College Exercise in Programming - Sample of Real life work while Teaching

I think a great way to teach people how to properly think through all aspect of computer coding (or anything) is to have people write their code as normal, then halfway through the project their code is given to someone else and that OTHER person now has to complete the project. Everyone swaps.

 

This would definitely test to see if the people followed proper coding and documentation techniques.

A person getting really bad source code would get a bonus for the project! (Complete or not, after all they would have to re-engineer or spend lots of time trying to figure out what routines did.)

 

This could be applied to other aspect of teaching in college, and even in High School, as well.

Rain Gods Return to Oregon

The original Oregon Rain pattern seems to have returned at last to the Pacific Northwest. Dec 18 thru Jan 3 had rain every day in Portland, a break, then rained every day till Jan 22 - then it took Monday the 23rd and Tuesday the 24th off with clear bright skies - then resumed with glee another week+ rain pattern. 

I saw that Brookings Oregon had only 28+ inches of rain since December 18th.

Now everyone will understand why the two University teams are nicknamed Ducks and Beavers you need to be in order to get to the playing field!

Biscuit Forest Fire Logging Study Flawed?

The latest issue of Science (try and find Science web site, even Google cannot since the journal name Science and its web site is badly structured and cannot be found easily at all, and not ONE "college" publication that talks about it ever lists the web site!) has a published study about the "Biscuit" fire which concludes that the forest would re-grow better if salvage logging was not done.

 

Like any study, you have to look at the goal, ground rules used, methods used, how measured and other parameters for the STUDY to be valid. The conclusions are always based on the initial parameters and methods used.

 

Since no one ever seems to link to the Journal Of Science, and I cannot find their web site at all, I would bet that the study only started after the logging operation started - which means that for TWO years no logging could occur at all. Which also means that seedlings sprout during that time - since they counted the seedlings destroyed by trucks running over them.

 

Now - to be truly valid and have a comparison - you would have to allow the logging companies to start salvage logging THE DAY the fire is declared over, let them get into the woods, cut the trees down, burn the debris that is left there, THEN see which method is better.

 

As it is now the study is perfectly valid and totally worthless.

 

Private Party Cost overruns and Public Subsidy

Portland Oregon's city council is surprised that the OHSU tram being built for $45 million dollars is three times what the initial estimate was three years ago. They should not be.
It has been well known that anytime public money is involved the price will ALWAYS go up over estimate - since every public project is a test in social engineering in Portland it falls into the "Jurassic Park" mentality of - "spare no expense."

The true way to fund items is to see if a fully PRIVATE firm will take all the risks of a project for someone that as an aside benefits the public. Once it is built, the government should then look at the project and see if it did indeed benefit the public at large and then give money to the private firm as a reward for building something at its own risk that benefited the public. Just never guarantee that they get money from the government for any project.

If a private firm had to fund the whole tram would it have been built by OHSU? No, but since the city said they would fund it. For the city to leave the project half completed as an example of failure of the government to manage any project means the money will be found to finish it and then trump it up as a great social, economic,environmental success.
BTW, at the top and bottom of the tram there is NO PARKING spaces at all for the public. So if you want to get to OSHU  you have to drive up the hill to get there. There is no traffic savings at all to the city. Only benefits are to the people who work at OHSU and need to visit their buildings at the bottom or vice versa. (OHSU people at the bottom will have parking spaces I think. (I hope they do, never have seen any plan stating that they did.)
Ah, to live in a progressive city where public funding helps all business but those who need it. OHSU is largely a publicly funded research medical university. After all, to open up a business in Portland can take up more than $50,000 in fees for a simple business to move across the street.