I learned LaTeX in one weekend (maybe even one day).
I'm an English teacher, not a computer programmer or scientist.
If you can code HTML, you can code LaTeX. I use it for producing all my teaching material. Unfortunately, I have to send.doc files to my editors (no PDFs) when writing ESL textbooks.
Apple really needs to change some old die-hard views before it can really penitrate most corporate IT systems.
Most of the IT guys I know, who are calling the shots, are Windows only. Mention a Mac and they cringe.
At one school I teach at the IT admin has to put up with Macs, because we have a recording studio. Me (ESL teacher) and the music teacher also bring in our Mac laptops from time to time, which he hates. I find it strange that the music computer lab only has PCs, when it would be better for the students to have some Macs. However, with the current IT admin, there will not be any Macs there soon.
I actually keep hoping that a student will infest the network with a virsus or worm. Then I and the music teacher can say, "You know, if the server and lab boxes were Macs. You wouldn't have this problem."
And most of all, their treatment of people who dare take them to task for faulty hardware is horrendous (remember the dead battery fiasco?).
Like how Apple paid for the shipping and repair of my iBook with a faulty logic board free of charge although I didn't have AppleCare and my warranty was expired. And how they even sent of a loaner iBook (with a faster processor and more RAM) to use while they fixed it.
Apple takes care of its customers better than most other computer companies.
My bank (SEB in Sweden) would not allow me to log in with Safari, so I always hit the log in page normally, then I used "Debug/User Agent/Mozilla 1.1."
Now they have finally allowed Safari users to log in and do banking without spoofing; however, they complain every time I log out telling me to upgrade my browser.
As an ESL teacher, I understand exactly what you are saying. However, there needs to be a balance.
My high school students here in Sweden make the same mistakes over and over whether spoken or written. Especially when it comes to irregular verbs and persent tense verb forms (Swedish only has one present tense form for all subjects). However, when I teach adults in business English courses, I can often hear them repeating, "swim, swam, swum," like they did 20-30 years ago in school.
I don't make my students memorize irregular verbs (maybe I should). Yet I do force them to study grammar and have lots of reading and writing assignments. I try to make all of these things as fun as possible (reading the screenplays to Simpsons episodes, for example). I also have them giving speeches, reciting poems they've written, or just talking in small groups or in pairs.
It's all about balance. A classroom mistake that is orally corrected is not the same as making a mistake with gan1 and gan4 in public. But it is still important, as reading reading, writing, and listening.
Now to the original question: iPods are great. I've asked our principal to consider them (at the "Rock High School" -- so they are quite appropriate). You can have all of the texts as PDF files distributed via an iMac/eMac information center. All listening exercises/material can also be distributed easily to students. Even large files like Simpsons episodes (from DVDs/tapes you have bought and the students much delete them after the term is over) can fit on an iPod Mini.
Since I can't afford an iPod, I have to lug my iBook with me to class whenever I want to the students to listen to music (everything from cowboy songs to George Crumb, a 20th-century composer). With an iPod, I would have all my classroom music in the palm of my hand.
Some people have been telling you that computers are not needed in the classroom. That is bull. There are lots of cool and fun 15-minute Internet research lessons that you can give your students. Whether you like it or not, the Internet has replaced the library. Most students use it as their only research tool (I'm going to try to change that by requiring some old fashioned sources for essays).
That's why we don't have a subscription to the local paper.
We have two small children (3.5 and 1.25), so having a bunch of newspapers lying around would just add more clutter and mess (you can imagine how much fun it is to rip apart a newspaper for small children).
My friends and I used to have people (from a long distance area) call a pay phone collect at a certain time. We would answer, accept the charges and talk for free.
I am an American living in Sweden. A few years ago (while I was living in the Czech Republic), my father via power of attorney cancelled my U.S. bank account. I did not care at the time.
When I moved to Sweden, I had a hard time finding a good job (I'm almost there). Thus, it was hard to get Swedish credit. I used my U.S. credit card to purchase things that we needed in the home or for the baby (now babies). However, I had trouble paying them, because Swedish banks don't use checks and my CC company won't allow non-U.S. banks to make electronic payments.
So I asked my dad to get me another account (with Internet banking) with my old bank. He tried but wasn't allowed to do so for someone who lives outside of the U.S. because of the Patriot Act. I would have to apply in person (not going to happen, we can't afford 4 plane tickets).
The maintainer of the OS X port was worried about being/.ed and asked if anyone knew how to the pull a story from/. Then the poster asked/. to pull it (citing differences from the original). The poster also got a little scolding at ZC (behind closed doors) and said that he was leaving their community.
You would think that they would love getting hoards of/. beta-testers.;-)
My iBook recently had the logic board fail (the problem that everyone complains about iBooks and many think should be recalled). However, the experience was not bad at all.
I called Apple Support Sweden. They had me try reset PRAM and PMU. Then we waited. When the problem returned, I called them again, and they sent me a box to ship my iBook for repair.
When I mentioned that I had a writing deadline in a couple of weeks, they said that they would find me a loaner iBook and send it too me free of charge.
They took a week to 2 weeks to fix the iBook, and I had a RAM maxed out iBook to write on while I waited for it to return.
No hassles. No pain. Excellent customer service. However, I haven't heard from my editor yet about what I wrote.;-)
From what I've read (10 years ago maybe), PKD was a hypochondriac who thought he was schitzo, but wasn't.
PKD is probably the greatest U.S. author period (sci-fi or other). I put him up there with James Joyce. Joyce was a genius for style. PKD was a genius for questioning the nature of reality.
Another thing you have to think about PKD is that before Blade Runner he was dirt poor. He spewed out pulp fiction to try to pay the bills. All of the lesser novels still contain some interesting ideas. His great novels leave you thinking for a long time (Ubik, The Three Stigmata of..., Do Androids Dream..., Man in the High Castle).
PS. I have an MA in English Literature from the University of Toronto.
``I've seen things you people wouldn't believe: attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in the rain... Time to die.''
You mean, "We're all Dick fans (I mean Philip K. Dick fans) here.";-)
If you were looking for an action movie, you would be disappointed. Blade Runner is a thinking movie. They go at a slower pace and require, um, thinking.
Slashdot Mirror
I'm an English teacher, not a computer programmer or scientist.
If you can code HTML, you can code LaTeX. I use it for producing all my teaching material. Unfortunately, I have to send .doc files to my editors (no PDFs) when writing ESL textbooks.
TeXShop is a sweet little program for OS X.
Funny, but PDFs open in seconds on my old butt-slow iBook G3. Maybe you should use another program instead of Acrobat Reader.
Most of the IT guys I know, who are calling the shots, are Windows only. Mention a Mac and they cringe.
At one school I teach at the IT admin has to put up with Macs, because we have a recording studio. Me (ESL teacher) and the music teacher also bring in our Mac laptops from time to time, which he hates. I find it strange that the music computer lab only has PCs, when it would be better for the students to have some Macs. However, with the current IT admin, there will not be any Macs there soon.
I actually keep hoping that a student will infest the network with a virsus or worm. Then I and the music teacher can say, "You know, if the server and lab boxes were Macs. You wouldn't have this problem."
Motorola has already debuted its new phone at CES.
Apple's having sour grapes over the leaked product(s) info.
Like how Apple paid for the shipping and repair of my iBook with a faulty logic board free of charge although I didn't have AppleCare and my warranty was expired. And how they even sent of a loaner iBook (with a faster processor and more RAM) to use while they fixed it.
Apple takes care of its customers better than most other computer companies.
Now they have finally allowed Safari users to log in and do banking without spoofing; however, they complain every time I log out telling me to upgrade my browser.
Most people just use the Applications directory. I myself have made an alias directory that I keep in the dock. I use that to launch programs.
Such is life.
My high school students here in Sweden make the same mistakes over and over whether spoken or written. Especially when it comes to irregular verbs and persent tense verb forms (Swedish only has one present tense form for all subjects). However, when I teach adults in business English courses, I can often hear them repeating, "swim, swam, swum," like they did 20-30 years ago in school.
I don't make my students memorize irregular verbs (maybe I should). Yet I do force them to study grammar and have lots of reading and writing assignments. I try to make all of these things as fun as possible (reading the screenplays to Simpsons episodes, for example). I also have them giving speeches, reciting poems they've written, or just talking in small groups or in pairs.
It's all about balance. A classroom mistake that is orally corrected is not the same as making a mistake with gan1 and gan4 in public. But it is still important, as reading reading, writing, and listening.
Now to the original question: iPods are great. I've asked our principal to consider them (at the "Rock High School" -- so they are quite appropriate). You can have all of the texts as PDF files distributed via an iMac/eMac information center. All listening exercises/material can also be distributed easily to students. Even large files like Simpsons episodes (from DVDs /tapes you have bought and the students much delete them after the term is over) can fit on an iPod Mini.
Since I can't afford an iPod, I have to lug my iBook with me to class whenever I want to the students to listen to music (everything from cowboy songs to George Crumb, a 20th-century composer). With an iPod, I would have all my classroom music in the palm of my hand.
Some people have been telling you that computers are not needed in the classroom. That is bull. There are lots of cool and fun 15-minute Internet research lessons that you can give your students. Whether you like it or not, the Internet has replaced the library. Most students use it as their only research tool (I'm going to try to change that by requiring some old fashioned sources for essays).
You fools /.ed my favorite author's website!!!
They have them in Europe and up north in Canada.
We have two small children (3.5 and 1.25), so having a bunch of newspapers lying around would just add more clutter and mess (you can imagine how much fun it is to rip apart a newspaper for small children).
My friends and I used to have people (from a long distance area) call a pay phone collect at a certain time. We would answer, accept the charges and talk for free.
G5s to boot
When I moved to Sweden, I had a hard time finding a good job (I'm almost there). Thus, it was hard to get Swedish credit. I used my U.S. credit card to purchase things that we needed in the home or for the baby (now babies). However, I had trouble paying them, because Swedish banks don't use checks and my CC company won't allow non-U.S. banks to make electronic payments.
So I asked my dad to get me another account (with Internet banking) with my old bank. He tried but wasn't allowed to do so for someone who lives outside of the U.S. because of the Patriot Act. I would have to apply in person (not going to happen, we can't afford 4 plane tickets).
You would think that they would love getting hoards of /. beta-testers. ;-)
Sign up for the OS X version in their forum. Click on ZC Discussions, then search for "mac" and your find it.
They primarily a Mac gadget maker. They make great and cool Mac stuff. Perhaps they are not that good at making stuff for Windoze.
I'm installing it via Fink right now. But the lack of a Cocoa version will probably make me uninstall it soon afterward.
What I would really like is a Cocoa DTP solution based on TeX/LaTeX. Oh well, I can always dream.
I called Apple Support Sweden. They had me try reset PRAM and PMU. Then we waited. When the problem returned, I called them again, and they sent me a box to ship my iBook for repair.
When I mentioned that I had a writing deadline in a couple of weeks, they said that they would find me a loaner iBook and send it too me free of charge.
They took a week to 2 weeks to fix the iBook, and I had a RAM maxed out iBook to write on while I waited for it to return.
No hassles. No pain. Excellent customer service. However, I haven't heard from my editor yet about what I wrote. ;-)
PKD is probably the greatest U.S. author period (sci-fi or other). I put him up there with James Joyce. Joyce was a genius for style. PKD was a genius for questioning the nature of reality.
Another thing you have to think about PKD is that before Blade Runner he was dirt poor. He spewed out pulp fiction to try to pay the bills. All of the lesser novels still contain some interesting ideas. His great novels leave you thinking for a long time (Ubik, The Three Stigmata of ..., Do Androids Dream ..., Man in the High Castle).
PS. I have an MA in English Literature from the University of Toronto.
That scene always moves me.
If you were looking for an action movie, you would be disappointed. Blade Runner is a thinking movie. They go at a slower pace and require, um, thinking.
The book Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep is even better.