Among the many causes I take on that are clearly ahead of their time but prescient nonetheless, has been the cost of higher education in America. Essentially up to now we have not utilized technology to improve the efficiency of its distribution and as a result you have seen tuition costs rise well beyond the rate of inflation. If it isn't already, the cost of education will be priced beyond the reach of most Americans, unless something drastic changes. The factors that have driven this is fairly obvious - it is very labor intensive and the laborers demand (and can get) pay increase well beyond the rate of inflation. In addition, in order to attract the best students a virtual arms race has insued to build more and better facitities. Ironically the one area that has potentially checked the rate of tuition increase has been the ever larger revenues from collegiate sports, thanks to tv revenue. This has significantly helped a small number of consistent athletic powerhouses.
I have never believed the the Univ of Phoenix model was the solution for a number of reasons that I won't go into here, but I have posited that more Americans would look overseas for education since the cost to attend most of these fine schools is more reasonable, and the disparity in cost has never been greater. For example India Institute of Technology is arguable the finest engineering/science school in the world (perhaps only MIT or Cal Tech is better. perhaps), at a tiny fraction of the cost of the top tier in the US. On top of this is, to steal Tom Friedman's phrase, the World is Flat, and a student will likely be more prepared to compete globally with this typ of experience. Now it appears a new model is evolving (see link above) that may take the premier Univ in the world, and make their programs more accessible, and ultimately more affordable for those that attend in person. I'm not certain of the precise details of how this seachange will manifest but I am pretty sure that it has begun with the offering of complete coursework on-line. I have a few ideas on how it will unfold, essentially versioning, like software, and more work done by more people independently, who then come to the main campus for a short period to be tested and graded.
We'll see. Something has to change. When I started OSU in the Fall of 1978, the tuition was about $450 per quarter. It is now about $3,000 per quarter. To put this in real terms. I was a waiter and could work two weekends to generate enough tips to cover my tuition ( a Friday and Saturday night would typically result in at least $100 per night in tips, i.e. cash). I would now need to be a top notch stripper in LV (and not have any corresponding addiction problems) to generate that kind of cash in two weekends' time. In any event, you get the picture.
Saturday, March 10, 2007
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
PCP in the 21st Century
What is the new PCP - post-coital protocol - for this communication age? A full length phone call filled with disingenous cooings the next day about how great and meaningful the sex was the night before (and there definitely couldn't be a latency of more than two days) was required as little as 10 years ago, if you expected to taste that again. Today you can get by with a quick text message. In fact texting and email has reduced the need for all kinds of conversations in the dating world. Text a few missives during the day, arrange the time and place, and then show up buy drinks and dinner and then hit the sack. Another win for mankind. And the beautiful thing is that now you can even claim to be avoiding the dreaded phone call by claiming that the reason you aren't one for much talking is because you only have a cell phone and you are doing your part to save the honeybees.
Saturday, January 20, 2007
Parental Repsonsibility
Okay... it has been about 3 years since I posted last. So something must have happened that prompted my return, much like Jack Bauer being released from Chinese prison. Well that's the first thing that is different.. I watch 24 now. I like it a lot, along with Entourage, The Shield, and a couple other shows every now and then.
But that's not why I returned. I've never forgotten about my lovely Blog. I am just typically too lazy to commit to any activity other than watching serialized tv shows. No, the reason I have returned - the reason I feel like I have something to say that is worth putting down on paper - are three reasons:
My oldest son is going through the process of First Communion/First Reconciliation (aka "confession" for all you non-Catholics) so he's really growing up and I have a lot of conflicting feelings about which bits of wisdom I should be bestowing on him
The presidency that I so scathing wrote about 3 years ago has gotten so much worse that I truly believe our country/society is over for a very long time, and never may recover;
And lastly, I am starting a new company - Zuku - and I have decided to chronicle the process.
So let me begin...As a parent - and one that has made my share of mistakes - literally everything we do with our children has a lasting impact. Some are "good", some require years of therapy and most are completely normal and benign. However, one of the most lasting effects we have on them is religious path we set them on based on our own set of religious beliefs. As my son is now going through a year of classes to receive the sacrament of the Eucharist and reconciliation, I have thought about my own beliefs and the simple fact that he is going to be a Catholic because I am one in name, and I am one because my Mom was, etc.
Well the truth be told, I am truly an atheist and I am wondering whether I should tell my son this and tell him that I think all the fantasy that he is being taught by these religious folk is complete nonsense. I mean, I tell him and his siblings that there is a Santa Claus for a few years more, but eventually we spring it on them, that - "hey" - this was all a harmless joke that resulted in them getting a few more toys than they otherwise would have. But this religion thing we keep believing forever and it is just as nonsensical. I mean everyone knows that reindeer can't fly, and there isn't some guy that goes to every house in the known world to drop off presents, and can get up and down chimneys with magic pixie dust, or whatever Santa uses to accomplish that trick. So why should I believe that some woman got magically knocked up by a spirit, and then her son did all kinds of miracles, and then finally he was killed but rose from the dead. And by the way this magically god has been around for billions of years and he is the evolutionarily advanced thing ever, but if I pray to him he might or might not answer my prayers. Come on.... the Fat guy in the Red Suit is more believable. And I am not just picking on the Catholics/Christians. I'm lumping Jews (yeah right... the seas parted for Moses, this god helped slay all the Israelites enemies and delivered them from their various captivities) and Muslims (don't even get me started on how fucked up this particular derivative of Abraham is) into this bucket too.
Now you might say, what is the harm? The message is good (except the Islamic message. and by the way, please don't try to tell me that there are plenty of good and kind Muslims out there and we have only seen the militant kind. Mohammad basically was a warrior and beat all his "converts" into submission. Any religion that treats women like it does is just fucked up beyond any other); It's important to have religion to form a common bond, etc. But I am not so sure. I don't think you need religion to have a moral code. I suspect that since virtually every culture has had a god or gods, then this served as the foundation for all civil society. I truly don't believe one needs the belief in a god in order to live in harmony with others. In fact, the existence of "my God is greater than your God" has probably been the raison d'etre for many many more wars and death than anything other cause.
I won't go into all the reasons that I am an atheist and quite comfortable with it. The bigger question is do I propagate the myth to my offspring because it is the accepted thing (and believe me, in this town and society I would be judged a more fit father if I came out of the sexual orientation closet rather than the religion closet) or do I communicate what I truly believe and allow him to reach maturity and then reach his own conclusions? A precedent was set when our first born was born... We decided that if he was a boy, we were not going to circumcise him. At the time, there was no evidence that existed that said the procedure had any impact - one way or the other - on a child's health, so the only reason to do it was societal pressure or religious reasons (there's that religious thing again). The grief we got from my parents and relatives for not "going along with the norm" was amazing, even when we explained our thinking. The classic observation was, well you are circumcised, so what are you going to tell you sons when they ask why they are different? Because I had the good sense to question accepted wisdom, that's what. I'm not saying that to pat myself on the back, but I am trying to stress that I am reasonably comfortable with thinking for myself and sticking with these beliefs. My biggest fear, quite frankly, is that if I do stake out this position with my children, then I might be setting them up for some grief from various parts of society who think this Atheist position is one notch below pedophilia.
Anyway, I think where I'm coming down on this is, go along with the crowd half-heartedly for the next few years and then once he is nearly finished with high school, confess my true feelings and let him decide on his own. I mean though it really is laughable to think that any of this hocus pocus magic fairy dust crap is even remotely true.
Next on the list is this pathetically criminal president and his administration (and I have to say that as I am typing this I realize that many of the same human characteristics that keep this religion nonsense alive, also allow people to keep expecting a different outcome from these lying sacks of shit). I have to say that finally a Democratic leader is finally starting to state the obvious, i.e being publicly dismissive of anything Cheney or Bush says with the simple statement that they have been absolutely 100% wrong on everything they have said or touched so why even give them the smallest modicum of respect on anything they have to say now.
Anyway, these characters have got this country so screwed when it comes to the environment, the deficit, global relations, the military. Virtually everything they are supposed to do as the Executive branch. I won't be surprised if this creep gets impeached, because he is just determined to do his own thing. I really think a constitutional crisis may yet occur.
And finally - Zuku. This the company I recently started. Basically the premise of Zuku is a web-based application that will allow anyone with a cellphone who is in a live meeting, e.g. a college lecture, politcial rally; a conference meeting, a continuing ed class, to text their questions to the moderator/lecturer, who can then chose to answer them during the class, ignore them, or answer them later via the web. The idea is that Q&A sucks and this is a 21st century way to conduct a meeting. The revenue model is that each submitted question gets a near real-time message or ad that is uniquely relevant to that user.
I have recently completed the detailed business requirements document for the software and we will begin coding this week. I have a working model of the app and I am definitely getting great feedback. I hope to have the beta out by end of March, if not sooner
But that's not why I returned. I've never forgotten about my lovely Blog. I am just typically too lazy to commit to any activity other than watching serialized tv shows. No, the reason I have returned - the reason I feel like I have something to say that is worth putting down on paper - are three reasons:
My oldest son is going through the process of First Communion/First Reconciliation (aka "confession" for all you non-Catholics) so he's really growing up and I have a lot of conflicting feelings about which bits of wisdom I should be bestowing on him
The presidency that I so scathing wrote about 3 years ago has gotten so much worse that I truly believe our country/society is over for a very long time, and never may recover;
And lastly, I am starting a new company - Zuku - and I have decided to chronicle the process.
So let me begin...As a parent - and one that has made my share of mistakes - literally everything we do with our children has a lasting impact. Some are "good", some require years of therapy and most are completely normal and benign. However, one of the most lasting effects we have on them is religious path we set them on based on our own set of religious beliefs. As my son is now going through a year of classes to receive the sacrament of the Eucharist and reconciliation, I have thought about my own beliefs and the simple fact that he is going to be a Catholic because I am one in name, and I am one because my Mom was, etc.
Well the truth be told, I am truly an atheist and I am wondering whether I should tell my son this and tell him that I think all the fantasy that he is being taught by these religious folk is complete nonsense. I mean, I tell him and his siblings that there is a Santa Claus for a few years more, but eventually we spring it on them, that - "hey" - this was all a harmless joke that resulted in them getting a few more toys than they otherwise would have. But this religion thing we keep believing forever and it is just as nonsensical. I mean everyone knows that reindeer can't fly, and there isn't some guy that goes to every house in the known world to drop off presents, and can get up and down chimneys with magic pixie dust, or whatever Santa uses to accomplish that trick. So why should I believe that some woman got magically knocked up by a spirit, and then her son did all kinds of miracles, and then finally he was killed but rose from the dead. And by the way this magically god has been around for billions of years and he is the evolutionarily advanced thing ever, but if I pray to him he might or might not answer my prayers. Come on.... the Fat guy in the Red Suit is more believable. And I am not just picking on the Catholics/Christians. I'm lumping Jews (yeah right... the seas parted for Moses, this god helped slay all the Israelites enemies and delivered them from their various captivities) and Muslims (don't even get me started on how fucked up this particular derivative of Abraham is) into this bucket too.
Now you might say, what is the harm? The message is good (except the Islamic message. and by the way, please don't try to tell me that there are plenty of good and kind Muslims out there and we have only seen the militant kind. Mohammad basically was a warrior and beat all his "converts" into submission. Any religion that treats women like it does is just fucked up beyond any other); It's important to have religion to form a common bond, etc. But I am not so sure. I don't think you need religion to have a moral code. I suspect that since virtually every culture has had a god or gods, then this served as the foundation for all civil society. I truly don't believe one needs the belief in a god in order to live in harmony with others. In fact, the existence of "my God is greater than your God" has probably been the raison d'etre for many many more wars and death than anything other cause.
I won't go into all the reasons that I am an atheist and quite comfortable with it. The bigger question is do I propagate the myth to my offspring because it is the accepted thing (and believe me, in this town and society I would be judged a more fit father if I came out of the sexual orientation closet rather than the religion closet) or do I communicate what I truly believe and allow him to reach maturity and then reach his own conclusions? A precedent was set when our first born was born... We decided that if he was a boy, we were not going to circumcise him. At the time, there was no evidence that existed that said the procedure had any impact - one way or the other - on a child's health, so the only reason to do it was societal pressure or religious reasons (there's that religious thing again). The grief we got from my parents and relatives for not "going along with the norm" was amazing, even when we explained our thinking. The classic observation was, well you are circumcised, so what are you going to tell you sons when they ask why they are different? Because I had the good sense to question accepted wisdom, that's what. I'm not saying that to pat myself on the back, but I am trying to stress that I am reasonably comfortable with thinking for myself and sticking with these beliefs. My biggest fear, quite frankly, is that if I do stake out this position with my children, then I might be setting them up for some grief from various parts of society who think this Atheist position is one notch below pedophilia.
Anyway, I think where I'm coming down on this is, go along with the crowd half-heartedly for the next few years and then once he is nearly finished with high school, confess my true feelings and let him decide on his own. I mean though it really is laughable to think that any of this hocus pocus magic fairy dust crap is even remotely true.
Next on the list is this pathetically criminal president and his administration (and I have to say that as I am typing this I realize that many of the same human characteristics that keep this religion nonsense alive, also allow people to keep expecting a different outcome from these lying sacks of shit). I have to say that finally a Democratic leader is finally starting to state the obvious, i.e being publicly dismissive of anything Cheney or Bush says with the simple statement that they have been absolutely 100% wrong on everything they have said or touched so why even give them the smallest modicum of respect on anything they have to say now.
Anyway, these characters have got this country so screwed when it comes to the environment, the deficit, global relations, the military. Virtually everything they are supposed to do as the Executive branch. I won't be surprised if this creep gets impeached, because he is just determined to do his own thing. I really think a constitutional crisis may yet occur.
And finally - Zuku. This the company I recently started. Basically the premise of Zuku is a web-based application that will allow anyone with a cellphone who is in a live meeting, e.g. a college lecture, politcial rally; a conference meeting, a continuing ed class, to text their questions to the moderator/lecturer, who can then chose to answer them during the class, ignore them, or answer them later via the web. The idea is that Q&A sucks and this is a 21st century way to conduct a meeting. The revenue model is that each submitted question gets a near real-time message or ad that is uniquely relevant to that user.
I have recently completed the detailed business requirements document for the software and we will begin coding this week. I have a working model of the app and I am definitely getting great feedback. I hope to have the beta out by end of March, if not sooner
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