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Comment Re:are the lectures good or just reading the text (Score 1) 113

Ah, forced lectures, good point. The only time I've had those was during teacher training, and they would circulate a list you'd sign. The natural solution was that as long as some of your friends were there, they could sign for you. That's a win-win if it makes the lecture better for those who actually care about it.

Comment Re:"6.41%" (Score 2) 113

When I was doing my masters degree I attended lectures where professors allowed laptops in class. Some people used them for taking notes like I did but a sizeable number of students just sat there posting on Facebook, web-surfing or playing FarmVille or some other dumb ass flash game. I'll never understand why people do that, they pay an arm and a leg in school admission fees, spend the entire semester goofing off and are then surprised when they flunk out or pass the course by the skin of their teeth. I don't think banning laptops, tablets and phones will do much good, people will just find another way to goof off but I can relate to why teachers want to ban these devices. It's the students who goof off all semester who blame everybody but themselves and write the most scathingly critical reviews of a course and its teacher and that's bloody frustrating when you know perfectly well that their failure is nobody's fault but their own.

This. I'm also seeing people waste lecture time on dead-tree shit like sudoku and hanjie, as well as good old social chatting, so it's certainly not a question of banning this or that technology. The really dumb thing is that when exams come up, they need to spend more time catching up on the material they could have learned when it was first presented, while I can enjoy my free time posting on Slashdot.

I understand that people learn in different ways, but perhaps those who don't dig lectures could be using that time for something fun/useful instead. It just seems like pure waste. I've had my share of too early mornings and days off sick, when I know it's better to stay at home and study on my own.

Comment Re:Which half? (Score 1) 147

I think you would want a half-keyboard for your left hand -- that way, your right hand would be free to use your mouse (or other pointing device).

I think you missed my link about the reasons for this handedness. My right hand has better/faster control for individual finger movements, while my left hand is better at blind spatial awareness. It's not just me, though, there is research evidence supporting the latter -- the left hand is more in tune with the "spatial" brain hemisphere. I also play the guitar, where you need to do complex stuff on your left hand, and I don't think they designed it just to annoy everyone.

Comment Which half? (Score 3, Interesting) 147

I'm right handed, and I think a half-keyboard for the right hand would make much more sense. I only saw references to the left-hand one in the given link. I've found a number of good reasons to mouse on the "wrong" hand.

On another, more general note, mechanical does not have to mean clicky. I can't stand any extra noise, but I still like the feel of good mechanical keyboards, so something like Brown switches are a good compromise.

Comment ..then stare at her rear end while she walked away (Score 3, Insightful) 613

Is it possible to find a woman both attractive and intelligent at the same time? I certainly believe so. The author makes it sound like the moment you pay any attention to a woman's physico-social attractiveness, you automatically disregard her academic abilities.

IMHO, it's basically the same thing that happens between any people in a professional setting, with or without sexual compatibility. You get along better with some people than others, and this has an effect on your professional collaborations. We don't simply treat other people as computers or data stores for the professional stuff - is this what the author wants?

Comment Re:Pass because the price point is too high (Score 1) 80

the NUC cooling system is not "whiney".

I believe you, considering for example that laptop coolers are surprisingly nice these days. However, I think of it as a matter of principle, and a question of long-term reliability. A tiny package is generally designed to run hotter, it's not just about the CPU, but also poor air circulation among other components, which contributes to long-term heat damage. The reliability of the fan itself is another long-term issue; it's probably going to get more whiney over time. Such a tight packaging can be a good compromise for portables where space is limited and it's not constantly run at full steam, but I don't see it making that much sense at a fixed location. OTOH, I also doubt that many people care about anything long-term any more :-/

Comment Re:Pass because the price point is too high (Score 1) 80

I have never seen a mini-ITX that had anything close to an acceptable cooling system. They were noisy and/or inadequate. I went through a phase where I built a number of mini-ITX systems, and none of them were ever anywhere near satisfactory.

I've assembled low-power, often fanless systems since early 2004. Some of these are considerably larger form factors than Mini-ITX. The point is that low power combined with relatively large casings enables better and quieter cooling. The trend of ever-smaller systems for stationary use is dumb if you need tiny, whiney fans to sustain it. "Laptop" components are great for their lower power consumption (often meaning higher efficiency), but I can still choose something better than laptop coolers.

Comment Re:Ok I'll try: (Score 1) 67

It does this by constructing a matrix of magnetic nodes that are effectively interconnected to neighbours (moor?) via spatial magnetic-spin sensitivity, these interconnects form the dynamic logic processing ability of the matrix.

Unfortunately, nobody can be told what the matrix is. You have to see it for yourself.

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