I really want to weigh in on this whole Dr. Laura situation. I know I try to stay on the pop culture side of things as opposed to the political but this one I really want to talk about. As you all know Dr. Laura, conservative talk show host previously best known for nude pictures of her leaked to the internet back in the day when everyone used dial up modems, has been at the center of controversy for repeatedly using the “n word” in talking to a caller. Given that writing “n word” is awkward and forces the reader to insert the word mentally I will make everyone’s life easier and just use “Voldemort” instead. It is a case of he who cannot be named.
After saying Voldemort eleven times in a discussion that covered both interracial marriage and who can and cannot say Voldemort she then apologized to the people she may have offended. That did not quell the controversy and as a result she announced that she would be ending her show at the end of the year when her contract runs out so that she could “regain her first amendment rights.” I put this last part in quotes because it is precisely what I wish to discuss.
No one has taken away Dr. Laura’s first amendment rights. No one stopped the broadcast from airing or immediately arrested her for saying Voldemort. I am not aware of any FCC fines pending or a cancellation of her program. She was within her first amendment rights to say what she did. However, freedom of speech does not also grant freedom from criticism. Others have the right to complain, protest and boycott Dr. Laura based on her comments. Sponsors can pull their support from the radio show if they believe that they are negatively impacting their brand by the association. That would be no different than her gaining McDonald’s as a sponsor if she went on the air saying that Shamrock Shakes are the greatest drink in the history of mankind and should be on the menu year round. Not renewing her contract, whether it is her decision or that of the broadcaster, is not a violation of the first amendment. It is a business decision, plain and simple.
Let’s take another example. Kanye West in 2005 and Glenn Beck in 2009 both called the president a racist. One of the things that makes America great is that both could say that without any fear of going to prison as a result of their statements. There are a lot of countries in the world today where you would be off to the gulag for saying that on national television. However, while they both had the right to say it, no matter how wrong they were in both instances, that does not make them immune from the resulting backlash. Kanye’s label could have dropped him or Fox could have cancelled Beck’s show because as a company they have that right. Consumers have the right to boycott the product. I very much believe in the freedom of speech but everyone needs to understand that freedom of speech also allows you the freedom to be an idiot.
Dr. Laura can move to the internet and other venues where she will feel in her words that she will have regained her first amendment rights. What she will really have done is made a business decision to work for herself instead of being an employee of a corporation. In a sense, you could consider her as being fired for costing her company money in terms of commercial revenue. Again, that is not a freedom of speech issue. That is a business decision.
What has been lost in all of this is the rather interesting question of who can say Voldemort and when. Dr. Laura tried to touch on this subject but did so quite poorly and in a manner that many people would find offensive. But there is a larger philosophical point here and one that I don’t quite know the answer to. From a cultural standpoint Voldemort has become one of the few words that is so context specific that its very mention can cause an uproar. I was watching Book TV on CSPAN2 this weekend (I know, I live such a fast paced life) and when the speaker used the word Voldemort in discussing how LBJ spoke to people about race you could hear a slight gasp in the room yet no one is protesting CSPAN2 about its use because it was done in a historical context. Meanwhile, you can have a group such as N.W.A. (which everyone knew stood for Voldemorts With Attiudes) use the word in their name or hip hop lyrics with no issue at all. But this does create a gray area where people need to tread lightly. It is and will most likely always be a racially charged word. It has a power that few words possess. It might be best if the word was simply retired.
Wednesday Night Music Club: Let’s get a bit more upbeat with De La Soul. Keep a lookout for the Randee of the Redwoods cameo.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Beloit College Mindset List: 2010
One of my favorite events every year is the release of the Beloit College Mindest List. It might possibly be the greatest thing ever to come out of Wisconsin. Once a year the school releases a list of characteristics of incoming freshmen in terms of cultural experiences to indicate a) their view of the world and b) show just how old you are.
I’ve been writing about this list for probably as long as I’ve been blogging. When I started I always would joke about how I could theoretically have a kid entering college. Which was funny given that it would have required my getting a girl pregnant in high school and just the thought of talking to a girl that I liked would make me nauseous with fear. Well, this year’s group of freshmen were born in 1992 when I was finishing my freshmen year of college. I still can’t say that I could have a kid in this class without laughing (unless having coffee with a girl has somehow been reclassified as reaching second base) but we are getting much closer. Anyway, on to the list…
Starting note: For these students, Benny Hill has always been dead.
1) Few in the class know how to write in cursive: I had the worst cursive handwriting imaginable as a kid. My parents would always complain to my teachers about my handwriting and I swear to god they were once told in reply “one day someone is going to get paid to read Chris’ handwriting.” Luckily I learned to type instead as I can’t even print neatly. That said, if anyone could tell me the purpose of cursive I would love to hear it.
2) Email is just too slow and they seldom if ever use snail mail: I’m not sure if I agree with email being too slow (though given texting it probably is to this generation.) However, in 1992 I was still writing letters to people over the summer. Honest to goodness handwritten letters to girls I met at school and were spending the summer overseas. I can guarantee you that there is not a single freshmen entering Illinois this year who will do that.
7) “Caramel macchiato” and “venti half-caf vanilla latte” have always been street corner lingo: As I mentioned, much of my college dating experience involved going out for coffee, which is a nice way of saying that I didn’t really have any college dating experience. Anyway, back then we would simply go to the independent coffee shops in Champaign and order…coffee. Maybe get fancy and order espresso. Where the hell these terms came from I have no idea.
9) Had it remained operational, the villainous computer HAL could be their college classmate this fall, but they have a better chance of running into Miley Cyrus’s folks on Parents’ Weekend: Yes, HAL was completed during my freshmen year at Illinois. I do not find that to be a coincidence.
12) Clint Eastwood is better known as a sensitive director than as Dirty Harry: I agree that your typical freshman will not get the Dirty Harry reference by I have a hard time calling Eastwood a sensitive director. I don’t think that I could call him a sensitive anything. He could read a collection of Wordsworth poetry and you would still use the word hardscrabble to describe it.
15) Colorful lapel ribbons have always been worn to indicate support for a cause: It started during award shows. Then it moved to everyday life followed by a morph into wristbands. Now there are actual battles over which color is allowed for which cause.
17) Trading Chocolate the Moose for Patti the Platypus helped build their Beanie Baby collection: A significant portion of the incoming class had parents who were banking on their Beanie Baby collection to finance their college education. Oh how wrong they were. A wonderful business case on artificial scarcity, overhyped markets and the realization of “Wait a minute, how can a stuffed animal that costs fifty cents to make be worth a hundred bucks?”
21) Woody Allen, whose heart has wanted what it wanted, has always been with Soon-Yi Previn: My god, I remember when this story broke. This was the biggest news story of the summer and everyone talked about how horrible it was that he was marrying his adopted daughter. 18 years later and they are still together and he is still making movies. Not very good movies but movies nonetheless.
27) Computers have never lacked a CD-ROM disk drive: We are probably passed the point where anyone remembers the 5 ¼ inch drives from back when floppy discs were actually floppy. It’s probably been a good five years since computers even came with true disc drives. I remember loading up my Commodore 64 using a tape drive. Man am I old.
32) Czechoslovakia has never existed: Thus making them unable to truly understand the wonder of the “Two Wild and Crazy Guys” sketch on Saturday Night Live. Also, incoming freshman cannot remember when Dan Akroyd was either a) funny or b) weighed less than 300 pounds.
39) Pizza jockeys from Domino’s have never killed themselves to get your pizza there in under 30 minutes: I grew up in lovely Berwyn, Illinois and when Domino’s started their store was on the other side of the train tracks from my house. Yes, I did literally grow up on the wrong side of the tracks. This was wonderful though since if we timed it correctly our Domino’s driver would get stuck behind a freight train for ten minutes thus resulting in a free pizza. Loved that promotion.
43) Russians and Americans have always been living together in space: Maybe not accomplish much but they have been living there. It is amazing to think that I grew up truly believing that there was going to be a nuclear Armageddon before I could legally drink and a kid entering college would not even understand that the Russians are supposed to be bad guys.
46) Nirvana is on the classic oldies station: Note to whoever wrote this list “Fuck you!” Sorry, I have never read something that has made me feel so old in my entire life.
48) Someone has always gotten married in space: I am completely lost on this one. I am a space geek and can’t recall a marriage in space. Can anyone fill me in on this one?
53) J.R. Ewing has always been dead and gone. Hasn’t he?: To be fair, I can barely recall the whole Who Shot JR storyline and Dallas hype. There really is no reason why anyone under 30 would get such a reference.
71) The nation has never approved of the job Congress is doing: And rightfully so.
I’ve been writing about this list for probably as long as I’ve been blogging. When I started I always would joke about how I could theoretically have a kid entering college. Which was funny given that it would have required my getting a girl pregnant in high school and just the thought of talking to a girl that I liked would make me nauseous with fear. Well, this year’s group of freshmen were born in 1992 when I was finishing my freshmen year of college. I still can’t say that I could have a kid in this class without laughing (unless having coffee with a girl has somehow been reclassified as reaching second base) but we are getting much closer. Anyway, on to the list…
Starting note: For these students, Benny Hill has always been dead.
1) Few in the class know how to write in cursive: I had the worst cursive handwriting imaginable as a kid. My parents would always complain to my teachers about my handwriting and I swear to god they were once told in reply “one day someone is going to get paid to read Chris’ handwriting.” Luckily I learned to type instead as I can’t even print neatly. That said, if anyone could tell me the purpose of cursive I would love to hear it.
2) Email is just too slow and they seldom if ever use snail mail: I’m not sure if I agree with email being too slow (though given texting it probably is to this generation.) However, in 1992 I was still writing letters to people over the summer. Honest to goodness handwritten letters to girls I met at school and were spending the summer overseas. I can guarantee you that there is not a single freshmen entering Illinois this year who will do that.
7) “Caramel macchiato” and “venti half-caf vanilla latte” have always been street corner lingo: As I mentioned, much of my college dating experience involved going out for coffee, which is a nice way of saying that I didn’t really have any college dating experience. Anyway, back then we would simply go to the independent coffee shops in Champaign and order…coffee. Maybe get fancy and order espresso. Where the hell these terms came from I have no idea.
9) Had it remained operational, the villainous computer HAL could be their college classmate this fall, but they have a better chance of running into Miley Cyrus’s folks on Parents’ Weekend: Yes, HAL was completed during my freshmen year at Illinois. I do not find that to be a coincidence.
12) Clint Eastwood is better known as a sensitive director than as Dirty Harry: I agree that your typical freshman will not get the Dirty Harry reference by I have a hard time calling Eastwood a sensitive director. I don’t think that I could call him a sensitive anything. He could read a collection of Wordsworth poetry and you would still use the word hardscrabble to describe it.
15) Colorful lapel ribbons have always been worn to indicate support for a cause: It started during award shows. Then it moved to everyday life followed by a morph into wristbands. Now there are actual battles over which color is allowed for which cause.
17) Trading Chocolate the Moose for Patti the Platypus helped build their Beanie Baby collection: A significant portion of the incoming class had parents who were banking on their Beanie Baby collection to finance their college education. Oh how wrong they were. A wonderful business case on artificial scarcity, overhyped markets and the realization of “Wait a minute, how can a stuffed animal that costs fifty cents to make be worth a hundred bucks?”
21) Woody Allen, whose heart has wanted what it wanted, has always been with Soon-Yi Previn: My god, I remember when this story broke. This was the biggest news story of the summer and everyone talked about how horrible it was that he was marrying his adopted daughter. 18 years later and they are still together and he is still making movies. Not very good movies but movies nonetheless.
27) Computers have never lacked a CD-ROM disk drive: We are probably passed the point where anyone remembers the 5 ¼ inch drives from back when floppy discs were actually floppy. It’s probably been a good five years since computers even came with true disc drives. I remember loading up my Commodore 64 using a tape drive. Man am I old.
32) Czechoslovakia has never existed: Thus making them unable to truly understand the wonder of the “Two Wild and Crazy Guys” sketch on Saturday Night Live. Also, incoming freshman cannot remember when Dan Akroyd was either a) funny or b) weighed less than 300 pounds.
39) Pizza jockeys from Domino’s have never killed themselves to get your pizza there in under 30 minutes: I grew up in lovely Berwyn, Illinois and when Domino’s started their store was on the other side of the train tracks from my house. Yes, I did literally grow up on the wrong side of the tracks. This was wonderful though since if we timed it correctly our Domino’s driver would get stuck behind a freight train for ten minutes thus resulting in a free pizza. Loved that promotion.
43) Russians and Americans have always been living together in space: Maybe not accomplish much but they have been living there. It is amazing to think that I grew up truly believing that there was going to be a nuclear Armageddon before I could legally drink and a kid entering college would not even understand that the Russians are supposed to be bad guys.
46) Nirvana is on the classic oldies station: Note to whoever wrote this list “Fuck you!” Sorry, I have never read something that has made me feel so old in my entire life.
48) Someone has always gotten married in space: I am completely lost on this one. I am a space geek and can’t recall a marriage in space. Can anyone fill me in on this one?
53) J.R. Ewing has always been dead and gone. Hasn’t he?: To be fair, I can barely recall the whole Who Shot JR storyline and Dallas hype. There really is no reason why anyone under 30 would get such a reference.
71) The nation has never approved of the job Congress is doing: And rightfully so.
Sunday, August 15, 2010
When worlds collide...
Here is a headline you don’t see every day: “Tila Tequila hit by onstage battering at the Gathering of the Juggalos festival in Cave-in-Rock.” In fact this is one of those classic sentences in which you know what every word means (with the possible exception of Juggalos) but in this order it makes no sense. Lucky for everyone that I am here to breakdown the sentence bit by bit, possibly even diagramming it in the manner that the nun who taught me English in fifth grade would have preferred it.
Tila Tequila: Born Tila Nguyen she initially rose to fame as one of the most popular people on MySpace. She became one of the most popular people on MySpace by a) selflessly promoting herself, b) accepting every friend request and c) continually posting pictures of herself in which she lacked clothing. Ostensibly this was done to promote her music career despite the fact that no one has ever heard any of her songs. She grew even more famous (though not actually popular) due to being the prize for two seasons of “A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila” in which straight men and lesbian women competed for her apparently bisexual interests. It’s important to note that even with this surprising setup she was easily the least interesting person on screen at all times. Best known recently for being “engaged” to Johnson and Johnson heiress Casey Johnson whose death caused her to mourn publicly on Twitter for a good 48 hours before she was photographed going to nightclubs sans undergarments.
Hit by onstage battering: While taking the stage this weekend Ms. Tequila was apparently faced with a brutal assault by crowd members who may or may not have done any of the following: 1) thrown rocks, 2) thrown “huge stone rocks” per Ms. Tequila as though there are any other type of rocks, 3) thrown beer bottles and 4) thrown lit firecrackers. Pictures do seem to indicate that she was cut by the debris thrown in her direction. Now this raises the question as to why a performer would be assaulted by the very crowd that she is performing for (and who theoretically paid to see her perform? For that we turn to…
The Gathering of the Juggalos festival: A music festival put on by the Insane Clown Posse whose fan base are referred to as Juggalos (or Juggalettes in the feminine). Best known for their wearing of clown makeup and love of Faygo soda Juggalos can best be compared to Deadheads if Deadheads would, well, wear clown makeup and love Faygo soda. As fans of horrorcore hip hop they would seem to be the absolute opposite of whatever audience Tila Tequila would be trying to reach. In fact the British bookmaker Ladbrokes had placed the odds of a riot occurring during her set at two to one and the odds that “an asteroid would strike the stage in an event that would prove even the almighty’s disapproval of Ms. Tequila’s act” at 150 to one. It is interesting to note that for several years Vanilla Ice has performed at the festival without incident and to much acclaim.
Cave In Rock: A state park in southern Illinois very near the Kentucky border that has hosted the Festival of the Juggalos for several years. I anticipate that the head of the Illinois state parks is going to have a very long Monday explaining precisely what happened and why the state is renting out its ecological landmarks to, well, a bunch of clowns.
Best of 120 Minutes: I’ve decided I’m going to start doing something different here. I am going to go back to this week in 1993 and post one video from that night’s show and do that on a weekly basis. Why 1993? Because I was turning twenty, Alternative Nation was nearing its height, and the only thing good that was happening in my life was new music Tuesday at the record store. So here is Camper Van Beethoven with “Take the Skinheads Bowling”
The five random CDs for the week:
1) Son Volt “A Retrospective: 1995 – 2000”
2) Drive By Truckers “Live from Austin, TX”
3) Coldplay “A Rush of Blood to the Head”
4) Wilco “AM”
5) Neko Case and her Boyfriends “The Virginian”
Tila Tequila: Born Tila Nguyen she initially rose to fame as one of the most popular people on MySpace. She became one of the most popular people on MySpace by a) selflessly promoting herself, b) accepting every friend request and c) continually posting pictures of herself in which she lacked clothing. Ostensibly this was done to promote her music career despite the fact that no one has ever heard any of her songs. She grew even more famous (though not actually popular) due to being the prize for two seasons of “A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila” in which straight men and lesbian women competed for her apparently bisexual interests. It’s important to note that even with this surprising setup she was easily the least interesting person on screen at all times. Best known recently for being “engaged” to Johnson and Johnson heiress Casey Johnson whose death caused her to mourn publicly on Twitter for a good 48 hours before she was photographed going to nightclubs sans undergarments.
Hit by onstage battering: While taking the stage this weekend Ms. Tequila was apparently faced with a brutal assault by crowd members who may or may not have done any of the following: 1) thrown rocks, 2) thrown “huge stone rocks” per Ms. Tequila as though there are any other type of rocks, 3) thrown beer bottles and 4) thrown lit firecrackers. Pictures do seem to indicate that she was cut by the debris thrown in her direction. Now this raises the question as to why a performer would be assaulted by the very crowd that she is performing for (and who theoretically paid to see her perform? For that we turn to…
The Gathering of the Juggalos festival: A music festival put on by the Insane Clown Posse whose fan base are referred to as Juggalos (or Juggalettes in the feminine). Best known for their wearing of clown makeup and love of Faygo soda Juggalos can best be compared to Deadheads if Deadheads would, well, wear clown makeup and love Faygo soda. As fans of horrorcore hip hop they would seem to be the absolute opposite of whatever audience Tila Tequila would be trying to reach. In fact the British bookmaker Ladbrokes had placed the odds of a riot occurring during her set at two to one and the odds that “an asteroid would strike the stage in an event that would prove even the almighty’s disapproval of Ms. Tequila’s act” at 150 to one. It is interesting to note that for several years Vanilla Ice has performed at the festival without incident and to much acclaim.
Cave In Rock: A state park in southern Illinois very near the Kentucky border that has hosted the Festival of the Juggalos for several years. I anticipate that the head of the Illinois state parks is going to have a very long Monday explaining precisely what happened and why the state is renting out its ecological landmarks to, well, a bunch of clowns.
Best of 120 Minutes: I’ve decided I’m going to start doing something different here. I am going to go back to this week in 1993 and post one video from that night’s show and do that on a weekly basis. Why 1993? Because I was turning twenty, Alternative Nation was nearing its height, and the only thing good that was happening in my life was new music Tuesday at the record store. So here is Camper Van Beethoven with “Take the Skinheads Bowling”
The five random CDs for the week:
1) Son Volt “A Retrospective: 1995 – 2000”
2) Drive By Truckers “Live from Austin, TX”
3) Coldplay “A Rush of Blood to the Head”
4) Wilco “AM”
5) Neko Case and her Boyfriends “The Virginian”
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Choose Your Major
As a service to all incoming college freshmen, who I know are just big fans of the blog, I decided to take a look at the best and worst paying college majors. Ok, Yahoo looked into it and I’m just copying it to my blog. Anyway, it is fascinating to see what you should major in if you want to make a good living upon graduation or, alternately, have a lot of fun in college and live in your parents’ basement until you are 27.
Here are the worst paying majors (with average starting salary):
1) Child and Family Studies: $29.5K
2) Elementary Education: $31.6K
3) Social Work: $31.8K
4) Athletic Training: $32.8K
5) Culinary Arts: $35.9K
6) Horticulture: $35K
7) Paralegal Studies/Law: $35.1K
8) Theology: $34.7K
9) Recreation and Leisure: $33.3K
10) Special Education: $36K
First off I have never even been aware of horticulture as a major. Isn’t that a fancy term for flower arranging? Is this the major for basket weavers? Also, I am assuming that the paralegal studies refers to paralegals and not people who actual go on to become lawyers as that should be much higher paying. Beyond those you can really classify these into three main categories: 1) working with children (child studies, elementary education and special education), 2) noble causes (social work, theology) and 3) guys who will be working at 24 hour fitness (athletic training, recreation and leisure).
Now it doesn’t surprise me that these are low paying careers. The working with children ones should probably be paid more due to the importance but suffer from the fact that a lot of people like kids so there is demand for these jobs. (Also, these jobs have historically been low paying or one of the few options for women to work so there is a lot of unneeded historical pressure on low salaries.) The noble causes pay little because theoretically you are not doing those jobs for financial benefit. That and being a good person really doesn’t pay well in the whole scheme of things. Finally, hanging out in a gym explaining how to properly perform a lunge while showing off your six pack abs isn’t a career worth pursuing no matter what those kids on the Jersey Shore say.
Here are the best paying majors:
1) Petroleum Engineering: $93K
2) Aerospace Engineering: $59.4K
3) Chemical Engineering: $64.8K
4) Electrical Engineering: $60.8K
5) Nuclear Engineering: $63.9K
6) Applied Mathematics: $56.4K
7) Biomedical Engineering: $54.8K
8) Physics: $50.7K
9) Computer Engineering: $61.2K
10) Economics: $48.8K
As a point of reference when I graduated with my electrical engineering degree in 1995 my starting salary was $36K, which basically put me at the median of my class at Illinois. That will also tell you what the inflation rate has been over the past fifteen years.
So what does this list teach us? Learn math if you want to make money. Seven engineering majors, one math, one physics and one business. At Illinois, eight of these majors would be housed on the Engineering campus with the ninth being directly across the street. Based on my knowledge of these majors I can’t even quibble about the pay though I have to explain a few things.
First off, there are very few petroleum engineers and they make good money because you typically end up living in oil fields or on deep sea rigs. I’ve never met one in my life. Aerospace pays if and only if you can actually find jobs, which are historically hard to come by especially now that NASA had their budget cut to basically nil (thank you Mr. Obama for getting rid of our manned space program.) Chem Es were always considered the highest paid while EEs had the toughest major. We EEs took that as a point of pride making us quite possibly the only major that required a masochistic streak in order to be successful. But basically this list just proves what I have always said: if you are good at math and science you can go on to make good money right out of school.
Just remember that none of these majors are easy (well, except for maybe economics.) You tend to have to work your butt off in them. They also might not be as personally rewarding on an intrinsic level as being a teacher or demonstrating a proper squat technique. I have never felt that I have moved closer to a state of grace due to the drawing of a circuit diagram. That is the trade off you make when your goal is a top salary. Your mileage may vary.
Here are the worst paying majors (with average starting salary):
1) Child and Family Studies: $29.5K
2) Elementary Education: $31.6K
3) Social Work: $31.8K
4) Athletic Training: $32.8K
5) Culinary Arts: $35.9K
6) Horticulture: $35K
7) Paralegal Studies/Law: $35.1K
8) Theology: $34.7K
9) Recreation and Leisure: $33.3K
10) Special Education: $36K
First off I have never even been aware of horticulture as a major. Isn’t that a fancy term for flower arranging? Is this the major for basket weavers? Also, I am assuming that the paralegal studies refers to paralegals and not people who actual go on to become lawyers as that should be much higher paying. Beyond those you can really classify these into three main categories: 1) working with children (child studies, elementary education and special education), 2) noble causes (social work, theology) and 3) guys who will be working at 24 hour fitness (athletic training, recreation and leisure).
Now it doesn’t surprise me that these are low paying careers. The working with children ones should probably be paid more due to the importance but suffer from the fact that a lot of people like kids so there is demand for these jobs. (Also, these jobs have historically been low paying or one of the few options for women to work so there is a lot of unneeded historical pressure on low salaries.) The noble causes pay little because theoretically you are not doing those jobs for financial benefit. That and being a good person really doesn’t pay well in the whole scheme of things. Finally, hanging out in a gym explaining how to properly perform a lunge while showing off your six pack abs isn’t a career worth pursuing no matter what those kids on the Jersey Shore say.
Here are the best paying majors:
1) Petroleum Engineering: $93K
2) Aerospace Engineering: $59.4K
3) Chemical Engineering: $64.8K
4) Electrical Engineering: $60.8K
5) Nuclear Engineering: $63.9K
6) Applied Mathematics: $56.4K
7) Biomedical Engineering: $54.8K
8) Physics: $50.7K
9) Computer Engineering: $61.2K
10) Economics: $48.8K
As a point of reference when I graduated with my electrical engineering degree in 1995 my starting salary was $36K, which basically put me at the median of my class at Illinois. That will also tell you what the inflation rate has been over the past fifteen years.
So what does this list teach us? Learn math if you want to make money. Seven engineering majors, one math, one physics and one business. At Illinois, eight of these majors would be housed on the Engineering campus with the ninth being directly across the street. Based on my knowledge of these majors I can’t even quibble about the pay though I have to explain a few things.
First off, there are very few petroleum engineers and they make good money because you typically end up living in oil fields or on deep sea rigs. I’ve never met one in my life. Aerospace pays if and only if you can actually find jobs, which are historically hard to come by especially now that NASA had their budget cut to basically nil (thank you Mr. Obama for getting rid of our manned space program.) Chem Es were always considered the highest paid while EEs had the toughest major. We EEs took that as a point of pride making us quite possibly the only major that required a masochistic streak in order to be successful. But basically this list just proves what I have always said: if you are good at math and science you can go on to make good money right out of school.
Just remember that none of these majors are easy (well, except for maybe economics.) You tend to have to work your butt off in them. They also might not be as personally rewarding on an intrinsic level as being a teacher or demonstrating a proper squat technique. I have never felt that I have moved closer to a state of grace due to the drawing of a circuit diagram. That is the trade off you make when your goal is a top salary. Your mileage may vary.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
JetBlue to the Rescue
And I’m back after a two week break. Probably my longest break from writing for a while. Back when this was just a writer’s journal and not a public blog there were times when I would go months without writing. The blog has been good in forcing me to keep a regular habit. Now I just have to get back into the habit. Luckily I won’t be traveling quite as much (or with such horrible hours) as I’ve been so hopefully I can get back into the swing of things. And speaking about travel….
So the big story right now is about the JetBlue Flight Attendant (or as I like to call them “male stewardess”) freaked out on a flight, swore at the passengers over the intercom, grabbed a couple of beers and escaped the plane by utilizing the emergency slide. While I have to give the guy a thousand points for style I have issues with him and the passenger who started this. As someone who now spends much too much of his time in planes and airports I figured that I need to give my take on the story.
First off, the passenger who started this was an idiot who deserves some sort of punishment. Basically, this was a case where the plane had landed but had not reached the gate and the guy was out of his seat, opening the overhead bin and doing all of those things that you are specifically told not to do. The flight attendant goes to stop him and gets a carryon bag slamming on his head for his trouble. As someone who has had that happen to me on a flight I have to say that it hurts like hell. My bigger issue is that as anyone who flies knows that it really doesn’t matter when you get up. The amount of time that you can save is maybe a minute or two at the most. So the guy acted like a prick for no reason other than to do so. Guy deserved to be sworn at for that alone.
Now did Steven Slater, our slightly demented flight attendant, make a good choice in opening the emergency slide? In a word, hell no. Here is what his action caused: 1) Delayed the people on the plane from getting off the plane as it must be weird to move the plane with the slide extended, 2) risked injuring or killing ground personnel who had no idea what was going on, 3) took that plane out of service as they had to repack the slide and test it for safety, 4) delayed every single person who was supposed to be on the next leg of that flight and 5) broke a ton of federal laws. So what he gained in style points he will lose as part of his jail time.
Look, flying sucks. The seats aren’t comfortable, we’re packed in tight and I had to spend fifty bucks this weekend just so I could check a bag back and forth. But the entire process gets me from point A to point B safely though occasionally I have to take a side trip to point E which always seems to be somewhere in Nebraska. For the most part I can just put on my headphones, read my Kindle, and ignore everything. It is the best way to fly.
Wednesday Night Music Club: Wonders of the internet. I can find a 1996 video by Suzanne Vega I remember watching on VH1 the last time they actually showed videos. Oh what a world we used to have.
So the big story right now is about the JetBlue Flight Attendant (or as I like to call them “male stewardess”) freaked out on a flight, swore at the passengers over the intercom, grabbed a couple of beers and escaped the plane by utilizing the emergency slide. While I have to give the guy a thousand points for style I have issues with him and the passenger who started this. As someone who now spends much too much of his time in planes and airports I figured that I need to give my take on the story.
First off, the passenger who started this was an idiot who deserves some sort of punishment. Basically, this was a case where the plane had landed but had not reached the gate and the guy was out of his seat, opening the overhead bin and doing all of those things that you are specifically told not to do. The flight attendant goes to stop him and gets a carryon bag slamming on his head for his trouble. As someone who has had that happen to me on a flight I have to say that it hurts like hell. My bigger issue is that as anyone who flies knows that it really doesn’t matter when you get up. The amount of time that you can save is maybe a minute or two at the most. So the guy acted like a prick for no reason other than to do so. Guy deserved to be sworn at for that alone.
Now did Steven Slater, our slightly demented flight attendant, make a good choice in opening the emergency slide? In a word, hell no. Here is what his action caused: 1) Delayed the people on the plane from getting off the plane as it must be weird to move the plane with the slide extended, 2) risked injuring or killing ground personnel who had no idea what was going on, 3) took that plane out of service as they had to repack the slide and test it for safety, 4) delayed every single person who was supposed to be on the next leg of that flight and 5) broke a ton of federal laws. So what he gained in style points he will lose as part of his jail time.
Look, flying sucks. The seats aren’t comfortable, we’re packed in tight and I had to spend fifty bucks this weekend just so I could check a bag back and forth. But the entire process gets me from point A to point B safely though occasionally I have to take a side trip to point E which always seems to be somewhere in Nebraska. For the most part I can just put on my headphones, read my Kindle, and ignore everything. It is the best way to fly.
Wednesday Night Music Club: Wonders of the internet. I can find a 1996 video by Suzanne Vega I remember watching on VH1 the last time they actually showed videos. Oh what a world we used to have.
Monday, August 02, 2010
Quick note...
In honor of Lindsay Lohan's release from prison the blog is going to take a week off to celebrate. However, I'd like to note that given that Lindsay is now in rehab for what is apparently a meth addicition I am now really beginning to wonder why she didn't take me up on my offer to move to Kansas City. Maybe I should have made it Independence. We were so close to giving the bistate region its biggest celebrity ever.
Anyway, barring a major news story I'll be back next week with hopefully a resumed five day a week schedule. Until then let's have some Arcade Fire
Anyway, barring a major news story I'll be back next week with hopefully a resumed five day a week schedule. Until then let's have some Arcade Fire
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