alex_stoddard

11 ms·

61.
by alex_stoddard 16y ago
It has been a long running debate which way viscosity would affect swimming. Higher velocity increases resistance to forward motion but also allows for more propulsive force from the swimmer - which will dominate? It turns a research group
62.
by alex_stoddard 16y ago
A big variance is going to occur in any direct elimination competition (which the world cup is after the group stage). (This has always bugged me regarding the baseball playoff system. It is a big boost for teams economically but for purity
63.
by alex_stoddard 16y ago
Great adage. It is attributed to economist Ronald Coase. (I also enjoyed seeing it quoted here grammatically correctly, the word data is plural, datum being the singular. Wikipedia has it grammatically incorrect but as Coase never published
64.
by alex_stoddard 16y ago
I think the term antibody here is mostly hype. The plastic nano-particles don't act as antibodies beyond being specific for binding the toxin protein. It is still a cool technology demonstration but "antibody" overstates the case. To quote
65.
by alex_stoddard 17y ago
A sucrose molecule is just a glucose and a fructose chemically bound as a compound (so it necessarily has a 50/50 composition). But the fructose is HFCS is free, not bound to glucose. This is an interesting hypothesis for why HFCS might hav
66.
by alex_stoddard 17y ago
Absolutely true, but this is more a criticism of experiment design than statistical methodology. Also it is bias in uncontrolled variables that is most concerning. (More than uncontrolled noise although that will reduce the power to detect
67.
by alex_stoddard 17y ago
I am wary of trying to contribute to this (a little knowledge is a dangerous thing) but hopefully someone can correct my mistakes.(And what better way for me to learn...) A typical controlled science experiment is designed to take measureme
68.
by alex_stoddard 17y ago
One really provocative and insightful comment that is independent of clojure itself: " I think programmers have become inured to incidental complexity... when they encounter complexity, they consider it a challenge to overcome, rather than
69.
Interview with Rich Hickey, creator of Clojure(simple-talk.com)
97 points by alex_stoddard 17y ago|13 comments
70.
Sequencing the "Meta-genome" of human bacterial gut flora(news.bbc.co.uk)
1 points by alex_stoddard 17y ago|0 comments
71.
Interview with the creator of FleetDB, a schema free DB written in clojure (nosql.mypopescu.com)
1 points by alex_stoddard 17y ago|0 comments
72.
by alex_stoddard 17y ago
This looks like a relatively old paper (2002) and so I think it is measuring performance on strictly single processor machines. On the other hand it is trie based which suggests that it could also be highly parallelizable on modern multi-pr
73.
by alex_stoddard 17y ago
But there are also vulnerable to piracy.
74.
by alex_stoddard 17y ago
I'm wondering about the possibility of building dynamic multi-touch interfaces for any scriptable desktop app. The iPad has high speed wireless connections and so at least potentially could act as a very powerful input peripheral client for
75.
by alex_stoddard 17y ago
But market share does not equate with revenue. As highlighted in the iPad launch, Apple introduced the modern laptop with the first ever PowerBook. The laptop market is now definitely commoditized but that doesn't stop Apple from making a l
76.
by alex_stoddard 17y ago
As a working programmer in biological research science I would love to see a requirement that papers involving software be published in the "literate programming" paradigm. At the very least per reviewed publication must include all softwar
77.
by alex_stoddard 17y ago
See http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-3146/#performance-retrosp... for a discussion of why.
78.
by alex_stoddard 17y ago
I never realized Unicode had additional new-line characters. Does anyone have any experience using the Unicode variants across the Windows and Unix worlds? (Good experience would be more interesting than bad...)
79.
by alex_stoddard 17y ago
This is referenced as part of the motivation for Incanter http://incanter.org the Clojure based, R-like statistical environment.
80.
by alex_stoddard 17y ago
I infer from the post that Rich Hickey still desires to spend the bulk of his time doing core development of Clojure. This is different from doing whatever it takes to make a living from Clojure. Is seems the only "business models" for open
81.
by alex_stoddard 17y ago
I am less sanguine on the efficiency issue. You have also thrown away very useful tissues comprising things like a functioning immune system and the circulatory system (gas and nutrient exchange and waste removal/filtration). I would expect
82.
by alex_stoddard 17y ago
Universal entropy is always increasing but put another way - to reduce local entropy work must be done. Life is local order and demands work, this is true whether we are talking biology or culture.
83.
by alex_stoddard 17y ago
The shocking thing is this is ghostwriting appearing in academic medical journals. See http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal... for the PLoS Medicine editorial and http://www.plosmedicine.org/static/ghostwriting.ac
84.
by alex_stoddard 17y ago
The term you are looking for is "systemic". I think targeted delivery of chemo might be more effective in the non-terminally ill, and very likely would reduce side effects. Chemo is effectively poison, just somewhat more toxic to cancer cel
85.
by alex_stoddard 17y ago
It's the concluding paragraph of "Revenge of the Nerds" http://www.paulgraham.com/icad.html I completely failed to recognize its significance when I first read that essay. Thanks for bring it to my attention. "This practice is not only c
86.
by alex_stoddard 17y ago
For this to work I think the drive-chain would have to be a jointed drive shaft. I actually ride an (un-jointed) drive shaft bike - very handy in very harsh winter conditions. However, that sort of drive chain would add even more complexity
87.
by alex_stoddard 17y ago
"What is the meaning of the name 'RuntimeException' ? Why is the class so named? Think about this for a minute ... ALL exceptions are thrown at runtime right?" That has been bothering me subconsciously for years! It is very nice to have th
88.
by alex_stoddard 17y ago
Indeed. To quote the more detailed original newspaper article linked from Wired: http://news.therecord.com/article/354044 " A researcher in Ireland has found Pseudomonas is capable of degrading polystyrene, but as far as Burd and his teac
89.
by alex_stoddard 17y ago
The talon robot mentioned appears to be developed by http://www.foster-miller.com/lemming.htm It is nice to see military robot R&D making an impact in general public safety applications.
90.
Robotic firefighting team(news.bbc.co.uk)
3 points by alex_stoddard 17y ago|1 comments

More ›