It started with MySpace’s spam overload and subsequent downfall. Now we have Google Plus, whose main goal is getting our demographic info to improve their search engine, and Facebook, who’s recent “shady” IPO will surely be followed by massive lawsuits. With all this nonsense going on, it seems we can’t really trust the e-worlds we live in anymore. Personally, I deleted my Facebook and started hanging out with actual people again.
At least we still have the professional, rock solid LinkedIn to fall back on, right? Wait…all their passwords just got hacked?? and they store your private information without authorization!??
So while MySpace is already dead, Facebook is floundering, and Google Plus is underused, LinkedIn has recently taken a couple of huge, brand-damaging shots. But can we still trust them?
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Mershon and Brandon
Part two of the field trip began at New York Pizza Depot. If you missed Part 1, start here.
Deb arranged pizza to be ready for us when we arrived, and Brandon met us for lunch. Brandon (U of M Physics faculty) has met the students on three previous occasions; once on the last field trip to AA, and twice at Tech Club in Detroit this past semester. He caught up with the students while we ate and let them know we would be heading to Angell Hall for a lesson on financial aid.
We walked over to Angell Hall to meet our presenter for part 2, Mershon Dye. She is a friend of Brandon’s that works in the U of M financial aid office. Mershon began with a lesson about creating a monthly budget. She passed out profile sheets giving each student a Job Title, Salary, Marital Status, Family Size, etc. The profile sheet had a running bank account ledger with monthly income already filled in as a credit. The first step was adding in their spouse’s income and subtracting taxes and insurance. Next, they were instructed to decide what else they would be spending the rest of their money on.
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Henry using a pipette to experiment with mouse DNA.
Yesterday, we brought the students from Cody out to Ann Arbor for a visit to the University of Michigan. Deb Berman (Customer Experience Manager at DE) lined up an action packed day for the kids where they would get to meet up with a familiar face, Brandon Lucas, and make some new friends as well.
We started at Dr. Shannon Davis’ lab for a hands-on lesson on genetics. Dr. Davis works with mice to isolate and identify genes that cause developmental deformities. His studies can then be used to help recognize and prevent those same deformities in humans.
The kids started out in the lab. They learned to use pipettes to measure precise amounts of liquid down to the micro liter. Then they each got to “pipette” small amounts of mouse DNA into a gel solution for an experiment. After each “well” was filled with DNA, the container was closed and an electric current was run through the gel. Dr. Davis explained how the current would pull the DNA a certain distance through the gel depending on which dominant and recessive genes were present. The goal was to identify the gene for dwarfism.
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How changes in piracy policies might affect how you use the web.
It seems like just yesterday SOPA and PIPA were threatening to end the internet as we know it. General public outrage seems to have squashed those bills and they are currently dead in the water. But that doesn’t mean the Internet isn’t destined to change. An international pact called ACTA is still pending in the U.S. and could be more restrictive than the two aforementioned bills.
But did you know that an alternative to those bills, The Copyright Alert System, is already in place?
As a country, our main “product” is information, and the “Wild West” days of free information are nearly over. The proposed SOPA, PIPA, and ACTA are the equivalent of military police. The new “Copyright Alert System” is more like an elementary school principal. The main difference is this new system is bypassing the Government all together.
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There’s only a year-and-a-half left until we have to say Good-Bye to Windows XP for good. Are you ready?
For many businesses, upgrades are on the horizon– whether they like it or not. Microsoft plans to discontinue support for Windows XP (and Office 2003) in 2014.
Why are we bothering to tell you this now? Planning is in order. Many businesses are still running Windows XP. In many cases, other software they use is also outdated and not compatible with Windows 7. Now, they’re faced with upgrading not only Windows and Office, but also their CRM, other expensive applications, and even the physical computers as well.
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One person runs on a treadmill for an hour while another runs down the street for an hour. At the end of that hour, both are dripping sweat, but the first runner is standing in the exact spot he started. The second runner made it all the way to the market.
This example is the difference between Activity and Productivity.
A lot of us work hard and get sweaty at work, but at the end of the day, we are standing in the same spot we were at 8am—no closer to our goals.
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