john_b

67 ms·

451.
by john_b 14y ago
While I think his idea is promising, I'm inclined to agree. Simply something a subtle as pooping less for a year might wreak havoc on the bacteria in the colon. As far as I know, the precedents for powder-based nutrition are all supplements
452.
by john_b 14y ago
For those of us who are largely unfamiliar with MtG, would you mind elaborating?
453.
by john_b 14y ago
The thing that causes political instability is not that the 1% derive their gains at the expense of the 99%, but the perception that they do. In sports, it's pretty easy to demonstrate which athletes are superior. Nobody even argues about
454.
by john_b 14y ago
I didn't downvote, but your premise is incorrect. You can have increasing economic growth with a dwindling population. Russia and Romania have experienced this for over a decade. You may discount Russia as a post-Cold War bounce, but there
455.
by john_b 14y ago
I prefer to think of "finance" (to the extent that its myriad subfields can be subsumed under that label) as the oil that lubricates the machine. That is, necessary for proper operation, but incapable of providing a motive force by itself.
456.
by john_b 14y ago
...and made it one of the most interesting units in multiplayer. In programmer-land, where all abstractions should be pure and elegant, the carrier (as implemented in SC1) may be abhorrent, but this is irrelevant because the customers (i.e
457.
by john_b 14y ago
The author is complaining that non-educators are trying to tell him how to do his job, not that they are judging him and his fellow teachers based on the results: "Today I have listened to people who are not teachers, have never worked in
458.
by john_b 14y ago
This isn't entirely true. Numerous mathematicians have publicly bemoaned the difficulty of communication between mathematicians in different specialties. So it's definitely not something that is ignored. The question is what to do about it.
459.
by john_b 14y ago
In case anyone is curious, the explicit power of two formula for these perfect numbers can be found here: http://primes.utm.edu/mersenne/index.html#theorems
460.
by john_b 14y ago
When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
461.
by john_b 14y ago
A short variable name is not ambiguous when the code is based on some math or physics that has a more or less standardized notation. In this case, what's needed is to connect the variable names to the mathematics, as Rex Kerr pointed out to
462.
by john_b 14y ago
From the page: "This job trends graph shows the percentage of jobs we find that contain your search terms." Sounds like they're crawling sites like Monster.com and counting keywords.
463.
by john_b 14y ago
Interestingly, I just spoke with a colleague yesterday who admitted (without shame) that he recently campaigned (successfully) to have an attractive female hired into his group. I asked him about her qualifications, and he said she seemed c
464.
by john_b 14y ago
To average jury members, who likely wouldn't know what a MAC address was prior to a potential trial, spoofing a MAC address might seem quite sophisticated, actually.
465.
by john_b 14y ago
I have edited journal articles, and yes, they are generally "poorly organized, full of citation errors, full of grammatical and spelling errors, etc." It's a lot of work to turn a crappy first submission into something that's readable. But
466.
by john_b 14y ago
I agree especially with your last sentence. The torches-and-pitchforks crowd is missing the main point here. However, whether or not she is "evil" is irrelevant. She clearly went after Swartz with a self-righteous zeal that was far divorced
467.
by john_b 14y ago
It seems to me like the author approaches math looking for a concise & elegant programming language, but instead just finds...math. The notion of scope as an integral part of mathematics is a particularly interesting suggestion. Mathema
468.
by john_b 14y ago
You think that people learning math will find it less confusing if they have no context (which, in mathematics, is largely equivalent to "assumptions") for what they are learning and have to build their mathematical knowledge from first p
469.
by john_b 14y ago
"Many existent states (like Canada) have relatively small military budgets. For them, wielding or even threatening to wield violence is not their primary reason for being. Their primary reason for being is to ensure the health and welfare o
470.
by john_b 14y ago
Churches and companies don't promulgate "laws", they promulgate "rules." Rules have consequences to breaking them, but these consequences may vary widely in effect on the individual. A priest can try to make you feel guilty for breaking the
471.
by john_b 14y ago
"This isn't wisdom. It's mere cynicism that's trying to pass itself off as wisdom." Not to mention a blatant strawman argument. The author never even bothers to defend his argument against the obvious counterargument that perhaps the same k
472.
by john_b 15y ago
As others have pointed out, obtaining a 12% after tax return is not something you can count on no matter how you put the money to use. As you've pointed out CDs will produce a negligible return and also come with liquidity restrictions. Inv
473.
by john_b 15y ago
I was going to leave a comment, but the comments are closed on that article. Reuters allows comments for a "limited period after publication" but the article has only been there for less than 3 hours. Smells a little fishy to me, maybe they
474.
by john_b 15y ago
Your point is barely (if at all) relevant here. To the extent that you are specific, you are wrong too. If you want to pass blanket judgment on the complexity of an industry and the technical capabilities of its engineers, you should at lea
475.
by john_b 15y ago
I am downloading now. I'm glad he is willing to experiment here; this is what the entertainment industry as a whole really needs.
476.
by john_b 15y ago
An anecdote about one's own life is not just an anecdote...it's personal experience. And personal experience offers a perspective that no amount of data can. We are discussing how to nurture creativity and productive skills, after all, and
477.
by john_b 15y ago
I only had time to briefly skim this, but I didn't catch anything about reforming the compensation system for patent examiners, which incentivizes the granting of patents without giving them sufficient review. Anyone else find any info of t
478.
by john_b 15y ago
Saying that 20 hour and 60 hour weeks, depending on the situation, are better than 40 hour weeks ignores one very common and important case: when the work is boring but important. The author seems to assume that 20 hour weeks can solve all
479.
by john_b 15y ago
On the other hand, Kurzweil (at least in his essays and articles) often ignores the question of what a fair null hypothesis is for the possibility of the singularity. I think his gift for creating a compelling vision tends to make people fo
480.
by john_b 15y ago
I think that was clear from the article. What jenius, I think, was saying is that you don't offer much support for this claim. How, for example, can startups get on the AI-as-a-service bandwagon without having the resources and experience o

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