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bowmanon Teaching Linear Algebra

There is another side to this. In upper level mathematics courses providing answers to all (or even most) of the questions actually does a disservice to the students. It teaches the important skill of deciding if you got the answer right which is probably more useful in research/the real world.

bowmanon Advice to a Beginning Graduate Student - Manuel Blum (CMU)

"Scrolls must be read like the Torah from one end to the other." - Associating Islam with being outdated can be good for your demographic I guess.

bowmanon 2,000 students at Washington State University report flu symptoms

I had swine flu this winter (July as I live in the southern hemisphere). I was bedridden for some days but the hype far too high. It had a strange upside. While delirious I had the most pleasant dreams...

bowmanon Ask HN: Access to the Corpus - What Would You Do?

I would use it to fight crime/corruption. It isn't too hard to identify people from a few google searches. Examples:

Food places near X will give you a good indication where they live and their income Find what they are searching during normal work hours. Often this will give you where they work. Searches of themselves.

Then just use this information to hunt them down or expose them.

bowmanon _why is no more

He mentions his friend Dustin in: 12 Oct 2002 http://www.advogato.org/person/whytheluckystiff/diary.html?s... This furthers the belief he is Jonathan Gillette as the band Jonathan Gillette was in contains a Dustin. With all the other evidence I am calling this a case closed. It is interesting to note how different he seems from _why. Maybe the Fight Club analogy (read above) is not too far from the truth.

bowmanon Ask HN: What do you do for bookmarking?

I got through hundreds of site a day and never bookmark them. For me the internet is more an experience and I don't' like to read things twice. I can usually find what I want very quickly using google. So my suggestion is to just use google.

bowmanon Is Taleb a crank?

I have to say, at least Taleb can write. Reading this scrawl gave me a headache.

bowmanon Reader's Digest plans to file for bankruptcy

It is similar to a small intestine.

bowmanon Ask HN: How Much Money is Enough... What's your Number?

Who says the OP would be an employee? A lot of fun though low paying jobs involve owning your own shop/bar. A second hand bookshop. A motorbike shop. A cafe doing X for the Y demographic etc.

bowmanon Detailed PHP vs. ASP.net - Windows vs Linux?

Maybe the title should read: Microsoft Worker finds ASP.net is faster than PHP. Likely true but means nothing to me as it is far from an independent survey.

bowmanon Ask HN: How would you write novels for people who rarely read entire books?

I wouldn't. To me that is like writing music for the tone deaf. The wrong direction I'd want do go if doing anything creative.

Removing content and splitting ideas into bite sized pieces seems the way to go. Also, remember these people rarely buy books but people still buy books for them. You could target the "gift" book market.

bowmanon Ask HN: How do you record your thoughts?

I have tried using Lion Kimbro's method. It was very interesting but too intense for people wanting to be efficient.

http://www.speakeasy.org/~lion/nb/

bowmanon Imagine Pot Was Legal. How Would You Brand It?

I think the US and New Zealand are the only (or one of the few) countries that allow alcohol commercials on TV.

bowmanon Keep losing freelance work

or double your hourly rate + 10-15%

bowmanon Ask HN: What's your favorite site for hacking on things other than computers?

http://www.calnewport.com/blog/

Very well written blog for "Zen" like study hacks.

bowmanon Good Programmers Don't Need No Marketing

It was correct, if you take into account the double-negative.

bowmanon From Thinkers to Clickers

I think the internet has created a problem due the the sheer amount of information we can reach. I disagree with the author though and think we are just experiencing "teething" problems while humans get used to the internet. Any new technology requires time to adjust.

I'm excited at what will happen when computer technology seizes to be 'new' and becomes a stable medium. If you disagree with this ever happening consider the lack of major change in desktop OS's in the last 5 years.

bowmanon Understanding Credit Card Debt & Credit Card Late Fees

I have used credit cards and taken out debt before purely to game the system. (e.g. used my low interest student/bank loans as an investment source) I didn't loose money but I found there are always hidden costs and any loan creates a weight on the mind that is not healthy. I now just buy everything in cash.

bowmanon Ask HN: Twitter account compromised, no response from Twitter...what to do?

ZOMG

bowmanon Is Science As Important As Football?

To contrast, at my school a teacher dropped a bottle of mercury while showing us how it ran away from heat. They cleaned it up with a mop while we played with it.

bowmanon Bing Is Live

What is with the "Tool Tips" for the search box and the search button? Tool Tips should only be used when a button needs explaining and never for text boxes IMO.

bowmanon Colleges Consider 3-Year Degrees To Save Undergrads Time, Money

I come from a country where it is usual to offer 3 year degrees (NZ). It does come at a price of killing general ed requirements but I agree with this. Reasons:

(1) It destroys the separation of compulsory secondary school and voluntary tertiary school.

(2) Dumbs down core courses, as the general ed students flock to easy courses or convince lecturers to make the class easier.