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Electron band structure in germanium, my ass (2001)

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Re: Electron band structure in germanium, my ass (2001)

#311

Post by devnullbrain »

don-code wrote: post #245
michaelsbradley wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was in honors freshman chemistry at university. Tough class, all homework (lots of it) graded rigorously, but only the midterm and final counted toward the course grade. So if you wanted an A you had to get an A on both exams. After midterm, during every other lecture at least, the professor would sound a refrain: “An orbital is not a house! An electron does not live in a house!” Final exam had a small number of co…

I agree this seems overly principled to me. I recall a DSP class where there was an exam with a question like (not exactly this): > What does the following code print? > `printf("Hello, world!");` If you responded with: > Hello, world! ...which - of course - the whole class did, you got the question wrong. If you responded with: > "Hello, world!" ...which is actually not what that would print, you got the question ri…

I have my own, similar stories but, as a mediocre student, they were lost in the noise of my own mistakes. Nonetheless it's injustice, so I still remember it. Some people on this site were really excellent students, where these deductions really mattered. I don't know how they cope.

Re: Electron band structure in germanium, my ass (2001)

#312

Post by kragen »

anyfoo wrote: post #310
mikepurvis wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That would be like exposing a first year CS student to a situation where "it could be a compiler bug" is one of the potential explanations.

The part was marked as a timer IC.

Not just a timer IC. Literally the most common IC in the world for at least every year from 01980 to 02000 or so, maybe still today. I can understand the first-year student not recognizing it, but what the fuck was the lab tech's mental disability?

Re: Electron band structure in germanium, my ass (2001)

#313

Post by BeFlatXIII »

ethbr1 wrote: post #249
freedomben wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is enraging. I've seen similar things happen too and it blows my mind how ridiculous some of these teachers can be. I don't know if it's dehumanization of their students in their minds or an utter unwillingness to devote 30 seconds of directed attention to understanding the situation and making a reasonable judgment, but whatever the cause it is prolific. The only thing worse is when one of them will add somethi…

The flip side of this is from the professor's perspective: some undergrad in every class will lie their ass off about why their assignment was delayed. Unfortunately, this reality produces no good options if you think someone is telling the truth: (1) make an exception, and be unfair to the rest of the class or (2) don't make an exception, and perpetuate unfairness for the impacted student.

Unfairness to the class, if kept under wraps, is a case of no one actually being harmed.

Re: Electron band structure in germanium, my ass (2001)

#314

Post by kragen »

sevensor wrote: post #228
dvh wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And then there are Etsy moms making frosted shot glass

I would make them reread the MSDS.

I've seen an MSDS for sodium chloride USP that recommends against use in food, and says that you should wash your skin with abundant water for 15 minutes if you contact it and seek immediate medical attention if it gets in your eyes (after, of course, spending 15 minutes in the eyewash station). It also warns you to keep it away from sources of ignition, that it should not be released into the environment, and that you should not handle it without gloves and face protection.

Here, this is the first sodium chloride MSDS I googled up: https://www.fishersci.com/store/msds?partNumber=S64010&produ...

Re: Electron band structure in germanium, my ass (2001)

#316

Post by 8bitsrule »

grg0 wrote: post #216
MarkusQ wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you think _all_ of the Overton Window is "right of center" than you are surely miscallibrated (there's even a meme floating around that describes this exact conceptual error).

His calibration is perfectly fine. There is no left left in the US, as is obvious from the crack down of unions and welfare and the privatization of all aspects of society. At best, you get center-right representation in Congress (who represent the elite, not the working class.)

In my reading of US history, there has never been a left that had any power in the US. Oh it might be allowed to make leftish noises, but as soon as it attempted to assert itself ...

On Sep 15, 1917, U.S. Department of Justice agents made simultaneous raids on forty-eight IWW meeting halls across the country ... arresting, jailing and convicting 165 leaders.

Want more ... see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palmer_Raids

"a series of raids conducted in November 1919 and January 1920 by the United States Department of Justice under the administration of President Woodrow Wilson to capture and arrest suspected socialists, especially anarchists and communists, and deport them from the United States."

Re: Electron band structure in germanium, my ass (2001)

#317

Post by dkarl »

AnimalMuppet wrote: post #246
michaelsbradley wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was in honors freshman chemistry at university. Tough class, all homework (lots of it) graded rigorously, but only the midterm and final counted toward the course grade. So if you wanted an A you had to get an A on both exams. After midterm, during every other lecture at least, the professor would sound a refrain: “An orbital is not a house! An electron does not live in a house!” Final exam had a small number of co…

Yeah? What "life lesson" does the dean think you're going to learn from that? That authority figures cannot be trusted because they will hurt you with bureaucratic stupidity. Does the dean, as an authority figure, really want that to be the lesson you learn?

A kid might see it in terms of "authority figures," but live long enough and you'll understand it's everyone. Not just your professors and bosses, but your subordinates, your friends, your lovers, even your children will judge you unjustly from time to time. But that doesn't mean the world is poison and existence is a curse. It just means you have to learn to get by despite other people's imperfections the same way they get by despite yours.

Re: Electron band structure in germanium, my ass (2001)

#319

Post by sizzle »

madcaptenor wrote: post #51
roadbuster wrote: post #39

I read this in 1999 when entering university. It was so refreshing hearing a student provide a glimpse into the boots-on-the-ground reality of undergrad life at these world-renowned institution. The closing sentence is also prescient; the author pivoted to CS, ultimately completing his doctorate at the University of Wisconsin at Madison https://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~kovar/

LinkedIn has him as Staff Software Engineer at Google: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucas-kovar-185a3531/

Someone send him a link to this HN post and invite him to join us!

Re: Electron band structure in germanium, my ass (2001)

#320

Post by sizzle »

dvh wrote: post #133
sevensor wrote: post #76

I TAd a semiconductor fabrication lab class 20-odd years ago. Mostly it was about making sure the students had the absolute fear of God put into them about working with HF, but there was also a bit at the end where you actually got to do a voltage sweep and characterize your transistor. If in fact you had made a transistor rather than a needlessly complicated resistor. The other TAs and I passed this paper around and…

And then there are Etsy moms making frosted shot glass

With HF?! Got a link to this madness?
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