Comment Re:A couple of things (Score 1) 616
"It won't bankrupt me; I've been out of college nearly thirty years. My student loans were paid off long ago."
College has gotten a bit more expensive in those past 30 years....
Comment Re:Foot in the door (Score 1) 616
Certification would be appropriate for fields in which one is actually studying what they'll be using in the workplace, but that doesn't cut it for liberal arts.
I have a B.A. in philosophy. I did quite well in my classes, but I don't think that they particularly prepared me for my office job.
Now, maybe college is effective as a transition from High School to the working world, but surely there is a cheaper and more effective way of doing that than spending thousands of dollars and studying liberal arts. I could easily have done the job I'm doing right now straight after High School.
Comment Foot in the door (Score 1) 616
I'm about 15K in debt (my parents helped) after college with a completely useless degree. That said, I have a fairly high paying job that I would never have been able to get without being able to say that I graduated college.
Even though I don't use a single bit of what I learned, having graduated college makes companies actually consider me.
Unless companies start hiring people based on actual knowledge, not just looking at certification, then college still seems like a profitable formality.
Bill Joy For New National CTO Post? 393
jddeluxe writes "In an article in today's NY Times, John Doerr of Kleiner-Perkins proffered up Bill Joy's name when queried by Barack Obama for a recommendation for the position of Chief Technology Officer of the Unites States which Obama has promised to create and that the country is overdue to have.
I think that's a brilliant idea, and while you're at it, have the FCC report to him as well, why don't you?" If Bill is unavailable, I'll throw my hat in the ring, although I'm holding out for Secretary of Tubes.
Comment Chicago Celebration (Score 1) 1912
There weren't that many more people downtown Chicago as I walked to work (just a few more policemen), but with a million people expected to be in town by the time I get off, all I'm really hoping for is a way to get back home this election day.
The Walking House 304
What is 10' tall, has six hydraulic legs, and is powered by the wind and solar panels? The prototype pod house built by art collective N55 in Copenhagen, Denmark. With the help of MIT, N55 built the pod over a two-year period at a cost of £30,000. Designers say it provides a solution to the problem of rising water levels as the house can simply walk away from floods. One of the designers says, "This house is not just for travellers but also for anyone interested in a more general way of nomadic living." It won't be long now until the Japanese make Howl's Moving Castle.
FBI Warns of Sweeping Global Threat To US Cybersecurity 134
GovIT Geek writes "The FBI's newly appointed chief of cyber security warned today that 'a couple dozen' countries are eager to hack US government, corporate, and military networks. While he refused to provide country-specific details, FBI Cyber Division Chief Shawn Henry told reporters at a roundtable that cooperation with foreign law enforcement is one of the Bureau's highest priorities and added the United States has had incredible success fostering overseas partnerships."
Plug-In Hybrids Aren't Coming, They're Here 495
Wired is running a story about the small but vocal, and growing, number of people who aren't waiting for automakers to deliver plug-in hybrids. They're shelling out big money to have already thrifty cars converted into full-on plug-in hybrids capable of triple-digit fuel economy. "The conversions aren't cheap, and top-of-the-line kits with lithium-ion batteries can set you back as much as $35,000. Even a kit with lead-acid batteries — the type under the hood of the car you drive now — starts at five grand. That explains why most converted plug-ins are in the motor pools of places like Southern California Edison... No more than 150 or so belong to people like [extreme skiing champion Alison] Gannett, who had her $30,000 Ford Escape converted in December. Yes, that's right. The conversion cost more than the truck."
Researchers Re-Examine Second Law of Thermodynamics 125
Many readers have written to tell us that researchers are examining the possibility of using Brownian ratchets to help combat the problem of heat dissipation in miniaturized electronics. "Currently, devices are engineered to operate near thermal equilibrium, in accordance with the Second Law of Thermodynamics which states that heat tends to transfer from a hotter unit to a cooler one. However, using the concept of Brownian ratchets, which are systems that convert non-equilibrium energy to do useful work, the researchers hope to allow computers to operate at low power levels, and harness power dissipated by other functions. 'The main quest we have is to see if by departing from near-equilibrium operation, we can perform computation more efficiently,' Ghosh told iTnews. 'We aren't breaking the Second Law — that's not what we are claiming,' he said. 'We are simply re-examining its implications, as much of the established understanding of power dissipation is based on near-equilibrium operation.'"
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