I've written a couple of books with Packt and they are good for new authors. They pay higher royalties (avg 25%) for ebook sales, the standard royalty percentage for print copies is 15%, and it takes about 6 months to go through the whole process of writing, rewrites, and publication. Disadvantages: You don't usually get to pick your cover (They have a standard format and use photographs, so have your own photo ideas, camera ready if your heart is set on a concept), The writing can be hectic if you have a job and family on top of it, and the advances are lower than some of the other guys. Advantage: They use Word primarily, but you can give them files in OpenOffice if you want. Bonus: They are a nice, supportive, cooperative bunch of people to work with. I'd write for them again if I had another good technical book idea ready to go.

Did your professor forget about Google not to mention used textbooks? The proff is going down a slippery slope if I ever saw one. Taking up people's notes is just paranoid and stupid. The only time I experienced something similar was for a music appreciation class where to fulfill the writing requirement we had to keep a specific notebook of class notes for the TAs to flip through and check that we were actually taking notes. Complain up the chain. Better yet, get a group in class to complain up the chain, to the school paper, etc.

Call or Google search your local Girl Scout council and volunteer to help with their Girls Go Tech program or to visit local Girl Scout groups to show girls how to build robots and do fun database or computer tricks.

I am both excited and full of dread. This has a chance to be a great MMOG but my nostalgia and high expectations tell me it is likely to both be (1)Not true to the spirit of the original games and (2)less fun. Maybe I should just go hunt those down instead.