IT Insights Blog — learning

Here in the United States, where TestOut Continuing Education is headquartered, public schools — mostly high schools — tend to lump computer skills classes in with everything else that falls under the label "career and technical education," or CTE. In 2018, computer skills are of central importance to learning in most subjects, so it seems a little behind the times to think of knowing stuff about computers as having application only in the CTE bailiwick.

OK, show of hands: Who out there reading this post remembers those old Choose Your Own Adventure novels? There were 184 of them published between 1979 and 1998. The first in the series is The Cave of Time, written by Edward Packard, who pioneered the concept. There was a spinoff series for younger readers, and themed series for both Walt Disney and The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles.

Buffet-style dining doesn't always hit the spot. Sometimes you want just one thing and you know what it is. When you're in the mood for steak and potatoes, then it's not particularly helpful, and doesn't really enhance your experience in any way, to also have a nice cheesy lasagna, or a sumptuous green bean casserole available. You're only going to eat the steak and potatoes, so why pay for anything else?

It would seem that most of the nation's moviegoers are still infatuated with the story of the big purple guy — I think Star Lord calls him "Grimace," in the movie — and the magic rocks. Avengers: Infinity War sold $62 million worth of tickets at North American theaters, roughly as much as the next eight movies combined. (The eighth of those 8 movies, incidentally, is Black Panther — still in the Top 10.)

There are different answers to the question of which human has dived deepest beneath the surface of the ocean. Almost four years ago, longtime scuba instructor Ahmed Gabr dove to a depth of 1,089 feet in a coastal region of the Red Sea near Dahab, Egypt. Gabr took 12 minutes to reach his record-setting depth, and 14 hours (assisted by nine oxygen tanks) to return to the surface.