I had to take Computer Applications last year as I had never taken any "tech" classes yet, and the teacher was surprised that I could type properly. The class was really easy, and once I got my work done in the first 15-20min of the 80 min class, I could go and read tech news and reviews and actually learn about things. Sadly, over 50% of the people in the class got D's or F's and have to take it again this year. It was a really boring class and the books for copy were from 1995. The teacher nearly flipped an the last day of school when I was the one person in the class who'd heard of an alternative keyboard layout such as dvorak's. It was kind of sad watching our teacher who was around 70 have to deal with asshole kids being dumbasses trying to get on facebook and youtube in class.
I have a class this year that I took for the hell of it that is labelled as a "networking" class, and all we've done so far is make some shitty flash animations from this company called ISL's flash based software using CS3. http://ingeniousstudentlabs.com/ Next semester, we get to make websites (woohoo!). I wanted to take a class that was only ever offered in the district at my school that was about hardware troubleshooting, but it was cut 2 years ago due to budget cuts, and they never removed it from the Course Guide.
even though she got her knee injured at work almost three years ago and still hasn't gotten it fixed(thanks to not having surgery approved) she gets to push around over 1000 pound carts of magazines and throw parcels(that's what they call it, not sure if it actually involves throwing) almost every day
The other nice thing about the Postal Service is that you may even be able to have your carrier pick up what you're shipping out and take it back to the office and get it sent out, as well as the fact that if you have the item all ready to go, you can use an APC machine in the lobby to print out the postage sticker and use your ATM or credit card to pay for the shipping right there, then drop it in the machine's bay and it will be picked up and sent out by the employees(not the best option for fragile things due to the dropping involved, for that it is best to hand it to a clerk at the counter)
My mom's post office office had 30 clerks sorting letters when she started there nearly 26 years ago, they now have 3 clerks who not only sort letters, but also stuff PO Boxes, work the window when they need more bodies up there, and throw parcels. My mom now fills at least 2-3 positions on a daily basis, and it is impossible to get the mail out on time with their staff. The Postal Service is constantly offering people early retirement and a retiring bonus of about $15k, but lower percentage of one's salary during retirement. When people die or retire, they are not replaced.
Damn.
I wish my school district(just south of LA) could afford new computers (as opposed to Pentium III machines/Celeron D machines) and air conditioning for the classrooms. THey have replaced some machine with Core 2 Quad HP Small Form Factor machines with 1280x1024 displays, which are at least decent. Our school was built in the 50s, one building added in 1993, and about half the structures on campus are portables... lol
Slashdot Mirror
I had to take Computer Applications last year as I had never taken any "tech" classes yet, and the teacher was surprised that I could type properly. The class was really easy, and once I got my work done in the first 15-20min of the 80 min class, I could go and read tech news and reviews and actually learn about things. Sadly, over 50% of the people in the class got D's or F's and have to take it again this year. It was a really boring class and the books for copy were from 1995. The teacher nearly flipped an the last day of school when I was the one person in the class who'd heard of an alternative keyboard layout such as dvorak's. It was kind of sad watching our teacher who was around 70 have to deal with asshole kids being dumbasses trying to get on facebook and youtube in class. I have a class this year that I took for the hell of it that is labelled as a "networking" class, and all we've done so far is make some shitty flash animations from this company called ISL's flash based software using CS3. http://ingeniousstudentlabs.com/ Next semester, we get to make websites (woohoo!). I wanted to take a class that was only ever offered in the district at my school that was about hardware troubleshooting, but it was cut 2 years ago due to budget cuts, and they never removed it from the Course Guide.
I take it you haven't read Doctorow's For The Win, then? If not, then I definitely suggest it.
even though she got her knee injured at work almost three years ago and still hasn't gotten it fixed(thanks to not having surgery approved) she gets to push around over 1000 pound carts of magazines and throw parcels(that's what they call it, not sure if it actually involves throwing) almost every day
When the consoles are not enormously more powerful than some people's laptops or older desktops, I think a spec bump should be on the horizon.
The other nice thing about the Postal Service is that you may even be able to have your carrier pick up what you're shipping out and take it back to the office and get it sent out, as well as the fact that if you have the item all ready to go, you can use an APC machine in the lobby to print out the postage sticker and use your ATM or credit card to pay for the shipping right there, then drop it in the machine's bay and it will be picked up and sent out by the employees(not the best option for fragile things due to the dropping involved, for that it is best to hand it to a clerk at the counter)
Pretty sure that's the Vice President's residence, lol
My mom's post office office had 30 clerks sorting letters when she started there nearly 26 years ago, they now have 3 clerks who not only sort letters, but also stuff PO Boxes, work the window when they need more bodies up there, and throw parcels. My mom now fills at least 2-3 positions on a daily basis, and it is impossible to get the mail out on time with their staff. The Postal Service is constantly offering people early retirement and a retiring bonus of about $15k, but lower percentage of one's salary during retirement. When people die or retire, they are not replaced.
My school district is trialing them in Middle School Algebra...
Damn. I wish my school district(just south of LA) could afford new computers (as opposed to Pentium III machines/Celeron D machines) and air conditioning for the classrooms. THey have replaced some machine with Core 2 Quad HP Small Form Factor machines with 1280x1024 displays, which are at least decent. Our school was built in the 50s, one building added in 1993, and about half the structures on campus are portables... lol