Archive for January, 2009
Yahoo – The Original Crumbles – Kinda
Jan 28th
Yahoo reported a net loss of $303 million, or 22 cents a share, compared with a profit of $206 million, or 15 cents a share, a year ago. Yahoo said it incurred $108 million in charges related to severance of employees and $488 million in write-downs of some of its European assets. [REFERENCE]
The original king of the search engines, Yahoo is getting battered even more. When Microsoft wanted to buy Yahoo the decision was a big NO. Now, from Yahoo’s perspective, that sale would have been the best decision possible. With the stock a mere fraction of the value it was last year Yahoo has a lot of rebuilding to do. If rebuilding is possible at all with all the competition. The main competition is Google. One advantage Yahoo has is advertising on its homepage. Google has always had a simple homepage with no advertisements. Nor has Google provided the various tidbits of information Yahoo is famous for on its homepage. I still believe in Yahoo as a good product, and although there is a tremendous amount of competing search engines the main power of Yahoo comes from its history; it was the first. I don’t think Yahoo will sell; especially at the low price its at. I think they will try and rebuild to some degree, and then maybe in the future a sale is possible. For now they will remain a separate entity try to expand on the territory they they still control.
Thermaltake 2U Drive Bay Cooler – System Tweaking
Jan 9th
This is my first experience with a water cooling system, and its a winner. A leak is the only thing that will make me hate water cooling, but otherwise my system is cooler than ever; pun intended. I operate at 21 – 30 C without overclocking, and overclocked to 2.6 Ghz I’m at around 35 C. Using the newely updated, and incredibly stable Debian Lenny performance is better than ever. With preload installed and a strategically implemented ram disk system performance is surely maxed out with the processor operating at such cool temperatures.
Game Plan Change – Teaching and Bachelors Degrees
Jan 9th
With the economy in shambles, and bachelors degrees decreasing in usefulness, the only obvious and unchanged use for a college education is laying the foundation for post graduate schooling. I make mention of this because a bachelors degree sets a person up nicely to pursue a teaching license. In most states you can enter a fast track program where you can start teaching right a away, and take your graduate classes in the mean time. In either case, with or without a fastrack program teaching is a profession where demand will always exist. With my electrical engineering degree all I need is a semester or two of bachelors level credits to start a master program in adolescent education. What better use is there for a years worth of pizza delivery savings? Also there is always room for part time work at the local GNC 
Teaching in NY with an Engineering Degree
Jan 3rd
If you have a bachelors degree in Engineering you cannot teach in the state of NY. You must return to school to get at least 36 credits of math, science, english etc… In addition you need 6 credits of a foreign language. Then and only then can you enroll in a masters program to get the requirements for a teachers license. Being that Engineers take advanced calculus, and the most advanced course in high school is basic calculus this seems illogical. I recall my high school calculus courses and they were helpful in preparing me for college. After the high school calc cources I have taken a total of 8 semesters of subsequent material; each increasing in difficulty. Yet still I am not qualified to teach. Other states have fast track programs for people with bachelors degrees. You can begin a teaching career while completing the requirements for a teaching license. This is not the case for New York. New York does have a fellowship program, which after a relatively short application you are informed whether you are accecpted or not. Obviously this program has a tremendous amount of competition; I was not accecpted. There is only one course of action; I must return to bachelors level classes to fulfill the prerequisites of a masters program that will eventually lead to certification. This process should take about 2 years. Then after certification the application process begins. In all to start a career be prepared to wait years and make the best of your part time job doing pizza delivery with your engineering degree. Cheers to maintaining your self esteem and the perceived value of your Engineering degree.
