699 karma · joined October 22, 2013
I also like looking forward to the next episode, which doesn't really happen when you can watch that next episode immediately (and self imposed waiting doesn't feel the same).
Am I the only one who likes shows being made available once a week, rather than all at once?
In this announcement Stanford clearly says that the no parental contribution level is 65,000, raised from 60,000 and now equivalent to Harvard/Princeton.
It's much easier to take your phone, open an app, and scan a QR code, than to take out your credit card, transcribe a 16 digit number, check the expiration date, and enter the CSC (or is it CVC?).
Sure, for websites where your information is already saved, or if you leave all your credit card information saved in the browser, then this isn't easier, but they're still pretty comparable in my opinion. Even if it was slightly more work (which I personally disagree with), I would find that worth not having my credit card information saved by who knows how many third parties.
> It's not good that I can't demand a return or have recourse in the event of fraud.
I've never had to go to my credit card company for a refund, since most places I buy from will take refunds with a receipt or proof of purchase (and if they don't, why would I buy from them?). Fraudulent purchases are another issue, but the risk of fraud is lower with bitcoin versus credit cards (no single number that allows access to all funds, a properly secured wallet is impossible to steal, although I know wallet security is still not the easiest thing to have).
> And it's not a benefit that with bitcoin I have to spend the money first (to buy bitcoin) and wonder if it will hold its value, versus just buying stuff when I feel like it on credit and covering the transaction within 30 days at no interest cost.
This is a very real problem, and what I think will truly determine whether bitcoin gains anything near a large following.
To guarantee a transaction goes through you have to wait for it to be confirmed, but most transactions really aren't that important/high risk, so beyond checking that the address does actually have the money, it's instantaneous. Many payment processors (I know Bitpay has this option) actually take the 0 confirmation transaction risk, allowing customers to pay instantly.
Transaction fees are not high, with a typical fee of .0001 bitcoin (3 cents), which is small compared to credit card fees. While work needs to be done converting to/from cash, actually using bitcoin (that you already have) to buy things is a better experience than using credit cards. You simply grab your phone, scan the QR code, and hit send. This is much better than entering your credit card for the thousandth time on another website, or being redirected to paypal, entering your password, and choosing your preferred payment option for the thousandth time (stop asking me to use Paypal Credit!).
Using an Android wallet such as Mycelium, or a desktop wallet like Electrum doesn't require you to download the entire blockchain, and although that comes at the cost of some trust, I personally don't find that problematic.
Basically, bitcoin has some problems, but I think some of your criticisms are no longer applicable to most everyday usage of it.
That being said, he does owe his students the chance to at least look at the culmination of their semester's work. I know at my university, professors are obligated to have exams available for at least a year past the date they were taken! Maybe if allowing students to look at their exams would truly take an additional 75 hours of his time as claimed, he'd have a stronger case, but that's simply not true. If the student was requesting him to explain why a problem was wrong, or engage with this exam in anyway, I'd be completely in agreement. Hell, he could just put them all in a box outside his door, or maybe leave them with the departmental secretary (this happens all the time), or come up with some sort of solution.
His broader point still stands, but this is absolutely part of the responsibilities of a teacher, and I can't get behind this guy making a point at the expense of his students.
While the contract teaching situation seems pretty bad, this guy seems unreasonable here.
I found this a very unfair judgement made by the author. Giving Mike the benefit of the doubt, I get the sense that he cares about her, and wants to stop the root cause of her suffering, not that her crying made him uncomfortable because he "cannot process" it. The author seems to be trying to play up the rational side of Mike and his engineer's mind at the expense of his emotions.