aroberge

41 ms·

271.
by aroberge 14y ago
I don't believe we have enough knowledge about the strong force to be able to use it to provide meaningful answers to this type of problems (yet). When you don't know the parameters to use in a model, computer speed does not matter. And w
272.
by aroberge 14y ago
How can something that is not supported by evidence be a valid answer to any legitimate question?
273.
by aroberge 14y ago
For too long, the vast majority of scientists have kept silent, keenly aware of the limitation of their knowledge, and leaving it to idiots (e.g. Bill O'Reilly's nobody can explain the tides...) to make sweeping and completely false stateme
274.
by aroberge 14y ago
Potentially nice idea ... but nothing to see really: just an email harvester for now.
275.
by aroberge 14y ago
If we ignore the cosmological constant contribution, for each of the 10 non-zero components of the Ricci curvature tensor, the sum of the component of the Ricci curvature tensor minus half of the corresponding component of the metric tensor
276.
by aroberge 14y ago
That is fine for you, not everyone needs to know about Wiener path integral formulation of quantum mechanics ... which is based on functions that are almost continuous everywhere but nowhere differentiable (the set of functions that are dif
277.
by aroberge 14y ago
Wikipedia is not designed to be a pedagogical repository; arguing that the mathematical language sucks because a terse summary in wikipedia is not enough to understand the material is missing the point. Would you be able to calculate the pr
278.
by aroberge 14y ago
I could not disagree more with that post. Mathematical notation is to Python what English would be to Assembly Language: it is a high-level notation, designed see the forest rather than getting lost in the trees. Take Maxwell's equations
279.
by aroberge 14y ago
Did sign up ... and did NOT get 25GB - just the regular 5.
280.
by aroberge 14y ago
A lot of learning takes place outside of the classroom. Times and times again, it has been demonstrated that peer teaching is one of the most effective way to enhance learning. In Physics, many profs (myself included) encourage students t
281.
by aroberge 14y ago
People get really annoyed when someone undeserving gets favorable treatment. So, stronger students will not take the chance to let weaker students copy their assignments. Penalize both equally, and a group mentality makes it more likely t
282.
by aroberge 14y ago
It did happen. I was there (Laurentian University in Sudbury Ontario), teaching in the Department of Physics and Astronomy and my former colleague, N.I. Robb now retired - and an extremely well liked prof btw-, did just what I described.
283.
by aroberge 14y ago
I wish Google would use a strategy that a former colleague used in an upper year Physics course. While encouraging students to discuss problems, he informed them that plagiarizing assignments was not allowed. When he got the first assignm
284.
by aroberge 14y ago
Physicist here. In a scientific program I would most likely not use radius. I definitively would not use dR (type should be clear, no need to use Hungarian notation which I find to be an abomination) and would most likely use either R or
285.
by aroberge 14y ago
I have had to deal with Human Rights Commissions in two provinces over the course of 10 years and have never seen anything like what is referenced: HRCs do not have the capacity to access email and documents without the owner of such being
286.
by aroberge 14y ago
You know that Canada (and the EU) has a worse track record... Can you provide a link to support this rather bold assertion? I am fairly familiar with Canadian law and strongly disagree with your statement.
287.
by aroberge 14y ago
Other than the reasons already pointed out, money plays a huge role in elections in the U.S.A. Without large influx of money, a politician can not run an effective campaign - hence corporations have a huge leverage. To put it bluntly: cor
288.
by aroberge 14y ago
I am confident that HNers could make good contribution to this discussion; let's not ignore it simply because it is on another site that some view as competition.
289.
U.S. Representative crowdsources a domain name seizure legislative proposal(reddit.com)
3 points by aroberge 14y ago|1 comments
290.
by aroberge 14y ago
Why this attack on "Python folks" when the comment you replied to never mentioned Python? Got a bee on your bonnet?
291.
by aroberge 14y ago
What does this piece of garbage spewed by the Heritage Foundation and posted as an opinion piece on phys.org has anything to do with HN?
292.
by aroberge 14y ago
Personally I would use "assigned" 1) to better reflect the meaning and 2) to follow PEP-8 and not use an uppercase.
293.
by aroberge 14y ago
The Supreme Court of Canada is extremely well respected by a majority of Canadians and this ruling is a very good example of the reason why it is so well respected.
294.
by aroberge 14y ago
As is the case where the person you are replying to, where I live, a 17 years old is a minor. You claim to be living on another side of the planet ... then you should restrict to comment about things you know about on "your" side of the pl
295.
by aroberge 14y ago
I believe that you are missing the point: most Republicans do not believe in evolution because, as they say rather cluelessly "it is just a theory". Well, it turns out that gravity also is "just a theory".
296.
by aroberge 14y ago
It is impossible to construct a perfectly rigid beam, in the sense that you are thinking of. A "rigid beam" would be made up of matter and, as you push on one end, you would trigger a wave that would propagate from neighbour to neighbour u
297.
by aroberge 14y ago
Rape is rape, period. Trying to question statistics by redefining what rape is according to your own criterion is, by any sensible definition, being a rape apologist. Using expressions like "going against the feminist narrative" when talki
298.
by aroberge 14y ago
Tenure and Academic freedom are applicable to University professors, not to teachers.
299.
by aroberge 14y ago
Your reaction was possibly spot on: see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_tweezers ... has been known for years .
300.
by aroberge 14y ago
I can't believe what passes for news these days. When I saw the title, I thought "this sounds like something that a friend of mine had undergraduate students play with about 20 years ago". Sure enough, it has been known for a long time

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