I finished a UK Comp Sci degree a few weeks ago. The quality of the degree depends significantly on what modules the student picks. If they decide to take all the easy modules with little extra programming or theoretical knowledge then they will come out with a useless degree and become part of that 15%. Fortunately at my uni (Nottingham) some of the more theoretical (as in actual Comp Sci) modules were mandatory.
A good example of something that has crossed over from research into reality is the Generics in.Net, that started out as a compiler mod by some guys in MS Research.
Because they want it taught in science lessons. If you're going to teach science, then teach science don't teach something that hasn't gone through the wringer that is the scientific community and that has had to use the legal system to try and get into classrooms.
If these school boards want to teach their ridiculous creation myths then teach it in a religious education class, where major world religions are explained and discussed. If they don't want to teach valid scientific theories in their science classes then quit with the intellectual dishonesty and stop teaching science altogether. There is some equally insane "alternative" to every scientific theory which I'm sure someone would like to be taught:
Astronomy -> Astrology Chemistry -> Alchemy Biology -> Creation Studies (The Christian one, obviously) Etc, etc...
What is with the scope creep in the mobile phone industry?
I don't know if one already exists, but what'd be more useful in a small form factor projector would be a USB powered laptop projector, with VGA input.
I see a reasonable number of policemen on the beat in my home village (in Devon).
Although when one of my friends was running along to our local park (to meet myself and a few others) one of them stopped him and asked him where he was going. And not in a "Whats the rush? Ho ho ho." kind of way, but being quite serious.
The extradition agreement with Britain is still (iirc) one sided because Congress hasn't ratified the agreement. Unless of course they have done recently and I've not heard about it (entirely possible).
I agree with you. The amount of crap "metal" thats around at the moment is quite depressing... but as with your two examples there are some brilliant bands coming out of Scandinavia. Opeth are fucking brilliant, seen them live twice and they were the best act I've ever seen.
Or if you don't have an aerial (unless thats what you meant). My friend's family owns a TV for DVDs, but doesn't own an aerial (they live in a secluded hamlet in a valley, I'm not sure if they even get reception). They had an inspector call around because of their lack of a television license but once they showed him that they didn't have an aerial he buggered off.
This is true of mainstream pop music. However there is modern music which is real, is written by the people who play it and isn't made on computers. I don't know about the American youth (I'm of the English variety) but there is certainly a modern European Heavy Metal community of reasonable size, and the bands we listen to produce real music which they write themselves with real instruments and put real feelings into. You just have to search around a bit and find some more obscure bands on smaller labels.
You may or may not like the music but it most certainly isn't pop crap.
I did email my MP about my concerns over the Creationist issue. He was somewhat scathing and made remarks to the effect of "Scientists think they know what happened thousands of years ago? Give me a break, the truth is no-one knows". I think that his grasp of the technical situation surrounding this database would be minimal.
Of course that is possible... a creator could have created the universe a day ago, a minute ago, a second ago or at any point in time approaching an infinitely small measurement of time. Therefore not only does this idea have no relevance to science (because science is either assuming that it didn't happen, or not caring that it happened and is interested in this fake history), it also doesn't help the Creationist's point of view either. If someone wanted to say that it was created at a specific point in our history, say 6k years ago then without *cough* evidence to show that that was the point in time at which God created the universe their point is moot. Seeing as there are conflicting religious accounts of this exact point (I think certain aboriginal tribes believe that this creator was a rainbow snake who vomited out the universe) I don't see why one unsupported book should be taken more highly than another unsupported book or any other unsupported creation legend.
Same here. I find it amusing that they're giving this Anti-Piracy shit to the people who've either bought their DVD or are watching their movie in the cinema... I've already paid for your shit! Leave me alone!
On the other hand I could download a ripped copy (for free), with no ads what-so-ever and watch it on my computer without having to arse around. Hrm... it makes me want to pirate more just to show them that their little advertisement scheme isn't fucking working.
What you have to realise about us British and to some extent mainland Europeans is that we'll take the piss out of everyone, everything and that includes ourselves. I think its a result of us not warring between ourselves anymore, instead of invading the French we just call them frogs, and instead of invading us they'll insult our cuisine. So when a Brit tells a joke like "I quite like America... its just a shame its full of Americans." we don't really mean it in a hostile fashion.
(S)He is right in general, whilst English speakers tend to be more comfortable with the prefix version, when I was in Germany for a festival they used it in suffix form exclusively.
Atheism is not the opposite of religion. Atheism is the opposite of Theism. Its a very important distinction and the reason why the grandparent's post is bullshit.
I'm currently in my first year of Computer Science at Nottingham University. In terms of your hopes for additions to the curriculum, there are definitely optional modules for more knowledge about the software development process in general (I think its referred to as Software Systems), as well as the act of programming itself (Java this year... options for C++ next iirc). In the second year there is a group project where people are forced to work together, developing those unpleasant communication and group programming skills, which I assume would help with future work. We do also take a module which is partly Information Theory, partly presentation skills and partly English skills. Computer Science degrees do seem (from my pov) at least to be updating themselves to take into consideration necessary skills in the IT workplace besides programming.
Thats exactly what my parents did, I trusted them and they trusted me. I would have seriously rebelled if they had attempted to record my conversations, plus they realised that about the time I was 14 that they would never be able to stop me doing what I wanted on the computer.
Imagine that Debbie and me somehow go out together. We want to network with our peer group, teenager-wise. I need to figure out what's hip and with-it and rebellious, and Debbie needs to know what the other cyber-Goth chicks are wearing. Is that okay? No!
This is the bit that I found the most interesting. Obviously teenagers (and to a lesser extent adults) will follow the pack, we're insecure and awkard creatures that need to identify ourselves with something. But is the 'net any worse or better for forming these youth groups and subcultures? Does the 'net twist them, or is it only the popular and corporately owned sites (such as MySpace) that twist the communities that inhabit them? I personally find it amusing the amount of people who don't know that MySpace is owned by Fox and that they're spouting their generic rebellious teenage rants on a site that is funding Mr Right Wing Rupert Murdoch himself. If they truely believed in what they said then they'd stop using MySpace and find or create their own site.... until that is taken over by some corporation looking to capitalise on the site's profitability or market-share. I don't really know what I'm attempting to say, and possibly I am just being a whiney teenage geek but something just doesn't feel right and I can't come to a serious conclusion as to what it is about these stereotypical subcultures which irritate me? Possibly I am just attempting to identify myself as someone who isn't using MySpace and rebelling against the 'man' in that way? I don't know, seems somewhat of a catch 22.
An indie kid is someone who listens to indie music. Which afaik came originally from independant publishers. So generally indie music is comprised of bands that the majority of people don't like (not necessarily a bad thing, music isn't a democracy). I guess that you should get various sub-types of indie, as indie itself is not really a genre (so you would have indie-rock or indie-metal for example), although the stereotyptical indie music tends to be various forms of rock.
Just remember that people who like the Kaiser Chiefs or Franz Ferdinand are not indie kids... bands like that are more like some form of pseudo indie music. Music that desperately wants to be indie and attempts to maintain an indie image but is just so dull as to be not much better than pop (although at least they actually make the music themselves). I'm not really an indie kid myself (I'm a metalhead, I know... too many silly labels but then, I'm young its how we identify ourselves I'm sure that we'll grow out of it) although I do listen to some indie metal however this is what I've gathered from observing various indie kids that I know.
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I finished a UK Comp Sci degree a few weeks ago. The quality of the degree depends significantly on what modules the student picks. If they decide to take all the easy modules with little extra programming or theoretical knowledge then they will come out with a useless degree and become part of that 15%. Fortunately at my uni (Nottingham) some of the more theoretical (as in actual Comp Sci) modules were mandatory.
A good example of something that has crossed over from research into reality is the Generics in .Net, that started out as a compiler mod by some guys in MS Research.
Thanks for the tip. I shall have a fiddle around on my Server 2k8 system, as I've got 8GB of RAM so I really do not need a page file.
There are already plans for an extensive license plate monitoring system in the UK. Any car on any reasonably significant road will be tracked.
Because they want it taught in science lessons. If you're going to teach science, then teach science don't teach something that hasn't gone through the wringer that is the scientific community and that has had to use the legal system to try and get into classrooms.
If these school boards want to teach their ridiculous creation myths then teach it in a religious education class, where major world religions are explained and discussed. If they don't want to teach valid scientific theories in their science classes then quit with the intellectual dishonesty and stop teaching science altogether. There is some equally insane "alternative" to every scientific theory which I'm sure someone would like to be taught:
Astronomy -> Astrology
Chemistry -> Alchemy
Biology -> Creation Studies (The Christian one, obviously)
Etc, etc...
She does? Wow she really is talentless.
Have you heard her Chop Suey live cover? There are no words to describe how terrible it is...
Uh, I'm 20 and I've used a rotary phone, used a record player and have a TV without a remote sitting downstairs right now.
What is with the scope creep in the mobile phone industry?
I don't know if one already exists, but what'd be more useful in a small form factor projector would be a USB powered laptop projector, with VGA input.
I see a reasonable number of policemen on the beat in my home village (in Devon). Although when one of my friends was running along to our local park (to meet myself and a few others) one of them stopped him and asked him where he was going. And not in a "Whats the rush? Ho ho ho." kind of way, but being quite serious.
The extradition agreement with Britain is still (iirc) one sided because Congress hasn't ratified the agreement. Unless of course they have done recently and I've not heard about it (entirely possible).
I agree with you. The amount of crap "metal" thats around at the moment is quite depressing... but as with your two examples there are some brilliant bands coming out of Scandinavia. Opeth are fucking brilliant, seen them live twice and they were the best act I've ever seen.
Or if you don't have an aerial (unless thats what you meant). My friend's family owns a TV for DVDs, but doesn't own an aerial (they live in a secluded hamlet in a valley, I'm not sure if they even get reception). They had an inspector call around because of their lack of a television license but once they showed him that they didn't have an aerial he buggered off.
This is true of mainstream pop music. However there is modern music which is real, is written by the people who play it and isn't made on computers. I don't know about the American youth (I'm of the English variety) but there is certainly a modern European Heavy Metal community of reasonable size, and the bands we listen to produce real music which they write themselves with real instruments and put real feelings into. You just have to search around a bit and find some more obscure bands on smaller labels.
You may or may not like the music but it most certainly isn't pop crap.
I did email my MP about my concerns over the Creationist issue. He was somewhat scathing and made remarks to the effect of "Scientists think they know what happened thousands of years ago? Give me a break, the truth is no-one knows". I think that his grasp of the technical situation surrounding this database would be minimal.
Of course that is possible... a creator could have created the universe a day ago, a minute ago, a second ago or at any point in time approaching an infinitely small measurement of time. Therefore not only does this idea have no relevance to science (because science is either assuming that it didn't happen, or not caring that it happened and is interested in this fake history), it also doesn't help the Creationist's point of view either. If someone wanted to say that it was created at a specific point in our history, say 6k years ago then without *cough* evidence to show that that was the point in time at which God created the universe their point is moot. Seeing as there are conflicting religious accounts of this exact point (I think certain aboriginal tribes believe that this creator was a rainbow snake who vomited out the universe) I don't see why one unsupported book should be taken more highly than another unsupported book or any other unsupported creation legend.
I wish I could verify that with my wallet.... :(
Same here. I find it amusing that they're giving this Anti-Piracy shit to the people who've either bought their DVD or are watching their movie in the cinema... I've already paid for your shit! Leave me alone!
On the other hand I could download a ripped copy (for free), with no ads what-so-ever and watch it on my computer without having to arse around. Hrm... it makes me want to pirate more just to show them that their little advertisement scheme isn't fucking working.
What you have to realise about us British and to some extent mainland Europeans is that we'll take the piss out of everyone, everything and that includes ourselves. I think its a result of us not warring between ourselves anymore, instead of invading the French we just call them frogs, and instead of invading us they'll insult our cuisine. So when a Brit tells a joke like "I quite like America... its just a shame its full of Americans." we don't really mean it in a hostile fashion.
(S)He is right in general, whilst English speakers tend to be more comfortable with the prefix version, when I was in Germany for a festival they used it in suffix form exclusively.
Atheism is not the opposite of religion. Atheism is the opposite of Theism. Its a very important distinction and the reason why the grandparent's post is bullshit.
I'm currently in my first year of Computer Science at Nottingham University. In terms of your hopes for additions to the curriculum, there are definitely optional modules for more knowledge about the software development process in general (I think its referred to as Software Systems), as well as the act of programming itself (Java this year... options for C++ next iirc). In the second year there is a group project where people are forced to work together, developing those unpleasant communication and group programming skills, which I assume would help with future work. We do also take a module which is partly Information Theory, partly presentation skills and partly English skills. Computer Science degrees do seem (from my pov) at least to be updating themselves to take into consideration necessary skills in the IT workplace besides programming.
Thats exactly what my parents did, I trusted them and they trusted me. I would have seriously rebelled if they had attempted to record my conversations, plus they realised that about the time I was 14 that they would never be able to stop me doing what I wanted on the computer.
What about a bit of Pico or Femto, eh?
Imagine that Debbie and me somehow go out together. We want to network with our peer group, teenager-wise. I need to figure out what's hip and with-it and rebellious, and Debbie needs to know what the other cyber-Goth chicks are wearing. Is that okay? No!
This is the bit that I found the most interesting. Obviously teenagers (and to a lesser extent adults) will follow the pack, we're insecure and awkard creatures that need to identify ourselves with something. But is the 'net any worse or better for forming these youth groups and subcultures? Does the 'net twist them, or is it only the popular and corporately owned sites (such as MySpace) that twist the communities that inhabit them? I personally find it amusing the amount of people who don't know that MySpace is owned by Fox and that they're spouting their generic rebellious teenage rants on a site that is funding Mr Right Wing Rupert Murdoch himself. If they truely believed in what they said then they'd stop using MySpace and find or create their own site.... until that is taken over by some corporation looking to capitalise on the site's profitability or market-share. I don't really know what I'm attempting to say, and possibly I am just being a whiney teenage geek but something just doesn't feel right and I can't come to a serious conclusion as to what it is about these stereotypical subcultures which irritate me? Possibly I am just attempting to identify myself as someone who isn't using MySpace and rebelling against the 'man' in that way? I don't know, seems somewhat of a catch 22.
An indie kid is someone who listens to indie music. Which afaik came originally from independant publishers. So generally indie music is comprised of bands that the majority of people don't like (not necessarily a bad thing, music isn't a democracy). I guess that you should get various sub-types of indie, as indie itself is not really a genre (so you would have indie-rock or indie-metal for example), although the stereotyptical indie music tends to be various forms of rock.
Just remember that people who like the Kaiser Chiefs or Franz Ferdinand are not indie kids... bands like that are more like some form of pseudo indie music. Music that desperately wants to be indie and attempts to maintain an indie image but is just so dull as to be not much better than pop (although at least they actually make the music themselves). I'm not really an indie kid myself (I'm a metalhead, I know... too many silly labels but then, I'm young its how we identify ourselves I'm sure that we'll grow out of it) although I do listen to some indie metal however this is what I've gathered from observing various indie kids that I know.