Zarf - Slashdot User

Submission + - The dangers of being really, really tired. (slate.com) 1

Submitted by Sleepy Dog Millionare on Saturday May 16, 2009 @07:37AM

Sleepy Dog Millionare writes: Brian Palmer writing for Slate asks Can you die from lack of sleep? and shockingly the answer may very well be yes you can. Palmer points to "ground breaking experiments" in the areas of sleep research. It turns out that sleep deprivation can actually be deadly in rats. The obvious conclusion is that it is probably deadly in all mammals. So the next time you think you need to pull multiple all-night hack-a-thon ask yourself if it's worth risking your life for?

Submission + - Google App Engine now with Groovy meta-programming (springsource.com)

Submitted by Zarf on Wednesday April 08, 2009 @06:55AM

Zarf writes: Yesterday Google announced that GAE (Google App Engine) now supports Java development but fast on the heels of the Java announcement is this announcement for Groovy support! Groovy is a dynamic programming language for the JVM that is a near super-set of Java. Much Java syntax is valid Groovy syntax, however, Groovy adds powerful meta-programming features and Groovy on GAE will bring these meta-programming features to App Engine development. Groovy got special attention from the SpringSource Groovy team and the Google App Engine Java team and it was this collaboration that helped create the changes that were the big secret in the recent Groovy release of 1.6.1. The Groovy Developer community is very excited to see this level of collaboration between the Groovy team and Google!

Submission + - Math Skills Suffer in US Schools (nytimes.com) 3

Submitted by Zarf on Friday October 10, 2008 @02:21PM

Zarf writes: I'd like to file a bug report on the US educational system.
The New York Times reports on a recent study that shows the US fails to encourage academic talent as a culture.

"There is something about the culture in American society today which doesn't really seem to encourage men or women in mathematics," said Michael Sipser, the head of M.I.T.'s math department. "Sports achievement gets lots of coverage in the media. Academic achievement gets almost none."

While we've suspected that the US might be falling behind academically, this study shows that it is actually due to cultural factors that are devaluing the success of our students. I suspect there's a flaw in the US cultural system that prevents achievement on the academic front as valuable. Could anyone suggest a patch for this bug or is this cause for a rewrite?

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