Comment you'll stay centered (Score 1) 317
Look at the pictures in TFA; these aren't phone touchpads. You shouldn't be losing your center with these.
Look at the pictures in TFA; these aren't phone touchpads. You shouldn't be losing your center with these.
Gee, I remember the good old days where there was at most one computer in a house; if someone -- such as a younger sibling -- was using it to play a game, you had to kick them off to play a different game. If you were kind, you gave them a few minutes to wrap up and save.
I don't see what's different here. Now quit whining and get off my lawn.
Speaking as someone who's done a little work in stylometry, I'm sure that it's a lot easier to make your work look like it's not yours than it is to make your work look like a specific different person's. I haven't looked at this project, but I'm guessing that it'll do the former. If I made software that could do the latter, then I'd be loudly advertising that fact, or I'd keep silent and make use of it...
There are literally people dying on this planet for lack of fresh water and this is just used as hydraulic fluid and then thrown into the ocean while ships pass by. Everything is wrong with this.
Are there people dying in Panama for lack of water? Are you proposing to transport water from Panama to the Sudan? Sounds like an amazingly good idea since it's super efficient to transport water large distances... Also, news flash, this new canal will be using fresh water -- from Lake Nicaragua -- in the same way as the Panama canal!
Math is a big field, and -- if you like computers -- some discrete math subfield might click with you. Even if it seems much different than differential equations, math is a very interconnect field, and having a foothold in one area might help you with others; proofs and problem solving work the same way everywhere. Differential equations might be easier afterwards.
Many schools have a discrete math survey course, and much of it is directly relevant to programming. I'd start there.
However, if you can't handle that class, then you should reconsider your major.
FWIW, I'm under the impression that most continuous math (calculus, differential equations, etc.) isn't directly useful for most programming. (Although, speaking as a physics grad student who spend a lot of time writing simulations, there are certainly programming applications for continuous math.)
Apparently new Science articles are behind a paywall for 1 year; then they available for free (although you have to register with the site).
To be fair, the journal Science is run by a non-profit, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). I think it's still behind a paywall, but I have less problem funding a non-profit that way.
Speaking as someone who has only voted for Libertarian presidential candidates, you're crazy if you think both sides are balanced in their craziness.
I realize there's plenty of derp on both sides -- as evidenced by your example, but it's generally not divided equally. I'd say the division was much more equal a decade ago, but it simply isn't that way any more.
I don't think listing examples is an effective way to argue about the absolute magnitude of derp. Listing examples of delta derp might be more efficient.
I think this is best summed up by the following short post at Marginal Revolution (an excellent economics blog):
It comes down to the definition of shortage. The standard economics definition of a shortage is when supply does not meet demand. The paper shows that the supply of STEM workers does seem to meet demand for them.
However, it could well be that we'd be better off if there were more STEM workers -- driven by higher demand for them. That is not addressed by this paper, and this definition (that more resources allocated to STEM would be better) is a fine definition for a shortage.
That's the underlying issue.
A PhD student has the right to expect a project that generates a decent body of work within those four years.
Four years? Ha! That's a good one!
Wireless remotes were available in the 1950s.
Color television was available in the 1950s.
The USDA restriced avacado imports until the mid 90s. There's no reason they couldn't have been imported sooner. Bananas were already being imported from central america to america sumpermarkets.
The first successful weather satellite launched in 1960.
NASA launched its first communication satellite in 1960.
The USSR launched its first Mars probes in 1960.
The list goes on. Thanks for proving my point; with the exception of internet related things, these were not unknowns in 1960, even if they weren't fully commercialized (or gradually refined to the point they're at today). A person from 1910 would be more out of place in 1960, than a person from 1960 would be in 2010. Period. End of story. You're simply wrong.
There are a lot of post about how past "inventions" were really just minor iterations too, so the author's claim doesn't stand up. However, I think the author does have a point; try the recognition test.
If an average american from 1910 were suddenly transported to 1960, things would be unrecognizable -- there were so many truly groundbreaking changes. Home electric power, radio, television, refrigerators (and the supermarkets and foods they allowed), automobiles, antibiotics, etc. had all gone from being unknowns to being commonplace in the intervening period. (They may have existed in 1910, but they weren't developed to the point of commercialization.)
In comparison, someone suddenly transported from 1960 to 2010 would recognize almost all parts of daily life. Wake up, flip on the lights, make some breakfast using ingredients from the fridge, drive to work, listen to the radio on the drive, return home, and watch TV. Few things would be truly new. Even most of the new things wouldn't be unrecognizable. Cell phones are just two-way radios; those existed in 1960. People in 1960 knew computers were going to be a big deal, etc. Heck, if I were transported from 1960 to 2010, I'd be disappointed. Where are the flying cars and other Jetson innovations? (Yes, The Jetsons aired in 1962; just add two years to everything if you must.) The internet and the computers we access it through are the only really big change to daily life that I can think of. That's significant, but not as significant as the 1910->1960 changes.
Yeah, this is asking for a lot, and it probably won't meet its goals, but it's not as crazy as it sounds. Take the example of thermoelectrics -- solid state devices that can turn a heat difference in to electricity or vice versa. Efficient thermoelectric devices could be super useful, either for efficient, light weight refrigerators that never break (since they have no moving parts) or for a way to turn any source of heat -- including waste heat from your car -- in to electricity. The reason you don't see them everywhere is because they're currently not efficient enough to be worth it.
I realize the following is gated, but access it if you can and see the first plot. (Coincidentally, the author was Chu's deputy and is an excellent researcher.)
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/303/5659/777.full
Otherwise, see figure 3 here:
http://arxiv.org/pdf/1106.0888.pdf
The effectiveness of a material for thermoelectric devices is captured in one parameter called ZT -- the figure of merit. For about three decades, bismuth telluride was the best know material, with a ZT of a bit under 1 -- corresponding to about 10% of the Carnot efficiency (the theoretical maximum efficiency). To be competitive with conventional refrigerators, ZT has to be about 3 or larger.
In the early 90s, the DOD decided they wanted better thermoelectrics, so they started throwing money at the problem. You can see the result in the linked figure. Within a decade, ZT for the best materials shot up to about 2.5 at room temperature and 3.5 at higher temperatures -- to the point where they're starting to be useful.
More work is still needed before you'll see these commercially, but this is an example where government spending is and will be paying dividends; these are devices that will be generally useful, but languished for decades before the government gave research a kick. Battery funding could produce similar results.
The suggestion is to run KDE on Linux -- not OS X, so that link is irrelevant to this discussion.
What's the contradiction? KDE has more than one interface, and the author likes the mobile interface enough that he can stand it on the desktop. However, the mobile interface wasn't intended for use on the desktop; it isn't normally used on the desktop; and you don't have to agree with the author.
Disks travel in packs.
