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Education

Is a Postdoc Worth it? 233

Posted by samzenpus from the take-it-easy dept.
Jim_Austin writes "In a very funny column, Adam Ruben reviews the disadvantages and, well, the disadvantages of doing a postdoc, noting that 'The term "postdoc" refers both to the position and to the person who occupies it. (In this sense, it's much like the term "bar mitzvah.") So you can be a postdoc, but you can also do a postdoc.'"

Comment Re:Is it really scam? (Score 1) 497

I can promise you our government doesn't give two shits about protecting you from being scammed or harassed by overseas call centers.

US-based? Sure, because the government can make money "protecting" you by seizing the scammers' money and domestic assets.

Overseas? Forget about it. The government won't lift a finger because it can't legally just take anyone's money.

Comment 11.6 miles (Score 1) 810

by EmagGeek (#45499867) Attached to: Electric Cars: Drivers Love 'Em, So Why Are Sales Still Low?

I live 11.6 miles from my company out in rural America. An EV would be great for my commute, except when I look at the $30,000-$50,000 price tag of an EV versus the $2500 price tag of my reasonably middle range carbon fiber road bike, which burns neither gas nor uses electricity, the EV just can't win.

For short commutes, the bicycle solution is orders of magnitude greener than an EV, and far far far cheaper, especially when health benefits and lower cost of medical care are taken into consideration.
Hardware

Elevation Plays a Role In Memory Error Rates 190

Posted by Soulskill from the another-reason-not-to-calculate-prime-numbers-on-mt.-everest dept.
alphadogg writes "With memory, as with real estate, location matters. A group of researchers from AMD and the Department of Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory have found that the altitude at which SRAM resides can influence how many random errors the memory produces. In a field study of two high-performance computers, the researchers found that L2 and L3 caches had more transient errors on the supercomputer located at a higher altitude, compared with the one closer to sea level. They attributed the disparity largely to lower air pressure and higher cosmic ray-induced neutron strikes. Strangely, higher elevation even led to more errors within a rack of servers, the researchers found. Their tests showed that memory modules on the top of a server rack had 20 percent more transient errors than those closer to the bottom of the rack. However, it's not clear what causes this smaller-scale effect."

Comment Screw the criminal landscape (Score 2) 203

by EmagGeek (#45481611) Attached to: HIV Tracking Technology Could Pinpoint Who's Infecting Who

I wanna get PAID. The implications will be far more profound in the tort law landscape as this technology is extended to be able to pinpoint the identity of someone who gave you any generic disease.

Think big. Think HPV, Hepatitis, Herpes, and the whole range of STDs.

Imagine the payout if you can prove that a wealthy person gave you the HPV that caused your cervical cancer? Imagine the payout your family will get if you die from it.

Trial lawyers are absolutely salivating over this, and I would not be surprised to see lawyers "investing" in this technology.

Comment Re:Proper Procedure (Score 2) 227

by EmagGeek (#45457181) Attached to: Supreme Court Refuses To Hear EPIC Challenge To NSA Surveillance

A "solution" that is found in a lower court does not apply everywhere in the country.

If the Ninth Circuit found the NSA wiretapping to be unconstitutional, it would only be unconstitutional in the Ninth Circuit.

EPIC was hoping that the SCOTUS would see this as such an immediate, emergent issue that is imperative to be equal throughout the land, that they would hear it.

EPIC was wrong, apparently.

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