First of all, Christopher, thanks for the gift. It’s very much appreciated in these tough economic times. I’ll try to post about my experience when I have time to try it out.

My new glasses came in the other day and I went to get them, but it turns out someone misread the RX and they were all fucked up. It was just the left lens that was wrong but the right one was also not right, so they got me back in the chair to check my eyes again. I think having my eyes dilated must mess them up or something because he got a very different setting the second time. Someone wrote to me about my eyes on the patreon that made me think maybe that’s an issue I need to bring up when I get tested. Anyway, we’re back to waiting, but I don’t think I’m getting any extra charge for the error.

Anyway that’s all I can think of at the moment. I’m gonna lay down for a little bit I think. I’ll see you Thursday night.

23 Comments

Thomas studied art, I thought.

If he needs to take math classes I’m sure there’s an accountant who can help somewhat. I don’t mean differential equations, but surely he’d like Carol as a turor in any number of fields.

Schools are overrated… mostof the important information is on the internet now. You go to school when you’re the type that needs an instructor/advisor.

Additionally, a good financial education and foundation can easily make up for a lack of formal skills in Modern Society.

Or credentials. Don’t forget credentials. Two people interview for the same job. One says “I have a degree from Overpriced College State.” The other says “I learned it all watching YouTube videos.” Who’s getting hired?

Doesn’t matter. People can bullshit their way through an interview.

Both candidates need to be tested on their prowess to ensure that their skills check out. If they meet the criteria, they’re hired.

My wife was raised in the family business. She was selling since she was 3. Before she graduated from high school she had her own business earning over $300,000 a year (and this was in the Seventies, before the dollar REALLY tanked). Then, because it was a family business and she “displeased” her dad, she had to look for work. Her line was “I don’t have a degree, but I’ve got more experience than your entire staff put together.”

The guy with the degree was hired, then they asked her to come on as a short-term consultant to train him. Even when you’re tested for your proficiency, that won’t necessarily get you the job.

When you’re obviously insulted like that, you agree to do the job, but your rate is $250 an hour with a minimum 80-hour commitment.

With all due respect to your wife, T-Ray, times have changed. You can’t just rely upon your degree and your polished interview skills anymore. They are now seen as parts of expected means towards an end. Sure, you have a degree in your field of study but how sharp are your skills nowadays? Businesses nowadays can’t be bothered with apprenticeship positions if the results don’t check out. It’s their time, money, and resources. They want to see proven results to ensure that productivity will check out towards their bottom line.

You can argue that this just creates more red tape but from a business standpoint, I can see the rationale.

Even today, they’re still hiring based on “You have a degree!” over “You know the job.”

Then there’s the hiring of yes men. :p I know before going for an interview for a boss position, one of my bosses said they didn’t want me to get the job, because I called them out on all their shit. :p

Company went on to tell everyone, “We hear everyone say we just hire yes men, but we don’t, apply” And everytime, they hired the yes men (and by men, I do mean women as well :p) everytime. Some know some of the job, some don’t know any, but they were all yes men.

One boss hired was picked over a long time, knew it all, employee, because he had a degree and the employee didn’t. The one hired knew nothing of the business…and the degree was in music. :p

Again, it needs to fall down to credentials AND skill, not JUST credentials. It also appears, Pinkk, that loyalty is another factor, which is also relevant.

It also sadly means that you can’t improve the environment if the environment is toxic and enjoys waddling in its own toxic waste. :/

If he actually did learn it *all* from youtube, I’d go for him. As anautodidact, he would just learn anything else he turned out to need on the job. Excellent.
Come to think of it, I once *did* hire the guy who learned programming on his own, decades ago. Worked out great.

Exactly. Aesthetic discrimination is too easy of a gate to slip through and no employer should ever sell themselves short based on one’s appearance just because of the individual’s “self-confidence”. It’s a suckers move and I will die on my hill stating this.

And that’s when she decided she’d have to leave him at some point :p

But math is fun. Heck my main hobby is mostly math. Its called warhammer 40k.

Math is for attackers in warhammer

Schools are not what they should be. The system is out-date by 500 years. It was all set up back in the day to prep individuals for factory work as indicated by the classroom seating arrangements.

In terms of our current school setting all that we are educated with is mostly useless unless the specific person/persons are trying to get into a university or scientific/technology-based jobs. But the majority of people never get into those academic jobs. They mostly get into regular fields of work that doesn’t involve the need for things like advanced math/science,chemistry/etc. Instead we should be giving kids the basics and leave it at that. If they want to learn things they have an interest in, then expose them to the other fields. But give them the choice rather then having it all shoved down their throats. It just doesn’t work as it is. I remember having math classes. I struggled all the goddamn time with it. It was like being punched in the gut over and over again. Frustrating to no end. I just couldn’t grasp it and yet they kept trying to force me to learn it. They never learned that I couldn’t grasp it. That in itself is just one of the faults with an outdated system that desperately needs reformation.

The public education system fails because it abides by an arbitrary set of standards and practices that do not reflect the reality of the work industry and the learning potential of the average Joe and Jane student. Some children suffer with Autism Spectrum and Attention Deficit Disorder and instead of their conditions being validated and accomodated as society ought to, they’re treated like second-class citizens subject to bullying and belittling by classmates and faculty alike. Plus, no amount learned and a diploma earned guarantees job placement. Nobody I’ve ever seen or known ever goes to school just to arbitrarily earn knowledge, they want to use that knowledge to make money and support their livelihood.

Reform IS needed and it’s high time that it gets established. If you want functional kids, you need to have a functional system.

I can’t agree enough. There are other options appearing now, like homeschooling, technical schools (I mean, that one isn’t particularly new but…), online classes, some more progressive private schools, etc. But of course, those all cost extra time/money that not everyone has access to.

I passed Algebra 1 by sitting next to the guy who got A’s.

Mathematics is hard because math is built on math, like a Jenga stack. Miss something partway up, and the rest is incomprehensible, like the way a Jenga stack falls down.

The math that’s useful for computer programming is logic — knowing what a proof is and how to come up with one. It helps you reason about your program’s correctness and have confidence in your code that goes beyond trial and error.

No. For most programming you don’t need calculus. You might need some geometry if you’re calculating screen layouts or doing solid modelling for 3D games.

The reason they used to teach geometry in the style of Euclid was never because you needed to understand the space you live in; it was to teach logic. Euclid was all about proof. Geometry is an example, an intuitive subject it’s possible to do proofs about.

But in schools nowadays they’ve decided that logical reasoning is too hard, so let’s leave out the proofs (which are the most important part). And so teaching geometry loses its point, and you might as well leave what’s left of it out of the curriculum.

And we wonder why so much software is vulnerable to attack.

Public schools were designed to educate large numbers of fairly average children. In that capacity, they do an excellent job. The farther away they get from the mean, the less they can do, and the less effective they are.

Average children get the best result: an education. Serviceable, comparatively basic, but worthwhile.

Slightly above or slightly below average children get held back or pushed forward. Serviceable, but worthwhile, though it doesn’t always work as well as it could.

Very above or very below average children are too far out of the system’s constraints to handle.

*laughs in accounting major*

When I was hired by my current employer, the job description was written to allow experience in lieu of a degree so they could hire me. I handled their account at a vendor for 7 years and got laid off when they signed with another vendor. Ended up being the customer for my old teammate, who went to work for the other vendor. It’s been almost 8 years now, and all my job descriptions have had that provision. So it still happens, but there are 4 people in my department, and two of them have PhDs.

I have never identified with a character more than I do with Thomas right now.

The Times Between 72.

23 Comments

Leave a Reply Cancel reply