Science
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The Math You Learned
Steve Yegge has posted an essay, entitled Math For Programmers, in which he posits that Most programmers think they don’t need to know math Most programmers are correct, but… Math is a lot easier to pick up after you know how to program They teach math all wrong in school (at least, in terms of… Continue reading
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Teaching Tomorrow’s Employees Today
International Business Machines Corp. [IBM], worried the United States is losing its competitive edge, will financially back employees who want to leave the company to become math and science teachers. … Up to 100 IBM employees will be eligible for the program in its trial phase. The goal is to help fill shortfalls in the… Continue reading
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On Intelligence – take-away lessons
Some take-away lessons from On Intelligence by Jeff Hawkins… The book concentrates on the neocortext (aka the cortex), a cauliflower-like sheet of tissue on the outer surface of the brain. “Almost everything we think of as intelligence — perception, language, mathematics, art, music, and planning — occurs here. your neocortex is reading this weblog entry.… Continue reading
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On Intelligence
Why hasn’t Artificial Intelligence taken off? Why don’t we have robots? How “smart” is your car? What is “intelligence” after all? Where does creativity enter the equation? Is the brain just a computer without the silicon? Jeff Hawkins’ book On Intelligence (written with co-author Sandra Blakeslee) addresses these questions and does an admirable job. Hawkins… Continue reading
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Things of Science
US Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham gave a speech today at SLAC (the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center). Rich has been working at SLAC these past 9 months so he attended the speech, then we talked about it over dinner. Continue reading
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Hardly Sugar Free
In searching the web yesterday for stats on how much added sugar the average American consumes, I came across a page from the Sugar Council entitled The Real Scoop on Sugar Consumption How much sugar do Americans really eat? Not as much as reported. Using information from a 2001 report1 as illustration, a general statement… Continue reading
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Fear and Caution Could Kill You
Are you afraid of new situations? Or are you a bold adventurer? Do you prefer predictable, familiar surroundings? Or do you like to explore and try new things? You may feel safe, but you might not live as long as those who are less inhibited! At least… if you’re a rat. Continue reading
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Sweet Tooth
Saccharin. Cyclamate. Aspartame. Sucralose. Tagatose. Alitame. Xylitol. Maltitol. Lactitol. Isomalt. Erythritol. Mannitol. Sorbitol. If it tastes like sugar, but it’s not… People like sugar; people like sweet foods. Unfortunately, sucrose (“table sugar”) is, well, fattening. It also promotes tooth decay, increases your blood glucose levels, and triggers the insulin reaction. For decades, dieters, diabetics, and… Continue reading
Slightly Off KIlter 