Ah, but I had at least one class like that while I was in university. Then the question becomes, if you can't get help from the professor... do you stick it out anyway and TRY to finish, or give up and waste thousands of dollars?
I would expect MOOCs to have less oversight than classes at a traditional university, so more of those unsuitable professor/teachers will slip through. My point is that paying for a class and showing up in person still does not guarantee an education in that subject (unfortunately).
Many subjects don't NEED "new and updated" textbooks. Honestly, has primary & secondary math changed in 50 years? Yet new textbooks are issued every 2-3 years. Science changes, but even that is slow compared to a high school student's career - doctorate-level ground-breaking research takes 30 years to filter down to the high school level.
If you're looking at e-books, history and science texts could be simply added on to instead of completely replaced. The publishers probably won't let that happen, though. Big money in textbook publishing.
A friend of mine had planned to go stand in line for 8-12 hours for the midnight launch at the Super Walmart in Concord NH. We knew there would be "minumum 20 per store"... and heard rumors that this store would have somewhere in the range of 30-40. When we got there at noon, there were already over 50 people in line; we told our friend and he decided it wasn't worth 12 hours wait in the cold for the possibility that the store had more.
Well, the store did have more. 80, in fact... they didn't sell out until noon on Sunday. My friend was pissed.
That said, I think everyone who really wants a Wii will be able to get one (at market price of $250) by Christmas. I don't think the same can be said for those who want a PS3.
...can become quickly accustomed to that kind of money. House mortgage, spouse, 2.5 kids, etc., can quickly burn up 4 months pay.
Hopefully, it would take at least 4 months to "burn up" that money. If you're smart, you will cut your living expenses down as much as possible while you don't have a job. Stretch that 4 months pay to cover 5 or 6, while you look for a new job.
Obviously, keeping your job is preferable, but severance pay that covers a reasonable time period to look for a new job is nice. They could lay you off with a lot less than that! Then you wouldn't have any money to live on while you look for a new job.
By the way, Intel will probably do what most well-established companies do when facing major lay-offs: they will start by offering "early retirement" to a number of their older employees. If they're already committed to paying a pension, it's cheaper to do that then to pay a tenured employee's salary and benefits.
You're joking, but I'm serious: That was pretty much me in highschool. And the boys called me a lesbian and still wouldn't associate with me. Obviously, I didn't fit in with the girls, either. Female interaction was pretty confusing to me. (And still is, to some extent.)
Yeah, I spent a lot of time at home, reading and playing video games, while I was in highschool. I can count on 2 hands the number of times I hung out with "friends" outside of school.
Around the time I started college, I began dressing a little bit more femininely (fitted T-shirts instead of big baggy ones), and I had a bit thicker skin (I could laugh at some "joking around" insults and dirty jokes) and suddenly, I became friends with a large number of geeky guys.
Isn't there an old adage about being comfortable with yourself before you can make friends? Because that's exactly what happened to me.
Yes, the double standard sucks. So what's a woman to do? Just resign herself to being on the outside? Look for a new job with an all-female IT department?
I've seen suggestions about "being friendly", bringing cookies, organizing events - as a woman, I'd be nervous that some of these actions might be taken the wrong way. I've beaten off clueless geeks once or twice before, and I haven't found a good way to do it. I definitely wouldn't want that to happen with a co-worker. What do I do, bring cookies and say "my husband made them" to keep guys from having the wrong idea?
(I don't have this problem at my current job, but we have a good mix of men and women.)
DynDNS.com. Of course, they're not a software company, but a network services company. But they've been a profitable private company since at least 2002.
I know you were trying to be funny, but to be fair, the ice cream truck is where you are least likely to run into a kid. I used to drive one, and it was drilled into my head that job #1 is safety - watch the kids at all times! Job #2 was actually selling ice cream.
I would have loved to have a cell phone when I was a teenager - I depended on my parents to pick me up from school and other activities, and my mom often ran late. VERY late, in some cases. I remember more than once waiting outside of my school for an hour - I could have walked home, but then she would have showed up at the school and been mad that she couldn't find me.
Come to think of it, it was my mom that needed the cellphone, not me.
If your site doesn't work, they'll just move on to one that does, not complain to Microsoft that xyz.com doesn't render properly.
If you're lucky, they'll complain to someone at your company that the site doesn't work...
As a web developer, I can't afford to ignore IE. It is what 95% of my clients use to review their sites. "But it works in every other browser!" won't encourage them to keep their business with us.
As a website visitor, though, I use Firefox and Safari. And I complain to the webmaster@blah of any site I that tries to force me to use IE.
I didn't want a diamond because of the DeBeers/African conflict issues, but I still wanted something other than a plain ring - gemstones are neat and sparkly. Even though I hadn't told him this yet when he got an engagement ring, my husband was smart enough to go to a local jeweler that only uses non-conflict diamonds.
Psst, guys - jewelry is an excellent present, and it doesn't have to be expensive. Your girlfriend/wife would rather have something that you found and thought she'd like, than spending a lot of money on a "precious" gemstone that's tiny. If she's a geeky girl, try hematite - it's magnetic!
Actually, when adjusted for inflation, our gas prices of $3/gal today are pretty comparable to the peak prices around 1980.
I am waiting for the day that I actually see people I know modify their behavior because of gas prices - it hasn't happened yet with most of my friends.
I do ride my bike (bicycle) to work - and so does my husband, averaging 3-4 round-trips per week. I think most Americans don't realize all the benefits of riding to work: * you save money on gas and wear on your car(s) * you save time (and money) if you replace a gym membership * it's good for you - both physically and mentally. I find that biking home from work gives me time to de-stress, which driving never did.
Amen. Back when I was in college, I took an Amtrak train home a few times - a 7-hour drive on I-90 became a 9-hour train ride. And there was only 1-2 trains per day on that route, so you left either very early in the morning or mid-afternoon. (too bad for you if you wanted to leave after work!)
I'd rather not drive that route, especially when I'm only going for a long weekend - but if it costs the same (wear & tear plus the cost of gasoline versus a train ticket), takes longer, and leaves at inconvenient times, it's not worth it. If even ONE of those factors changed significantly (1/2 the price, convenient time, or shorter than driving), then I would do it.
Why should people who don't have children, have to pay for schools? I usually say, well, this is part of infrastructure..like the roads...and figure it is the cost of general infrastructure..if we didn't have schools...damned kids would be running wild everywhere.
It goes beyond that, though. The government mandates that all children be in school until they are 17. Therefore, there must be publicly-funded schools, because not every parent can afford to pay for their child(ren)'s schooling outright.
You want to stop paying for other people's kids? Petition the government to drop the laws that require children to be in school. (We could talk about the quality of the public school systems, but that's another debate all together.) Until then, you have to pay to support laws you don't like... just like everyone else does.
If the bullying is not primarily physical (if it is mental & psychological - this is typical with girls), your only solution may be to go to an adult. At the very least, they can help you learn how to deal with this kind of abuse.
When I was about 10, I once decked a girl who had been bullying me for years. Since I had told my parents about this bullying in the past, they had talked to teachers/administration about it before this happened. I was punished (rightfully so - she instigated, but I threw the first punch); however, the bully was punished more severely than I. I was able to spend the rest of the year in peace.
I'd guess Bernie & Phil's - but only because Bob's doesn't have a jingle, AFAICT. Bob's is still much more annoying - especially when it's that woman with "Bob". I can't stand her voice.
I do still go to Bob's, but not because of anything they advertise - it's because of their back room, "The Pit", where you can get slightly damaged furniture for 1/2 or 1/3 price... which is about the price I'm willing to pay for ANY of their low-quality furniture.
It's a great game for 2-4 players. The closer to 4 players you have, the better. The controls are very simple and quick to pick up. It doesn't even matter if all your players have the same skill - SSBM has a "handicap" mode, where winning a match brings your strength down and increases your vulnerability for the next match.
There's a bit of single-player gameplay worked in, but it's primarily a casual group game that's lots of fun.
My husband and I both work in the "ex-urbs" outside of Boston (and live even farther outside of Boston - in central MA, where it's "affordable"). After 2 years of miserable commute for me and a mediocre commute for him, we are finally moving to the same town where I work. Rent will be an extra $300/month and the new place is smaller, but it's worth it for a lawn, a driveway & garage, and drastically shorter commutes for both of us.
I never thought we would be able to afford to live out here, but we can (as long as we are renting), because of the gas money we will be saving. I can hardly wait to be able to walk to work.
No, it sounds like you went to a crappy college that judged writing notes to the professors' standards to be more important than LEARNING and proving that you have learned the material the professor teaches.
The only time I can imagine a "notebook check" in colleges are for courses that require some sort of creative writing (ie. your own writing, essays or whatever, instead of simply taking notes).
I think more publishers and device-makers need to realize that most people won't buy eBooks unless they are better in some way than physical books. Right now, the only benefits I see to an eBook collection are space or portability. In every other respect, an eBook is the same or worse than a physical book:
you can't use it everywhere you would use a book (airport, anyone? Or what if your batteries run out?)
you need a special device, which costs more money (PDA or reader)
the price is comparable (depends on what books you're getting and where - but eBooks are often as expensive as hardcover books)
there's no guarantee your eBook will still be readable in 10 years
you can't (easily) lend or sell your eBook when you're done with it
and the list goes on...
Unless these comparisons begin to tip favorably toward electronic versions, they will still be much rarer than the paperbacks I buy in my corner bookstore.
And a book won't normally slow you down getting through airport security, whereas electronic devices sometimes do (I have experience with this!)
Not to mention you can start reading your physical book the moment you step on the plane, and keep reading until you have landed. Any electronic device, there will be 1/2 hour or more on any flight where you are not allowed to use it.
This is the best idea I've seen yet. I'd keep my phone on vibrate all the time, but I don't (usually) have a handy pocket to put it in. It's also annoying when I miss calls because I left my phone in my purse or coat pocket after putting them down (like at a party).
The wristband idea would prevent all 3 problems I currently have with my phone: * I miss calls because the phone isn't within easy hearing range, often muffled by a coat or buried in my purse * I miss calls because I turn off my phone or set it on "silent" in church or in a movie theater, and then forget to turn it back on later in the day * OR I forget to turn off the phone, and get a call when I'm in a quiet environment, much to my embarrasment.
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Ah, but I had at least one class like that while I was in university. Then the question becomes, if you can't get help from the professor... do you stick it out anyway and TRY to finish, or give up and waste thousands of dollars?
I would expect MOOCs to have less oversight than classes at a traditional university, so more of those unsuitable professor/teachers will slip through. My point is that paying for a class and showing up in person still does not guarantee an education in that subject (unfortunately).
You've got a point, but did you know... FedEx has a contract with USPS to actually move a lot of USPS packages around the country?
Many subjects don't NEED "new and updated" textbooks. Honestly, has primary & secondary math changed in 50 years? Yet new textbooks are issued every 2-3 years. Science changes, but even that is slow compared to a high school student's career - doctorate-level ground-breaking research takes 30 years to filter down to the high school level.
If you're looking at e-books, history and science texts could be simply added on to instead of completely replaced. The publishers probably won't let that happen, though. Big money in textbook publishing.
A friend of mine had planned to go stand in line for 8-12 hours for the midnight launch at the Super Walmart in Concord NH. We knew there would be "minumum 20 per store"... and heard rumors that this store would have somewhere in the range of 30-40. When we got there at noon, there were already over 50 people in line; we told our friend and he decided it wasn't worth 12 hours wait in the cold for the possibility that the store had more.
Well, the store did have more. 80, in fact... they didn't sell out until noon on Sunday. My friend was pissed.
That said, I think everyone who really wants a Wii will be able to get one (at market price of $250) by Christmas. I don't think the same can be said for those who want a PS3.
...can become quickly accustomed to that kind of money. House mortgage, spouse, 2.5 kids, etc., can quickly burn up 4 months pay.
Hopefully, it would take at least 4 months to "burn up" that money. If you're smart, you will cut your living expenses down as much as possible while you don't have a job. Stretch that 4 months pay to cover 5 or 6, while you look for a new job.
Obviously, keeping your job is preferable, but severance pay that covers a reasonable time period to look for a new job is nice. They could lay you off with a lot less than that! Then you wouldn't have any money to live on while you look for a new job.
By the way, Intel will probably do what most well-established companies do when facing major lay-offs: they will start by offering "early retirement" to a number of their older employees. If they're already committed to paying a pension, it's cheaper to do that then to pay a tenured employee's salary and benefits.
You're joking, but I'm serious: That was pretty much me in highschool. And the boys called me a lesbian and still wouldn't associate with me. Obviously, I didn't fit in with the girls, either. Female interaction was pretty confusing to me. (And still is, to some extent.)
Yeah, I spent a lot of time at home, reading and playing video games, while I was in highschool. I can count on 2 hands the number of times I hung out with "friends" outside of school.
Around the time I started college, I began dressing a little bit more femininely (fitted T-shirts instead of big baggy ones), and I had a bit thicker skin (I could laugh at some "joking around" insults and dirty jokes) and suddenly, I became friends with a large number of geeky guys.
Isn't there an old adage about being comfortable with yourself before you can make friends? Because that's exactly what happened to me.
Yes, the double standard sucks. So what's a woman to do? Just resign herself to being on the outside? Look for a new job with an all-female IT department?
I've seen suggestions about "being friendly", bringing cookies, organizing events - as a woman, I'd be nervous that some of these actions might be taken the wrong way. I've beaten off clueless geeks once or twice before, and I haven't found a good way to do it. I definitely wouldn't want that to happen with a co-worker. What do I do, bring cookies and say "my husband made them" to keep guys from having the wrong idea?
(I don't have this problem at my current job, but we have a good mix of men and women.)
DynDNS.com. Of course, they're not a software company, but a network services company. But they've been a profitable private company since at least 2002.
I know you were trying to be funny, but to be fair, the ice cream truck is where you are least likely to run into a kid. I used to drive one, and it was drilled into my head that job #1 is safety - watch the kids at all times! Job #2 was actually selling ice cream.
I would have loved to have a cell phone when I was a teenager - I depended on my parents to pick me up from school and other activities, and my mom often ran late. VERY late, in some cases. I remember more than once waiting outside of my school for an hour - I could have walked home, but then she would have showed up at the school and been mad that she couldn't find me.
Come to think of it, it was my mom that needed the cellphone, not me.
If you're lucky, they'll complain to someone at your company that the site doesn't work...
As a web developer, I can't afford to ignore IE. It is what 95% of my clients use to review their sites. "But it works in every other browser!" won't encourage them to keep their business with us.
As a website visitor, though, I use Firefox and Safari. And I complain to the webmaster@blah of any site I that tries to force me to use IE.
Exactly. Everyone likes shiny :)
I didn't want a diamond because of the DeBeers/African conflict issues, but I still wanted something other than a plain ring - gemstones are neat and sparkly. Even though I hadn't told him this yet when he got an engagement ring, my husband was smart enough to go to a local jeweler that only uses non-conflict diamonds.
Psst, guys - jewelry is an excellent present, and it doesn't have to be expensive. Your girlfriend/wife would rather have something that you found and thought she'd like, than spending a lot of money on a "precious" gemstone that's tiny. If she's a geeky girl, try hematite - it's magnetic!
Actually, when adjusted for inflation, our gas prices of $3/gal today are pretty comparable to the peak prices around 1980.
I am waiting for the day that I actually see people I know modify their behavior because of gas prices - it hasn't happened yet with most of my friends.
I do ride my bike (bicycle) to work - and so does my husband, averaging 3-4 round-trips per week. I think most Americans don't realize all the benefits of riding to work:
* you save money on gas and wear on your car(s)
* you save time (and money) if you replace a gym membership
* it's good for you - both physically and mentally. I find that biking home from work gives me time to de-stress, which driving never did.
Obviously, this doesn't work so well if you live more than 15 miles away from your job... but there are still plenty of people doing it.
Amen. Back when I was in college, I took an Amtrak train home a few times - a 7-hour drive on I-90 became a 9-hour train ride. And there was only 1-2 trains per day on that route, so you left either very early in the morning or mid-afternoon. (too bad for you if you wanted to leave after work!)
I'd rather not drive that route, especially when I'm only going for a long weekend - but if it costs the same (wear & tear plus the cost of gasoline versus a train ticket), takes longer, and leaves at inconvenient times, it's not worth it. If even ONE of those factors changed significantly (1/2 the price, convenient time, or shorter than driving), then I would do it.
Why should people who don't have children, have to pay for schools? I usually say, well, this is part of infrastructure..like the roads...and figure it is the cost of general infrastructure..if we didn't have schools...damned kids would be running wild everywhere.
It goes beyond that, though. The government mandates that all children be in school until they are 17. Therefore, there must be publicly-funded schools, because not every parent can afford to pay for their child(ren)'s schooling outright.
You want to stop paying for other people's kids? Petition the government to drop the laws that require children to be in school. (We could talk about the quality of the public school systems, but that's another debate all together.) Until then, you have to pay to support laws you don't like... just like everyone else does.
If the bullying is not primarily physical (if it is mental & psychological - this is typical with girls), your only solution may be to go to an adult. At the very least, they can help you learn how to deal with this kind of abuse.
When I was about 10, I once decked a girl who had been bullying me for years. Since I had told my parents about this bullying in the past, they had talked to teachers/administration about it before this happened. I was punished (rightfully so - she instigated, but I threw the first punch); however, the bully was punished more severely than I. I was able to spend the rest of the year in peace.
Let me guess: Bob's Discount Furniture...
I'd guess Bernie & Phil's - but only because Bob's doesn't have a jingle, AFAICT. Bob's is still much more annoying - especially when it's that woman with "Bob". I can't stand her voice.
I do still go to Bob's, but not because of anything they advertise - it's because of their back room, "The Pit", where you can get slightly damaged furniture for 1/2 or 1/3 price... which is about the price I'm willing to pay for ANY of their low-quality furniture.
It's a great game for 2-4 players. The closer to 4 players you have, the better. The controls are very simple and quick to pick up. It doesn't even matter if all your players have the same skill - SSBM has a "handicap" mode, where winning a match brings your strength down and increases your vulnerability for the next match.
There's a bit of single-player gameplay worked in, but it's primarily a casual group game that's lots of fun.
Super Smash Brothers (Melee!) wasn't a release title on the GameCube, why do you think the next one will be a release title on the Wii?
My husband and I both work in the "ex-urbs" outside of Boston (and live even farther outside of Boston - in central MA, where it's "affordable"). After 2 years of miserable commute for me and a mediocre commute for him, we are finally moving to the same town where I work. Rent will be an extra $300/month and the new place is smaller, but it's worth it for a lawn, a driveway & garage, and drastically shorter commutes for both of us.
I never thought we would be able to afford to live out here, but we can (as long as we are renting), because of the gas money we will be saving. I can hardly wait to be able to walk to work.
No, it sounds like you went to a crappy college that judged writing notes to the professors' standards to be more important than LEARNING and proving that you have learned the material the professor teaches.
The only time I can imagine a "notebook check" in colleges are for courses that require some sort of creative writing (ie. your own writing, essays or whatever, instead of simply taking notes).
- you can't use it everywhere you would use a book (airport, anyone? Or what if your batteries run out?)
- you need a special device, which costs more money (PDA or reader)
- the price is comparable (depends on what books you're getting and where - but eBooks are often as expensive as hardcover books)
- there's no guarantee your eBook will still be readable in 10 years
- you can't (easily) lend or sell your eBook when you're done with it
- and the list goes on...
Unless these comparisons begin to tip favorably toward electronic versions, they will still be much rarer than the paperbacks I buy in my corner bookstore.And a book won't normally slow you down getting through airport security, whereas electronic devices sometimes do (I have experience with this!)
Not to mention you can start reading your physical book the moment you step on the plane, and keep reading until you have landed. Any electronic device, there will be 1/2 hour or more on any flight where you are not allowed to use it.
This is the best idea I've seen yet. I'd keep my phone on vibrate all the time, but I don't (usually) have a handy pocket to put it in. It's also annoying when I miss calls because I left my phone in my purse or coat pocket after putting them down (like at a party).
The wristband idea would prevent all 3 problems I currently have with my phone:
* I miss calls because the phone isn't within easy hearing range, often muffled by a coat or buried in my purse
* I miss calls because I turn off my phone or set it on "silent" in church or in a movie theater, and then forget to turn it back on later in the day
* OR I forget to turn off the phone, and get a call when I'm in a quiet environment, much to my embarrasment.