I recall from a PBS special that in the late 1800s, NYC suffered a blizzard that shut down even elevated trains for days. Hence, the move towards building underground.
Dear God, how I LOATHED Turbo anything as a beginning student. Yes, the debugger was helpful, but I spent HOURS upon HOURS chasing down non-sensical error messages. This was in the pre-Mozilla days mind you, so good luck finding help. Even the TA was useless. Years later, I learned C++ with gcc. Only debug tool we used was "got here" statements. MUCH less frustration.
I have vowed to smash every copy of Turbo Pascal and Turbo C/C++ that I find.
To the author: I commend you on your work! As a former full-time educator, I believe that one of the best thing you can do to promote usage is to create supplementary materials (lecture slides, quiz deck in Blackboard format, etc.
I do realize there are differences between everyone, but when I was an educator, there were many times when I was expected to teach multiple subjects that I had little to no experience with, with as little as one days notice in many cases (the adjunct had a baby. Can you teach this?).
TLDR; Having a good text is a good start. To increase adoption and usage, create teaching materials, which saves valuable time for instructors.
Peace out
Sick day? What is this “sick day”? I’m a corporate employee and have been for years. What I receive is Paid Time Off. I can earn up to 160 hours per year, with additional time granted for public holidays (Christmas, New Year’s, etc.)
Call in sick? One less day available. Contract COVID and need to be out a week or more? Need time off like to convalesce a dying parent? Too bad. Adios vacation.
Yes, I’m aware there are plenty of people such military personnel, the self employed, etc. who do not receive paid time off. My point is that “sick days” have become a thing of the past.
THIS
Earlier this year, my dad passed away. We got to spend the last few days together. It taught me what is MOST important in life: time spent with loved ones.
We went back home to visit for a week in August. Had more fun in Chicago one week than we did in over a year in a “tourist mecca” (Orlando).
Silly question: since a hybrid like a Prius is MEANT to be a generator (of sorts), would an old Prius be a better choice for a stationary generator? Lord knows they are pretty abundant and fairly cheap now.
Having lived 5 days without power in the wake of the Iowa derecho in August 2020, I now fully appreciate having an emergency source of electricity. Generators were not to be found, and many were stolen from people's yards, including one from an animal shelter. Gas and ice were hard to come by. Cooking was challenging for us since our stove was electric. My pellet grill was/is electric so we were unable to cook. After 3 days, we had to toss everything from the fridge and freezer.
I want to say yes, that you must be over 21, but I am not certain.
I do know that you can purchase with out of state ID, but you have a lower limit as to how much you can buy than if you are an Illinois resident.
A friend is a regular customer and he shared that he qualified for a discount after purchasing so much over time.
Personally, I rarely use cash much. I actually forgot the PIN to my debit card. Had the same $20 in my billfold for months.
So, fun fact, in the USA state of Illinois , cannabis dispensaries are cash only. This is probably because cannabis is still illegal at the federal level. Of course, being such a potentially lucrative target for thieves, each dispensary has security personnel who will only grant admission after ID is shown.
Interestingly, every one I have seen has an ATM on site.
Here in the USA, flying is rather expensive. I am told it is largely due to insurance costs. I am curious, what are common rates to fly a Cessna 172 wet/dry around the world?
There is actually a movement in the US dairy industry to only allow milk extracted from mammals to be called milk. Calling it almond "milk" would be illegal.
I, for one, worry about what will happen to the once prestigious PBS in the streaming age. Yes, there are half-hearted efforts to present shows, but I have never seen a promotion. Thankfully, the quality of the content tends to remain high. Yes, I am a subscriber.
We subscribe to A LOT of streaming services. I probably watch 2-3 hours of video content a day. But, probably the most edifying, enriching content I watch comes from PBS.
If you are interested in Sears homes, and near Chicago, I suggest you pay a visit to Downers Grove. I took them for granted growing up. There are quite a few Sears homes, and even a walking tour.
https://www.architecture.org/news/happening-caf/sears-homes-...
This really hits home for me. I live in Orlando, Florida and work is a scant 1.7 miles away. However, I do not dare drive or walk to work. Why? Pedestrian fatalities. This is a real shame not only because of pollution, and missed opportunity for exercise, but often because the traffic is so bad, it would only take marginally more time to walk/bike than drive.
I really wish road engineers would ensure ALL roads (sans expressways/interstates) have protected bike/ped zones. Not just a stripe on the pavement that can be easily driven across by a distracted driver. But actual raised protection, like a median or curb.
If you think the term "Systems Programming" is problematic, try "Computer Science". I have seen the term "Computer Science" applied in multiple college catalogs to MS office!
The curious thing about the earliest classes is that they are the ones that tend to fill first. Why? Because its easy for people who handle enrollments.
Hmmm. Section 1 at 7 am? Section 2 at 8am? Section 6 at 1pm? Let's enroll you in section 1 before it fills up so that way we can get you in other classes later.
In fact, there are records systems that do this automatically. Input what classes are needed, and get enrolled in the earliest one. EVERY time. Not really smart.
When I was teaching community college full time, I noticed that the early afternoon students were usually the brightest and most attentive. Most young people really hit their stride in evening classes and could easily go past 10pm. But working adults who came from work usually packed up and left when lab started. They understandably just didn't have the energy.
Does my current employer have a library? Yes. Both physical and virtual. I have use the virtual to browse industry periodicals which have hefty subscription fees. I have never set foot in the physical.
I used to keep LOTS of physical books at the office. At each job over, I started keeping fewer. Now, at my current job I have zero, because that is exactly how many times I have needed a reference at my last job.
I maintain that a graduation requirement for ALL students needs to be the ability to identify logical fallacies. If not by the end of middle school (~age 13 in the USA), then by the end of high school (~age 17).
Tell me I'm wrong.
Here's my nutty cuckoo idea:
Free admission. Free book rental.
No lab fees. No student activity fees. BUT:
Only admit the top 20% of applicants.
Minimum 12 hours per semester. Maximum 16.
Every class is curved, 20% A, 20% B, etc.
At the end of of each year, freshman, sophomore, etc, the lowest 20% by GPA are dropped.
Competition makes us stronger, no?
FWIW, I taught community college for over a decade and share my share of people pass that I wouldn't hire to write "Hello World" in ANY language. But they ticked the boxes, got to pass, and got the credit to graduate.
Sadly, in my experience, these was the case in introductory STEM courses. They could care less whether you understood or not. There were plenty of people in line behind you, so your personal experience didn't matter.
This is a big reason why I encourage people to take as much STEM as possible at community college instead of public university. Faculty are focused on teaching, not research and publishing. You have a better chance of actually learning something.
Amen to this! Having relocated to a new job, I was bored and lonely outside of work with no social connections. Now, I volunteer as a trolley conductor at a railroad museum. No screens. No code. Just a nice way to spend Saturdays and meet and interact with people.
"unaware that in nearby Ohio,"
Clearly this was written by a coastal or someone who needs a lesson in geography. Vulcan, Michigan, and for that matter most of the Upper Peninsula is closer to 3 other states including Iowa than it is to ANY part of Ohio.
Very little.
~95% of my personal email and ~60% of my work email is discarded because I have no interest in the message.
IM (Skype, Google Hangouts, Text) is my preferred means of communication.
I don't like my real-time being monopolized by voice calls. I rarely answer the phone unless I know who is calling and why.
Growing up, Dad worked 3 jobs to pay the bills. On more than 1 occasion, I was sent to go pay a utility bill after the utility was shut off. My first experience driving was at 13 to haul our garbage up to the school dumpster on Sunday nights because we didn't pay our bill.
The car was constantly breaking down. With no garage, I spent more that 1 weekend on my back in the dirt, even in January, helping Dad fix it.
Vacations? Ha!
Although I live modestly now, I have a decent paying job and suffer from none of those things. Car is 12 year old, mostly runs OK, and there is money reserved for emergencies like when a an oil line broke last month.
All bills are paid on time, automatically, each month.
I try to keep a minimum 2k reserve for emergencies. I am out of the debt spiral. Our modest condo will be paid off in 4 years.
I have no great ambition to be wealthy, just secure. Lots of people I know, and people here on HN, have more to show for their lives.
But I'm doing better than I did growing up, and to me, that is satisfying.