What's the best way to get into the field? Hah. Open ended question I know, but I've recently felt this stuff is a field I could work in that I might... actually enjoy.

The problem is, I don't want to go in the wrong direction and take a bunch of junk courses that have no pertinence to my end goal, or take a bunch of stuff that someone will later tell me doesn't count toward a proper degree.

I'm 25, almost 26. I never got a degree in Comp Sci because I knew, deep down, that I wouldn't find enjoyment in any of the dominant arenas of computer work (even tho I'm well versed in them, and everyone always said "go get your computer science degree!") I just felt wasting the money wasn't worth it, while everyone else saw no err in throwing money at something they weren't sure about. (Of the 6 or 7 people I know that got degrees in Comp Sci, the only one actually enjoying the field is one guy who didn't go to school for it at all. The rest are doing nothing relating to computers, and most feel they wasted their time [and $].)

Well now I have an idea of what I actually want to do, but I don't know what route to take.

Would one generally just get their Associates Degree first and go from there, or is there a better, more tailored route one could take?

Thanks for any input from the Slashdot crowd.

So, one question I've always had when contemplating the different theories and input surrounding natural evolution is:

Why do we still have the "lesser", "older" species?

I've not heard a real explanation to this point. I am not referring to the process of natural selection, simply the origin of species. Two completely different theories and ideas.

Why do we still have fish, primates, birds? We do we not have half human-ape looking hybrids? Why are there no hybrid species of other types?

Not a troll, a genuine question. I am a spiritual creationist, my core beliefs are "neo" "Christian" ['follower of the way', anyone? I despise the word 'Christian' which was never intended to be used as such], and I do take tidbits and input from all sources in this walk of life, including philosophies and input from many different religions world-wide.

Additionally and thankfully, I have a very open mind regarding scientific thought and theory. I do however, think that it's possible modern science's "scale" is off when it comes to judging how long the universe and Earth have existed.

-Simple small things like the scale of time it takes to create coal can be sped up, or slowed down. This has been simulated many times in lab conditions, and they even found fossilized dinosaur footprints within coal in a mine. If it takes coal "millions of years" to form, (all the time,) then said footprint should not remain.
-The speed of light is not a constant, it is affected by things such as space-gas and nebulas, so in effect we have no true idea how "far" things in space are from us if this is remotely true.
-The amount of time it takes to petrify an object is by far, not, a constant, as shown even in modern day broken dam floods, etc.
-The amount of dust on the moon was about an inch or two, not several feet of dust as astronomers predicted, thus creating the long lunar module stilts for.
-Sea life has been found in, decidedly, un-sea-like areas, such as the grand canyon, within all layers of soil, much more so than "river" or fresh water dwelling organisms.
-Carbon dating has been shown to be drastically affected by simple things, such as smoke from a fire.

In the end, re Darwin, it seems to be a no-brainer to me that natural selection itself exists, but the fact that all species are, for the lack of a better description, largely and plainly definitive between themselves, is compelling to me.

This entire article is pointless. BoB will simply gain back whatever is needed to begin rebuilding itself from the army of corrupt CCP employed GMs who have their [b]own[/b] characters in a [i]"player ran" organization[/i]. The entire game is ripe with corruption from all angles and leaves little to no room for an honest player or group of players to get anywhere without direct GM assistance.