Sometime last Spring I remember reading that guidance counselors are now often recommending students take a year off between High School and College.

What's the advantages/disadvantages of this new approach?

Bradbury tie-in: "School interfered with my education."

Actually, I've heard recommendations to try different jobs during a year or two off; then go to college to develop the skills needed for that job in which one seemed to find the most fulfillment.

Naa. I'd take college off altogether and send you in my place. Hey, the working years as well. Party under the Northern Lights for a few months, the Carribean Sun the next few, then maybe Hawaii, Costa Rica, Prague all the while BralingII is slaving away.

I only mentioned that as what someone has recommended - not my own preference.
Of course, being independently wealthy may be the best option of all. Bertie Wooster comes to mind.

Mine was a MARIONETTES INC. reference.

The reason I bring this subject up is because I have two kids and I intend to send them to college. I know there's at least three teachers on this site and I was hoping for some feedback from them or anybody else with an opinion on the matter.

The article I read said "a year off" as in no work, no school, just kickin back or traveling.

[This message has been edited by grasstains (edited 10-26-2004).]

I took a year off "after" my first two in college. Travelled extensively throughout the West. I had worked while in hs and even as I attended college. I was also into sports, etc. I saved some money, unattached, and owned my '67 red Cutlass (wow). For me, it was time for a break. I knew I would finish my education, and I did when I returned the next year.

Greatest experience of my youth. I do not hesitate to mention this as an option when talking to kids who really aren't sure. It beats running up a mega-tuition bill only to drop out after several months!

Since then, I have flown twice to Ca. and travelled N. and S., but the trip by car is the way to capture the character of this vast country. Great people and amazing landscapes!

Ironic topic - as we have just started to discuss a return to West Coast as a very possible summer excursion. Summers in Europe and Mexico a while ago, yet it seems it is time to revisit the mountains' purple majesty while schedules have all of us on the same page.

Today education is a necessity whether in tech, liberal arts, science, trades, business, etc. On line degrees are also viable options and becoming more accepted.
The individual who waits for opportunity to knock may soon come to realize it is only the landlord serving the eviction papers.
(Unless the Powerball #'s come in!)




[This message has been edited by fjpalumbo (edited 10-27-2004).]

grasstains,
Sorry I missed the reference!
Sometimes get forgetful lying in that box in the cellar...

I've often wondered if Braling II would have been as found of the real Nettie as he was of Nettie II, or if maybe the real Nettie would have fallen in love with Braling II. I mean, imagine the "stamina" the guy would have had.

And...At what point, if ever, did Braling II recognize Nettie as being Nettie II?

That's what I love about short stories. They often leave the reader to come to his/her own conclusions, or fill in the gaps.



[This message has been edited by grasstains (edited 10-27-2004).]

They think Titan may have some sort of "life" on it.

========================================================================
Updated: 01:02 PM EDT
Cassini Evidence Shows Saturn Moon Alive
By JOHN ANTCZAK, AP


PASADENA, Calif. (Oct. 29) - The Cassini spacecraft is sending back evidence that Saturn's planet-size moon Titan is geologically alive, possibly with liquids moving on its surface, scientists said Thursday.

Images made from radar beams bounced off Titan during Cassini's close flyby this week revealed such surface details as a round basin, narrow miles-long linear "streaks," and a cat-shaped region of what could be the moon's theorized lakes of liquid methane and ethane.

Scientists had been reluctant to draw conclusions about surface features from pictures taken through Titan's hazy atmosphere. But they sounded more confident after radar data arrived late Wednesday and was processed into images depicting terrain in shades of black and white.

"We are seeing much higher resolution here ... and we are seeing detailed features," said Charles Elachi, JPL's director and team leader for Cassini's radar instrument, which imaged a swath of Titan about 75 miles wide and 1,240 miles long.

Elachi said there was "high confidence" in the evidence of geologic activity, noting the long linear features as an example.

The possible region of lakes was depicted as very dark, which in radar data is a characteristic of a signal bouncing off a very smooth surface like a liquid. The region was named "Si-Si the Cat," after a scientist's young daughter who noticed it resembled a "Halloween cat," Elachi said.

Cassini reached Saturn this summer on a $3.3 billion international mission to study the planet's system for four years.

Unlike the airless moons and space rocks that NASA can photograph with startling clarity, Titan, hundreds of millions of miles from Earth, has long stymied scientists because its surface is shrouded by a thick atmosphere of nitrogen and methane.

That has forced scientists to create theories about the surface from observations of the hydrocarbon-laced atmosphere. Scientists believe seas or lakes of methane could form as organic compounds fall out of the atmosphere and collect on the surface.

Imaging team member Alfred McEwen of the University of Arizona presented information from optical pictures taken during Cassini's dash past Titan showing streaks in the atmosphere over the north polar region and east-to-west streaks on the surface.

The surface streaks are believed to be from movement of material, and given their consistency over a large scale, wind is believed to be the primary cause, McEwen said.

"What Cassini has shown us this week ... (is that) Titan is an extremely dynamic and active place, not simply in its atmosphere but on its surface as well," said Jonathan Lunine, an interdisciplinary scientist.


10/29/04 08:30 EDT

Copyright 2004 The Associated Press.
======================================================================
(What the hell is an "interdisciplinary scientist"?)

Grassstains: Yea, this is very interesting to watch. A friend of mine was getting a PhD in Interplanetary Geology at Cal Tech at the time the images from the Jupiter probes were coming in. We went to the JPL offices overnight and he showed me these images as they came in and explained what they all meant. It was fascinating. I've been reading some of the articles on this, also; and it is fascinating stuff. Thanks for posting it.

I've been waiting for this for a long time. When Cassini probeb Saturn's rings I thought that was pretty cool and at that time it also made a casual pass of Titan, but it was this more thorough and closer analysis of the moon that I've been eagerly anticipating.

Several years from now NASA has a mission scheduled to actually LAND on Titan. I wonder what they'll call that rover. MARS ROVER and MOON ROVER sound good, but TITAN ROVER just doesn't do anything for me.

Mr.Dark,

I just found one of the earliest works of SF ever written. It's Cyrano de Bergerac's old novel THE OTHER WORLD. Yes, that guy with the big nose and the sword. He also did some writing. I never thought I'd have the opportunity to read it, but now I do. We all do. It's been translated into english and posted on the internet. It's worth a looksy. Here it is.


http://www.bewilderingstories.com/special/tow.html



[This message has been edited by grasstains (edited 10-31-2004).]

Check out Micromegas by Voltaire as well. Splendid sf, and written earlier (I think) than Cyrano's.
Cheers, Translator

Okay, I goofed. It's Cassini which will drop a rover to probe the surface of Titan. The rover is called Hyugens and will be deployed in a matter of months not years. Here's the site with details of the mission.
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.cfm

Translator,

I've heard about the Voltaire novel. I wonder if it's available online?

I see that old Cyrano had a fine sense of humor from the few pages I've read.