Journal Journal: Periodic Table of the Internet 1
On the Miscellanea webcomic I've posted a Periodic Table of the Internet made by coming through my bookmarks, browser history and grouping the 'elements' by similarity and page ranking.
Submission + - Saving Secondary Science (wellingtongrey.net)
Wellington Grey writes: "I'm a physics teacher who is appalled at what I see in science education today. Aside from years of dumbing down courses, current exams are filled with vagueness, politics and non-science. Science is no longer a refuge for precision-minded students. I've tried to work with the system, but have been ignored or advised to write letters of complaint that sit on desks unread. As someone who cares deeply about science education, what can be done?"
Submission + - The Demise of Physics Education (wellingtongrey.net)
TomSun writes: Wellington Grey is a physics teacher who has been pushed to the edge by the dumbing down of his curriculum. After changes made by the government this year which introduced what he calls 'the vague, the stupid, the political and the non-science' into standardized exams, he wrote an open letter to the government begging for his subject back and asking for your help.
Some of the examples of test questions he gives will make the mathematically minded among us ill at ease with the future of education.
Some of the examples of test questions he gives will make the mathematically minded among us ill at ease with the future of education.
Submission + - Reducing RSI Pain Once it's Happened
Wellington Grey writes: "I've been a heavy computer user since my parents bought home an Apple ][. Immediately addicted by the glowing screen, I typed and clicked until my wrists and fingers would no longer let me. But last month something scary happened: the pain in my hand didn't go away. The first and middle fingers on my right hand chronically hurt even when I wasn't on the computer.
The pain grew and, concerned, I visited a doctor who diagnosed it as a repetitive strain injury. When I asked what could be done to fix it, his advice was essentially: "Sucks to be you. Take some ibuprofen and stay off the computer, nerd."
While just five years ago I would have felt guilty not following advice to limit my computer use, I don't now. Like it or not, benefit or not, the computer is a central focus of life. My work, and all my hobbies, from photography to writing, to drawing involve the computer.
So my question to slashdotters is this: once you already have RSI, what can you do to reduce the pain if limiting computer use isn't an option?"
The pain grew and, concerned, I visited a doctor who diagnosed it as a repetitive strain injury. When I asked what could be done to fix it, his advice was essentially: "Sucks to be you. Take some ibuprofen and stay off the computer, nerd."
While just five years ago I would have felt guilty not following advice to limit my computer use, I don't now. Like it or not, benefit or not, the computer is a central focus of life. My work, and all my hobbies, from photography to writing, to drawing involve the computer.
So my question to slashdotters is this: once you already have RSI, what can you do to reduce the pain if limiting computer use isn't an option?"
Journal Journal: Slashdot: The Flowchart 2
This week's miscellanea comic details my experiences on slashdot in flowchart form.
Comment Re:Teacher shortage? (Score 1) 660
Queue the teachers union to strike/protest.
Which is why there should be a separate union for science and maths teachers.
-CGP
Which is why there should be a separate union for science and maths teachers.
-CGP
Comment Re:No problem here (Score 2, Interesting) 52
Your cynicism is partially justified, but not fully. In economics there exists a concept called "normal profit" the gist of which I'm not going to explain but you need to look up. In short if profits from in-game ads start driving total profit of the game company up to an attractive level new competitors will be drawn into this industry and competition will drive prices down. This is a pretty fundamental concept of supply and demand and would work wonderfully in this situation...
BUT
The gamer's problem, however, is going to be that they really don't care about the subscription price enough that they'd be willing to play something other than their favourite game because the subscription price is higher than a competing game they don't enjoy as much. In this case they're pretty much stuck. They have the ability to vote with their dollars but they won't. No sympathy from me.
Video games are not commodities and as such if you really want to play the really hot game you can't expect them to fight tooth and nail to shave a few percent off the price to pass on to you. They don't need to.
BUT
The gamer's problem, however, is going to be that they really don't care about the subscription price enough that they'd be willing to play something other than their favourite game because the subscription price is higher than a competing game they don't enjoy as much. In this case they're pretty much stuck. They have the ability to vote with their dollars but they won't. No sympathy from me.
Video games are not commodities and as such if you really want to play the really hot game you can't expect them to fight tooth and nail to shave a few percent off the price to pass on to you. They don't need to.
