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Here in Pinellas, it goes strictly by GPA. If there's a magnet program, then they're considered seperate schools for the purposes of valedictorian selection. Thus, we had 2 valedictorians (one with ~4.5, the other with ~4.2).

Um, how can you get higher than a 4.0, with bonus questions and extra credit projects? If there aren't any then getting absolute 100%'s on every assignment and test would only get you a 4.0.

Next of Kin wrote:I just pray for the day that this Richie Rich shows up on this board!

Well, he said he was going to college that year (which was 99 when that debate was posted) so if he's graduating this year maybe he'll be back with his engineering degree to challenge Wong to a debate, I'd love to see that. I've never seen Wong debate someone who was on his level of knowledge and/or experience. And by the way, can anyone remember his real name? I still can, was wondering if anyone else does. Perhaps I could look him on George Washington University and see if he's graduating this year.

Shrykull wrote:Well, he said he was going to college that year (which was 99 when that debate was posted) so if he's graduating this year maybe he'll be back with his engineering degree to challenge Wong to a debate, I'd love to see that. I've never seen Wong debate someone who was on his level of knowledge and/or experience. And by the way, can anyone remember his real name? I still can, was wondering if anyone else does. Perhaps I could look him on George Washington University and see if he's graduating this year.

You're probably never going to see me debate someone with an equivalent or greater level of knowledge and/or experience, for the simple reason that such a person would probably agree with me about the key points. For example, Colonel Olrik could be that guy, except that he agrees. Durandal is very well-versed in certain theoretical aspects of physics which go beyond what I learned in those areas, but he agrees too. See the trend?

BTW, it should be noted that he probably did a bit of growing up while at school. He did E-mail several years after that exchange (quite unexpectedly, out of the blue) and apologize for what he called "the errors of my youth". That's why I removed his real name from the Hate Mail entry.

A new graduate won't have Mike's experience; just book knowledge.

It's not about him needing to reach Mike's level to be a true challenge to him; it's about simply being able to construct a rational, preferably scientific, counter-argument to show he's wrong. It's not as if Mike constructed the site by picking and choosing only information that he agrees with; he took all the information he had and formed the most rational theories that fit the evidence. That Richie Rich is a die hard Trekkie won't mean that he'll emerge a super-Trekkie that can clash with Mike; it'll mean that he'll either a) point out a scientific counter that Mike might have missed (nobody's perfect) b) ignore science and focus solely on what he wants to be the result (which is no different than any of the other debates) c) ignore the technological angle and try to go for some more subjective point because he has no valid response to the science. But the afflilliation of the side shouldn't be a factor; objective science isn't open to that kind of interpretation. Fire a neutron into a nucleus and it doesn't give a damn about your politics, it just makes the Uranium explode.

Shrykull wrote:By the way- I still remember Richie's Rich's real name, if anyone can get tell me I'll be their slave for a week- not!

[Name deleted; nothing personal CS, but he did apologize and I think we should try to respect his desire to not be publicly associated with the nonsense he wrote]

Darth Wong wrote:

Shrykull wrote:Well, he said he was going to college that year (which was 99 when that debate was posted) so if he's graduating this year maybe he'll be back with his engineering degree to challenge Wong to a debate, I'd love to see that. I've never seen Wong debate someone who was on his level of knowledge and/or experience. And by the way, can anyone remember his real name? I still can, was wondering if anyone else does. Perhaps I could look him on George Washington University and see if he's graduating this year.

You're probably never going to see me debate someone with an equivalent or greater level of knowledge and/or experience, for the simple reason that such a person would probably agree with me about the key points.

But you said heated debates occur even among very knowledgeable scientists, what kind of debates might I ask, what's a good example?

When the evidence is inconclusive, you can have heated debates. The evidence in this case has a high degree of potential inaccuracy, but the disparities are so large that it is nevertheless quite conclusive in favour of one side winning effortlessly.

Cyborg Stan wrote:

Shrykull wrote:By the way- I still remember Richie's Rich's real name, if anyone can get tell me I'll be their slave for a week- not!

[Name deleted; nothing personal CS, but he did apologize and I think we should try to respect his desire to not be publicly associated with the nonsense he wrote]

Um, I don't understand this one, "Nothing personal CS" as in Cyborg Stan? Why are you telling yourself?

Shrykull wrote:

Cyborg Stan wrote:

Shrykull wrote:By the way- I still remember Richie's Rich's real name, if anyone can get tell me I'll be their slave for a week- not!

[Name deleted; nothing personal CS, but he did apologize and I think we should try to respect his desire to not be publicly associated with the nonsense he wrote]

Um, I don't understand this one, "Nothing personal CS" as in Cyborg Stan? Why are you telling yourself?

The coloured text denotes a mod has edited it....that is what the mod has written in the post....every mod uses a different colour.

IRG CommandoJoe wrote:

Colonel Olrik wrote:edit: screw it. Challenge them to solve this equation: Uxx = Vtt

Uxx would be Ux^2 and Vtt would be Vt^2, right? If I only knew what they represented...lol.

OR is it Ut and t are separate symbols? And Vt and t are separate symbols?

The equation is correct. Let me help you. U, V are functions U(x,t) and V(x,t).

Ux is the first differentiation of U in order a x, Vt is the first diff of V in order a t. Uxx, Vtt are the second diff of U, V in order a x, t, obviously.

Since I learned it (first year, physics II) I think it's beautiful..

Could you just show the solution? LOL

Nope

The coloured text denotes a mod has edited it....that is what the mod has written in the post....every mod uses a different colour.

That's only true for the horsemen. The supermods usually have a favorite color, but not all of them.

Sonnenburg wrote:There's nothing to back up his claim but his own word. I can say I'm the smartest person in the Midwest, but that doesn't make it true (my IQ score makes it true )

Boy, you guys are hurtin' since I left the neighborhood aren't ya!

The Dark wrote:

phongn wrote:

The Dark wrote:
Well, in Orange County, FL, it's done really weird. The person with the highest weighted GPA AND everyone with an unweighted 4.0 is considered valedictorian.

WTF?

Here in Pinellas, it goes strictly by GPA. If there's a magnet program, then they're considered seperate schools for the purposes of valedictorian selection. Thus, we had 2 valedictorians (one with ~4.5, the other with ~4.2).

FWIW, I was ranked 10th in my class and went to a good high school. Engineering school gave me a beat-down anyways.

The local IB school had 31 valedictorians, and all of them were allowed to speak I heard it was a 4 hour ceremony. We got 920 through in under 3 hours with 5 speakers, each limited to 5 minutes.

31? Hell, if the only requirement was a 4.0 our school would have around that many.

One of the IB schools had 5 co-valedictorians, though I can't recall if that was for the school or IB alone (under our standards).

Shrykull wrote:

Here in Pinellas, it goes strictly by GPA. If there's a magnet program, then they're considered seperate schools for the purposes of valedictorian selection. Thus, we had 2 valedictorians (one with ~4.5, the other with ~4.2).

Um, how can you get higher than a 4.0, with bonus questions and extra credit projects? If there aren't any then getting absolute 100%'s on every assignment and test would only get you a 4.0.

Certain classes are weighted on a 5-point scale. Thus, a student may have greater than a 4.0 weighted average, but less than a 4.0 unweighted.

IRG CommandoJoe wrote:

Colonel Olrik wrote:edit: screw it. Challenge them to solve this equation: Uxx = Vtt

Uxx would be Ux^2 and Vtt would be Vt^2, right? If I only knew what they represented...lol.

OR is it Ut and t are separate symbols? And Vt and t are separate symbols?

It's a heat equation. The second partial derivative of U with respect to x equals the second partial of V with respect to t. If Uxx = Vtt then you have harmonic functions U, V of x and t, used in residue theory.

Colonel Olrik wrote:

aerius wrote:If these kiddies think they're so smart, I challenge them to take 3rd & 4th year university final exams. I'd be surprised if they can get anything right besides their name.

Humm.. third year..

Fluid mechanics II
Solid mechanics I
Vibrations
Thermodinamics II
Electronic and instrumentation
Automation
And more..

Yep, they're fucked.

3rd yr math would be like,

Finite geometries
Ring & Field theory
Aerodynamics/Fluid dynamics/Biomathematics (these are like diffeq 3 or higher with advanced complex analysis)
Real analysis 1 or 2
Number theory

I remember this eqn from first complex analysis, where you test everything for being harmonic and for analyticity in preparation for residue theory. We saw the word "anal" on the board a lot.

aerius wrote:If these kiddies think they're so smart, I challenge them to take 3rd & 4th year university final exams. I'd be surprised if they can get anything right besides their name.

Are you JOKING! I challenge them to take the basic skills test for placement in calculus!

phongn wrote:

Shrykull wrote:

Here in Pinellas, it goes strictly by GPA. If there's a magnet program, then they're considered seperate schools for the purposes of valedictorian selection. Thus, we had 2 valedictorians (one with ~4.5, the other with ~4.2).

Um, how can you get higher than a 4.0, with bonus questions and extra credit projects? If there aren't any then getting absolute 100%'s on every assignment and test would only get you a 4.0.

Certain classes are weighted on a 5-point scale. Thus, a student may have greater than a 4.0 weighted average, but less than a 4.0 unweighted.

Right. I, for example, graduated with a 3.8 unweighted, but a 4.25 weighted GPA. Band dragged down the weighted, or I would've been over a 4.3, possibly up to a 4.4.