That depends on where you are in the US. Two states that I know of(Georgia and Louisiana) provide free tuition to all students with a certain GPA and test scores. In Louisiana the test score requirement is lower than the admissions requirement at the larger Universities, so pretty much everyone at LSU gets free tuition.
Some people can have a lot of skill in a subject yet still be uninterested in it and perform poorly due to their lack of interest. A relative of mine had great grades in Biology in undergrad(GPA = 3.99), so her professors pushed her into medical school. She made good grades but didn't enjoy what she was doing so after 2 years and a huge amount of debt quit. She now works in the school system and loves her job.
Telling someone that they should do something solely because they are smart will end badly. Gifted student often feel an obligation to use their gifts. This is usually good. But it can cause a gifted student to persist in a career that she doesn't enjoy. So encourage your niece to achieve, but make sure she is happy with that path first.
I've been a Leo Laporte fan since Tech Tv, but I do have to agree with you on that. Twit is more about Leo and Dvorak chatting for an hour than anything substantial. SecurityNow is much better if limited in its focus and somewhat repetitive. Joel Spolsky's Stack Overflow podcast might be a better choice but I've only listened to 2 episodes and they seem a bit unfocused.
They fixed the glitch. By any chance are you missing a red stapler?
This happened to me before and I stayed on until 4 missed paychecks then quit. Turns out my salary wasn't budgeted for in the current quarter and they hoped to "make it up" in the next quarter. It took me six months to receive about half of what was owed me and I've given up on the rest. If you aren't sending out resumes now, I'd recommend starting.
I think both reasons fail to acknowledge the true reason people use software, what works best. In the US at least (the only place I have experience), the main reason people use a particular piece of software is that it works better than the alternative. Most Firefox users don't use is because it's open or because of the cost but because it is safer and has more features than IE. I turned a colleague onto OpenOffice.org after Excel repeatedly crashed on his important work. People are leaving Windows for Macs, which are more closed and somewhat more expensive, because "they just work better". If open source wants real large scale adoption the focus should be on beating closed source software in features, and usability regardless of cost and ideals.
I think the argument here is over what kind of engineer or doctor you want to be. Let's face it most doctors won't be as smart as Dr. House is portrayed on TV. Most will be like the Todd on Scrubs. The Todd doesn't have to know organic chemistry or histology or physics or neurology. He is a jock surgeon and needs to know just enough anatomy and surgical skill to follow the Internists directions.
The same goes for engineers. A lot of engineers want to be Homer Simpson. Sit at a desk all day watching dials and push buttons so that the nuclear plant doesn't explode. But someone has to design the nuclear plant and someone has to know how to fix it when it breaks. That doesn't have to be Homer and you can't force him to learn that.
I have no problem with technicians in engineering or medicine as long as there are people around who understand what is going on and the technicians can call them up. The experts unfortunately are often lumped into the same work force as the technicians and get paid the same. So the engineer who does enjoy differential equations(they do exist) is forced into the same job marked and is expected to push buttons and trust in Maple like everyone else. Because engineers with higher degrees are often hired preferentially, people like the parent try to get higher degrees designed for jobs that they don't really want and are forced into classes they don't want to take.
Forcing difficult subjects on a technician will only get in the way of teaching them the more immediate skills they need. Notice how most nurses seem more competent than doctors when it comes to tasks like drawing blood. I suggest an essay titled "Lockhart's Lament". It argues that since most people never use math above algebra we should stop teaching everyone upper math and instead let the students who enjoy math decide to take the courses they want. If a future doctor doesn't like organic chemistry maybe they should consider nursing or physical/occupational therapy. There is usually a shortage of nurses and they get paid very well.
That is the problem. When I took undergrad orgo the word electronegativity was never used. It was memorize this reaction and fail the test because the question is on another reaction. I never took the higher organic chemistrys because of that crappy experience. It wasn't until I took a graduate level polymer synthesis course that the fundamentals of organic chemistry were even explained. After that it became easy. The problem is that organic chemistry wouldn't be a weed out course if they taught the fundamentals first.
You are right. You are not obligated to give money to charities. The only stipulation is that if something unforeseen happens to you, don't ask for a handout from a charity. I agree that the government doesn't do enough at home considering what it spends overseas, but I don't want the government supplying aid to causes I don't agree with. I also think that private charities can in some cases be more efficient than the government. What's good about charity is that you have a choice. You don't get to choose which taxes to pay.
Shit happens. Some of it you see coming and some you don't. I have some relatives that evacuated from south Louisiana(an area still above sea level) to Florida thinking Gustav wouldn't reach that far east. They were wrong and a tornado came very close where they were staying. I know others who evacuated to North Louisiana and are getting more rain and flooding there then they would have at home. My point is that you can be prepared and think that you are safe but still wind up needing to rely on the help of strangers. That is why I am thankful that there are people in the world more generous than I am.
No one should be forced or guilted into giving to a charity that they don't want to support. Maybe there are issues you support and I suggest that you support them if capable. Maybe you really do believe that every man is an island, and that's ok. Just be prepared to remain philosophically consistent by denying any charity offered to you.
On a side note I'm going to guess that you have recently read or are a huge fan of Ayn Rand, not that there is anything wrong with that.
First, only parts of New Orleans are under sea level. The french settlers picked it because it offered some of the highest ground near the mouth of the most important river system in North America, the Mississippi river. The French Quarter and many other historic places didn't flood during Katrina. Second, when you are faced with a 15-25 ft wall of water a distinction of -3ft or +8ft doesn't seem too important.
Instead of finding the NOAA's list of most hurricane vulnerable cities, I recall the top three being New York, Tampa Bay, and New Orleans in that order, I will give you the example of the Netherlands. Most of the country's population is under sea level and it faces brutal North Sea storms in winter that can cause flooding similar to a hurricane. If New Orleans had levees half as good as the ones in the Netherlands, Katrina would have only been a bad rainstorm.
One the note of abandoning the city, I agree that there are sections of the city that shouldn't have been repopulated. But abandoning every place prone to flooding would mean getting rid of critical oil and shipping infrastructure that the nation relies on, nevermind historic districts which can weather a storm.
Ok let's evacuate all hurricane and flood prone areas, starting with New York City, Miami, Tampa, well all of Florida, half of Missisippi and Alabama, southeast Texas, most of the Eastern Coast of the US, everywhere in the Midwest that's within a hundred miles of the Mississippi river, then Louisiana south of I-10(Except for the parts of New Orleans that are ABOVE SEALEVEL, but behind poorly built levees).
Nevermind that there are a huge economic reasons for living there: oil industry, shipping,and fishing. There are few if any places in the world immune from natural disaster. Would you not take a great IT job in Silicon Valley because California might have an earthquake?
I think that depends on the auto maker. I've heard that Toyota gets $2000-3000 profit on a car that costs $25000. 10% margin. But GM with its legacy pensions and less desirable cars, which have to be sold cheaper, only gets a few hundred. $300 profit on a $30000 sedan seems ridiculous. But considering that GM makes more money from its financing business than actually selling cars so %1 profit is possible.
I don't work in IT so I'm basing this off "Office Space", but isn't unpaid overtime a given in IT? I'm always hearing horror stories of programmers working 100+ hours a week to meet a deadline. Not that this being commonplace this makes it o.k.
The pope should purposefully lose this case establishing precedent then sue Rome and all lions on the planet. Of this would lead to Israel suing Egypt, Iraq(Babylon), and the whole of Europe. The Aztec descendants would sue Spain. I don't know who the Mayans would sue.
There are people claiming to be descended from the Cathars, but I thought the Cathars preached abstinence from procreation, as in no possible reproduction.
Mathematics is not a science. Science employs inductive reasoning, while mathematics employs deductive reasoning. That's why my university had a "Department of Math and Science".
By that logic half of all physicists are not scientists.
At his son's age I learned to program in Pascal and was grateful for the privilege. I even had to compile in the snow uphill both ways. See if I put that on a resume.
Python is a great language to learn on, and there are more and more serious projects that use it especially in the scientific community. If he enjoys python, he'll move on to more powerful and commonly used languages lick Java, C++, and how could I not mention Fortran. (Actually Fortran wouldn't be a bad language to learn on if he's a math nerd. I'm not entirely joking with that.)
Slashdot Mirror
That depends on where you are in the US. Two states that I know of(Georgia and Louisiana) provide free tuition to all students with a certain GPA and test scores. In Louisiana the test score requirement is lower than the admissions requirement at the larger Universities, so pretty much everyone at LSU gets free tuition.
But can it run Linux?
Some people can have a lot of skill in a subject yet still be uninterested in it and perform poorly due to their lack of interest. A relative of mine had great grades in Biology in undergrad(GPA = 3.99), so her professors pushed her into medical school. She made good grades but didn't enjoy what she was doing so after 2 years and a huge amount of debt quit. She now works in the school system and loves her job.
Telling someone that they should do something solely because they are smart will end badly. Gifted student often feel an obligation to use their gifts. This is usually good. But it can cause a gifted student to persist in a career that she doesn't enjoy. So encourage your niece to achieve, but make sure she is happy with that path first.
I've been a Leo Laporte fan since Tech Tv, but I do have to agree with you on that. Twit is more about Leo and Dvorak chatting for an hour than anything substantial. SecurityNow is much better if limited in its focus and somewhat repetitive. Joel Spolsky's Stack Overflow podcast might be a better choice but I've only listened to 2 episodes and they seem a bit unfocused.
Some glowing blue man and a guy who dresses up like Alexander the Great.
You're inviting someone to post a picture/internet meme that I was glad died out.
Currently Im 3 paychecks behind...
They fixed the glitch. By any chance are you missing a red stapler?
This happened to me before and I stayed on until 4 missed paychecks then quit. Turns out my salary wasn't budgeted for in the current quarter and they hoped to "make it up" in the next quarter. It took me six months to receive about half of what was owed me and I've given up on the rest. If you aren't sending out resumes now, I'd recommend starting.
I think 10-20% time reading the article is a bit generous. 5% RTFAing tops.
I think both reasons fail to acknowledge the true reason people use software, what works best. In the US at least (the only place I have experience), the main reason people use a particular piece of software is that it works better than the alternative. Most Firefox users don't use is because it's open or because of the cost but because it is safer and has more features than IE. I turned a colleague onto OpenOffice.org after Excel repeatedly crashed on his important work. People are leaving Windows for Macs, which are more closed and somewhat more expensive, because "they just work better". If open source wants real large scale adoption the focus should be on beating closed source software in features, and usability regardless of cost and ideals.
Call me old fashioned but I still use butterflies to alter wind patterns allowing cosmic rays to flip bits on the hard drive. http://xkcd.com/378/
I think the argument here is over what kind of engineer or doctor you want to be. Let's face it most doctors won't be as smart as Dr. House is portrayed on TV. Most will be like the Todd on Scrubs. The Todd doesn't have to know organic chemistry or histology or physics or neurology. He is a jock surgeon and needs to know just enough anatomy and surgical skill to follow the Internists directions.
The same goes for engineers. A lot of engineers want to be Homer Simpson. Sit at a desk all day watching dials and push buttons so that the nuclear plant doesn't explode. But someone has to design the nuclear plant and someone has to know how to fix it when it breaks. That doesn't have to be Homer and you can't force him to learn that.
I have no problem with technicians in engineering or medicine as long as there are people around who understand what is going on and the technicians can call them up. The experts unfortunately are often lumped into the same work force as the technicians and get paid the same. So the engineer who does enjoy differential equations(they do exist) is forced into the same job marked and is expected to push buttons and trust in Maple like everyone else. Because engineers with higher degrees are often hired preferentially, people like the parent try to get higher degrees designed for jobs that they don't really want and are forced into classes they don't want to take.
Forcing difficult subjects on a technician will only get in the way of teaching them the more immediate skills they need. Notice how most nurses seem more competent than doctors when it comes to tasks like drawing blood. I suggest an essay titled "Lockhart's Lament". It argues that since most people never use math above algebra we should stop teaching everyone upper math and instead let the students who enjoy math decide to take the courses they want. If a future doctor doesn't like organic chemistry maybe they should consider nursing or physical/occupational therapy. There is usually a shortage of nurses and they get paid very well.
That is the problem. When I took undergrad orgo the word electronegativity was never used. It was memorize this reaction and fail the test because the question is on another reaction. I never took the higher organic chemistrys because of that crappy experience. It wasn't until I took a graduate level polymer synthesis course that the fundamentals of organic chemistry were even explained. After that it became easy. The problem is that organic chemistry wouldn't be a weed out course if they taught the fundamentals first.
Dead time is common even for productive workers. We are on slashdot aren't we?
Microsoft will make churros?
Clippy: "It looks like you are about to eat a churro. Can I help you with that?"
You are right. You are not obligated to give money to charities. The only stipulation is that if something unforeseen happens to you, don't ask for a handout from a charity. I agree that the government doesn't do enough at home considering what it spends overseas, but I don't want the government supplying aid to causes I don't agree with. I also think that private charities can in some cases be more efficient than the government. What's good about charity is that you have a choice. You don't get to choose which taxes to pay.
Shit happens. Some of it you see coming and some you don't. I have some relatives that evacuated from south Louisiana(an area still above sea level) to Florida thinking Gustav wouldn't reach that far east. They were wrong and a tornado came very close where they were staying. I know others who evacuated to North Louisiana and are getting more rain and flooding there then they would have at home. My point is that you can be prepared and think that you are safe but still wind up needing to rely on the help of strangers. That is why I am thankful that there are people in the world more generous than I am.
No one should be forced or guilted into giving to a charity that they don't want to support. Maybe there are issues you support and I suggest that you support them if capable. Maybe you really do believe that every man is an island, and that's ok. Just be prepared to remain philosophically consistent by denying any charity offered to you.
On a side note I'm going to guess that you have recently read or are a huge fan of Ayn Rand, not that there is anything wrong with that.
First, only parts of New Orleans are under sea level. The french settlers picked it because it offered some of the highest ground near the mouth of the most important river system in North America, the Mississippi river. The French Quarter and many other historic places didn't flood during Katrina. Second, when you are faced with a 15-25 ft wall of water a distinction of -3ft or +8ft doesn't seem too important.
Instead of finding the NOAA's list of most hurricane vulnerable cities, I recall the top three being New York, Tampa Bay, and New Orleans in that order, I will give you the example of the Netherlands. Most of the country's population is under sea level and it faces brutal North Sea storms in winter that can cause flooding similar to a hurricane. If New Orleans had levees half as good as the ones in the Netherlands, Katrina would have only been a bad rainstorm.
One the note of abandoning the city, I agree that there are sections of the city that shouldn't have been repopulated. But abandoning every place prone to flooding would mean getting rid of critical oil and shipping infrastructure that the nation relies on, nevermind historic districts which can weather a storm.
Ok let's evacuate all hurricane and flood prone areas, starting with New York City, Miami, Tampa, well all of Florida, half of Missisippi and Alabama, southeast Texas, most of the Eastern Coast of the US, everywhere in the Midwest that's within a hundred miles of the Mississippi river, then Louisiana south of I-10(Except for the parts of New Orleans that are ABOVE SEALEVEL, but behind poorly built levees).
Nevermind that there are a huge economic reasons for living there: oil industry, shipping,and fishing. There are few if any places in the world immune from natural disaster. Would you not take a great IT job in Silicon Valley because California might have an earthquake?
I think that depends on the auto maker. I've heard that Toyota gets $2000-3000 profit on a car that costs $25000. 10% margin. But GM with its legacy pensions and less desirable cars, which have to be sold cheaper, only gets a few hundred. $300 profit on a $30000 sedan seems ridiculous. But considering that GM makes more money from its financing business than actually selling cars so %1 profit is possible.
I don't work in IT so I'm basing this off "Office Space", but isn't unpaid overtime a given in IT? I'm always hearing horror stories of programmers working 100+ hours a week to meet a deadline. Not that this being commonplace this makes it o.k.
The pope should purposefully lose this case establishing precedent then sue Rome and all lions on the planet. Of this would lead to Israel suing Egypt, Iraq(Babylon), and the whole of Europe. The Aztec descendants would sue Spain. I don't know who the Mayans would sue.
There are people claiming to be descended from the Cathars, but I thought the Cathars preached abstinence from procreation, as in no possible reproduction.
Mathematics is not a science. Science employs inductive reasoning, while mathematics employs deductive reasoning. That's why my university had a "Department of Math and Science".
By that logic half of all physicists are not scientists.
Boy the Jedi's are going to feel this one!
This is to inform you of my patent on persistent internet memes. All your posts are belong to me.
No job prospects?
At his son's age I learned to program in Pascal and was grateful for the privilege. I even had to compile in the snow uphill both ways. See if I put that on a resume.
Python is a great language to learn on, and there are more and more serious projects that use it especially in the scientific community. If he enjoys python, he'll move on to more powerful and commonly used languages lick Java, C++, and how could I not mention Fortran. (Actually Fortran wouldn't be a bad language to learn on if he's a math nerd. I'm not entirely joking with that.)