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Comment Paper is just as bad! (Score 1) 664

If you write, you don’t listen. If you listen, you don’t write. Simple as that.

I HATED “teachers” who gave us the homework of just copying book pages by hand to “learn” them. I couldn’t remember a word of what was written on them.

I specifically avoided taking any notes, as much as possible. And only wrote down formulas, or basic laws. (In a graph, like a mind map, but without the stupid limitations.)
If I didn’t understand everything, I pressed pause, and went back a minute.

Oh, did I mention, that the lectures themselves were only half of where the learning took place, and watching it on video a second time at home filled in the blanks that made the whole lecture useful and stick in the first place?

Comment Re:Reminds me of broadband internet in the beginni (Score 1) 479

Poppycock to the Regulations. In the phone, power, gas companies, the are all use to and know the various regulators. When I worked at US West, I saw exactly how much of an impact that had on us. BUT, we knew how to work within the framework. Now, with that said, regulations DO cost money. The company response is not free.

But the power companies are holding off doing more power lines in hope that the feds will do it for them, while they take the profits to the bank. And you know what? I am thinking that the feds SHOULD do it. And then charge the power companies for use of it, and the power company would then be allowed to ONLY pass it through (no profits from it). I am not normally a fan of gov. intervention, but in this case, the fed is the right group to get large projects like this done. It used to be that the companies had responsible leaders, but now they have abdicated their role. It is time for the US to do what companies us to do.
Government

Submission + - Obama, Huckabee win Iowa caucuses

An anonymous reader writes: Democratic Illinois Senator Barack Obama and former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, a Republican, have been declared the winners of their presidential caucuses in Iowa, the first test in the race for the White House. Obama, who had been in a tough three-way battle against Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and former senator John Edwards, won convincingly. Vying to become the first black president, Obama had 37 per cent support among Democrats. Edwards appeared headed for second place with Clinton finishing a close third. http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2008/01/03/iowa-caucus.html?ref=rss
Biotech

Submission + - Toads Mate across the Species Barrier

Hugh Pickens writes: "Although mating with another species (hybridization) is often maladaptive and females typically avoid other species as mates, Nature magazine is reporting the first example of harsh environmental conditions driving an animal across the species barrier. When drought threatens, one species of spadefoot toad will mate with more drought resistant toads of another species so that their offspring will have the best chance of survival even if it means that those offspring will have a lower chance of reproducing successfully. One possibility is that the toads need their offspring to develop more quickly when water is in short supply and field tests confirmed that hybrid tadpoles were more likely to survive through metamorphosis in rapidly drying pools. "Females are probably assessing a lot more out there than just how long the male's tail is," says Maurice Sabelis, Professor of Population Biology at the University of Amsterdam. "They are probably more sensitive to their own condition and environment when choosing a male.""
Programming

Submission + - The effects of Open Source on Software Development (blogspot.com)

phomer writes: "We live an an era where software was become open and freely available. The Open Source revolution has brought huge changes to programming, but underneath all of the noise and hype, what are the real effects of having access to a glut of software? Is this helping to enhance Computer Science, or are the effects actually hurting it? This series of two essays looks at the impact of Open Source on Computer Science (shrink-wrapped software) and on Consulting."
Security

Submission + - Trojan spoofing eBay, Carfax robs user of $8600 (theregister.com)

kurmudgeon writes: "A sophisticated Trojan is targeting users of eBay Motors by installing a scaled-down webserver on their machines that masquerades as web pages frequently used to sniff out fraudulent offerings, The Register is reporting. eBay has long counseled its users to only trust a trust a transaction if it appears in the My eBay section of the site, but the malware creates authentic-looking counterfeits of those pages, as well as pages for sites such as Carfax.com and Autocheck.com. The Trojan has already contributed to the loss of $8,650 by one user. eBay is refusing to make good on a promise to protect the user up to $20,000 because the company says the transaction didn't actually take place on eBay."
Google

Submission + - The sixty-five dollar click (nytimes.com) 2

PessimisticLitigator writes: Adam Liptak wrote a great article, in the New York Times, on how competition in the legal field is driving the cost per click of Google ad to remarkable levels Phrases such as "Oakland personal injury lawyer," "Asbestos attorney," and "mesothelioma attorney Texas" are bringing in between $58 and $66 per click. Is this an example of commonsense left at the door, or is it a brilliant use of technology? It seems like the prior to me.

There is an interesting side note where the article calls Google a middle aged technology, and it cites the historically slow adaptation of technology by attorneys as evidence.

   

The Media

Submission + - Why go HD DVD when ATSC is just as good?

An anonymous reader writes: With all this talk of HD DVD vs Blu-ray, it seems like no one's focused on the high-def experience with regular over-the-air digital. In the same style as FiringSquad's Transformers HD DVD vs DVD article, FS has compared the Heroes HD DVD to the original NBC broadcast with full 1080p screenshots. The winner is HD DVD, but just by a hair.
Sci-Fi

Submission + - Al Gore wins Nobel Peace Prize (yahoo.com)

neochubbz writes: Former Vice President Al Gore and the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize Friday for their efforts to spread awareness of man-made climate change and lay the foundations for counteracting it. "I am deeply honored to receive the Nobel Peace Prize," Gore said. "We face a true planetary emergency. The climate crisis is not a political issue, it is a moral and spiritual challenge to all of humanity."

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