Comment Re:Wireless wire? (Score 1) 392
Of the three things I have plugged in via USB right now, two of them have the USB logo facing away from me. So, it's not surprising that most people don't know this...
Is the Era of Groundbreaking Science Over? 470
An anonymous reader writes "In decades and centuries past, scientific genius was easy to quantify. Those scientists who were able to throw off the yoke of established knowledge and break new ground on their own are revered and respected. But as humanity, as a species, has gotten better at science, and the basics of most fields have been refined over and over, it's become much harder for any one scientist to make a mark on the field. There's still plenty we don't know, but so much of it is highly specialized that many breakthroughs are understood by only a handful. Even now, the latest generation is more likely to be familiar with the great popularizers of science, like Neil deGrasse Tyson, Bill Nye, and Carl Sagan, than of the researchers at the forefront of any particular field. "...most scientific fields aren't in the type of crisis that would enable paradigm shifts, according to Thomas Kuhn's classic view of scientific revolutions. Simonton argues that instead of finding big new ideas, scientists currently work on the details in increasingly specialized and precise ways." Will we ever again see a scientist get recognition like Einstein did?"
Comment Re:No issue with my Lumia 920 (Score 1) 391
Your experience does not correlate with my experience.
Comment Re:Around here (Score 2) 392
The wikipedia page on containment buildings has this blurb.
In 1988, Sandia National Laboratories conducted a test of slamming a jet fighter into a large concrete block at 481 miles per hour (775 km/h).[14][15] The airplane left only a 2.5-inch-deep (64 mm) gouge in the concrete. Although the block was not constructed like a containment building missile shield, it was not anchored, etc., the results were considered indicative. A subsequent study by EPRI, the Electric Power Research Institute, concluded that commercial airliners did not pose a danger.[16]
While not a direct proof of design criteria, it seems to line up with the original statement.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Containment_building
How Hair Can be Used To Track Where You've Been 133
First time accepted submitter kandelar writes "PBS recently ran a story about how some scientists are using human hair to trace where a person has been. The combinations of different isotopes in water make for somewhat unique signatures from place to place. These isotopes get placed in growing hair strands which can then be traced back to identify where a person has been."
Comment Re:the maiming and killing must be ok with them (Score 1) 1160
I thought you'd gone off the deep end when I read that has "hard to eat houses"...
Comment Re:how about (Score 1) 396
Too be honest, NT 4.0 had it's fair share of quirks. I had one of those three month evaluation copies. I never once hit the timeout. I bounced back and forth between that and Windows 95. Whichever one was pissing me off least at the time...
Comment Re:Checks and Balances (Score 0) 170
How is this a violation of due process. As has been said by several others, the guy filed in the wrong court, got his lawsuit rejected and wanted SCOTUS to over turn that decision. This guy is the one not following process.
Chicago Teachers Rip 'Big Money Interest Groups' 404
theodp writes "The striking Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) is holding a massive 'Wisconsin-style rally' Saturday as ongoing negotiations try to bring an end to the strike that has put education on hold for 350,000 of the city's schoolchildren. 'The 30,000 teachers, school social workers, clerks, vision and hearing testers, school nurses, teaching assistants, counselors, and other school professionals of the Chicago Teachers Union are standing strong to defend public education from test pushers, privatizers, and a national onslaught of big money interest groups trying to push education back to the days before teachers had unions,' explains the CTU web site. 'Around the country and even the world, our fight is recognized as the front line of resistance to the corporate education agenda.' Some are calling the strike — which has by most accounts centered on salary schedules (CPS salary dataset), teacher performance evaluations, grievance procedures, and which teachers get dibs on new jobs — a push-back to education reform that has possible Presidential election implications. The big winners in the school strike, Bloomberg reports, are the city's largely non-union 100+ charter schools, which remained open throughout the strike. Charter school enrollment swelled to 52,000 students this fall as parents worried by strike rumors sought refuge in schools like those run by the Noble Charter Network, which enjoys the deep-pocket support of many wealthy 'investors.'"
Comment Re:Google is already censoring the auto-complete (Score 2) 164
Is this a thing now? Where we just
Comment Re:More reasont to give up hope on a good dumb pho (Score 1) 247
Of course, you realize this is nowhere near being in the best interest of manufacturer. You're asking for a low priced phone (margins aside) that you'll buy today and use for 10+ years. It's much more in their interest to get you to upgrade every couple of years. Repeat customer.
I'm sure your answer to that would be "Screw 'em! I'm the customer! This is what I want!" However, I'm sure we're all aware that it doesn't work this way. There is always the other spectrum where they are simply losing overall sales because they don't provide you what you want. But I don't see that happening with phones much these days. Most people want the bling...
Comment Re:Unusual Pricing (Score 4, Funny) 263
Well, sure. $70/month isn't bad at all. But $75!? Come on! That's an outrage!
Comment Re:Please sign in to your cable or sat account (Score 1) 378
Why would they. Those sites are a complete end run around the cable/satellite companies. With the the cable/satellite partners they sell their content and walk away. The cable/satellite companies charge the end users for the content and then lather it up with advertising to get as much money as possible out of it. The web sites that make the shows available provide the content straight from the source and tack on the same advertising. It's just straight profit for the content creator (used loosely). Why should they care if you have a cable/satellite account? They're still making profits either way.
Comment Re:Ah, so its constitutionally acceptable (Score 1) 420
6 months salary... can I be your butler?
Is Gamification a Good Motivator? 290
CowboyRobot writes "Growing up, many of our teachers used gamification techniques such as a gold star sticker on a test (essentially a badge) or a public display of which students had completed a set of readings (leaderboard). These were intended to motivate students to strive to do better. Now, these techniques are increasingly common in the workplace where the parallel with computer games is more intentional. A report by Gartner predicts that 'by 2015, 50% of organizations that manage innovation processes will gamify those processes.' One example would be assigning badges for submitting work on time, another would be having a leaderboard in an office to show who completed a training module first. The idea of using game mechanics in work or study environments is not new, but its ubiquity is. Educators can discuss how effective gamification is in classrooms, but how useful is it as a motivator in the workplace?"
