I feel much the same about the Rose Parade now as Will once felt about Christmas after having spent 8 hours decorating floats with a group from church, though it was fun talking about games, zombies, and spreading the Tested message to the kid I spent most of the time working next to.
thinking what i will be doing on new years eve because I got struck by a 39 degrees celsius fever. right now I will either be watching some anime (full metal panic) play mass effect 1 or batman on the 360. or decide what nas drive I will be bying .
I spent 10 minutes talking to someone in PA about why they should install Chrome and use it instead of IE this afternoon. It wasn't too bad, but they have bigger problems, they got some kind of "System Defender" virus or something and they're freaking out about it turning off their McAfee AV. I told them to try MSE and Malwarebytes to see what those might come up with, not sure what they've found. Anyone got a link to that online cloud AV scan site handy so I can drop it to them?
Being one of the few nerds they know who they can call on for answers is made a lot tougher by being on the other side of the continent(OC/LA, CA area vs. Scranton/Wilkes Barre, PA). Their daughter's friend's dad has a PC repair business, and is going to charge them $90 for advice and virus removal. I told them to contact the manufacturer about getting ahold of install disks in case they ever need to nuke and pave in the future, and they had done a system restore to a previous point, but weren't sure if that had done the trick. I told them that it might be good to have someone not from Geek Squad take a look at it, and I think they're going to take it with them when they go to the lady's brothers, as he works in IT or something and offered to take a look at it free of charge, being family and all. I linked them to @will's Safer computing and old Safer browsing articles here and at MaxPC for future reference.
My mind is filled with awesomeness, since I just got my new akg k242hd's am listening to them through my 2 weeks old mbp 15 and am thinking about how I am going to prepare my chicken wings and tostis (dutch for toasted cheese/ham sandwich) for lunch. Guess I am one happy dude right now.
@nickb64: always be system restore with those fake AVs. Easiest way to fix them, bar none.
On topic. this is my 1000th post.
Ok, back on topic (again).
dogs are awesome, aren't this? I was watching a clip last night that stuck with me before I go to bed about dogs feeling empathy. You know what I"m talking about - you come home from a rough day, plump down on the couch, and your dog can feel it. He'll come and lay beside you, rub up against your, and basically fufill the definition of 'mans best friend' the best that they know how. I find it amazing that even though we might not think we're giving off that much of a tell, dogs can still react quite instantly to our emotions. I am, however, wondering if empathy is a quality of certain breeds of dogs - ie is a corgi more receptive than a shih tzu, but less receptive than a doberman/
@WolfOfOne: thanks, I'll send this link to them when I get home this afternoon. @MAGZine: They did a system restore since I suggested they might want to reinstall, but they weren't sure if it did the trick. I have a feeling it did fix it, but it's always good to be sure. Hopefully they take the Safer Browsing and Computing advice from @will's articles and can avoid this kind of crap in the future.
@nickb64: For some reason, I started it up last night, and it's only now sitting at 27%. It's slooow. I remember it being way faster in the past, maybe their servers are just being hammered right now.
My school district's leadership are fucking dumbasses...
They're cutting health and computer proficiency classes from the graduation requirements starting next year. They're also cutting out service hours from the requirement, as they're laying off the people who keep track of them. I can see this, as there are hundreds of people who just pay someone $20 or so to sign a sheet for 20 hours, and they'd only have to do that twice to get the requirement signed off
Also, my old High School is requiring iPads for all students, they can either purchase them outright(no discounts afaik) or rent them for $40/month. My sister's friend is actually going to have to give up her MBP for an iPad 2, which is rather dumb. Other friend's school has required X200/X201 or whatever ThinkPad convertible Windows Tablet, which is actually a lot nicer for them, as they get handwriting recognition that is pretty decent. Pen handwriting is the only thing that makes me interested in the Flyer, especially because it isn't running Honeycomb.
@nickb64: Agreed, I'd really like a tablet that has good handwritting recognition! :)
True, I knew a few kids who did that, paid someone for their community service hours. Most of us did it honestly though as there were a lot of opportunities to get service hours during school (NHS did a charity project for disaster victims and made blankets and such, art club did a few things around the community... basically if you were already in a club, you could easily get enough service hours in high school and got to get out of last period to do so :D)
That's sad that they are cutting computer proficiency classes though :(
@WolfOfOne: the computer class was kind of dumb anyway(mostly just typing/powerpoint, which HS students have likely used at least a little already, and you're not going to make most HS students capable typists by HS, they're ingrained in their shitty typing style already, it helped me, but most it's pointless), but it is still goddamn stupid to get rid of any computer proficiency altogether, because it's only going to get more important
@nickb64: Yeah, I was able to get A's in my high school comp class w/out trying as I already knew everything that was covered, but it would be stupid to get rid of it all together as I'm in the minority as a geek :P and computers are becoming more and more integrated with careers that at one time didn't necessarily need computer proficiency.
@nickb64: They can force you to buy a 600 dollar product in order to go to school? That is downright madness.
Before that I was thinking about how long my laptops battery is still going to last; it is now a 50 % but according to activity monitor my folding client is doing a 760% inside my pc. So the big thing is here should I turn of folding for now so I can keep on sitting in the sun with my laptop or do I keep on folding which will run my battery down in 30 minutes.
@WolfOfOne: The problem is that 90% of the people who take them aren't interested. My former teacher (and since I graduated, one of my best friends) had absolutely nothing to work with; no matter what projects he tried to do, it was hard to get more then a handful of people to actually do the work. He even totally changed the course from web design to game programming, but no dice. It's impossible to keep a high school kid who isn't interested from playing flash games all class.
Luckily that was only a temporary job that he took until the one he actually wanted (art, specifically graphic design) opened up. I feel sorry for the poor soul who filled in for him, though. My high school was a joke, the computer "program" even more so.
They charge you $10k a year in tuition, make you buy your books, and can make you buy a minimum $500 device just to go to school, and many of the people won't complain because they're rich douches. My one friend there would complain, but he won't have to do it, because he's graduating in 3 or so months. My friend that goes to one of the rival private schools, a Catholic school, had to buy a ThinkPad tablet laptop that cost at least $1k a couple years ago.
@nickb64: wow, that's pretty crazy. It cost you more in a year to go to school than for my college!! (Though once I transfer and start going for my bachelors things will be a lot more expensive :( )
Also, my cousin who started kindergarden this year is going to a private kindergarten and it's costing her parents more a year for her private kindergarten than my public college 0.0. I mean, it's a crazy amount of tuition (Close to 7k a year iirc)... what in the holy hell does a kindergarten need that kind of money for?? Are they importing the kid's sandbox sand from the shores of spain and doing genetic engineering to make actual letter people (in kindergarten we had people made of letters... idk something that helped teach us the alphabet)!?! But I guess people pay it so it's not like they are going to charge less :/
@WolfOfOne: People believe the education system in the US is fundamentally broken and are willing to pay to get out of it. Whether or not it is (and I believe it is) that's still a boatload of cash for a kid who will spend most of the day napping.
@Mirado: for the most part, my experience has been that public school and my old private school weren't noticeably different other than public school having about 3.5 times the number of students, though across the nation YMMV. most students in my classes are generally nicer at my current school than at the old school, though I think that has to do with a lower percentage of rich asshats than anything else, although the fact that they tend to be kind of the nerdier group(APs and such) probably helps.
Also, old school had fancier buildings and new computers, along with WiFi throughout, which I believe they would allow students to use if requested. I'd be willing to bet the old school's teachers were better paid, though not always more educated, since damn near anyone with a credential can be a Lutheran teacher, and almost all the teachers at my school now except maybe PE have Master's degrees.
@nickb64: You see, I wasn't so lucky to have a public school that anyone would consider to be "good". We constantly had the lowest statewide standardized test scores, our facilities were horribly outdated and our taxes kept going up to support a new satellite for the break room or something. The worst part of all? We were a small school in a decent middle class town. Very few of the students were at the poverty line (you couldn't be if you were able to pay our MASSIVE property taxes), and class size was always below 30. Hell, I only graduated with 60 kids.
The biggest problem was the curriculum. We had no AP program whatsoever, the "honor" society was a joke, and the regular courses moved so slowly that you didn't meet half of the required material before the end of the year. I snoozed my way through and had something like a 3.8 when I finished, which was no accomplishment. Now, I consider myself to be a decently smart guy but when you write a paper, have your professor ask you what HS you went to and then have to convince him that you actually went there ("That's not possible, anyone from there drops the course every year!"), you start thinking you got lucky that it didn't rub off on you.
The weird part is, since we all knew it was shitty no one really tried to make it worse for someone else, so I have fond-ish memories of the best time and some pretty good stories for the bad ones. I'm not going to say that there was no assholes (I'm friends with a few of them!), but I'm a pretty nerdy guy and I can't remember ever having a problem in the four years I was there, at least not with anyone in my class. That was perhaps the best thing to come out of it; since the elementary and high school are connected, we all knew each other since kindergarden and once we hit HS we sorta just got along. Sorta. :D
So even though I hated that place enough that I won't mention the name, I also...enjoyed high school. How many people can say that?
right now I will either be watching some anime (full metal panic) play mass effect 1 or batman on the 360. or decide what nas drive I will be bying .
Being one of the few nerds they know who they can call on for answers is made a lot tougher by being on the other side of the continent(OC/LA, CA area vs. Scranton/Wilkes Barre, PA). Their daughter's friend's dad has a PC repair business, and is going to charge them $90 for advice and virus removal. I told them to contact the manufacturer about getting ahold of install disks in case they ever need to nuke and pave in the future, and they had done a system restore to a previous point, but weren't sure if that had done the trick. I told them that it might be good to have someone not from Geek Squad take a look at it, and I think they're going to take it with them when they go to the lady's brothers, as he works in IT or something and offered to take a look at it free of charge, being family and all. I linked them to @will's Safer computing and old Safer browsing articles here and at MaxPC for future reference.
EDIT: http://www.pandasecurity.com/activescan/
On topic. this is my 1000th post.
Ok, back on topic (again).
dogs are awesome, aren't this? I was watching a clip last night that stuck with me before I go to bed about dogs feeling empathy. You know what I"m talking about - you come home from a rough day, plump down on the couch, and your dog can feel it. He'll come and lay beside you, rub up against your, and basically fufill the definition of 'mans best friend' the best that they know how. I find it amazing that even though we might not think we're giving off that much of a tell, dogs can still react quite instantly to our emotions. I am, however, wondering if empathy is a quality of certain breeds of dogs - ie is a corgi more receptive than a shih tzu, but less receptive than a doberman/
@MAGZine: They did a system restore since I suggested they might want to reinstall, but they weren't sure if it did the trick. I have a feeling it did fix it, but it's always good to be sure. Hopefully they take the Safer Browsing and Computing advice from @will's articles and can avoid this kind of crap in the future.
They're cutting health and computer proficiency classes from the graduation requirements starting next year. They're also cutting out service hours from the requirement, as they're laying off the people who keep track of them. I can see this, as there are hundreds of people who just pay someone $20 or so to sign a sheet for 20 hours, and they'd only have to do that twice to get the requirement signed off
Also, my old High School is requiring iPads for all students, they can either purchase them outright(no discounts afaik) or rent them for $40/month. My sister's friend is actually going to have to give up her MBP for an iPad 2, which is rather dumb. Other friend's school has required X200/X201 or whatever ThinkPad convertible Windows Tablet, which is actually a lot nicer for them, as they get handwriting recognition that is pretty decent. Pen handwriting is the only thing that makes me interested in the Flyer, especially because it isn't running Honeycomb.
True, I knew a few kids who did that, paid someone for their community service hours. Most of us did it honestly though as there were a lot of opportunities to get service hours during school (NHS did a charity project for disaster victims and made blankets and such, art club did a few things around the community... basically if you were already in a club, you could easily get enough service hours in high school and got to get out of last period to do so :D)
That's sad that they are cutting computer proficiency classes though :(
Before that I was thinking about how long my laptops battery is still going to last; it is now a 50 % but according to activity monitor my folding client is doing a 760% inside my pc. So the big thing is here should I turn of folding for now so I can keep on sitting in the sun with my laptop or do I keep on folding which will run my battery down in 30 minutes.
Choices man, choices...
Luckily that was only a temporary job that he took until the one he actually wanted (art, specifically graphic design) opened up. I feel sorry for the poor soul who filled in for him, though. My high school was a joke, the computer "program" even more so.
They charge you $10k a year in tuition, make you buy your books, and can make you buy a minimum $500 device just to go to school, and many of the people won't complain because they're rich douches. My one friend there would complain, but he won't have to do it, because he's graduating in 3 or so months. My friend that goes to one of the rival private schools, a Catholic school, had to buy a ThinkPad tablet laptop that cost at least $1k a couple years ago.
photos from school project about social and relational aggression
Also, my cousin who started kindergarden this year is going to a private kindergarten and it's costing her parents more a year for her private kindergarten than my public college 0.0. I mean, it's a crazy amount of tuition (Close to 7k a year iirc)... what in the holy hell does a kindergarten need that kind of money for?? Are they importing the kid's sandbox sand from the shores of spain and doing genetic engineering to make actual letter people (in kindergarten we had people made of letters... idk something that helped teach us the alphabet)!?! But I guess people pay it so it's not like they are going to charge less :/
And I totally agree, maybe each kid gets some kind of custom made nap mat? :P
old school: lhsoc.org
new school: http://lbmillikan.schoolloop.com/
Also, old school had fancier buildings and new computers, along with WiFi throughout, which I believe they would allow students to use if requested. I'd be willing to bet the old school's teachers were better paid, though not always more educated, since damn near anyone with a credential can be a Lutheran teacher, and almost all the teachers at my school now except maybe PE have Master's degrees.
The biggest problem was the curriculum. We had no AP program whatsoever, the "honor" society was a joke, and the regular courses moved so slowly that you didn't meet half of the required material before the end of the year. I snoozed my way through and had something like a 3.8 when I finished, which was no accomplishment. Now, I consider myself to be a decently smart guy but when you write a paper, have your professor ask you what HS you went to and then have to convince him that you actually went there ("That's not possible, anyone from there drops the course every year!"), you start thinking you got lucky that it didn't rub off on you.
The weird part is, since we all knew it was shitty no one really tried to make it worse for someone else, so I have fond-ish memories of the best time and some pretty good stories for the bad ones. I'm not going to say that there was no assholes (I'm friends with a few of them!), but I'm a pretty nerdy guy and I can't remember ever having a problem in the four years I was there, at least not with anyone in my class. That was perhaps the best thing to come out of it; since the elementary and high school are connected, we all knew each other since kindergarden and once we hit HS we sorta just got along. Sorta. :D
So even though I hated that place enough that I won't mention the name, I also...enjoyed high school. How many people can say that?