The number of comments display thingy was broken and is now fixed and so I just caught up on all the funny comments you left.

Rafi, for only $19.99 a month you can get access to http://xxx.mattgoyer.com. We all know why people buy digital cameras :).
[9:51:59 PM] []

CNET: The scooter bubble has burst. Good thing I stayed away from those scooter stocks.

Of course this must bode well for Dean's $3k Segway.
[4:44:27 PM] []

Back by popular demand. Larry Smith Lingo.

This was orginally the work of John (he actually wrote a little perl script to automate the process of submitting) and it lived at John and Matt.com but after a bunch of server moves some of the files were lost but fortunately the data was still hanging around so I reformated it and put it back online. If you have a quote to add email me.
[4:01:18 PM] []

Song of the week: Dayna Manning - Half the Man (click to listen)
[1:16:50 PM] []

UW is considering two new models for their new B.Comp Sci degree. A comprehensive program and a self directed one. The self directed proposal is an impressive one and would be the one I would vote for if I was eligible for voting.

I strongly feel that if I was doing either of those models instead of a B.Math (Comp Sci) I wouldn't feel as discouraged as I currently do with school. Both programs reduce the math content which means you have more time to pursue other subject areas of interest and you all know how much I hate the math content. In fact I still have to take *5* math courses to graduate (I've already taken 6!). Under the new programs you'd have to take just 7.

I was very surprised by this admission (but glad to see it) under discussion of a 3 year B.CS general degree:

A considerable number of our students that want to stay in the Faculty are forced from Honours Computer Science to the General Mathematics program because they struggle with the math content in their first two years. Ironically, this means that they must take more math and less computer science in order to obtain their degree. They need a fallback option that matches their interests. Until our attrition rate decreases dramatically, there will be more than enough students interested in a General B.CS degree. These are talented students, as demonstrated by their acceptance into our program, and it does not make sense to simply lose these students.

Our school has problems and it's about time they acknowledged them. Very few of Natalie's friends who started in engineering are still in the Faculty and it's often joked that you start in CS then drop down to Math Biz, then to a general math degree and once you can't hack that you switch into Econ in the arts faculty and failing that just a general arts degree.
[11:58:04 AM] []