8/20    Say I want to score well in GRE test (just general test) and have some
        time to study.  Should I consider enrolling in one of those Kaplan
        courses? (either classroom or web based)?
        \_ Get the Kaplan CD.
        \_ computer practice exam is good.
        \_ It depends how well you do on these tests already and what score
           you'll need for your target school.  If you want a top notch
           school with a 99th percentile rank, it is extremely unlikely you'll
           get that sort of score without the in person class and taking and
           retaking the zillions of tests on file in the Kaplan library.  If
           you just want to get into any random second tier school, buy the
           CD for some practice.  Third tier?  Spend the CD money on beer
           the night before the test.
           \_ I think the key thing the op is looking for is FULFILLMENT.
              I thought the exact same way you did. I graduated in the
              mid 90s and joined the dot-com crowd with my friends. I
              did ok, but I didn't feel fulfilled. It was fun writing
              code, designing apps, writing backends, and the pay and
              stock options were awsome but I really didn't feel like
              I made a difference in people's lives. I worked for 6 years
              in the industry, started as QA->code monkey->project lead
              and even did 6 months as a PM. I think it all depends on
              the attitude and what your goals and priorities in life are.
              Most of my friends just wanted to make big money and
              retire, and two did exactly that. Many are now 30s, have
              kids, have a house, and have a big ass mortgage to pay.
              There is one I know who is depressed because of his
              sense of feeling "stuck." There were obviously a few
              who went back to law school and one even did a joint
              law/MBA (he is a 3.98 Cal guy), and took up jobs
              that they thought more more suitable to their needs. When
              I talk to them, yes, they were glad to give up a few years
              of their lives to attain something they could never get
              anywhere else. What that 'something' is, depends on who
              you are and what makes you happy.
           \_ Bullshit.  I got only ok scores when I took a practice test,
              used the Kaplan CD to study for a couple months, then took the
              real thing and got excellent scores, and got into a 1st tier
              school.  The class may be useful if you have no self-discipline
              and can't motivate yourself to study every night on your own, but
              if that's the case grad school is a bad idea anyway.
              \_ Yes, my general advice is BS next to your personal anecdote.
                 Congratulations on getting into grad school despite using a
                 lesser study method.
           \_ [idiotic response self-censored by poster]
           \_ Depends on who you are I guess. I got a 99% with no study.
        \_ I taught Princeton Review(TPR), and I took the test on my own
           before that and scored excellently.  A couple comments: 1) Figure
           out where you're at, and where you want to be, then decide.
           2) TPR, and to a lesser extent, Kaplan, _will_ raise your score
           with the work put in correctly.  3) working from home will also
           raise your score.  4) The former is likely to be more effective,
           if your score needs a lot of raising _and_ you put in the full
           amount of time(and more) that the course guidelines suggest.
           5) Raising your score on these is all about prep work and practice,
           contrary to the definition of aptitude tests. oh, and 6) TPR is
           definitely better than Kaplan.  I started Kaplan training, too.
           There's an immense difference.  Also, within TPR, there's an
           immense difference among their teachers.  Talk to the TPR center
           and see if you can find their best(star) teacher to take the
           course from if you decide to do it.
           \_ I'd recommend Princeton Review any day over Kaplan.  I used
              to work for Kaplan, and they are an evil company.  All they
              care about is profit, and their products suffer because of
              it.
              \_ Does TPR have some sort of self-study equivalent to their
                 classroom courses (i.e. not just a study book?)  I'd like to
                 take the GMAT in a bit, but am unlikely to find a good
                 classroom review course where I'm at next year.  -John
                 \_ http://csua.org/u/d40
                    they have online classes.  I can't vouch for them, though
                    I'd still personally go for them over Kaplan based on
                    my experience with Kaplan.   -sax
           \_ Are there any evaluation tests that can estimate how well
              one would do on GMAT?  I bought this GMAT book and tried
              2 sample tests.  Out of the 7 sections of the tests, I
              get like 1-2 wrongs on some sections, and 4-5 on others.
              Each section has around 21 questions.  The book's
              analysis rated me as good on some sections, and
              excellent on others, but that doesn't really mean
              anything to me.

8/20    Does anyone have a clue where I can find info on statistics/numbers
        and demographics of big Korean/Asian MMORPGs like Lineage, etc.?  This
        is for a colleague's research project.  -John
        \_ I'll ask my sister when I get the chance -- she did her dissertation
           on this general topic, so she might be able to give some info. -mice
        \_ ah yes, "research" *wink*
           \_ Actually it's a marketing thing for stuff that might actually be
              *useful* for people playing 24/7 in internet cafes (my
              suggestion) but said colleague didn't have the slightest clue on
              where to start.  I mainly play Forgotten Hope, as my knowledge
              of Korean is somewhat limited.  Thanks mice!  -John

8/20    http://csua.org/u/d3n
        Freedom is on the march!
        "I don't see any difference between Saddam and the way the
        Kurds are running things here,"
        \_ I bet Jalal Talabani doesn't look nearly as snazzy in a fedora,
           firing a carbine into the air while adoring Kurdish children dance
           Kurdish folk dances around him.  -John
        \_ don't you get it?  as long as they are on our side, we don't
           really give them a shit.  example.  Saddam
                \_ Yup, and the same is true for the Chinese, Europeans,
                   Indians, Russians, etc. -- one more reason why the world
                   is filled with corrupt thugs running countries.  It's
                   only bad if a corrupt thug isn't *your* corrupt thug.

8/20    Someone sent me the following: http://www.ame78.com/live.php
        Now I REALLY want to learn how to read Chinese characters.
        How do I get started? I'm not in school by the way.
        \_ "Fun with Chinese Characters" is a great book for learning what
           Chinese characters are all about.  Great pictures, lots of
           explanations, and the etymologies make it much easier to start
           memorizing characters than if you plunge in to some textbook from
           scratch.  Amazon has it.
        \_ http://www.google.com/language_tools?hl=en
        \_ Some of those are Japanese models.
        \_ Somewhat NSFW
        \_ Huh?  What kind of site is this?  I didn't investigate as I am
           at work, but I didn't see anything that would make me want to
           study chinese characters.  Maybe speak chinese?

8/20    http://www.scienceblog.com/light.html
        Ok can some physics person explain this:
        "the light signal travelled faster than 300 million meters a
        second. And even though this seems to violate all sorts of cherished
        physical assumptions, Einstein needn't move over -- relativity isn't
        called into question, because only a portion of the signal is affected"
        \_ Speed is length traveled over time taken.  The trouble is, length
           traveled of a set of particles isn't a precise interval, but a
           'smear' due to quantum effects.  So some particles traveled a little
           more and some a little less.  If the length traveled is very short,
           these sorts of 'smear' effects become significant.  Actually, the
           way I understand it, the particles that finish 'a little after the
           finish line' also started 'a little after the start line', except
           we had no measurements of this.  So each particle is still traveling
           at c.  But this is a 'sane interpretation' where things have
           positions. -- ilyas