Comment Re:Civ was my offline game (Score 1) 295
That's funny... scenarios 1 and 2 apply to me, and yet I've never had that kind of problem with offline mode. Not being able to use it when Steam has to update sucks, though.
That's funny... scenarios 1 and 2 apply to me, and yet I've never had that kind of problem with offline mode. Not being able to use it when Steam has to update sucks, though.
You are right. I should have written that it is the sampling distribution of the means that takes on a normal distribution as the sample size gets larger. It is a mouthful but it is important in math to get the details right. Also, there are some nice Java applets on the web that allow you to simulate this exercise to your heart's content. My students really like doing this with the pennies, but eventually they get tired of grabbing samples of thirty and calculating the sample mean!
That's a nice idea. Unfortunately, I suspect there might be difficulty in getting such a contraption past the security check at an airport.
i don't fly, but i really doubt it.
Except, that's a good thing. The panic feeling when you do your pocket-patting routine and don't feel your keys immediately makes one want to ensure the safety of one's keys.
I do similar to the OP.
Pocket 1: car keys. Pocket 2: House/work/etc keys. These are split with a ~3 inch chain between two normal keyrings, so that it is easy to tell which half has the keys I want at the time. Pocket 3: cellular phone. Pocket 4: wallet
Two-pocket pants drive me batty, as you might imagine.
Only 4 pockets? You call yourself a nerd?
Right Front: primary keyring (home, work, car), primary lighter (zippo)
Left Front: backup keyring (home spare, car spare), backup lighter (bic), customer site keyring
Right Back: Ultimate writing utensil (Zebra F-402)
Left Back: Wallet (ThinkGeek Tyvek wallet)
Left Dropleg: Nexus G1
Right Dropleg: Small Moleskine notepad for time tracking and secondary Zebra F-402)
Left Belt: Holster for Surefire Executive E2D Defender flashlight--good light for behind the racks, and the trusty Leatherman
Left Shirt Pocket: Small business card holder for my cards, extra Nexus One battery in case I get stranded somewhere without the charger, loosleaf business cards acquired throughout the day from vendors, clients, etc...
While BP are legally liable, it's entirely possible that Halliburton... could be to blame.
I'd argue that BP was probably not innocent in any shortcuts Halliburton took, and I'm not talking legally. And I see no reason to give BP the benefit of the doubt. But you're right, "obviously" was overstating things.
Funny! But, you're wrong. At least in the short term,which may be a lot longer than I'd like, the #1 response will be that it can't be done.
Meanwhile, people like Shai Agassi will be busy doing it.
What would we do as a country if we have university graduates who think for themselves and don't automatically buy whatever the current Democratic Party line is?
There's Democrats in Arizona?
If any government agency in the United States were talking about instituting such a measure, then this school and others would be completely "outraged" at such actions. There would be massive marches by those in academia about how this is so "1984-ish" and how government is turning citizens into prisoners that must always be accounted for. While I am also completely against such a measure, by any entity, I do not attempt to rationalize it for my own opinion. Of course, such devices are in passports, but having a passport is not a requirement of being a citizen of a particular country.
This really does show extremely short-sightedness of the administration at the school. As it was stated above, all students will have to do is give some friend their card to get counted present. In a large classroom, this will be abused quite a bit.
If they're wrong, they'll be punished at exam time.
Or, they turn around and blame the professor (and the school) for failing to teach them. And ask for their money back. If the school can demonstrate, that they have not attended the classes, they can defend themselves.
Has that happened? I thought in order to do that, the student has to demonstrate that they took active measures to ensure they understood the material. They would need email logs of students trying to contact the Prof, old exams that show no feedback, that kind of stuff. As far as my experience has gone (which is usually that of friends who go to University, I went to a polytechnic), they can only challenge their prof if they can prove he wasn't giving them proper feedback or responding to their questions, attendance was not even considered.
As a side note, I have a friend who has ONE prof who cares about attendance, but she also spent the entire first lecture going over "classroom rules", which included a bathroom pass, no chewing gum, or food, only bottled water to drink, and daily homework checks to see if they were doing the questions in the textbook. She requested to swap but the U didn't let her. She said it was the worst class she's ever taken, ever.
Oh, and Warzone2100 (failed commercially, gone opensource)
PCI-X video card
It's PCIe - not PCI-X
If you didn't notice an improvement from a quad, then you aren't using your computer fully. That's the same reason lots of people can get away with using netbooks. I personally noticed a big responsiveness improvement when I went from dual-core to quad, and encoding times dropped quite a bit. I suspect your computer usage is somewhere in the middle.
Don't forget to prioritize I/O. A cheap AMD Quad + SSD will give incredible responsiveness compared to a more expensive Quad + regular HDD. Or if you need tons of space, like me, go for multiple HDDs. Those spinning things are still the slowest component that we have to deal with... so speeding them up is more important than a 10% faster CPU or better RAM.
Some games also benefit immensely from faster I/O. Check out the Min and Average FPS for Crysis: http://www.anandtech.com/show/2614/14
SSD is very playable, but HDD isn't really.
That's what I mean about 'Inherently Unsafe'. The RMBK reactors operate with a Positive Void Coefficient, meaning that without external intervention, a meltdown *will* occur. Many systems can be put in place to keep the reactor stable... In this case external intervention would include automated safety systems...
Inherently safe designs operate with a negative void coefficient, meaning that a meltdown will only occur with significant external intervention. A meltdown is still possible in the latter case, but it is significantly less likely.
I agree with you that operator actions were a primary contributor to the Chernobyl disaster. But, as we both know from our computing experience, the best design is one that fails safe, despite the actions of the operator.
As long as we're going to reinvent the wheel again, we might as well try making it round this time. - Mike Dennison
