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Here at GRCC, Computer Club runs a monthly event called PC Clinic where we fix machines for free. We've serviced more than 60 machines over the course of the three events we've run. We easily average more than 100 pieces of spyware on each machine we test.

Three or four machines had over 1000[sic] pieces of spyware, and one machine had over three thousand pieces, plus several variants of either Sasser or Sobig. (I forget which...that machine came in the door on our first day.)

We don't just service the machines of the elderly...we get a lot of uninformed college students and their parents, as well.

If you have any questions, drop me an email. I'd be happy to answer them. I'll respond to /. comments later, after class. :)

They already have a drunk driving simulator. You can read about it here.

Also, I know that Georgia just passed legislation that would allocate more money to public schools for these driving simulators.

What I would really like to see these guys do is incorporate some hydrolics for when they pit, so they could feel the car lift and drop when the tires get changed.

Every now and then, someone around here makes a prick of themselves caricaturing people with Asperger's. I try to give them a taste of a successful individual with it.

I may not have had friends up to high school, but there were people I could get along with there. My condition was finally diagnosed in high school, giving social workers a decent therapy angle. And I turned out OK. I've learned to recognize body language and social nuance. I'm not perfect at it, but most of it is second-nature by now.

At Grand Rapids Community College, where I work and study, I've made dozens of friends. My teachers like me, my boss likes me, my coworkers like me, most of my classmates like me, and I'm Vice President of the Computer Club.

Together with a friend, I organized an end-of-semester bowling party that took place this past Friday. All my coworkers and their friends and family were invited. We had 15 people show up, including people who would refuse to bowl under any circumstances. (One way I got people to show up was by promising them they couldn't do any worse on the lanes than I did. And I was almost right...one person tied my score.)

For a Computer Club event, I've taken the lead in organizing a LAN Party to take place July 14. I'm going to meet with one of managers in IT in order to address security concerns and see about using campus machines for people who don't want to bring their own. (Slashdotters welcome...there will be non-student parking.)

And I'm hoping to transfer to Michigan Tech next fall.

In summary: I may be a geek, but I'm a popular geek. With a lot of work and support, some people with Asperger's can be successful on the conventional route. We don't all have to drop out and make our millions by coming up with the Next Big Thing.

For tips, my family uses Susan B's and Scajawea dollars. Failing that, my mother might significantly over-tip, folding the bill into an origami swan whose wings flap if you pull on the tail. It's interesting to ask the waiter/waitress later if they unfolded it.

Now that the campus vending machines take dollar coins, though, I've stopped carrying them around as often. Since getting product for a single coin doesn't feel as expensive as, say, four coins, I tended to spend a lot more than I should on drinks and snacks.

Of course, now that the campus-ID-and-debit-card is accepted at a lot of the machines, it's become a concious effort not to over-spend again. Especially since I need funds on it to get out of the parking ramp.

Late last year, GRCC had three laptops stolen from the Payroll department. To get there, you have to go to a specific hallway, on a specific floor, in a specific building.

Methinks it was a targeted effort.

Grand Rapids Community College has nearly all of their services (including the Linux classes' box) use Novell for authentication.

At Grand Rapids Community College, we have what we call the Raider Card. It's a sort of debit card that works for on-campus services like parking and some vendine machines. (I believe Subway, Quiet Cafe, the cafeteria, and Art & Bev's are going to support it come January.)

We student workers (GRCC students employed by GRCC) get a credit on our Raider Cards every pay day, independant from our paycheck. It's intended to replace our old parking credit system, but it's still available for my daily vending-machine-provided breakfast. :)

In the Computer Applications Department, the classes that teach Windows and Linux use VMWare to provide students with a preconfigured sandbox. (Which is awesome for us student tutors who tutor those subjects...the lab PCs are generally locked down to the point where a lot of the functionality taught in the classes is unavailable.)

Blackboard modules are available to all classes and instructors, and are used extensively in many of those classes. Blackboard modules are also used by sanctioned student organizations as an online meeting place under the control of the college.

eGRCC is a web interface for students and staff to both class registration and for employment history. I can look at my transcript and at my paycheck history through the same interface.

Novell is used to provide a web interface to student email.

I go to a community college http://www.grcc.edu/ and we have a pretty decent network, considering we have over 14,000 enrolled students who share 1 TB of HDD space... They even have fiber op!!!! I smell discrimination against community colleges here..... Just one look at our homepage and you'll see that we're better than most other community colleges!

I do. I use Windows XP hours on end at work. But I use GNOME on Debian at home. And I prefer GNOME over XP. Even though I'm on a 750MHz Duron.

And, in my opinion, it doesn't matter that I'm a power user in both OS's. I work as a student tutor at the local community college, and I see people completely new to computers coming into the lab every semester.

They don't find Windows intuitive. They don't find Office intuitive ("Where is cell B5?"). They don't find MS Paint intuitive.

The easiest thing for them to use is the Internet. And that's actually easier to use under Linux than Windows, since IE is absent under Linux. People get all these windows popping up over their screen, and they have a hard time doing anything about it.

There's a lot of people around who still don't know how to use a computer well. They go to community colleges to learn. Community colleges exist to serve the needs of bussinesses, and they have a tendency to swallow market speak. So market, damnit!

I work with lots of Vietnamese immigrants in a computer lab at Grand Rapids Community College. Near as I can tell, they were given the option to go to America if they wanted. (I haven't directly asked...I don't know how sensitive of an issue it is.)

Unfortunately, Microsoft has this thing called the MSDN Academic Alliance.

Students and staff of associated educational facilities get Microsoft software for the "price of media and shipping."

That means all programming students can get Visual Studio Pro for $5, and CIS students (and maybe others) can get WinXP for just as cheap.

The college where I'm a student worker has signed up for it. We're teaching C#, Visual C++, and VB.net, all through Visual Studio. All computers on campus run WinXP Pro. (Except for some machines in IT, which run Novell on Linux)

I'm make everyone I know aware of RHCT and RHCE, to try to get more UNIX around, but I'm afraid I'm not in any position to push. Write an email to them and tout further Linux curriculum and usage, will ya?

Unfortunately, Microsoft has this thing called the MSDN Academic Alliance.

Students and staff of associated educational facilities get Microsoft software for the "price of media and shipping."

That means all programming students can get Visual Studio Pro for $5, and CIS students (and maybe others) can get WinXP for just as cheap.

The college where I'm a student worker has signed up for it. We're teaching C#, Visual C++, and VB.net, all through Visual Studio. All computers on campus run WinXP Pro. (Except for some machines in IT, which run Novell on Linux)

I'm make everyone I know aware of RHCT and RHCE, to try to get more UNIX around, but I'm afraid I'm not in any position to push. Write an email to them and tout further Linux curriculum and usage, will ya?

I just checked, and no O'Reilly books are available through my college's netLibrary account. Not surprising, unfortunately.

One of the first courses in all college business curriculums I've seen is "Business Statistics" (BA154 here at GRCC.).

The course focuses on making decisions based on statistics. In the second week of class, we learned what a standard deviation was, and we never stopped using it throughout the semester.

But perhaps ignorance would explain business tactics of the 90's.

I work at GRCC in the ATC open computer lab. We have 7-digit student ID numbers, and typing those into our sign-in software with a numeric keypad is a heck of a lot faster (and easier) than typing in their name and address. And this really matters when you have eight people lined up to sign out computers.

But then, their student number is on their student ID card. A physical ID+unique integer is a godsend.