I used to tour a lot back in '90s. We didn't stream squat because there was nothing to stream. Most of us didn't even have cellphones.
But we did have VHS players in both the front and back lounges. We had walkmen and whatever tapes/CDs we brought. Sometimes I'd bring my SuperNES and hook it up for some rousing drunken games of Mario Kart. If we were lucky, we'd wind up in one of the nicer buses that could get satellite TV if it wasn't too cloudy.
We had books and magazines. The kind made from trees.
If I wanted to check email, I'd just find a phone jack at the venue or hotel room and plug the ol' dial-up modem in. Assuming I brought a computer in the first place, which I often didn't even bother with.
We went out there, played music, had a blast, and survived just fine without a data plan.
I finished out my Bachelor's (from having an Associate's) completely online at an established, bricks-and-mortar state school (Troy). Now MIT it ain't. But it's regionally-accredited, and the price was right. Overall, it was a good experience, and, for the classes that weren't already old hat for me, I did learn a lot. Some professors were good, others not so much. Some were fantastic.
Yes, I had to take some classes I could probably have taught. But as others have said, that's pretty much how it is everywhere. Remember: Getting your degree is only partially about learning new things. It's also--perhaps mostly--about getting proof that you've learned things. Many classes are more about demonstrating knowledge (by passing) than about gaining knowledge. It's a big, fat certification.
And yes, I had some classmates whose class postings would make me wonder not only how they managed to get admitted to college, but how they even graduated high school in the first place. Some would even copy-and-paste their posts directly from Wikipedia--underlined links and all. Ugh.
But there are goobers in B&M classes too. You just don't normally get to read or hear what they have to say. They have the option of participating very little in class and just turning in their papers directly to the prof. In an online class, there's usually a specific participation requirement in terms of number of posts, etc. You see a lot more of everyone's written work.
When it comes down to it, all education is self-education. No one can educate you--they can only facilitate you doing it to yourself. If you want to stay where you are, then go for it. Trudge along, get the grades, learn what you can from the textbooks and elsewhere, and get your "certification."
I work for a very large non-profit. We use an older version Sungard/BSR Advance, with a bunch of specially-made front-ends, third-party reporting tools, etc., all hitting the Oracle back end directly. Most of us barely touch the actual client.
That said, the client isn't too bad. And the product certainly supports just about anything you'd want to throw at it. Of course, if you're dumping Raiser's Edge due to expense, Advance would probably not be the way to go.
Have you looked at Tessitura? It's especially nice if you're in the arts or any other type of non-profit that does ticketing.
IANA biologist, but nothing in the theory of natural selection precludes "intelligent" selection, as far as I know. There simply needs to be some sort of fitness function. Intelligence, in some form or another, factors into this all the time. In this case, fitness is determined by whether a bunch of people like it or not. That's really no different than a plant appearing attractive to a bee, or a beetle tasting nasty to a lizard.
Actually, there are tons of good examples where pairs resulted in fantastic creative endeavors. Go see a Rogers and Hammerstein musical, or a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta. Or watch "The Matrix" or "The Big Lebowski" while sitting in an Eames lounge chair.
Programming is an art, sure. But no more or less than any other engineering discipline. Go tell the Wright brothers or Hewlett and Packard that working in pairs is "just plain stupid".
There are valid arguments against Pair Programming. However, the old "creativity is a one-man show" idea isn't one of them.
What you really should do is watch the user. If you ask them, they'll tell you what they think they'd do, or what they think you want to hear, or what they think they'd like to see... everything except what is most important: what they really do.
How am I supposed to make first posts when you give me a Q with no U?
Easy. Just go find the QAID that hangs out in the SUQ by the QANAT. I forget his name, but it starts with QOPH. Anyway, he'll sell you a QAT for just a couple of QINDAR that, like a TRANQ, will help you relax enough to align your QI.
Everyone's a little bit unsatisfied Everyone goes 'round a little empty inside Take a breath, look around, swallow your pride For now...
Nothing lasts. Life goes on, full of surprises. You'll be faced with problems of all shapes and sizes. You're going to have to make a few compromises For now...
But only for now.
Don't stress Relax Let life roll off your backs Except for death and paying taxes, Everything in life is only for now.
Even neater trick: Take two pairs of modern 3D glasses. Hold them both up to a regular light so that the light goes through one lens of one pair and then the corresponding lens of the other pair. Rotate one of the pair, and you'll see the light fade in and out as you change the polarization angle.
Rotate the one pair so that no light gets through. Basically, you're letting through only half the light with one lens, and what does get past it is polarized to a certain angle. The other lens then blocks all of that remainder, since its polarization is 90-degrees off. You've got crossed polarizers.
But that's not the neat part. Get a friend (unless you're Zaphod Beeblebrox) to position a third polarized lens between the two. Rotate it to a roughly 45-degree angle from the other two. You'll see light coming through again! This is a big WTF moment when seen in terms of classical physics (but is explained by quantum physics).
Slashdot Mirror
I used to tour a lot back in '90s. We didn't stream squat because there was nothing to stream. Most of us didn't even have cellphones.
But we did have VHS players in both the front and back lounges. We had walkmen and whatever tapes/CDs we brought. Sometimes I'd bring my SuperNES and hook it up for some rousing drunken games of Mario Kart. If we were lucky, we'd wind up in one of the nicer buses that could get satellite TV if it wasn't too cloudy.
We had books and magazines. The kind made from trees.
If I wanted to check email, I'd just find a phone jack at the venue or hotel room and plug the ol' dial-up modem in. Assuming I brought a computer in the first place, which I often didn't even bother with.
We went out there, played music, had a blast, and survived just fine without a data plan.
So can you.
Agreed. Naxos is a good example of how a record label should be run. Ain't nothing wrong with Naxos.
JJ
I finished out my Bachelor's (from having an Associate's) completely online at an established, bricks-and-mortar state school (Troy). Now MIT it ain't. But it's regionally-accredited, and the price was right. Overall, it was a good experience, and, for the classes that weren't already old hat for me, I did learn a lot. Some professors were good, others not so much. Some were fantastic.
Yes, I had to take some classes I could probably have taught. But as others have said, that's pretty much how it is everywhere. Remember: Getting your degree is only partially about learning new things. It's also--perhaps mostly--about getting proof that you've learned things. Many classes are more about demonstrating knowledge (by passing) than about gaining knowledge. It's a big, fat certification.
And yes, I had some classmates whose class postings would make me wonder not only how they managed to get admitted to college, but how they even graduated high school in the first place. Some would even copy-and-paste their posts directly from Wikipedia--underlined links and all. Ugh.
But there are goobers in B&M classes too. You just don't normally get to read or hear what they have to say. They have the option of participating very little in class and just turning in their papers directly to the prof. In an online class, there's usually a specific participation requirement in terms of number of posts, etc. You see a lot more of everyone's written work.
When it comes down to it, all education is self-education. No one can educate you--they can only facilitate you doing it to yourself. If you want to stay where you are, then go for it. Trudge along, get the grades, learn what you can from the textbooks and elsewhere, and get your "certification."
JJ
I work for a very large non-profit. We use an older version Sungard/BSR Advance, with a bunch of specially-made front-ends, third-party reporting tools, etc., all hitting the Oracle back end directly. Most of us barely touch the actual client.
That said, the client isn't too bad. And the product certainly supports just about anything you'd want to throw at it. Of course, if you're dumping Raiser's Edge due to expense, Advance would probably not be the way to go.
Have you looked at Tessitura? It's especially nice if you're in the arts or any other type of non-profit that does ticketing.
JJ
"That's the thing about people who think they hate computers. What they really hate are lousy programmers." — Larry Niven
JJ
IANA biologist, but nothing in the theory of natural selection precludes "intelligent" selection, as far as I know. There simply needs to be some sort of fitness function. Intelligence, in some form or another, factors into this all the time. In this case, fitness is determined by whether a bunch of people like it or not. That's really no different than a plant appearing attractive to a bee, or a beetle tasting nasty to a lizard.
JJ
I'm glad to see I wasn't the only one here who first thought of 80's FM synthesizers when reading the subject line of this thread.
JJ
Actually, there are tons of good examples where pairs resulted in fantastic creative endeavors. Go see a Rogers and Hammerstein musical, or a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta. Or watch "The Matrix" or "The Big Lebowski" while sitting in an Eames lounge chair.
Programming is an art, sure. But no more or less than any other engineering discipline. Go tell the Wright brothers or Hewlett and Packard that working in pairs is "just plain stupid".
There are valid arguments against Pair Programming. However, the old "creativity is a one-man show" idea isn't one of them.
JJ
Four months? Bah. I went for about 20 years without internet access, and I survived just fine.
JJ
The Design of Everyday Things
And yes, it is a tech/eng/cs book as far as I'm concerned.
JJ
Well then he's all set. Bush was only elected once so far.
JJ
And among them, goldenpalace.com.
Well, no problem then.
They'll just buy the state of Kentucky and rename it to Goldenpalace.com.tucky.
JJ
A song about astrophysics?
It's been done before
JJ
Both of those MMOs sound nice. But if you really want my gaming dollars, how about one taking place in the Dr. Horrible universe?
(Every five minutes your in-game chat would have to rhyme, of course.)
JJ
You know what's better than asking the users?
Not asking the user.
What you really should do is watch the user. If you ask them, they'll tell you what they think they'd do, or what they think you want to hear, or what they think they'd like to see... everything except what is most important: what they really do.
(And I'm not the only one who thinks so.)
JJ
Easy. Just go find the QAID that hangs out in the SUQ by the QANAT. I forget his name, but it starts with QOPH. Anyway, he'll sell you a QAT for just a couple of QINDAR that, like a TRANQ, will help you relax enough to align your QI.
JJ
How about Alice?
JJ
Except for when he entertained children while dressed as an "Alice in Wonderland" character at the mall.
Oh, and when he worked at Hewlett-Packard.
And at Atari. (Twice!)
Not to mention all those days spend working at Pixar. (He didn't build that company. He just bought it.)
JJ
In fact, all sweeping generalizations are false.
JJ
No wonder it took them so long.
JJ
It's only a wtf if you didn't rtfa.
JJ
"Someone who has a job and/or business that earns good money after spending a lot of time studing and/or working hard to become successful?"
I'd like to think that the letter you left out of the above sentence is a 'd' instead of a 'y'.
It's the romantic in me.
JJ
Everyone's a little bit unsatisfied
Everyone goes 'round a little empty inside
Take a breath, look around, swallow your pride
For now...
Nothing lasts. Life goes on, full of surprises.
You'll be faced with problems of all shapes and sizes.
You're going to have to make a few compromises
For now...
But only for now.
Don't stress
Relax
Let life roll off your backs
Except for death and paying taxes,
Everything in life is only for now.
JJ
Meh.
Wake me when they come up with "Hot Dog" or "Crashdown" memory.
JJ
Even neater trick: Take two pairs of modern 3D glasses. Hold them both up to a regular light so that the light goes through one lens of one pair and then the corresponding lens of the other pair. Rotate one of the pair, and you'll see the light fade in and out as you change the polarization angle.
Rotate the one pair so that no light gets through. Basically, you're letting through only half the light with one lens, and what does get past it is polarized to a certain angle. The other lens then blocks all of that remainder, since its polarization is 90-degrees off. You've got crossed polarizers.
But that's not the neat part. Get a friend (unless you're Zaphod Beeblebrox) to position a third polarized lens between the two. Rotate it to a roughly 45-degree angle from the other two. You'll see light coming through again! This is a big WTF moment when seen in terms of classical physics (but is explained by quantum physics).
JJ