Comment Re:We're so smart (Score 5, Funny) 855
TopCod3r? You're here too?
Study Abroad For Computer Science Majors? 386
sbilstein writes "I'm currently a sophomore studying computer science with a penchant for international travel. While I do realize that the internet precludes the need for us geeks to travel farther than our desks, I'd still like to take a few courses taught in English or Spanish (the two languages I'm fluent in) somewhere outside of the country. The trouble is I can't go to just any school, because like any other engineering degree, I have to take technical courses every semester. So I need a school with a something at least similar to a computer science program in the states. Has anybody here from the US studied abroad while doing computer science? Was it worthwhile? Or anyone from outside the United States recommend a university program?"
Comment Re:You're writing needs to improve. (Score 1) 254
You're writing needs to improve.
But there's little guidance on getting into the game world as a writer.
There are two someones that need a tough English teacher.
The first rule of slashdot grammar flaming is: You do not fuck up the grammar or spelling in your post.
The second rule of slashdot grammar flaming is: You DO NOT fuck up the grammar or spelling in your post!
But there's little guidance on getting into the game world as a writer.
There are two someones that need a tough English teacher.
The first rule of slashdot grammar flaming is: You do not fuck up the grammar or spelling in your post.
The second rule of slashdot grammar flaming is: You DO NOT fuck up the grammar or spelling in your post!
Comment Re:That's Easy (Score 5, Informative) 166
I think this is the data set. I could be wrong though. The article (yeah yeah) says that
In our sorting experiments we have followed the rules of a standard terabyte (TB) sort benchmark.
Which lead me to this page that describes the data (and it's available for download).
Comment Here's my view (Score 3, Interesting) 1563
I've taken two classes at a major university so that I can get my degree finally. In the most recent class, the teacher has been downright sexist. Crude jokes that come out badly because of his broken-ass english and a horrible sense of what's proper and what's not. I've only gone to class 4 times this semester... the first two classes, and the two subsequent tests. During each of the first two classes I saw a woman get up and leave the classroom after a horribly sexist joke. It may be that I recognize this because I've been in the workforce for several years and have gone through "sexual harassment training" or whatever, but I doubt it. This guy is creepy, and he's outright lewd.
So yeah, I can imagine that women don't want any part of the field if the people training the next generation of workers are this bad.
Adam Savage Revises Claim of Lawyer-Bullying On RFID Show 301
Nick writes "A few weeks ago a video of a talk given by Adam Savage of the television show MythBusters spread across the internet (including a mention on Slashdot.) On the video, Savage stated that the show was unable to produce an episode about previously known RFID vulnerabilities due to a conference call to Texas Instruments that unexpectedly included several credit card companies' legal counsel. TI (via a spokesperson talking with cnet.com) stated that only one lawyer was on the call and that the majority of the people on the call were product managers from the Smart Card Alliance (SCA) invited by TI to speak. Then Savage (via a Discovery Communications statement) reaffirmed that he was not on the call himself and that the decision was not made by Discovery or their advertising sales department but rather MythBuster's production company, Beyond Productions."
Dolphin Inspired Mini-sub
181
What do you get the millionaire in your life who has everything? How about the Seabreacher mini-sub. Described as a dolphin-inspired cross between a jet ski and a submarine, the Seabreacher has a top speed of 45mph above the waves and 20mph below them. The two-man £30,000 craft is 15' long and its design makes it self-righting. Strangely, this doesn't come with a laser package.
Slashdot's Disagree Mail
354
There is an old Japanese proverb that goes, "Better than a
thousand days of diligent study is one day with a great teacher."
This week's mail is all about teaching. Whether it is about the
seriousness of psychic ability, a short history of trolls or
explaining how much free time and malice your dad's attorney has,
these people just want to impart information. If what they sent me is any indication, they had a lot of sick days. Click on the link below to
become enlightened.
Open Source Helps New IT Grads Get Foot in the Door 128
Yes, some US IT jobs are disappearing, but Linux.com (which shares a corporate overlord with Slashdot) has a recent story emphasizing the job advantage that involvement in open source projects can give young programmers who aren't planning to ditch their dreams of making a living in the field. The article focuses on one programmer's experience with Google's Summer of Code, which led directly to her job working on the Drupal content-management system. But the underlying message (that involvement in open source projects provides a background of experience otherwise difficult to obtain because of the chicken-and-egg problem of "experience required" job opportunities) is generalizable to many other forms of open-source involvement. Do you have a job that you landed because of your unpaid open-source programming?
No Gap Found In Math Abilities of Girls, Boys 701
sciencehabit writes "For anyone who still believes that boys are better at math than girls, a massive new study published today in Science shows there's no difference. 'Among students with the highest test scores, the team did find that white boys outnumbered white girls by about two to one. Among Asians, however, that result was nearly reversed. Hyde says that suggests that cultural and social factors, not gender alone, influence how well students perform on tests.' But the researchers do note a disturbing trend towards omitting harder kinds of math questions from standardized tests."
Blizzard Introduces One-Time Password Devices For WoW 271
An anonymous reader writes "Two days ago Blizzard announced that they will be selling keychain tokens to add one-time password support (FAQ) to World of Warcraft. Have compromised World of Warcraft accounts become such a serious problem, that OTPs are already neccesary for games?"
New Grads Shun IT Jobs As "Boring" 752
whencanistop writes "Despite good job prospects, graduates think that a job in IT would be boring. Is this because of the fact that Bill Gates has made the whole industry look nerdy? Surely with so many (especially young) people being 'web first' with not just their buying habits, but now in terms of what they do in their spare time, we'd expect more of them to want to get a career in it?"
Relics of Science History For Sale At Christie's 142
circletimessquare writes "Dennis Overbye at the New York Times has some ruminations on some of the historical totems of science going up for auction at Christie's next week. There is the 1543 copy of 'De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium' by Copernicus, which you can have for $900,000 to $1.2 million. If you have some cash left over, maybe you can pick up an original work by Galileo, Darwin, Descartes, Newton, Freud, Kepler, Tycho Brahe, or Malthus. And then there is the 1878 copy of the world's first phone book: 'a shock of recognition — that people were already talking on the phone a year before Einstein was born. In fact, just two years later Einstein's father went into the nascent business himself. Einstein grew up among the rudiments of phones and other electrical devices like magnets and coils, from which he drew part of the inspiration for relativity. It would not be until 1897, after people had already made fortunes exploiting electricity, that the English scientist J. J. Thomson discovered what it actually was ...'"
Barack Obama Wins Democratic Nomination 1788
An anonymous reader was one of many who noted that Barack Obama has claimed the Democratic nomination having secured enough delegates and super-delegates to claim victory. Of course, technically this assumes that the supers all vote as they say they will and they are free to change their minds. So no doubt we'll continue to hear debate on this subject until either the convention or Hillary steps down.
Submission + - Gamers could win Nobel Prize in the future
farker haiku writes: According to this story at physorg, a "new game, named Foldit, turns protein folding into a competitive sport. Introductory levels teach the rules, which are the same laws of physics by which protein strands curl and twist into three-dimensional shapes — key for biological mysteries ranging from Alzheimer's to vaccines.
FTA:
"Our ultimate goal is to have ordinary people play the game and eventually be candidates for winning the Nobel Prize" said Popovic. Eventually, the researchers hope to advance science by discovering protein-folding prodigies who have natural abilities to see proteins in 3-D.
The game can be found here
FTA:
"Our ultimate goal is to have ordinary people play the game and eventually be candidates for winning the Nobel Prize" said Popovic. Eventually, the researchers hope to advance science by discovering protein-folding prodigies who have natural abilities to see proteins in 3-D.
The game can be found here
