johnminter

16 ms·

121.
by johnminter 13y ago
> you can read the methods and they check out. I'm a materials scientist specializing in microscopy and image analysis, not an astrophysicist. In my area of interest, there is rarely sufficient information published to confidently repe
122.
by johnminter 14y ago
Look at JabRef as a front end to bibtex. I had a bit of a learning curve, but was so frustrated with the Microsoft toolchain that I switched to R/Sweave/LaTeX/bibtex/git and am quite happy. Everything is Open Source and in general community
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by johnminter 14y ago
The real key to any currency is it acceptance. When paper currency was first developed, it became widely accepted because the issuing government declared that it would be accepted as payment for taxes. Given the ubiquity of taxes, I underst
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by johnminter 14y ago
You are correct. Given the information deluge and the typical tl;dr response, none of this is surprising. The nice thing about Coursera is that there is no downside. Paying close to $50K/year for a first tier university is another matter. S
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by johnminter 14y ago
The hard truth is that the student gets out of a class what they put into it. I have finished 3 Coursera classes, two of which gave certificates. All three were well worth my time, but I worked my tail off to complete the challenging assign
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by johnminter 14y ago
I think you are correct. Let me add two points: 1) Even though presenting constructive criticism may be uncomfortable for both parties, getting "blindsided" by the boss can really wreck a working relationship. 2) The reception one receives
127.
by johnminter 14y ago
One significant point that you made in your original post was that you did your Linux upgrades on your own schedule to meet your own needs. This cannot be overstated. I understand David Drake's issues with Ubuntu 12.04 with the bloated GUI
128.
by johnminter 14y ago
Perhaps because she realizes how much work it will be for her. If one uses many non-standard applications, changing platforms or even a clean install of an OS - Win, Mac, or Linux takes a lot of effort before one can get back to the product
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by johnminter 14y ago
Over the last two years I have moved away from Excel, Word and PowerPoint to R/Sweave/LaTeX/beamer/git as fast as possible. I got so sick of version changes in VBA breaking code, 3rd party modules that were locked and couldn't be fixed, and
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by johnminter 14y ago
Crapware un-installer? Sounds more like a crapware exchanger with Postgres tacked on...
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by johnminter 14y ago
I certainly agree that learning - which I will define as the acquisition, mastery, and retention of prescribed skills - needs to be measured, modeled, and used to improve the performance and cost-effectiveness of the process. Learning is a
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by johnminter 14y ago
Your comment brings to mind the quote by George Box, "All models are wrong, but some models are useful." I am currently enrolled in Jeff Leek's Data Analysis class on Coursera. Jeff stresses that a good analyst always challenges their resul