Keeping up with Java

Check out the java version running on your machine. Go ahead, bring a prompt out.

java -version

Chances are: you are still using 1.6.something (or earlier).

Here is a link to Java's version history on wiki: here. 1.7 has been out since 2011. Look at all those security fixes needed.

Here is a good slideshow of the 1.7 features: here. There are "syntactic sugar" to do number literals... case statements that can use strings, combining Exception handling, and a bunch of new things most people probably don't need often...

1.8 is around the corner (March 2014). Lambda! That define-things-on-the-fly "calculus" of functional-languages can do is finally here. People just love to define functions on the fly. Many java-like languages added it on their own and now Java has incorporated it onto itself. Read about it here. The idea is "innovate" (translation: steal from other frameworks and languages and incorporate them as standardization)

Syntax nightmare ahead, you know people will go wild with it. Where is the word lambda? I at least see it in LISP.

Obama on Art History

This is an interesting read: Obama mocking Art History degree. See here.

A lot of young people no longer see the trades and skilled manufacturing as a viable career, but I promise you, folks can make a lot more potentially with skilled manufacturing or the trades than they might with an art-history degree,”

He continues:

Nothing wrong with [an] art-history degree. I love art history. I don’t want to get a bunch of ­e-mails from everybody. I’m just saying, you can make a really good living and have a great career without getting a four-year college education, as long as you get the skills and training that you need.

It really is not so intelligent to mock art history degrees. You know there will be objections from those who study it. But the president has a point. If you only know art history and have 0 interest or ability in anything else you better be really really good so you are able to fight with thousands of other art majors to land on a professor position to teach another generation of art history majors. (substitute art history with any major of your choice). You MUST have skills that employers want to hire, or able to start a business.

Is the job statistics showing the however-many-percent unemployed art history majors college graduates? It is not. Art History majors are far more likely to find work than those only with a high school degree or less, though their work may not be art history related. I am not sure if you can major in manufacturing, don't remember seeing that in my college catalog. Even if you can, if the factories are not here what do you do with that manufacturing skill if anything real is learned?

Now it is important to realize you don't have to work with things you major in. A liberal art education... merely give you something to work study in that very limited few years of college.

Those who want to give up college because its too expensive and a degree gets you nowhere ought to think again... Was you high school education decent enough?

A Genius Problem?

Saw this on LinkedIn. Well I am not going to bother inserting my answer to the thousands of entries. No one is going to read it, it may be a bait to collect your info to send you junk mail or whatever.

This does not take any genius to do, but the mathematical conscious even first grader should say, dude, 2 does NOT equal to 6, 3 does NOT equal to 12. Nonsense nonsense. And you ask me what does 9 equal? It is simple:

9.

End of problem. Q.E.D. (how do I insert a square icon like most math book does?)

If you want to use describe a pattern... you can say f(2)=6, f(3)=12... The tricky part here is to note 7 and 8 are skipped so it is a trap. So the pattern here is f(x) = x*(x+1), and the answer perhaps the author is looking for is f(9)=9x10 =90. But the CORRECT answer is 9.

Is someone applauding? Who is the author of the question? What is the right answer? I will probably never find out. Good news is: it actually doesn't matter.

Snake handling pastor died of snake bite

So a pastor died handling snakes. See here.

No, not because he is trying to save somebody but he regularly handles snakes as a test of faith... and his faith didn't work. He died. But I hope his faith of going to heaven works better.

I am sure some people would take this opportunity to mock Christianity as being stupid... like failing to predict end time not too long ago.

Here is the Bible Verse that killed him, almost at the end of Gospel of Mark: Mark 16:17-18

"17 And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18 they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.”

Note: this isn't at the end of other 3 gospels.. only Mark mentioned this.

Paul and Peter (and some others) were able to drive out demons. Are there any more to drive out today?

Here is something safer to try, put hand on sick people did that work? Of course not, else we put the doctors and hospitals out of work. Well Paul and Peter can. Is he able to speak new tongue? Has he tried deadly poison? If he did he is probably not here much earlier to handle the snakes. See if that didn't work why would he think snakes won't hurt him?

But special power should have come to accompany those believers as indicated in those verses. Where is that power? Thy of Little Faith?!

Poor guy, here is an important footnote he missed! [The earliest manuscripts and some other ancient witnesses do not have verses 9–20.] See here. Those lines are ... forgery!

But I think he missed Jesus's point. His main idea was verse 15: go into the world and preach the gospel... and not serpent show. This is consistant throughout the NT. Paul, John and Peter don't go around in snakes in their hands, don't they? The pastor should have looked at this verse: 1 Corinthians 10:9 "We should not test Christ,as some of them did—and were killed by snakes."

Let's not always blame the education system

I came across with the following comic:

Oh, wahahaha you are judging an elephant and a fish the ability to climb.

First, wait a minute, Is this really an Einstein quote? It may not be. See here.

Is the education system really doing this to kids? Testing ability to read some text for comprehension and do some math problems is not fair? So what kind of system does the author of the comic suggest? I don't know if Einstein ever suggested one.

The education system should attempt to teach something from the tests. After a standard exam such as Iowa, SAT or ACT, solution should be given as well as an analysis of what you did right or wrong so the students learn something. Some amount of testing can be a good thing... a motivation to study things.

Is it really that everybody is a genius? I beg to differ. What do you call Einstein when most other lesser beings don't even have a clue how Newton's laws work? There are some exceptionally smart people we call genius. And there are people who are not as smart... and there are those...who are stupid. I am sure you know some of those.

Texas Drops Algebra 2

I never liked Algebra 2/trig/pre-Calculus... It has some boring topics... dragging too long to reach calculus.

So I was excited to see the headline of Texas dropping Algebra 2. Is it because they are jam packing the slow paced Algebra 1 with some trigonometry and some useful things to get kids ready for calculus earlier? Oh it is not... it is to "focus on career and vocational training" and that "Algebra II is so difficult that it was forcing many students to drop out before finishing high school. "

Now if you have to drop out because of Algebra 2 you need a good teacher or a good tutor. That class needs to be modified so you don't need to do stupid factoring of some 5-degree polynomials you pull out from thin air. Look, you will need that to score well in SAT and ACT. Kicking algebra 2 off is lowering your already low requirements.

Math is a cumulative subject... waita minute, are the kids dropping out because they can't even work with fractions while taking Algebra 2? Perhaps the problem is at the earlier grade levels.

Those textbooks perhaps need to be revisited to be more clear and interesting. Topics may need to be revisited to eliminate some not so useful things... If you can't solve some simple equations there is just no way you can have a decent education in any science.

Are you going to say, dude I have never used sin, cos, tan, nor solve a system of equation in my life. Let me tell you this dude, I know how to do this (and much more), I had decent science classes in school requiring these, and I feel encriched. Those who are uninformed and uneducated simply miss out.... and that's actually is ok. A strong nation needs its people educated and enriched. We don't need to be a strong nation and you don't need to be enriched.