Simple Answers to Simple Questions (SASQ)

[gregnier]

a Real answer for inspy instead of forbidden pc/linux/mac debates...

Close the file.
Open Word 2007
file > Open
Select the file. DO NOT DOUBLE CLICK TO OPEN YET.
next to the Open button down below there is a down arrow.
Click on the arrow next to Open.
Select "Open and Repair"

Search and Replace should work fine from there on.

Personally Using Office 2007 isn't much different than 2003. For the most part the commands are all the same, and they're laid out much more ergonomically in the ribbons instead of hidden 3 layers deep into menus and popup windows. Once you get used to 2007 it's a LOT easier.

[weatherwax]

Okay, so my husband and I are considering starting a podcast. Now, I've looked up various casting services, and how-tos, but I'm still in a muddle as to which editing service would be best for our needs. There are SO MANY. I know we need something free, something that allows us to publish on Wordpress easily. Anyone have any familiarity with the mechanics of podcasting?

[Kea]

a Real answer for Kea instead of forbidden pc/linux/mac debates...

Close the file.
Open Word 2007
file > Open
Select the file. DO NOT DOUBLE CLICK TO OPEN YET.
next to the Open button down below there is a down arrow.
Click on the arrow next to Open.
Select "Open and Repair"

Search and Replace should work fine from there on.

Personally Using Office 2007 isn't much different than 2003. For the most part the commands are all the same, and they're laid out much more ergonomically in the ribbons instead of hidden 3 layers deep into menus and popup windows. Once you get used to 2007 it's a LOT easier.

Er what? I don't think that was my question.

[shhh.. it's all right now.. when i posted that i hadn't had my coffee yet. -G]

[Grillick]

Kea, you should know by now that greg thinks you and inspy are the same person.

[inspiration]

Someone thinks I'm like Kea? *flattered*
[coffee.. or more importantly, lack thereof... had a part to play in that post. ;) -G]

[Steave]

Okay, so my husband and I are considering starting a podcast. Now, I've looked up various casting services, and how-tos, but I'm still in a muddle as to which editing service would be best for our needs. There are SO MANY. I know we need something free, something that allows us to publish on Wordpress easily. Anyone have any familiarity with the mechanics of podcasting?

I can suggest asking this question at the Smart Enough to Know Better forums. I know the guys there are helpful and would have answers on this topic.

[Steave]

I asked the guys and they said they roll their own but they've heard good things about podbean.

[weatherwax]

Lovely. Thank you muchly.

[inspiration]

I can't say a thing about podbean from a podcast-creation standpoint, but as a listener following podbean-created podcasts I've never had an issue.

I said "pod" way too many times there.

[FreakyBoy]

*Gasp!* Inspy's a pod-person!

[Kea]

Calling any statisticians! I'm editing a paper for work, which contains a paragraph like this:

Inland flooding also occurs as a result of heavy rain. More than 1,700mm of rainfall on average (80% of annual rainfall) is recorded from May to September during the typhoon season. The Hong Kong Observatory (HKO) noted that the return period of intense rainstorms of over 100mm/hour has shortened from 37 years to 19 years over the last century (See Table 1). In the last decade, the HKO also recorded that the intensity of short-term (hourly) heavy rainfall has increased from 110mm to above 140mm. However, as the period of record (from 2000 – 2010) increases, the probability encountering a higher value from an unchanged distribution (from 1970 – 2000) also increases. Therefore, both the peak intensity and frequency of intense rainstorms has increased.

I do not understand the sentence in bold at all. The rest of the paper was riddled with serious grammatical errors. I think it was suffering from "too many cooks" syndrome, where at least some of those cooks did not speak English as their first language. So I am unable to tell if my inability to make sense of this sentence is a result of
a) Serious linguistic mangling, or
b) My insufficient sciency-ness.

So, I have decided to ask you sciencey people to eliminate option b. Does this sentence
a) make sense to you
b) fit with the rest of the paragraph?

I cannot contact the author at this time because she has gone to a conference.

[arcosh]

Very wild guess:

The longer the period you watch, the better the chance, that it has heavier rain, then happened between 1970 and 2000.

Which would be rather obviously true (in a longer period, there is more chance, that the worst rainstorm of the century is in it). Does it make sense in the overall context?

[CCC]

However, as the period of record (from 2000 – 2010) increases, the probability encountering a higher value from an unchanged distribution (from 1970 – 2000) also increases.

I'm in agreement with arcosh here; I think that what the author is trying to say is that the rainfall distribution from 1970-2000 is fixed; you're not going to wake up tomorrow and discover that the heaviest rainfall in the 1970-2000 period suddenly got heavier (assuming, of course, no access to time machines). However, if you wake up and it's raining, you might find you're in the middle of the heaviest rainstorm yet to hit in the 2000-2010 period, and have to note down that the heaviest rainstorm of that period is thus heavier than it was yesterday.

I'm also of the firm opinion that there's a little bit of element (a) in there as well; I personally think that it would be a whole lot clearer if that 'from' was replaced by a 'compared to'. (At least, if I'm right about what the author is trying to say, then it would be clearer.)

[FreakyBoy]

It's a nonsense sentence that, best I can tell, is trying to say that recent years are rainier than past years, and the past ten years has been breaking records compared to the previous thirty. But it really is nonsense, and the author should take another stab at the meaning because only the author knows for sure what was trying to be conveyed.

[weatherwax]

Kea, when in doubt, go ask the author if you can. Cause that sentence is all kinds of wha...? And the last thing you need is someone coming down on you for "changing the meaning."