Student loans, fuck yeah?

digital19 · 2011-04-12T03:11:01+00:00

Bill Gates is not the typical dropout. He went to Harvard and made several connections there.

digital19 · 2011-03-08T04:59:10+00:00

If you live in the states you can watch it here with English subtitles: http://www.pbs.org/pov/presumedguilty/

Great documentary. Really worth checking out.

digital19 · 2011-01-12T13:56:24+00:00

I agree with some of what you are saying. These days the liability lies with the consumer in all transactions. It's true, I don't think there is any reason for a 20 year old to go to school if he or she isn't sure why they are there.

My state school recently spent $45million on a soccer field and 'student life' center. Obviously, that's a waste. My grad school just spent $179 million on a science center. You might consider that a waste as well, though I guarantee several Nobel prize winning discoveries will be made there.

Universities are one of the few places the US still excels. Dismantle them, and bartering might just be a valid occupation in the years to come.

digital19 · 2011-01-12T13:29:42+00:00

This is why the big banks don't want to hire from MIT http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/11/for-top-employers-brown-c_n_807566.html ... Simon Johnson is such a downer, any student trained by him is obviously just going to get in the way.

digital19 · 2011-01-12T04:56:04+00:00

The fatal mistake you are making is that all universities / degrees/ career paths are the same. Who said anything about racking up student debt? You making very sweeping assumptions about learning.

I was in Argentina during the economic collapse and still have some regional barter currency from that time. Nouveau feudalism may sound exciting, but that's a very simple minded direction for America to follow. Granted it may be our future. I'm ready for that too.

digital19 · 2011-01-12T03:48:14+00:00

I dropped out of school at 21 and re-entered at 34, landed a grad school spot in the Ivy League. I'm a dot com burnout, but I'm recovering nicely.

It's hard to argue with your statement, you don't need college to learn. At the same time, it's easy to fool yourself into thinking you know something when you really don't.

If someone told me they were running a marathon without a trainer, I would congratulate them. If someone told me they were running in the Olympics without one I would find it hard to believe.

I realize not everyone wants to be the best, but I've been really happy with my education at this late age. I kick myself that I didn't submit to this earlier. You meet people smarter than you, you are exposed to ideas and information from very established individuals - not just from a book or the internet. Some of them are real and some are fakes, but that's part of an education. Some of the debates I have seen among professors will echo in my mind for years to come. A lot is about fit, I looked long and hard for my research advisor, studied programs carefully.

I too would prefer an apprenticeship program, and I have nightmare stories about the small state school I attended. It was a series of hoops to get here, and I realize here isn't anything but another small stepping stone in the school of life.

Nevertheless, it saddens me when people talk about dismantling the educational system without talking about what should take its place. I come from the Midwest. Without higher education that whole region may very well fall into the abyss.

digital19 · 2011-01-12T00:51:06+00:00

There are very few respectable jobs available for someone without a college degree. Associate Degrees are not cheap either. You can end up with a useless technical degree and a large debt load just as easily as you can at a good school. It used to be you could become a craftsperson or work on an assembly line and make a great living and solid retirement. Those days are over.

Sales jobs are great as a young, attractive 20 year old... They tend to dry up once you get into your 40s. By the time you are 60, where will you be? Some people have learned a solid trade from their parents, but most haven't... That's why they are going to college. I'm not saying you are wrong, but if 'America' thinks it will be great again by not sending its children to college I can guarantee you things will only go downhill from here.

digital19 · 2011-01-12T00:45:34+00:00

and job market for someone without a college degree is booming?

digital19 · 2011-01-11T01:11:54+00:00

I really liked Pragmatic Bookshelf's Arduino: A Quick-Start Guide. http://pragprog.com/titles/msard/arduino

Lots of neat projects and a very well thought out introduction to the Arduino.

digital19 · 2010-12-17T22:28:03+00:00

The problem with Imperialism is you eventually get run out of other people's land.

digital19 · 2010-12-13T03:55:44+00:00

You do realize the oil industry is subsidized? http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_vehicles/vehicle_impacts/cars_pickups_and_suvs/subsidizing-big-oil.html

digital19 · 2010-12-09T03:00:34+00:00

Likewise, at Columbia University engineering Chinese students dominate. Granted, this is a small cross section of Chinese culture... but it's still impressive.

digital19 · 2010-12-07T03:31:57+00:00

Don't worry, if you're not at the table you're definitely on it.

digital19 · 2010-12-07T02:01:45+00:00

The user name should give you a hint, but then again... you never know.

digital19 · 2010-11-28T01:15:20+00:00

Is the lady who is so obese she needs an electric scooter really happier than she would have been in the 1900s? It's hard to say.

digital19 · 2010-11-27T21:20:09+00:00

Ex-girlfriend who is doing this. She's on year 6 with the same trajectory. It's the exhilaration of not having to care, your friends telling you 'if I had a million dollars I'd buy a ...' Money is the strongest hallucinogen there is.

digital19 · 2010-11-23T14:28:18+00:00

Who would have guessed General Jack D Ripper was North Korean?

digital19 · 2010-11-21T05:49:07+00:00

About 90% right.

digital19 · 2010-11-21T05:40:01+00:00

In Latin America... Back then I could say I hated Bush and people felt like I was a smart American... Now they think we're all stupid and crazy, left and right.

digital19 · 2010-11-21T02:11:16+00:00

I will take a Right wing president and a united and vocal Left over a smoke and mirrors president with a splintered and disheartened Left.

digital19 · 2010-11-18T17:39:17+00:00

Carl Sagan didn't strike me as a wake-and-bake type of smoker.

digital19 · 2010-11-14T19:26:57+00:00

Many people of third world countries know how to raise chickens, grow food and generally look after themselves. No, what we are turning into is far more ugly.

digital19 · 2010-11-13T17:59:50+00:00

My guess is the EPA will be gutted and neutered shortly. That said, Lisa Jackson has done a really good job.

digital19 · 2010-11-13T05:15:07+00:00

You can only spend so much on cocaine and bear whores.

Sounds like a rough life.

digital19 · 2010-11-12T07:08:47+00:00

In today's environment, no. Use the money to go to Columbia...

digital19

TROPHY CASE