Software Engineering

The Office of Administration Unpaid Student Internship Program is recruiting the nation’s best and brightest software engineering students to the Executive Office of the President, Office of Administration. Software Engineer Interns (SEIs) will work with the newly created Software Automation and Technology (SWAT) 

Team which is revolutionizing computer usage and business processes in the Executive Office of the President, including the White House. SWAT Team interns have a tremendous impact throughout the organization by providing expert software development and business process engineering services.

 I’m a data scientist. I’m good with numbers, and handling large and medium sized data sets (that doesn’t mean I’m bad at handling small data sets, of course). The work-related thing that gives me most kicks is to take a bunch of data and through a process of simple analysis, extract information out of it. 

To twist and turn the data, or to use management jargon “slice and dice”, and see things that aren’t visible to too many people. To formulate hypotheses, and use data to prove or disprove them. To represent data in simple but intuitive formats (i.e. graphs) so as to convey the information I want to convey.Read more.

education philosophy: Virginia Tech University

education philosophy: Virginia Tech University: " The campus of Virginia Tech University was placed on lockdown Thursday morning after kids attending a summer science camp on the campus ..."

Virginia Tech University

 The campus of Virginia Tech University was placed on lockdown Thursday morning after kids attending a summer science camp on the campus reported seeing a man carrying what looked like a gun.

Students have been instructed to stay inside and secure their doors. While there have been no further sightings, authorities say they're using "an abundance of caution" in their response, no doubt recalling the 2007 shooting on the campus that left 33 people dead.“Campus alert remains in effect,” read a statement posted on the school Web site at 1 p.m., Eastern time. “We recommend that students, employees, and others on campus remain secured indoors. Classes are cancelled for remainder of the day. Students are asked not to come to campus.”

Virginia Tech is currently on lockdown after a report of an armed, unidentified man on campus.

Scant information is currently available about the situation, but students have been advised to stay in their rooms and lock their doors as of 11am EST. Currently, the Virginia Tech website is displaying the following message.“Governor McDonnell is in constant contact with law enforcement officials. All state resources have been made available to assist Virginia Tech Police department and local law enforcement in the search for this man who was allegedly sighted on campus with a firearm.Read more

Stock Market News in India

Incremental concerns about the economy outweighed news of the Senate approving the debt deal, as stocks plunged and posted their longest losing streak in almost three years. Additionally, the S&P 500 hit its lowest point for the year and entered the negative zone.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) lost 265 points or 2.2% to close at 11,866.62. The blue-chip index is now down 6.7% since July 22 and with eight-consecutive days of losses this is its longest losing streak since October 2008. The Standard & Poor 500 (S&P 500) turned negative for the year and ended at its lowest level for the same period. The index was down to 1,254.05, after it shed 2.6%. This was also the sharpest one-day decline for the index since August 2010 and the S&P 500 is now down 0.3% year to date. The Nasdaq Composite Index declined by 2.7% and settled at 2,669.24. On the New York Stock Exchange, Amex and Nasdaq, composite volumes were 9.7 billion shares, considerably ahead of this year's daily average of 7.5 billion. On the NYSE, for four stocks that moved down, only one stock managed to climb higher.

Landauer is the world's leading provider of technical and analytical services to determine occupational and environmental radiation exposure and is the leading domestic provider of outsourced medical physics services.   Chevron Corp. (NYSE:CVX) reported a jump in its second-quarter 2011 profits, benefiting from higher oil prices and stronger refining margins. Earnings per share (excluding adjustments for foreign-currency effects) came in at $3.89, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.55 and the year-ago adjusted profit of $2.58

education philosophy: Burj Khalifa Dubai

education philosophy: Burj Khalifa Dubai: "Both are platforms for art and cultural development. Cultural Engineering’s latest collaboration with Emaar was to realise its vision of gi..."

Burj Khalifa Dubai

Both are platforms for art and cultural development. Cultural Engineering’s latest collaboration with Emaar was to realise its vision of giving back to the community.The Kingdom Tower's numbers are impressive. The building itself will take a staggering $1.2 billion to build, "while the cost of the entire Kingdom City project is anticipated to be $20 billion," said AS+GG. The massive 3,280-foot spire will house a 5.7 million square feet (530,000 square meters) space and will beat the Burj by "at least 568 feet" (173 meter).

 It will have a Four Seasons hotel, a Four Seasons apartment area, office space, luxury condos and the world's highest observatory.

“The Pavilion will allow people to experience art, literature, dialogue and cuisine at one venue,” says Rashid Bin Shabib, co-director at Cultural Engineering and one of the two Shabib brothers behind this project. “We have been working with local creative institutions and individuals to make this happen, and thankfully the project is slowly becoming the city’s first non-commercial art and public space,” he adds. High ceilings and loft-style interiors stamp the term “arty” on the overall ambience.In the last few months The Pavilion’s galleries have showcased the work of several accomplished regional and international artists, including local light artist James Clar, Dutch sociologist and photographer Charlie Koolhaas and Iranian artist Laleh Khorramian. Its mission is to push preconceived boundaries of art and creativity in a bid to educate the people of Dubai and broaden their horizons. More info

education philosophy: Cspan News

education philosophy: Cspan News: "The U.S. Senate, the world's greatest debilitative body, is living up to its reputation over the debt ceiling. This weekend will feature a..."

Cspan News

The U.S. Senate, the world's greatest debilitative body, is living up to its reputation over the debt ceiling.  This weekend will feature a 1 a.m. vote.  The Senate is useless. No, hold it, the Senate has a use.  When I think of the Senate, I then usually have to take a shit.  The U.S. Senate, it's a damn good laxative

.  Try it, but be careful, it you imagine Mitch McConnell, you'll get instant diarrhea.
Back-channel talks held the best hope for a compromise. Unless Congress raises the debt ceiling, the government would be barred from further borrowing after Tuesday, according to the Treasury, and could quickly run out of money to pay all its bills.McConnell called on Reid to move up a vote that had been set for 1 a.m. EDT on Sunday so the two sides could begin talks with the White House.

“We can’t do it by ourselves, it has to have the only person in America who can sign something into law,” McConnell said.”

Read more.

education philosophy: About Foxconn

education philosophy: About Foxconn: "(The image is a screen grab from the trailer of the 2004 Will Smith film “I, Robot ,” which I obviously selected tongue-in-cheek. Real robo..."

About Foxconn

(The image is a screen grab from the trailer of the 2004 Will Smith film “I, Robot,” which I obviously selected tongue-in-cheek. Real robots used in the assembly of electronics look more like the one assembling cell phone speakers in the video below from a Florida-based company called AccuPlace.)By now most people who know anything about the world of consumer electronics knows that most of the gadgets they love — their iPads, iPhones, Android tablets and so on — are made in China in huge factories, many of them owned by a Taiwanese company called Foxconn.

Foxconn has in recent years seen its share of negative press. There was an explosion at one of its plants in June that killed three people. Prior to that, there was a disturbing string of suicides that so shocked the sensibilities of Western consumers that it prompted demands for better working conditions and two lengthy cover stories in Wired and in Bloomberg BusineEerily absent is any comment on the reaction of those employees in attendance. Did they cheer at the thought of being freed up from least popular jobs on the line by robots? Or did they begin to worry anew, grasping the economic realities that additional factory automation brings with it?ssweek.Read more

About Foxconn

(The image is a screen grab from the trailer of the 2004 Will Smith film “I, Robot,” which I obviously selected tongue-in-cheek. Real robots used in the assembly of electronics look more like the one assembling cell phone speakers in the video below from a Florida-based company called AccuPlace.)By now most people who know anything about the world of consumer electronics knows that most of the gadgets they love — their iPads, iPhones, Android tablets and so on — are made in China in huge factories, many of them owned by a Taiwanese company called Foxconn.

Foxconn has in recent years seen its share of negative press. There was an explosion at one of its plants in June that killed three people. Prior to that, there was a disturbing string of suicides that so shocked the sensibilities of Western consumers that it prompted demands for better working conditions and two lengthy cover stories in Wired and in Bloomberg BusineEerily absent is any comment on the reaction of those employees in attendance. Did they cheer at the thought of being freed up from least popular jobs on the line by robots? Or did they begin to worry anew, grasping the economic realities that additional factory automation brings with it?ssweek.Read more

education philosophy: Diablo 3 Beta Force

education philosophy: Diablo 3 Beta Force: "Diablo 3 Beta While all the Diablo 3 talk this week will probably center around Blizzard's announcement of the player-to-player auction s..."

Diablo 3 Beta Force

Diablo 3 Beta
While all the Diablo 3 talk this week will probably center around Blizzard's announcement of the player-to-player auction system, there's plenty to say about the game itself. It's the most polished it has ever been, and while the mechanics were in and working at the last BlizzCon, this beta build featured all of the classes with both sexes, the early questlines and story in the beginning of Act 1, co-op play, and the latest implementation of the full skill and crafting systems. We didn't get to play with the skill-tweaking Runes, but we were shown them being slotted and used in a hands-off demo.

All of the classes are still hosting roughly the same skills we've seen in the past, but the class resources have been tweaked and balanced out. Wizards now run on Arcane Power, and have a few spammy damage spells counterweighed with more costly status spells like Slow Time and an Arkon form that transforms both the character and her skills. Monks have Spirit, which slowly fills as you carry out his quick attacks and is then used up with big skills like a group heal.Read more