I studied actuarial science; a field with some of the most difficult credentials to obtain. The head of the department dedicated all class time to flip through pages and pages of formulas all while occasionally explaining what the left hand side did, and what the right hand side did and why they were equal. He used to have students stand up and "draw" the charts or timelines in the air or he would draw them on the wall with his finger. I think his approach matched the field - you have to be self motivated and willing to study on your own to succeed. Kinda makes me wonder what his job really was... Distinguishing the highly motivated folks from the less motivated isn't something native to online courses.

My perspective of the same issue is the fact that every time I hear that the economy is picking up and consumer spending has increased, I always have to wonder if this is actually a GOOD thing. It is if debt doesn't increase proportionately, but those numbers aren't as published. Yes, an injection into the monetary supply via the stimulus will drive consumer spending, but why did I feel bad for using it to pay off debt?! Wasn't that a positive step for my future? If everyone made a similar decision, wouldn't that be BETTER for the country? There seems to be a disconnect between the success of the country and the success of the corporations within the country. I think we've gotten to the point in the US that the general population has gotten such a mixed signal and the fundamentals of what makes for a strong country are reversed. If defaults on mortgages are at an all time high, why is the interest rate (which, in part, is meant to be a measure of risk) at historic lows?

I was an absolute newcomer to the linux world. I knew about it, but never had it on any of my PC's. I decided to go with Ubuntu 11.10 32-bit version. I planned to use it on a HTPC with XBMC. I had problems from the very beginning - never really understood the terminal commands. (A very simple tutorial would have probably gone a long way.) Sound didn't work, but finally found the correct way to install the drivers for my motherboard. After attempting to install some drivers for a USB webcam as well as recommended updates I wasn't able to boot up. Even safe mode isn't available and getting to the BIOS isn't an option either. There are a bunch of lines of text which seem to be checks, the last one says [OK] but it just freezes. After all the problems, I would NEVER recommend it to a user like myself.

I've always thought it would one day become possible to have a racing game which would have actual streets. You'd be able to "buy" certain areas or maps and you'd be able to park your fictitious vehicle in front of your fictitious house. Streetview has brought us one step closer.

Could it have been a new card which was sent to you by the CC company that was picked up and verified by someone other than yourself?