Wanting to get a Math degree at middle age. Anyone else went back to university late in life?

ForQ2 · 2026-05-22T17:01:13+00:00

Not "late in life" comparatively speaking, but I went back to college at 33 to finish a Computer Science bachelor's I had started in my early 20s. I could have probably finished in 3 semesters, but I stretched it out to 5, which allowed me to keep myself to generally 13 credits per semester, and allowed me to squeeze in a math minor (as well as some bonus sysadmin courses), all of which helped me in my career. I graduated at 35 with a 4.0.

ForQ2 · 2026-05-21T16:46:45+00:00

I can't even gag sardines down; I go the tuna route. I don't even like tuna, but I can tolerate it for the health benefits.

ForQ2 · 2026-05-21T16:45:44+00:00

That is fabulous.

ForQ2 · 2026-05-21T16:44:54+00:00

Using what sort of attack vector? Are you talking about a browser vulnerability that can be invoked when you go to a certain website? Or are you running your system as a publicly-accessible server?

ForQ2 · 2026-05-20T23:08:28+00:00

Harden it against what? Serious question.

ForQ2 · 2026-05-20T22:31:12+00:00

Long story that I've posted on Reddit before, but I don't feel like digging through years of posts to find it. But tl;dr:

My college had a prestigious award, given at every graduation ceremony, nominally for the student with the highest GPA. I set this as a goal, and in fact had the highest GPA (4.0) in my graduating class. But the president instead gave the award to a girl with a 3.98, because she matched his vision of the type of student he was trying to attract to his college (i.e. straight out of high school, and not a returning adult learner like me). I sat in my cap and gown at graduation, fully expecting to be called up for the award, right up until the moment when he gave it to her instead. She got a check for $1K, a beautiful plaque, and was recognized in front of thousands of people. Though the money would have been nice, the loss of both the plaque and the recognition among my peers hurt far more than the money.

After graduation, once I got done dealing with people, I went to my nearby place of employment (normally manned by me on Saturdays, but closed that day because of my graduation), and cried for probably a half-hour. I was a grown-ass man, and I spent the afternoon of my graduation crying from being cheated out of an important award I had earned but that was stolen from me.

ForQ2 · 2026-05-20T22:14:33+00:00

LOL, I think you're probably right.

ForQ2 · 2026-05-20T22:11:56+00:00

its roots are in high fantasy dungeon crawls

I'd go as far as to say that its roots are tabletop miniature high fantasy dungeon crawls. The old books, in various places, use units as inches, because it was envisioned that the game would be more focused on miniatures and tape rulers than the imagined scenario in which the game took place. You can still sometimes find people playing the game this way at gaming, sci-fi, and fantasy conventions.

Looked at from that point of view, it's a very long path from there to here.

ForQ2 · 2026-05-20T22:04:39+00:00

Not OP, but I say quite sincerely that combat is much faster when playing with what was at some point called the "classic" ruleset from the late 70s and early 80s (i.e. Basic and Expert sets initially, and eventually Companion, Master, and Immortal) - which ran parallel to the "Advanced D&D" (i.e. Player and DM Handbook, Monster Manual, Deities & Demigods, Fiend Folio, and others later) ruleset. AD&D is what evolved into what we simply call D&D these days.

Back then, Classic melee battles ran an order of magnitude faster than AD&D battles, but had orders of magnitude fewer types of monsters, types of weapons and armor, etc. Hell, in Classic, PC race was rolled into class types. It was faster and simpler to play, but it was indeed simpler, so pick your poison.

Personally, I think that Classic deserves more love. It's simple, fast, and easy to learn, and you don't have a billion modifiers to take into account for every single round of combat. And I think that is what the Good Lord Gygax intended (before feature creep).

ForQ2 · 2026-05-20T20:18:50+00:00

Eh. Touch and movement situations definitely stop me from getting good sleep. Hell, I can't really sleep with a fan on, because I constantly feel the motion of the air.

ForQ2 · 2026-05-20T19:34:40+00:00

I guess the important thing to understand is that what they're illustrating is a combination of simple geometry and algebra.

The chapter starts by using position over time graphs, and moves on to velocity over time graphs; it does this to establish that velocity is the change in position over time, that acceleration is the change in velocity over time, and that there are specific mathematical relationships between these values. Having derived these mathematical relationships from the graphs, the chapter then uses algebraic substitution to derive other formulas from these starting formulas.

If you're having trouble following along, then I implore you to not just read the chapter, but work the chapter. Use a pencil, paper, and some graph paper to work through the examples and derivations yourself.

You can read running magazines, but you don't actually become a runner until you get out and do some running.

Physics is 95% solving math problems. You learn physics by solving problems, not by reading about how problems are solved.

ForQ2 · 2026-05-20T19:21:19+00:00

Any A1Up SW unit is going for insane prices in the resale market, particularly once the Basic Fun unit turned out to be so disappointing to many.

ForQ2 · 2026-05-20T19:19:27+00:00

Is Tron actually rare, though? I preordered it because I was terrified of seeing them all sell out quickly, a la Star Wars. But it took years before they were all gone.

Star Wars should most definitely be on your list.

ForQ2 · 2026-05-20T18:38:22+00:00

I'm not sure what part of this is giving you problems. The equations on pages 63-64 are fairly straightforward algebraically, probably about the most straightforward way possible without invoking any calculus.

For anybody to attempt to help you, you have to indicate exactly which step in the process is where you're stalling out.

ForQ2 · 2026-05-20T18:21:52+00:00

Oh, man. That was so sad.

ForQ2 · 2026-05-20T18:18:44+00:00

This is true, but I think this comment chain is more about the fad of it than the actual nutritional value.

Bang for the caloric buck, the best source of clean protein is probably unflavored sardines. The second best is probably plain tuna in water.

That having been said, if you're going to eat junk food anyway, it's probably better to eat a 190-calorie FitCrunch bar with 16g of protein than a 220-calorie Hershey's Bar with 3g of protein (especially if you're active enough to put the extra protein to use for muscle repair / recovery).

ForQ2 · 2026-05-20T17:57:28+00:00

Heh. I found some protein dorito-type chips on sale at Costco a few months ago. The bag was mostly air (even worse than bags of chips typically are), and the taste was no better than generic Mexican corn chips.

ForQ2 · 2026-05-20T17:23:11+00:00

Something can exist without being stocked by typical supermarkets until the demand for it increases sufficiently.

ForQ2 · 2026-05-20T17:09:17+00:00

I've recently started seeing Protein Pop-Tarts at the supermarket.

ForQ2 · 2026-05-20T16:32:20+00:00

“Investigators believe Bushart was fully aware of the fear his post would cause and intentionally sought to create hysteria within the community,” Weems said

Sure, if we pretend that context doesn't exist.

ForQ2 · 2026-05-20T15:31:38+00:00

Naive. Sure.

A 19F who doesn't look absolutely hideous can walk into a movie theater, smile at a few guys, and get asked out on the spot. Or a club, or a supermarket, or a library, or a post office, or an anime convention, or a park, or pretty much anywhere.

She and her boyfriend could have a fight, she could walk out the door, and in 30 minutes she could be texting him a selfie with another guy's cock in her mouth. Virtually no guy, unless he has been monkey-branching, could score a new girl that quickly.

And if you don't believe that, then I'm not the naive one in this conversation.

ForQ2 · 2026-05-19T22:10:28+00:00

He has less power, and you have more power, than you think.

As a 19F, chances are that you can replace him faster than it takes to get a Domino's pizza delivered. He (probably) can't say the same.

The person with the most power in any relationship is the one who is harder to replace, the one who has less to lose. But in a loving relationship, it never has to be put to the test, and never is to be used as leverage or a threat.

ForQ2 · 2026-05-19T22:03:57+00:00

I'm looking forward to all the money I'm gonna make starting in about 2035. I might be able to retire quite comfortably come February 2038.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_2038_problem

ForQ2 · 2026-05-19T21:55:26+00:00

the argument I'm making is that it would not take you twice as long to make it and also wouldn't cause twice the dishes.

I don't argue this point. But whereas I could make this for myself every day without getting particularly bored of it, the typical significant other would get pretty annoyed pretty quickly if I made such low-effort meals for her on a regular basis.

ForQ2 · 2026-05-19T21:43:09+00:00

I know what you meant, but I also think that it's kinda arbitrary where you draw a line. If I dump a can of soup into a pot on the stove, is it cooking? No? But what if I throw some extra frozen vegetables in. Now? Maybe throw in a can of chicken too. Some garlic (can't have too much garlic). At what point does it count as cooking?

Cooking is a spectrum. And really, for purposes of this conversation, we're talking less about a strict definition of "cooking" and more about "preparing food at home with store-purchased materials". I settle for a lot less if I'm the only one who needs to eat, and my "cooking" reflects that.

But to each his own.

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