All animals only seek resources that are needed for survival. Our desire for things over and above this, such as widescreen TVs and a bigger SUV than our neighbour, indicates that there is a fundamental difference between humans and other species.
The chasm between human and animal behaviour is not as wide as you insinuate. For example, consider the bowerbird. From The Third Chimpanzee (Jared Diamond): "I came across a beautifully woven circular hut eight feet in diameter and four feet high... In front of the hut was a lawn of green moss, clean of debris except for hundreds of natural objects of various colors that had obviously been placed there intentionally as decoration." Not only are bowerbirds compulsive collectors, they exhibit human-like pettiness: "males [bowerbirds] spend much of their leisure time trying to wreck and steal from each other's bowers."
Personally I would like to see a system that kept attachments only for a week and then stripped messages to text only - those could be kept forever as a useful archive.
Our company moves all attachments older than about a month to an external archive. And we use Exchange Server and Outlook.
They aren't doing anything illegal, they're just using tricky marketing tactics that make the news.
Well, according to an article in today's Washington Post, it might very well be illegal. The FTC is beginning to investigate viral marketing campaigns.
I'm a Ph.D. student in one of the big universities. I also work as an IT consultant while I'm trying to finish. I have interned in several large companies and now work in a startup. I have also talked to _many_ Ph.D. students about interning at MS and would like to convey those findings here.
And, I recently received my Ph.D. from one of the big universities. I currently work at a federally-funded research and development center. I have talked to many Ph.D. students about interning at MSR, partly because I interned at MSR.
First, nobody finishes a Ph.D then wants to work at MS in order to find an interesting career. New grads or interns go there to make some money, and hope to move on soon. The respect for MS from IT-aware people is obvious from technically-minded forums such as Slashdot. What I find curious is that many people try to sell Slashdot as 'anti Microsoft' and that it has a an anti-MS bias. From my experience, the only bias is that the people whom bother to post on Slashdot know something about IT and the computer industry in general. Sadly, MS is a marketing company, much like Symantec has become. Software is not the focus, and proper software which is acceptable to a computer-aware user base is surely not the goal of MS. Only MS could advertise they have ~21% of the Ph.D. students while the entire IT field knows the students don't want to be there. From my view, their claim is intended to be impressive to the less-informed public, not for the IT crowd.
First, most people who finish a Ph.D. choose to pursue careers in academia. However, of the remaining doctors, many of them look for careers at reserach labs (federally-funded or industry-sponsored). Of the research labs, MSR has an excellent reputation. Virtually all of my colleagues that didn't go into academia would have happily accepted an offer from MSR. Heck, one even accepted an offer from MS proper because the work would be interesting.
In short, computer-aware people know MS is marketing only and do not respect it for its software. However, to have 'dealt' with MS looks good on the resume because it shows you can deal with B.S., much like having a Ph.D. shows. We all know that many more people could earn doctorate degrees if they wanted them, but don't bother and just go have a career with a bachelor's level degree. The extra degree says you can do what needs to be done and work against the odds to make what you envision happen. I view interning at MS much the same way-- proof that those students can beat the odds and work in a less-than-perfect environment (note this is a good skill to have in higher-level employment positions and is why Ph.D.-level people are paid more).
Research-aware people know that MSR is a top-notch research lab. MSR is well-represented at all of the top database conferences, for example. Completing an internship at MSR shows that you have worked with some of the brightest researchers around. A good letter of recommendation from one of these people will get you hired. Such a letter was specifically mentioned by my current employer. Note that a Ph.D. is not necessarily paid more---in some cases, an M.S. with 5 years of experience can pull in more than a Ph.D. with 0 years of experience. The doctoral degree is evidence that the bearer can conduct novel research; it says nothing about the commercial value of their insights.
I have never worked at MS and would not necessarily be proud to have MS on my resume. But it does say something, that you dealt with MS and will most likely appreciate working somewhere else next.
I am proud to have worked at MSR, and I am proud of the academic publications that have resulted from it. I know of no fellow intern who is ashamed of his work at MSR. Again, most Ph.D. students want to go into academia, but of the rest of the doctors who interned at MSR, many would return.
I don't think it's possible though, otherwise we would probably be getting messages from the future, wouldn't we?
If, as has been suggested, you need a transmitter and a receiver, the quantum messages might already be out there, we just can't read them. Kind of like sending a book back a hundred thousand years and being surprised that Neanderthals don't get the warning.
In my experience, statistics has always been combined with probability. I agree that statistics is useless without probability. I'll amend my assertion to state that instead of (a year of) calculus, undergrads should be required to have (a year of) probability and statistics.
I'm willing to assert something stronger. Instead of requiring undergrads to spend a year learning calculus, the requirement for all undergrads should be basic statistics. In the decade or so since I completed a math degree, I've used calculus only rarely (the intended implication being that even a mathematician might find little need for calculus). Statistics, on the other hand, are needed to correctly interpret newspaper articles.
"Automatic re-activation online will fail after one use." You get more than that with XP. How can Microsoft claim that this is more friendly?
Because (they claim) fewer upgrades will require re-activation. They (claim to) have an improved algorithm that produces fewer false violations. That said, this sounds like the straw that breaks my proverbial camel's back.
Humans have about the largest penis in proportion to body size in the mammal world.
Then there's the bat. According to my father (who has been studying bats in MN for decades), a little brown bat is about 2" long. Its penis is about 1" long. If a little brown bat were human sized, its penis would be around 3 feet long!
Thanks for the correction. All of the stuff I had seen did indeed mention "the law in effect before 1978," which is rather unbounded. So, I humbly retract my criticism.
Can somebody explain why so many people think copyrights were originally 14+14 years? I hear this erroneous assertion frequently. From the copyright office: "Under the law in effect before 1978... the copyright lasted for a first term of 28 years from the date it was secured. The copyright was eligible for renewal during the last (28th) year of the first term. If renewed, the copyright was extended for a second term of 28 years." In other words, 28+28.
From a Washington Post article: "[Lonelygirl15] was a 19-year-old acress named Jessica Rose." Skip to the next paragraph: "Rose landed on 'The Tonight Show.'"
The profit is in self-promotion. The other filmmakers "have since signed with Creative Artists Agency."
Actually, that should read "Google allows their employees..." As an employee, you are not required to avail yourself of this opportunity. Moreover, you have to clear the project with your manager. That said, it's a nice perk (unless you already spend your days working on your own pet projects;-) ).
"It's So Amazing! A Book about Eggs, Sperm, Birth, Babies, and Families" by Robie H. Harris for sex education and sexual content.
I suppose this means I should race home and take this book off of my daughter's shelf! Sarcasm aside, it's appalling that this book should make the top ten list. Of course a book about Birth and Babies involves sex education. Otherwise, you'd have to put it in the fiction section. FWIW, my daughter loves this book.
Holy incomplete journalism, Batman! The delay was not because of computer problems. The delay was due to incomplete packets being sent to the polling locations. This could happen with computerized voting, with paper ballots, or with clay tablets. The organizers forgot to include the plastic cards that are inserted into the voting computer. If this were purely paper-based, it would be like forgetting to include the lock for the ballot box.
Caveats: I may not be a lawyer, but I do live, vote and electioneer in Montgomery County. Also, please don't interpret this post as an indication that I like computerized voting---I deplore Diebold and any voting scheme they support. But, I won't throw my vote away by staying home. Finally, I need to get back out there, so my apologies if this is redundant.
This is an interesting hypothesis, but it is not supported by the data concerning party affiliation. According to Pew Research data, there are more Democrats than Republicans in every age category except 30-49. In fact, the spread (in favor of more Democrats) increases with age.
Remember that it's normal for a browser's memory use to climb over 100 MB on the first day of use.
Egads! I consider anything over 50MB to be excessive. I currently have a half-dozen tabs open (many have been open since early this morning) and the memory usage is below 37MB.
Do you use a Windows desktop manager? I can reliably recreate cut-and-paste bugs, inability to scroll using arrow keys, and many other bugs by opening a couple of tabs, switching to a different desktop, switching back and immediately changing tabs. I got so frustrated that I switched to Opera. I haven't opened Firefox in months, and I'm so much happier! (I documented all this in a bug report, but I don't believe anything has been done about this.)
Someone who makes over a $100,000 is living very well in Alabama but in the DC area or New York can't get out of a condo with less than an hour long commute.
The general sentiment is correct: $100,000 goes a lot further in Minnesota than in DC (places I've lived, I can't speak for Alabama). However, $100,000 a year can get you a 4-bedroom house in Rockville, which is less than 30 minutes from the tech jobs near DC.
But we still have 99% of the population acting like it's a known fact that smoking kills, despite no hard evidence to back it up.
In fact, using a Bayesian analysis in which an intermediate variable (namely tar accumulation) is introduced between smoking and cancer, you can demonstrate the causal relationship between smoking and cancer. I don't remember the exact details, but this presentation seems to provide a decent summary.
Slashdot Mirror
The chasm between human and animal behaviour is not as wide as you insinuate. For example, consider the bowerbird. From The Third Chimpanzee (Jared Diamond): "I came across a beautifully woven circular hut eight feet in diameter and four feet high ... In front of the hut was a lawn of green moss, clean of debris except for hundreds of natural objects of various colors that had obviously been placed there intentionally as decoration." Not only are bowerbirds compulsive collectors, they exhibit human-like pettiness: "males [bowerbirds] spend much of their leisure time trying to wreck and steal from each other's bowers."
Our company moves all attachments older than about a month to an external archive. And we use Exchange Server and Outlook.
So that only Zippo can make a lighter that looks like a Zippo, for example.
Well, according to an article in today's Washington Post, it might very well be illegal. The FTC is beginning to investigate viral marketing campaigns.
And, I recently received my Ph.D. from one of the big universities. I currently work at a federally-funded research and development center. I have talked to many Ph.D. students about interning at MSR, partly because I interned at MSR.
First, most people who finish a Ph.D. choose to pursue careers in academia. However, of the remaining doctors, many of them look for careers at reserach labs (federally-funded or industry-sponsored). Of the research labs, MSR has an excellent reputation. Virtually all of my colleagues that didn't go into academia would have happily accepted an offer from MSR. Heck, one even accepted an offer from MS proper because the work would be interesting.
Research-aware people know that MSR is a top-notch research lab. MSR is well-represented at all of the top database conferences, for example. Completing an internship at MSR shows that you have worked with some of the brightest researchers around. A good letter of recommendation from one of these people will get you hired. Such a letter was specifically mentioned by my current employer. Note that a Ph.D. is not necessarily paid more---in some cases, an M.S. with 5 years of experience can pull in more than a Ph.D. with 0 years of experience. The doctoral degree is evidence that the bearer can conduct novel research; it says nothing about the commercial value of their insights.
I am proud to have worked at MSR, and I am proud of the academic publications that have resulted from it. I know of no fellow intern who is ashamed of his work at MSR. Again, most Ph.D. students want to go into academia, but of the rest of the doctors who interned at MSR, many would return.
Huh, I didn't realize the MPAA even had offices in Tuttle.
If, as has been suggested, you need a transmitter and a receiver, the quantum messages might already be out there, we just can't read them. Kind of like sending a book back a hundred thousand years and being surprised that Neanderthals don't get the warning.
In my experience, statistics has always been combined with probability. I agree that statistics is useless without probability. I'll amend my assertion to state that instead of (a year of) calculus, undergrads should be required to have (a year of) probability and statistics.
I'm willing to assert something stronger. Instead of requiring undergrads to spend a year learning calculus, the requirement for all undergrads should be basic statistics. In the decade or so since I completed a math degree, I've used calculus only rarely (the intended implication being that even a mathematician might find little need for calculus). Statistics, on the other hand, are needed to correctly interpret newspaper articles.
Because (they claim) fewer upgrades will require re-activation. They (claim to) have an improved algorithm that produces fewer false violations. That said, this sounds like the straw that breaks my proverbial camel's back.
Then there's the bat. According to my father (who has been studying bats in MN for decades), a little brown bat is about 2" long. Its penis is about 1" long. If a little brown bat were human sized, its penis would be around 3 feet long!
Thanks for the correction. All of the stuff I had seen did indeed mention "the law in effect before 1978," which is rather unbounded. So, I humbly retract my criticism.
Can somebody explain why so many people think copyrights were originally 14+14 years? I hear this erroneous assertion frequently. From the copyright office: "Under the law in effect before 1978 ... the copyright lasted for a first term of 28 years from the date it was secured. The copyright was eligible for renewal during the last (28th) year of the first term. If renewed, the copyright was extended for a second term of 28 years." In other words, 28+28.
And all these years I thought it was, "A fool and his money ... soon visit the brothel."
From a Washington Post article: "[Lonelygirl15] was a 19-year-old acress named Jessica Rose." Skip to the next paragraph: "Rose landed on 'The Tonight Show.'"
The profit is in self-promotion. The other filmmakers "have since signed with Creative Artists Agency."
Even more scarier is that mostest 'Mer'can hi-skool students speak more better English than him!
Actually, that should read "Google allows their employees ..." As an employee, you are not required to avail yourself of this opportunity. Moreover, you have to clear the project with your manager. That said, it's a nice perk (unless you already spend your days working on your own pet projects ;-) ).
I suppose this means I should race home and take this book off of my daughter's shelf! Sarcasm aside, it's appalling that this book should make the top ten list. Of course a book about Birth and Babies involves sex education. Otherwise, you'd have to put it in the fiction section. FWIW, my daughter loves this book.
Holy incomplete journalism, Batman! The delay was not because of computer problems. The delay was due to incomplete packets being sent to the polling locations. This could happen with computerized voting, with paper ballots, or with clay tablets. The organizers forgot to include the plastic cards that are inserted into the voting computer. If this were purely paper-based, it would be like forgetting to include the lock for the ballot box.
Caveats: I may not be a lawyer, but I do live, vote and electioneer in Montgomery County. Also, please don't interpret this post as an indication that I like computerized voting---I deplore Diebold and any voting scheme they support. But, I won't throw my vote away by staying home. Finally, I need to get back out there, so my apologies if this is redundant.
This is an interesting hypothesis, but it is not supported by the data concerning party affiliation. According to Pew Research data, there are more Democrats than Republicans in every age category except 30-49. In fact, the spread (in favor of more Democrats) increases with age.
Egads! I consider anything over 50MB to be excessive. I currently have a half-dozen tabs open (many have been open since early this morning) and the memory usage is below 37MB.
Do you use a Windows desktop manager? I can reliably recreate cut-and-paste bugs, inability to scroll using arrow keys, and many other bugs by opening a couple of tabs, switching to a different desktop, switching back and immediately changing tabs. I got so frustrated that I switched to Opera. I haven't opened Firefox in months, and I'm so much happier! (I documented all this in a bug report, but I don't believe anything has been done about this.)
The general sentiment is correct: $100,000 goes a lot further in Minnesota than in DC (places I've lived, I can't speak for Alabama). However, $100,000 a year can get you a 4-bedroom house in Rockville, which is less than 30 minutes from the tech jobs near DC.
In fact, using a Bayesian analysis in which an intermediate variable (namely tar accumulation) is introduced between smoking and cancer, you can demonstrate the causal relationship between smoking and cancer. I don't remember the exact details, but this presentation seems to provide a decent summary.
Um, it sounds like the company won: