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Rolf Mertig
Rolf Mertig
12:29 AM
@SjoerdC.deVries I don't quite understand why the mods should not be a paid SE person? I certainly do not want to do it and I guess a lot of other people just have no time for this. If someone has a lot of time (in between jobs, working as a night guard, etc.) then those people will come up and do it. Otherwise I think nobody who is too busy should feel obliged to moderate. Why? The site is rather good and if there is a sometimes higher or lower signal to noise ratio or not does not matter. Mathgroup
 
belisarius
belisarius
@RolfMertig That is SE business model. Why should they pay for something they can get for free?
 
Rolf Mertig
Rolf Mertig
is being run with one moderator for ages and is still somewhat useful.I search it now and then.
@belisarius But that is what I am saying: do not work for free if you do not have the time or feel like so. SE does give something back: nice infrastructure etc., but there should be a limit to how much people sacrifice themselves.
 
R.M
R.M
well, you're not paying for the SE engine's software either... :)
 
Rolf Mertig
Rolf Mertig
No, but they get copyrights on all I post here ... . Plus the value is the community and they can sell job advertisements and alike and that is all fine.
 
R.M
R.M
no, the copyright is still yours... It's licensed to the community under a CC by SA license
 
Rolf Mertig
Rolf Mertig
12:33 AM
I do know quite a few long-time Mathematica programmers who definitely do not post here.
Ah, yes, I always mix this up. Fine.
 
belisarius
belisarius
brb
 
Rolf Mertig
Rolf Mertig
Que es brb?
 
R.M
R.M
be right back
 
Rolf Mertig
Rolf Mertig
Ah. What is the time in Bs.As. now?
 
R.M
R.M
Probably GMT -3 or -4, I think.
-3
 
Rolf Mertig
Rolf Mertig
12:35 AM
WolframAlpha["Buenos Aires time"] tells me it is 9:35 pm ...
 
R.M
R.M
haha! That's exactly what I used :D
== buenos aires time zone
In any case, going back to your earlier point... the site has high signal to noise ratio precisely because the moderators and some of the regular users maintain it that way. As an occasional visitor, you might not be aware all the questions that get closed and deleted
 
Rolf Mertig
Rolf Mertig
But that does not matter so much. For me there is quite a lot of noise in that sense that I am not interested in a lot of questions. But even there would be 10 times more questions per day I would still find interesting stuff from the search.
 
R.M
R.M
The idea is that if every user pitched in a little bit to the best they can to keep the site clean and high snr, then the moderator's workload will be manageable. Not many do that though, and that's fine — they contribute in other ways, such as answering and asking questions.
 
Rolf Mertig
Rolf Mertig
The SE search is much better thatn Mathgroups search. E.g., enter CUDAImageConvolve in "Search the archive": this post forums.wolfram.com/mathgroup/archive/2011/Oct/msg00414.html does not show up ...
@R.M I just wanted to edit mathematica.stackexchange.com/questions/10541/… BUT: I had to change more than 6 characters in order be accepted as an edit ???? What a nonsense. All I wanted to do is to add a , after the } and a ] after the etc...
BTW: I thought about that unaswered question from the 2011 mathgroup post and came up with: Needs["CUDALink`"];
test[n_] := Module[{m = 2^n, a, b, lico},
{a, b} = RandomReal[1, {2, m}];
lico = ListConvolve[a, b, {1, 1}];
{AbsoluteTiming[
Total[Chop[lico - Sqrt[m]*InverseFourier[
Fourier[a]*Fourier[b]],
10^(-8)]] === 0], AbsoluteTiming[
Total[Chop[lico - Sqrt[m]*
CUDAInverseFourier[CUDAFourier[a]*
CUDAFourier[b]], 10^(-8)]] === 0]}]; calling now test[20] or so shows that the CUDA version is three times slower. ? Why that. Is the data transfer that costly? How could I do a CUDAListConvo…
 
R.M
R.M
12:54 AM
@RolfMertig ah, yes. You need 2k to be able to edit freely (even with less than 6 chars)
 
Rolf Mertig
Rolf Mertig
@R.M I was too busy lately to spend too much time on SE. Though now you really helped me yesterday so I thought I should add a bit more ... But now I should really get to sleep ... Buenas Noches todos
 
R.M
R.M
@RolfMertig No worries :) I can't try your example because I've been having some issues with my CUDA drivers... nothing works even though CUDAQ returns True
Anyway, gute Nacht! :)
 
 
2 hours later…
J. M.
J. M.
2:45 AM
@GraceNote I'm more or less in the same boat as Sjoerd; I'd like to give other people who might be interested to have a crack at modding, and at the same time, I'm still weighing if I can still spare time for mathematica.SE (not counting answering questions) in the incoming months, along with other things I'm doing.
But, I'll tip my hand on the seventeenth at the latest; that much I can assure.
 
 
2 hours later…
belisarius
belisarius
4:34 AM
@J.M. You and @Sjoerd on the same boat, eh?
 
 
1 hour later…
Verbeia
Verbeia
5:37 AM
If it wasn't for the job I have, and the fact that I am going to be away for two whole months, I would consider nominating. But I don't think I should nominate knowing that I'd be absent for all of November/December.
 
belisarius
belisarius
@R.M So you wanted "yo momma" jokes: mathematica.stackexchange.com/a/10552/193
@Verbeia C'mon ... we die for having a lady up there!
 
 
4 hours later…
Gustavo Bandeira
Gustavo Bandeira
9:33 AM
Can someone help me?
Supose I have a rectangle which are is $x^2$, by having only this information, this square could have only a limited set of sizes.
I did this:
n = 144;
a = Select[n/Range[1, n], IntegerQ];
b = Reverse[a];
c = Table[{a[[x]], b[[x]]}, {x, 1, Length[a]}]
This can find all the rectangles of size $a$x$b$, where $a \cdot b=x^2$. Considering only integers.
Now I want to plot these rectangles, with their center aligned. Ho to do that?
 
F'x
F'x
10:07 AM
GraphicsGrid[{Graphics[Rectangle[{0, 0}, #]] & /@ c}]
Graphics[Rectangle[…]] plots each rectangle in list c, without any consideration for alignement
then let GraphicsGrid do the alignment for you
 
Gustavo Bandeira
Gustavo Bandeira
@F'x Yep.
 
 
3 hours later…
Rolf Mertig
Rolf Mertig
1:13 PM
@Verbeia But why should we put up all the work in filling out the tender and then MH is chosen anyway? I mean, he is on the same continent. Something has to motivate me to put in this day or two to write it all up.
 
J. M.
J. M.
1:31 PM
@belisarius Damn, I lost my Betamax of that...
 
belisarius
belisarius
2:09 PM
@J.M. You can buy it in a modern format : ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_nkw=8+track+cartridge
 
Stack Exchange
Stack Exchange
2:35 PM
0
Q: 2012 Moderator Election: Town Hall Chat

Grace NoteIn connection with the moderator elections, we will be holding a Town Hall Chat session with the candidates. This will be an opportunity for members of the community to pose questions to the candidates on the topic of moderation. Participation is completely voluntary. I will be working with ca...

discussion election
 
J. M.
J. M.
@belisarius Oh, I know; I'm just wistfully remembering watching that one on the Betamax...
 
belisarius
belisarius
Have you checked the "modern" format?
 
J. M.
J. M.
3:01 PM
Well, I suppose I can always order a DVD... :)
 
R.M
R.M
3:12 PM
@Verbeia You should nominate! I'm sure others can pick up the slack for a couple of months
 
 
3 hours later…
Wolfram Blog Feed
Wolfram Blog Feed
6:32 PM
Wolfram Blog: Free Wolfram Mathematica Virtual Conference 2012
posted on September 13, 2012 by Wolfram Blog Team

Get an edge in everything from computer graphics to deploying interactive reports to using Wolfram|Alpha in the classroom. Whether you’re new to Mathematica or an expert, the free Wolfram Mathematica Virtual Conference 2012 will help you get the most out of the platform. Two tracks of conference talks cover applications of Mathematica in industry and [...]

 
Sjoerd C. de Vries
Sjoerd C. de Vries
7:09 PM
@r.m. @OleksandrR. I voted to close too, but I'd say it's a close call. The language is so convoluted that it may interpreted as being about the WolframAlpha command in Mathematica. There is really a link with Mathematica in the question and then the FAQ would allow this.
 
R.M
R.M
@SjoerdC.deVries The WolframAlpha command doesn't allow you to upload data to W|A...
The linked question is valid, because it says "Here's what I got with W|A pro for a small data set, but it fails for large data sets. How can I reproduce this with Mathematica, so that I don't have to depend on W|A".
This question asks: "How can I upload something to W|A, get it to do the calculations and also automatically get the code it uses for the calculation"
 
Sjoerd C. de Vries
Sjoerd C. de Vries
@r.m. ...and then... use it in Mathematica
It's a really bad question
I'll go with your interpretation.
@r.m. How about vote for hypnotoad!
 
R.M
R.M
@SjoerdC.deVries Haha :) I'm thinking of it... like Verbeia, I might get busy next spring/summer with graduation (tentatively planning for next summer, but things can change). But then, it's a long time away and we would've also grown considerably and all that I told her also applies (that the load can be shared by the others)
I do visit pretty much every day and do something, so I'm not worried about the daily workload
 
Sjoerd C. de Vries
Sjoerd C. de Vries
@R.M True, and we have had times where either j.m. or Mr.wizard had a period of leave that most of you won't have noticed at all. So 1 or 2 months off for graduation is quite doable.
 
R.M
R.M
I actually like that there's a lot of community participation here in a lot of activities, unlike other beta sites where the mods get a bad rep because closures are unilateral (it's unilateral only because others don't participate)
 
F'x
F'x
7:24 PM
@R.M that's very true… if the community is involved, the mod only has to act as a failsafe, and for few admin tasks that others cannot perform
 
 
2 hours later…
Verbeia
Verbeia
9:44 PM
@RolfMertig technically I can't talk about this - all communication must go through that email address. I am not on the selection committee, who is open minded; please do not assume the outcome.
@R.M I am thinking about it - you are very kind
 
belisarius
belisarius
@Verbeia You have my vote too!
 
Sjoerd C. de Vries
Sjoerd C. de Vries
@belisarius You have my vote too! ;-)
Oh, you forgot to nominate yourself.
 
belisarius
belisarius
@SjoerdC.deVries I did.But the nomination screen returned Does not compute
 
Sjoerd C. de Vries
Sjoerd C. de Vries
@belisarius Don't be shy
 
belisarius
belisarius
@SjoerdC.deVries On the contrary. I'd never be on the side of the powers that be. That requires switching sarcasm mode off
 
Sjoerd C. de Vries
Sjoerd C. de Vries
9:51 PM
@belisarius You could split off another personality
 
belisarius
belisarius
@SjoerdC.deVries I've quite a few personalities to spare. But all of them are too similar. Boring.
Trying to pack circles of random radii ... quite difficult and a CPU hog
damn
 
Verbeia
Verbeia
10:14 PM
@belisarius ok then
 
belisarius
belisarius
@Verbeia Great!
 
R.M
R.M
10:44 PM
@J.M. I would suggest keeping the list-manipulation tag for the question, because it is essentially that, in mma. Import functions won't help here
 
J. M.
J. M.
@R.M After reading through both your answers... done.
 
R.M
R.M
Do you know how brackets are handled in MATLAB? Leonid and I were talking about it (under his answer) and I believe that they just serve as a container, but I get the feeling that Leonid thinks that there's something deeper in the way it's done.
For instance, you can't (not to my knowledge), enter a 3D matrix by hand...
 
J. M.
J. M.
@R.M Yeah, that's what cat() is for...
 
R.M
R.M
Yeah, that's what I wrote too... cat and reshape (and few others) are the only ways that I know of to do this
 
J. M.
J. M.
The first example here enters the rank-3 tensor by slices, so I'm not sure that counts entirely...
 
R.M
R.M
10:58 PM
no, that doesn't count :)
 
J. M.
J. M.
Anyway... I don't know; brackets in MATLAB are (mostly) what braces are in Mathematica; that's how I always thought of them...
(not counting cells in this discussion, of course)
 
R.M
R.M
@J.M. well, except that you can't create multidimensional lists with brackets like you can with braces
for 2D rectangular arrays, yes
 
J. M.
J. M.
@R.M Yes, hence "mostly". :D
 
R.M
R.M
It's a big difference though... at least, I found it hard to think of lists when I first started out with mma. Going from writing just two brackets for a matrix to several braces was hard to visualize.
Of course, things are much easier and second nature now, but it was confusing at first
 
J. M.
J. M.
Ah, layout... yes, it's a shock of sorts, especially before the time you could actually enter matrices with Ctrl-Enter and Ctrl-,...
 
R.M
R.M
11:04 PM
In some ways, I'm glad I didn't know about the Ctrl-comma and ctrl-enter shortcuts to input matrices back then, as then I would've never gotten the hang of lists
 
J. M.
J. M.
Heh, something romantic about learning things the hard way. :D
 
R.M
R.M
:D
Partly also why I'm more sympathetic to someone struggling to understand mma coming from a different language (or new to programming), than to someone who just wants the answer on a plate
 
J. M.
J. M.
We should always be sympathetic to people trying to go outside their comfort zone. Not many of these sorts around, see...
...and yes, they tend to be the people who are more likely to retain lessons of any sort, precisely because they're hard-won lessons.
 
belisarius
belisarius
11:28 PM
@J.M. Re: Lessons learned the hard way: books.google.com.ar/…
 
J. M.
J. M.
@belisarius Hah, salamanders. :)
 
belisarius
belisarius
yep
 

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