Slashdot Mirror

The OU UK has launched a really great open learning site as well OpenLearn. Get to it though the OCW Consortium portal http://ocwconsortium.org/use/index.html or go to http://openlearn.open.ac.uk/.

It's really quite something to be able to peruse the MIT's material and all credit to them. However, I think that many find it difficult to go through such material if at the end of the study one has nothing but inner satisfaction and some knowledge to show for it. In the UK they have the Open University with online University Degrees and Post Graduate study courses in a very wide range of subject matters. See http://www3.open.ac.uk/about/ Now this is NO Free but is extremely cost effective compared to ANY other form of study and after study and exams results in a fully acredited Degree. Unfortunately it's available only to UK tax paying residents. The courses they offer for those outside of the UK are rather more expensive (no Government subsidy) and rather more limited in scope. There is nothing similar in the USA as far as I can see. Yes there are online degree courses but the cost basis is always rather high (certainly cmpared with the OU. I worked it out that a degree course would cost around Pds6,000.00 in the OU. Also entry is NOT dependent upon High School Certificate. You merely show up online, Register, pay and keep up with the course work etc. Unfortunately UK Citizens outside the UK (no tax residents are also excluded). It would be good if something similar to the UK's OU were available in the USA, entry wise and price wise. Meantime this is NOT a criticism of the MIT, I applaud their commitment to offering course material.

I'm studying Planetology for fun at the Open University and as a good student I feel obliged to ask: Where's the Moon's magnetic field? Molten planetary cores and planetary magnetic fields are related. When you have one, you have the other. Fire and smoke. If the Moon's core is molten, then why its magnetic field is almost inexistent?

It could have happened here in Portugal as it is sugested by some stdies about The Lapedo Child.

The UK's Open University uses FirstClass and has done for some time...

Britain's Open University has just announced an ambitious program spend £5.65 million putting its courseware on the Internet under a Creative Commons license

Talking to Niall Sclater, Virtual Learning Environment Programme Director at The Open University on what they're having to do to Moodle to bring it up to scratch for their large community of blind users was very interesting. The OU have 100,000 students, 10,000 of them with a registered disability, basically they're have to completely redo the accessibility of Moodle.

There was, however, no suggestion that any of the alternatives, commerical or open source were any better.

cheers, thingie

If you're interested in hearing Niall speak on such issues, or have a pointed question to ask him, why not register for our up-coming Open Source and Sustainability 2006 conference

The biggest differences seem to be that a lot of the iTunes material is audio only, is not examinable material, but is available on the Internet. (There would be nothing to stop the BBC from simulcasting the OU material over the Internet - NASA Select does - but the BBC aren't always guilty of having much in the way of intelligence.)

I see the future of "extramural" education of this kind as being Internet-based but much more along the OU lines in terms of quality of material and the option of taking an examination at the end.

I think you'll find that Praxis has a similar attitude. My understanding is that they follow the Jackson approach to understanding requirements: "requirements" represent things the customers wants changed about the world, "specifications" define what the design should do in order to make those changes happen, and the "design" provides a method of doing the things defined in the specification. You might find Jackson's publications on requirements and specification interesting.

I know I'm being a pain in the arse, but we always seem to have to wait for the en-GB builds (there wasn't an RC3 of en-GB just RC2). I know it is free (speech/beer) and I shouldn't whinge, but it is in my genes ;-)

JohnT
http://physics.open.ac.uk/~jdtanner

The Open University in the UK could be considered to do "online degrees" although they call it "distance learning". According to TQI, an organistation that gives access to official information about the quality of Higher Education, the OU is rated very highly for all subjects.

Hey!

Don't knock it, I'm a drop-out with a degree.

I studied part time over 8 years and got a degree in computing with the open university (www.open.ac.uk. OK, I knew the stuff I was doing anyway (mostly) I just wanted the paper to prove it.

Why did I drop out? I should have done computing instead of Physical Electronics (I made a diode), but as I was not a quitter I kept at it until it was too late to switch without losing my grant, and I couldn't afford to stay on.

I worked my way up from PCB assembly until I was writing key software for the Orange/Microsoft flagship smartphones AFTER which I finally completed my degree.

I now work on bandwidth management products for a new-ish company that I hope you will all hear about one day.

Sam

Since leaving the UK I don't have access to the OU any more, and I sorely miss it.

They put a lot of work into making you feel part of a class - so you're not studying alone - with online conferences, a personal tutor, and real-life tutorials and meet-ups if you can get to them. They have a specific BSc (Hons) Information and Communication Technologies degree which is the match of any IT degree in the UK.

Finally, depending on her particular situation, she may not have to pay anything at all.

Since leaving the UK I don't have access to the OU any more, and I sorely miss it.

They put a lot of work into making you feel part of a class - so you're not studying alone - with online conferences, a personal tutor, and real-life tutorials and meet-ups if you can get to them. They have a specific BSc (Hons) Information and Communication Technologies degree which is the match of any IT degree in the UK.

Finally, depending on her particular situation, she may not have to pay anything at all.

Since leaving the UK I don't have access to the OU any more, and I sorely miss it.

They put a lot of work into making you feel part of a class - so you're not studying alone - with online conferences, a personal tutor, and real-life tutorials and meet-ups if you can get to them. They have a specific BSc (Hons) Information and Communication Technologies degree which is the match of any IT degree in the UK.

Finally, depending on her particular situation, she may not have to pay anything at all.

Your fiancee can get a Comp Sci degree through the Open University, and she can mix and match courses to suit her particular interests and strengths.

My experience is with their maths courses and a Digital Communications course. The materials are very good as is their study support. It can be hard work though as you have to discipline yourself to study, you can't just go with the flow like I did at school and "scrape" good grades by virtue of having sat in the classroom and paid some attention.

My only gripe is with their Windows-centrism. For maths courses you have to use MathCAD which I have found does not run under WINE very easily or well, and a lot of their multimedia courseware in the digital comms course was Windows based (though IIRC WINE handled it quite well).

I took http://ict.open.ac.uk/courses/t223/ at the Open University (the largest UK based university!). They do world-wide correspondence courses - sadly I don't think the hardware courses are available outside the EU, but this may help someone else here.

It seems (M)T223 has been stopped now, but you may find something else there that is useful. The replacement is http://www3.open.ac.uk/courses/bin/p12.dll?C01T224 (ie T224) in the school of informatics.

T223 was a top down look at microprocessors starting with the C programming language, then look at compilation, instructions, microcode and logic to understand how programs are converted to impulses. The course used a serial (RS232) connected thermometer to aid study of some of the hardware aspects.

If you know software then it might be a little basic for you - but you could try for a level-3 course.

HTH

pbhj

I took http://ict.open.ac.uk/courses/t223/ at the Open University (the largest UK based university!). They do world-wide correspondence courses - sadly I don't think the hardware courses are available outside the EU, but this may help someone else here.

It seems (M)T223 has been stopped now, but you may find something else there that is useful. The replacement is http://www3.open.ac.uk/courses/bin/p12.dll?C01T224 (ie T224) in the school of informatics.

T223 was a top down look at microprocessors starting with the C programming language, then look at compilation, instructions, microcode and logic to understand how programs are converted to impulses. The course used a serial (RS232) connected thermometer to aid study of some of the hardware aspects.

If you know software then it might be a little basic for you - but you could try for a level-3 course.

HTH

pbhj

...but I am making it for private or domestic use to be viewed at a more convenient time so it does apply to me.

Secondly we are an educational establishment in the UK and are covered by the ERA license which means at work I can record absolutely anything I want and keep it indefinitely (apart from one exemption which is Open University broadcasts for some strange reason).

MBA. You've learned how. Now learn why.

This story has come at a good time for me, as I was pondering the exact same issue, I am considering studying an MBA with the Open University, and the course starts in May so I need to move fast...

They have two MBAs that I'd consider as options though - and I'm somewhat undecided about which to go for:

• MBA (Technology Management)
• Master of Business Administration

I am a process engineer and process manager, involved in process control and improvement, particularly ITIL, ISO9000, and Business Continuity related disciplines. I also own my own consultancy company, and would like to take some big steps forward over the next 10 years or so. I'm not sure really which of the two would benefit me most, they're both quite expensive, so I want to make sure I get the most value from the course. I'm still 29 now, which I think is probably a good age to be thinking about an MBA - old enough to have some experience of business, but still young enough that I haven't completely forgotten how to study yet...

Anyone out there have experience of these courses, or any ideas on what the benefits of each are?

Cheers,

-- Pete.

MBA. You've learned how. Now learn why.

This story has come at a good time for me, as I was pondering the exact same issue, I am considering studying an MBA with the Open University, and the course starts in May so I need to move fast...

They have two MBAs that I'd consider as options though - and I'm somewhat undecided about which to go for:

• MBA (Technology Management)
• Master of Business Administration

I am a process engineer and process manager, involved in process control and improvement, particularly ITIL, ISO9000, and Business Continuity related disciplines. I also own my own consultancy company, and would like to take some big steps forward over the next 10 years or so. I'm not sure really which of the two would benefit me most, they're both quite expensive, so I want to make sure I get the most value from the course. I'm still 29 now, which I think is probably a good age to be thinking about an MBA - old enough to have some experience of business, but still young enough that I haven't completely forgotten how to study yet...

Anyone out there have experience of these courses, or any ideas on what the benefits of each are?

Cheers,

-- Pete.

MBA. You've learned how. Now learn why.

This story has come at a good time for me, as I was pondering the exact same issue, I am considering studying an MBA with the Open University, and the course starts in May so I need to move fast...

They have two MBAs that I'd consider as options though - and I'm somewhat undecided about which to go for:

• MBA (Technology Management)
• Master of Business Administration

I am a process engineer and process manager, involved in process control and improvement, particularly ITIL, ISO9000, and Business Continuity related disciplines. I also own my own consultancy company, and would like to take some big steps forward over the next 10 years or so. I'm not sure really which of the two would benefit me most, they're both quite expensive, so I want to make sure I get the most value from the course. I'm still 29 now, which I think is probably a good age to be thinking about an MBA - old enough to have some experience of business, but still young enough that I haven't completely forgotten how to study yet...

Anyone out there have experience of these courses, or any ideas on what the benefits of each are?

Cheers,

-- Pete.

I've often wished that the British education system allowed the flexibility of that in the US. Throughout my degree (since I was 18) my studies were strictly Computer Science. I would have enjoyed taking some introductory-level classes in some other, completely-different subjects, just to break it up a little.

I did okay learning a little about these things for myself in my spare time, but spending three years on the same subject does get a little too much. For my masters degree I switched to a slightly different subject, but it's still computer-related because that's what all of my qualifications say I can do.

I've heard some good things about The Open University; they structure their degrees in a similar way to that in the US, with courses contributing points and dependencies between courses. I've not looked into it in any great depth, but it seems that from there you can essentially design your own degree, although you do of course have to pick a "major" and do a certain quota of courses from that which decides what actually ends up on your certificate at the end.

I think he means the Open University.

Beagle 2 was not an ESA probe but rather a British project which piggybacked on ESA's Mars Express orbiter (which is going strong by the way).

This is really encouraging to see the the public service broadcasters 'getting' open source and trying to contribute to the community. If this could take off it could be a great boost to the entire copyleft/open-source ideas.

However I would warn that in the UK the content industry is sharpening its knives over The BBC Creative Archive. I attended a conference given at Westminster Media Forum where the representatives of the content industry where rabid about copyright and patent law and extremely hysterical about 'idea theft' as it was colourfully termed. When they heard about the Creative Archive plan... Phew! Some scary people were there... And they are not impressed with Creative Commons - who were shouted at, verbally attacked and generally given a very very frosty reception...

Strangest contribution (and it was a difficult choice considering the crazy assertions and unsubstantiated nonsense spoken) has to be the Arlene McCarthy MEP linking copyright, patent and 'idea' theft with 'Organised Crime', 'Paedophilia', 'Pornography', 'Terrorism' and 'Paramilitary Organisations'... She was truly loopy, and more worryingly serious!

John Naughton was fantastic castigating the dangers from 'slavish legislaters' (she didn't like that!) and gave a really excellent and balanced presentation calling for caution against listening to only the interests of the media corporations and content industry.

Most scary person (again a difficult choice) was Lavinia Carey, Director of FACT who told us that '65% of people didn't think it was a problem to share stuff' and that 'consumers have to be protected from themselves' and those who didn't were 'gonna get a shock'. To get a feeling for the balanced tone see the campaign to link copyright 'theft' and terrorism... Scary!

This is really encouraging to see the the public service broadcasters 'getting' open source and trying to contribute to the community. If this could take off it could be a great boost to the entire copyleft/open-source ideas.

However I would warn that in the UK the content industry is sharpening its knives over The BBC Creative Archive. I attended a conference given at Westminster Media Forum where the representatives of the content industry where rabid about copyright and patent law and extremely hysterical about 'idea theft' as it was colourfully termed. When they heard about the Creative Archive plan... Phew! Some scary people were there... And they are not impressed with Creative Commons - who were shouted at, verbally attacked and generally given a very very frosty reception...

Strangest contribution (and it was a difficult choice considering the crazy assertions and unsubstantiated nonsense spoken) has to be the Arlene McCarthy MEP linking copyright, patent and 'idea' theft with 'Organised Crime', 'Paedophilia', 'Pornography', 'Terrorism' and 'Paramilitary Organisations'... She was truly loopy, and more worryingly serious!

John Naughton was fantastic castigating the dangers from 'slavish legislaters' (she didn't like that!) and gave a really excellent and balanced presentation calling for caution against listening to only the interests of the media corporations and content industry.

Most scary person (again a difficult choice) was Lavinia Carey, Director of FACT who told us that '65% of people didn't think it was a problem to share stuff' and that 'consumers have to be protected from themselves' and those who didn't were 'gonna get a shock'. To get a feeling for the balanced tone see the campaign to link copyright 'theft' and terrorism... Scary!

There is an active on-line community at DegreeInfo.com who research and discuss the merits of each institution.

Here in the UK The Open University has been providing fully accredited distance learning since the early 70's.

I went to a brick and mortar Uni myself, but have worked with several graduates of such institutions, both in the banking and academic worlds (I'm a banker and part time visiting lecturer at a local Uni), and they were fine; like most things, you get out of it what you put into it.

I remember watching a television programme about 10 years ago in the UK about an Open University academic who was designing a penetrator for I think the Huygens probe. I remember that it was a probe to determine if they hit liquid or semi-liquid ground on the surface. The person in question was interviewed as hoping that it would get on the probe etc, be launched ok etc.

Sure enough, 10 odd-years later, that probe is now on the bottom [see ref ACC-E] of Huygens and may well be the first part of the spacecraft to touch the surface of Titan later this year.

I can't imagine the dedication involved in working on something that looks simple [but I am sure is not] and then waiting seven or more years to see if it ever works.

The lead on the team is a Professor John Zarnecki - I wonder if he remembers being interviewed [if it was him] by the BBC 10 years ago ?.

I remember watching a television programme about 10 years ago in the UK about an Open University academic who was designing a penetrator for I think the Huygens probe. I remember that it was a probe to determine if they hit liquid or semi-liquid ground on the surface. The person in question was interviewed as hoping that it would get on the probe etc, be launched ok etc.

Sure enough, 10 odd-years later, that probe is now on the bottom [see ref ACC-E] of Huygens and may well be the first part of the spacecraft to touch the surface of Titan later this year.

I can't imagine the dedication involved in working on something that looks simple [but I am sure is not] and then waiting seven or more years to see if it ever works.

The lead on the team is a Professor John Zarnecki - I wonder if he remembers being interviewed [if it was him] by the BBC 10 years ago ?.

I remember watching a television programme about 10 years ago in the UK about an Open University academic who was designing a penetrator for I think the Huygens probe. I remember that it was a probe to determine if they hit liquid or semi-liquid ground on the surface. The person in question was interviewed as hoping that it would get on the probe etc, be launched ok etc.

Sure enough, 10 odd-years later, that probe is now on the bottom [see ref ACC-E] of Huygens and may well be the first part of the spacecraft to touch the surface of Titan later this year.

I can't imagine the dedication involved in working on something that looks simple [but I am sure is not] and then waiting seven or more years to see if it ever works.

The lead on the team is a Professor John Zarnecki - I wonder if he remembers being interviewed [if it was him] by the BBC 10 years ago ?.

Except the fact that we built this one, this is what the Beagle lander looks like on/partially under the surface of Mars.
Now you don't have to actually locate it.

The OU have a 10 week course based on The Future of Ideas.

http://www3.open.ac.uk/courses/bin/p12.dll?C01iT18 2

This will help mainstream more slashdot concerns. The OU - a truly fantastic and original resource - it really is.

Your post sums things up quite well. Because we all pay for it, they have a duty to make sure it's available to all.

And that duty's not just 'something they should do to be nice', it's the law -- the Royal Charter and Agreement which the BBC operates under makes this clear.

Incidentally, the BBC are pretty big Linux/F/OSS proponents. Their entire BBC Interactive digital service is run from Linux systems. There are some very clever folk at the Beeb, used to 'rolling their own' technologies. I'd imagine something like Linux is the perfect tool to do this kinda stuff with. They've got vast amounts of in-house software and hardware which they've developed over the best part of a century.

Anyone else remember the BBC Micro? They, and the Open University have to take quite a significant amount of credit for kick-starting interest in computing in the UK during the late 70's and early 80's.

Incidentally, the Open University, whose course materials BBC 2 broadcast nationally and for free, is a fantastic organisation. Like the BBC, it was founded by Royal Charter, and is another example of how something spawned by government need not be tethered to it. It's been a highly respected institution from which to graduate for decades. Here's some info

Your post sums things up quite well. Because we all pay for it, they have a duty to make sure it's available to all.

And that duty's not just 'something they should do to be nice', it's the law -- the Royal Charter and Agreement which the BBC operates under makes this clear.

Incidentally, the BBC are pretty big Linux/F/OSS proponents. Their entire BBC Interactive digital service is run from Linux systems. There are some very clever folk at the Beeb, used to 'rolling their own' technologies. I'd imagine something like Linux is the perfect tool to do this kinda stuff with. They've got vast amounts of in-house software and hardware which they've developed over the best part of a century.

Anyone else remember the BBC Micro? They, and the Open University have to take quite a significant amount of credit for kick-starting interest in computing in the UK during the late 70's and early 80's.

Incidentally, the Open University, whose course materials BBC 2 broadcast nationally and for free, is a fantastic organisation. Like the BBC, it was founded by Royal Charter, and is another example of how something spawned by government need not be tethered to it. It's been a highly respected institution from which to graduate for decades. Here's some info

Don't you have something like the Open University in the USA?

But the spirit of the watch still flows with fashion, and I think that the personal timepiece is one of those magical places in which technology and fashion can merge to produce absolutely wonderful things.

But the spirit of the watch still flows with fashion, and I think that the personal timepiece is one of those magical places in which technology and fashion can merge to produce absolutely wonderful things.

...is often one of those areas where you need both qualifications and experience to get a good job. If you only have experience, you'll find it difficult to get a high-level job, and if you only have qualifications - well, you've basically at the bottom of the ladder.

In Europe, I'd recommend the Open University. It's distance-learning in your own time, so you can start out with an entry-level job immediately while you're studying. Frequently, the mere fact that you *are* studying towards a degree counts in your favour, so you may be able to negotiate a higher salary based on it. Plus, you can work towards "smaller" qualifications en route, so that after a year or two you could have a Certificate in Computing, another year or two and you have a Diploma, and then eventually (after an average total of about six years, depending on how much you want to take on at once) you get your Degree.

Another reason the Open University is good is that, if (like me) you're in the IT field without qualifications, but you already know your shit, you can step straight on to the Postgraduate level stuff. I'm currently working towards an MSc despite the fact that I don't even have a BSc. I'm certainly thankful for that, because I didn't particularly want to have to sit through a course on "You, Your Computer And The Internet"!

Given the recent furore in the UK over university tuition fees, I wouldn't be at all surprised if in the future more school-leavers get a job with someone willing to fund a degree with the OU. It takes a few years longer, granted, but you come out with it with a big wad of cash from your job rather than a big pile of student debt.

You trendy EuroTrash need to spend less time pimping and preening

I don't think anybody has ever previously accused Prof. Colin Pillinger of being a fashion victim...

It's huge and very beautiful! The one at San Siro in Milan stands on a 1.5 metre high marble plinth, so your head is just about level with the horse's hooves, above that you have this enormous animal giving the impression that it is bearing down on you (which is just what the Sforza family would have intended it to do).

But it is also been given an extremely animate pose - the horse is trotting, twisting its head, eyes rolling, nostrils flared. Leonardo broke with centuries of tradition in doing this - horses had always been depicted with heads straight ahead and without character.

Clearly Leonardo loved horses, he sketched thousands of them, dissected them - the musculature on his horse is far more accurate than those of his contemporaries and he went on to write the first accurate book on equine medicine!

Take a look at the picture of it being assembled by crane to get some idea of its size. In some ways the modern statue is less ambitious than Leonardo's. He wanted the statue to be self-supporting without an internal skeleton (known as the armature).

To do this, Leonardo intended to create his statue in a single pouring of bronze (about 80 tonnes of molten metal). This had never been attempted before (or since) and so he had to develop a completely new casting technique, very similar to the way we now make injection moulded plastics.

Leonardo sketched the process for casting his statue and clearly worked out how to do it, but we now think that he couldn't have got a good cast. Hence the recreation used conventional bronze casting technologies.

Obligatory self promotion approaching. If you're in the UK, you can learn more about the Sforza Horse in the Open University course A178 - Perspectives on Leonardo da Vinci .

And of course, when you're in Milan, drop by the statue itself!

Best wishes,
Mike.

If Mars Express fails to shoot Beagle 2 into space, the retro-engine will not have enough thrust to brake Mars Express into Martian orbit. Both probes would then fly past the planet and into solar orbit.

Beagle 2 then travels through space for six days before hitting the Martian atmosphere at interplanetary velocity. Beagle 2's onboard transmitter will not come to life until the probe impacts the surface, so you can imagine that those six days will be pretty tense for the ESA teams.

All being well, Beagle 2 and Mars Express should arrive at their destinations safe and well in the small hours of Christmas morning. By the time we're opening our presents here in the UK, they should have received a signal from the Martian surface.

So, here's hoping!

Best wishes,
Mike.

Cavitation Corrosion. Cavitation is a special case of erosion corrosion caused by the formation and collapse of vapor bubbles in high-velocity fluid flow near a metal surface. This produces surface cavities and causes the surface to appear spongy. The bubbles, caused by the conjoint influence of high velocity and geometry of the flow path, which induces hydrodynamic pressure differences in the flowing stream, subsequently collapse with considerable impact at the metal-liquid interface sufficient for plastic deformation of some metals. It also disturbs any protective film that may exist on the metal surface. This type of damage has been observed on water-turbine blades, ship and boat propellers, pump impellers, pipes carrying fluids at high speed and pressure, water cooled sides of internal combustion engines, etc. Cavitation damage can be prevented or considerably reduced by changing design to reduce hydrodynamic pressure difference in process streams as much as possible; using superior materials of construction, such as stainless steels; coating vulnerable components with resilient coatings of rubber or plastics; operating the pump at a speed and head that minimizes bubble formation.

-- ASM

There is supercavitation, but yeah, unless you're just tryi

Disclaimer: I'm about to commence a LLB (Bachelor of Laws) degree with OU, so I may be a little biased. And yes, I know this is a strange choice of degree for a computer geek. :)

1. Wiring that part of the world so people have more individual 'net access. (This could take a little while... I know I won't be holding my breath.)
2. Use Jabber servers that have java clients.
3. If you're traveling around and have a host system you can set up with a permanent domain name, you could install a text-based jabber client on it, then ssh/telnet to that machine. Slow, but you'd have jabber. (If you need ssh access, you can go to PuTTY's website, go to download, right-click on the exe, and pick "Run from this location" since it doesn't use an installer.)

Those impacts are so different, I don't know how one would compare them. The common theme, though, is that one can't really run a 6-billion person civilization without impacting the natural systems of the planet. Don't like coal? Solar cell manufacturing currently requires the use of heavy metals. Maybe we should build wind turbines all over the place? Well, some people don't like that. Not that I'm saying the effects of coal mining you cite are good, or that we shouldn't try to do better than we do now. Everyone, however, must realize that a technologicially advanced civilization requires energy and materials to run. If you want computers, refrigerators, and hospitals, you have to accept that there will be negative impacts. Since we cannot avoid affecting the environment, we must look at minimizing those impacts.

• titanium 1.44 kg
• carbon 1.52 kg
• aluminium 1.47 kg
• 531 steel 1.95 kg

My 531 steel frame touring bike, after 21 years' service, may be retired, due to a crossed bottom bracket thread that would cost more than a new bike to fix. Meanwhile I'm riding a recent mountain bike, but pine for my old one. The spring shocks are just complications unnecessary for a road bike, but it's hard to get one without them now. Likewise going from clusters of 5 to 6 was nice, but now it's at 8 or 9, which is just pointless, and needs a narrower chain that wears out faster.

For Slashdotters, it may be worth noting that Shimano has been called the Microsoft of bicycles, due to it having wiped out a lot of competition in bike components through OEM agreements, and first following standards as it moves into a new segment (thread sizes, etc) then once it dominates, changing them on an annual basis in cosmetically pretty but functionally indifferent ways that make finding spare parts almost impossible and forcing replacements when all you need is a little cog wheel.

from https://msds.open.ac.uk:

Eyes and eyesight
There's no evidence that working with display screen equipment is harmful to the eyes, nor that it makes visual problems worse, although a few people who have difficulties with their sight may become more aware of them. But working at a screen for a long time without a break can have effects similar to reading or writing uninterruptedly, and may make your eyes feel 'tired' or sore. You might find that it helps to look away from the screen from time to time and focus your eyes on a distant object.

Unless you want the prestige of a well known university (reads: I failed 2nd year of a prestigous university, if only I had studied C.S. - my real passion - instead of Electronics) UK readers could take a degree course with the Open University, you can get a degree in 3 years at 28 hours per week at a cost of less than £1000 per year, books included.

Thats what I'm doing now, except spread over 6 years to fit around my career and family life, currently in my penultimate year.

Sam

Launching in June 2003

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