I agree, that is, the RAM usage for basic apps has gotten out of control. 1GB is not enough? I mean come on Clippy, whats the deal? Why are programs getting so bloated that they need a super-computer to run them. I too run Office 2000. It installs in about 1 minute and runs fast on my older machines without needed 10GB of RAM.
While nearly half the RAM being consumed without actually doing anything useful may be concerning itâ(TM)s not actually a big deal. Microsoft claim that Windows 7 (and Vista too, but its success is arguable) pre-loads parts of programs it expects you to use
Really? That is the line they are selling? I don't buy it. Why can't the OS just focus on being a solid, stable, efficient platform for running applications and let me worry about which application I want to run. You would think that pre-loading anything takes additional time at boot up and I would rather have my desktop up in 15 seconds then have to wait for all this other stuff that Windows thinks I may want to do.
For me, it is a more useful definition and here is why. For two variables to be truly correlated is to say that one thing (specifically that thing) causes a change in another, in this case, the act of using facebook causes an individual's grades to drop. That is a strong statement. Watering down the definition leads to less rigor in the process of determining cause and effect. Keeping the more stringent definition is a reminder that in order to have a valid analysis all variables need to be carefully identified and controlled to prove there is even a casual relationship.
The more stringent definition becomes really important in things like pharmaceutical research where one wants to determine the correlation between a drug and a reaction in the body. If using a drug by ingesting 1 8oz glass of water with a pill showed the desired effect one might say there is a correlation. If the reality is that it is the 8 oz of water causing the change then there may be a false report of correlation. Keeping the strict definition in mind we must, as scientists, remember that we need to isolate the variables in order to really prove the existence of any relationship.
My opinion is that the whole facebook thing is just a form of goofing off and that it is not the act of using facebook specifically that causes a drop in grades, only that goofing off causes a drop in grades. You could replace "facebook" with "watching the simpsons" and may observe the same thing, ergo, I still question whether there is even a casual relationship.
I digress, and apologize. I merely wanted to illustrate that the sensationalist title of "facebook users get lower grades in college" is an irresponsible claim, especially given the lack of detail in the reported "study". To claim that there exists even a casual relationship is difficult given the evidence provided, and that is just opinion for the record.
Perhaps you should re-read your dictionary. A correlation requires a bit more than a "statistical relationship". The relationship needs to be further quantified to include a relationship such that systematic changes in the value of one variable are accompanied by systematic changes in the other. Yes this is an internet message board, and yes you can propose the possibility. I am not upset, you seem to be more upset as you are the one swearing and ranting.
Hey, I did... And I am saying there is no relationship! They can't even say that without providing some details on how they did the study. A relationship is the same thing as a correlation. As I mentioned above, there may only be a coincidence and that the real reason is facebook is the new cool thing and this is what kids do to goof off... If not facebook, its something else, therefore it isn't facebook that is the cause its goofing off!
Again, you are using statistics speak when there is no basis for it. You say "probably" but you have no basis for that other than that is your opinion. A correlation only exists if one thing has an effect on the other. If it is a coincidence that only the "cool" "not-so-smart" kids flock to facebook and then claim 'hey the average grade of facebook users is poor', that is not a correlation, that is, using facebook is not effecting grades, its not studying that is the real cause! If you could prove that facebook itself causes significant grade discrepancies then there would be a correlation. A better title of this sensationalist crap article would be: "Study shows kids who goof off get worse grades than those who don't".
OK, the article provides no details on sample size or how the survey was conducted, so I call BS. How were the samples chosen and how many people and from only one university, c'mon! If some survey was done outside the remedial center versus in the advanced studies lab then I expect discrepancies. I really hate to see statistics used to claim correlations that may not be there because someone "did a study".
Sorry, I wish I could say "Sounds great, here is how you do it". Good developers are educated and experienced. With niche industries (aerospace, medical, etc.) where there is oversight one needs to understand engineering practices (design principles) and process practices (XP, Configuraion Management, ISO, DO-178B, MISRA, etc.). Programming skill requires understanding other aspects like cost, information hiding and best practices for architecting code. The good developers that have spent years educating themselves in their discipline and their trade do not want a weekend warrior that just decided to get into the field. There are exceptions but in general, we do not want you. If you are serious about a career change then educate yourself, take on some internships and look for entry level positions and work on some open-source projects.
FTA, "Some people might ask why we don't simply switch to the EOS AMSR-E sensor. AMSR-E is a newer and more accurate passive microwave sensor. However, we do not use AMSR-E data in our analysis because it is not consistent with our historical data. Thus, while AMSR-E gives us greater accuracy and more confidence on current sea ice conditions
OK, I can see their point, but using the EOS sensor may have given pause to researchers doing a comparison to current conditions using the traditional sensor, i.e. cross-reference current conditions to be more confident that your data is correct. Nothing like screaming "the sky is falling" due to bad data. Any science experiment, especially one that can produce sensationalist news, should not just rely on one piece of data.
I have a heavy duty magnet that when placed on the top of the drive makes the drive completely useless.
I doubt anyone could recover data from it, as it is surely scrambled.
Laser use remains controversial because a protocol of the Geneva Conventions bans their use in combat when they are designed to cause permanent blindness.
Conventional weapons (bombs, mines, bullets, missiles, etc.) can cause death, permanent paralysis, limb loss, and even blindness. What is the difference, really?
Also, what does it mean when fighting a group that does not abide by the Geneva Convention?
I don't think a pipe on the bottom of the ocean is your biggest concern when you put hundreds of thousands of computers on a man made island, exposed to possible tsunamis and hurricanes.
Usually tsunamis are not a problem for vessels in deep open water. Rogue waves, on the other hand, have been known to severely damage large cruise ships.
And while we're at it, have they thought of the possibility of terrorist attacks
Excellent point, I think there is this potential and even more potential for pirates to attack. Pirates are a serious problem nowadays, especially off the coast of Africa.
While I find the grid at Cern impressive with their claim that "Cern will be using one of the biggest computer grids this summer to pool the processing power of about 100,000 CPUs worldwide", I find the SETI project even more impressive, which according to Berkley boasts "Currently the largest distributed computing effort with over 3 million users".
Granted, Cern claims that it processing its information at 1Gbps, I wonder how that stacks up against SETI
If "they" have satellites that can provide enough resolution and real-time tracking to analyze shadows, couldn't they just, I don't know, look at peoples faces? I mean track the subject and wait for them to look up, then send in a predator drone to do more recon...
I also feel that the concept of family unity is also partially to blame. In present years, retiring parents are on their own and have to take care of themselves. Back when the baby boomers were coming up, families stuck together more. When the older members became retirement ready then lived with, or at least very near to, their children and helped out with expenses, care, and other things. Not too mention people seemed to be more rooted in their community during earlier times. With that came extended family, and additional "private sector" resources where people in the community stepped up to help each other out. We don't see too much of that today and the only family being relied on now is good ol' Uncle Sam.
Images can also have an embedded code, i.e. steganography, which could possibly be used to speed up searching. This would allow the web crawler to know exactly which part of the image to look at to determine if it matches the key the crawler is looking for, rather than a brute force pixel by pixel search.
An obvious use will be from a military aspect. I wonder about how this technology will be received by various insurgents in our numerous war campaigns. Imagine a small troop deployment vanishing and reappearing in front of a goat-herder turned freedom fighter. I don't know if he would cut-n-run or stand fast to fight the "demons"...
Slashdot Mirror
I agree, that is, the RAM usage for basic apps has gotten out of control. 1GB is not enough? I mean come on Clippy, whats the deal? Why are programs getting so bloated that they need a super-computer to run them. I too run Office 2000. It installs in about 1 minute and runs fast on my older machines without needed 10GB of RAM.
While nearly half the RAM being consumed without actually doing anything useful may be concerning itâ(TM)s not actually a big deal. Microsoft claim that Windows 7 (and Vista too, but its success is arguable) pre-loads parts of programs it expects you to use
Really? That is the line they are selling? I don't buy it. Why can't the OS just focus on being a solid, stable, efficient platform for running applications and let me worry about which application I want to run. You would think that pre-loading anything takes additional time at boot up and I would rather have my desktop up in 15 seconds then have to wait for all this other stuff that Windows thinks I may want to do.
I Love the British government, you guys are awesome.... No, really, I do!
For me, it is a more useful definition and here is why. For two variables to be truly correlated is to say that one thing (specifically that thing) causes a change in another, in this case, the act of using facebook causes an individual's grades to drop. That is a strong statement. Watering down the definition leads to less rigor in the process of determining cause and effect. Keeping the more stringent definition is a reminder that in order to have a valid analysis all variables need to be carefully identified and controlled to prove there is even a casual relationship.
The more stringent definition becomes really important in things like pharmaceutical research where one wants to determine the correlation between a drug and a reaction in the body. If using a drug by ingesting 1 8oz glass of water with a pill showed the desired effect one might say there is a correlation. If the reality is that it is the 8 oz of water causing the change then there may be a false report of correlation. Keeping the strict definition in mind we must, as scientists, remember that we need to isolate the variables in order to really prove the existence of any relationship.
My opinion is that the whole facebook thing is just a form of goofing off and that it is not the act of using facebook specifically that causes a drop in grades, only that goofing off causes a drop in grades. You could replace "facebook" with "watching the simpsons" and may observe the same thing, ergo, I still question whether there is even a casual relationship.
I am a casual curser too!
Since you insist:
http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?o2=&o0=1&o7=&o5=&o1=1&o6=&o4=&o3=&s=correlational+statistics
I digress, and apologize. I merely wanted to illustrate that the sensationalist title of "facebook users get lower grades in college" is an irresponsible claim, especially given the lack of detail in the reported "study". To claim that there exists even a casual relationship is difficult given the evidence provided, and that is just opinion for the record.
Perhaps you should re-read your dictionary. A correlation requires a bit more than a "statistical relationship". The relationship needs to be further quantified to include a relationship such that systematic changes in the value of one variable are accompanied by systematic changes in the other. Yes this is an internet message board, and yes you can propose the possibility. I am not upset, you seem to be more upset as you are the one swearing and ranting.
Hey, I did... And I am saying there is no relationship! They can't even say that without providing some details on how they did the study. A relationship is the same thing as a correlation. As I mentioned above, there may only be a coincidence and that the real reason is facebook is the new cool thing and this is what kids do to goof off... If not facebook, its something else, therefore it isn't facebook that is the cause its goofing off!
Again, you are using statistics speak when there is no basis for it. You say "probably" but you have no basis for that other than that is your opinion. A correlation only exists if one thing has an effect on the other. If it is a coincidence that only the "cool" "not-so-smart" kids flock to facebook and then claim 'hey the average grade of facebook users is poor', that is not a correlation, that is, using facebook is not effecting grades, its not studying that is the real cause! If you could prove that facebook itself causes significant grade discrepancies then there would be a correlation. A better title of this sensationalist crap article would be: "Study shows kids who goof off get worse grades than those who don't".
OK, the article provides no details on sample size or how the survey was conducted, so I call BS. How were the samples chosen and how many people and from only one university, c'mon! If some survey was done outside the remedial center versus in the advanced studies lab then I expect discrepancies. I really hate to see statistics used to claim correlations that may not be there because someone "did a study".
Sorry, I wish I could say "Sounds great, here is how you do it". Good developers are educated and experienced. With niche industries (aerospace, medical, etc.) where there is oversight one needs to understand engineering practices (design principles) and process practices (XP, Configuraion Management, ISO, DO-178B, MISRA, etc.). Programming skill requires understanding other aspects like cost, information hiding and best practices for architecting code. The good developers that have spent years educating themselves in their discipline and their trade do not want a weekend warrior that just decided to get into the field. There are exceptions but in general, we do not want you. If you are serious about a career change then educate yourself, take on some internships and look for entry level positions and work on some open-source projects.
Engineer A who was laid off and did nothing for 3 months except take his unemployment check..
OR
Engineer B who was laid off and did some work on an open source project where he/she learned some new things and kept their skills sharp?
I think the exact opposite would occur, No jobs equals more people who now have the time to jump in.
FTA, "Some people might ask why we don't simply switch to the EOS AMSR-E sensor. AMSR-E is a newer and more accurate passive microwave sensor. However, we do not use AMSR-E data in our analysis because it is not consistent with our historical data. Thus, while AMSR-E gives us greater accuracy and more confidence on current sea ice conditions
OK, I can see their point, but using the EOS sensor may have given pause to researchers doing a comparison to current conditions using the traditional sensor, i.e. cross-reference current conditions to be more confident that your data is correct. Nothing like screaming "the sky is falling" due to bad data. Any science experiment, especially one that can produce sensationalist news, should not just rely on one piece of data.
I call BS, and if it were not BS most identity thieves do not have a scanning-tunneling microscope or the knowledge to use one.
I agree though, for most cases simply using some form of secure format tool will do the job and keep the "honest" people out.
I have a heavy duty magnet that when placed on the top of the drive makes the drive completely useless.
I doubt anyone could recover data from it, as it is surely scrambled.
I prefer the evil lesser myself!
Do you feel that the 20 or so different gasoline blends is partially to blame for our high gas prices?
Laser use remains controversial because a protocol of the Geneva Conventions bans their use in combat when they are designed to cause permanent blindness.
Conventional weapons (bombs, mines, bullets, missiles, etc.) can cause death, permanent paralysis, limb loss, and even blindness. What is the difference, really?
Also, what does it mean when fighting a group that does not abide by the Geneva Convention?
... the company discards all user IP addresses almost immediately.
A lot can happen in the time frame of 'almost immediately' when running a computer capable of 11+ terflops.
I don't think a pipe on the bottom of the ocean is your biggest concern when you put hundreds of thousands of computers on a man made island, exposed to possible tsunamis and hurricanes.
Usually tsunamis are not a problem for vessels in deep open water. Rogue waves, on the other hand, have been known to severely damage large cruise ships.
And while we're at it, have they thought of the possibility of terrorist attacks
Excellent point, I think there is this potential and even more potential for pirates to attack. Pirates are a serious problem nowadays, especially off the coast of Africa.
Don't you need water to make electricity with a nuclear reactor, and also to cool the core?
While I find the grid at Cern impressive with their claim that "Cern will be using one of the biggest computer grids this summer to pool the processing power of about 100,000 CPUs worldwide", I find the SETI project even more impressive, which according to Berkley boasts "Currently the largest distributed computing effort with over 3 million users".
Granted, Cern claims that it processing its information at 1Gbps, I wonder how that stacks up against SETI
If "they" have satellites that can provide enough resolution and real-time tracking to analyze shadows, couldn't they just, I don't know, look at peoples faces? I mean track the subject and wait for them to look up, then send in a predator drone to do more recon...
I also feel that the concept of family unity is also partially to blame. In present years, retiring parents are on their own and have to take care of themselves. Back when the baby boomers were coming up, families stuck together more. When the older members became retirement ready then lived with, or at least very near to, their children and helped out with expenses, care, and other things. Not too mention people seemed to be more rooted in their community during earlier times. With that came extended family, and additional "private sector" resources where people in the community stepped up to help each other out. We don't see too much of that today and the only family being relied on now is good ol' Uncle Sam.
Images can also have an embedded code, i.e. steganography, which could possibly be used to speed up searching. This would allow the web crawler to know exactly which part of the image to look at to determine if it matches the key the crawler is looking for, rather than a brute force pixel by pixel search.
An obvious use will be from a military aspect. I wonder about how this technology will be received by various insurgents in our numerous war campaigns. Imagine a small troop deployment vanishing and reappearing in front of a goat-herder turned freedom fighter. I don't know if he would cut-n-run or stand fast to fight the "demons"...