"Ideas are tested by experiments"
Antonio Huerta
A must-read for numerical modellers:
Old Pif
>
> A must-read for numerical modellers:
>
> http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/unscientific.png
>
To predict experiments is only the second goal of numerical modeling.
The first goal is to replace experimentalists. Ask any manager.
Antonio Huerta
> The first goal is to replace experimentalists. Ask any manager.
Actually, this was the topic I wanted to discuss. Couple of months
ago, the two major govt labs in our country have announced that they
were going to cut the staff by about 10%. (Our govt lab held up; the
management reassured us that there would not be any forced
redunduncies made. But last week, the management filtered a messaged
down the trenches that they have to cut the numbers; they did not give
any specifics as to how, who and when.)
Anyway, I talked to the people at those labs, and it appears that
mostly numerical modellers are made redundant. The experimentalists
are to stay. I've got the theory that as the budgets are squeezed, the
managers are required to bring something tangible at the table; the
numerical modellers get laid off first because they do not work on the
product at the end of the business production chain; however the
experimental scientists who wrok on the latest business stage of the
delivery of an applied product, get to be kept by the management.
The I recalled that around 12-15 years ago, the employment market for
the modellers was tough; almost none of them were required. The PhD
graduates who found jobs were the experimentalists. Only after a few
years the theorists and modellers started to get the jobs (their use
was to model a certain manufacturing method to increase the yield of
product or improve the flow of plastic in the mold etc; the other jobs
for the modellers were to be employed by govt lab, and do the projects
cheaply for managers instead of expensive experiments). I remember I
got dismayed: the management in our govt lab took a direction at
cutting the experimentalists, and hiring modellers. I even felt
handicapped, because I was not a modeller and because of the respect
and demand from the managers for modellers.
But now it seems the world is going back to the roots: the management
needs to cut a number of staff, and they start from the modellers,
because they do not work on a tangible product which can be shown to
the clients, and finance can be got. They tend to keep
experimentalists -- those, who, as I said, work on the final product.
The time will show if my guess was correct.
Uncle Al
>
> A must-read for numerical modellers:
>
> http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/unscientific.png
Theory is a whore. Theory predicts what it is told to predict by
observation. Remove observation and be liberated to something among
religion, social advocacy, and economics (e.g., string theory).
Bush the Lesser's $180 billion "salvation" of Wall Street this past
Thursday became $800 billion Saturday morning. Uncle Al marshalled
the full force of an advanced arithmetic course and figured it's
closer to a $3 trillion hole. Who says we can't shoot at Muslims for
$5 billion/week and not have enough left over to stuff Bush the
Lesser's friends to repletion?
President Johnson's "Great Society" introduced income redistribution.
Every productive family also supported a reproductive family. Now
every productive family will support a reproductive family and their
insane interest rate mortgage. Work harder, you selfish bastards.
When theory and observation, when price and cost are sundered the
inevitable result is disaster. Social Security, $1.5 trillion/year
minimum, implodes starting in 2015. Let's get some theory on that.
--
Uncle Al
http://www.mazepath.com/uncleal/
(Toxic URL! Unsafe for children and most mammals)
http://www.mazepath.com/uncleal/lajos.htm#a2
Robert J. Kolker
>
> Theory is a whore. Theory predicts what it is told to predict by
> observation. Remove observation and be liberated to something among
> religion, social advocacy, and economics (e.g., string theory).
What a theory predicts is determined by its basic assumptions and logic.
Predictions are like theorems except they have an empirical relationship
to the world. That is to say they -say- something about the world which
may be true or false. The role of observation is to suggest the correct
assumptions for a theory to work from.
Be it noted that a finite set of facts DO NOT determine a theory to
explain them uniquely. There is in principle an infinite set of
theories which will fit a given finite set of facts.
Bob Kolker
jmfbahciv
> Antonio Huerta wrote:
>> A must-read for numerical modellers:
>>
>> http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/unscientific.png
>
> Theory is a whore. Theory predicts what it is told to predict by
> observation. Remove observation and be liberated to something among
> religion, social advocacy, and economics (e.g., string theory).
>
> Bush the Lesser's $180 billion "salvation" of Wall Street this past
> Thursday became $800 billion Saturday morning. Uncle Al marshalled
> the full force of an advanced arithmetic course and figured it's
> closer to a $3 trillion hole. Who says we can't shoot at Muslims for
> $5 billion/week and not have enough left over to stuff Bush the
> Lesser's friends to repletion?
>
> President Johnson's "Great Society" introduced income redistribution.
> Every productive family also supported a reproductive family. Now
> every productive family will support a reproductive family and their
> insane interest rate mortgage. Work harder, you selfish bastards.
>
> When theory and observation, when price and cost are sundered the
> inevitable result is disaster. Social Security, $1.5 trillion/year
> minimum, implodes starting in 2015. Let's get some theory on that.
>
his chickens before they hatch and doesn't seem to know that he's
holding goose eggs.
/BAH
Antonio Huerta
So, nobody wants to comment about my theory "modellers go first" ?
lottlect
Antonio Huerta
Old Pif, do you want to comment on my theory of the markets
preferential treatment of experimental scientists over modellers when
the time is tough ? You have clocked up more time doing science...
Old Pif
>
> Old Pif, do you want to comment on my theory of the markets
> preferential treatment of experimental scientists over modelers when
> the time is tough ? You have clocked up more time doing science...
>
I don't know. May be it is the difference in yours and mine
environment. In my environment which can be described as mature
consolidated industrial nobody has been working on any new products
for decades. What they have been doing is slightly modifying the
existing ones, making them more economical and cheap. The amount of
labs is constantly decreasing. Numerical modeling is gradually taking
place of experiment. Partially because it is cheaper partially because
it is gaining more predictive power.
Sure, when you need to create a product you have to do it actually but
numerical modeling takes more weight in this process especially for
the initial stage.
My feeling is that at the end (which is not that far) any product
development that is based on science that covers scales from 10^-12 to
10^6 m will be done in computer and then just one prototype is build
and it is the right one.
Antonio Huerta
Probably this boils down to the difference in your country and my
country. Our country does not do much of development, and does not
needs scientists of either ilk.
We are doing the experiments learning the materials properties of this
novel material, because its properties are not really known, and the
data for the modelling have to be obtained by the experimental way.
marika
"jmfbahciv" <jmfbahciv@aol> wrote in message
news:gb5bb...@news7.newsguy.com...
> Barney Franks just said that the US will make money. He's counting
> his chickens before they hatch and doesn't seem to know that he's
> holding goose eggs.
>
he better label those eggs properly or the inspectors will confiscate them
mk5000
Guinea pig entree serves up culture clash in dining
By JOHN KESSLER
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 01/18/06
When restaurant owner Luis Castillo couldn't supply a
receipt for the guinea pig in his freezer to a DeKalb
County health inspector, he had no choice but to throw
it away.
"I didn't know I had to put a label on it," said
Castillo, the Peruvian-born owner of La Sabrosa on
Buford Highway, who had bought the skinned and dressed
animal for personal consumption.
"We eat it, and it's part of our culture," explained
the soft-spoken Castillo, 58, who has been surprised
by the tempest in a terrarium his would-be dinner has
caused. The health department citation was followed by
a report in the DeKalb edition of The Atlanta
Journal-Constitution and two local television news
programs.
"For the Americans it could be a disgusting thing,"
Castillo concedes, "but for us it's a normal thing."
In metro Atlanta's multi-ethnic society, exactly what
constitutes "normal" dining fare seems to change by
the day. Any of the Peruvians, Ecuadorians and
Bolivians living here will tell you that the cute,
furry guinea pig is not only traditional to the Andean
diet but supernally delicious.
"I love it," says Paul Vinces, the Peruvian owner of
Sweet Devil Moon tapas bar in Decatur. "It kind of
tastes like rabbit but better." Peruvians most
commonly roast guinea pigs on spits and serve the
whole bone-picking business with fried potatoes and
salad.
The animal itself merits a special name in countries
that consider it a delicacy rather than a starter pet.
While Spaniards would call the guinea pig a conejillo
de Indias, or little rabbit of the Indies, Peruvians
prefer cuy ("COO-ee") - an onomatopoetic reference to
the squealing cry that school teachers know so well.
Peruvians long considered cuy a special treat for
feasts and celebrations. Indeed, the cathedral in
Cuzco, Peru, boasts a 17th century mural of the Last
Supper in which Jesus and his disciples are gathered
around a scrawny guinea pig on a platter.
Advances in animal husbandry have allowed South
American rodent ranchers to breed bigger, meatier
guinea pigs that outsize even the most overfed pet.
If you go looking for a cuy dinner in Atlanta, you
have to cope with both a general sense of confusion
over the legal situation and the vagaries of supply.
As long as the meat supplier hasn't run afoul of the
Food and Drug Administration and the restaurant can
produce a bill of sale, then guinea pig is perfectly
legal in Georgia. (Some municipalities, such as New
York City, prohibit its sale.)
Crazy Chicken, an Ecuadorian restaurant in Norcross,
is the only local spot the AJC has found with cuy on
the menu. Even so, it costs $35, requires an hour to
prepare and is available only on weekends when its
supplier gets a shipment. Costa Verde, a Peruvian
restaurant nearby, offers cuy as an occasional
special.
Rest assured that no restaurant is harvesting guinea
pigs from Mrs. Wilson's third-grade classroom. Cuy
served in Atlanta (and in other cities, such as
Chicago) largely comes dressed and frozen from farms
in Peru and Ecuador.
The little animals that bring joy to the hearts of so
many Atlanta children are "just too small" to consider
roasting, says chef Castillo.
Staff writer Mary Lou Pickel contributed to this
article.