npk

13 ms·

61.
by npk 19y ago
I struggle with this issue every day (just selected a postdoc.) There are tons of smart, educated, hard working, passionate scientists. Why is that? I think because we just plain like it. Low pay sucks. But, most of us probably would
62.
How to Reduce Plane Boarding Time by 4x(arxiv.org)
12 points by npk 19y ago|5 comments
63.
by npk 19y ago
BTW -- the author of this blog was denied tenure (fired) from Chicago after posting.
64.
by npk 19y ago
There is a psuedo-empircal monetary value to enjoying life. Consider a thought experiment where you plot "free time" or "enjoyable time" versus "salary." Now consider a job where your enjoyable time is ~ 0, coal miner 100 hours/week, for
65.
by npk 19y ago
I just started using flot. It's great. One major advantage is its interactivity. It allows users to select regions. Fully recommended.
66.
by npk 19y ago
Sounds like lake woebegone, where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average.
67.
by npk 19y ago
I can't comment on the startup scene. I like the phd model: Become an expert in something. You'll find that on your way to expertise, you'll pick up a diverse set of skills. Why is the phd model better than something else? Don't know. In
68.
by npk 19y ago
On another random note, was anyone else dissapointed when they found out that a neural net is a fancy way of drawing a line through some points. i.e. regression.
69.
by npk 19y ago
Felt it all the way in my office ~ 80 miles away. Amazing. Never felt anything this powerful before.
70.
by npk 19y ago
I read your proposal and think you're overly optimistic with your numbers. Seriously, if you can prove your numbers, bootstrap yourself with the help of your credit cards, family & friends. If you can't bootstrap yourself, and you can
71.
by npk 19y ago
Disclaimer: I have no experience in this either.. However, I have won (& lost) scientifically reviewed proposals for significantly more money. Ok, i read this and wonder why you need $20k. This makes no sense at all. 12 months from
72.
by npk 19y ago
Curious: How many phone calls do you get? I find phone calls so intrusive -- I can't imagine getting calls from random hackers looking for a job :)
73.
by npk 19y ago
Well, To be fair, there's a huge PR machine behind these kinds of discoveries. In other words, there's fuzz associated with a planet being an "earth analog." There will be more and more "earth like" planets discovered in the future. I mea
74.
by npk 19y ago
BTW, if you have $1M to donate (or some fraction greater than 10%) I can put you in contact with the right people. Seriously, depending on how much you give, your name might go on one of the most important telescopes in the world.... maybe
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by npk 19y ago
I didn't explain myself properly. The planet is almost certainly there. The atmosphere, color, etc.. of the planet is still in the speculation stage.
76.
by npk 19y ago
You know, it's funny, I work with one of the competing teams (the best one.) Every time I hear about planet-hunting in the news, I think to my self, "screw startups." :)
77.
by npk 19y ago
Hey, the technology doesn't exist yet. The atmosphere, rocky, etc.. are all speculations based on theoretical modeling. If you're curious, go to http://www.oklo.org/ and download Systemic . This allows you to fit models to data, to se
78.
by npk 19y ago
texMacs is great, but is a non-option for many scientists. A large fraction of us are switching to OSX. texMacs runs slowly on osx, but worst, it looks ugly running on a mac. I use texshop, it's not a texmacs replacement in terms of feat
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by npk 19y ago
If fully implemented, this could be incredibly useful for me. Initial comments: x The ability to merge in a tex file. That is, allow me to download the tex file from your server, and then send you a new version, obviously you'll track cha
80.
by npk 19y ago
This should be renamed to, "You know you're obsessed with Paul Graham when..."
81.
by npk 19y ago
Likely not: http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000069.html
82.
by npk 19y ago
Dear Dani -- i think most people on this board agree with you. I suggest you read: http://paulbuchheit.blogspot.com/2007/03/are-you-my-audience... to remind yourself that you don't need to expend much effort on this issue :)
83.
by npk 19y ago
Bleh, so what. This guy claims to have measured something, but who knows if it's even interesting. At the end of the article, do you even understand what the point in reading it was? I think what is interesting is tagging the article as "
84.
by npk 19y ago
The grad school choice was easy for me, I was 100% sure I wanted to be an academic. Also, grad school in the physical sciences is a little different than in CS (i think.) Here are some things to consider: Are you currently doing research
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by npk 19y ago
I'm not 100% sure, but my guess is no. Read: http://paulgraham.com/webstartups.html Section 2.
86.
by npk 19y ago
"I have grown exponentially from having this opportunity and it has been a major and most valuable part of my life and imagination." --Artist Do you think he's making a secret in joke, that, even though his growth is exponential, it was i
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New Programming Language, Lisp syntax, but ruby semantics(programming.nu)
13 points by npk 19y ago|6 comments
88.
by npk 19y ago
Forgot one really important one: The discovery of planets outside our solar system.
89.
by npk 19y ago
1) Measuring the age of the universe to a few percent ~14 billion years. 2) Determining the dark energy (70%) / dark matter (25%) / regular matter (5%) breakdown of the universe to a few percent. 3) The Sloan Digital Sky Survey, Hubble Spac
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by npk 19y ago
If this stuff excites you, read the first chapter of Joe Goodman's book, Introduction to Fourier Optics . That's the book I read to really understand fourier transforms.

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