Colleges offer a lot of stuff that is neither liberal arts, nor STEM.
First there is sociology, which wants to be considered a science, but you cannot do experiments, and the observations are all debatable as to what they mean. Then we have political science, another wannabe science with no experimental basis and debatable observations. Neither subject is much use in the job market. You have to question the value of going into debt for either of them.
The gender studies, black studies, in fact anything with "studies" in its name, are of little to no use in the real world.
Economics is another wannabe science with at least a little use in finance. It's a better deal than sociology or poly sci when you go job hunting.
And the education major. This at least is a real job course, with an ed major degree you can teach in the public schools. Too bad the course material is utterly boring and useless. The teacher's unions have made an ed degree mandatory as a way of limiting entrance to the teaching field. You gotta truly want to teach to suffer thru the ed major.
Tuesday, April 14, 2015
Monday, April 13, 2015
Majoring in the Liberal Arts
The liberal arts are English, modern languages, music, art, history, philosophy, and mathematics. Even though mathematics is the M in STEM, all colleges I know place the math department in the college of liberal arts.
One thing to bear in mind, all the liberal arts departments see their mission as the training of new college professors to carry on the teaching of liberal arts. You want to do some thinking about that career path. Although a tenured college professor gets paid reasonably well and the work is interesting and you get to work with students, the openings are few and far between. Most colleges hire "adjunct" part time professors to do the bulk of the teaching. The pay is poor, no health care, no benefits, and the competition is fierce, and the chance to make tenure is slim to none. The pay is barely enough to keep a single guy or gal alive. The thinking student looks to a job outside of academia, the pay is MUCH better.
The English major centers about the study of great books, Shakespeare and the like. The good English writers write about the human condition and people's reaction to difficult/terrible circumstances. Knowing the literature gives good insight into real people in the real world. With luck, you can get in some real writing courses, where you write, hand in the writing and the professor grades it and comments on it.
Avoid the unreal writing courses where the professor just talks about writing. Aside from the obvious teaching career, industry needs zillions of words written for advertising copy, instruction manuals, proposals, website text, you name it. Magazines, newspapers, e-zines always need copy. Don't plan on a career writing novels. The publishing business is only buying from agented writers. Newbies have to self publish ebooks, which can be fun, but there is little money in it.
Modern languages lead to jobs with US corporations operating overseas. They would much rather have their overseas operations run by a dependable American who speaks the language rather than local hires, who might be Al Quada for all anyone in New York knows.
Music is good, but you ought to have a little musical talent before you major in it. Performers do hit it big, but for every Elvis there are ten thousand wannabes who never get beyond doing gigs in nightclubs.
Same goes for art. You ought to have some artistic talent before you major in it. If you can draw there are a zillion people needing artwork for every thing under the sun. If you cannot draw, employment options are VERY limited.
A history major is similar to an English major, except the field of discourse is broader, all of human history, rather than just books written in English in the last thousand years. You do get some very useful training in the separation of fact from fiction.
Philosophy is fun, but I cannot think of any career that wants, or even would benefit from a philosophy major.
Math is very useful, although you should be aware of the tendency of math departments to concentrate upon the proving of pure mathematical theorems rather than the application of mathematics to solving real world problems. If you like math, you should look at going for an engineering degree. At my school the math department was so removed from the real world that the engineering departments all taught their own math courses.
One thing to bear in mind, all the liberal arts departments see their mission as the training of new college professors to carry on the teaching of liberal arts. You want to do some thinking about that career path. Although a tenured college professor gets paid reasonably well and the work is interesting and you get to work with students, the openings are few and far between. Most colleges hire "adjunct" part time professors to do the bulk of the teaching. The pay is poor, no health care, no benefits, and the competition is fierce, and the chance to make tenure is slim to none. The pay is barely enough to keep a single guy or gal alive. The thinking student looks to a job outside of academia, the pay is MUCH better.
The English major centers about the study of great books, Shakespeare and the like. The good English writers write about the human condition and people's reaction to difficult/terrible circumstances. Knowing the literature gives good insight into real people in the real world. With luck, you can get in some real writing courses, where you write, hand in the writing and the professor grades it and comments on it.
Avoid the unreal writing courses where the professor just talks about writing. Aside from the obvious teaching career, industry needs zillions of words written for advertising copy, instruction manuals, proposals, website text, you name it. Magazines, newspapers, e-zines always need copy. Don't plan on a career writing novels. The publishing business is only buying from agented writers. Newbies have to self publish ebooks, which can be fun, but there is little money in it.
Modern languages lead to jobs with US corporations operating overseas. They would much rather have their overseas operations run by a dependable American who speaks the language rather than local hires, who might be Al Quada for all anyone in New York knows.
Music is good, but you ought to have a little musical talent before you major in it. Performers do hit it big, but for every Elvis there are ten thousand wannabes who never get beyond doing gigs in nightclubs.
Same goes for art. You ought to have some artistic talent before you major in it. If you can draw there are a zillion people needing artwork for every thing under the sun. If you cannot draw, employment options are VERY limited.
A history major is similar to an English major, except the field of discourse is broader, all of human history, rather than just books written in English in the last thousand years. You do get some very useful training in the separation of fact from fiction.
Philosophy is fun, but I cannot think of any career that wants, or even would benefit from a philosophy major.
Math is very useful, although you should be aware of the tendency of math departments to concentrate upon the proving of pure mathematical theorems rather than the application of mathematics to solving real world problems. If you like math, you should look at going for an engineering degree. At my school the math department was so removed from the real world that the engineering departments all taught their own math courses.
Sunday, April 12, 2015
That Iranian nuclear deal
Funny thing, we don't seem to have anything in writing. Just a "framework" what ever that may be. Last time the cookie pushers talked about "framework" was dealing with the Norks, who now have the bomb. The Americans say sanctions will stay on until the Iranians comply with the deal. The Iranians say sanctions stop right now. The Americans say there will be inspections. The Iranians say there won't be. This kind of public bickering doesn't sound like much agreement has been reached.
Obama says the deal will block all Iranian paths to a bomb. Great. Do we get to remove all their centrifuges and enriched uranium from the country? Do we likewise remove Iranian nuclear reactors? Obama hasn't said. All he talks about is "paths to the bomb".
Assuming we get to inspect, what happens when we catch them cheating? Do we bomb the cheating facility? Arrest the cheaters and put them on trial in the US? or Geneva? Do we "snapback" the sanctions? Or do we merely send the Iranians a nasty diplomatic note? And who declares Iran to be cheating? Us, them, the IAEA, the inspection force? Does it have to be unanimous or will majority vote suffice?
Is sanction "snapback" even possible? To really bite, sanctions have to be international, which means the Europeans, the Russians and the Chinese have to join in and refuse to sell to Iran. Will they? Iran has oil, which is saleable for dollars, which gives them money to buy stuff. The Europeans, Russians, Chinese and everybody else would like to make a buck or two selling to Iran. If only the Americans refuse to sell to Iran it won't hurt them much, Iran can buy from other places. Money talks.
Will Obama cut a deal that just keeps the Iranians from getting the bomb before he leaves office?
And the $64000 question. What will we do when the Iranians test their first bomb?
Obama says the deal will block all Iranian paths to a bomb. Great. Do we get to remove all their centrifuges and enriched uranium from the country? Do we likewise remove Iranian nuclear reactors? Obama hasn't said. All he talks about is "paths to the bomb".
Assuming we get to inspect, what happens when we catch them cheating? Do we bomb the cheating facility? Arrest the cheaters and put them on trial in the US? or Geneva? Do we "snapback" the sanctions? Or do we merely send the Iranians a nasty diplomatic note? And who declares Iran to be cheating? Us, them, the IAEA, the inspection force? Does it have to be unanimous or will majority vote suffice?
Is sanction "snapback" even possible? To really bite, sanctions have to be international, which means the Europeans, the Russians and the Chinese have to join in and refuse to sell to Iran. Will they? Iran has oil, which is saleable for dollars, which gives them money to buy stuff. The Europeans, Russians, Chinese and everybody else would like to make a buck or two selling to Iran. If only the Americans refuse to sell to Iran it won't hurt them much, Iran can buy from other places. Money talks.
Will Obama cut a deal that just keeps the Iranians from getting the bomb before he leaves office?
And the $64000 question. What will we do when the Iranians test their first bomb?
Windows 8 more gripes
Lacking anything useful to do, the Microsofties have degraded Explorer, the navigate and operate tool from its XP days. First they invented a new undocumented concept of "libraries" which as far as I can see merely mess things up by displaying the same file icon in multiple places at the same time, making you wonder if you have multiple copies of the same file.
The XP explorer would display two windows, file directories on the left, files within a selected directory on the right, and you could drag the window separator left or right to make room for deep directory structures or long filenames. Well, the draggable window bar was too much trouble, so the Micorsofties dropped it. The fixed width directory pane only shows the first two levels of directories. If you have anything deeper, finding it is a pain.
And "Magnifier" has activated itself and I cannot kill it. Dunno how that happened.
Lord preserve us from Windows 10.
The XP explorer would display two windows, file directories on the left, files within a selected directory on the right, and you could drag the window separator left or right to make room for deep directory structures or long filenames. Well, the draggable window bar was too much trouble, so the Micorsofties dropped it. The fixed width directory pane only shows the first two levels of directories. If you have anything deeper, finding it is a pain.
And "Magnifier" has activated itself and I cannot kill it. Dunno how that happened.
Lord preserve us from Windows 10.
Saturday, April 11, 2015
Are computer models scientific?
Science is a way of thinking about the world. The ancients (Greeks and Romans) didn't have it. It was invented during the middle ages, and put into words by Roger Bacon. The key notion in science is that facts come from observation and experiment in the real world, and theories have to agree with facts. For instance the ancient Greeks developed geometry, but it was entirely a construction of the mind. Theorems were proved by mustering postulates and previously proven theorems into a neat array, never by actually measuring the geometric figure under consideration with a ruler. Geometry, useful as it is, is not a science, it is pure mathematics, it's truth comes from thought alone, unburdened by any connection with the real world.
Science has been incredably powerful since its invention. Science brought Western civilization from the dark ages to it's current position in the world. You have to respect the scientific method, it has been enormously successful.
And now, we have people, claiming to be scientific, putting forth theories based on nothing but computer models. These people are active in the "global warming" controversy, claiming that "global warming" is happening because they have programmed a "computer model" that predicts "global warming". They imply that computer model results have the strength of real world observations and experiment.
A computer model is merely an ordinary computer program that calculates what might happen, given rules that relate the effect of inputs to the model to the output. I have myself written computer models to predict the action of electronic circuits and mechanical systems. All a model does is calculate answers based upon formulas and equations from the model writer.
If the model writer's formulas and equations are wrong, or incomplete, the models predictions will be wrong. Surely everyone in these days has had some experience with the unreliability of computer programs.
One test for completeness and accuracy of computer models is to set the inputs equal to some time in the past, run the model forward thru time, and see if the model's predictions match the actual real world situation.
The global warmer's models all pretty much fail that test. None of them come any where close to matching today's weather when started in the past. And, none of them predicted the past 19 years cessation of global warming.
So when someone starts in on "global warming" ask them where they get their data. When they say "computer models", beware.
Science has been incredably powerful since its invention. Science brought Western civilization from the dark ages to it's current position in the world. You have to respect the scientific method, it has been enormously successful.
And now, we have people, claiming to be scientific, putting forth theories based on nothing but computer models. These people are active in the "global warming" controversy, claiming that "global warming" is happening because they have programmed a "computer model" that predicts "global warming". They imply that computer model results have the strength of real world observations and experiment.
A computer model is merely an ordinary computer program that calculates what might happen, given rules that relate the effect of inputs to the model to the output. I have myself written computer models to predict the action of electronic circuits and mechanical systems. All a model does is calculate answers based upon formulas and equations from the model writer.
If the model writer's formulas and equations are wrong, or incomplete, the models predictions will be wrong. Surely everyone in these days has had some experience with the unreliability of computer programs.
One test for completeness and accuracy of computer models is to set the inputs equal to some time in the past, run the model forward thru time, and see if the model's predictions match the actual real world situation.
The global warmer's models all pretty much fail that test. None of them come any where close to matching today's weather when started in the past. And, none of them predicted the past 19 years cessation of global warming.
So when someone starts in on "global warming" ask them where they get their data. When they say "computer models", beware.
More Tracfone
Progress. I got a few contacts successfully entered into the contact list. A bunch of random button pushes finally brought up the alpha touch keyboard. You hit an unlabeled, undocumented button in the upper right hand corner of the dinky little touchscreen and the alpha keyboard appears. Why it doesn't appear when you hit "Name" is clearly a case of the software guru's deciding to make life difficult for users. I'm a retired software guru myself and I know contempt for customers when I see it.
Friday, April 10, 2015
Tracfone
Under pressure from my children I went out and bought a cell phone. The kids wanted to be able to reach me on the road to see when I might be getting in. So, on advice of my brother, who has one, I bought a Tracfone from Walmart. Cheap, phone was only $28 for a phone with a screen, a 60 minute card was only $19.88 getting me on the air for only $47.88. It has a touch screen, built in camera, and a bunch of other stuff I haven't figured out yet. No contract, no monthly bill, just buy more minutes when ever you run low. Minutes are good for 150 days then they evaporate unless you buy more.
Shoplifting appears to be a problem. Walmart had the hanger upon which the Tracfones hung locked, I had to get a clerk to unlock the rack so I could buy it. Packaging is the ultra tough transparent stuff that required my Swiss Army knife to open. Package contained the phone, battery, and charger/USB cable. Following instructions I inserted the battery and plugged it in to charge the battery. Phone refused to do anything else until it was fully charged.
Then it wanted to be "activated". I logged into a website www.tracfone.com and answered a buncha questions, and after a couple of tries, the phone activated. I placed a test call and it went thru. I have cell phone coverage in Mittersill. Yeh! Wasn't too sure about that since all the children's cell phones had had trouble connecting from here. Progress.
Then I started thru the on-line instruction manual. Step one was to identify which of 50 different models of phone I had. I looked on the phone, and all it said with "LG" A Korean outfit with a pretty good rep that used to call itself Lucky Goldstar, back when it got going making VCRs. They changed their name to LG when they hit the big time and decided that Lucky Goldstar sounded too frivolous to American customers. But, LG had neglected to put the model number on the product, a major marketing goof in my book. You always mark your company name and the product name or model number on the product. Fortunately the model number was on the cover of the instruction booklet.
Next trick is to enter important phone numbers into the phone's memory. I'm stuck on that step as of now. The only way to enter letters involved a telephone style keypad with three letters on each key. Just hitting keys gives a gibberish name field, which doesn't work for me. I'm researching this hiccup right now.
And, more research required. It rang, but I couldn't find my way to the "answer the call" button.
Shoplifting appears to be a problem. Walmart had the hanger upon which the Tracfones hung locked, I had to get a clerk to unlock the rack so I could buy it. Packaging is the ultra tough transparent stuff that required my Swiss Army knife to open. Package contained the phone, battery, and charger/USB cable. Following instructions I inserted the battery and plugged it in to charge the battery. Phone refused to do anything else until it was fully charged.
Then it wanted to be "activated". I logged into a website www.tracfone.com and answered a buncha questions, and after a couple of tries, the phone activated. I placed a test call and it went thru. I have cell phone coverage in Mittersill. Yeh! Wasn't too sure about that since all the children's cell phones had had trouble connecting from here. Progress.
Then I started thru the on-line instruction manual. Step one was to identify which of 50 different models of phone I had. I looked on the phone, and all it said with "LG" A Korean outfit with a pretty good rep that used to call itself Lucky Goldstar, back when it got going making VCRs. They changed their name to LG when they hit the big time and decided that Lucky Goldstar sounded too frivolous to American customers. But, LG had neglected to put the model number on the product, a major marketing goof in my book. You always mark your company name and the product name or model number on the product. Fortunately the model number was on the cover of the instruction booklet.
Next trick is to enter important phone numbers into the phone's memory. I'm stuck on that step as of now. The only way to enter letters involved a telephone style keypad with three letters on each key. Just hitting keys gives a gibberish name field, which doesn't work for me. I'm researching this hiccup right now.
And, more research required. It rang, but I couldn't find my way to the "answer the call" button.
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