Comment Logic: Techniques of Formal Reasoning (Score 1) 630
by Kalish & Montague
The book is very readable and a classic, to boot!
Comment Edge service (Score 2, Interesting) 210
Where I live, AT&T has both Edge (2.5G) and 3G deployed - I only have the first gen iPhone so I cannot speak to 3G quality here, but over the past couple of months I have seen an improvement in 2G coverage and quality. My house used to be on the edge (hah!) of an Edge dead zone - but now we get nearly full bars and no missed calls.
Comment Re:Good omens (Score 1) 366
I got "Nation" for Christmas, and am looking forward to reading it. But it's a collaborative work: if my claim is correct, it's exactly how Sir Pratchett could extend his useful time as a beloved author.
It was a joy to read to my daughter. However, I must be missing something, I don't recall Nation being a collaborative work. Do you have a pointer to the facts on this?
Do not mistake my remarks to be an attack on your hypothesis regarding creativity and Alzheimer's - I just think it may be a tad premature to be drawing conclusions at this point.
Comment Re:Good omens (Score 1) 366
You have but to read Nation: no "serious flattening of creativity"
I wish him all the best - and selfishly wish that he continues to write.
Submission + - Digital Trash More Valuable Than Gold, Copper Ore
tcd004 writes: "Imagine sheer mountains of discarded Pentium III's, tractor trailers overflowing with discarded wall warts. Photojournalist Natalie Behring visited Guiyu, China and documented the world's biggest digital dump where, for $2 per day, the locals sort, disassemble and pulverize hundreds of tons of e-waste. The payoff is huge: computer waste contains 17 times more gold than gold ore, 40 times more copper than copper ore. But the detritus also leaches chemicals and metals into local water supplies."
Submission + - Dr. Michael Turner asks, "Cosmology Solved?
An anonymous reader writes: In 1998, Dr. Michael Turner published a famous paper titled "Cosmology Solved? Quite Possibly!" where he outlined seven major issues cosmologists should address in the next ten years. Nine years later, he revisits the list in an interview with the Slackerpedia Galactica podcast. He summarizes progress on each issue, adds some new goals for the next ten years, and even suggests that cosmology is now more interesting than science fiction!
Submission + - Paying for Better Math and Science Teachers
Coryoth writes: "While California is suffering from critical shortage of mathematics and science teachers, Kentucky is considering two bills that would give explicit financial incentives to math and science students and teachers. The first bill would provide cash incentives to schools to run AP math and science classes, and cash scholarships to students who did well on AP math and science exams. The second bill provides salary bumps for any teachers with degrees in math or science, or who score well in teacher-certification tests in math, chemistry and physics. Is such differentiated pay the right way to attract science graduates who can make much more in industry, or is it simply going to breed discontent among teachers?"
Submission + - Chinese develop remote controlled pigeons
KDan writes: As seen on CNN and other places, "Scientists in eastern China say they have succeeded in controlling the flight of pigeons with micro electrodes planted in their brains". Whilst everyone focuses on the weird and fun aspects of remote-controlled pigeons and points out that "The report did not specify what practical uses the scientists saw for the remote-controlled pigeons", a number of obvious uses jump out to me. Flocks of remote controlled pigeons could be used in warfare as very effective weapons delivery systems. They can take out low-flying planes and helicopters by being flown into their way. In fact they can probably be used to take out any target. Electronically controlled pigeons could lead to a new expansion of the concept of self-healing minefields... How about a patrolling flock of payloaded pigeons that target anyone identified as an "enemy"? The important factor is that whereas building a mechanical equivalent of a pigeon would be expensive, growing a pigeon and implanting some electrodes is comparatively cheap so that large numbers of RC pigeons could be "manufactured" and used for any purpose imaginable. A missile costs tens of thousands of dollars — why bother when you can raise a flock of pigeons and "upgrade" them for a fraction of that price, and proceed to send them to the target?
Perhaps most importantly, however, the remote-controlled pigeons will finally allow us to create an efficient implementation of RFC 1149 and RFC 2549.
Perhaps most importantly, however, the remote-controlled pigeons will finally allow us to create an efficient implementation of RFC 1149 and RFC 2549.
Submission + - TV delays drive viewers to piracy
Astat1ne writes: The Register has a story about the delays Australian TV viewers are experiencing with overseas-produced series and how it is driving many of them to download the shows via BitTorrent and other peer-to-peer networks. From the story: "According to a survey based on a sample of 119 current or recent free-to-air TV series', Australian viewers are waiting an average of almost 17 months for the first run series' first seen overseas. Over the past two years, average Australian broadcast delays for free-to-air television viewers have more than doubled from 7.9 to 16.7 months." According to the article, the situation is compounded by the fact that Australian viewers are unable to download legal copies of the episodes from the US iTunes website and are turning to unauthorised means to get copies of their favorite shows.
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The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not "Eureka!" (I found it!) but "That's funny ..." -- Isaac Asimov
