jimofflorida

Erwin, as an FYI, sysml is still the modeling language of choice for MBSE, and fortran is still (yes,even today) THE primary language for all the science algorithms that process the satellite weather algorithms!!! and before you ask the senior scientists are well aware that software languages have moved on and their response is "*&^$%*&$%" you we use FORTRAN. So for those that want to extend/fix the algorithms what happens is that they get the current science baseline algorithms and then... re-code them, usually into C++... now improvements are often made to the algorithms, but then have to be re-coded into the fortran baseline. This is not an example of politicians interfering with science, but it is an example of how scientists can definitely let their "personal" opinions drive how they do their work. If you wish to learn more about this topic, the center of much of the weather satellite imagery science is the university of Wisconsin.

degrees in EE and computer science worked my way up from developer to chief system engineer (some of my staff had their masters in computer simulations); along the way I did a fair amount of simulation work and even some model based system engineering (sysml stuff, although that really is just another flavor of the year/decade methodology that only government contractors will ever afford because its insanely expensive). last tool I used for smaller jobs was extendsim which was not bad but they all suffer from scalability issues as complexity increased. larger jobs had to be coded up with calls to matlab as needed and yes, fortran is still alive and well hehe. I would often have sims running for days or even weeks and then EIT would deploy a new power saving plan to all computers, oh, every few months that would graciously power down the computers when the room motion sensors would turn off the lights **poof** there goes weeks of work...glad I retired

stop all this silly talk!!! Sure I spent every day after graduating with my science and eng degrees keeping up with the latest technology in a never ending process of education so my skills did not grow stale within a year or two. I stood by and watched H1B visas take over entire industries in the US. But all that said, can you all not see the importance of how ART provides the perfect future we all dream of and we just do not need the H1B jobs!!! If you cannot see that bright future that the academicians are pushing us towards now let me inspire you with this old potato that has a plaid sock on it while I dance to a cricket chirp while wearing only a skirt of Doritos bags I found by 7-11.. you see, all the problems go away when you just focus on art. I sure wish someone had told me about this 40years ago so I would not have wasted so much time on, numbers..bah... (and in all seriousness yes, the H1B program should be shut completely down and almost every PhD level program in the country is run/attended by huge number of...non-US citizens)

and it looks like we have gotten around to the "faith" part of the thread that also occur with regard to climate change hehe The science behind simulations/models is very complicated; as a system engineer I have designed massive system models and the effort it takes to "avoid" introducing bias is considerable. You can easily see what you want rather than accept that what the model is telling you is useless (working for months/years only to have to accept you have, well, nothing useful is tough to do). When I would create such system models (these were not network simulations, they were behavioral models) the most important factor to capture is the one that is almost always overlooked...model output confidence. This is why I brought up the current weather models which are MUCH simpler than global climate models and yet, they are extremely poor with regards to their degree of confidence in a prediction. It is not that the science is wrong, it is that today it is wrapped up in the politics of funding. If you received $20M (which is not that much with large scale models; go hunt up NCEPs budget) for a model and at next years budget review are you going to stand up and state "well, we now have 8% confidence" or will you say "we now have refined our model such that we have established an 80% confidence interval in just what you politicians thought".. which means little and trust me with how much time is spent on PowerPoint slides to not tell a lie but let people walk themselves right off the logic cliff. Do not feel bad or misled, it is the nature of the beast. The CO2 levels on this planet have often change by a large amount, in many cases there were NO people on the planet and yet there goes the CO2 levels for climbing for 50,000 years before it settles back down. The tiny spike that people get flustered about now is just soooo small compared to the global climate picture. Always keep in mind that when headlines spout stuff like "<XYZ> is the <lowest/greatest> it has been in recorded history...recorded history is such a small slice of time. The ice sheet gas analysis does give us insight into things at the 100,000 year+ range which is good, but understanding that, why it moves the way it does, how do sun cycles impact the earth... it is a very difficult problem and instead of letting pure science do what it should, we have gotten all wrapped up in sensationalism. Ok, I rambled on enough...so I raise my glass to the dearly departed soul of science, I will miss you! If you want to panic forget CO2... fukushima and the poisoning of the pacific... THAT gives me nightmares.

hate to break it to you, however, BUSINESS people are true negotiators, politicians are terrible negotiators; why you may ask? because businesses actually negotiate with THEIR resources, it matters. Politicians negotiate with OTHER peoples resources, it has no impact on them. as to your other statements regarding Trump, well, please show evidence that such happened in practice and not just a regurgitation of the mass media propaganda machine. Any modern businessman knows that being a "racist" will get you shutdown so fast you will not have time to get to your ATM before you have been fired. Companies direct their HR departments to bend over backwards to make sure that is not going to be an issue. This is the main challenge for t his generation, not defining reality by what they see on twitter/facebook. Same with the cry of misogyny, Trump has no doubt provided more opportunities for women than the federal government. Usually it is the feminists that have a fit over "beauty pageants", but those events and the scholarships they crank out have helped a lot of, well, ok, pretty girls. Now if you want to claim that Trump likes attractive women, yea, I agree with that. Being "attractive" is just another innate resource like intelligence; it is your resource so use it to your best advantage. Hillary was complete corruption that USED to resources of the people for her and her friends benefit. She actually caused thousands of deaths thru poor judgement! well this has gotten a bit off topic; Trump can negotiate, better than most. What Trump cannot handle is that in business you get used to negotiating with smart/tricky people...but never "crazy". North Korea is run by a lunatic; a business person is willing to negotiate, and even risk their company based on a risk analysis of the cost/benefits. Crazy people will lose everything for a certainty of nothing because, well, they are crazy.

just a few tidbits that are often overlooked: -North Korea is smaller than Mississippi -they basically only trade with China, which means whatever China says, they will do -the people of north Korea would love a regime change because the military is led by a lunatic but the populous have been disarmed and, well, the military listens to the lunatic -they have nukes, but very very few and launching such things in secret is not going to happen so only the neighbors of NK really need to be concerned (which includes China) There only needs to be "one" target if a war starts, the crazy one; then let the rest sort themselves out. Before we criticize the Korean people too much for allowing this, look at how crazy "most" Americans act today regarding leadership support of insane agendas and regulations. We too just had 8 years of a "dictator" that did more harm to the future of the America than anything in the past 100 years; and we let it happen. If it were not for term limits it would have been the absolute end of our country (not sure we have crossed the tipping point anyway). So if the Korea attacks, that means the military followed crazy orders; ask China if they will sort it out "now", if not, launch a hundred or so cruise missiles (pricey tho they are) and a couple dozen MOABs at crazy guys likely hangouts. Yes, people will die, that's war...the key is to make sure the OTHER side dies rather than your side. Before the whining about loss of life remember that the people of Korea are not absolved of all guilt here, no leader is in power without being enabled by others. After this happens make sure NOT to say we will rebuild North Korea!!! Let China or maybe SK sort it out.

was this intended or is something broken?

If you have ever spent any time working with large scale simulations/models (which pretty much excludes almost everyone) there is only one thing that comes to mind regarding such models... George Box "All models are wrong, but some are useful" For those that are "sure" scientists have climate all figured out, feel free to watch the results of a dozen billion dollar models predict the track of a hurricane 24hours into the future. each type of model is "designed" to push the agenda that the senior model advocates think is the right way. These are all scientists that are sure they are right, each has convinced somebody to invest millions of dollars that they are right. Here comes the tricky part, they cannot "all" be right. The climate of planet earth has gone thru warm spells, cold spells, huge grass fires that burned entire continents, volcanic eruptions that darkened the skies; and yet here we are. People are so wrapped up in the need to be right, they have forgotten how to pursue what is truth. Do not think that science is this emotionless vacuum in pure pursuit of knowledge. The only good thing it had, well "used to have" going for it was that people could freely exchange those ideas, defend them, attack with logical arguments until eventually that kernel of truth did pop up. Today we have lost the ability to have an open and lively debate about important topics. NASA most certainly DOES adjust the data when it comes to things like temperature, there are reasons why you need to do such a thing. The trouble is, when the reasons switch from science to political agenda. Now science has discovered they get a lot more funding if they produce results that match what the funding organization are expecting. and here is where it all falls apart, most of the populous (and all of Hollywood) have lost the ability for even a little logical thinking. They get all spun up about 0.002% change in something because media tells them they should. They have not looked at "climate" over the past 50,000 years. We live on a changing hunk of rock that is always evolving. Do people freak out over the Sahara desert today, I guess I should not mention it was not always like that!!! oh no Global warming; AHHHHHH, run! science does NOT mean everything said is inherently truthful...it means the ability to logically pursue truth is something you possess and are willing to do.

bring back the chat function

I think the statement "it doesn't dissuade you from doing potentially dangerous things" is the key point... I have engineers curse, I focus on outliers. This is the fundamental problem I see with the push we have in medicine/health today. It is a focus based on the premise we are all basically the same biological machine. As you start to shrink you viewpoint down to the molecular part of that machine, the differences start to become rather significant. If I declare something absolutely "bad" for you, well, no surprise if you do it and something bad happens. That is exactly what I would expect. When it comes to diets and sensitivities to cholesterol, smoking, sugars , alcohol, fats, carbs, etc., there are a "lot" of outliers. So many that it makes me question the validity of the foundational argument, we are all the same and fall under the same standard distribution. I suspect that there are, much like cancer markers, much stronger sensitivities in our molecular machine works that will really drive what hurts and what helps us. Consider cholesterol, every doctor today will want to slap you on the current fad cholesterol drugs, and yet, we know that there are absolutely cholesterol sensitivity markers that are passed on. I recall a study that had some interesting results based on your markers (say american Indian/Asian vs European) things like drinking alcohol, good for one group, harmful for the other. Exercise was another one, aerobic vs anaerobic was very different ratio based on markers to get benefits. carbs were the same from one end of the spectrum to the other; one group needs low-fat high cards, the other, high fat and low cards! I agree that we only know what we know, but the issue may be not what we know, but "who" knows it to help each person. If your doctor is only treating you as the midpoint of the distribution, they can be really off the mark. Sadly, no group seemed to be high fat and high carbs Oh the agony, I hear the doughnuts crying out...

Ok, I will take a shot at this... The belief that by a sense of "need" you have the right to take. Fits resources, fits taking a life, fits emotional abuse...yea.. I will go with that, it all starts there.

the issue with "other" chat sites is that it really is not tagged anywhere here as the FDR chat group and will eventually die because, well, nobody knows about it unless they accidentally run across it. I am amazed that it was dropped given the ease to deploy such a thing in most web frameworks. The logic that only a few use it is certainly true, but the same could be said for many "features" that appeared. and I will probably get yet another down vote for following up on this but as I am a new subscriber anyway and I was using it a bit almost daily time permitting I guess that makes me one of the few but I had "planned" on using quite often. Could the site officially link to a chat function else where so that there is a chance people could find it and maybe we could actually have a FDR chat community (which may even grow)?

1. freedom of speech is either a freedom or it is not; nothing with regard to pornography invokes a call to action that may even remotely be considered something to regulate what consenting adults decide to do with other consenting adults, well, that is up to them. While I certainly do NOT agree with the current trend of "sex is the equivalent of a handshake with a stranger" attitude that is rather pervasive, they are not actually hurting anybody but themselves. It is less harmful I think than much of the "free speech" trash that comes from movies or, heaven help us, "reality TV" shows. I exclude from the term pornography anything that is a crime.. because its a crime already!! Inability to give "consent"...crime!! involving a minor...crime!! 2. I think the writers were truly men of genius as is; they created a document that contained many concepts that, at the time they wrote them were very forward looking. If they looked at what we have done in the past 50-60years they would probably declare the government is complete out of control and we (the voters) let it get that way when they put a lot of effort in making sure we did not fall into that trap! and then they would call us idiots and leave. 3. The fact that we are putting this discussing into words would appear to contradict the statement. That said, what is very likely is that the idea of pornography is not a consistent concept across any group of people. It is highly subjective and so while you can define it, you can only do so for smaller groups. Pornography does exist base don each individuals experiences ,it does not have innate sociological response like, say murder or even assault (although, once again, even what one group views as assault can very greatly from another). 4. people make money based on their resources; sometimes that is intellectual, sometimes (ok, often) it is luck, sometimes it is looks...it is still their resource they are using. I certainly feel bad for my sons that they need to work for a living but an 18yr attractive girl will rarely buy a drink or meal, have to change a tire, and can marry a billionaire hehe 5. not sure what you are aiming at with this 6. society is wayyyyy more than clothing. It is an extremely complicated set of social reactions to situations. Some universal within a country down to some that exists only with a small neighborhood or even household. One of the great weakness that pervade america today is that the rest of the world follows our social rules; Yes, another failing of american education... While you may call something "dehumanizing" others call it a successful career! They are not ashamed and while it may be the kind of career that many disrespect, well, I consider ambulance chasing lawyers far worse than pornographic actors. I would much prefer time and effort be spent on bigger issues: american citizens going hungry (no, we cannot feed the world until each citizen has been fed), an education system that is second to, well, everyone now; and a huge percentage of the population that do not participate in the workforce because they do not seem to have or even want to. We have veterans that should be getting the best medical care and be first in any line if there are benefits to be handed out. We have a social system that is rewarding the uneducated to have many more children than they can ever afford to care for.The list goes on and on... the very core of what America "was" is being attacked at the foundation. bottom line in my old geezer opinion, a little nudity and consensual naughty activities is, well, just not even showing up on the old critical meter. Which of course means the federal government should have no business in it at all.

and the recipe is: 1 cup of Those people working for a living and noticing the continual decline of respect for the producers in america vs welfare state who just kept wanting more because they, well, just want it. Add a pinch of insane levels of political correctness insanity 1 teaspoon of watching our education system produce adults with "I am a delicate flower" complex Combine that with how Hollywood millionaires keep spewing more and more about how the needy need more and well (oh the irony of that from people that actually do not "produce" much of anything) and a heaping bowl of the democratic party candidate that, on a civil service salary her entire career somehow had amassed a couple hundred million dollars of net worth; with a fair amount of it from foreign countries. tada recipe complete for full meal of "what the heck is going on with the government" !! but you know what, the systemic problem is that the welfare state has now been ingrained in a couple of generation and the truth is that the "majority" of american voters (empathetic fools, precious flowers, and well, most of California) will most certainly "outvote" the workers of america and, well, that is fatal flaw of Democracy... it requires a realistically educated voting class which the democrats have successfully salted the earth upon which it may grow here in america. To be honest I do not see an answer to this fatal attack on "America"...I think the blow is fatal.

chat users now feel like we bought out tickets from united airlines...and they decided they need the seats for something else :-(

sad... and I had just signed up; oh well

first thing I noticed as well...hopefully it will reappear.

You need to listen for what they claim are "facts" and then, well, YOU need to do your homework and think...which of course has gone out of fashion. As others have pointed out, it takes very little time to listen if the news caster is just spewing trigger phases and then you know they are "entertainers" and not journalists. Actually, I am not sure I have seen a real journalist on prime time news in decades; its all just entertainment now. Somehow, hollywood has taken over the news and, well, it seems most have not noticed. I have elderly relatives that are completely trapped in that belief bubble. In some cases the fake news is soooo easy to point out, and I can show them multiple other sources and well, their response is "all of that I just cannot believe, that <insert favorite news anchor> would never lie". I am firmly convinced that the end of democracy is all about the fall of journalism because that marks the beginning of the creation of the "sheep" populous.

My approach to such broad topics is to always go back to the beginning... History of a religion can yield much greater insight into the actual religion than studying any of the current dogma. study what was happening around 500-600AD and get a real interesting view from the end of Rome and chaos that any societal collapse caused with what, as always, pops up in the vacuum. FYI, spoiler alert... in the end it is always about power and resources hehe

well first...I would think that most on these boards already know the academic system is, well, broken; and that does not mean the students are the issue, it is the professors that have just lost their touch with reality and, well, what academics was suppose to be all about. Regarding white westerners etc. etc.... bah... Feel free to show me any country that is even remotely as diverse as the good ole USofA... The idea of rampant Racism in this country is just not true (other than the very very few outliers that you have in any society), but it is the crutch that so many must lean on to justify their behavior. Feel free to pick any culture that has not at some point used violence against another. Once again nasty reality is just so, well, inconvenient. I have no idea how you fix that realistically, and that means I have no idea how America survives the next generation or two; scary for my grown children.

actually, that is another good example where we have declared something to be absolutely unhealthy, and yet, there seem to be people that are simply, well, not impacted by what we "know" to be true. If I drink an ounce of cyanide, I, and everyone else that tries it, is dead... good example of "this is definitely bad"! Regarding your example, How did those people avoid lung cancer? Clearly all the warnings for them were in fact, well, pointless. To what extent is the focus on cholesterol, diets, soft drinks, sugars, carbs, smoking etc. etc. etc. fall into that same category. How much would you change your lifestyle if it only impacts your life a fraction of a percent? I guess that is my point, there seems to many more exceptions to the rules that we in general take as gospel (more than I would expect) when it comes to modern medicine. Is that not the same thing that always happen in history; each generation/culture is sure that they have it all figured out when it comes to medicine and science because we trust our educational leaders who have told us "this is so".

as an old geezer I would like to toss in a question here regarding all this lively "healthy eating" chat... If you look at your average lifespan, and consider your declining years, to what extent will quality of life truly improve if pick a specific dietary path? Some very healthy unhappy people die at 50, some obese happy people die at 90; is the measure of a good life the years you make on the calendar, or the personal goals you met? My personal previous generation of relatives (aunts, uncles, grandparents) lived off bacon, eggs, smoking and drinking and every single one of them (yes, literally, everyone that did not die from "un-natural" causes/accidents) lived to late 80's and healthy until, well, in the end we all die! Cholesterol thru the roof, turns out not to matter a bit to them... Is our genetic makeup so tightly coupled to our expected lifespan that in order to really impact your lifespan negatively, you have to go wayyyy overboard (yea, if you weigh 300+lbs that is an issue!) and maybe you can only tip things on the plus side a "tiny" amount? (I know, The joys of anecdotal experiences) Is each person, or perhaps family tree, unique enough such that the right diet for you is, well, personal? You may be basically immune to cholesterol problems, or heart issues; maybe cancer is your only Achilles heal. Is this a fatal flaw in studies that try and use large populations to obfuscate what may be a bit more genetic (and therefore probably politically incorrect to talk about)? Maybe everyone is right that a particular diet type can really help...but it is like a lock and key...you need to match them up or it makes no difference at all. should your first meeting with your doctor focus on a genetic marker test not a CBC?

well, you are not blaming "society", that is a key first step. You control your destiny and desire to succeed, nobody can "make" you want to succeed, only you can do that. Aviet has given you good hints... 1. Sit down and do a real soul search on where you want to be. Everyone has a different definition of success. 2. Do not spend time thinking about what was, you cannot change it and that seems to have let you to a place where you did not want to be anyway. Just keep a list of what clearly did not work. You can waste an incredible amount of time trying to rationalize/replay/understand events of the past...skip that. 3. I agree with Aviet. That is a big list of complex issues; given your age, well, swallow your pride. You are old enough to know that sometimes people need help. There is a big difference between being "carried" and asking for help; do not fall into the trap of being carried. The journey to find someone to help (local support groups, clergy, etc.) may in itself provide additional insight into who you are. 4. Consider volunteer work; we often can get hints are improving ourselves by helping others. 5. sit down and unplug for a weekend. look at what is causing you to be anxious, what worries you, what situations you are surrounded with... Now take those and really study each one. What is artificial? What do you think you need to spend effort on because of outside pressures rather than actual personal needs. 6. truly separate needs from wants most important of all... Nobody MAKES you carry around old emotional baggage. Nobody makes you happy, sad, angry, etc.; you are the absolute master of your ship if you decide to accept to role! You can be happy in a rain storm and laugh at the lightning because YOU are in charge.

You are at the age of 23 so you do have a few years yet to explore life and take risks (reasonable and lawful hehe) if that is your focus. Also consider asking yourself what you see yourself doing in 15 years. I am, well, lets just say many decades older, and the one key piece of advice I would pass along when making such major decisions is that as each year goes by, life starts to move faster and faster. You 30's will go by much faster than your 20's, and 40's..zoom by!! Choose a path that focuses on happiness not just for the moment, but that is a path that will keep building to where you want to be. Some only want to always live in the moment, consider living on the path so you get the enjoy the view of the entire valley of opportunities, as well as the tree next to you Keeping on top of your health when young is important, as we get older we live on the foundation we have built over the years. We can rarely extend ourselves in the comfort of never changing surroundings...even ideological surroundings! Good luck