OK, so the guy who posted that math and science aren't important is wrong, but so are the rest of you who seem to be indicating that reading and writing are not at all involved in critical thinking. To be able to read and comprehend well requires critical thinking. As for logic and rationality, those are not necessarily related to math or science any more than reading and writing. In fact, logic is largely a subject all to itself.
What we need to address here is that all students need a basic understanding of written and oral communication skills, of reading to extract important information, of arithemetic, algebra, geometry, and some understanding of why higher maths are important (I stop short of considering calculus necessary only because I seem to be perfectly functional without a lick of it), and of the scientific method and the basic foundations of how to explore the Big 3 of science, biology, chemistry, and physics.
Covering the basics is key, here. But you know what? It's OK if some of our students don't learn physics. It's OK if some of them don't cover any one or two fields so long as we have given them the basic skills to understand them should they need to acquire said knowledge. The scientific method is a VERY important tool to learning about other topics. Does the typical adult need to have a full and robust understanding of the full physiology of humans and animals? Not necessarily. Do they need to understand basic biological principles? Yes. Do they need to be able to make sense of biological explanations with minimal background? Yes.
Critical thinking is not as easy as Math and Science vs Reading, Writing, and Communicating. Math and science are worthless without reading, writing, and communication. How do you think ideas spread and are acquired? Reading, writing, and basic communication are worthless without information to share and ideas to develop and communicate. The actuality of rational and logical thought, of critical thinking, is in the crux of these skills. It is where these things all come together, the "Liberal Arts Curriculum," that higher thought arises.
Indeed. My fiance has a music therapy degree and professional certification and has expressed to me that, while music does affect people greatly, the so-called "Mozart Effect" has been soundly disproved. In fact, it was over this very discussion that we originally fell in love. The study had a very flawed methodology that renders the results inconclusive.
You seem to discount that, what with companies wanting everything they can get out of you, many IT workers, particularly in underfunded areas like public works and education, often have more on their plate than they can reasonably finish in 40 hours. Sometimes overtime is expected simply as par for the course (and not paid because you are salaried) and sometimes there is policy that what doesn't get done doesn't get done.
I work at a public university and we have a very good working relationship with Apple even though we don't buy nearly as many Macs now as we once did. Every Mac we buy comes with AppleCare and we almost always get a tech support person quickly. A faculty member here had some trouble with a new Powerbook and had the local Apple authorized repair place look at it a couple times and when the problem couldn't be worked out Apple replaced it. He had to demand they do it, but they did. That seems to be par for the course.
Dell requires a little less demanding to replace computers, but then, we pay almost twice as much for their support plans, and on laptops even more than that, so I'd expect it.
Keep in mind that Apple and Dell both regularly take the top honors in comparisons (survey-based) of tech support.
Gamestop tosses boxes. I just traded in Metroid: Zero Mission and the first thing they did was toss the mint packaging, manual, registration cards, etc... I know a couple guys who work in the store and they think it's sad, but it's policy.
PSO released on newer systems may not be enough to encourage some of us to spend hard-earned cash on a GameCube or X-Box. For those of us that have Dreamcasts and have the game, why should we upgrade to continue using what we have been able to use for some time? Bring on the free server!
Dell, lately, has been shipping lots of FP monitors and video cards with DVI connectors. The caveat is that Dell has been using lots of weird monitor connectors for which we have to use odd dongles (and boy do we have some odd dongles cluttering up our desk drawers now, thank you Dell).
So I guess the question should be, why has DVI been so slow to penetrate the low-end/mainstream/low cost market? I imagine the DVI connector is a more complicated part and more expensive to produce, especially if you're like Dell and using weird connectors that require the extra expense of dongles. Additionally, if all you use is a DVI you have to include a VGA adapter, another item that slowly pecks away at the bottom line.
Let's face it, for most hardware manufacturers what's cheaper than simply using the old tried and true D-sub VGA connector?
In the US there are laws concerning overtime. Unless your terms of employment (working responsibilities, conditions, and agreements all together) specifically exempt you from overtime you are due overtime pay by federal law.
What this means is that your employer has to pay you for overtime unless there is a very specific and legal reason NOT to have to pay you overtime. There need not be any advance agreement with the employer for you to be eligible for overtime pay. Overtime pay is an entitlement as long as you meet certain employment conditions, or rather, unless you fail to meet certain employment condition.
If a US employer assumes you are not due overtime pay they are obviously not up to speed on US labor law and the fact that they are assuming should be troubling to employees.
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, I think, may be less relevant to this discussion than RSI (Repetitive Stress Injury), which is a much more common result of keyboard and mouse usage. Carpal Tunnel may be as much genetic as anything else and RSI is something everyone can get. RSI is much more common and is often mistaken for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (something of a disease-of-the-week in today's computerized world).
Here are a few points to keep in mind:
-Mice are usually responsible for many more RSI problems that keyboards. The mouse is something you access sporadically and involves lots of wrist and finger twisting.
-Ergonomic keyboard research has been inconclusive as to whether or not any given keyboard design is better for RSI than another. It all seems to boil down to personal opinion and anecdotal evidence.
-Keyboard and mouse wrist rests are very important for reducing RSI problems.
With that in mind one can see how a laptop might help. There's a built-in wrist rest on a laptop. Additionally, the track pad or keyboard pointer, while less accurate and easy to use than a mouse, actually has people stressing their joints and muscles less than when using a mouse.
Canon's Wordtank is the coolest little thing you can get for the money, just about. Before offering advice I searched the thread for Canon and discovered that I'm not the only one who realizes this. Canon's offering ought to be cheap enough for a Christmas expenditure without breaking all but the flimsier (read: my) holiday budget. I knew a friend who had one when we were in Japan together and it was a great tool for exploring new vocabulary and solving existing problems.
Please pardon if this is a repeat of something already posted. There's already too much crud in this thread near the top.
I know of 3 rechargeable battery technologies that come in standard alkaline battery shapes and sizes: NiMH, NiCad, and Rechargeable Alkaline. Which you should use depends on what you want it for and what value system you uphold.
Truth be told, other than that they are cheap, I can't think of any reason to use Alkalines any more. And for that matter, I can't think of a good reason to use NiCads either. NiCads don't have good power output, they have problems with charge memory, they are expensive, and they're not good for much.
Rechargeable Alkalines hold their charge for a long time. They have the best shelf life of all rechargeable battiers. Rechargeable Alkalines are a little pricey and can only be charged like 10 times, but they are great for any device like a remote control that uses very little power and often sits for a long time with the same set of batteries. They have good power output, similar to regular alkalines.
NiMH batteries are my favorites. They are the most expensive and, like NiCads, they do have a poor shelf life. The charge in them slowly drains out as the sit idle. However, they have good power output (look for the milliamp rating on the battery, you will probably want 1800 or higher) and can be recharged many many times. They also tend not to have the same memory recharge problem NiCads have. NiMHs are best for devices like digital cameras that require high power output but go through a set of batteries relatively quickly. We use them here for pagers, but that's probably cutting it a little on the long end. I also used them in Japan for my CD player for the daily train commute. They still work 4 years later, though I haven't used them so much recently
To be honest, if you are willing to recharge them a lot, NiMHs can be used for anything, but using them for stuff like remotes is definitely not getting your money's worth from them.
Info for the environmentally conscious: NiCad and Rechargeable Alkalines are hazardous materials, as are standard alkalines. If you want safe batteries to dispose, only the NiMHs can be disposed normally.
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For you, sir, I shall suggest a group with whom to discuss grammar. What is the last word on the end of your sentence?
OK, so the guy who posted that math and science aren't important is wrong, but so are the rest of you who seem to be indicating that reading and writing are not at all involved in critical thinking. To be able to read and comprehend well requires critical thinking. As for logic and rationality, those are not necessarily related to math or science any more than reading and writing. In fact, logic is largely a subject all to itself.
What we need to address here is that all students need a basic understanding of written and oral communication skills, of reading to extract important information, of arithemetic, algebra, geometry, and some understanding of why higher maths are important (I stop short of considering calculus necessary only because I seem to be perfectly functional without a lick of it), and of the scientific method and the basic foundations of how to explore the Big 3 of science, biology, chemistry, and physics.
Covering the basics is key, here. But you know what? It's OK if some of our students don't learn physics. It's OK if some of them don't cover any one or two fields so long as we have given them the basic skills to understand them should they need to acquire said knowledge. The scientific method is a VERY important tool to learning about other topics. Does the typical adult need to have a full and robust understanding of the full physiology of humans and animals? Not necessarily. Do they need to understand basic biological principles? Yes. Do they need to be able to make sense of biological explanations with minimal background? Yes.
Critical thinking is not as easy as Math and Science vs Reading, Writing, and Communicating. Math and science are worthless without reading, writing, and communication. How do you think ideas spread and are acquired? Reading, writing, and basic communication are worthless without information to share and ideas to develop and communicate. The actuality of rational and logical thought, of critical thinking, is in the crux of these skills. It is where these things all come together, the "Liberal Arts Curriculum," that higher thought arises.
Indeed. My fiance has a music therapy degree and professional certification and has expressed to me that, while music does affect people greatly, the so-called "Mozart Effect" has been soundly disproved. In fact, it was over this very discussion that we originally fell in love. The study had a very flawed methodology that renders the results inconclusive.
You seem to discount that, what with companies wanting everything they can get out of you, many IT workers, particularly in underfunded areas like public works and education, often have more on their plate than they can reasonably finish in 40 hours. Sometimes overtime is expected simply as par for the course (and not paid because you are salaried) and sometimes there is policy that what doesn't get done doesn't get done.
I work at a public university and we have a very good working relationship with Apple even though we don't buy nearly as many Macs now as we once did. Every Mac we buy comes with AppleCare and we almost always get a tech support person quickly. A faculty member here had some trouble with a new Powerbook and had the local Apple authorized repair place look at it a couple times and when the problem couldn't be worked out Apple replaced it. He had to demand they do it, but they did. That seems to be par for the course.
Dell requires a little less demanding to replace computers, but then, we pay almost twice as much for their support plans, and on laptops even more than that, so I'd expect it.
Keep in mind that Apple and Dell both regularly take the top honors in comparisons (survey-based) of tech support.
Gamestop tosses boxes. I just traded in Metroid: Zero Mission and the first thing they did was toss the mint packaging, manual, registration cards, etc... I know a couple guys who work in the store and they think it's sad, but it's policy.
PSO released on newer systems may not be enough to encourage some of us to spend hard-earned cash on a GameCube or X-Box. For those of us that have Dreamcasts and have the game, why should we upgrade to continue using what we have been able to use for some time? Bring on the free server!
Dell, lately, has been shipping lots of FP monitors and video cards with DVI connectors. The caveat is that Dell has been using lots of weird monitor connectors for which we have to use odd dongles (and boy do we have some odd dongles cluttering up our desk drawers now, thank you Dell).
So I guess the question should be, why has DVI been so slow to penetrate the low-end/mainstream/low cost market? I imagine the DVI connector is a more complicated part and more expensive to produce, especially if you're like Dell and using weird connectors that require the extra expense of dongles. Additionally, if all you use is a DVI you have to include a VGA adapter, another item that slowly pecks away at the bottom line.
Let's face it, for most hardware manufacturers what's cheaper than simply using the old tried and true D-sub VGA connector?
Scott,
In the US there are laws concerning overtime. Unless your terms of employment (working responsibilities, conditions, and agreements all together) specifically exempt you from overtime you are due overtime pay by federal law.
What this means is that your employer has to pay you for overtime unless there is a very specific and legal reason NOT to have to pay you overtime. There need not be any advance agreement with the employer for you to be eligible for overtime pay. Overtime pay is an entitlement as long as you meet certain employment conditions, or rather, unless you fail to meet certain employment condition.
If a US employer assumes you are not due overtime pay they are obviously not up to speed on US labor law and the fact that they are assuming should be troubling to employees.
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, I think, may be less relevant to this discussion than RSI (Repetitive Stress Injury), which is a much more common result of keyboard and mouse usage. Carpal Tunnel may be as much genetic as anything else and RSI is something everyone can get. RSI is much more common and is often mistaken for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (something of a disease-of-the-week in today's computerized world).
Here are a few points to keep in mind:
-Mice are usually responsible for many more RSI problems that keyboards. The mouse is something you access sporadically and involves lots of wrist and finger twisting.
-Ergonomic keyboard research has been inconclusive as to whether or not any given keyboard design is better for RSI than another. It all seems to boil down to personal opinion and anecdotal evidence.
-Keyboard and mouse wrist rests are very important for reducing RSI problems.
With that in mind one can see how a laptop might help. There's a built-in wrist rest on a laptop. Additionally, the track pad or keyboard pointer, while less accurate and easy to use than a mouse, actually has people stressing their joints and muscles less than when using a mouse.
For many of you a laptop may be just the thing.
Canon's Wordtank is the coolest little thing you can get for the money, just about. Before offering advice I searched the thread for Canon and discovered that I'm not the only one who realizes this. Canon's offering ought to be cheap enough for a Christmas expenditure without breaking all but the flimsier (read: my) holiday budget. I knew a friend who had one when we were in Japan together and it was a great tool for exploring new vocabulary and solving existing problems.
Please pardon if this is a repeat of something already posted. There's already too much crud in this thread near the top.
I know of 3 rechargeable battery technologies that come in standard alkaline battery shapes and sizes: NiMH, NiCad, and Rechargeable Alkaline. Which you should use depends on what you want it for and what value system you uphold.
Truth be told, other than that they are cheap, I can't think of any reason to use Alkalines any more. And for that matter, I can't think of a good reason to use NiCads either. NiCads don't have good power output, they have problems with charge memory, they are expensive, and they're not good for much.
Rechargeable Alkalines hold their charge for a long time. They have the best shelf life of all rechargeable battiers. Rechargeable Alkalines are a little pricey and can only be charged like 10 times, but they are great for any device like a remote control that uses very little power and often sits for a long time with the same set of batteries. They have good power output, similar to regular alkalines.
NiMH batteries are my favorites. They are the most expensive and, like NiCads, they do have a poor shelf life. The charge in them slowly drains out as the sit idle. However, they have good power output (look for the milliamp rating on the battery, you will probably want 1800 or higher) and can be recharged many many times. They also tend not to have the same memory recharge problem NiCads have. NiMHs are best for devices like digital cameras that require high power output but go through a set of batteries relatively quickly. We use them here for pagers, but that's probably cutting it a little on the long end. I also used them in Japan for my CD player for the daily train commute. They still work 4 years later, though I haven't used them so much recently
To be honest, if you are willing to recharge them a lot, NiMHs can be used for anything, but using them for stuff like remotes is definitely not getting your money's worth from them.
Info for the environmentally conscious:
NiCad and Rechargeable Alkalines are hazardous materials, as are standard alkalines. If you want safe batteries to dispose, only the NiMHs can be disposed normally.
-Brandon