[Non-political] News that makes you Laugh/Cry/Both...

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Thu Nov 20, 2014 2:45 am

I saw that one on the Cracked article, and all I could really think is how that would combo so well with monster toys, to horrify people with a dinosaur head sticking out of her belly or whatever. An Alien chestburster might be too easy (and a monster that is a metaphor for the horrors of pregnancy in a pregnancy-themed doll kind of defeats the purpose).

name_here · Post by **name_here** » Thu Nov 20, 2014 2:53 am

fectin wrote: This specific point though, is mistaken:
Chamomile wrote:A computer engineer's job is to actually engineer the computers.
Computer engineers generally like to code. Generally their job is to architect.

Round these here parts, computer engineers are the people who make computers and computer scientists are the people who program computers. That is what the people who name diplomas have decreed.

TiaC · Post by **TiaC** » Thu Nov 20, 2014 2:58 am

Actually, you might be looking for Software Engineer.

fectin · Post by **fectin** » Thu Nov 20, 2014 3:28 am

Could well be.

Either way, "engineer" usually implies design, not execution.

Post by **fbmf** » Thu Nov 20, 2014 4:52 am

fectin wrote:On the larger point, I'll note that there are four people total in Barbie's world.

Surely you jest:

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ ... and_family

Game On,
fbmf

schpeelah · Post by **schpeelah** » Thu Nov 20, 2014 12:53 pm

TiaC wrote:Actually, you might be looking for Software Engineer.

As someone whose major is actually called software engineering I can tell you that software engineer, software developer, programmer and coder are all valid things to call someone who writes the code, with the last one meaning just that and the first one extending to include low-level management positions.

fectin · Post by **fectin** » Thu Nov 20, 2014 1:05 pm

fbmf wrote:
fectin wrote:On the larger point, I'll note that there are four people total in Barbie's world.
Surely you jest:

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ ... and_family

Game On,
fbmf

O brave new world, That has such people in't.

fectin · Post by **fectin** » Thu Nov 20, 2014 1:13 pm

schpeelah wrote:
TiaC wrote:Actually, you might be looking for Software Engineer.
As someone whose major is actually called software engineering I can tell you that software engineer, software developer, programmer and coder are all valid things to call someone who writes the code, with the last one meaning just that and the first one extending to include low-level management positions.

Tangent: if you can learn actual engineering before you graduate, you should do that.

That's not a put-down: I also majored in engineering, and was only even exposed to actual engineering by fortunate chance. I don't think I've ever met anyone who learned it as an undergrad.

Shrapnel · Post by **Shrapnel** » Thu Nov 20, 2014 2:31 pm

Prak wrote:Another for Shrapnel-

Hasbro reissues 80s Jetfire

I know, I've got it! My inner goddess was doing the dance of the seven veils when I first laid eyes upon it.

schpeelah · Post by **schpeelah** » Thu Nov 20, 2014 4:31 pm

fectin wrote:Tangent: if you can learn actual engineering before you graduate, you should do that.

That's not a put-down: I also majored in engineering, and was only even exposed to actual engineering by fortunate chance. I don't think I've ever met anyone who learned it as an undergrad.

What do you mean by "actual engineering"? That sounds kind of broad. Just my curiosity, it's my final year and I run out of non-bullshit courses to sign up for anyway.

Longes · Post by **Longes** » Thu Nov 20, 2014 4:35 pm

http://www.outsideonline.com/news-from- ... Crime.html

Still waiting for the bear cavalry.

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Thu Nov 20, 2014 4:42 pm

schpeelah wrote:
fectin wrote:Tangent: if you can learn actual engineering before you graduate, you should do that.

That's not a put-down: I also majored in engineering, and was only even exposed to actual engineering by fortunate chance. I don't think I've ever met anyone who learned it as an undergrad.
What do you mean by "actual engineering"? That sounds kind of broad. Just my curiosity, it's my final year and I run out of non-bullshit courses to sign up for anyway.

If you want a job in engineering, it is highly recommended to get an internship somewhere before you graduate, so you at least get a taste of what you're in for.

hyzmarca · Post by **hyzmarca** » Thu Nov 20, 2014 6:22 pm

Ancient History wrote:
Pregnant barbies

Technically, that's Midge, not Barbie.

Barbie was killed by Klingons on her first away mission.

Stahlseele · Post by **Stahlseele** » Thu Nov 20, 2014 6:34 pm

She was asking for it, wearing that red shirt dress.
It clashes horribly with the other colours after all.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Thu Nov 20, 2014 9:04 pm

Sort of borderline, but... eh.

Time's bullshit words to ban thing including Feminsim has led to...
#FeministPrincessBride

Leress · Post by **Leress** » Fri Nov 21, 2014 1:17 am

Prak wrote:Sort of borderline, but... eh.

Time's bullshit words to ban thing including Feminsim has led to...
#FeministPrincessBride

One, the word was Feminist (and the author explained why)
Two, no one really gave a shit about Time's Ban List in prior years. Hell, this years list had bossy on it. So pretty much a lot of people got mad over a list that doesn't matter.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Fri Nov 21, 2014 1:52 am

Yeah, I really couldn't give less of a shit about Time's wordban list. I just find the Princess Bride feminism quotes amusing.

fectin · Post by **fectin** » Fri Nov 21, 2014 2:09 am

Buckle up; it's a three-drink rant:

schpeelah wrote:
fectin wrote:Tangent: if you can learn actual engineering before you graduate, you should do that.

That's not a put-down: I also majored in engineering, and was only even exposed to actual engineering by fortunate chance. I don't think I've ever met anyone who learned it as an undergrad.
What do you mean by "actual engineering"? That sounds kind of broad. Just my curiosity, it's my final year and I run out of non-bullshit courses to sign up for anyway.

Engineering is fundamentally about taking interesting and difficult problems to be solvable, breaking them them down into boring problems, breaking those down into trivial tasks, executing those tasks, then showing that those tasks roll up to solve the interesting problem. The skills you're probably learning are fundamental to that process in the way that dribbling and passing are fundamental to basketball, but are likewise only part of a greater whole.

My first exposure was on my senior project. I've posted bits of it here before; I developed a histology technique to get sequential 10-mil cross-sectional slices of nerves, and built a software package to reconstruct 3D models of that nerve from the slices. It showed some neat features. One of the grad students even wanted to use it for his signal propagation models. Cool, right?
So then I went to write up a summary of it, and quickly hit a wall. What was the scope of my project (i.e., what parts should I be graded on?). Was it just the software? Was it just the histology? Was it producing a complete feline sciatic model (which I failed to do - out of time)? While I was obviously flailing around near something valuable, I had no actual goal (my adviser tried to warn me actually, then let me fail, then helped me rescue it at the end).
Without specific and concrete criteria for success, success is unpossible. You can see the same thing show up in many, many RPGs, actually: no design goals always precludes success.

But it's not just that. Setting and fulfilling requirements is the sine qua non of engineering, but there's a whole craft for how you get from one to the other. I think you mentioned that you're learning software. You've probably worked some in groups. If not, you will. Consider, how would you coordinate the efforts of a dozen different people on the same project? Coding is a real skill, and an art besides, but engineering is taking a poorly defined project, making it concrete, and breaking it into pieces that can be solved individually, then voltroned to an acceptable overall solution.

I think software is actually an easier entry than most. You're already primed to think about interfaces and architectures, so it really should be a clean extension of what you already know.

Ancient History wrote:If you want a job in engineering, it is highly recommended to get an internship somewhere before you graduate, so you at least get a taste of what you're in for.

This is also good advice.
"Co-op" is usually better, because it implies getting paid and doing useful work, but that's just a different jargon.

edit: also, if you can find a copy of "the unwritten laws of engineering," it's very worth reading. It's not technical, but it's good advice and can save you some heartache.

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Fri Nov 21, 2014 2:15 am

I, on the other hand, am in the software engineering equivalent of "breaking big rocks into little rocks." Most of my work is where they give me the cases where something's wrong, there's insufficient technical documentation because the hardware is old as shit and they never bought the data package, and I figure out what it is, write a report, fix it, and write another report.

[/edit]And for my senior design project, going into the final week my hardware shat itself and died because the stupid RadioShack plug-in-the-wall adaptor I bought started spitting out AC and fried my chips. And I still came in 3rd place out of fifty students, because I knew what the fuck I was talking about.

DSMatticus · Post by **DSMatticus** » Fri Nov 21, 2014 5:09 am

Leress wrote:
Prak wrote:Sort of borderline, but... eh.

Time's bullshit words to ban thing including Feminsim has led to...
#FeministPrincessBride
One, the word was Feminist (and the author explained why)
Two, no one really gave a shit about Time's Ban List in prior years. Hell, this years list had bossy on it. So pretty much a lot of people got mad over a list that doesn't matter.

The decision to add feminist was absolutely offensive. It reeks of "stop whining about how you're getting shit on" and "the woman's body has ways to shut that whole thing down." The reality is that the past few years have not been kind to women in the United States (what with a bunch of state governments going red), and if anything now is the time to pick up that particular banner and shove it up some conservative assholes like it's a transvaginal ultrasound wand and they're pregnant in Texas.

Leress · Post by **Leress** » Fri Nov 21, 2014 6:56 am

The reason that feminist was even on that list was to get clicks. Hell the reason the list was even mentioned was that feminist was getting over 50% of the vote ( which makes the outrage that much greater and probably done to troll the poll). The last 3 polls had very few comments and the winner had around 25% of the vote.

This is non-fire to put out. The author's reason for putting it on the poll was just a dumb as all the other reasons that the other words on are the poll. A way to put more clickbait in a place to be noticed.

Side note: Yes the #FeministPrincessBride pics are funny.

DSMatticus · Post by **DSMatticus** » Fri Nov 21, 2014 7:35 am

You're not really saying anything. There are words there, yes, but a cohesive point do they not make. Yes, Time wants publicity. Yes, the poll is being trolled by all of the usual suspects. And yes, "alright, shut up about feminism already" is horribly offensive and will likely be horribly offensive for the rest of our lives. Those statements imply fuck all about eachother.

Getting pissed that the people in charge of a major publication think it might be time for feminists to stop talking about feminism at the same time as state legislatures across the country are doing everything they can to make sure women have less rights today than they did four years ago is completely appropriate. Being outraged that the big people don't take little people problems seriously is what outrage is fucking for. The people who say they're sick of hearing about feminism are not good people, and calling them out is exactly what should be done.

Chamomile · Post by **Chamomile** » Fri Nov 21, 2014 8:15 am

You're right, Leress, putting feminism in the Time poll was just clickbait. Except, what do you mean by "just" clickbait? If the past few months have shown me anything, it's that everyone everywhere should despise clickbait as the perverse bizarro world journalism that it is. And I don't mean despise the way you despise reality television where you publicly mock it when it comes up but also condone and possibly even support it in actual action. I mean that methods which are explicitly dishonest are the most common and influential means of getting information out there and we should be seriously, genuinely concerned about that because it is a serious political issue.

Longes · Post by **Longes** » Mon Nov 24, 2014 8:24 pm

Man Allegedly Tortured by UK and US for Nearly a Decade Wins Right to Sue Britain

In the future news: Yunus Rahmatullah has lost the case and has to pay the UK government.

Orca · Post by **Orca** » Tue Nov 25, 2014 12:55 am

Longes wrote:Man Allegedly Tortured by UK and US for Nearly a Decade Wins Right to Sue Britain

In the future news: Yunus Rahmatullah has lost the case and has to pay the UK government.

Not how the UK govt works on such cases. They will/have put up a serious fight to stop the case being heard, to get it thrown out, or to cripple the case by not allowing evidence, but they'd rather concede and lose than fight and lose on the actual evidence.