Yes. Quite a bit. Diet and exercise for one in a major way, but really slowly over time. Screening programs for pancreatic, prostate, colon, and other cancers. Involvement in long-term studies. Chose not to have any more kids after I found out. How I will approach reproduction/adoption discussion with my own kids in case they are carriers. Makes ya think...
I have one of the BRCA1 mutations (there are several known varieties) that causes a greatly heightened risk of some cancers. Not just breast cancer in women, but a very high risk of ovarian cancer as well. For both women and men, the risks of pancreatic, colon, and others are raised. For men, the risk of prostate cancer is greatly increased. The pancreatic and ovarian cancers are especially nasty, but all risk factors here require heightened vigilance for continual screening throughout life.
I have quite a few family members with the mutation and many without it. There are just as many idiotic, brain defective family members both with it and without. I am not one of them.
So, that pretty much solves the science on that one. Next?
While there is plenty of blame to go around, I am still left wondering where the investigative journalism was regarding the true progress of ACA implementation as the 3 years progressed up to this point.
So, while the press is justifiably having a field day with the sheer incompetence displayed here, where were they while all this was developing?
I have a FOID card, but do not own a gun. Sorry that so many here do not understand the difference. There is no gun in my home, but I would appear on such a map. Is that really right? I think not. Why not an "armed robbery" registry? Murderer registry? Speeding ticket registry? Drunk driver registry? Car accident-causer registry? Etc., etc....
At least the fact that I have a FOID card indicates that I have been vetted by the state police. To me, that makes me a safer neighbor than one who has not been vetted by the government. Right?
You would follow up with an ERCP, which is expensive.
The current CA19-9 blood test is not reliable in many individuals, but is a relatively inexpensive blood test to check for pancreatic cancer. If you baseline with CA19-9 and use the test on a regular basis, it seems pretty good right now. I guess I can't see this kid's test being 28 times cheaper than a CA19-9 test, but I could see it being 28 times cheaper than an ERCP.
Hansen needs to resign. He is abusing his post at NASA and tainting the agency with his political activism. His problem is that NASA gives him a platform, and he feels that he can't give it up because he will lose his voice with the press. He is exactly the type of scientist that the public despises. Scientists that I know obsess with finding out why their theory/science/findings are wrong. They want to be proven wrong. Hansen comes off as a nut job and does not possess the skepticism that makes a good scientist. Almost everyone sees right through his charade.
The fact that most climate science is not peer-reviewed causes folks like me to just toss it all to the side. Back in the Kyoto talks, we were TOLD that if no action was taken, then the point of no return was something like 2007. Well? Based on that "science", nothing we do can help anyway. Your Prius just makes your farts smell like roses, according to "science".
I worked for these folks many years ago. The "entitlement" culture bordered on paranoia. If a corporation could be labeled with DSM criteria, then the upper echelon certainly made sure the company met such a diagnosis. E-mails were repeatedly sent to all employees regarding how to vote and how to petition your government representatives. Walking in the door at 7 in the morning often meant mandatory (or seemingly) signing of petitions for government action. Don't sign? Well, an after coffee 9am phone call from HR was in works for you. Or better yet, a sit down with the local HR droid.
I did quit, but not before actually being promoted twice for speaking my mind both publicly and privately, in an anon coward sort of way.
This sort of pressure will bring this company down. They thrive on crap. Their shareholders are tossing money in to the legal game. They knew 15 years ago that the day of reckoning was closing in. The business model is unsustainable, but it is a freaking huge business.
Well, nobody uses their Bluetooth headsets or hands-free mode. So, your point is moot.
But, it is a fact that you can be ticketed for using your phone in hands-free mode. You also can be held responsible for using your phone in hands-free mode if you are in an accident. Distracted driving is an offense in many/most places in the US/world. Even in Chicago, IL, US, it is illegal to use your phone while biking. There is a proposal in Chicago to ban using your phone while walking.
FYI - My car has been hit twice (each over $5,000 in damage) by people who were distracted. One on a cell phone and the other reading his day planner. Both were ticketed for the same offense... distracted driving or whatever it is officially called. Even though the cell phone law was in place, the police/troopers did not/would not issue a citation for that offense because the distracted driving law had a lot of history and was more enforceable. I 100% agreed with them on that. The cell phone laws are duplicate laws made for political points.
So, what is the point of this???? It is illegal to use cell phones while driving in a whole bunch of places, and the list is growing all the time. I need coverage in my home, client's offices, tall buildings with offices not near windows, airports, city parks, restaurants, etc. Not my car. So what is the big deal with focusing so much testing doing something that is both dangerous and potentially illegal???
I quit Facebook all three times. Can this guy predict my first friend on Google+? It has been a lonely, lonely 6 weeks.
I don't want to pay the research cash for a Stanford guy to make this prediction for me. So, maybe I can get a discount and have some MIT geeks figure it out for free?
And yeah, you don't have to mention the MIT grads I know who won't accept my G+ invites. We don't need to discuss that. I just want to know who and when!!!!!!
I follow IRS rules and keep 7 years of documents. When possible, I have bills electronically sent to me and I simply file them in folders in G-mail.
Each January, I create a new set of file folders (physical) that mirror the previous year's folder structure. Then, I shred the files from 8 years ago. Takes an entire hour. My files for current year and past year are in the top drawer of a 4-drawer file cabinet. The other 5 years' stuff is stored 2 drawers down. The 2nd drawer holds things like insurance info and instructions/directions (indirections??) for house-hold "stuff". The bottom drawer is for home-owners stuff, personal stuff. etc.
My work files are stored under my desk in a double-drawer horizontal filing cabinet. It holds all things work-related. But, the top drawer closest to me holds anything that is currently going on in my life, so that I have instant access when I get phone calls, e-mails, etc. On top of that, I have an organizer on my desk that holds really, really current stuff that would include stuff that I will be working with on any given day.
I have been doing this for years, and it works, as long as you keep a maintenance routine. Easy habits to get into and I am never searching through piles like I see others doing. My desk stays neat and organized and I always have what I need for any day right in front of me.
Being organized like this is essential to increasing personal productivity and producing quality work.
It is stupidly easy, but I would say that maybe less than 5% of people can achieve a high-level of organization.
Your question might come across as dumb to other slashdotters, but I find it incredibly relevant.
As a Galaxy S (Sprint) owner, I am outraged at the lack of upgrade to Android 2.2 that was promised 6 or 7 months ago. Yup, I got the point back then and it is reinforced now. Sprint AND Samsung have no loyalty to existing customers. They want to churn us to the Galaxy S2, which has even less battery time because it is so "slim". I'll take triple the thickness if it gives me double the battery time. Period.
At least freaking Apple tries to do upgrades. Sure, original iPhones can't be upgraded, but this sure beats what Samsung and Sprint have colluded to do regarding using the full hardware capacity of the phone that they promised to upgrade for me.
I use Sprint because they have the best coverage in my area, 4G and all. I'll suffer with Verizon after being a 14 year loyal customer to Sprint.
We have the same thing at some commuter train parking lots in the Chicago area. Between two lots I know of, they combine for over 3,000 spots. And we didn't need freakin' NASA to create the technology
Ours are better here because they are not so outrageously French.
Do it yourself. There is no substitute for creating your own database/worksheet. Why in the hell would you even trust what was given to you by a subscription fee? Just because you pay you trust it? In my experience, it is much more rewarding and valuable if you do the work yourself. We took a ton of time and effort, but our family has the real truth with real documents (copies) and contacts thousands of miles away.
If your ancestry is important to you, do it yourself. Don't take shortcuts. The risk of being misled/wrong are too great. Even doing this ourselves, we were taken down false leads. Imagine someone who does not have a stake doing something so important for you.
Because their liberal bias is seething for some reason. I suspect Taco hated the mid-term results. It was like the weird 6-week period that Jon Stewart did after Bush's second election. He was almost in tears every night, despite being a "comedy" show. Taco needs to reign things in. Or else, risk being marginalized. I read Slashdot, but the past few months are making me rethink. I use Slashdot as a professional resource as, well, someone who needs technical resources. After 13 years, I am having an honest discussion about this.
Slashdot is showing its colors. It needs to sit down, shut up, and smile. Period.
First order of business for Taco is to get some honest reporting regarding wikileaks. For god's sake, there are really good reasons why this is a bad thing and Assange may be a really bad guy. Not such coverage is found on slashdot. People die in the future for mirroring this stuff. Not my problem. Yours?
Yup. Exactly. I have no idea why the "movement" sees this as some victory. We go back to the past. Which was fine. As much as I am a gay-rights person, I see this as a victory in the sense that folks can now be discharged for homosexuality. I am OK with that.
Don't ask, don't tell was a huge victory for the "movement" in the Clinton era. Repealing it takes us all back to square one. My goodness. Queue the Benny Hill music.
Stupid, idiot, right-wingers who won't allow polygamy.
Why is polygamy wrong here yet accepted in a rather large part of the world? Or do we "have to draw a line"? We almost had a huge hole in the US, known as Utah, due to this issue over 100 years ago. Utah, um, relented (haha). OK. We twisted their arm over "don't wive's, don't tell".
Gosh. Why are there laws in the US against bestiality? Live and let live. Right? So if someone finds that bestiality is inherited, then we need to have "civil rights" laws/protections. I am 100% not against homosexuality. I have zero problem with it. I do have a problem with it as a civil rights issue. Absurd.
I agree that we have spent way too much money on separate bathrooms based on gender. Which, is based on sexual orientation. So, separate bathrooms inherently are discriminatory. Unisex bathrooms should now be the norm and we should potty together. As a man, I look forward to couches and hang-out areas in my bathrooms. Especially because I now will be able to hit on hot chicks in the bathroom. Yes, I have been hit on by not-so-hot guys in bathrooms in the past and it is as weird as a woman might feel being watched or hit on in a women's bathroom. But, this opens up a whole new avenue for me on my dating front.
I read The Economist each week and also watch Fox News. Fox News has a better presentation. I do not watch the opinion/freak shows such as Beck/Hannity/O'Reilly, the morning junk etc. But I think their anchors are fairly intelligent. Cavuto asks some good questions and clearly has an econ background of some sort. Shep Smith is also fun to watch, quick on his feet, and asks good questions. Bret Baier is good and so is the Sunday show anchor. Very good.
CNN has become a joke with bumbling anchors, with the exception of Wolf. But they even took Wolf and tossed him into some sort of multimedia Tron thing that makes me seize.
CNNi is pretty good, but I prefer The Economist for my international fix.
I am a news junky, but extremely well informed. And I prefer Fox News.
Finally, we have he long-awaited response to the eternal question asked of Dan Rather. What's the frequency, Kenneth??? Michael Stipe is probably greatly relieved, as he has been asking the same thing for years.
This is probably the most cryptic Slashdot post I have seen in the 10+ years I have read Slashdot. Translation?? And it comes from Taco, which is even more strange.
Heck, it is even more cryptic than that new UVB-76 message that everyone keeps talking about.
I know I'm not supposed to talk about it, but I once saw Mickey take on Mighty. Now, I put my money on Mighty. But, the bout was at Disney World. Mickey won in less than a minute. Then, all hopped up on testosterone, he basically took Jerry's head off in the next match.
I have seen stuff man. I was there. I have memories. Bad, bad memories.
I recently moved away from a cell antenna site that was placed within 100 feet of my kids' bedrooms (by literal distance, not just horizontal). When the site was proposed, I googled the research and then I spoke with the scientists regarding possible dangers. They were more than happy to speak with me over the phone. The advice was that there are no longitudinal studies, so they can't say what might happen when growing up so close to a site. That is, they need 10-30 years to actually conduct these longitudinal studies. They said "no problem" regarding the older analog stuff, but they said that there are stats that can't yet be explained. That is, there is a correlation for problems, but they can't figure out the causation when it comes to this multiplexing digital stuff. The ongoing research efforts seem to stress DNA replication (mitosis) errors and later meiosis. So, this would be of particular concern to kids and young adults where you have lots of both going on in particularly interesting parts of the body, like the three B's (brain, bones, balls).
The really cool thing is that the scientists were more than happy to speak with me. I do the same thing in my line of work. When an interested person calls, I geek-out and am more than happy to take the call and spend the time.
Instructor materials and supplements were not included. So, this is basically a setup/joke.
Traditional textbooks are purchased because of the ancillary material that comes with them. This includes, support, Web sites for both students and instructors, assessment software, assessment preparation material, copious student assignments and solutions, automatic grading software, prepared lecture material, etc.
I have never seen open textbooks work in a subject area that requires frequent updates, such as fundamental computer concepts, or modern application software (office suites...). I do think, however, open can be somewhat successful solid subjects, such as calculus. Note that I bring up these subject area because a LOT of books are sold in these area. But, even in something like a math course, open textbooks run into the "staleness" issue. That is, students do the assignments or tests and then the solutions are passed on to the next year's students. Publishers do quite a bit of work to change problems. Do not underestimate the amount of work and editing/QA involved in such an effort.
If you think students are lazy these days, you should see the instructors. They demand new end-of-chapter problems, new quizzes, new tests. And they want it all automatically graded electronically. This can't be delivered by open textbooks.
You will never be able to get for free what you can get in a textbook. What book were you using before?
Good computer concepts textbooks are updated yearly or every other year to incorporate the latest technology. For example, 2 years ago you could buy an up-to-date book that included floppy drives, but no USB flash drive coverage. But today, a modern book would not include floppies but include flash drives. One example of hundreds.
A purchased textbook includes exercises, marginal elements that challenge students in a number of ways, copious instructor materials, supporting Web sites, and assessment software. You will NEVER find such a complete, up-to-date replacement for free. Good luck trying, though. Your school is doing both its instructors and students a disservice.
These days, textbook companies do quite a bit of work for instructors. Modern instructors of such computer concepts courses do not want to do grading, write exercises, and, god forbid, create their own lecture. They want it spoon fed, and textbook companies do that if you want it.
Just because students (and young instructors) have gotten "free" digital entertainment does not mean that this concept translates to educational material. I see so many young instructors who grew up on Napster now trying to transfer that experience to almost all published material. I'm not saying they want to steal content, just get high-quality for free. How sad. Do you next expect your students to ask you to lecture for free as well?
Slashdot Mirror
Yes. Quite a bit. Diet and exercise for one in a major way, but really slowly over time. Screening programs for pancreatic, prostate, colon, and other cancers. Involvement in long-term studies. Chose not to have any more kids after I found out. How I will approach reproduction/adoption discussion with my own kids in case they are carriers. Makes ya think...
I have one of the BRCA1 mutations (there are several known varieties) that causes a greatly heightened risk of some cancers. Not just breast cancer in women, but a very high risk of ovarian cancer as well. For both women and men, the risks of pancreatic, colon, and others are raised. For men, the risk of prostate cancer is greatly increased. The pancreatic and ovarian cancers are especially nasty, but all risk factors here require heightened vigilance for continual screening throughout life.
I have quite a few family members with the mutation and many without it. There are just as many idiotic, brain defective family members both with it and without. I am not one of them.
So, that pretty much solves the science on that one. Next?
While there is plenty of blame to go around, I am still left wondering where the investigative journalism was regarding the true progress of ACA implementation as the 3 years progressed up to this point.
So, while the press is justifiably having a field day with the sheer incompetence displayed here, where were they while all this was developing?
I have a FOID card, but do not own a gun. Sorry that so many here do not understand the difference. There is no gun in my home, but I would appear on such a map. Is that really right? I think not. Why not an "armed robbery" registry? Murderer registry? Speeding ticket registry? Drunk driver registry? Car accident-causer registry? Etc., etc. ...
At least the fact that I have a FOID card indicates that I have been vetted by the state police. To me, that makes me a safer neighbor than one who has not been vetted by the government. Right?
You would follow up with an ERCP, which is expensive.
The current CA19-9 blood test is not reliable in many individuals, but is a relatively inexpensive blood test to check for pancreatic cancer. If you baseline with CA19-9 and use the test on a regular basis, it seems pretty good right now. I guess I can't see this kid's test being 28 times cheaper than a CA19-9 test, but I could see it being 28 times cheaper than an ERCP.
Moe
Hansen needs to resign. He is abusing his post at NASA and tainting the agency with his political activism. His problem is that NASA gives him a platform, and he feels that he can't give it up because he will lose his voice with the press. He is exactly the type of scientist that the public despises. Scientists that I know obsess with finding out why their theory/science/findings are wrong. They want to be proven wrong. Hansen comes off as a nut job and does not possess the skepticism that makes a good scientist. Almost everyone sees right through his charade.
The fact that most climate science is not peer-reviewed causes folks like me to just toss it all to the side. Back in the Kyoto talks, we were TOLD that if no action was taken, then the point of no return was something like 2007. Well? Based on that "science", nothing we do can help anyway. Your Prius just makes your farts smell like roses, according to "science".
I worked for these folks many years ago. The "entitlement" culture bordered on paranoia. If a corporation could be labeled with DSM criteria, then the upper echelon certainly made sure the company met such a diagnosis. E-mails were repeatedly sent to all employees regarding how to vote and how to petition your government representatives. Walking in the door at 7 in the morning often meant mandatory (or seemingly) signing of petitions for government action. Don't sign? Well, an after coffee 9am phone call from HR was in works for you. Or better yet, a sit down with the local HR droid.
I did quit, but not before actually being promoted twice for speaking my mind both publicly and privately, in an anon coward sort of way.
This sort of pressure will bring this company down. They thrive on crap. Their shareholders are tossing money in to the legal game. They knew 15 years ago that the day of reckoning was closing in. The business model is unsustainable, but it is a freaking huge business.
F them and the horse they rode into town on.
Moe
Well, nobody uses their Bluetooth headsets or hands-free mode. So, your point is moot.
But, it is a fact that you can be ticketed for using your phone in hands-free mode. You also can be held responsible for using your phone in hands-free mode if you are in an accident. Distracted driving is an offense in many/most places in the US/world. Even in Chicago, IL, US, it is illegal to use your phone while biking. There is a proposal in Chicago to ban using your phone while walking.
FYI - My car has been hit twice (each over $5,000 in damage) by people who were distracted. One on a cell phone and the other reading his day planner. Both were ticketed for the same offense... distracted driving or whatever it is officially called. Even though the cell phone law was in place, the police/troopers did not/would not issue a citation for that offense because the distracted driving law had a lot of history and was more enforceable. I 100% agreed with them on that. The cell phone laws are duplicate laws made for political points.
So, what is the point of this???? It is illegal to use cell phones while driving in a whole bunch of places, and the list is growing all the time. I need coverage in my home, client's offices, tall buildings with offices not near windows, airports, city parks, restaurants, etc. Not my car. So what is the big deal with focusing so much testing doing something that is both dangerous and potentially illegal???
I quit Facebook all three times. Can this guy predict my first friend on Google+? It has been a lonely, lonely 6 weeks.
I don't want to pay the research cash for a Stanford guy to make this prediction for me. So, maybe I can get a discount and have some MIT geeks figure it out for free?
And yeah, you don't have to mention the MIT grads I know who won't accept my G+ invites. We don't need to discuss that. I just want to know who and when!!!!!!
So, so lonely here online. So lonely....
Moe
I follow IRS rules and keep 7 years of documents. When possible, I have bills electronically sent to me and I simply file them in folders in G-mail.
Each January, I create a new set of file folders (physical) that mirror the previous year's folder structure. Then, I shred the files from 8 years ago. Takes an entire hour. My files for current year and past year are in the top drawer of a 4-drawer file cabinet. The other 5 years' stuff is stored 2 drawers down. The 2nd drawer holds things like insurance info and instructions/directions (indirections??) for house-hold "stuff". The bottom drawer is for home-owners stuff, personal stuff. etc.
My work files are stored under my desk in a double-drawer horizontal filing cabinet. It holds all things work-related. But, the top drawer closest to me holds anything that is currently going on in my life, so that I have instant access when I get phone calls, e-mails, etc. On top of that, I have an organizer on my desk that holds really, really current stuff that would include stuff that I will be working with on any given day.
I have been doing this for years, and it works, as long as you keep a maintenance routine. Easy habits to get into and I am never searching through piles like I see others doing. My desk stays neat and organized and I always have what I need for any day right in front of me.
Being organized like this is essential to increasing personal productivity and producing quality work.
It is stupidly easy, but I would say that maybe less than 5% of people can achieve a high-level of organization.
Your question might come across as dumb to other slashdotters, but I find it incredibly relevant.
As a Galaxy S (Sprint) owner, I am outraged at the lack of upgrade to Android 2.2 that was promised 6 or 7 months ago. Yup, I got the point back then and it is reinforced now. Sprint AND Samsung have no loyalty to existing customers. They want to churn us to the Galaxy S2, which has even less battery time because it is so "slim". I'll take triple the thickness if it gives me double the battery time. Period.
At least freaking Apple tries to do upgrades. Sure, original iPhones can't be upgraded, but this sure beats what Samsung and Sprint have colluded to do regarding using the full hardware capacity of the phone that they promised to upgrade for me.
I use Sprint because they have the best coverage in my area, 4G and all. I'll suffer with Verizon after being a 14 year loyal customer to Sprint.
Moe
We have the same thing at some commuter train parking lots in the Chicago area. Between two lots I know of, they combine for over 3,000 spots. And we didn't need freakin' NASA to create the technology
Ours are better here because they are not so outrageously French.
Do it yourself. There is no substitute for creating your own database/worksheet. Why in the hell would you even trust what was given to you by a subscription fee? Just because you pay you trust it? In my experience, it is much more rewarding and valuable if you do the work yourself. We took a ton of time and effort, but our family has the real truth with real documents (copies) and contacts thousands of miles away.
If your ancestry is important to you, do it yourself. Don't take shortcuts. The risk of being misled/wrong are too great. Even doing this ourselves, we were taken down false leads. Imagine someone who does not have a stake doing something so important for you.
Moe
Because their liberal bias is seething for some reason. I suspect Taco hated the mid-term results. It was like the weird 6-week period that Jon Stewart did after Bush's second election. He was almost in tears every night, despite being a "comedy" show. Taco needs to reign things in. Or else, risk being marginalized. I read Slashdot, but the past few months are making me rethink. I use Slashdot as a professional resource as, well, someone who needs technical resources. After 13 years, I am having an honest discussion about this.
Slashdot is showing its colors. It needs to sit down, shut up, and smile. Period.
First order of business for Taco is to get some honest reporting regarding wikileaks. For god's sake, there are really good reasons why this is a bad thing and Assange may be a really bad guy. Not such coverage is found on slashdot. People die in the future for mirroring this stuff. Not my problem. Yours?
Moe
Yup. Exactly. I have no idea why the "movement" sees this as some victory. We go back to the past. Which was fine. As much as I am a gay-rights person, I see this as a victory in the sense that folks can now be discharged for homosexuality. I am OK with that.
Don't ask, don't tell was a huge victory for the "movement" in the Clinton era. Repealing it takes us all back to square one. My goodness. Queue the Benny Hill music.
Moe
Stupid, idiot, right-wingers who won't allow polygamy.
Why is polygamy wrong here yet accepted in a rather large part of the world? Or do we "have to draw a line"? We almost had a huge hole in the US, known as Utah, due to this issue over 100 years ago. Utah, um, relented (haha). OK. We twisted their arm over "don't wive's, don't tell".
Gosh. Why are there laws in the US against bestiality? Live and let live. Right? So if someone finds that bestiality is inherited, then we need to have "civil rights" laws/protections. I am 100% not against homosexuality. I have zero problem with it. I do have a problem with it as a civil rights issue. Absurd.
I agree that we have spent way too much money on separate bathrooms based on gender. Which, is based on sexual orientation. So, separate bathrooms inherently are discriminatory. Unisex bathrooms should now be the norm and we should potty together. As a man, I look forward to couches and hang-out areas in my bathrooms. Especially because I now will be able to hit on hot chicks in the bathroom. Yes, I have been hit on by not-so-hot guys in bathrooms in the past and it is as weird as a woman might feel being watched or hit on in a women's bathroom. But, this opens up a whole new avenue for me on my dating front.
Our enemy's these days (no
I read The Economist each week and also watch Fox News. Fox News has a better presentation. I do not watch the opinion/freak shows such as Beck/Hannity/O'Reilly, the morning junk etc. But I think their anchors are fairly intelligent. Cavuto asks some good questions and clearly has an econ background of some sort. Shep Smith is also fun to watch, quick on his feet, and asks good questions. Bret Baier is good and so is the Sunday show anchor. Very good.
CNN has become a joke with bumbling anchors, with the exception of Wolf. But they even took Wolf and tossed him into some sort of multimedia Tron thing that makes me seize.
CNNi is pretty good, but I prefer The Economist for my international fix.
I am a news junky, but extremely well informed. And I prefer Fox News.
Finally, we have he long-awaited response to the eternal question asked of Dan Rather. What's the frequency, Kenneth??? Michael Stipe is probably greatly relieved, as he has been asking the same thing for years.
This is probably the most cryptic Slashdot post I have seen in the 10+ years I have read Slashdot. Translation?? And it comes from Taco, which is even more strange.
Heck, it is even more cryptic than that new UVB-76 message that everyone keeps talking about.
I know I'm not supposed to talk about it, but I once saw Mickey take on Mighty. Now, I put my money on Mighty. But, the bout was at Disney World. Mickey won in less than a minute. Then, all hopped up on testosterone, he basically took Jerry's head off in the next match.
I have seen stuff man. I was there. I have memories. Bad, bad memories.
$25 can't buy any worthwhile pr0n, so this will fail. Give me $500/month, and then we can start negotiations.
Even after the pr0n, any trip to Starbucks is over $25 easy.
I have never spent less than $25 at a dollar store.
I don't think I've quite hit my stride on one-liners with this one. I'll try again later after I visit a few >$25 Web sites.
I recently moved away from a cell antenna site that was placed within 100 feet of my kids' bedrooms (by literal distance, not just horizontal). When the site was proposed, I googled the research and then I spoke with the scientists regarding possible dangers. They were more than happy to speak with me over the phone. The advice was that there are no longitudinal studies, so they can't say what might happen when growing up so close to a site. That is, they need 10-30 years to actually conduct these longitudinal studies. They said "no problem" regarding the older analog stuff, but they said that there are stats that can't yet be explained. That is, there is a correlation for problems, but they can't figure out the causation when it comes to this multiplexing digital stuff. The ongoing research efforts seem to stress DNA replication (mitosis) errors and later meiosis. So, this would be of particular concern to kids and young adults where you have lots of both going on in particularly interesting parts of the body, like the three B's (brain, bones, balls).
The really cool thing is that the scientists were more than happy to speak with me. I do the same thing in my line of work. When an interested person calls, I geek-out and am more than happy to take the call and spend the time.
Instructor materials and supplements were not included. So, this is basically a setup/joke.
Traditional textbooks are purchased because of the ancillary material that comes with them. This includes, support, Web sites for both students and instructors, assessment software, assessment preparation material, copious student assignments and solutions, automatic grading software, prepared lecture material, etc.
I have never seen open textbooks work in a subject area that requires frequent updates, such as fundamental computer concepts, or modern application software (office suites...). I do think, however, open can be somewhat successful solid subjects, such as calculus. Note that I bring up these subject area because a LOT of books are sold in these area. But, even in something like a math course, open textbooks run into the "staleness" issue. That is, students do the assignments or tests and then the solutions are passed on to the next year's students. Publishers do quite a bit of work to change problems. Do not underestimate the amount of work and editing/QA involved in such an effort.
If you think students are lazy these days, you should see the instructors. They demand new end-of-chapter problems, new quizzes, new tests. And they want it all automatically graded electronically. This can't be delivered by open textbooks.
You will never be able to get for free what you can get in a textbook. What book were you using before?
Good computer concepts textbooks are updated yearly or every other year to incorporate the latest technology. For example, 2 years ago you could buy an up-to-date book that included floppy drives, but no USB flash drive coverage. But today, a modern book would not include floppies but include flash drives. One example of hundreds.
A purchased textbook includes exercises, marginal elements that challenge students in a number of ways, copious instructor materials, supporting Web sites, and assessment software. You will NEVER find such a complete, up-to-date replacement for free. Good luck trying, though. Your school is doing both its instructors and students a disservice.
These days, textbook companies do quite a bit of work for instructors. Modern instructors of such computer concepts courses do not want to do grading, write exercises, and, god forbid, create their own lecture. They want it spoon fed, and textbook companies do that if you want it.
Just because students (and young instructors) have gotten "free" digital entertainment does not mean that this concept translates to educational material. I see so many young instructors who grew up on Napster now trying to transfer that experience to almost all published material. I'm not saying they want to steal content, just get high-quality for free. How sad. Do you next expect your students to ask you to lecture for free as well?