costigan

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11 tháng trướcdiscuss

Could you say a bit more about your workflow? I'm used to having source code files open in emacs (or zemacs) and a lisp REPL in another buffer. I edit the source files directly and then recompile changes into the running lisp. The code stays in sync because the text code files are the master copy and the running image is updated (when I choose) to reflect changes. Program state (e.g., large data structures) isn't generally kept in the source files. If what's in memory needs to be preserved, then I need to have serialization and deserialization methods, or a database, or I need to save the running image to a snapshot file. I've probably so internalized this process that there are problems with it that are invisible to me.

năm ngoáidiscuss

The commenter's point was to disagree with the previous comment that "souls aren't real". Lack of evidence either way means we don't know. Occam's razor, while a good heuristic, is a heuristic, not a theorem.

năm ngoáidiscuss

It hasn't been limited to probationary employees. Here's one example: https://www.science.org/content/article/nih-ban-renewing-sen... Agencies have also been directed to make plans for "significant reductions". For example, EPA plans to cut 65%. Fish and Wildlife and the Bureau of Indian Affairs are preparing for up to 40%. These latter cuts haven't happened yet, but they're very likely.

năm ngoáidiscuss

It does. That's what the negotiation on overhead rates is for.

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Didn't the NIH freeze the review meetings in this year's proposal review process, putting all grant funding that would start next fiscal year in question? This is separate from the change to the overhead rate.

năm ngoáidiscuss

Doesn't he own four private jets with another on order?

năm ngoáidiscuss

Only if the organization with the money wants to do that. Flip it around. Do you think the sports program at any major university pays for physics research facilities (or any topic outside of sports medicine)?

năm ngoáidiscuss

The federal workforce, as a percentage of all jobs in the U.S. was 4% in the 50's, decreased steadily to 2% in 2000 and has held roughly steady since then. (The source is https://usafacts.org/articles/how-many-people-work-for-the-f... second figure, and I'm taking total jobs as a proxy for the population that the workforce serves.)

The end of that period of reduction was Clinton's Presidency. Clinton's National Performance Review (NPR) started at the beginning his term in '93. It had goals very similar to the stated goals of this efficiency effort, but it was organized completely differently. He said, "I'll ask every member of our Cabinet to assign their best people to this project, managers, auditors, and frontline workers as well."

GPT4o: The NPR's initial report, released in September 1993, contained 384 recommendations focused on cutting red tape, empowering employees, and enhancing customer service. Implementation of these recommendations involved presidential directives, congressional actions, and agency-specific initiatives. Notably, the NPR led to the passage of the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) of 1993, which required federal agencies to develop strategic plans and measure performance outcomes. Additionally, the NPR contributed to a reduction of over 377,000 federal jobs during the 1990s, primarily through buyouts, early retirements, natural attrition and some layoffs (reductions-in-force or RIFs).

Source: https://govinfo.library.unt.edu/npr/library/papers/bkgrd/bri...):

The recommendations that involved changes to law, the GPRA, were passed in both houses of Congress by unanimous voice vote.

I don't think the stated goals of the current efficiency drive are controversial. The problem is the method. I want to understand the basis for people supporting those methods, the "we've got to break some eggs" crowd, when the example of the NPR exists. In my opinion, it didn't cause conflicts between branches of government, didn't disrupt markets, and was wildly successful. It also caused much less disruption in people's lives, because the changes were implemented over several years with much more warning.

I, personally, don't think the real goals of this effort are the stated goals, but that's a different issue.

năm ngoáidiscuss

Let's take one example. The Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) is a two-year post-residency program that trains health professionals in applied epidemiology. These officers are crucial for on-the-ground investigations of disease outbreaks. It's a 2-year program, with 50-60 doctors in each year. All of the first-year doctors in this year's program were fired by DOGE, so far, for a capacity reduction of 50%. Both years are in the 'probationary' civil servant category, so the jobs of the rest of them are still at risk.

I asked ChatGPT 4o for other examples, and it generated a list of 40. You can do that for yourself, if you're interested.

năm ngoáidiscuss

Research funding awarded to universities and to performers internal to NASA (back when there was a reasonable amount of that) had overhead rates that were similar to the NIH rates. When I worked at Xerox PARC, we would perform research for other parts of the company and charged overhead too, although the rate was a little lower (around 40%). Institutional overhead has been a regular feature of how research has been organized and funded for 60 years. Change is fine, but most of the costs are legitimate, and it takes time for the rest of the system to adjust to changes in one part of it. Doing it abruptly is damaging the system and will negatively impact the careers of many students and young researchers.

năm ngoáidiscuss

This equivalence between a company that provides one app that, if it were to disappear, would hurt no one, and a government that has thousands of functions, many of which are life-and-death in both the short and long run, is just ridiculous.

2 năm trướcdiscuss

I don't know. Mark Hamill is a voice acting chameleon. James Earl Jones was himself, which was great for many roles and impossible to improve upon for some. Their strengths lie on different axes.

3 năm trướcdiscuss

My understanding is that they do need to follow the treaty requirements if they launch from a country that has signed it or, maybe, are incorporated in such a country.

3 năm trướcdiscuss

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planetary_protection From the article: Category II: Any mission to locations of significant interest for chemical evolution and the origin of life, but only a remote chance that spacecraft-borne contamination could compromise investigations. Examples include the Moon, Venus, and comets. Requires simple documentation only, primarily to outline intended or potential impact targets, and an end of mission report of any inadvertent impact site if such occurred.[16]

3 năm trướcdiscuss

I was in the south bay, and walked and exercised outside frequently after about the first month. Santa Clara County had a similar policy concerning separation distance outside, and I never had an unpleasant experience. I'm sorry you did, and I won't defend rude or overly fearful behavior. However, I draw a distinction between unintended consequences and weaponization. I've seen no evidence the officials who instituted the policy weaponized anything or directed it toward any specific group or groups, and you have presented none.

My belief is that they were collectively responding to an uncertain, rapidly changing situation, were incentivized to be very conservative given the early experience in Italy, didn't adjust their approach sufficiently when new information revised the case fatality rate downward, and did a poor job overall of balancing the broad spectrum of risks and costs. I don't think any of these mistakes were intentional. And none of us, including those who criticize these policies in hindsight, really know what would have happened had the policies been more lax, especially early on.

3 năm trướcdiscuss

Was it Twitter's policy or not? (Of course it was, as we see by how easily it was changed by the new owner.)

3 năm trướcdiscuss

I think you misread the article slightly. The 26% of zombie papers are inside the 44% of papers that contained at least some flawed data. Look at the figure just below this quote where the blue bar, indicating papers he thought were ok, covers more than 50%.

3 năm trướcdiscuss

That may have been the purchaser's expectation, but their deal was with the seller (and bank), not the community in general. In none of the legal papers I signed when purchasing my home was any arrangement with the city constraining future construction nearby. That's done with my vote (so without much effect) and any political action I can spur.

4 năm trướcdiscuss

> NIL is an empty list.... It isn't. It has none of the mechanics of an empty list in Python etc.

I can see how NIL is confusing when coming from Python, but I think this comment has it backwards. The idea of lists as chains or trees of pointers with a distinguished termination value predates LISP by a few years. Moreover, this kind of list predates Python's use of the term by more than 35 years. If you treat lists as just a particularly useful subclass of trees of CONS cells, then they and NIL make perfect sense. Python's lists are fine too, they're just a different kind of thing.

4 năm trướcdiscuss

Stolen is a vague word. If there's evidence she believes there was sufficient fraud to have changed the result, I would be interested. If she was referring to the stolen Podesta emails and Comey's statement right before the election, then those things happened. You may think those things didn't matter, but it's no surprise she does. And then there's the whole storming the capital thing she didn't do.