Textbooks are not obsolete, their prices are. I worked in the textbook publishing world for many years; it's a racket. Now, most of the big textbook publishing companies have gone print *and* digital and also entered the "services" arena with "Learning Management Software". The biggest textbook publishing houses (most of the big ones are now private-equity-owned) are huge monoliths that can't adapt very quickly.

The "Open Textbook" movement has some promise in bringing down the cost of textbooks, but has been hindered by overall incompetence (mostly, by meddling academics and foundations who don't understand the vagaries of the textbook marketplace. One place "Open Text" seems to be doing a fairly decent job.

Most aren't aware that universities take a % of profit from the bookstore, and as a result haven't really come on board to cut costs as aggressively as they could have.

Khan Academy? WAY overrated. What are the outcomes? People learns (this is cognitive science) by following threads of interest, not being "lectured to", whether in person or in a video - although "in person" at least allows for "branching" if the student can as questions of the presenter/teacher.

Code Academy? Can Code Academy create a mechanical engineer? A surgeon? Sure, coding can be taught online; it's a very linear activity (not always, but mostly). It's a language. Not everything can be taught effectively online. Lso learning styles come into play. Some people love textbooks, but textbooks CAN be made a LOT cheaper. (Examples: open textbook repositories; Flat World Knowledge, etc.)

Learning is a multi-faceted activity that doesn't require one magical approach.

Eventually we will probably see ultra-cheap tablets that have incredible markup capabilities,with software that is *designed* never to be obsolete, so the student can refer back to notes, etc.

Me? If I'm pursing a professional degree, I want a physical textbook as *one* of a number of learning tools, and it will remain in my library for as long as I wish without it's "software" (grammar, graphics, paper, print, and ink), going obsolete.

As if the banks, corporate polluters and every other human-killing group wasn't shouting to the rafters when Dotard was "elected" with Putin's help. I want to see some of *those* videos; I;m sure they're out there. And frankly, even though Google probably doesn't the tripe that comes from the far right, I think they. Speech may be "free", but the truth is expensive, especially when it is subverted by the lairs, cheats, and scum in officialdom who are supporting Dotard.

Trump believers think they're winning, even though they're losing. This is one sign of cultism.

Scooters need to be limited to 12-15mph, tops. This is a trivial fix. Anyone arguing against helmets and other safety gear at speeds exceeding 12mph is ignorant of what can happen to a human body crashing at speed. Anyone who cries out "nanny state" - just because that state wants to protect people from hurting themselves - should not be permitted to have children. /s

A good man whose work will continue! Godspeed!

How this extortionist company is still in business, and how its senior executives have not been jailed or fined $100's of Millions, is beyond me. Yelp = fail! 2-3 years ago I spoke with a small business owner who claimed that they moved negative review to the top of her review stream, after she refused several offers to advertise. I think Yelp has been brought to court for its abuse, and won. Sad!

Next: artificial wombs and synthetic eggs impregnated by synthetic sperm. Welcome all ye drones, to our new AI overlords.

This research comports with other research that shows the more wealth a person has, the less empathy they exhibit. So, "considering the opinion of others" seems to resonate with higher empathy scores for poor people. In a way, this research is supporting research showing wealth accumulation reduces empathy for those of lesser means.

Yeah...go give away $19million in tax breaks to a multi-billion dollar company, for 100 jobs. Yeah, really brilliant!

MOD THIS GUY UP!

You're the exception, Cowboy. Fly-over country is slowly failing. Why? Because you don't have open societies that are supported by the majority of the people. I feel real sorry for people moderate sensibilities living in your part of the world. And, if you think I'm blowing smoke I'd be willing to make a long bet that fly-over country will continue to lag in many world-wide developed nation standards. In the meantime, enjoy your bandwidth and the ability it gives you to rapidly access Brietbart feeds.

Welcome to the new grifter economy. Think about it: within just the last week ATT has scored permission to sell ANY of your data to ANYONE willing to put up the $$. They have leanred that they no longer have to provide Lifeline service (reduced rates) to millions of poor people. And, finally, they get $6.5Billion to build a 911 network that should only cost about $500M, and even then will be unreliable in a true, national emergency. We can thank the GOP-appointed justices, the corrupt GOP Congress and our grifter POTUS for helping ATT, one of the worst telcos in the world.

The current economic improvements are not a black and white difference between Obama and Trump. Trump has done NOTHING policy-wise yet; he is resting on the policy foundations of the past 8 years of the Obama administration. Nevertheless, his mostly ignorant-of-economics, self-confirmation-biased "true believers" will happily consume the hash of lies and distortions they are fed. Are their incomes going up? Is life easier? All they have to do is make a trip to the mailbox to find out that *nothing* has changed. What's going to surprise most of them is how once Clown Trump and his circus get going, how they are going to be left behind.

We have a *structural* disruption in worldwide benefits to labor; that structural disruption is ACCELERATING. Clown Trump and his base are going to find that out soon enough, as labor becomes ever more the commodity and automation continues to hallow out jobs. Wake up!

Exactly! And, given that Foxcon is committed to nearly 100% automation and relatively low skill in their factories, these jobs will *not* pay that well. They may *appear* to pay well in Western PA, where jobs are wanting, but then China will have leverage against Trump if he tries to screw around with tariffs - China can just say, "we're leaving" and then what. Who is going to "give" - Trump, or China? China is playing Trump like the chimp that he is.

Look, China is planning to lay off MILLIONS of workers in China, to automate. They may put this factory into PA and wait for Trump to be replaced, then they will go FULL automation and WIN! To the Chinese, Trump is below "bush league" (pun, intended).

What you fail to note is how SUCCESSFUL gaslighting over the course of the last few years from Putins hacks AND the lying media like Brietbart have been. Either you are part of the effort (because it serves your ends), or you are willfully ignorant of it (because it serves your ends).

Read some history about Russian propaganda; Putin is GOOD at this; it's a high-level art in Russia. Don't believe me, Comrade? Here, let this guy deconstruct it for you! http://smallwarsjournal.com/jr...