At least 130,000 people in northern California have been told to evacuate their homes after an overflow channel at the tallest dam in the US was weakened by heavy rainfall
Lesson in morbid curiosity: will the dam collapse or not?
Search found 385 matches
- Mon Feb 13, 2017 7:19 am UTC
- Forum: News & Articles
- Topic: The Darker Side of the News
- Replies: 3647
- Views: 440294
- Sun Jan 22, 2017 4:38 am UTC
- Forum: Serious Business
- Topic: Education, from N&A
- Replies: 34
- Views: 6366
Re: Education, from N&A
Differential equations, complex analysis, and abstract algebra. ...why? Okay, i can see differential equations as a motivation for calculus (we even had a couple of very simple one-dimensional examples in our calculus books in high school: "this stuff does have applications! see, dynamic model...
- Sat Jan 21, 2017 6:03 am UTC
- Forum: News & Articles
- Topic: News in brief
- Replies: 178
- Views: 35694
- Fri Jan 20, 2017 10:29 am UTC
- Forum: News & Articles
- Topic: Trump presidency
- Replies: 4636
- Views: 339150
Re: US administration
Nate's the Guy Who Can Predict The Election Because Science. That's the big claim to fame of the website. If he is wrong, then it's a bit cheap to point at everyone else who was also wrong. is it better to be right by accident instead of coming up on the wrong end of a probabilistic prediction? Lik...
- Fri Jan 20, 2017 10:20 am UTC
- Forum: News & Articles
- Topic: Washington Post Article: Fair Use violation of xkcd?
- Replies: 5
- Views: 4377
Re: Washington Post Article: Fair Use violation of xkcd?
And remember, there's that proverb (or is it an adage?) about imitation and flattery.
- Fri Jan 20, 2017 5:30 am UTC
- Forum: News & Articles
- Topic: The Darker Side of the News
- Replies: 3647
- Views: 440294
- Thu Jan 19, 2017 2:09 am UTC
- Forum: News & Articles
- Topic: Industrial espionage in the DDR
- Replies: 4
- Views: 3321
Re: Industrial espionage in the DDR
One those confusing names. As a kid I was a history geek, so of course I did know everything about DDR a.k.a. East Germany. One day I was very confused for a brief moment, when suddenly all the other kids in the class knew everything about DDR too ... and were "it's so awesome!" Awesome? I...
- Mon Jan 16, 2017 2:34 am UTC
- Forum: News & Articles
- Topic: News in brief
- Replies: 178
- Views: 35694
Re: News in brief
The discussion is getting out of the topic ("News in brief"), but it would be awfully late to get started on calculus for the first time not until you are a freshman in uni. Of course, the focus on practicing mechanical integration / derivation rules might be misplaced. Maybe it would be b...
- Fri Jan 13, 2017 8:17 am UTC
- Forum: News & Articles
- Topic: News in brief
- Replies: 178
- Views: 35694
- Mon Jan 09, 2017 7:23 pm UTC
- Forum: News & Articles
- Topic: The Thread To Remind Me We're Living In The Future
- Replies: 1742
- Views: 249702
Re: The Thread To Remind Me We're Living In The Future
And for some weird reason they recommend me to use toothbrush twice a day with fluorine toothpaste, not eat stuff that's bad for teeth, and give other advice that is bad for their business if patients do as told.
- Mon Jan 09, 2017 3:20 pm UTC
- Forum: Movies and TV Shows
- Topic: Star Wars Episode 3.5: Roguey One Kenobe
- Replies: 96
- Views: 15436
Re: Star Wars Episode 3.5: Roguey One Kenobe
And if I recall correctly, in ep I, the queen personally thanks the droid for saving the ship. So it's not like R2 units are treated as simple tools. On the other hand, a few minutes before that Obi Wan was incredibly blasé about the fact that R2 units were being obliterated by the handful. Of cour...
- Sat Jan 07, 2017 2:04 am UTC
- Forum: Movies and TV Shows
- Topic: Star Wars Episode 3.5: Roguey One Kenobe
- Replies: 96
- Views: 15436
Re: Star Wars Episode 3.5: Roguey One Kenobe
Forgetting of course the fact that R2 could have told Luke at any point in the original trilogy that Vader was his father... (I don't doubt that perhaps someone among you who knows Star Wars better than I may prove me wrong, but...) I never really thought R2-D2 (or any astromech droid) was really t...
- Thu Jan 05, 2017 5:30 pm UTC
- Forum: News & Articles
- Topic: The Thread To Remind Me We're Living In The Future
- Replies: 1742
- Views: 249702
- Thu Jan 05, 2017 6:05 am UTC
- Forum: News & Articles
- Topic: The Darker Side of the News
- Replies: 3647
- Views: 440294
Re: The Darker Side of the News
Sorry for double(triple) post, but this is totally different news so I suppose it's better to make a new post than edit the old... BBC: Facebook Live attack: Four held in Chicago Four people have been arrested in the US city of Chicago over a video live-streamed on Facebook, in which a bound and gag...
- Thu Jan 05, 2017 5:56 am UTC
- Forum: News & Articles
- Topic: The Darker Side of the News
- Replies: 3647
- Views: 440294
- Tue Jan 03, 2017 9:53 pm UTC
- Forum: News & Articles
- Topic: 2016 US Presidential Election
- Replies: 8482
- Views: 863106
Re: 2016 US Presidential Election
Is this still the general US politics thread, too? Though this could go to the "future" thread:
BBC: Republicans drop a proposal to gut a congressional ethics watchdog after a critical Donald Trump tweet
That is the unaltered sub-headline. Welcome to 2017.
BBC: Republicans drop a proposal to gut a congressional ethics watchdog after a critical Donald Trump tweet
That is the unaltered sub-headline. Welcome to 2017.
- Mon Jan 02, 2017 2:15 pm UTC
- Forum: News & Articles
- Topic: News in brief
- Replies: 178
- Views: 35694
Re: News in brief
To the surprise of no one, Leaked papers reveal that as Luxembourg’s PM, the European commission president [Juncker] obstructed the bloc’s tax reforms efforts (The Guardian)
- Fri Dec 30, 2016 9:28 pm UTC
- Forum: Individual XKCD Comic Threads
- Topic: 1779: "2017"
- Replies: 71
- Views: 10459
Re: 1779: "2017"
Well, this year, I started to take different forms of Doomsday argument a tiny bit more seriously. The form of the argument that I've found slightly unnerving: what is the chance that the world population distribution over time will resemble a) sigmoid until eternity, b) exponential until fast colla...
- Thu Dec 29, 2016 8:58 pm UTC
- Forum: Movies and TV Shows
- Topic: Star Wars Episode 3.5: Roguey One Kenobe
- Replies: 96
- Views: 15436
Re: Star Wars Episode 3.5: Roguey One Kenobe
Lovers: I just could not see it there. I thought it was a classic comrades-in-arms-friendship thing all the way through until I finally started reading this thread, really. Also, they were a weird cyber-crystal monk and armed guard to the temple of said monks; there might even be enforcing a celibac...
- Thu Dec 29, 2016 5:34 am UTC
- Forum: News & Articles
- Topic: The Darker Side of the News
- Replies: 3647
- Views: 440294
Re: The Darker Side of the News
You thought the Free World won the Cold War? Turns out, you were mistaken. It's only the somewhat less autocratic one.
- Wed Dec 28, 2016 5:37 am UTC
- Forum: News & Articles
- Topic: Where Aren't They Now (Obituaries)
- Replies: 197
- Views: 32033
Re: Where Aren't They Now (Obituaries)
Someone on another forum already blamed Disney for Carrie Fisher's death: extreme dieting isn't too good for your heart, especially elderly people.
- Mon Dec 26, 2016 6:37 pm UTC
- Forum: Movies and TV Shows
- Topic: Doctor Whom
- Replies: 4917
- Views: 615495
Re: Doctor Whom
So, was I the only one expecting the plot to be: You find out at the end that this whole world and mad scheme was a fantasy world made up by the gemstone which explained why no one recognised him, why no one noticed all the people with massive scars over their faces and why the journalist woman app...
- Mon Dec 26, 2016 12:04 pm UTC
- Forum: Mathematics
- Topic: Can't keep up with all the math behind machine learning
- Replies: 3
- Views: 1652
Re: Can't keep up with all the math behind machine learning
In my experience, there's still no royal route to understanding mathematics. Especially if the understanding is what you desire, you have to study the material, within the framework of formal courses at university or not. Most of the advanced ML stuff is more or less math-heavy graduate level, so th...
- Tue Dec 20, 2016 9:09 pm UTC
- Forum: News & Articles
- Topic: The Darker Side of the News
- Replies: 3647
- Views: 440294
Re: The Darker Side of the News
Meanwhile, Erdogan informs the world that the assassination was carried over by Gulenists. What on Earth Gulen would achieve with this? How about all those n+1 Islamists rebel factions that have been bombed in Aleppo by Russians, when the gunman even told he was carrying over a revenge over Aleppo? ...
- Tue Dec 20, 2016 4:56 am UTC
- Forum: Books
- Topic: What are you readioactive now(and other book related stuff)?
- Replies: 1806
- Views: 418844
Re: What are you readioactive now(and other book related stuff)?
I finally got around to reading Andy Weir's The Martian... and it was okay. The science part of the science certainly was there, but on the other hand I was a bit disappointed in it as a novel. It's mostly just a log of the protagonist solving different problems, and while the engineer-in-me certain...
- Tue Dec 20, 2016 4:30 am UTC
- Forum: Movies and TV Shows
- Topic: Blade Runner 2049
- Replies: 3
- Views: 1635
Re: Blade Runner 2049
...vampires?
edit. Well, we don't have much from this trailer, but I'm more hopeful about this sequel than the other Hollywood-rehashing-cyberpunk-classics thing (GitS remake).
edit. Well, we don't have much from this trailer, but I'm more hopeful about this sequel than the other Hollywood-rehashing-cyberpunk-classics thing (GitS remake).
- Tue Dec 20, 2016 12:28 am UTC
- Forum: News & Articles
- Topic: The Darker Side of the News
- Replies: 3647
- Views: 440294
Re: The Darker Side of the News
Images of the lorry show it was registered in neighbouring Poland and Polish media are suggesting it may have been stolen earlier on Monday. It is being reported that the dead passenger in the lorry was Polish while the nationality of the suspect under arrest has yet to be confirmed. Earlier, the o...
- Mon Dec 12, 2016 6:43 pm UTC
- Forum: News & Articles
- Topic: News in brief
- Replies: 178
- Views: 35694
Re: News in brief
PeteP wrote:I am pretty sure CU was applying that to the side of the company not the employees?
That... was not obvious to me, but the comment does make slightly more sense that way.
- Sun Dec 11, 2016 5:19 pm UTC
- Forum: News & Articles
- Topic: News in brief
- Replies: 178
- Views: 35694
Re: News in brief
Well, I do think the analogy is silly. The power imbalance and frankly, the whole nature of the relationship between employer and employee is fundamentally different than between partners in a romantic relationship. Especially when the discussion started with a news article about prof who thinks she...
- Sun Dec 11, 2016 2:06 am UTC
- Forum: Religious Wars
- Topic: Firefox vs. Chrome: Is it time for me to throw in the towel?
- Replies: 42
- Views: 28387
Re: Firefox vs. Chrome: Is it time for me to throw in the towel?
I'm still too attached to NoScript+uBlockO to change even to marginally better browser. No, I will not load a shitton of JS if the site actually works quite well without it. Also, to be frank, I like to have vague idea what is happening when I type stuff to address bar and know when I'm doing a sear...
- Sat Dec 10, 2016 6:28 pm UTC
- Forum: News & Articles
- Topic: News in brief
- Replies: 178
- Views: 35694
Re: News in brief
Jobs are like girlfriends/boyfriends. Interviews are dating. If people keep quitting you, the problem is you, not them. It's quite rare nowadays that you are dependent on your spouse's monies to eat and have a roof over your head, and that's a situation which creates a possibility for terrible rela...
- Mon Dec 05, 2016 10:57 pm UTC
- Forum: News & Articles
- Topic: 2016 US Presidential Election
- Replies: 8482
- Views: 863106
Re: 2016 US Presidential Election
Let's just call it laziness, because why not? Using words sloppily results in dilution. Look at superlatives. How often, when someone uses the word awesome, do you believe they are actually struck with awe? When everyone's racist, nobody is. I don't believe this dilution thing. Racism is a very pow...
- Mon Dec 05, 2016 9:03 am UTC
- Forum: News & Articles
- Topic: 2016 US Presidential Election
- Replies: 8482
- Views: 863106
Re: 2016 US Presidential Election
I'm counting on the Chinese not being stupid, and retaliating only on appropriate scale (Trump says stern words about China, mainly as posturing aimed for his voters, they'll respond with stern words, mainly aimed to convince their populace that Chinese leaders are not weak). I mean, Trump didn't sa...
- Sun Dec 04, 2016 5:30 pm UTC
- Forum: News & Articles
- Topic: 2016 US Presidential Election
- Replies: 8482
- Views: 863106
Re: 2016 US Presidential Election
Is that kind relativistic view of culture and moral workable in when "the other culture" is not some distant place but next door and you need to establish legal standards and the school nurse or maternity ward need some procedures to follow? For reasons like I don't believe idea of "s...
- Sat Dec 03, 2016 3:59 pm UTC
- Forum: Movies and TV Shows
- Topic: Arrival
- Replies: 9
- Views: 2926
Re: Arrival
Saw it, was a good film. Didn't know about the short story before, will try to get my hands on it now too. Very spoilery discussion: It certainly was a good science fiction film. But as a film, there was too many things I disliked to call it great. The physicist person felt more like a cardboard fig...
- Fri Dec 02, 2016 4:26 am UTC
- Forum: News & Articles
- Topic: News in brief
- Replies: 178
- Views: 35694
Re: News in brief
Hollande won't seek re-election . Putin addressed the nation in a yearly speech Avoiding anti-Western rhetoric - by Sarah Rainsford in Moscow: This was a speech short on slogans and snappy soundbites. If there was a theme, then it was one of unity. It was a call to Russians to pull together as patr...
- Tue Nov 29, 2016 3:58 am UTC
- Forum: News & Articles
- Topic: In other news... (humorous news items)
- Replies: 14444
- Views: 2104348
Re: In other news... (humorous news items)
The traditional Swedish giant Christmas goat in Gävle burned down in record time. The goat made of straw was destroyed in less than 24 hours after presented to the public. (Burning the goat is also a tradition, but not an officially sanctioned one.)
- Mon Nov 28, 2016 2:36 am UTC
- Forum: News & Articles
- Topic: News in brief
- Replies: 178
- Views: 35694
Re: News in brief
France: the conservative presidential candidate is Francois Fillon He is proposing dramatic economic reforms that include slashing 500,000 public jobs, ending the 35-hour week, raising the retirement age and scrapping the wealth tax. Aren't French unions still a considerable force? This might turn ...
- Sat Nov 26, 2016 8:50 pm UTC
- Forum: News & Articles
- Topic: 2016 US Presidential Election
- Replies: 8482
- Views: 863106
Re: 2016 US Presidential Election
How does Germany do it? They make propaganda detection part of their educational system. ...you have slightly rose-tinted glasses on. The next German parliamentary elections are scheduled next year, and AfD looks like it's improving on polls . I think the main reason why Germany is still OK-ish is ...
- Wed Nov 23, 2016 7:17 am UTC
- Forum: News & Articles
- Topic: 2016 US Presidential Election
- Replies: 8482
- Views: 863106
Re: 2016 US Presidential Election
Trump in NYTimes interview After a chat with a Marine corps general he is now convinced that waterboarding isn't that useful so there is not point in reinstating it, and also condemned at least one alt-right / white nationalist group but on the other hand defended Breitbart as a "conservative&...