unixbob - Slashdot User

Submission + - The State of Mathematics Education

Submitted by Coryoth on Thursday January 25, 2007 @04:20PM

Coryoth writes: Mathematics education has been subject to many fads over the decades, including New Math, and the resulting backlash against it. These days, however, math education in the US is moving more and more toward a highly applied approach, and an effort to "engage the student" by making math "relevant to them" and emphasising group work. The result has been a muddying of the math syllabus. This in turn is beginning to prompt a backlash. Indeed, math professors who actually look at public school texts are usually appalled by the lack of real content. Are these newer mathematics education programs detrimental to children's methodical analytic and logic skills, and what does this say for the future of US software programmers?

Submission + - Changing to a career in science?

Submitted by on Thursday January 25, 2007 @03:32PM

An anonymous reader writes: I'm a 37-year-old lawyer considering a career change into scientific research (the specific field is not relevant to my questions). I got into the legal profession for all the wrong reasons, and I would prefer a career doing something that excites and challenges me, even if the money isn't great. This will require significant educational retooling, including 5-6 years in a PhD program, so I need to look before I leap.

Have other Slashdot readers made similar transitions? For those already doing scientific research as their career, what have been the high and low points of your education and career? Do you foresee any problems for an "older" PhD candidate?

Submission + - Economics, not morality key to onlinemovie piracy

Submitted by Number eight on Thursday January 25, 2007 @03:22PM

Number eight writes: Around 32 million Americans have downloaded a full-length movie from the Internet. A recent survey finds that your average P2P movie downloader is a 29-year-old man with 16 movies on his hard drive, and that only 40 percent of the survey respondents believe that downloading is a 'very serious offense.' More importantly, the survey demonstrates how factors like economics and usability drive people to P2P networks. 'Illegal downloading is less the result of a moral calculation on the downloader's part than it is the result of a simple economic calculation. The illegal downloader looks at the risk vs. reward equation, factors in other terms like convenience and price, and ulimtimately finds the illegal download overwhelmingly more attractive than the legal download.' That's the case with the legal download services as well: 'Consumers who are interested in downloadable movies are turned off by restrictions on what they can do with the content afterwards, as well as lack of cross-platform and cross-device compatibility.'

Submission + - Ex AOL founder (Mr. Case) starts healthy start-up.

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 25, 2007 @02:04PM

An anonymous reader writes: For the last year, RevolutionHealth.com has been developing the largest RubyOnRails Web2.0 service, and recently "previewed" the site for the public to sign-up for the entry-level service. Its a community of patients and a private EMR (eletronic medical record). The user is encouraged to participate in providing health-data, and in the community approach to storing data (which is private) and sharing experiences, thoughts, and questions. The premise is that patients of disease-XYZ are not the first to suffer from disease-XYZ, and can benefit from the experiences of other patients. Also, the system hopes to introduce ranking systems for physicians, hospitals, treatment-types, etc. As we all sit in front of our computers all day, why not learn about that aching in our wrist-muscles: is it carpal-tunnel syndrome, or is it muscle-atrophy? Sign up and find out!

Submission + - 911 Calls Reveal Dangers of Media Consolidation

Submitted by BendingSpoons on Thursday January 25, 2007 @02:00PM

BendingSpoons writes: Five years ago, a 112-car train derailed outside of Minot, North Dakota. Over 240,000 gallons of anhydrous ammonia leaked out of the car, resulting in one death and the hospitalization of hundreds. Why is this news? Because newly released 911 tapes reveal a breakdown in Minot's emergency broadcasting — a breakdown that some are attributing to media consolidation. When panicked residents called emergency dispatch, they were advised to tune into KCJB, the designated local emergency broadcaster. However, KCJB — along with Minot's five other commercial channels — was owned by Clear Channel; the music was piped in from out of state, and no one was in the station to respond to calls. 911 callers were therefore directed to radio stations that provided no emergency information. The problem of "local" news stations unable to transmit information about local emergencies is now raising concerns about both national security and media consolidation.

Submission + - Geothermal energy will power America - MIT

Submitted by

amigoro

on Monday January 22, 2007 @03:00PM

amigoro writes: " This article says that mining the huge amounts of heat that reside as stored thermal energy in the Earth's hard rock crust could supply a substantial portion of the electricity the United States will need in the future, probably at competitive prices and with minimal environmental impact, according to a new MIT-led study.

The panel also evaluated the environmental impacts of geothermal development, concluding that these are markedly lower than conventional fossil-fuel and nuclear power plants.

And that might counteract the "imaginary" fears the world leaders have that global warming causes economic hardship"

Submission + - Climate Challenge game launched on BBC

Submitted by

Gobion

on Monday January 22, 2007 @02:23PM

Gobion writes: "The BBC have launched our game "Climate Challenge" on their Science and Nature website:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/hottopics/climatechange/cl imate_challenge/

The game mixes a Sim City style strategy game with real scientific and policy data from several sources, including several UK Department of Trade and Industry energy reports (especially on microgeneration), the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports (SRES), and EU data. Along with the scientific assistance we received from Oxford University Centre for the Environment and climateprediction.net (the distributed climate modelling project using BOINC), Climate Challenge game was designed to be both realistic and fun. It is the most ambitious game of its type. The game accompanies the David Attenborough programme "Climate Change: Britain Under Threat" and the BBC's Climate Chaos season.

Climate Challenge is aimed primarily at 20-40 year old professionals and during the development process we conducted extensive testing and found that most players came away from the game feeling more confident about their ability to help prevent major climate change, and also had a better understanding of the issues involved. Hopefully it will spur further discussion in the field!

As the game is meant as a starting point, the game is accompanied by further scientific notes for those interested in learning more about the subject."

Submission + - No surround sound in Vista?

Submitted by Kane22 on Monday January 22, 2007 @02:01PM

Kane22 writes: A CNET article points out that according to audio experts Creative, Windows Vista will not support surround sound or EAX audio on a huge number of PC games. Nor will DVD movie surround sound be possible unless users splash out on expensive Dolby-enabled versions of their playback software. The reason: Microsoft has removed the hardware abstraction layer (HAL) for Vista — a piece of software that lets applications talk to your sound card. Games such as Call of Duty 2, World of Warcraft, F.E.A.R. and any other title that uses DirectSound3D (part of the DirectX application programming interface used to create many games) will have no surround sound or advanced hardware audio features as a result. No HAL or EAX means gamers are stuck with plain old stereo. ult.No HAL means gamers are stuck with plain old stereo.

Submission + - Climate Change model results in

Submitted by AliasTheRoot on Monday January 22, 2007 @01:25PM

AliasTheRoot writes: Over the last year, the BBC has been promoting a distributed climate modelling project, along the lines of SETI@HOME and with the aid of 250,000 people produced a set of climate models up to the year 2080. The results show a marked increase in temperature. The British Isles themselves look to be having a 4C rise in temperature, and a massive increase in precipitation. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/hottopics/climatechange/

Journal Journal: Man kicked off Quantas flight for bush-bashing Tee Shirt 13

Journal by drinkypoo on Monday January 22, 2007 @01:24PM

Reuters Reports that a man wearing a Tee Shirt with a picture of Dubya and subtitled "World's number 1 terrorist" was ejected from a Quantas flight from Melbourne to London simply for his dress. Quantas' statement was that "comments made verbally or on a T-shirt which had the potential to offend other tra

Submission + - Programs Let Homes Produce Green Power

Submitted by kog777 on Monday January 22, 2007 @12:50PM

kog777 writes: When the sun shines bright on their home in New York's Hudson Valley, John and Anna Bagnall live out a homeowner's fantasy. Their electricity meter runs backward. Solar panels on their barn roof can often provide enough for all their electricity needs. Sometimes — and this is the best part — their solar setup actually pushes power back into the system.

Submission + - Computer Specialist barred from flying for T-shirt

Submitted by Proud like a god on Monday January 22, 2007 @09:45AM

Proud like a god writes: As reported by the BBC The 55-year-old computer specialist, Allen Jasson, who lives in London, said he was sticking up for the principle of free speech when he was stopped as he was about to board a flight from Melbourne to London last Friday. He was wearing a T-shift features an image of President George W Bush, along with the slogan "World's Number One Terrorist".

After clearing the international security checks at Melbourne Airport, he reportedly approached the gate manager to congratulate him on the company's new-found open-mindedness. At that point, Mr Jasson was ordered to remove the T-shirt after being told it was a security threat and an item which might cause offence to other passengers.

"I am not prepared to go without the t-shirt. I might forfeit the fare, but I have made up my mind that I would rather stand up for the principle of free speech," he told Australian media.

A Qantas spokesman defended the airline's decision, saying: "Whether made verbally or on a T-shirt, comments with the potential to offend other customers or threaten the security of a Qantas group aircraft will not be tolerated".

What suprises me is that airlines still justify these policies, and is there more than a correlation between us nerds and an interest in Free Speech?

Submission + - Explaining short-lived jobs on a resume?

Submitted by n7ytd on Monday January 22, 2007 @09:08AM

n7ytd writes: Since taking a new job in 2006 and finding out it's not what I expected, I am spitting out resumes to find a new gig. I've been wondering how to explain the short time I've been in this job to prospective employers. Have fellow Slashdotters found this to be a challenge in the past, or it is par for the course and no big deal? As someone interviewing, would the 6-month position I've had with my current employer cause you concern?

Submission + - How to get (a board game) published?

Submitted by

cyclomedia

on Monday January 22, 2007 @05:37AM

cyclomedia writes: "I've been dedicating a little of my Nerd Time to devising a strategy board game, pitched somewhere between Checkers and Chess but probably not as deceptively complex as Go. The next step in my plan is to see if I can actually create a prototype made of coins, stickers and cardboard and to attempt to teach the rules to my wife (Trek fan, hence the marriage). If I get past that stage ok then what do i do? Presumably I can't just show up at Hasbro with my jerry rigged setup and expect an enthusiastic response. Without giving too much away I can tell you that there's a nerd factor within the game itself, possibly leaning the possibility of marketing towards the Games Workshop end of the spectrum, but without the 80-sided dice and Orcs."

Submission + - Wikipedia links no longer help your Page Rank

Submitted by

Mrs. Grundy

on Monday January 22, 2007 @02:21AM

Mrs. Grundy writes: "Wikipedia has started automatically adding rel="NOFOLOW" to all external links in an effort to combat link spam. Since wikipedia pages are hip-deep in high page rank they attract the unsavory sort of character hoping to gain a little love from Google on their coattails. By making pages NOFOLOW they essentially deny conferring any page rank points from google and hopefully reduce the incentive to spam the pages with offtopic links. This topic has come up before and the community voted to remove the NOFOLLOW business in 2005. Will this move actually reduce link spam or is even the potential clickthrough valuable enough without the boost in Google's ranking? And how does the value of ranking sites based on links change as more and more popular sites start tagging (eh...labeling) their links NOFOLLOW?"

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