I had this same experience with a friend while watching "Aliens". At the end of the film, he said "The elevator went all the way back to the top floor? That's so unrealistic."
Let's see, we're watching a movie about an ALIEN CREATURE with ACID for blood that inserts its larvae into the HUMAN STOMACH and you're pulled out of the "reality" of the moment because the elevator returned to the first floor rather than staying where it was when Ripley got out?
Yeah, that was clearly the weak point in the logic process.
Back in the day, Roddenberry was reverred as the god who created Star Trek. Everyone had heard of the "Great Bird of the Galaxy". In recent years, it has become more and more common for those who worked with him to speak out about his failures as a writer, a producer, and in some cases as a human being. I know you only knew him for a few years, but what was your relationship with Roddenberry like and why do you think it has become so fashionable to take shots at him now?
The most important thing is to pick the major that appeals to you most personally. Contact people at the school (I realize that an actual visit may be hard, depending on location) and talk to the professors and some students in these departments. Don't rely on the catalog (you probably already know that). Don't rely on Princeton Review (their selection system is so generic as to be nearly useless for such a specific query).
As far as the suggestion about the liberal arts degree. If you pick up a degree in English or Philosophy or some other liberal arts area, I think you better prepare yourself for the future. A lot of the work that is done by people in IT doesn't require you to have a CS degree. You can learn on the job, employers will send you to MCSE or Linux training, etc. and you can pick up certificates. When the computer market takes a downturn (as it is at the moment, at least in the dot-com sector, cross your fingers Slashdot:) ), the ability to move into completely different fields may outweigh the advantages of being an "expert" in the field you were working in (and yes, I was just laid off from a dot-com where I had been working for 4 years, so I know a little about this).
Don't worry about what looks good to HR, whatever you do. People in HR are idiots when it comes to hiring. They take a laundry list that is sometimes given to them by the person you'd actually work for, but oftentimes they just steal stuff from other companies job postings. The HR types can't tell the difference between CS, CE, and the hole in their ass. If all you're worried about is impressing HR, save your money, spend a couple thousand on getting a few of those certificates with the fancy letters (MCSE, DBA, A+, etc.) and you'll get a job.
As far as what you do in school, pick the major that you enjoy the most and that you'll actually finish. If you go into CS because it will look good for clueless HR types and you hate programming, you won't be a very good programmer and you may not even get your degree (it's easy to get burned out). A degree in a "non-profitable" major is better than no degree because you can then go back to school for your Master's, when you really start to learn about the subject at hand.
And besides, even in the technological future, the world will always need people who know how to write...
The question of why the FBI would want to shut down the Internet reminds me of a quote from DUNE. Paul Atreides says "He who can destroy a thing controls a thing." Can you imagine the power available to the FBI if they have the ability to literally bring the US to its knees? How could we as citizens fight the FBI? They would have the ability to destroy all of us. Granted, they might never actually bring the Net down, but are you willing to gamble on that?
In addition, this is a little bit like all those keys and safeguards you have in place to prevent nuclear missile launch. There is no such plan in place hear. If the Director of the FBI wanted to shut down the Internet, he could. No one could stop him. There are no secret codes, keys, accountability to Congress. Shutting down the Internet would be as devasting, if not more, as launching our entire arsenal of nuclear missiles at Russia.
If they install these boxes in every American ISP they would have the ability to shut down the internet (in America). It's a moot point whether or not they'd want to. It's like having the FBI put bombs in everybody's home. Sure, they would probably never blow everyone in America up, but the point is they could.
Slashdot Mirror
According to Nietzsche, even God is dead.
I'll bet it's because he doesn't come in colors....
I had this same experience with a friend while watching "Aliens". At the end of the film, he said "The elevator went all the way back to the top floor? That's so unrealistic."
Let's see, we're watching a movie about an ALIEN CREATURE with ACID for blood that inserts its larvae into the HUMAN STOMACH and you're pulled out of the "reality" of the moment because the elevator returned to the first floor rather than staying where it was when Ripley got out?
Yeah, that was clearly the weak point in the logic process.
Back in the day, Roddenberry was reverred as the god who created Star Trek. Everyone had heard of the "Great Bird of the Galaxy". In recent years, it has become more and more common for those who worked with him to speak out about his failures as a writer, a producer, and in some cases as a human being. I know you only knew him for a few years, but what was your relationship with Roddenberry like and why do you think it has become so fashionable to take shots at him now?
As far as the suggestion about the liberal arts degree. If you pick up a degree in English or Philosophy or some other liberal arts area, I think you better prepare yourself for the future. A lot of the work that is done by people in IT doesn't require you to have a CS degree. You can learn on the job, employers will send you to MCSE or Linux training, etc. and you can pick up certificates. When the computer market takes a downturn (as it is at the moment, at least in the dot-com sector, cross your fingers Slashdot :) ), the ability to move into completely different fields may outweigh the advantages of being an "expert" in the field you were working in (and yes, I was just laid off from a dot-com where I had been working for 4 years, so I know a little about this).
Don't worry about what looks good to HR, whatever you do. People in HR are idiots when it comes to hiring. They take a laundry list that is sometimes given to them by the person you'd actually work for, but oftentimes they just steal stuff from other companies job postings. The HR types can't tell the difference between CS, CE, and the hole in their ass. If all you're worried about is impressing HR, save your money, spend a couple thousand on getting a few of those certificates with the fancy letters (MCSE, DBA, A+, etc.) and you'll get a job.
As far as what you do in school, pick the major that you enjoy the most and that you'll actually finish. If you go into CS because it will look good for clueless HR types and you hate programming, you won't be a very good programmer and you may not even get your degree (it's easy to get burned out). A degree in a "non-profitable" major is better than no degree because you can then go back to school for your Master's, when you really start to learn about the subject at hand.
And besides, even in the technological future, the world will always need people who know how to write...
The question of why the FBI would want to shut down the Internet reminds me of a quote from DUNE. Paul Atreides says "He who can destroy a thing controls a thing." Can you imagine the power available to the FBI if they have the ability to literally bring the US to its knees? How could we as citizens fight the FBI? They would have the ability to destroy all of us. Granted, they might never actually bring the Net down, but are you willing to gamble on that?
In addition, this is a little bit like all those keys and safeguards you have in place to prevent nuclear missile launch. There is no such plan in place hear. If the Director of the FBI wanted to shut down the Internet, he could. No one could stop him. There are no secret codes, keys, accountability to Congress. Shutting down the Internet would be as devasting, if not more, as launching our entire arsenal of nuclear missiles at Russia.
If they install these boxes in every American ISP they would have the ability to shut down the internet (in America). It's a moot point whether or not they'd want to. It's like having the FBI put bombs in everybody's home. Sure, they would probably never blow everyone in America up, but the point is they could.