn't hear about 9/11.
I'm planning to do long hikes in the future, so that won't be the last time I'm off the grid. (I know some people who hiked without ID, I still had my DL).
Anyway, if any of you have question or are just interested, I have all the answers. You can e-mail me at aberkowi@student.umass.edu
This "guide" is just as usful as giving a child toy blocks and telling him "this is how you build a skyscraper." Read a book about the German's nuclear program and you'll see just how hard it is to build a bomb, even with thousands of working men and brilliant minds.
I personally use Dvorak on a qwerty keyboard, I never bothered to change the layout from qwerty. This makes my keyboard even more useless than a blank one:)
I my accuracy has gone up a ton since I switched my layout back to qwerty, and I still get the comfort of Dvorak:D
There was an article, years ago, where the inventer of the cell phone said that he was happy to see cell phones so widely used, but that there was too much money being poured into options and not into service. I wish more companies would take a stand, like this one, and concentrate on the quality of their service and not ring tones.
I personally use Dvorak, and my typing speed has increased a lot in a very short amount of time.
A good typing tutorial for Dvorak is: http://www.gigliwood.com/abcd/abcd.html it is very simple but effective.
I have a friend who can type 165 wpm, and he just did Mavis Beacon for 3 years straight as a kid for 2 hours a day. I switched to Dvorak so that I wouldn't get some stress disorder when I got older, and if you have the time I'd recommend the switch. While it may or may not improve speed (mine improved) it does prevent injury when typing.
I am sure you have been receiving a barrage of e-mails recently, so I'll make this short.
Recently I read about two of your students attending Hinsdale Central High School breaching network security and the stealing Social Security Numbers for students and staff. While I do not believe that stealing the SSNs was appropriate, I do not support the way your administration has handled the situation.
A communal perspective needs to be taken when looking at the actions of those two students. Often drastic measures, both vulgar and offensive to those in charge, has to be taken. At this moment the citizens of Arizona are spitting in the face of the government by protecting their on boarders. This is not very different from what these two students did at HCHS. While they did break the law by cracking though security, they were trying to protect the student body (including themselves) and the staff by alerting the school of its flaws. Lets say someone was to break into their bank and steal their safety deposit box, and then handed it back to the bank manager the next day. An conceited bank manager wouldn't be able to see the good in what this man had done and would call the cops. However, an intelligent bank manager would hire this man.
Also, I am well acquainted with system admins in school districts. A close friend of mine has been one of the head network admins for the Boston Public Schools for almost 15 years. While he works with gifted students to patch holes in security, many of the other admins disregard student warnings. They let their titles, status, and education get in the way of common sense.
Punishing these students is just another way that red tape and policy is destroying ingenuity in America. Strictly disciplining these students will only perpetuate the notion that students in America should strive for mediocrity and that being bold and initiating change should be shunned.
I agree completely. Don't let my statement give you the wrong idea. There is no substitute for calculus and there never will be. As a student in physics I understand how crucial math is to physics. Without calculus, physics would be fuzzier than philosophy.
However, I enjoy physics so much that I want to have my friends understand what's so interesting. Physics, Computer Science, and Philosophy are really the only fields of study that can't always be grasped by the layman, and hopefully there will one day be ways to elucidate these subjects better.
I saw this book at the store the other day. I couldn't find anything else that looked interesting, but still, the book seemed a little watered down. Not intense enough, no challenge, and not because it was so expertly written that anyone could understand it. The section I glanced at looked primarily theoretical with a peppering of math, not a comprehensive view both theoretically and mathematically.
A friend of mine looked over it after I put it back on the shelf. She's a gifted writer, but couldn't pass high school algebra. She also couldn't get through the first chapter of this book for her life. Seeing her difficulties frustrates me, she and millions of others want to be able to grasp the more complex theories of physics while avoiding calculus. I hope that one day a truly gifted teacher/writter will be able to write a book for this helpless audience.
The book isn't for those fed up with other "quick guides to physics," but more for people who want one that's jam packed with modern physics and will serve their general education well.
'We're not going to make a sequel just because it would sell.'
That's never stopped them in the past. Just wait until Treasure takes it to the marketing department, they'll have to change their tune.
Still, looks like a worthy sequel.
Assuming I live 50 more years. At $60 a year that would be $3000 for a lifetime of unlimited* music (not including inflation, because it's all relative). That sounds like a good deal to me.
T3 ani i2 users (like myself) are gonna bankrupt Yahoo and Napster. Do these companies have any limits at all? Otherwise, they are doomed. I could easily download thousands of songs in a day, bursting their $5 threshold. The majority of users won't download that much. I'm sure they have educated economists working it out, but when I see something that looks too good to be true it's usually because it is and I'll get reamed by some legal clause or their company's might as well skip to chapter 11.
Slashdot Mirror
1. FREE BROADBAND!!!!! ....
2. Feed our citizens
3. Nuke Pakistan
4. Restructure caste system
5. $1 taco Tuesday
6. AIDS prevention?
Even including all of those vandalized wikis that just go "**** **** ...", the information to misinformation ratio on Wikipedia is much better than the knowledge base of any high school student I've ever met. Just because it's not necessarily as accurate as a book doesn't mean that it's worthless and should be shielded from children.
Should we set an age limit on tabloids just because almost every article that goes "New Cancer Cure ____" is bogus?
Wikipedia is a great way to teach children how to check sources and have them think critically. When they get into college those are the skills they are going to need. When I read books I'm lazy and don't check the facts and just accept them, which is a big mistake. On Wikipedia I'm on my toes and I rarely get misinformation because I filter it all out.
You're only teaching kids to be sheep and just accept everything they are told from a credible source. There are a lot of credible sources out there that say crazy stuff and children need to know better and challenge those people.
You're school is teaching your kids to be soft, uninquiring, subserviant, and complacent. Your school obviously doesn't think highly of it's students to feel that they need to shield them so much.
"entirely possible" is an understatement, because it has been restandardized several times, and along with new questions they make it 100 point average with a 15 point standard deviation all over again.
I was a rep for i2hub on the UMass campus (UMass is where the founder Wayne Chang went to school and i2hub was based out of Amherst). Working with Wayne was quite an experience. He was constantly thinking of new ideas and strategies. I have no doubt he'll be successful in the future. However, Wayne needed money to take the RIAA to court, and even with a solid defense he wouldn't have a chance without the resources.
The students I collaborated with on i2hub were some of the more motivated and intelligent students I know. I'm sure that their support and campus networking will help foster bigger and better projects in the future. Over 500 of the more active i2hub users still chat every day on IRC, which is a testament to the strength of the i2hub community. I hate to say this, but i2hub marketed itself as a "student collaborative network" but the closure of the hub by the RIAA might just prove to force i2hub into the true collaborative network we had envisioned.
per capita the 130-160 IQ bracket (98% percentile to genius level) is much more successful than the 160+ IQ bracket. That's a fact. [I think that answers all those questions I was seeing before about genius level accomplishment]
Reading this article reminded me of the valedictorian of my father's graduating class at Bronx HS of Science. Graduated at age 15, committed suicide at age 18.
It takes more than raw intelligence to get something done. Why do you never find kids that are prodigious at analyzing poetry? Because it takes perspective and maturity of mind, not intelligence. A computer can be taught to describe all of physics and mathematics, but you can't teach it how to make progressive research. And you certainly can't teach a computer to analyze Shakespeare. It has no insight whatsoever. While this young boy has more perspective than a computer, and his encyclopedic memory will give him a leg up, it doesn't mean he'll win the Nobel prize.
Find me a prodigious philosopher, then I might give the kid some credit. You'll never find one though, because philosophy is outside their intellectual realm. Yoo-geun might be able to explain Schroedinger's equations, but ask him to propose an original stance on the problem of Schroedinger's cat and you'll get nothing, no matter how many more IQ points you bestow onto him. That takes maturity of mind, something that prodigies rarely attain.
I have 2 of them sitting right here if you are interested :)
:D
;)
They are black and white Cirgular phones with GSM capabilities. They have an address and a few games and ringtones (I tried to delete them and failed). Battery life is 5-6 days with minimal calling. You can e-mail me if you are interested
There was an article a few years back on the 25th aniversary of the cell phone, and it was an interview with one of the creators of the cell phone. He paraphrased all my frustrations with cell phones now adays. Companies should be putting all their money into signal strength/coverage and battery life, but they don't. Options sell, and cell phone makers concentrate on features.
Getting a free phone with all the frills isn't bad, but it can be annoying (especially when looking for a ring tone that sounds like a phone). You aren't a sell out by taking the free phone (though, I'll still sell you mine
Watch out horses, Vegas, and greyhounds. Make way for the next level in high stakes betting. Who wouldn't be willing to put down a few real dollars ( or pounds) on a real live Monopoly game for once? I can see it now, Hasbro goes from clean cut toy company and becomes a modern day Mafia. Leading the way to high tech illegal gambling and racketeering.
The three biggest geeks I know are a:
1. pro flash programmer / professional chef
2. mech. engineer / vintage motorcycle repareman / gunsmith
3. elect. engineer / painter / philosopher
Their passions are not related to what they do that's techy, but what they enjoy doing in their spare time. Where-ever smart, motivated, skilled individuals are needed you'll find geeks. I know MIT grads that are butchers, lawyers, etc... It's not technology that makes the geek. It's their intensity, knowledge, and enthusiasm.
I mentioned this before in a post of mine and TheCamper (827137) mentioned this above, but most geeks were probably in the church. All the smartest people joined the church, which would include geeks. It's just that now geeks have returned into the gene pool (sorta), so there's a preponderance of them, and they have just latched onto the feild of technology because it's geared to their skills and an area where major advancements by individuals is common.
Just before computers, geeks were in the feilds of physics and chemistry. These feilds are more challenging, so not all geeks could get involved. Computers and much easier and more widely available, so it's no wonder that their are more computer geeks than any other type of geek.
I'm a Jew with family from Galizia (not France's Galicia), Romania (Transylvania), and Ukraine. While I am not sure if Jews are genetically smarter, there is a simple answer to the problem. Selection (not really natural). Which is what Cochran says in his study (seems like most people commenting haven't really read the study, sadly). However, he states it a little differently than I do:
:P
:)
The smartest Christians for over 1000 years became priests. If you had 10 kids (as was common), the smartest one went on to be a priest, because they could read/write well, had good memories for scripture, and they could teach. So, the smartest Christians were taken out of the gene pool (*thinks Copernicus and Aquinas*). Repeat this process for centuries and you get a sub-par gene pool.
On the flip side. The smartest Jews went on to be rabbis and businessmen, they got the best and brightest wives and had many children. Repeat this process for centuries and you get an intelligent group.
Simple as that. You don't need a study, just common sense
I don't think I'm smarter because I have Jewish BLOOD. It's a cultural thing, those who are intelligent are respected in the Jewish community and have a lot of smart kids, and Jews of average intelligence still pursue education, because that's what is expected of them.
In the words of Richard Feynman, "Jews have a history of respecting learning: They respect their rabbis, who are really teachers, and they respect education. The Jews pass on this tradition in their families all the time, so that if a boy is a good student, it's as good as, if not better than, being a good football player."
I even experienced this as a child, and this is why I say it's a cultural thing: My second grade teacher's name was Mrs. Einstein (no direct relation), and somewhere during the course of the year I expressed my pride in the fact that Albert Einstein was Jewish and that I was also Jewish. One of the students taunted, "Why would you want to be related to a guy that looked like a toad?"
Shows what they know
Sure Sure. First of all, it's not kosher, because you can't make an accurate copy so tiny (with all the crowns and such). Also, they don't use a quill when doing their work, they use other tools, and you really need the quill. However, there is a form of microscanning in Israel so that you can put the whole Tanach (Jewish Bible) on a slide. I had a Tanach professor that kept one of them in his breast pocket.
tell your company to think again. Migrating to Windows on such old machines will reduce productivity by a ton. Your machines will just be too slow. Keep Linux and just get Wine, unless you want to buy 250 new computers.
I had the exact same problem when I was a senior in high school. I wanted to take a year off and intern at a university, but didn't know where to start. I had other friends who had interned over summers, but no one knew how I could get in for a year.
:)
I live in the Boston area, so I just started calling up universities. I was interested in physics, so I called up MIT, BU, Harvard, Tufts, Northeastern, etc. I made sure to talk with the chair of the department or someone high up. This is very important, otherwise you will become just another name on a secretary's post-it-note. You need to make sure that you sound interested, and talking to the chairman is the best way.
Some of the Universities were just looking for a way to say "no" to me nicely. Don't let that get you down though. Many of them wanted to help out but just didn't have the time/space.
I ended up interning at Tufts, and it was a wonderful experience. I was able to learn in a low pressure atmosphere, and it served as a great way of exposing myself to physics. I was a volunteer intern, but I could have gotten a $3000 grant or applied for credits, but I didn't. This reduced the stress and responsibility on me, which was exactly what I wanted
If you want to intern at a university I hope that what I said was helpful. However, If you go for a money making venture, all I can say is "good luck."
Half the fun is the pen and paper. I'll give it a try, but it sounds a little impersonal.
I was off the grid for 5 months and 10 days when I hiked the Appalachian Trail from Maine to Georgia in 2003. I had a cell phone, but if you look at Cingular's maps, there is a thin strip up the East coast where you can't get reception. That strip is the AT, which I hiked. It was really easy, I didn't miss the internet at all, didn't miss IMing or e-mail, and I sure as hell didn't miss all the spamming and ads all over. I would write letters to my parents that they would type up and e-mail to my friends, but that was about it for the internet. Not having to deal with technology was a great relief. But, being back here it's hard to live without it, my lifestyle at the time just didn't require it.
I remember when I stopped by a town in NH and I saw the last week's newspaper in the trash. It read "Great 2003 Blackout!". It's amazing to have missed something like that. I even heard stories of hikers who didn't hear about 9/11.
I'm planning to do long hikes in the future, so that won't be the last time I'm off the grid. (I know some people who hiked without ID, I still had my DL).
Anyway, if any of you have question or are just interested, I have all the answers. You can e-mail me at aberkowi@student.umass.edu
This "guide" is just as usful as giving a child toy blocks and telling him "this is how you build a skyscraper." Read a book about the German's nuclear program and you'll see just how hard it is to build a bomb, even with thousands of working men and brilliant minds.
I personally use Dvorak on a qwerty keyboard, I never bothered to change the layout from qwerty. This makes my keyboard even more useless than a blank one :)
I my accuracy has gone up a ton since I switched my layout back to qwerty, and I still get the comfort of Dvorak :D
There was an article, years ago, where the inventer of the cell phone said that he was happy to see cell phones so widely used, but that there was too much money being poured into options and not into service. I wish more companies would take a stand, like this one, and concentrate on the quality of their service and not ring tones.
I personally use Dvorak, and my typing speed has increased a lot in a very short amount of time. A good typing tutorial for Dvorak is: http://www.gigliwood.com/abcd/abcd.html it is very simple but effective. I have a friend who can type 165 wpm, and he just did Mavis Beacon for 3 years straight as a kid for 2 hours a day. I switched to Dvorak so that I wouldn't get some stress disorder when I got older, and if you have the time I'd recommend the switch. While it may or may not improve speed (mine improved) it does prevent injury when typing.
I sent this to District 86 in Chicago:
Dear Superintendent Miller,
I am sure you have been receiving a barrage of e-mails recently, so I'll make this short.
Recently I read about two of your students attending Hinsdale Central High School breaching network security and the stealing Social Security Numbers for students and staff. While I do not believe that stealing the SSNs was appropriate, I do not support the way your administration has handled the situation.
A communal perspective needs to be taken when looking at the actions of those two students. Often drastic measures, both vulgar and offensive to those in charge, has to be taken. At this moment the citizens of Arizona are spitting in the face of the government by protecting their on boarders. This is not very different from what these two students did at HCHS. While they did break the law by cracking though security, they were trying to protect the student body (including themselves) and the staff by alerting the school of its flaws. Lets say someone was to break into their bank and steal their safety deposit box, and then handed it back to the bank manager the next day. An conceited bank manager wouldn't be able to see the good in what this man had done and would call the cops. However, an intelligent bank manager would hire this man.
Also, I am well acquainted with system admins in school districts. A close friend of mine has been one of the head network admins for the Boston Public Schools for almost 15 years. While he works with gifted students to patch holes in security, many of the other admins disregard student warnings. They let their titles, status, and education get in the way of common sense.
Punishing these students is just another way that red tape and policy is destroying ingenuity in America. Strictly disciplining these students will only perpetuate the notion that students in America should strive for mediocrity and that being bold and initiating change should be shunned.
- Xxx Xxxxxxxxx-Xxxxxxx
I agree completely. Don't let my statement give you the wrong idea. There is no substitute for calculus and there never will be. As a student in physics I understand how crucial math is to physics. Without calculus, physics would be fuzzier than philosophy.
However, I enjoy physics so much that I want to have my friends understand what's so interesting. Physics, Computer Science, and Philosophy are really the only fields of study that can't always be grasped by the layman, and hopefully there will one day be ways to elucidate these subjects better.
I saw this book at the store the other day. I couldn't find anything else that looked interesting, but still, the book seemed a little watered down. Not intense enough, no challenge, and not because it was so expertly written that anyone could understand it. The section I glanced at looked primarily theoretical with a peppering of math, not a comprehensive view both theoretically and mathematically.
A friend of mine looked over it after I put it back on the shelf. She's a gifted writer, but couldn't pass high school algebra. She also couldn't get through the first chapter of this book for her life. Seeing her difficulties frustrates me, she and millions of others want to be able to grasp the more complex theories of physics while avoiding calculus. I hope that one day a truly gifted teacher/writter will be able to write a book for this helpless audience.
The book isn't for those fed up with other "quick guides to physics," but more for people who want one that's jam packed with modern physics and will serve their general education well.
'We're not going to make a sequel just because it would sell.' That's never stopped them in the past. Just wait until Treasure takes it to the marketing department, they'll have to change their tune. Still, looks like a worthy sequel.
Assuming I live 50 more years. At $60 a year that would be $3000 for a lifetime of unlimited* music (not including inflation, because it's all relative). That sounds like a good deal to me.
Note: I'm still not signing up. *grins*
*limited to the companies that sign on
T3 ani i2 users (like myself) are gonna bankrupt Yahoo and Napster. Do these companies have any limits at all? Otherwise, they are doomed. I could easily download thousands of songs in a day, bursting their $5 threshold. The majority of users won't download that much. I'm sure they have educated economists working it out, but when I see something that looks too good to be true it's usually because it is and I'll get reamed by some legal clause or their company's might as well skip to chapter 11.