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Comment Re:A SIM only plan? (Score 1) 246

Sure there is. They're called Pay-by-the-Minute plans.

Rogers: 40c/min anytime, monthly fee 0.75c for 911, $10/mo declining balance
Bell: 30c/min anytime, monthly fee 0.75c, $10/mo declining balance
Fido: 30c/min anytime, monthly fee 0.75c
Telus: 30c/min anytime, monthly fee 0.75c

$10/mo is 25-30 minutes of voice service prepaid in Canada. Not all that many, but more than enough for data-users.

For reference, I pay $13.75+tax for 100MB data and 30 outbound texts, +$3 for voice calls a month. Good luck finding any post-paid plan that comes anywhere close to that. Bell retentions started quoting at $27, not including any data or text messages, and not including call display.

Comment Computer Science as a Problem Solving method (Score 2) 315

Twenty minutes to demonstrate binary sort by tearing apart (literally!) phone books to find a person listed there, is how CS50 opens its classes. Take a look at the opencourseware site cs50.tv. It's practical, it's interactive, and it really shows the computational aspects that we take for granted. Twenty minutes to demonstrate selection sort and merge sort might be a bit tight though.

I think a discussion of the more "non-computer" parts of computer science would keep an audience more interested than a discussion about programming languages, which could easily lose people in the first five minutes.

Comment Re:They didn't need good lawyers (Score 1) 258

The major restriction is on the redistribution part. I can modify all I want and not redistribute, and that's fine too. This "modify and not redistribute" might be called "using" the software.

Under copyright law, you never had any license of redistribution in the first place. The GNU GPL is a license which stipulates you must also redistribute your changes if you redistribute at all. That is, you're allowed to download and install and use Linux whether or not you accept the GPL. But you can't distribute Linux (the kernel) without also opening the source and modifications.

Comment A question borne of helplessness... (Score -1, Troll) 358

You're actually asking readers to "construct you a curriculum," without even starting to discuss what you've found so far. That reeks of laziness and apathy. More important than actually going through the material is the motivation to get through it. You seem to be of the mind that you'll "get around to it." That's not motivation.

Still, that's not a very helpful reply, so I'll give you a hint: MIT OpenCourseWare. Or go to any university website, look through their "Physics" program, check the degree prerequisites, and start grabbing the textbooks for those courses. That'll be a comprehensive curriculum on its own.

Comment Re:Oh look... (Score 0) 170

I don't think the restricted share units is the problem, it's the sheer number of them. Sure, he "participates with the shareholders" but I don't think he'll be particularly hurt if those shares lose 75% of their value. I can't honestly see anybody caring about losing $300 million if they still get to keep $100 million afterwards.

$100 million is probably 30 times what you'll make in a lifetime.

Comment Points! (Score 4, Interesting) 365

The price differential on Business versus Economy is insane in dollar terms, but "reasonable" in points. The usual price in frequent flyer points for Business is 2x Economy, which is a great comparative value to the 3.5x dollar price difference.

A business class ticket USA-Asia would be $6000 versus $1000, but 115,000 versus 60,000 FF points.

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