I've taken quite a few online courses, where the tests and quizzes during the semester were online, and I've cheated on a couple (lazy professors who actually copy/pasted questions that were easily found Googling), but the final was always a written exam taken on campus.
You can breeze through the bulk of the semester all you want with the help of the good folks at Google, but you'll be screwed at the end if you can't Google your way out of the final. And if you don't pass the final, you fail the course, regardless of your test/quiz grades.
I agree. I happen to go to a community college in New Jersey (every county here has it's own community college for it's residents), and not only is the tuition a fraction of the state universities but after you finish your 2-year degree, you're allowed to transfer into a 4-year university as an instant Junior. No picking and choosing which credits they want to accept, just instant Junior status.
I've completed half of a Mechanical Engineering BS degree at essentially little to no cost from myself (state/federal grants + scholarships), and will be transferring to one of the top engineering schools in the state next Fall to continue the BS program. Had I gone to that 4 year university initially, I'd be 20-25k in debt right now.
Now I give that advice to all of my friends still living in NJ. If you're not entirely sure what you want to do but have at least realized that you can't sit on your ass forever, either go to a vocational school or a community college. After your 2 years are done, either use your Associates or vocational certificates to help find a relevant job in your field, or transfer to a university to complete a Bachelor's in 2 more years.
If after those initial 2 years you realize more university isn't for you, stick with your Associates/vocational certificates. You didn't spend tens of thousands of dollars to realize "University isn't for me.", and you're still in a better position than you'd be with no degree/certs at all.
He pleaded guilty last year to having sex with the same horse after owner Barbara Kenley found him in the same stable and was sentenced to probation and placed on the state's sex offender list.
He was put on the state's sex offender registry after pleading guilty to having sex with a horse.
Well no, he's not asking Alienware to fix anything for him (under warranty or paying directly), he's just simply asking to buy a spare part from them so he can fix it himself.
It's more like buying a used car from someone, trying to buy an oil filter directly from the dealership, and being refused because you're not the original (authorized) owner of the car. You're not asking them to change your oil, which would give them a reason to check your warranty information to make sure everything's in line, or recording your VIN number in their system so they can keep track of what car's they've worked on for the day, he's just someone who wants to buy a part from them. They're just telling you they can't sell you an oil filter because they don't have a record of you buying the car from them.
Really, why should he even be required to be the owner of any Alienware merchandise to buy a replacement part for the laptop? I'm not entirely sure of what he told the CSR's on the phone, but I wonder what they'd say if I called up and wanted to buy a replacement glowing alien head (from their laptops) to decorate something in my house with. Will they deny me because I'm not an authorized owner of the laptop that the glowing alien head fits on, or will they gladly sell me the part regardless of whether I own one of their laptops or not?
If they're denying him the part because he wants it replaced free under the original owner's warranty, that's one thing. Refusing to sell him the part because they have no record of him buying anything directly from them is different.
Step 1: Put Jack Bauer, Chuck Norris, and MacGyver on Lost
Step 2: Plant a timed bomb to destroy the island once someone escapes
Step 3: Set up blackjack tables and shag vans full of hookers for extra distractions
Step 4: Watch them battle for 16 weeks to see who can escape first
Step 5: PROFIT!!
And the beauty of this plan is that there aren't even any missing steps!!
Oh yeah, if you turn, your heart will forcibly exit your body via your anus before exploding. Have fun. ...Sadly, I think you just predicted what Goatse will eventually become a picture of...
Oh, I had to deal with one of these a few weeks ago.
I brought a thumbdrive in to work with a small document that I had to print out for school (less than 1 page). I forgot to take the thumbdrive out of the back, and took the following day off. When my co-worker tried to use my pc the next day, the mounted thumbdrive set off a 'Non System Disk' error, and she called IT. The newest member of our IT team came down, restarted the pc once to view the error again, and the first words out of his mouth were "He needs a new computer!"
He then proceeds to call the SVP of IT, who happens to be 4 levels higher than his own manager, to ask him how to proceed with replacing my computer. The SVP then quickly told him to check for a thumbdrive, and the IT guy said he didn't see one. The SVP had to clarify to look in the back of the pc for it since there aren't any USB ports in the front, and there it was... pulled out the drive, and everything was fine.
Now using personal equipment on personal computers is against our company policy (a scarcely enforced one since other people in my department bring in CDs and thumbdrives of pictures and videos of our recent holiday party to show my manager and his bosses), yet because the IT guy caused a big scare over everything and called in the SVP, I actually got in trouble for it with my manager. They even drew up a waiver for me to sign, explaining that my manager spoke to me about the issue, and if it happens again, I could be fired.
Oh, and don't even get me started on the day I watched an IT manager VNC into my pc, and spend 2+ hours trying to update a program I needed. She uninstalled the old version by hard deleting it's directory in C:/Program Files, emptying the Recycle Bin, and spent the next 2 hours in the registry, searching for and deleting entries... That was a fun day...
Of course you can sell 40 million Vista licenses if Vista comes with almost every new OEM computer, whether you like it or not.
I'm not disagreeing with the fact that they sold 40 million+ licenses, nor am I a Linux zealot, but when you simply use the sales figure amount of OEM licenses sold to various vendors to make a point, that number doesn't necessarily reflect the real-world usage of Vista by customers. Just because 40 million licenses were sold doesn't mean that 40 million licenses were *deployed* and are happily being used by new PC owners:
"'Sold' does not equal 'deployed,'" said Al Gillen, IDC's research vice president of system software. "If you went out and tried to find the portion of that 40 million that went into businesses, you will find a lot of the machines have been downgraded to Windows XP, which is perfectly legit."
If they released figures of the number of Vista retail boxes sold, rather than simply the number of licenses sold (OEM builds and coupons included, regardless of whether they're being used), that "40 million" number would drop to something alot more modest.
id Software is still one of the few game developers that actually create games for use on multiple OSs, including Linux. None of that DirectX 10/Vista-only crap. I installed Doom 3 on my Linux installation, and surprisingly, it actually runs quicker in Linux than it does on Windows. I dual-boot with XP for gaming, so I decided to test both out, and I was able to max out all graphical settings on the Linux install with no hiccups...my Windows installation started hiccupping once I set AA to 8x with all other settings on Ultra.
I'll be really curious to see what they come out with
A few weeks ago, I found a charge on my credit card for Sprint/Nextel in the amount of $65.46... The problem? My wireless carrier is Verizon (yeah, it's a "problem" but that's for another topic.)
I immediately called my credit card issuer to contest the charge, and in less than 15 minutes (with hold-time included), I'd spoken with a customer service rep as well as a fraud protection executive, had my card cancelled, funds reimbursed, and a new card issued.
Apparently, someone got a hold of my credit card number, and used my card to pay someone's cell phone bill. It just surprised me as how dumb this was (but didn't screw me over very much). It's one thing to use a stolen credit card and max it out purchasing various items to be shipped wherever, but who in their right mind would use it to pay off someone's cell phone? The charge was reversed, and I'm really curious as to what Sprint/Nextel did to the customer who tried to pay their cell bill with a stolen card.
I wouldn't be surprised if nothing serious happened, but it's just the thought. You can get away with buying physical stuff with a stolen card alot easier than you can get away with paying a cell phone bill with it.
Slashdot Mirror
I've taken quite a few online courses, where the tests and quizzes during the semester were online, and I've cheated on a couple (lazy professors who actually copy/pasted questions that were easily found Googling), but the final was always a written exam taken on campus.
You can breeze through the bulk of the semester all you want with the help of the good folks at Google, but you'll be screwed at the end if you can't Google your way out of the final. And if you don't pass the final, you fail the course, regardless of your test/quiz grades.
I agree. I happen to go to a community college in New Jersey (every county here has it's own community college for it's residents), and not only is the tuition a fraction of the state universities but after you finish your 2-year degree, you're allowed to transfer into a 4-year university as an instant Junior. No picking and choosing which credits they want to accept, just instant Junior status.
I've completed half of a Mechanical Engineering BS degree at essentially little to no cost from myself (state/federal grants + scholarships), and will be transferring to one of the top engineering schools in the state next Fall to continue the BS program. Had I gone to that 4 year university initially, I'd be 20-25k in debt right now.
Now I give that advice to all of my friends still living in NJ. If you're not entirely sure what you want to do but have at least realized that you can't sit on your ass forever, either go to a vocational school or a community college. After your 2 years are done, either use your Associates or vocational certificates to help find a relevant job in your field, or transfer to a university to complete a Bachelor's in 2 more years.
If after those initial 2 years you realize more university isn't for you, stick with your Associates/vocational certificates. You didn't spend tens of thousands of dollars to realize "University isn't for me.", and you're still in a better position than you'd be with no degree/certs at all.
That sounds like a shitty way to go...
He pleaded guilty last year to having sex with the same horse after owner Barbara Kenley found him in the same stable and was sentenced to probation and placed on the state's sex offender list.
He was put on the state's sex offender registry after pleading guilty to having sex with a horse.
Well no, he's not asking Alienware to fix anything for him (under warranty or paying directly), he's just simply asking to buy a spare part from them so he can fix it himself.
It's more like buying a used car from someone, trying to buy an oil filter directly from the dealership, and being refused because you're not the original (authorized) owner of the car. You're not asking them to change your oil, which would give them a reason to check your warranty information to make sure everything's in line, or recording your VIN number in their system so they can keep track of what car's they've worked on for the day, he's just someone who wants to buy a part from them. They're just telling you they can't sell you an oil filter because they don't have a record of you buying the car from them.
Really, why should he even be required to be the owner of any Alienware merchandise to buy a replacement part for the laptop? I'm not entirely sure of what he told the CSR's on the phone, but I wonder what they'd say if I called up and wanted to buy a replacement glowing alien head (from their laptops) to decorate something in my house with. Will they deny me because I'm not an authorized owner of the laptop that the glowing alien head fits on, or will they gladly sell me the part regardless of whether I own one of their laptops or not?
If they're denying him the part because he wants it replaced free under the original owner's warranty, that's one thing. Refusing to sell him the part because they have no record of him buying anything directly from them is different.
If she's beautiful without make-up and clothes on, why leave the house in the first place?
Dude, that is actually an amazing idea!!
Step 1: Put Jack Bauer, Chuck Norris, and MacGyver on Lost
Step 2: Plant a timed bomb to destroy the island once someone escapes
Step 3: Set up blackjack tables and shag vans full of hookers for extra distractions
Step 4: Watch them battle for 16 weeks to see who can escape first
Step 5: PROFIT!!
And the beauty of this plan is that there aren't even any missing steps!!
Or maybe they tried to use a bunch of Sony batteries...
Oh, I had to deal with one of these a few weeks ago.
I brought a thumbdrive in to work with a small document that I had to print out for school (less than 1 page). I forgot to take the thumbdrive out of the back, and took the following day off. When my co-worker tried to use my pc the next day, the mounted thumbdrive set off a 'Non System Disk' error, and she called IT. The newest member of our IT team came down, restarted the pc once to view the error again, and the first words out of his mouth were "He needs a new computer!"
He then proceeds to call the SVP of IT, who happens to be 4 levels higher than his own manager, to ask him how to proceed with replacing my computer. The SVP then quickly told him to check for a thumbdrive, and the IT guy said he didn't see one. The SVP had to clarify to look in the back of the pc for it since there aren't any USB ports in the front, and there it was... pulled out the drive, and everything was fine.
Now using personal equipment on personal computers is against our company policy (a scarcely enforced one since other people in my department bring in CDs and thumbdrives of pictures and videos of our recent holiday party to show my manager and his bosses), yet because the IT guy caused a big scare over everything and called in the SVP, I actually got in trouble for it with my manager. They even drew up a waiver for me to sign, explaining that my manager spoke to me about the issue, and if it happens again, I could be fired.
Oh, and don't even get me started on the day I watched an IT manager VNC into my pc, and spend 2+ hours trying to update a program I needed. She uninstalled the old version by hard deleting it's directory in C:/Program Files, emptying the Recycle Bin, and spent the next 2 hours in the registry, searching for and deleting entries... That was a fun day...
Well, I don't know about you, but I prefer text-based porn.
Nothin' gets the blood flowing like a hot naked ASCII chick.
If Marvin finds out we know where he lives, he's going to be very angry...
Very angry, indeed...
What really sucks about this to me is that hearing news of claims like this should really surprise us, but really...
How many of us read the title and were shocked and/or appauled?
Kinda sad that we're numbed to seeing stuff like this.
I'm not disagreeing with the fact that they sold 40 million+ licenses, nor am I a Linux zealot, but when you simply use the sales figure amount of OEM licenses sold to various vendors to make a point, that number doesn't necessarily reflect the real-world usage of Vista by customers. Just because 40 million licenses were sold doesn't mean that 40 million licenses were *deployed* and are happily being used by new PC owners:
http://www.microsoft-watch.com/content/vista/vist
What Microsoft's sales figures don't reflect is sell-through, or how many Vista licenses have cleared the channel. They also don't reflect the number of licenses deployed by businesses.
"'Sold' does not equal 'deployed,'" said Al Gillen, IDC's research vice president of system software. "If you went out and tried to find the portion of that 40 million that went into businesses, you will find a lot of the machines have been downgraded to Windows XP, which is perfectly legit."
If they released figures of the number of Vista retail boxes sold, rather than simply the number of licenses sold (OEM builds and coupons included, regardless of whether they're being used), that "40 million" number would drop to something alot more modest.
Damnit, i just used my last mod point...
I usually don't mod ACs up, but this would have been worth it.
Marvin the Martian would be very angry if we found his hidden cave...
Verrrry angry indeed...
I'd definately expect so.
id Software is still one of the few game developers that actually create games for use on multiple OSs, including Linux. None of that DirectX 10/Vista-only crap. I installed Doom 3 on my Linux installation, and surprisingly, it actually runs quicker in Linux than it does on Windows. I dual-boot with XP for gaming, so I decided to test both out, and I was able to max out all graphical settings on the Linux install with no hiccups...my Windows installation started hiccupping once I set AA to 8x with all other settings on Ultra.
I'll be really curious to see what they come out with
Does anybody else think this would be the perfect time to bring back those American Gladiators challenges??
Picture Jobs and Gates onstage in full padding, trying to knock each other off with those giant rubber q-tips!
They're leaving out Holocaust lessons to keep from offending Muslim students who believe in Holocaust denial?
What about offending Jewish students who are offended by the Muslim student's Holocaust denial, and may have even lost relatives in a camp?
You can't please everybody, so why ignore the truth?
A few weeks ago, I found a charge on my credit card for Sprint/Nextel in the amount of $65.46... The problem? My wireless carrier is Verizon (yeah, it's a "problem" but that's for another topic.)
I immediately called my credit card issuer to contest the charge, and in less than 15 minutes (with hold-time included), I'd spoken with a customer service rep as well as a fraud protection executive, had my card cancelled, funds reimbursed, and a new card issued.
Apparently, someone got a hold of my credit card number, and used my card to pay someone's cell phone bill. It just surprised me as how dumb this was (but didn't screw me over very much). It's one thing to use a stolen credit card and max it out purchasing various items to be shipped wherever, but who in their right mind would use it to pay off someone's cell phone? The charge was reversed, and I'm really curious as to what Sprint/Nextel did to the customer who tried to pay their cell bill with a stolen card.
I wouldn't be surprised if nothing serious happened, but it's just the thought. You can get away with buying physical stuff with a stolen card alot easier than you can get away with paying a cell phone bill with it.
This is just great.
Now the female sharks are going to dump all the males, and we're gonna be stuck with a bunch of angry lonely male sharks...
If they find frickin lasers, we're all screwed.
I was hoping they found some ancient Martian plumbing...
So THAT'S why John Titor came back!
That bastard!!
I guess I wasn't as clever as I thought I'd be when I made my screenname... :(
Good thing that guy doesn't own the rights to it... ....right?
Hey, for all we know, someone could have already completed the perfect cloaking device...they just can't find the off switch.