Not particularly. I chose my school specifically because it had an excellent program in the field I was studying. When you're getting a physics degree, it's rather hard to beat going to the school with the National Superconducting Super Collider. Even if you aren't going to graduate school, your professors are leading the field in research, and they're trying to product the kinds of students they would like to see in grad school.

I turned out to be pretty happy with the state school's name printed on my diploma. I received an excellent education at in state prices. When your senior lab class is "build an MRI machine" from two magnets, a wire loop and a pulse generator, you can assume that the program is rigorous.

Learning about art history is great. It's absolutely worth dedicating four years, or even a lifetime, to learning about art. At the same time, it's a really good idea to learn how to feed yourself and pay off the debts that you're accumulating to study art. I learned a couple of trades while I was studying physics. I've spent the last 20 years of my life working in one or the other of those trades. The physics degree was incredibly valuable to me personally. Learning to program a computer on my own time has been useful to me financially. Learning to paint houses kept me in food until I could find work programming. It also led me to other fun activities such as tile setting and laying pavers.

Setting tile might not be very erudite, but it is both financially and personally rewarding. It's also putting that study of art history to practical use, because mosaics are cool, and you don't get to build mosaics unless you're a pretty accomplished tile setter.

So what exactly is stopping you from signing up for a trade program at a community college and getting a decent job so you can later study for the thing you want? There are always jobs open for machinists and welders, the money is good and the work is interesting.

Or have you considered military service or national service programs like Americorps?

All of those things will partially or fully pay for your school.

It sounds like instead of going to school to get his Ph.D. he went to school to get his Mrs. I feel sorry for the poor woman he burdened with his profligate ways.

It's always the other guy's fault?

Taking out huge loans that you don't have a way to repay, to get a degree that has no potential for income, show a serious lack of judgement. Military service will fund education, often while drawing full pay. A trade certification from a community college would lead to a stable income that could be used to fund an indulgence degree like Philosophy. It would also allow you to eat after getting the degree, which is the big problem.

There are plenty of degree programs where the student loan problem is a real issue. Philosophy isn't one of those. If you don't have a trust fund or a rich spouse to support you, don't get it.

I will say that I could find a lot of fun uses for an inexpensive CNC mill that is durable enough to mill aluminum, or better yet steel. That is a valuable product that could find a lot of use in my house.

I don't really have a need for more than one AR-15. The mill alone costs more than a new AR-15 from Colt. It costs twice as much as the Armalite products. It's cool to say I did it and all, but I didn't really. I bought a bunch of parts and did a little bit of milling on one of them. I "made" the gun in much the way that I "made" my motorcycle because I changed the tires and the oil.

For serious energy independent there would also be a wood burner. I don't live in an area where that's practical. But in rural areas its super common.

My wife saw a smaller design for such a thing recently, essentially a small closet in the laundry room with a lot of screens to lay clothes on and a fan to draw air. It's on the todo list when the existing much hated laundry room cabinets are ripped out. It will dry faster than just a rack, and it won't damage the clothes.

And look like a twit, just like that dude. Don't know how he hasn't died of terminal stupidity so far.

Thanks for the tip. We were attracted by the shiny cool aspect of it a year ago, but the need for a water heater was immediate and the lead time was a few weeks. Just had to have our heater serviced again today so the topic came up again.

Also, learn from my mistake: if you're having your floors finished, power down the hot water heater, and consider taping over the leak sensor until the house has been aired out. The acrylic in a water borne floor finish is a hydrocarbon, and once a sensor is tripped it stays tripped until a tech comes out, verifies that there isn't a leak, and a new sensor gets installed. A few cold showers and $230 later we're wiser.

Like asbestos, it isn't dangerous if you don't smash it, cut it and strew it around. My windows had better not be shedding clouds of particles. The fiberglass in the walls is pretty well locked in place. I think we're good.

I hadn't considered the tax side of it, but I dislike retrofitting houses, so I'd rather get it out of the way up front. Also, we're playing in fantasy land with imaginary money, so I'm not really thinking about up front costs, and more about how convenient this stuff makes my life over the long term.