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Comment Math is important (Score 1) 656

but the weight of its importance depends on how far you go. A B.S. in Computer Science does not expose you to much in the way of how higher math is applied in computer science - but if you go to the graduate level, you need that background. One of my criticisms of how calc and beyond is taught to CS undergrads is that the applications are not made clear at all. It wasn't until I was in grad school and started working on some machine learning / bioinformatics stuff that the application became clear. If I never see another word problem with springs again it will be too soon.

Comment Re:Notes (Score 4, Interesting) 569

Actually I just picked up the HP TM2 tablet. That with one note is awesome for note taking. Being a CS grad student myself, diagrams and more importantly equations drove me nuts trying to take notes before so I relied on my trusty fountain pen and a tablet of paper, but the hand writing recognition is really there _now_ for tablets, and the hp gets great battery life.

Comment Re:And they wonder why. . . (Score 1) 1574

Ironically in the New Orleans area (not to be confused with the rest of this state) there is a much larger population of Catholic high schools and elementary schools, none of which teach this ID nonsense in the first place. In point of fact from my own education in Catholic schools here, it was mentioned more than once "It's too bad Darwin didn't pay more attention to Mendel's work with pea plants or it would have solved his blending problem"
The Almighty Buck

Underfunded NSA Suffers Brownouts 198

An anonymous reader writes "Almost ten years after the an internal report, and a year after a Baltimore sun story warned that the electrical system at the fort Meade NSA HQ couldn't keep up with the growing electricity demand ... the problem has got worse. The 'NSA has had to resort to partial, rolling brownouts at its computer farms and scheduled power outages and some offices are experiencing significant power disruptions'. NSA director Alexander testified to congress about this problem. It is suggested he wanted to add more than $800 million to the 07 budget. A recent public powerpoint presentation suggested 70% of of all intelligence spending goes to contractors. It also included a graph, without numbers, of this spending. It suggests that US intelligence spending is around $60 billion. An internal survey that showed NSA employees have problems trusting each other."

Fiber Optic Table Illuminates Your Dining 90

Deepa writes "We highly doubt LumiGram's Luminous Fiber Optic Tablecloth was designed with power outages in mind, but why hook up a boring string of lamps or fiddle with half melted candles when you can plug this bad boy into the generator? The cloth, which has fiber optics woven throughout, cotton borders, and a Europlug mains adapter, proves most useful when the lights are dimmed, and should prove quite the centerpiece at your next get-together. The illuminating device is available in a trio of sizes, comes in a variety of color schemes."
Microsoft

Virtualization May Break Vista DRM 294

Nom du Keyboard writes "An article in Computerworld posits that the reason Microsoft has flip-flopped on allowing all versions of Vista to be run in virtual machines, is that it breaks the Vista DRM beyond detection, or repair. So is every future advance in computer security and/or usability going to be held hostage to the gods of Hollywood and Digital Restrictions Management? 'Will encouraging consumer virtualization result in a major uptick in piracy? Not anytime soon, say analysts. One of the main obstacles is the massive size of VMs. Because they include the operating system, the simulated hardware, as well as the software and/or multimedia files, VMs can easily run in the tens of gigabytes, making them hard to exchange over the Internet. But DeGroot says that problem can be partly overcome with .zip and compression tools -- some, ironically, even supplied by Microsoft itself.'"

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