What is a "real" education worth?

Patrice Lewis has a post up questioning the value of a "real" college education.  I won't paraphrase what she said, you can go read it over there when you want to.

As part of her post, she links to Survival Blog, where they write that becoming self sufficient is better than going to college.

Here's my take (and you just knew I had a take on it):  Excepting the hard sciences such as math and engineering, I would rather hire someone with an honorable discharge from the military rather than someone with a four-year degree.

Now, obviously I'm somewhat biased, and I'll admit to that.  However, I'll point out that I've seen more than my share of people with an Honorable Discharge who still couldn't pour piss out of a boot if you printed instructions on the heel.  It's just that the ratio of worthless morons grows exponentially when you start looking at people with fancy sheepskins hanging on their wall.

What does a four (or five!) year degree mean these days?  Most likely, it means that you can successfully regurgitate all the hard-Left shibboleths on command, and have most likely been indoctrinated into some of the most toxic, anti-American thinking you can find in this country.

What does an Honorable Discharge mean?  Most likely it means that you can work in a team, can both give and receive orders and follow them out, and kept your nose clean and out of trouble for a goodly number of years.

"B-b-b-but, DAAAAVE!  What schooling does that military guy have that can help you in your business, huh?  Just what does he KNOW?!?!"

Hell, what schooling does that college graduate have that will help me with my business?  Tell me just what some Film Studies major can do for me?  Oh, you have a degree in English?  That's wonderful, exactly how are you going to help me sell food or plan my business?

Don't even get me started on "Wymens Studies".  I think that any college that offers a gender-based degree needs to be shut down for Grand Larceny.

And if you truly do want an education, in this day and age of online schooling you can get a degree at just about any time.  Hell, I'm getting my degree right now, and it's been years since I stepped foot into a traditional classroom.  And I will not pay to set foot in a traditional classroom in any case, as I don't wish to be exposed to far-Left propaganda disguised as education.  I don't have that problem with my online school.

Now keep in mind that when it comes to things like designing and building bridges or skyscrapers, or heavy manufacturing, or being a doctor, you obviously need schooling.  I got it.  There are some degrees that are required for certain jobs.

But check out the ratios of hard science degrees to liberal arts degrees.  And let's be blunt; I'm not going to be hiring a doctor or an engineer to help me with my business.

So.....  what's a "real" education worth to you?

Got a bike

The Ragin' Mrs. already had one; she uses it for going shopping, tooling around the neighborhood, etc.  Me, I haven't had a bike for almost a decade now.

Fixed that today.  Got pretty much a hybrid of a mountain/road bike.  Rides nice and I can get up to some pretty decent speed on it.  I'm going to start riding it to work, try to save some money on this too-damn expensive gasoline we got right here.

Fantasies

I just spent a goodly amount of time and two cans of spray-paint covering up graffiti that was left on my wall by one of Los Angeles' junior criminals.

I have actual fantasies about catching these parasitic shitstains in the act, and beating them so fucking hard that they have to wear diapers and helmets for the rest of their miserable lives.  I want to break them in half and shit in their mouth before throwing them into the road and letting traffic run over their broken bodies all day long.

Worthless, gutless, pathetic, parasitic, criminal maggots.  And I would bet my entire paycheck that they're huge Obama fans.

I cannot wait to leave this disgusting shithole.

D.C. cabbies strike to protest Uber

Business for Uber soars.  Go figure.

Look, I sort of understand the cabbie's frustrations here.  They pay big bucks to buy a medallion, and then they have to suck up to the big labor people, and jump feet first into cronyism, corruption and shady politics to stay in business.  And here comes Uber, with a new business plan that doesn't have to play with all of that.

If it were me?  If I were a cabbie watching Uber come on to the scene?

I'd be buying the most fuel efficient vehicle I could, and joining up with Uber.  Every single day of the week, and twice on Sundays.  The solution to dealing with crap is to get rid of the crap, not complain about other people who don't have to deal with crap.

Ah, well.  The cabbie strike is probably some of the best advertising for Uber that's out there.  The wife and I used Uber to get to the airport for our last vacation.  Loved it.  Car was clean, driver was nice, and it was about half the cost.  Why wouldn't we take Uber?

EPA employees have to be told not to poop in the hallways

No, really, they have to be told that.

Fire them all.

Fire them all, sell everything in the building at auction, close it down, and save the USA some money.  Just get rid of it.

Sleepless nights

Woke up in the middle of the night to the aroma of skunk.  We live close to a flood-control area which is also a wildlife reserve.  Skunks are common, as is the smell when someone gets too close to them.  It was strong for about five minutes, and then it faded, so it wasn't a skunk strike too close to my house.  For all I know, it could have been some hobo running by after getting hit.

Managed to get back to sleep, only to wake up to the smell of burning paper/cardboard.  That got me out of bed, but there was nothing even close to the house that was burning.  Best I can guess is that some homeless guy in the park was making himself a little fire.

I really, REALLY cannot wait to the the hell out of this shithole.  I don't mind the skunks, really.  But the noise, the crime, the trash, the shit, the filth, the omnipresent brown smog, the hobos camped out in the park taking a piss in plain view and leaving trash everywhere, I cannot wait to leave it all behind.

Over 1000 veterans dead because of VA waiting lists?

Um.....  whoa.

As with any huge government agency, once you start digging, you just keep pulling up more dirt.  The VA is no exception.  In fact, it's probably worse.  Remember all the crap going on a Walter Reed Hospital?  Mold on the walls, horrible conditions?  Do you really think that would have been fixed on it's own?

Hell no.

Oh, and the unnecessary pelvic and breast exams being given by a sex offender?  Hellooooooooooo, Obamacare!

Noise

I'm listening to a helicopter hover overhead somewhere close to the house right now.  I don't know if it's a police chopper or of it's a news/traffic bird, but either way I cannot wait to live in a place where I don't hear that kind of noise on a regular basis.

Grumbphlux

I'll say it again

"Global Warming" is a religion.  Wait, scratch that.  Global Warming is a cult.  A cult of easily duped people who desperately wish to believe that they can actually do something to affect the Earth on a large scale.  And like any cult, when reality intrudes, they either face the facts, or ignore them.  And the Global Warming cult has not only been ignoring the facts, they've been changing them to suit their needs.

Goddard shows how, in recent years, NOAA’s US Historical Climatology Network (USHCN) has been “adjusting” its record by replacing real temperatures with data “fabricated” by computer models. The effect of this has been to downgrade earlier temperatures and to exaggerate those from recent decades, to give the impression that the Earth has been warming up much more than is justified by the actual data. In several posts headed “Data tampering at USHCN/GISS”, Goddard compares the currently published temperature graphs with those based only on temperatures measured at the time. These show that the US has actually been cooling since the Thirties, the hottest decade on record; whereas the latest graph, nearly half of it based on “fabricated” data, shows it to have been warming at a rate equivalent to more than 3 degrees centigrade per century.

Emphasis mine.  The blog post referenced is here, and it has a handy little gif showing temperature records both with and without the fabricated data.

Global Warming is a hoax.  And a cult.

Here, let me piss some people off

Instapundit linked to an advice column about a female who's male partner is upset because she won't do things with him that she has done for previous boyfriends.  See, this girl was COMPLETELY HONEST (all caps in the original, so you know she's all like, swearsies and stuff!) with her boyfriend, and now she's hurt because HE is upset over the fact that she used to be a little freak in the bedroom, but now she's not.

Now, while I'm all up for mocking people who write in to an advice column, I really wanted to comment on what the columnist herself wrote:

He is the one who has to get past it, and it doesn’t sound as if he’s trying. If he won’t try, then I don’t see any other answer than to break up. 

I can’t speak for you, but “all I’ve ever wanted in a partner” is someone who accepts me as-is. You don’t have that — he’s punishing you for who you are. Are, were: Same diff, by the way.

Emphasis mine.  Pardon me, but what an absolute load of horse-shit.  This guy is "punishing" his girlfriend?  This guy has to "get past it"?  Screw you, you sanctimonious feminist cow.

Let's try on this perspective, shall we?  Girlie used to be a freak in the bedroom.  Guy is perfectly fine with her being freaky in the bedroom, and says "Hey, cool, let's get freaky!"  Girlie says "No, not with you, I don't do that anymore."

What the fucking fuck?  So all those other guys were good enough to get freaky with, but your boyfriend isn't?  All those other guys were worthy of sexual escapades, but your current boyfriend isn't?  Those other guys got your "A" game, but your current boopsie only rates your "B" game?

In short, it's another variation of a girl burning through all the bad boys, until she's ready to settle down and then she wants to find a "nice guy".  "OK, I've had my fun, now it's time for you to take care of me and forget that I did anything in the past!"

Not just no but hell no.

I almost never pay $15 for a book

Look, I'm not rich.  I'm not even close to being rich.  And even if I were rich, unless the book has a huge value to me in terms of research or personal education, I am not paying $15 for it.

And I'm certainly not paying $15 for an e-book.  Not gonna happen.  While the effort on the part of the author is the same, you don't have to print it.  You don't have to bind it.  You don't have to do anything that spits out a physical object.  That's the whole point of an e-book!  I have an entire library in my Kindle, and it's all digital.

So when I read things like this, about how a publishing company is supposedly preparing for the future, and part of that future is keeping the e-books they digitally publish at $14.99?

Yeah, good luck with that.  Because you won't be getting any of my money.  Hell, there are authors out there who I like and enjoy reading, and I won't spend $9.00 on their e-book either.  Because when it comes down to where my money goes, that $9 is a big chunk out of my personal finances.  People can try to say that it's only $9, but that cash has a name.  It's a truck in the future, or the next step to owning my own business once I retire from the military.  And while I appreciate what people write and I enjoy reading it, I read so quickly that my $9 amounts to an afternoon of reading.  If that.

No, I don't go to movies either.  Hell no.  Not only do I refuse to pay the salaries of a bunch of snotty Leftist Hollywood douchebags who hate me and everything I stand for, but I refuse to take out the second mortgage on my house to pay for the popcorn and soda.  Screw that noise.  Take the wife to a movie, or take that money and cook dinner for three nights?  Hmmmmmm, hard choice, right?

So anyways, anyone who thinks that I'm going to spend $15 on an e-book is probably going to be out of business sooner or later.  I'm guessing sooner.