On 15/02/2015 01:12 PM, clipka wrote:
> Am 14.02.2015 um 16:33 schrieb Orchid Win7 v1:
>> OK, so it's been a while since I posted a big wall of text. So here
>> goes...
>
> I wouldn't normally respond to this posting of yours, but just to let
> you know how much interest there is in reading such posts, I hereby
> declare that I did read it with interest.

Hey, cool!

> Huffman coding wasn't new to
> me, so I skipped over that part, and I'm also somewhat familiar with
> Markov chains including PPM, but range encoding is an interesting
> concept I hadn't heard of before.

Yeah, it's interesting. I'm slightly fuzzy on exactly what the 
difference between "arithmetic coding" and "range coding" is. Wikipedia 
seems to think there's a difference, but I don't know what it is.

(Then again, I only just figured out the difference between LZ78 and LZW...)

> Also, I do start to notice that human
> memory seems to be made up of DRAM cells, so a refresh cycle now and
> then is most welcome ;)

More like, it's a neural network which "learns" by adjusting the 
connection weights between cells - but *that* is the subject for another 
wall of text, I imagine... ;-)

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On 15/02/2015 12:57, Orchid Win7 v1 wrote:

>
> According to the Academia Stack Exchange portal, it seems if you have a
> PhD, everybody immediately assumes you're going to be hellishly
> expensive to hire and summarily drops you from consideration.
>

That does not fit in with my experience. True often PhD's end up at the 
top of the pile but lots of them do lesser jobs. They just have a PhD. 
It does not rule them out from doing jobs they are "over qualified" for.


> Unless you want to work in the finance industry, which only exists in
> London.
>

I am beginning to get the feeling that you are a member of a sect that 
vilifies London as a pit of depravity.


>>> Fun fact: They stopped giving out university grants just a year or two
>>> before I started university. I AM STILL PAYING FOR MY TUITION! More than
>>> a decade later... *sigh*
>>>
>>
>> Scandalous!
>
> Hey, I spent 10 years earning minimum wage, so...

Even more scandalous.

>
>>> Favourite anecdote:
>>
>> It only saddens me it does not surprise me.
>
> In fairness, while he only said a few sentences, it was immediately
> clear to me that he knew what he was talking about. As in, logarithms
> aren't just something he heard about once, he actually *understood*
> them. (As opposed to merely rote-memorising some facts about them.)


-- 

Regards
     Stephen

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Orchid Win7 v1 <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
> I haven't met them. Everybody I've met regards having technical
> knowledge as only something "nerds" and "losers" have - including the
> people I work with, who are all professional computer programmers. They
> all know how to write C#, yet they seem to think that understanding
> relational algebra or knowing how floating-point arithmetic works is
> only for lamers.

they are useful idiots


> My Dad tells me [so I don't know how true this is] that Bach was a
> virtuoso organ player, but a HORRIBLE teacher. He just couldn't
> understand why nobody else could play like him...

Bach (and many other bright composers from the highly specialized and complex
instrumental music of that era) was much like as autistic as we are.  Hence, his
many bouts of fury against his patrons, arrests, etc.  He simply didn't know how
to harmoniously deal with other human beings as he did with an organ.  He did
teach his children pretty well though.  His oldest 2 sons were as capable as
himself as performer and just had a different composing style because times had
changed...

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On Sun, 15 Feb 2015 13:17:05 +0200, Orchid Win7 v1 <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:

>    C = B log2 (1 + S/N)
>
> And everybody is like "ZOMG! WTF is a logarithm?!" And the lecturer is  
> like "oh, really? I'm sorry, I just assumed that THIRD-YEAR  
> UNDERGRADUATES would already know that".
>
> So it turns out that only two people in the room actually know what a  
> logarithm is. Obviously one of them is me. And the other one... is the  
> crazy beer-drinking rugby thug from Manchester. o_O And I'm serious; he  
> actually knows what he's talking about. First and last time I ever heard  
> him say something sensible...

I don't get it. We learned about logarithms in high school.

-- 
-Nekar Xenos-

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On 15-2-2015 13:53, Orchid Win7 v1 wrote:
> On 15/02/2015 12:26 PM, Thomas de Groot wrote:
>
>> I am not a computer professional so that world is indeed foreign to me,
>> but what you and Stephen are saying truly appals me... But then I may be
>> from an alien planet: I have never been /really/ interested in
>> money... :-)
>
> There is something deeply worrying about... OK, so let's try this. Come
> on this journey with me.

[snip]

As I said, I am truly appalled about what you tell. It is unbelievable 
but I suppose I am naive... ;-)

>
> I wonder... Does anybody have this much trouble hiring a carpenter?

No, but I am starting to worry.

>
>>>>>> And I agree with John: you would be an excellent teacher.
>>>>>
>>>>> Again, I don't know. I'm good at writing long monologues that nobody
>>>>> will ever read; interacting with a room full of live humans is quite
>>>>> different. It requires a different skill set.
>>
>> That last is indeed true but can be learned with practice (like
>> dancing). Writing skills, which you have already, is more difficult to
>> learn.
>
> I guess that just leaves us with the problem of nobody wanting to learn
> then. ;-)

Sad, sad, sad. I believe learning is one of those rare incentives that 
make life worthwhile.

Oh dear, some would say /money/ of course ;-)

>
>> I must say that I enjoy your long monologues btw.
>
> Oh, well, I'm glad somebody does. Sometimes it does feel like I'm
> talking to myself...
>
>> Seriously, in a good lecture before an audience, some kind of
>> choreography (even body language) is of paramount importance. Whatever
>> the subject.
>
> I'm sure if I give a lecture while doing the Charleston to some
> authentic music, everybody will remember me. No idea if they'll remember
> a damned thing I said, but... ^_^

Right. You can overdo it. Watching lecturers is a great school for do's 
and dont's. I have seen hilarious examples of dont's... ;-)

-- 
Thomas

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On 15-2-2015 13:53, Stephen wrote:
> On 15/02/2015 12:26, Thomas de Groot wrote:
>>
>> I am not a computer professional so that world is indeed foreign to me,
>> but what you and Stephen are saying truly appals me... But then I may be
>> from an alien planet: I have never been /really/ interested in
>> money... :-)
>>
>
>  From a Dutchman! We will keep that quiet. ;-)

I am afraid I am already ostracised ;-)

> During my time in Aberdeen I met a lot of geologists who only studded it
> to get a job in the Oil Industry.

Oh yes, there are those. To tell the truth, back in the sixties in NL at 
least, those where mostly concentrated in another university than the 
one I was in (Amsterdam) which was considered more 'leftist' and less 
oil-minded :-)

>
>
>>> Unless you mean I give the lecture while dancing the quickstep. ^_-
>>
>> Seriously, in a good lecture before an audience, some kind of
>> choreography (even body language) is of paramount importance. Whatever
>> the subject.
>>
>
> Good body awareness is important. You don't want to knock your coffee
> over your notes.
>
Oh dear, no! Nor drop all your overhead sheets on the ground as I saw 
happen :-)

-- 
Thomas

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On 15/02/2015 12:53, Orchid Win7 v1 wrote:
>
> I wonder... Does anybody have this much trouble hiring a carpenter?

Not in fundamentalist America. There you can hire one to support every 
belief that you want. ;-)

-- 

Regards
     Stephen

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On 15/02/2015 15:22, Thomas de Groot wrote:
> On 15-2-2015 13:53, Stephen wrote:

>> During my time in Aberdeen I met a lot of geologists who only studded it
>> to get a job in the Oil Industry.
>
> Oh yes, there are those. To tell the truth, back in the sixties in NL at
> least, those where mostly concentrated in another university than the
> one I was in (Amsterdam) which was considered more 'leftist' and less
> oil-minded :-)
>

Some universities can become specialised in certain fields, supplying a 
market.


>>
>> Good body awareness is important. You don't want to knock your coffee
>> over your notes.
>>
> Oh dear, no! Nor drop all your overhead sheets on the ground as I saw
> happen :-)
>

You are giving your age away, now. ;-)
Those sheets seemed to have no friction between them at all.
Or so someone told me. :-)

-- 

Regards
     Stephen

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On 15/02/2015 02:56 PM, Nekar Xenos wrote:
> I don't get it. We learned about logarithms in high school.

In which country?

For that matter, we learned about fractions in school. But I've yet to 
meet anyone from my own generation who has the slightest clue how 
fractions work... [I suppose that's another one of those "nobody cares; 
the computer does it for you" type things.]

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>> Good body awareness is important. You don't want to knock your coffee
>> over your notes.
>>
> Oh dear, no! Nor drop all your overhead sheets on the ground as I saw
> happen :-)

You must never do a tango with an Eskimo. No no no, oh dear no!

[I still don't actually know why...]

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