Comment Re:TFS could be a little less obscure (Score 1) 177
I immediately clicked on the link mistakenly seeing what I thought was going to be a discussion advocating avoiding inverse fast fourier transforms. I should have read the title twice.
Comment Re:Police missing perfect opportunity (Score 1) 601
I've certainly heard of situations where police will post very visible warnings on limited access highways, "DWI Checkpoint Ahead". But the checkpoint is on the off-ramp of the next exit. The theory being that people who are driving intoxicated will self select themselves.
How Bad Is the Gulf Coast Oil Spill? 913
Dasher42 writes "Claims are circulating on the Internet that the Coast Guard fears the Deepwater Horizon well has sprung two extra leaks, raising fears that all control over the release of oil at the site will be lost. The oil field, one of the largest ever discovered, could release 50,000 barrels a day into the ocean, with implications for marine life around the globe that are difficult to comprehend. So, considering that losing our oceanic life, with subsequent unraveling of our land-based ecosystems, is a far more possible apocalyptic scenario than a killer asteroid — what do we do about it?" Other readers have sent some interesting pictures of the spill. One set shows the Deepwater Horizon rig as it collapsed into the ocean. Others, from NASA, indicate that the spill's surface area now rivals that of Florida. The US government has indicated that it intends to require BP to foot the bill for the cleanup. And the Governator has just withdrawn support for drilling off the California coast.
Is Google Making Us Stupid? 636
mjasay writes "Is Google making us stupid? Following a growing body of research within neuroscience, Carr argues that as we use the Web 'we inevitably begin to take on the qualities of those technologies.' This sounds great: Who wouldn't want to have the 'recall' capacity of Google? But, as Carr writes: 'The Internet promises to have particularly far-reaching effects on cognition. ... The Internet, an immeasurably powerful computing system, is subsuming most of our other intellectual technologies. It's becoming our map and our clock, our printing press and our typewriter, our calculator and our telephone, and our radio and TV. When the Net absorbs a medium, that medium is recreated in the Net's image.' In other words, as we 'go online' in increasing numbers and to an increasing degree, are we losing our ability to think coherently and deeply, preferring instead to process byte-sized information quickly, regurgitate 140-character 'tweets,' and skim thought? Is the concern overblown, or are we becoming the Web that we created?"
Comment My school used false advertising (Score 1) 596
I remember one day in school I was going to class and I noticed a small poster that was advertising the CS/CENG department. The poster had a group of people in one of our labs poking wires into some breadboards, looking at stuff on computer screens, having a great time. The group consisted of about half normal looking guys and half semi-attractive girls.
I immediately wondered who in the hell these people were. They certainly weren't the guys (notice I don't say "people") that were in all my classes. Then I looked a little harder and I recognized them as being some of the Industrial (Imaginary) Engineers I had shared classes with earlier in college. Did somebody just gather them up and say, "Okay, put some wires into that and look interested"? Probably.
Needless to say I felt somewhat insulted. I'm not sure of the degree of distribution of that poster, but I guess it was to lessen the nerd factor of the program. If they had put our ugly mugs on it, nobody would want to sign up.
I immediately wondered who in the hell these people were. They certainly weren't the guys (notice I don't say "people") that were in all my classes. Then I looked a little harder and I recognized them as being some of the Industrial (Imaginary) Engineers I had shared classes with earlier in college. Did somebody just gather them up and say, "Okay, put some wires into that and look interested"? Probably.
Needless to say I felt somewhat insulted. I'm not sure of the degree of distribution of that poster, but I guess it was to lessen the nerd factor of the program. If they had put our ugly mugs on it, nobody would want to sign up.
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