Please create an account to participate in the Slashdot moderation system

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror

Comment Re:Don't wait. (Score 1) 433

I love installing the most recent versions of any OS, but really don't like going through the incredible gyrations to re-install the 300-400 apps that I use. I run several W2K3 servers and multiple XP desktops. There isn't an upgrade path that I know of that will keep my current installed apps running smoothly. Isn't this the real problem with MS Windows? There are so many hooks into the OS by the installed apps that once you decide to upgrade the OS most of the apps (Registry based) stop working. Of course, I have few problems with the open-source software that installs nicely in any folder you want - Windows upgrades be damned.
Math

Dead Salmon's "Brain Activity" Cautions fMRI Researchers 287

AthanasiusKircher sends in a Wired writeup on what should surely be a contender in the next Improbable Research competition: wiring a dead salmon into an fMRI machine and showing it pictures of humans designed to evoke various emotions. "When they got around to analyzing the voxel... data, the voxels representing the area where the salmon's tiny brain sat showed evidence of activity. In the fMRI scan, it looked like the dead salmon was actually thinking about the pictures it had been shown. ... The result is completely nuts — but that's actually exactly the point. [Neuroscientist Craig] Bennett... and his adviser, George Wolford, wrote up the work as a warning about the dangers of false positives in fMRI data. They wanted to call attention to ways the field could improve its statistical methods. ... Bennett notes: 'We could set our threshold [of significance] so high that we have no false positives, but we have no legitimate results.... We could also set it so low that we end up getting voxels in the fish's brain. It's the fine line that we walk.'" The research has been turned down by several publications, according to Wired, but a poster is available (PDF).

Comment 61 and learning / working new stuff (Score 1) 918

I have a deep resume work-wise (33 years) and a shallow one in the Ed. dept. (some college, no degree.) I've never had a problem finding work until the last 6 months but I expect this period of doldrums to end soon. In the last 10 years, I've been involved in a lot of DB (installation/design/development - SQL Server, MySQL, Oracle), code (C++, Java, C#, VB.NET), and applications (Windows, Linux, web). My bookshelf and reference links are wonderful resources - as are SlashDot and other web sites. When I grow tired of learning, then it's time to lay the body down. Going back to school for me would be solely for the ability to learn something new - something that I might not be able to absorb by myself.

Comment Re:mandriva (Score 1) 231

Of course, you are correct in your facts. I was just trying to point out the humor of those two central nations of Europe that have, historically, spent so much time spitting or shooting at one another, finally following each other's leads. Since I am just an american, I can't viscerally feel the love/hate that must underlie so many relations throughout the continent. Now, if I can only get more of my U.S. clients to adopt open-source (not necessarily free) solutions. Bravo to the Bundestag. ..lb

Slashdot Top Deals

/usr/news/gotcha

Working...