|
Work hard(-ly) like ants!
A story of research which was likely induced by Dilbert's colleague Wally:
Ants and bees have reputations as efficient team players. In Temnothorax rugatulus — a small brown ant found in pine forests in North America — division of labor is common, with workers specializing in tasks like foraging, building, and brood care. But new research shows that many ants in a colony seem to specialize in doing nothing at all ...
Out of the “workers,” 71.9% were inactive at least half the time, and 25.1% were never seen working. A small fraction of the ants, just 2.6%, were always active during observation What were those 97% of the ants doing? Were they searching for the coffee kitchen?
|
|
|
|
|
Nature said: 9% were inactive at least half the time, and 25.1% were never seen working. A small fraction of the ants, just 2.6%, were always active during observation
Ha! Just like the human work world! 
Maybe this isn't a joke? 
|
|
|
|
|
I blame nepotism. That's gotta be it. The 2.6% may be undocumented immigrants; the researchers should check their papers.
|
|
|
|
|
Occam's Razor suggests a few hypotheses:
1. there is apparent "over-population" as a result of evolutionary selection related to frequent occurrence of disasters which wipe out large numbers of the population. they are "spare parts."
2. the observations taken may have been taken at times when plentiful food and water were easily available and ample food could be produced with a small pool of workers.
3. the "extra bodies" are there in case of invasion: a peace-time army ready to be mobilized.
Said razor does not suggest:
1. the ant religion calls for a large number of monks who do not work.
«I want to stay as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all kinds of things you can't see from the center» Kurt Vonnegut.
|
|
|
|
|
Bernhard Hiller wrote: What were those 97% of the ants doing?
They're managers.
Marc
|
|
|
|
|
About 40 managers for one worker... That's real business.
|
|
|
|
|
Bedtime problems boost kids’ math performance
"Daddy, read me a word problem," is probably not a request that many fathers hear. Yet if a school child's parents replace a bedtime story with a math discussion even one night a week, the child's math skill may improve markedly compared with peers who listen to nonmathematical stories, a new study shows. Note to parents: Don't drink and derive - you might confuse your kids.
|
|
|
|
|
Bernhard Hiller wrote: Don't drink and derive
Don't be so integralist and axiomatic about that!  BTW this is one of my favourite wordplays but it is untranslatable in Italian.
Regarding the actual article I agree: exposure to a perspective builds confidence with it, so being exposed to little amounts of maths build the confidence and the mental paths needed to understand it.
GCS d--- s-/++ a- C++++ U+++ P- L- E-- W++ N++ o+ K- w+++ O? M-- V? PS+ PE- Y+ PGP t++ 5? X R++ tv-- b+ DI+++ D++ G e++>+++ h--- ++>+++ y+++* Weapons extension: ma- k++ F+2 X
If you think 'goto' is evil, try writing an Assembly program without JMP. -- TNCaver
"When you have eliminated the JavaScript, whatever remains must be an empty page." -- Mike Hankey
|
|
|
|
|
Yet another way to steal away another little piece of our kids already cut-down childhood, just to make them well-performers in the rat race a.k.a. work life. Mad, mad world we live in.
|
|
|
|
|
I understood it slightly different. If you actually manage to boost there capacity for math and problem solving, and that through a little bi of play like activity, they might end up not having to struggle for hours on math problems.
Having that extra capacity would be what make them excel to be inventors, instead of being consumers...
|
|
|
|
|
To my understanding, if someone (no matter of what age) struggles to learn something, it's most likely because he or she is forced to learn it. For example, if someone has no interest in math, he or she will never excel at it because the lack of true motivation to learn it. There is no mastering without interest and motivation. (And it's just not only talent. Talent makes it easier for the individual to grasp it, but without any interest and motivation even the most talented will fail).
Now with math as a bedtime story: It might help to develop certain problem solving abilities, but still it's no guarantee that every single child who is trained like that will later be perfect or single-handedly master at math. It only works out if the child has a certain level of interest and motivation; otherwise, it will just be put under stress being forced to learn and understand it.
Now, wouldn't it be better if we'd find the thing that truly interests and motivates the child, and help to boost that? Of course, that doesn't work out with our current system of education, which forces everybody to fit into a standardized pattern, with the only goal to make them function and perform well in the rat race that our society is - no matter if they are going to be inventors or trash collectors. And the only reason I see for parents to force their kids to be good at math is because they want them to get the well-paid job later, completely ignoring their natural abilities, interests and motivation.
For example, I know a story of a guy (not me), a native German speaker, who has been very bad at English at school. He tried to get better at it, but he had no true motivation, he was only doing it for the sake of the grade and therefore, he ultimately failed. But some years later, he fell in love with an English woman who doesn't speak any German, and guess what happened? That poor guy became fluent in English after just a few months although he almost completely forgot about all he learned in the meantime...
|
|
|
|
|
That doesn't add up.
I think the kids would likely get beat up more.
|
|
|
|
|
Rumours Gain Momentum As NASA Scientist Says 'Amazing' Announcement Ahead
clickity[^]
Spoiler alert:
Large sign spotted "No earthlings allowed"
New version: WinHeist Version When you have eliminated the JavaScript, whatever remains must be an empty page. Unknown
|
|
|
|
|
Mike Hankey wrote: "No earthlings allowed"
No, they brought Trillian out there, didn't they?
|
|
|
|
|
I was thinking more like cooties. 
New version: WinHeist Version When you have eliminated the JavaScript, whatever remains must be an empty page. Unknown
|
|
|
|
|
Having trouble installing and setting up Win10? You aren’t alone. Here are a dozen-plus of the most common problems, along with a few solutions. Take a deep breath and count to 10.
|
|
|
|
|
As cigarretes packages says in europe:
The best way... do not start 
M.D.V. 
If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about?
Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you
Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
|
|
|
|
|
SHA1, one of the Internet's most crucial cryptographic algorithms, is so weak to a newly refined attack that it may be broken by real-world hackers in the next three months, an international team of researchers warned Thursday. Time for retirement on a nice farm upstate where he can hash and play in peace.
|
|
|
|
|
In China, every citizen is being assigned a credit score that drops if a person buys and plays video games, or posts political comments online “without prior permission," or even if social media "friends" do so. The ACLU said the credit rating system, an Orwellian nightmare, should serve as a warning to Americans. Video games are now a thoughtcrime.
|
|
|
|
|
Google says it wants to speed up mobile Web browsing. So here’s the search giant’s solution: An open source project with a difficult name that’s supposed to make it easy to read stuff on your phone. I get a window from a glass, he must get a window from a glass. I get a step, he must get a step.
|
|
|
|
|
The CEO and founder of DuckDuckGo has revealed that the privacy-focused search engine is making a profit despite not tracking its users' online activity and search history. Gabriel Weinberg took to YCombinator's Hacker News to conduct an AMA (ask me anything) on 7 October, making a dig at Google and other major search engines by claiming that privacy does not need to be sacrificed for profitability. The quacks are making bills.
|
|
|
|
|
Rob answers, "How did you find time to learn Elixir?" First, you sleep less. And then? Well if you could stop sleeping all together, that would be great.
|
|
|
|
|
I spend time keeping myself up-to-date and learning new skills as a matter of course, and have done so my entire career. I find that writing articles (such as those on CP) is a great way to consolidate something you have learned. As Einstein famously noted, if you can't explain it, you don't understand it.
Twitter is a great tool for staying current. I follow lots of technical people and groups and regularly look through their tweets to find out what's new.
I also like to read books / articles in bed before going to sleep.
Like the author, I too have a full time job, a partner and children.
Importantly, I also escape and do other things that have nothing to do with work (running, cycling, family time etc). This is really important
"There are two ways of constructing a software design: One way is to make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies, and the other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies. The first method is far more difficult." - C.A.R. Hoare
Home | LinkedIn | Google+ | Twitter
|
|
|
|
|
Amazon announced Amazon EC2 Container Registry, a tool designed to simplify container management for developers today at the Amazon re:invent conference Yes please.
|
|
|
|
|
Volkwagen's top executive in the U.S. told lawmakers on Thursday that cheating on emissions with the use of software in diesel cars was not a corporate decision, but something that "individuals did." Ahh... the old "Not my code" excuse.
|
|
|
|
General 
News 
Suggestion 
Question 
Bug 
Answer 
Joke 
Praise 
Rant 
Admin 
Submit an article or tip
