Pay for doing your homework?

I recently checked out Freelancer.com, a website to exchange work and expertise. However I suspected thet some "projects" were actually homework/school assignments instead of real-world work that is legitimate for freelancing.

Take this example I saw today:

Exercise 4 (Black-Scholes Formula) (5+15P points)

For a European call the analytic solution of the Black-Scholes equation is given by

...(some equations)

then later:

a) Establish an algorithm to calculate ....

b) Write a computer program in Java, C++, C or Fortran that calculates prices of European call and put options using the above Black-Scholes formula and the algorithm constructed in a). Then compute the following option prices at time t = 0:

 This looks like a homework assignment than a real project! HW assignment must not be tendered as project for other people to do for pay--not even if you have money to pay somebody else! They are fine to be offered as opportunity for tutoring. In this way the tutor receives the money and the hirer receives the education. The tutor can work out the solution together with you (although I prefer no one helping out too much lest the student would not learn what he/she is supposed to learn).
If you pay someone to do this and you are not taking this class for credit, it's up to you. I will have no complain for you. I just don't understand today's students. Many of them are not willing to learn, they just want the result and the grade.

Some links

Using wordpress to create a website:

http://en.support.wordpress.com/using-wordpress-to-create-a-website/

Trim power hog on laptop: Thinkpad T400 with Linux

The following are ideas to remove power hogs in my laptop plus prolong its lifetime.

On Thinkpad T400 with Debian system (currently: Wheezy), do the following:

1) install laptop-mode-tools
Set the hard drive hdparm parameters to

BATT_HD_POWERMGMT=225
LM_AC_HD_POWERMGMT=254
NOLM_AC_HD_POWERMGMT=254

in /etc/laptop-mode/laptop-mode.conf.
Also set the hard disk spindown timeout to:

LM_AC_HD_IDLE_TIMEOUT_SECONDS=600
LM_BATT_HD_IDLE_TIMEOUT_SECONDS=120
NOLM_HD_IDLE_TIMEOUT_SECONDS=7200

This is needed for balance between battery life and your hard disk life.

2) disable wake-on-lan:

a) disable it on bios
b) install pm-utils hook blacklist  in /etc/pm/config.d/disable-wol-tweaks:

HOOK_BLACKLIST="disable_wol"

3) (TODO) disable wake-on-USB

4) install tp-smapi-dkms and add these entries in /etc/sysfs.conf:

devices/platform/smapi/BAT0/start_charge_thresh = 67
devices/platform/smapi/BAT0/stop_charge_thresh = 100

(Ref: http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Tp_smapi)


If you have any more ideas, let me know.

An ideal blogging framework for me

What is this? I am trying out a blog.

 I have been wanting to put out a blog for myself and my family, yet I am looking for a blogging framework that are more amenable to systematic programming. Being a command-line and Linux addict, I would require the following from my ideal blogging enviroment:

1) text-based entries, somewhat like Wiki or ReST or Asciidoc.
2) easy programming API for interacting with the blog system in the "cloud"

In this way, I can also store a copy of my own blog in my own computer, under SCM control (such as git). Growing up in an era where internet was not existent, I do not take internet from granted. Especially I do not want to put out a material which I do not have a personal copy of in my own computer.

Also, the framework should include the opportunity to upload files (i.e. some audio, video, or photo files) and possibly other files (.tar archive, etc).

Mumble jumble

I think today everybody on the web is supposed to have a blog. So here it is: enjoy .... nothing! :-P

Why do we have to have a blog? Writing it is a waste of time. Here is a random link: http://www.wm.edu/ .