gomphus

4 ms·

1. 1.▲
   by gomphus 15y ago

   Yeah - to put it another way, ordered, general criteria like these will rarely be fit for the purpose of selecting the best coder for a given job. They place a huge premium on showing the widest possible diversity of knowledge, whereas what
2. 2.▲
   by gomphus 15y ago

   Let me try to crack that nutshell... 1. ...and several other factors, like requiring all students in a class to move at the same pace. 2. We all, including Khan, recognize there is a problem. 3. You gravely mischaracterize Khan's approach.
3. 3.▲
   by gomphus 15y ago

   R as a language is highly multi-paradigmatic, while remaining essentially a specialized tool for statistical analysis whose users, often scientists, are not first and foremost programmers. Also, the usefulness of R depends on a huge range o
4. 4.▲
   by gomphus 15y ago

   > Why not make the problems harder and let students use every possible tool or resource to solve them? In science, we call this a thesis or research project. I don't see the need for all exams to take the same format (although some do
5. 5.▲
   by gomphus 15y ago

   van Gogh chose paints for their immediacy of color, sometimes without understanding the problems of hue shifting and degradation displayed by certain pigments. This causes a huge headache for curators and in many cases the changes are irrev
6. 6.▲
   by gomphus 15y ago

   For anyone who hasn't seen it, the documentary he talks about is mesmerizing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AS7a-OJ7IVw Two standout scenes for me. First, gazing out from the London Eye over a skyline filled with incredible feats of engi
7. 7.▲
   by gomphus 15y ago

   You have broadened my thinking on this issue, but I'm not convinced that being "attached" to the result of an intervention is necessarily harmful (let alone something that makes me a dictator!). There are many ways to positively accommodat
8. 8.▲
   by gomphus 15y ago

   I would like to toss the author of this paean to passivity into the ocean. Yes, sure, clinging on to certain kinds of unrealistic expectations, in certain contexts (particularly personal relationships), can be fatal. But this is a truism th
9. 9.▲
   by gomphus 15y ago

   Many of the comments here debate materialism vs. minimalism, in terms of which provides a truer path to happiness. But the author of the post wasn't trying to be happy - his goal is to become "uncomfortable", in order to work more producti