Blink, Blink, Blink, What?

[old_gregg]

Yes, Norm Nemrow is one of the best profs ever!!!

norm had all his lectures on cd when i took his class.

[Pelado]

norm had all his lectures on cd when i took his class.

I saw people watching his lectures in the computer lab after I'd already taken the course.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

[Jeff Lebowski]

Yes, Norm Nemrow is one of the best profs ever!!!

Love that guy.

[wuapinmon]

Shameless.

The best profs write online texts that are available to everyone for free.

Agreed that textbooks cost too much, but a language class is a skills class, not a content class. That book comes with an online platform that includes 100's of hours of video content, live chat with native speakers, and other resources that contribute more to the cost than the book itself. The online platform also allows for instantaneous feedback of one's work, so if you're working on a grammar point and you get something wrong, it will tell you. When I started, 18 years ago, you bought a $25 workbook that you had to tear out and hand in and that took me hours and hours to grade x 4 classes. You wouldn't get timely feedback; it would only happen after the test on that material. The online platform is much more conducive to a skills class learning environment. However, that same book used to be $175 like 5 years ago. They up the price every year without changing anything, or just changing the colors and upping the price. Furthermore, the student is complaining about it being two semesters, but that is a four semester book, they just aren't continuing on past the required number of credits.

So, yes, the cost is shameless, but there are reasons for why it was chosen.

[smokymountainrain]

Shameless.

The best profs write online texts that are available to everyone for free.

you really take the time to do that? good for you.

[Uncle Ted]

Ping Pong playing robot at CES. I doubt it could handle my smash, but pretty cool.

Yet another one of those useless robots...

ROBOT HELL


CES Was Full of Useless Robots and Machines That Don’t Work


This year’s electronics expo promised a ‘better life’ and ‘better world.’ It instead offered a folding machine that can’t fold sweatshirts.

There’s a woman in Sweden named Simone Giertz who makes a living building shitty robots. Her well-intentioned creations fail comically at waking her up, brushing her teeth, washing her hair, applying lipstick, and making her breakfast.


At CES in 2018, any number of these robots would have been right at home.


CES is a massive annual trade show in Las Vegas where hundreds of thousands of people gather to see the latest and greatest new products in consumer tech. In recent years, the show has transformed into a sprawling behemoth that dominates the entire city for a week.


The event is meant to deliver a vision of the future. The technology on display is supposed to show you what the next generation of cars, TVs, computers, cameras, etc. will look like. At best, the products deliver a rough sketch.


Take the FoldiMate, a giant robotic machine that costs $850 that can supposedly fold your clothes. The machine, which took up more space than a washing machine, might be worth it if you could dump a huge pile of laundry inside some chamber and have your garments returned to you in neatly folded stacks. But that type of machine has yet to be built.


In order for the FoldiMate to work, you must individually button up each shirt then manually clip it onto the machine, which could be more time consuming than just folding everything yourself.
[...]

https://www.thedailybeast.com/ces-wa...that-dont-work

[falafel]

Yet another one of those useless robots...


https://www.thedailybeast.com/ces-wa...that-dont-work

Seems like The Daily Beast missed the point of its own article...

[Uncle Ted]

Agreed that textbooks cost too much, but a language class is a skills class, not a content class. That book comes with an online platform that includes 100's of hours of video content, live chat with native speakers, and other resources that contribute more to the cost than the book itself. The online platform also allows for instantaneous feedback of one's work, so if you're working on a grammar point and you get something wrong, it will tell you. When I started, 18 years ago, you bought a $25 workbook that you had to tear out and hand in and that took me hours and hours to grade x 4 classes. You wouldn't get timely feedback; it would only happen after the test on that material. The online platform is much more conducive to a skills class learning environment. However, that same book used to be $175 like 5 years ago. They up the price every year without changing anything, or just changing the colors and upping the price. Furthermore, the student is complaining about it being two semesters, but that is a four semester book, they just aren't continuing on past the required number of credits.

So, yes, the cost is shameless, but there are reasons for why it was chosen.

But I can get Rosetta Stone and a two year subscription and learn to speak Spanish "like a native" with TruAccent® speech-recognition technology for only $156!

[wuapinmon]

But I can get Rosetta Stone and a two year subscription and learn to speak Spanish "like a native" with TruAccent® speech-recognition technology for only $156!

Rosetta Stone works really well for people who want to learn like a child, which is what they mean when they say "like a native." Natives learn as children. The software seeks to replicate the repeated exposure to words, sounds, and images that children get while learning to speak.

It sucks at teaching grammar, but it's good for vocab. I'll give it that.

[wuapinmon]

[PaloAltoCougar]

Bill Maher mentioned this statue at an Australian Catholic school honoring a priest who shared bread with starving children. Only after it was, uh, erected, did anyone eventually realize some people (those with their minds in the gutter) might interpret it differently so it's been covered up pending a few cosmetic changes that will be forthcoming.

Spoiler for Covered up in the interest of good taste, and I apologize in advance.:

Critics have observed that if that's bread it must have been sponsored by Subway and should be named Father Footlong.

[clackamascoug]

That's pretty funny.

I'd like to see your search history for the hour before you found that gem...

[PaloAltoCougar]

That's pretty funny.

I'd like to see your search history for the hour before you found that gem...

Although no man knows my history, I can report that having seen the story on Real Time with Bill Maher, I simply Googled "Australia statue bread" and voila!

[Commando]

[Uncle Ted]

One of my crazy hog hunting neighbors told me how he blew up a pack of hogs with tannerite... he said he got the idea from seeing a bunch of videos on youtube: