I occasionally read a comment and if I learned something or just plain liked it I'll take a look to see who wrote it. Frequently it's girlintraining. I like the what you bring to/.
I guess the next question then is, why does Sales Tax matter so much?
In theory people are supposed to pay an equivilent "use tax" to make up for the sales tax they didn't pay but afaict they rarely actually did so and some states even gave up and allowed people to pay an "estimated use tax" instead.
Perhaps I am naive but the use tax is on the books in every state that has a sales tax, based on my work paying use tax in many states for a corporation many years ago.
Instead of writing new laws, is there not a way to use technology to collect the proper tax?
One idea, right off the top of my head: At the time one places an order, it is not completed until the buyer is directed to a page that, based on zip code (or however they define local taxes), requires the buyer to submit the appropriate use tax to their state/locality. Tables can easily be kept up to date with the latest changes in tax rates and the vendor could collect the tax and submit it monthly to the appropriate tax collection agencies. I don't see this as a terribly difficult process to implement.
Like I said, maybe I'm just naive. I welcome other thoughts about this or other ideas that don't involve passing new legislation.
The ability to store information in a myriad of ways is great - when it's necessary. I understand the effect a little OCD can have on you though. It's not difficult to find or create software to keep track of every minute detail about your music, your hobbies, your household inventory, your finances, and everything else in your life.
The part you appear to have trouble with is determining the degree of detail that you really need to manage. It's like scope creep - you can always add another column for more data. But do you really need all that data? When and how will you use it?
Everyone who advocates simplifying is on track but saying it and doing it are totally different for someone with OCD tendencies.
Pick one area and examine it - music for example. Do you really need all the covers and lyrics and notes that accompany an album? Or just the barebones of: artist, album, song titles? If music is your passion you might need all that information.
Or look at finances. Sure, you could make an entry into something like Quicken for every penny of income and expense and have a great record for taxes and all kinds of things. But do you need that much information? As a student, I suspect that a notebook or a spreadsheet with each month's bills and income listed and a balanced bank account would work fine.
As someone with a bit of OCD and ADD, it is tempting to try to keep track of every little detail of my life on a computer but is it necessary? I have discovered that it is not.
Also, if your paper habits are messy, that's a good sign that eventually your electronic habits will follow the same path. I find that, after the first week or two of great data entry, my electronic systems become as tiresome, if not more so, as my paper methods. Who wants to fire up an app to enter the $5 latte they bought that day? So, that receipt gets set aside until there are more. Next thing I know, I have the same piles of paper I've always had and the weight of a huge amount of data entry besides.
Once you know what you truly need to track and maintain, then you can look for the appropriate solution(s).
GreatBunzinni has hit the nail on the head with regard to how the average home or small office buyer looks at the specs.
These users don't want to spend hours becoming intimately acquainted with the various components. They are buying a tool in a box with cords and "stuff" to use to accomplish something. It's often a frustrating, confusing, unhappy part of computer ownership, especially for those who have a clue but neither the time nor passion to see where that clue might take them.
I have seen both increased spending and lost sales as a result of consumer confusion. While freelancing for individuals and small businesses, I met people who couldn't begin to comprehend how much power they had purchased, often at ridiculously high prices, for their relatively minor needs. And I met others with ancient systems because they found it too confusing when they tried to decide what to buy to replace what they had. Generally more frugal, they just made do with what they had.
I worked both in a large metropolitan area and a very backwoodsy rural area and I'd say that I saw more ancient systems than oversold systems. I went to work for another company about 3 years ago but I imagine the economy has enticed more people to be of a frugal mindset.
Maybe it's his insurance company he should be contacting anyway. They may do their own investigation based on your evidence because they don't want to have to pay a claim. They may have a little more clout than the average citizen too.
I'll add that 10 years is a very long time to go with only "one mishap." But that one mishap for the hapless consumer wipes out 10 years of their pictures, music, and other data because those same users don't know about backing up their data. That's priceless stuff for those consumers.
In the late 90s many of my jobs were to write small apps for very small companies and organizations, mostly non-profit or governmental. I also often worked on existing apps to make them compatible with a variety of WIndows OSs.at places that could only afford to upgrade 5-10 computers per year. There was more work than the company I worked for could handle and at least 50% of it was for small (30-100 desktops) companies. Hazarding a guess, there may be hundreds of thousands of very small operations that have paid for custom software upon which they heavily depend. One might say that they are paying too much by not biting the bullet and paying for licenses for widely-used software that is available. But both non-profit and governmental agencies seldom have annual or even biannual budgets that allow for that.
Upgrading is difficult at these operations. Trying to follow a long-term plan that is a moving target, annually they have to deal with 5-10 new computers (usually with a new OS if they intend to upgrade) which go to the users who can best take advantage of them. Of course all the legacy software has to be addressed before roll-out. Then the cascade begins because keeping employees who aren't earning top dollar and place a lot of importance on their equipment and bells and whistles becomes a political issue and employee satisfaction is important - particularly for non-profits. If a company has 100 desktops and only replaces 10 per year, it takes 10 years to completely turn over all systems.
XP has been reliable for what, 9 years I think someone said. Small companies are just finally getting everyone on the same Windows OS. It's little wonder they have no desire to jump on the upgrade bandwagon.
Whats disturbing, is that the adults did nothing to protect this poor girl when it should have been immediately obvious she was being victimized. Sometimes when your being bullied, simply having an older kid or adult take your side can be immensely comforting.
The solution here is parenting. And while I find the lack of action by school officials disturbing, I wonder if they would have made things worse by getting involved. In reality they probably should have gotten in touch with the girl's parents proactively and discussed the situation.
As the parent of a child who was bullied, I can say that addressing it myself was the only option I could see. I found out the names of the kids who were doing it, looked them up in the School Directory (which probably no longer exists due to privacy issues), and visited the homes of the kids involved - unannounced. I took my son with me and simply said I was there to speak to the bully's parent or guardian. I wasn't angry in my approach. I was quite matter of fact, presenting a problem and asking for help with the solution. A few of the kids were kept at the door by the parent and none of them disagreed with what was stated.
It was important enough to my son and he trusted me enough that this succeeded. His willingness to go with me convinced me he was being honest and made it very easy to convey to him that he had my total support. I think shock value - because so few parents did this kind of thing back then - was hugely helpful. Even the parents who may have been belligerent had I called and made an appointment weren't able to muster much bluster, especially if their son was there. Also, the informality and the brevity of the conversations helped prevent making a mountain out of what was still a molehill. I think my calm presentation of a problem that needed a solution was a little disarming. I wasn't there screaming about their terrible kid. I just wanted to figure out exactly what was happening so that we could find a solution.
While I encountered parents who were convinced that their child could do no wrong, all of the kids left my son alone immediately after the visits. Less than six months later he was invited to play by a couple of the kids and it was just ordinary kid play. Maybe we were just lucky but it worked.
Anecdotal at best but I started a small forum (~250 users globally; most in the US; middle-aged women) last fall. I periodically review by IP and either all of my members have static IPs (no way) or their DHCP server is simply renewing the same IP for all of them. With the exception of one AOL user, those that have more than one IP associated with their login are quite obviously coming from work during the weekday and then from home the rest of the time.
With a static IP I figure I might as well do the test, especially since I'm in one of those under-served areas where we are supposed to have 10/2.5 but it actually got slower when we were informed that they had upped us from 1.5/0.5.
I think you seriously underestimate the number of Adblock users. I frequent a board with a current average of 10K unique mostly female visitors daily, hundreds of new visitors daily, and most of them are just barely able to operate a computer. Adblock is currently spreading faster than any virus on that board. What amazes me is that the ads served by the site are about 95% pertinent to the board topics and still the users want to get rid of them. Well, I'm amazed they caught on to FF as well.
Re:Sounds like the work of Ambien or some other dr
on
Sleep Mailing
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· Score: 3, Informative
Ambien is definitely a likely culprit.
I took it for a time and one night I emailed to a friend after taking it but before I went to bed. I had no recollection of it afterward. A couple of days later I wrote essentially the same thing to my friend, totally confusing her. That's how I found out about the first message.
It also caused horrible, screaming nightmares that freaked out spouse and our 3 dogs.
I adhere to what I've read elsewhere: If you're gonna take the stuff, take it immediately before going to bed. Don't take it and stick around online or in front of the TV. Do not pass GO and do not collect $200 (although I bet someone is already trying to collect a lot more from the drug company).
Long before there were SSRI's there were medications that were effective in addressing major clinical depression. They were largely disregarded once the SSRI's were released as the side effects were supposed to be greatly reduced with the advent of SSRI's.
The study discussed is targeting SSRI's that are, for the most part, fairly similar, thus they are all categorized under the SSRI umbrella.
Anyone who doubts the existence of major clinical depression (MCD) has never experienced it. Can it be treated without any medication at all? Is exercise and a good diet (definition of good diet is, of course, dependent on your point of view) enough to "cure" major clinical depression? If one learns and uses cognitive therapy techniques can depression be overcome?
I suspect that MCD has many causes, some simple, others complex. Some people with MCD are going to experience relief with talk therapy. The question is: Does talk therapy last? Or is recurrence almost a certainty? The same question can be asked of the use of medications. If one improves significantly on a medication, maintains that improvement for a term of say 6 months, and then slowly comes off the medication will MCD remain in remission indefinitely?
Studies suggest that those who experience MCD once have a greater chance of it recurring than those who have never experienced it.
I agree whole-heartedly with a post above that suggests one seek the advice of a good psychiatrist if considering medications. A good psychiatrist is one who reads everything he/she can find about the disease. A good psychiatrist is one who is experienced enough to recognize the nuances that suggest which of many neurotransmitters are likely involved in MCD. I don't recall the total number of neurotransmitters that "might" be involved but it's a large number and science only has a finger on the pulse of a handful. Different medications affect different neurotransmitters. If, as I mentioned, the causes of MCD are multiple then it makes sense that trial-and-error with what is available at present is going to be necessary until science finds a way to accurately diagnose cause and effect of MCD. And in 20% of cases they aren't going to find anything that works yet. Finding a psychiatrist who is intimately aquainted with all the known causes of MCD and all the known effects of current medications is the shortest route to whatever relief medication can offer. Such a physician will also offer other, alternative options such as exercise, diet, social support through family and friends, and counseling as needed.
Placebo effect is very real--I agree entirely with that. However, as those who have had to endure endless months on one antidepressant after another while in a state of mind that leaves no room for hope for the future can tell you, the placebo effect is very short lived for those with real MCD.
How to address the placebo effect is an important avenue for science to follow. Theoretically a physician could recommend a vitamin or combination of vitamins, saving the patient a great deal of money, in the hope of invoking the placebo effect. However, word-of-mouth will soon squash that. Anyone reading this knows about snopes.com and search engines and can quickly learn that they are being given a placebo.
I've been away from education for a while (programming instead) but when I was directly involved in helping improve K-12 science education via professional development opportunities for teachers, research demonstrated that the innate curiosity that leads many young people, male or female, to go into any form of science dissipated in girls by middle school. From that point on interest and enrollment by girls in science (and math) classes began to decline significantly.
IMHO, this isn't about equality or diversity for diversity's sake--this is about the loss of a huge talent pool in all sciences, not just CS. I wish that pedagogical changes at the university level could change this but I don't think they can.
Female intellect has to be highly valued in American society and expectations of female students must be as high as they are for male students--beginning long before students reach university.
I personally find this a mind-boggling task facing our schools and our society. One can point to the media, to stereotypical expectations, to the K-12 teachers and administrators and school boards, to the parents--the list doesn't seem to ever stop as far as where changes need to be effected. Are there inherent differences in how girls and boys learn and their self-perception? Most likely. Does that mean that one gender can't be taught a particular discipline. I don't think so.
Also, the "nerd" concept is so overused IMO. I program and I love it so call me a nerd if you want. I'm also a bright, engaging, attractive woman filled with curiosity about everything. When I was the only girl in physics class in high school none of my friends thought I was weird. If anything the other girls were maybe a bit intimidated and the boys thought I was interesting. It wasn't until many, many years later that I realized that it was rather unusual, in my day, to be the only girl in that class.
Finally, I am baffled that so few women seem to realize the amazing opportunities presented in IT. With today's technology (and who knows what looms just ahead?!) young women contemplating IT can enter the field, begin to establish their careers, and still have children since telecommuting, at least on a part-time basis, works so well. My husband and I own and operate our own businesses and decided three years ago that we were tired of the city. We wanted to live in a quieter, more pastoral environment so we just sold our home and moved to a tiny village. We keep an office in the city for our staff who wish to remain there but we bugged out! If only that had been a possibility when I had small children to raise! Anyway, my point is that some, not all, IT jobs lend themselves nicely to young women who wish to have a family and a career without either delaying the family or stopping dead mid-career for a few years.
Kids are bright but that's not news. They've been circumventing all kinds of controls put in place by parents, teachers, and the like for as long as there have been children. I agree entirely with zappepcs.
It's up to PARENTS to actively take a role in raising their children. It's not up to government, teachers, or anyone else--no matter how many parents want to abdicate their responsibility for the children they brought into this world.
I am shocked and appalled at how many children are raised without any sense of respect--self or otherwise.
I've raised my sons--my youngest was on IRC when he was 7 and I viewed it as a wonderful learning experience. He talked to university students all over the world. Suddenly the world wasn't such a huge place...it was right there, in our home! Now a college student, he's traveling to see those places.
Was IRC fraught with danger for him? Absolutely! At age 7 I supervised his use. I also instructed him in ways of the Internet and told him that there were people out there who might say things to him that were "wrong" and that, just as we teach our children to tell us if ever someone touches them in a way that feels "wrong", he should tell me immediately if he ever encountered someone like that. And he did.
I also taught my children that there were pictures that were "wrong" and that they needed to avoid them. "Wrong" didn't mean pornography necessarily. It meant anything that was inappropriate to that child at that age.
Did I find a trail of links to Playboy? You bet! Was I surprised? Of course not. My brothers were looking at illicit Playboys decades before anyone heard of the WWW. My husband found a bag of magazines dumped in front of our house with images on the covers that made Playboy look like a children's book--again, long before the Internet was a household word.
How many of our freedoms do we want to give up? In our homes we decide what our children can and can't see online and on TV--if we are responsible parents. At school, kids should be on-task, whether at their own desk or behind a computer. Why is it that we find it so much harder to monitor student activity these days? Yes, some kids are always going to push it at school--and that's when the parents need to be brought in to become involved. If we allow teachers to focus on educating our students and stop insisting that they be back up (or stand-ins) for social services maybe our teachers would once again have time to monitor their students' activities.
Finally, things like NetNanny are probably appropriate for the youngest students. How many elementary students are doing research on breast cancer? And what happened to using old-fashioned books and periodicals? The youngest students need some protection from accidentally finding totally inappropriate sites but even technology isn't going to provide 100% protection. If it's not pornography, it's graphic images of violence or other inappropriate material that is commonly available via "respectable" news outlets.
Yes, zappepcs, we need to educate children. Over and over again. The Internet is just another part of life that children must learn about.
Of course you have to ask her how she feels about the whole idea. But, assuming she's interested in trying it, I wouldn't rule out any games. FPS's aren't my cup of tea ONLY because I haven't taken the time to learn how to play them and play well. I enjoy too many other games (from MUD's to multiplayer games to board/card games) already and don't have time to devote to those. I don't need another addiction!
Seriously, I would love it if my bf played online games but, alas, he doesn't have the foggiest idea about them, much less any interest (and he's been a programmer since the first TRS's came out!). As far as what type of game, any of them can be fun--you don't know until you try.
If she's unsure, probably something pretty tame like card or board games would be a good place to start--especially if she has to learn all the how-to's on her own. If she's interested in something more complex, I highly recommend some in-person assistance in learning the ropes to start. Otherwise it's pretty overwhelming for anybody who's never gamed.
Chances for the relationship? As long as this is just another dimension of your long-distance relationship, I'd say it's got as good or better chance of making it as any other LDR.
Slashdot Mirror
I occasionally read a comment and if I learned something or just plain liked it I'll take a look to see who wrote it. Frequently it's girlintraining. I like the what you bring to /.
I guess the next question then is, why does Sales Tax matter so much?
In theory people are supposed to pay an equivilent "use tax" to make up for the sales tax they didn't pay but afaict they rarely actually did so and some states even gave up and allowed people to pay an "estimated use tax" instead.
Perhaps I am naive but the use tax is on the books in every state that has a sales tax, based on my work paying use tax in many states for a corporation many years ago.
Instead of writing new laws, is there not a way to use technology to collect the proper tax?
One idea, right off the top of my head: At the time one places an order, it is not completed until the buyer is directed to a page that, based on zip code (or however they define local taxes), requires the buyer to submit the appropriate use tax to their state/locality. Tables can easily be kept up to date with the latest changes in tax rates and the vendor could collect the tax and submit it monthly to the appropriate tax collection agencies. I don't see this as a terribly difficult process to implement.
Like I said, maybe I'm just naive. I welcome other thoughts about this or other ideas that don't involve passing new legislation.
The ability to store information in a myriad of ways is great - when it's necessary. I understand the effect a little OCD can have on you though. It's not difficult to find or create software to keep track of every minute detail about your music, your hobbies, your household inventory, your finances, and everything else in your life.
The part you appear to have trouble with is determining the degree of detail that you really need to manage. It's like scope creep - you can always add another column for more data. But do you really need all that data? When and how will you use it?
Everyone who advocates simplifying is on track but saying it and doing it are totally different for someone with OCD tendencies.
Pick one area and examine it - music for example. Do you really need all the covers and lyrics and notes that accompany an album? Or just the barebones of: artist, album, song titles? If music is your passion you might need all that information.
Or look at finances. Sure, you could make an entry into something like Quicken for every penny of income and expense and have a great record for taxes and all kinds of things. But do you need that much information? As a student, I suspect that a notebook or a spreadsheet with each month's bills and income listed and a balanced bank account would work fine.
As someone with a bit of OCD and ADD, it is tempting to try to keep track of every little detail of my life on a computer but is it necessary? I have discovered that it is not.
Also, if your paper habits are messy, that's a good sign that eventually your electronic habits will follow the same path. I find that, after the first week or two of great data entry, my electronic systems become as tiresome, if not more so, as my paper methods. Who wants to fire up an app to enter the $5 latte they bought that day? So, that receipt gets set aside until there are more. Next thing I know, I have the same piles of paper I've always had and the weight of a huge amount of data entry besides.
Once you know what you truly need to track and maintain, then you can look for the appropriate solution(s).
The state of readership is really sad.
Whether dead trees or online, we are being served that which the most people will read.
Mod his comment up, please.
GreatBunzinni has hit the nail on the head with regard to how the average home or small office buyer looks at the specs.
These users don't want to spend hours becoming intimately acquainted with the various components. They are buying a tool in a box with cords and "stuff" to use to accomplish something. It's often a frustrating, confusing, unhappy part of computer ownership, especially for those who have a clue but neither the time nor passion to see where that clue might take them.
Totally anecdotal
I have seen both increased spending and lost sales as a result of consumer confusion. While freelancing for individuals and small businesses, I met people who couldn't begin to comprehend how much power they had purchased, often at ridiculously high prices, for their relatively minor needs. And I met others with ancient systems because they found it too confusing when they tried to decide what to buy to replace what they had. Generally more frugal, they just made do with what they had.
I worked both in a large metropolitan area and a very backwoodsy rural area and I'd say that I saw more ancient systems than oversold systems. I went to work for another company about 3 years ago but I imagine the economy has enticed more people to be of a frugal mindset.
Maybe it's his insurance company he should be contacting anyway. They may do their own investigation based on your evidence because they don't want to have to pay a claim. They may have a little more clout than the average citizen too.
I'll add that 10 years is a very long time to go with only "one mishap." But that one mishap for the hapless consumer wipes out 10 years of their pictures, music, and other data because those same users don't know about backing up their data. That's priceless stuff for those consumers.
In the late 90s many of my jobs were to write small apps for very small companies and organizations, mostly non-profit or governmental. I also often worked on existing apps to make them compatible with a variety of WIndows OSs.at places that could only afford to upgrade 5-10 computers per year. There was more work than the company I worked for could handle and at least 50% of it was for small (30-100 desktops) companies. Hazarding a guess, there may be hundreds of thousands of very small operations that have paid for custom software upon which they heavily depend. One might say that they are paying too much by not biting the bullet and paying for licenses for widely-used software that is available. But both non-profit and governmental agencies seldom have annual or even biannual budgets that allow for that.
Upgrading is difficult at these operations. Trying to follow a long-term plan that is a moving target, annually they have to deal with 5-10 new computers (usually with a new OS if they intend to upgrade) which go to the users who can best take advantage of them. Of course all the legacy software has to be addressed before roll-out. Then the cascade begins because keeping employees who aren't earning top dollar and place a lot of importance on their equipment and bells and whistles becomes a political issue and employee satisfaction is important - particularly for non-profits. If a company has 100 desktops and only replaces 10 per year, it takes 10 years to completely turn over all systems.
XP has been reliable for what, 9 years I think someone said. Small companies are just finally getting everyone on the same Windows OS. It's little wonder they have no desire to jump on the upgrade bandwagon.
The solution here is parenting. And while I find the lack of action by school officials disturbing, I wonder if they would have made things worse by getting involved. In reality they probably should have gotten in touch with the girl's parents proactively and discussed the situation.
As the parent of a child who was bullied, I can say that addressing it myself was the only option I could see. I found out the names of the kids who were doing it, looked them up in the School Directory (which probably no longer exists due to privacy issues), and visited the homes of the kids involved - unannounced. I took my son with me and simply said I was there to speak to the bully's parent or guardian. I wasn't angry in my approach. I was quite matter of fact, presenting a problem and asking for help with the solution. A few of the kids were kept at the door by the parent and none of them disagreed with what was stated.
It was important enough to my son and he trusted me enough that this succeeded. His willingness to go with me convinced me he was being honest and made it very easy to convey to him that he had my total support. I think shock value - because so few parents did this kind of thing back then - was hugely helpful. Even the parents who may have been belligerent had I called and made an appointment weren't able to muster much bluster, especially if their son was there. Also, the informality and the brevity of the conversations helped prevent making a mountain out of what was still a molehill. I think my calm presentation of a problem that needed a solution was a little disarming. I wasn't there screaming about their terrible kid. I just wanted to figure out exactly what was happening so that we could find a solution.
While I encountered parents who were convinced that their child could do no wrong, all of the kids left my son alone immediately after the visits. Less than six months later he was invited to play by a couple of the kids and it was just ordinary kid play. Maybe we were just lucky but it worked.
Anecdotal at best but I started a small forum (~250 users globally; most in the US; middle-aged women) last fall. I periodically review by IP and either all of my members have static IPs (no way) or their DHCP server is simply renewing the same IP for all of them. With the exception of one AOL user, those that have more than one IP associated with their login are quite obviously coming from work during the weekday and then from home the rest of the time.
With a static IP I figure I might as well do the test, especially since I'm in one of those under-served areas where we are supposed to have 10/2.5 but it actually got slower when we were informed that they had upped us from 1.5/0.5.
I think you seriously underestimate the number of Adblock users. I frequent a board with a current average of 10K unique mostly female visitors daily, hundreds of new visitors daily, and most of them are just barely able to operate a computer. Adblock is currently spreading faster than any virus on that board. What amazes me is that the ads served by the site are about 95% pertinent to the board topics and still the users want to get rid of them. Well, I'm amazed they caught on to FF as well.
Ambien is definitely a likely culprit.
I took it for a time and one night I emailed to a friend after taking it but before I went to bed. I had no recollection of it afterward. A couple of days later I wrote essentially the same thing to my friend, totally confusing her. That's how I found out about the first message.
It also caused horrible, screaming nightmares that freaked out spouse and our 3 dogs.
I adhere to what I've read elsewhere: If you're gonna take the stuff, take it immediately before going to bed. Don't take it and stick around online or in front of the TV. Do not pass GO and do not collect $200 (although I bet someone is already trying to collect a lot more from the drug company).
Long before there were SSRI's there were medications that were effective in addressing major clinical depression. They were largely disregarded once the SSRI's were released as the side effects were supposed to be greatly reduced with the advent of SSRI's.
The study discussed is targeting SSRI's that are, for the most part, fairly similar, thus they are all categorized under the SSRI umbrella.
Anyone who doubts the existence of major clinical depression (MCD) has never experienced it. Can it be treated without any medication at all? Is exercise and a good diet (definition of good diet is, of course, dependent on your point of view) enough to "cure" major clinical depression? If one learns and uses cognitive therapy techniques can depression be overcome?
I suspect that MCD has many causes, some simple, others complex. Some people with MCD are going to experience relief with talk therapy. The question is: Does talk therapy last? Or is recurrence almost a certainty? The same question can be asked of the use of medications. If one improves significantly on a medication, maintains that improvement for a term of say 6 months, and then slowly comes off the medication will MCD remain in remission indefinitely?
Studies suggest that those who experience MCD once have a greater chance of it recurring than those who have never experienced it.
I agree whole-heartedly with a post above that suggests one seek the advice of a good psychiatrist if considering medications. A good psychiatrist is one who reads everything he/she can find about the disease. A good psychiatrist is one who is experienced enough to recognize the nuances that suggest which of many neurotransmitters are likely involved in MCD. I don't recall the total number of neurotransmitters that "might" be involved but it's a large number and science only has a finger on the pulse of a handful. Different medications affect different neurotransmitters. If, as I mentioned, the causes of MCD are multiple then it makes sense that trial-and-error with what is available at present is going to be necessary until science finds a way to accurately diagnose cause and effect of MCD. And in 20% of cases they aren't going to find anything that works yet. Finding a psychiatrist who is intimately aquainted with all the known causes of MCD and all the known effects of current medications is the shortest route to whatever relief medication can offer. Such a physician will also offer other, alternative options such as exercise, diet, social support through family and friends, and counseling as needed.
Placebo effect is very real--I agree entirely with that. However, as those who have had to endure endless months on one antidepressant after another while in a state of mind that leaves no room for hope for the future can tell you, the placebo effect is very short lived for those with real MCD.
How to address the placebo effect is an important avenue for science to follow. Theoretically a physician could recommend a vitamin or combination of vitamins, saving the patient a great deal of money, in the hope of invoking the placebo effect. However, word-of-mouth will soon squash that. Anyone reading this knows about snopes.com and search engines and can quickly learn that they are being given a placebo.
I've been away from education for a while (programming instead) but when I was directly involved in helping improve K-12 science education via professional development opportunities for teachers, research demonstrated that the innate curiosity that leads many young people, male or female, to go into any form of science dissipated in girls by middle school. From that point on interest and enrollment by girls in science (and math) classes began to decline significantly.
IMHO, this isn't about equality or diversity for diversity's sake--this is about the loss of a huge talent pool in all sciences, not just CS. I wish that pedagogical changes at the university level could change this but I don't think they can.
Female intellect has to be highly valued in American society and expectations of female students must be as high as they are for male students--beginning long before students reach university.
I personally find this a mind-boggling task facing our schools and our society. One can point to the media, to stereotypical expectations, to the K-12 teachers and administrators and school boards, to the parents--the list doesn't seem to ever stop as far as where changes need to be effected. Are there inherent differences in how girls and boys learn and their self-perception? Most likely. Does that mean that one gender can't be taught a particular discipline. I don't think so.
Also, the "nerd" concept is so overused IMO. I program and I love it so call me a nerd if you want. I'm also a bright, engaging, attractive woman filled with curiosity about everything. When I was the only girl in physics class in high school none of my friends thought I was weird. If anything the other girls were maybe a bit intimidated and the boys thought I was interesting. It wasn't until many, many years later that I realized that it was rather unusual, in my day, to be the only girl in that class.
Finally, I am baffled that so few women seem to realize the amazing opportunities presented in IT. With today's technology (and who knows what looms just ahead?!) young women contemplating IT can enter the field, begin to establish their careers, and still have children since telecommuting, at least on a part-time basis, works so well. My husband and I own and operate our own businesses and decided three years ago that we were tired of the city. We wanted to live in a quieter, more pastoral environment so we just sold our home and moved to a tiny village. We keep an office in the city for our staff who wish to remain there but we bugged out! If only that had been a possibility when I had small children to raise! Anyway, my point is that some, not all, IT jobs lend themselves nicely to young women who wish to have a family and a career without either delaying the family or stopping dead mid-career for a few years.
Kids are bright but that's not news. They've been circumventing all kinds of controls put in place by parents, teachers, and the like for as long as there have been children. I agree entirely with zappepcs.
It's up to PARENTS to actively take a role in raising their children. It's not up to government, teachers, or anyone else--no matter how many parents want to abdicate their responsibility for the children they brought into this world.
I am shocked and appalled at how many children are raised without any sense of respect--self or otherwise.
I've raised my sons--my youngest was on IRC when he was 7 and I viewed it as a wonderful learning experience. He talked to university students all over the world. Suddenly the world wasn't such a huge place...it was right there, in our home! Now a college student, he's traveling to see those places.
Was IRC fraught with danger for him? Absolutely! At age 7 I supervised his use. I also instructed him in ways of the Internet and told him that there were people out there who might say things to him that were "wrong" and that, just as we teach our children to tell us if ever someone touches them in a way that feels "wrong", he should tell me immediately if he ever encountered someone like that. And he did.
I also taught my children that there were pictures that were "wrong" and that they needed to avoid them. "Wrong" didn't mean pornography necessarily. It meant anything that was inappropriate to that child at that age.
Did I find a trail of links to Playboy? You bet! Was I surprised? Of course not. My brothers were looking at illicit Playboys decades before anyone heard of the WWW. My husband found a bag of magazines dumped in front of our house with images on the covers that made Playboy look like a children's book--again, long before the Internet was a household word.
How many of our freedoms do we want to give up? In our homes we decide what our children can and can't see online and on TV--if we are responsible parents. At school, kids should be on-task, whether at their own desk or behind a computer. Why is it that we find it so much harder to monitor student activity these days? Yes, some kids are always going to push it at school--and that's when the parents need to be brought in to become involved. If we allow teachers to focus on educating our students and stop insisting that they be back up (or stand-ins) for social services maybe our teachers would once again have time to monitor their students' activities.
Finally, things like NetNanny are probably appropriate for the youngest students. How many elementary students are doing research on breast cancer? And what happened to using old-fashioned books and periodicals? The youngest students need some protection from accidentally finding totally inappropriate sites but even technology isn't going to provide 100% protection. If it's not pornography, it's graphic images of violence or other inappropriate material that is commonly available via "respectable" news outlets.
Yes, zappepcs, we need to educate children. Over and over again. The Internet is just another part of life that children must learn about.
Of course you have to ask her how she feels about the whole idea. But, assuming she's interested in trying it, I wouldn't rule out any games. FPS's aren't my cup of tea ONLY because I haven't taken the time to learn how to play them and play well. I enjoy too many other games (from MUD's to multiplayer games to board/card games) already and don't have time to devote to those. I don't need another addiction! Seriously, I would love it if my bf played online games but, alas, he doesn't have the foggiest idea about them, much less any interest (and he's been a programmer since the first TRS's came out!). As far as what type of game, any of them can be fun--you don't know until you try. If she's unsure, probably something pretty tame like card or board games would be a good place to start--especially if she has to learn all the how-to's on her own. If she's interested in something more complex, I highly recommend some in-person assistance in learning the ropes to start. Otherwise it's pretty overwhelming for anybody who's never gamed. Chances for the relationship? As long as this is just another dimension of your long-distance relationship, I'd say it's got as good or better chance of making it as any other LDR.