The Hacker's Encyclopedia 1998

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=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= = F.U.C.K. - Fucked Up College Kids - Born Jan. 24th, 1993 - F.U.C.K. = =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= The Psychology of Presence -------------------------- I finished college two years ago, and it was not a very pleasant experience. It was bad enough that, to this day, while having the desire for a second degree, I would never seriously consider returning to college. I am a knowledge junkie. The popularity of the Internet and World Wide Web would have people define this as someone addicted to the Web. But, I am different. I hate the Web. Biology. Chemistry. Mathematics. Philosophy. Psychology. Sociology. These are the subjects which interest me, and college prevented me from learning them. All colleges have a policy which stipulates that the grade one ultimately receives must be based, in part, upon a certain pre-defined attendance rate. In order to recieve a "C" in any class, you must attend at least 70% of the class sessions, regardless of all other factors. You may be earning a perfect "A" in the class, but if you only attended 70% of the lectures, you will be recieving a "C" instead. On the surface, this seems like a reasonable policy. The more lectures you attend, the more you will learn. The less you attend, the less you will learn. But, this policy is seriously flawed, and it is destroying the academic records of many students. I do not restrict my learning solely to the classroom. While others can be found in the local bookstore perusing the best-seller of the week, I can be found in the science section debating whether I should buy a book on chaos theory, or a book on human anatomy. If I am able, I purchase them both, and eagerly run home to begin learning something new. A student often registers for his next-semester class schedule several months in advance. Being excited about learning a new subject, I would often return to the bookstore to buy something along the lines of my future class subjects. By the time I appeared for the first day of class, I usually had a solid background on what was to come. Instructors spend way too much time beating the same basic principles to death. The class moves slowly as a result, and those who understood the concept earlier are quickly bored. Those who understood it months earlier become extremely bored. When a sharp student asks a thoughtful and intelligent question on the topic at hand, and the rest of the class may not understand it yet, the anger of others becomes readily apparant. Some think you are just trying to show off. You lose faith in your ability to learn what you need from the class. You start missing classes. Eventually, you only do the homework and show for the tests. I failed many classes in college. I failed the same philosophy class twice. I failed because I never attended class. I completed all of the assignments on time. I took every quiz and test. I read the entire textbook...twice. I often called the instructor on weekends to debate very esoteric topics of philosophy, ethics and society. She said she had learned a couple of things from our debates. She said I knew my subject cold. At the end of the semester, I had 997 out of 1000 possible points. I received an "F" in the class based on my 28% attendance rate. She was upset that she was forced to give me this grade. This scenario played out in every class, every semester. Then I took Psychology. On the first day of class, we filled out the basic questionaire as to who we were, what we wanted to do with our lives, and what our interests were. We turned them in, and after glancing through them, she called a few students outside for a few minutes each. I was one of them. "You don't belong here," she said. "Get out of here. See me during office hours later this week." Wondering what was going on, I went to her office a few days later. Why would an instructor throw me out of her class without cause? "You're too smart to be wasting away in this class. You stated your interest was in medicine on your questionaire. I want you to read the textbook and show up for all of the quizzes and tests. Other than that, I don't want to see you in class. But, since the law requires a certain amount of hours in the classroom to receive a grade, this is what we are going to do. You will spend one hour for each hour of class you miss researching any topic you want tying psychology with medicine. Then write me a report. Keep a log of your hours. Agree?" I could not believe what I was hearing. This was too good to be true! "Yes." I said to her, and went home. I did what was asked of me. I missed 51 hours of class, yet spent 132 hours researching and writing a report on "The Psychology of Steroid Abuse in Athletes." I received an "A" on every quiz and test. I received an "A" on my report. I received an "A" in the class. I was ecstatic! This instructor somehow recognized a student that shouldn't have been there. She had an alternate idea, and it worked for the both of us. I had learned more about psychology than any student could ever have learned by attending every class and taking notes. And it gave me hope for my other classes. The following semester I approached each of my instructors on the first day of class with this idea in mind. None of them wanted to hear it. It was ludicrous to them. I had to attend class or fail. End of story. By definition, the grade of "A" means "demonstrated mastery of the course subject and material." Colleges don't care about the definitions contained in their own policy guidelines. So what if you are a master of "subject x" or "subject y?" So what if you are doing "A" level work. You missed "x" number of classes, so you are getting an "F." This is contrary to the definition of "A" work. Where is the logic in this? Smart students with a desire to learn are being destroyed by irrational policies like attendance requirements. I graduated with a GPA of 2.02. I should have graduated with a 3.80+ GPA. I received offers from almost every one of my current, and previous, instructors for "Letters of Recommendation." I became friends with many of my instructors, and even some I never took a class from. But my desire for knowledge destroyed me. I was different. I didn't conform. And I was punished for it. se7en =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= = Questions, Comments, Bitches, Ideas, Rants, Death Threats, etc etc... = = Internet : jericho@dimensional.com (Mail is welcomed) = =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= = gote land +27.31.441115 = = Arrested Development +31.77.3547477 = = Global Chaos +61.2.681.2837 = = Chemical Persuasion 203.324.0894 Undrgrnd Indust/Inc. 207.490.2158 = = Damnation 212.861.0580 Damnation -Toll Free 888.803.8490 = = Hacker's Haven 303.516.9969 Unearthly Shadows 303.683.1443 = = E.L.F. (NUP) 314.272.3426 Misery 318.625.4532 = = Dungeon Sys. Inc. 410.263.2258 Psykodelik Images -- Down -- = = Paradise Lost 414.476.3181 Black SunShine 513.891.3465 = = underworld_1995.com 514.683.1894 Digital Fallout 516.378.6640 = = PSYCHOSiS 613.836.7211 Bad Trip 615.870.8805 = = Plan 9 716.881.3663 suicidal chaos 718.592.1083 = = Damaged 801.944.7353 The Death Star Bar 805.872.3151 = = Purple Hell 806.791.0747 BloodNet 901.872.8615 = = Atrocity Exhibition 905.796.3385 Phoenix Modernz 908.830.8265 = = The Keg 914.234.9674 that stupid place 215.985.0462 = =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= = Files through Anon FTP FTP.DIMENSIONAL.COM/users/jericho/FUCK = = FTP.PRISM.NET/pub/users/mercuri/zines/fuck = = FTP.WINTERNET.COM/users/craigb/fuck = = FTP.GIGA.OR.AT/pub/hackers/zines/FUCK = = ETEXT.ARCHIVE.UMICH.EDU - /pub/Zines/FUCK = = FTP.DIMENSIONAL.COM - /users/rage/zines/fuck = = Files through WWW: http://www.dimensional.com/~jericho = = http://www.prism.net/zineworld/fuck/ = =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= = (c) Copyright. All files copyright by the original author = =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= (11/23/96)