sponge008 - Slashdot User

Comment Re:Recognition (Score 1) 888

by sponge008 on Saturday October 11, 2008 @12:47PM (#25340125) Attached to: How US Schools' Culture Stifles Math Achievement

What you have pointed out is that essentially, the only students that have the incentive to do well in math are those that don't care about being publicly recognized, or rather, social standing in general, since not only does participation in math not help with reputation, it generally actively labels a student as "uncool". Most people do have the need to be recognized; it takes a great deal of introversion to the point of Asperger's to truly want one's achievements to remain anonymous. Effectively restricting participation in technical fields to the extremely un-social is not only severely limiting (I've read that 25% of the population is introverted, and most of these are not extreme cases), it is also self-perpetuating, since participation in math/science etc. is now associated with low social standing, especially in high school.

One potential fix I see is making some scientific endevour(s) a national focus, like the moon landings were forty years ago. Also, there needs to be more academic separation among abilities and interest levels, and encouraging high-schoolers to participate in some system like one sport, one academic club could also help.

In summary, the inverse association between technical interest and social standing needs to be eradicated before the country can move forward with math and science education.

Nuclear Nose Cones Mistakenly Shipped to Taiwan 254

Posted by CmdrTaco on Wednesday March 26, 2008 @10:56AM from the it's-ok-it's-only-our-military dept.

Reservoir Hill writes "The Pentagon announced that the United States had mistakenly shipped to Taiwan four electrical fuses designed for use on intercontinental ballistic missiles, but has since recovered them. The mistaken shipment to Taiwan did not include nuclear materials, although the fuses are linked to the triggering mechanism in the nose cone of a Minuteman nuclear missile. Taiwanese authorities notified U.S. officials of the mistake, but it was not clear when the notification was made. An examination of the site in Taiwan where the components had been stored after delivery indicated that they had not been tampered with. The fuses had been in four shipping containers sent in March 2005 from F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyo., to a Defense Logisitics Agency warehouse at Hill Air Force Base, Utah. It was then in the logistics agency's control and was shipped to Taiwan "on or around" August 2006, according to a memo from Defense Secretary Robert Gates ordering Navy Adm. Kirkland H. Donald to investigate the incident."

Realtime ASCII Goggles 331

Posted by kdawson on Thursday September 06, 2007 @11:00AM from the through-crt-colored-spectacles dept.

jabjoe writes "Russian artists from Moscow have created goggles with realtime image filtering. Among the Photoshop-like filters that can be applied is, interestingly, ASCII: you can view the world in real time as ASCII. Pointless but cool."

Robot Aims To Walk On Water 125

Posted by kdawson on Wednesday July 18, 2007 @05:02AM from the run-actually dept.

qeorqe writes "CMU researchers are developing a robot that runs across water (PDF). It is modeled after the basilisk lizard, which has that rare ability. The researchers have done both computer simulations and experiments with test models."

First Robotic Drone Squadron Deployed 772

Posted by Zonk on Tuesday July 17, 2007 @10:37AM from the every-rigger-is-a-dwarf dept.

coondoggie writes with a link to a Network World blog post on the world's first unmanned attack squadron. The US is deploying a full squadron of combat drones to Iraq this week. These armed and remotely controlled robots can be manipulated from on the ground in the field, or via satellite from thousands of miles away. "The MQ-9 Reaper is the Air Force's first hunter-killer unmanned aircraft. It is the big brother to the highly successful and sometimes controversial Predator aircraft, which General Atomics said this week had flown over 300,000 flight hours, with over 80% of that time spent in combat. The company said Predator series aircraft have flown an average of 8,200 hours per month over the past six months while maintaining the highest operational readiness rates in the U.S. military aircraft inventory. The MQ-9 Reaper is twice as fast as the Predator - it has a 900-horsepower turbo-prop engine, compared to the 119-horsepower Predator engine - and can carry far more ordnance - 14 Hellfire missiles as opposed to two."

Gadgets Have Taken Over For Our Brains 311

Posted by Zonk on Saturday July 14, 2007 @04:38AM from the let's-get-started-with-the-implants dept.

skotte writes "According to a Trinity College survey released Friday, the boom in mobiles and portable devices that store reams of personal information has created a generation incapable of memorizing simple things. In effect, the study argues, these devices have replaced our long-term memory capabilities. 'As many as a third of those surveyed under the age of 30 were unable to recall their home telephone number without resorting to their mobile phones or to notes. When it came to remembering important dates such as the birthdays of close family relatives, 87 per cent of those over the age of 50 could remember the details, compared with 40 per cent of those under the age of 30.'"

Slashdot Top Deals