Journal Journal: Jordan Peterson on the intelligence of Donald Trump
A very interesting video on the role that intelligence played in the 2016 election.
Submission + - SPAM: Writing an Unknown Unknowns Workshop for Novice Programmers
peetm writes: I have to put together a 3 hour (max) workshop for novice programmers — people with mostly no formal training and who are probably flying by the seat of their pants (and quite possibly dangerous in doing so).
I want to encourage them to think more as a professional developer would. Ideally, I would to give them some sort of practicals to do to articlate and demonstrate this, rather than just 'present' stuff on best practice. I need some help.
If you were putting this together, what would you say and include?
I want to encourage them to think more as a professional developer would. Ideally, I would to give them some sort of practicals to do to articlate and demonstrate this, rather than just 'present' stuff on best practice. I need some help.
If you were putting this together, what would you say and include?
Submission + - Notel media player helps North Koreans skirt censorship (thestack.com)
An anonymous reader writes: A small portable media device, costing roughly $50, is allowing North Koreans to access and view foreign media despite tight government censorship, according to a Reuters report [http://uk.reuters.com/article/2015/03/27/uk-northkorea-change-insight-idUKKBN0MM2UW20150327]. The ‘Notel’, a mashup of notebook and television, is being described as a symbol of change in the repressed society. Used to watch DVDs and shared content from USB sticks and SD cards, the media player can be easily concealed and transported among families and friends. According to correspondents in the region, as many as half of all urban North Korean households have a notel and are swapping a broad range of banned media such as soaps and TV dramas from South Korea and China, Hollywood blockbusters, and news clips — all of which is strictly forbidden by Pyongyang law.
Submission + - After 911 Cockpits Are Harder to Invade But Easier to Lock up
HughPickens.com writes: Jad Mouawad And Christopher Drew write in the NYT that although airplane cockpits are supposed to be the last line of defense from outside aggressors, airlines have fewer options if the threat comes from within as it appears that the co-pilot of the German jet crashed Tuesday took advantage of one of the major safety protocols instituted after the September 11, 2001, attacks that turned cockpits into fortresses. “It is shocking to me that there was not a second person present in the cockpit,” says Mark Rosenker, a former chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board. Access to the cockpit is strictly regulated in the United States. Passengers are not allowed to congregate near the cockpit door, and whenever the door is open, no one is allowed in the forward bathroom and flight attendants usually block aisle access, sometimes using a food cart. The crash, which killed all 150 people aboard the Germanwings Airbus A320, highlights a major difference between European and American flight deck procedures. The Federal Aviation Administration mandates that a flight attendant must sit in the cockpit when either pilot steps into the passenger area; European regulations do not have a similar two-person rule.
The Germanwings accident also points to potential shortcomings in how pilots are screened for mental problems, a recurring concern for an industry that demands focus and discipline in an increasingly technical job, often in stressful situations. In 2012, a well-regarded pilot with JetBlue, one of the airline’s earliest employees, was physically restrained by passengers on a flight from New York to Las Vegas after displaying erratic behavior. In that case, the co-pilot locked the pilot out of the cabin and made an emergency landing in Amarillo, Tex. “Aircraft-assisted pilot suicides,” as the Federal Aviation Administration calls them, are rare. They include the November 2013 crash of a Mozambique Airlines plane bound for Luanda, Angola, which bears an eerie resemblance to the Germanwings plane’s demise. When the flight’s co-pilot left to use the lavatory, the captain locked him out of the cockpit and manually steered the aircraft earthward. The crash of Egypt Airlines Flight 990 off Nantucket, Mass., in 1999, which killed all 217 people on board, was also caused by deliberate action, a National Transportation Safety Board investigation concluded. Experts on suicide say that the psychology of those who combine suicide with mass murder may differ in significant ways from those who limit themselves to taking their own lives. “This is not so different in some ways from someone who walks into a school and kills a bunch of people, and then kills themselves,” says Michelle Cornette adding that it was entirely possible that someone who was suicidal could pass psychological exams and receive a clean bill of health. “People know what’s going to raise a red flag."
The Germanwings accident also points to potential shortcomings in how pilots are screened for mental problems, a recurring concern for an industry that demands focus and discipline in an increasingly technical job, often in stressful situations. In 2012, a well-regarded pilot with JetBlue, one of the airline’s earliest employees, was physically restrained by passengers on a flight from New York to Las Vegas after displaying erratic behavior. In that case, the co-pilot locked the pilot out of the cabin and made an emergency landing in Amarillo, Tex. “Aircraft-assisted pilot suicides,” as the Federal Aviation Administration calls them, are rare. They include the November 2013 crash of a Mozambique Airlines plane bound for Luanda, Angola, which bears an eerie resemblance to the Germanwings plane’s demise. When the flight’s co-pilot left to use the lavatory, the captain locked him out of the cockpit and manually steered the aircraft earthward. The crash of Egypt Airlines Flight 990 off Nantucket, Mass., in 1999, which killed all 217 people on board, was also caused by deliberate action, a National Transportation Safety Board investigation concluded. Experts on suicide say that the psychology of those who combine suicide with mass murder may differ in significant ways from those who limit themselves to taking their own lives. “This is not so different in some ways from someone who walks into a school and kills a bunch of people, and then kills themselves,” says Michelle Cornette adding that it was entirely possible that someone who was suicidal could pass psychological exams and receive a clean bill of health. “People know what’s going to raise a red flag."
Comment Re:Stand up desk (Score 1) 376
Exactly!
Sitting is our enemy (of our backs, anyway). In a culture where most of us sit at our jobs, we need more desk options.
The drafting table set up is perfect. The height allows you to stand or sit (in a higher chair), and adjust the table to suit your body.
Comment Aim at foot. Fire! (Score 1) 292
In the past 10 years, flying into the U.S. for foreign graduate students has become excrutiatingly painful. The number of academics who are willing to fly into the States for conferences is dwindling. The recent uptick in security means... well... who wants to go through that if you can choose not to?
In a letter this past week, the interim President of University of Illinois said that the institution has received only 7% of their budget from the State since July, and that staff furloughs may not be enough. In other words, administrative and professors may be layed off. This despite the fact that more Americans than ever are going back to school (probably because they can't find jobs). Other schools may not be so direly affected, but things are looking a tad bleak.
The American economy has been severely affected by the housing crisis, moreso than other countries.
All of this = a university and research in the U.S. could well be on a downward spiral.
Who the heck wants to stick around for that?
Comment Re:How many times (Score 1) 245
Having a collaboration tool won't alleviate all of this problem. If you've got 30 people collaborating, management has to be a large part the process. That is, thinking ahead and deciding who reviews when, what each participant's role involves (feedback, edit, write), and prescribing how they add their ideas.
The process I've used (with email/word) involves sending a document from one person to the other, so when it arrives at the end of the line, all the comments are there in one document. Then one person (or a team) decides what to keep/cut.
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If it has syntax, it isn't user friendly.
