Why School Sucks (When You’re Smart)

Well, allow me to re-phrase.  College does not suck.  My college sucks, occasionally.  Actually, just this class sucks… but it’s putting a real damper on the entire college experience for me at the moment.

I think the problem is that it’s a community college summer class, meaning that half the students are people who were too dumb to pass the first time through, and half the rest are older adults freshly laid-off from some factory job. Not to be insensitive – but not the brightest bunch.  I’ve discovered that in the majority of my community college classes, there is a very “no child left behind” mentality.  Meaning the class can only go as fast as the slowest student.  While this is great for the dumb kids, it leaves us smart ones sitting in class twiddling our thumbs and listening to our brains dribble out our ears.

People don’t seem to understand how difficult it is for smart kids to go at the dumb kids’ pace.  It’s soul crushing and mind numbing to listen to information you already know repeated eight different times, and to be expected to pay attention every single time.  I’m sick of it.  If I have to listen to one more sentince along the lines of “job descriptions… really, they just describe the job.” uttered by my professor (in a completely sincere and revelatory tone of voice – as if this is knowledge we couldn’t have gleaned by ourselves), my brain is going to lapse into a coma.  I had to leave class at break today because I just couldn’t take any more of it.  How do I get through the last quarter of the class?  Help!

 

My new pet project

I realize I haven’t posted here in a while. Surprisingly, it’s not because I’m lazy and can’t think of anything to write. I’ve been working on a new project: http://ubuntuforbeginners.net It’s a new website I’ve started designed to help people who are unfamiliar with Linux get into it without getting overwhelmed and called noobs.

I could use some help with it, though. If you are an Ubuntu/Linux expert, please head on over to the site and let me know if you would be willing to write for me! If you want, I’d be willing to make you a contributing author, or if you would prefer to just write one article, that would be fine too. Let me know! Thanks!

Again: http://ubuntuforbeginners.net

 

Celebrate Ada Lovelace Day!

Today, March 24, 2009, is the first annual Ada Lovelace day.  Ada Lovelace was the first-ever computer programmer (take note – not just the first female computer programmer, the first ever), and in her honor, today has been declared a day to celebrate women in technology.

Ada Lovelace

We as women need role models, people we can look up to and emulate, mentors and coaches; especially in male-dominated fields like technology.  It’s difficult not to feel alone and out of place when you are a minority in your field.

I remember as a freshman in college, I was the only female in my computer science class.  I had to be smart not only for myself, but for women everywhere, because unfortunately, this is How It Works:

How It Works

That is a lot of pressure!  And it can be discouraging to girls who are interested in technology.

So to all the girls out there who take that computer elective, even though all the other girls are doing cheerleading, be proud of the fact that a woman started it all!

And to all the women who are in technology now, I hope and request that you seek out those girls, encourage and mentor them, because we are smart, and we each have an Ada within us, we just need to find her.

http://findingada.com

To quote (in my humble opinion) one of the coolest women alive, Ani DiFranco:

People, we are standing at ground zero of the feminist revolution!
Yeah, it was an inside job, stoic and sly.
One we’re supposed to forget and downplay and deny,
But I think the time is nothing if not nigh to let the truth out!
Coolest F-word ever deserves a fucking shout!
I mean… why can’t all decent men and women call themselves feminists?
Out of respect, for those who fought for this.
I mean, look around. We have This.

 

Pattie Maes demos the Sixth Sense

I may have teared up while watching this.  The future is now!  We are living in it!  I’m blown away and glued to my seat at the same time!

 

A tour of an Ubuntu desktop: part 1

For those people who are curious about how Ubuntu works in terms of day-to-day use, here is a visual tour of my Ubuntu desktop workspace. Because there are so many features to go over, I will be dividing them up into a series of posts.  Part 1 will cover the top panel.  Click the pictures to enlarge them in a new window.

My Ubuntu Desktop

The first thing you will probably notice is that there is “stuff” on all four sides of the screen.  The lightened strips where this stuff is are called panels.  Panels are completely customizable in Ubuntu.  I could make them any color, any opacity, even make them a picture from a file.  Mine are all white – set at about 25% opacity.  The “stuff” I referred to are called applets.  They are all the little shortcuts and doodads that make Ubuntu’s desktop so much fun to use.

The second thing you probably noticed, if you’re used to Windows, is the lack of the traditional “Start” button.  This is because many of the things that are stored on the Start menu are spread out over different panels.  If you look up at the top panel, on the left side, you will see “Applications” next to the Ubuntu logo.  This functions as “Programs” on the Start menu.  This is where you can easily access any of your programs, and it works very similarly to the Program menu in Windows:

Example of the Applications Menu

I could do an entire post just on the Applications menu, but I’ll leave that for another time.  Next to it is “Places” – this is pretty much just what it sounds like – places on your computer you might want to access.  Here you can access your home folder, network, and mounted volumes (like CDs, Flash Drives, etc.).  System is like the “control panel” of Windows – where you access all your preferences and administration tools.  I could write an entire book on the System menu, but I’m fairly sure it’s been done, so I’ll leave that to the experts.

Moving on, in the middle of the top panel is my name.  This is the User Switcher applet.  When you click on it, it shows all the other users of your computer, and lets you switch users quickly and easily.

To the right of the top panel is my weather applet (it’s currently 45° and mostly sunny here in NW Michigan – very nice!), and the date/time applet, which is connected to my calendar program, so when I click it, I can see my appointments and tasks in a little mini-calendar.

Last on the top panel is the power button (far right corner of the screen).  This is pretty self-explanatory – click it, and a menu comes up with power, restart, and log-off options.

Next post: the right and bottom panels.

 

New TV shows = excitement!

How big of a nerd does it make me that I’m really super excited about Krod Mandoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire?  I hope it’s as funny and clever as it seems like it will be, and not all stupid toilet humor (which CC has a tendency to lean towards…).

Networks have been doing so many reality shows lately (because they’re cheap to produce, and for some reason people are amused by them – I still can’t figure out why…), that it’s SO exciting to see people finally starting to come out with clever scripts again.

Speaking of, I’ve been watching Dollhouse, and I really like it.  I know that a lot of Whedonites like me are disappointed with it, but I think that’s just because people were expecting something similar to Buffy or Firefly, which Dollhouse is not.  It’s a good show, though – well written, with episodes that stand well on their own, but also have a strong uniting theme that keeps you coming back each week.  I, for one, am not ready to give up on it yet.

 

Most Random Email Ever, Volume 2

Here’s the next installment of the uber-random emails I’ve been getting:

Another deficit writes a love letter to a sheriff for the anomaly. Any submarine can cook cheese grits for the roller coaster related to an eggplant, but it takes a real globule to non-chalantly dance with some parking lot. Most people believe that an ostensibly psychotic tape recorder competes with a line dancer, but they need to remember how seldom a submarine laughs out loud. An eggplant dies, or the parking lot negotiates a prenuptial agreement with a skinny senator.

I’m pretty sure this one is telling me that the economic crisis was caused by senators being bribed with eggplants.  Either that, or fat people on submarines….

 

Random Buffy Easter Egg

This may be proof that I have entirely too much time on my hands….

I just discovered this at the tail end of “Out of Sight, Out of Mind”, the 11th episode of the first season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  The text for “Case Example 1: Radical Cult Leader as Intended Victim” of the “Assassination and Infiltration” chapter in this made-up textbook, is actually the lyrics to “Happiness is a Warm Gun” by the Beatles, slightly modified (presumably to dissuade any copyright infringements…?).  Makes me wonder if the prop guys at Buffy chose that song as a metaphor, or if Joss Whedon just really likes the Beatles.  Either way, it tickles me.

 

Alternative to NetworkManager in Ubuntu

I have been having loads of trouble with NetworkManager on my Ubuntu machine recently.  We recently got a wireless router (finally), and I was so excited to no longer have to stretch ethernet cable all over the apartment to my Ubuntu-powered laptop.  For some reason, though, NetworkManager refused and refused and refused to connect to the new network.  I still don’t know why, but I finally just decided to give up on the whole thing.  My Ubuntu Kung Fu book recommended using an alternative wifi connection manager: Wicd.  The instant I installed and configured it, I had no trouble connecting.  I definitely recommend using Wicd instead of NetworkManager.  Here’s the whole tip, if you like it, you should go to http://www.ubuntukungfu.org and check out the community.

 

Arrested Development meets Watchmen

HAHA!! I laughed a lot when I saw this:

I Just Blue Myself