Is your college offering on-campus instruction this year?

A lot of colleges, many in California, won't open classrooms on campus this fall.  They will expect students to watch videos online, read their textbooks, and absorb the necessary knowledge to pass the tests, assuming they bother to test, sitting at home and web surfing it.  And to pay full tuition for the privilege. 

Was it me, especially if I was an entering freshman, I would opt for an out of college year.  Take a job, enlist in the armed forces, hike the Appalachian trail, work on a ranch, rebuild a classic car, do a winter as a ski bum, ride a bike across the USA, sail around the world, anything rather than pay outrageous tuition for the privilege of watching U-tube videos. 

Assuming you have not sent in the tuition check yet, you can tell the college you are taking an off year, and will be back next year.  And the colleges will have to grin and bear it. 

"Studies" to be required of California Students

The rule of thumb for college students is "avoid any major with "studies" in it's name.  Like gender studies, black studies, ethnic studies, ecology studies, etc, etc, ad nauseum.  Stick with real majors like English, History, Engineering, French, Chemistry, Spanish, Physics, Russian, Business administration, premed.  Even the ultra boring education major, if you can stand the boredom, it will get you a teaching job upon graduation.  Now, in contradiction to years of wisdom, the California legislature wants to require every college student be subjected to a course in "ethnic studies" as a requirement for graduation.

Casablanca Bogart and Bergmann, 1942

Released in 1942, just after Pearl Harbor.  Black and White.  Rick Blaine, played by Humphrey Bogart, is running a nightspot in Vichy France controlled Morocco.  The Nazi’s are muscling in on this nearly orphaned French colony after they defeated and occupied France in 1940.  Rick’s Café Americain has an American jazz band, brass and piano, fine dining, and casino gambling.  Rick’s place is full of refugees from the Nazi’s all trying to get to America, where the streets are paved with gold, and the Nazi’s cannot reach.  Rick looks all sorts of American, wearing a tan trench coat and a Fedora hat. 

   Into Rick’s café walks Ilsa Lund, played by Ingrid Bergman, looking like a million dollars.  Ilsa is Rick’s old flame.  They were to flee Paris by train just ahead of the Nazi takeover of Paris.  They were to rendezvous at the railroad station.   Ilsa never shows.  Heartbroken, Rick is dragged on board the train by his trusty retainer and band leader Sam.  When Ilsa arrives at Rick’s café in Morocco she is sporting a tall handsome Resistance hero, Victor Lazlo, as a husband.  For the rest of the movie we watch Rick and Ilsa come to terms with the situation.  We see slippery Vichy chief of police, Captain Louis Renault, played by Claude Rains, maneuver between the Nazis, Vichy France, Rick, Victor Lazlo, and assorted low lifes.  We hear classic movie lines such as “Round up the usual suspects.” and “Play it again Sam.” and “Here’s looking at you Kid.”

  One of the best flicks old Hollywood ever made, a flick for grownups, rather than teenaged boys.  Eighty years have gone by and it still works.  I just finished sorting and inventorying my collection of VHS tapes and decided to watch this classic last night.  My aging VHS player still works. 

New drinkable beer

Great North Aleworks. IPA India Pale Ale  7% alcohol.  Pretty decent.  India ale and beer was originally brewed in England, barreled, and shipped by sailing ship around the Cape of Good Hope to India.  To keep it from spoiling on the long voyage it was brewed with an extra dose of hops.  Modern India ale and beer still has the extra hops, giving it a good strong beer flavor.  Presby's market carries it, in cans, with some kind of high tech six pack yoke made of black plastic. 

The Hacker's strike again.

Last year I got an apologetic letter from Uncle Sam.  The hackers had gotten into the government personnel records and taken them.  I didn't get too upset, all they could have gotten was my old Air Force service records from 50 years ago, and records of the security clearance I held up until about 10 years ago. 

Today a got an apologetic letter from by stock broker, Morgan Stanley,  about a hack at their place.  The story as Morgan Stanley told it in the letter, they retired an aging data center.  The hired a contractor (did not give contractor's name) to erase the disks in the data center servers.  Something went wrong, they were not too clear on what, and the data, names and social security and more, stayed on the hard drives and turned up somewhere, later.  Morgan Stanley has offered to pay for two years of an identity theft monitoring program.  I suppose I ought to take them up on that. 

The A10's are back

I have been getting a nice airshow, right over the house these last two days.  They fly up the Notch, at low level, less than 1000 feet.  I get a good view of the aircraft.  It's a little noisy, but I don't care, watching them fly low is fun.  The A10's used to do this, maybe 5-8 years ago, and then they stopped.  And they used to give is a flyover for the Franconia 4th of July parade.  I assumed the A10 unit had been rotated off somewhere.   Anyhow they are back, it's cool.  Glad to see them.

Everyone honors John Lewis

John Lewis, black civil rights leader, US representative from Georgia, died last night at age 80, from cancer.  It is good to see leaders from both parties and the news media doing him honor.  At least we can come together over something.