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Comment op all wrong (Score 3, Informative) 249

the abstract doesn't say they used data, it says they identified a math procedure that caused variation between the models

so, what you have are a lot of complex computer models that vary in output; the authors show that about half the variation is due to cloud mixing
however, we have no idea if the models are in fact accurate, other then Fig 1b of Fyfe etal, which suggests that the models are in fact NOT accurate, so it doesn't matter if you lower the variation between them.
http://www.see.ed.ac.uk/~shs/Climate%20change/Climate%20model%20results/over%20estimate.pdf

I would remind people of history: in the early 1800s, people realized that CO2 absorbs IR, and the late 1800s, they realized that humans were actually putting out enough CO2 to make a diff
Then, around 1900, someone pointed out that the atmosphere is optically thick in the IR (if you could see the color "IR" it would be pitch black all the time), so an increase in CO2 shouldn't matter
This *scientific consensus* lasted untill the 1950s, when people realized that it is emission from the outer atmosphere that matttrs....

so, for 50 years, there was a consensus that CO2 human warming was hooey

Comment not panic, but people fixing bugs (Score 1) 346

jeezum, didn't *anyone* actually read the pdf files ?
I looked at em, and the majority are what you expect - people methodically going thru punch lists and bug reports and fixes
perfectly norma
but no, the media+obamahaters have to make a big deal of it
just once, I'd like one of you obamahaters to acknowlede a FACT
today, there are people who are much better off thanks to PPACA - teenagers with leukemia, people with pre existing conditions, etc

and as for all the media BS about canceled policys - its clear that most of those policys weren't what you wold call "health insurance" eg policys that pay 100 dollars a day if hospitalized...those are like matilda's dad the used car sales man policys

Comment Re:as far as i'm concerned (Score 0) 72

why bother to file a bug report for software that is still in pre alpha
What is the point ?
To take just one of many, many examples: a straightforward task should be pasting a bitmap into a document program like writer or word
This works in word, altho the large number of poorly documented options makes it difficult for the new user to understand; on the other hand, for almost every MS office question, there are one or two good websites, so 5 minutes on google usually produces an answer.
with writer, this just didn't work
why shoud i bother with a bug report on a program that isn't ready ?

Comment clueless management (Score 0) 72

Quote
  'It seems to me that the ability to say "no" to profitable but peripheral business in order to strategically focus the company is a really important management task
unquote
no SH** Bosco; learning to focus on business with higher margin is something you should have engraved on your forehead on like, the first day of work.

Anyway, aside from the fanboys, everytime i try librre/open office, the don't work
I know, ymmv
About two months ago, I downloaded the latest open office clone and tried something real simple: paste a bitmap into a word document
this works sort of ok in MS office; doesn't work at all in OO

The whole thing is idiotic: the money is in corporate; if they want features they will go for MS suite, which OO will never touch; if they want cloud, google
If you want cheap, you can get last years MS suite off of ebay at very low cost

I just don't see why anyone bothers with OO

Comment The NYC subway serves multiple types of users (Score 1) 124

Most of the stations - esp in S Brooklyn, outer Queens and The Bronx, serve mainly commuters and New Yorkers ( I mean seriously, how many tourists go up to see the hall of famous americans in The Bronx ? or the Bronx Zoo ? or the Brooklyn Museum ? (fabulous Egyptian collection btw)
Tourists need mainly manhattan, and the existing map does ok; the main problem is the multiplicity of trains on the tracks - local and express
If you are a serious tourist, get a Guide Michelin, or whatever the e-quivalent is; it will tell you what to do to get to the Brooklyn Museum, or the Morris Jumel Mansion, or Lydig ave, or...

Anyway, I assume that like me, many of you have been in London/Paris etc, and I seem to recall from my long ago student days that relying on the subway map often led to long, unexpected walks.

Comment if u believe in "the free market"does it matter (Score 3, Interesting) 1215

Linux as a serious OS has been around for what, 10 years ?
Yet almost no one uses it.
At some point, you have to say, the market has spoken.
For whatever reason, people don't like it.
I work with a set of modest geeks, and none of them (not one) uses linux for anything. They all have tried it.
SO, ymmv, but at some point you have to stop blaming the evil MS, and face up to the truth: people have had 10 years to try linux, and they have said NO
(my personal opinion is the silly idea that choice is good, which accounts for all the distros, is a major factor in the lack of linux uptake)

Comment Re:Really?!?! (Score 1) 105

The story goes like this:
The founders wanted Dr Einsteins name, so several professors and big shots ($) wen to see albert, who was at Princeton
Founders: Dr Einstein, we would like to name our new medical school after you
AE: well, I'm not sure...I'm not a doctor
Founders: well, we could name it after pasteur
AE: what does Pasteur have to do with a jewish school (AECOM is legal subsidiary of Yeshiva University)
Founders: well, in taht case, how about W Harvey
AE: but he is british
Founders: well the, we will go with Dr Schmorekin
AE (looking puzzled), you know, I don't think I have ever heard of this doctor Schmorekin...are you sure people will know what your school is about ?
founders (triumphantly) : you know doctor einstien, with your name, no one will ever ask that...
AE, laughing, ok then , you have my blessing

during the mc carthy era, AECOM hired many leftists, and they also hired many woman, eg, as the story goes, Ora Rosen graduated 1st in her class at columbia medical school, and no one would hire her except AECOM

Comment Re:What?? FTA (Score 2) 105

our species has been evolving for what - the last million or so years without a functional gene for synthesis of Vit C ?
if you now re introduce that gene, what will happen ?
perhaps we have evolved to deal wit low levels of vitamin c, and having high, continuous levels would now be toxic....aside from the fact that we don't really know how to do safe genetic engineering in humans yet (I assert this...google R Young white head)

Comment Re:Dr. Fred Klenner cured polio with Vitamin C (Score 3, Interesting) 105

When I was a graduate student in a molecular biology program in the late 80s or early 90s, i heard, in person, Linus talk
the professors at my institution were pretty sarcastic, but one thing linus said stuck in my brain:

I take 10 grams a day, because if you look at how much vitamin C is in the blood of our closest animal relatives, chimps and gorillas, a human would need to take 10 grams a day to get the same level in the blood...but don't buy it from the drugstore , it is very exspensive, i buy it in 10 pound drums from a chemical company in cleveland OH (or maybe Akron)

of course, humans and guinea pigs are very unsusal in that they require vitamin c in the diet; almost all other mammals can make their own.

Comment 280,000 saved/20 000 employees (Score 1) 251

is a nominal 10 bucks a year
wow
for all the head ached, and very, very inferior GUI and user experinece of Gmail, not to mention the security issues, and the politics of having Gov't email running thru a service that looks at mail, they are saving 10 bucks a month

what is the psychology that leads people to dis word, a perfectly fine program ?
Sure, it has idiosyncrasys, but show me a program that doesn't
Sure, it has bugs and fails, but show me complex, or even simple, program that doesn't

I write 10-20 page documents with Auto table of contents, auto table of figures, lots of pasted tiffs, etc and a lot fo custom paragraph level formatting
Works for me, ymmv
(the biggest problem is the inability to group textbox and tiff without a frame)

Yet these same people assert that excel is "pro grade" wtf ?

havn't you guys heard of the London Whale ?
Han't you read of reinhardt and rogoff ?
of the Statistics profs who have for years been publishing papers showing that excel returns incorrect values for std statistical functions ?

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