Johnson, your words made my tear up, very eloquent.
Sunday Phone Call
- Thread starter Otter1
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Johnson, your words made my tear up, very eloquent.
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Well by now I'd expect between 1/2 and 3/4 of the PC's have phoned home ... one general point is there is no doubt to me that by now they are indeed "tired" in fact some will be "over tired" at this point. If they aren't now they will be next week and it won't get better until parent's weekend when they'll actually get their first break from the grind they are in. I'm not saying this to be negative. I'm just saying it because you all know how "your" PC's react and "feel" when they are tired so remember even if they don't say anything about it, that's probably part of what you are/will be hearing in their voices between now and Parent's Weekend.
On the plus side, it looks like they've all had some really nice weather so far and that at least makes their time at the Waterfront pretty fun and a good break.
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Wow! I can't believe it's been 2 yrs since our ds was at indoc. I remember so clearly dropping him off, being glued to the internet for photos, sending those links to family and friends, waiting for the phone call, getting it, missing the phone call the next wkend. Three weeks ago, DS told us before he left for his last leg of his 2nd sea year that Indoc wasn't bad for him. But by the time Acceptance weekend came I could see he was majorly sleep deprived from watch hours, classes and other commitments. Not to scare you, but I WAS SO SCARED to see how sleep deprived he was. I wished someone would have told me it could be that way. I'd never seen him so fidgety with feet tapping and minor hand shaking. But he had fun clowning around with his friends, smiling with his friends that whole weekend, so that gave us relief. He made it through because he knew he wanted it, and knew it would get better eventually. And it truly was better, not long after. It was harder on us b/c we'd never seen him that way before. I know he had a lot on his plate at the time but he was well prepared for it from coming from a demanding HS. Parents HANG IN THERE. This is a great time for your growth too whether it's the first or last one leaving home.
Sunk @ the Docks
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I remember my first phone call was around 2-3 mins. I dont recall ever getting the option to make the second one.
Something to look into:
MagicJack. I didnt discover it until I went to sea but its truely incredible. The USB plug costs $20 and a year of service costs $20. When you set it up, you select your phone number. The way it works is that you plug it into your computer, and then plug in a regular phone into that. It dials thru the internet to any land line or cell phone (US only) for free. When you pick up the phone, there is a dial tone and everything. Since Plebes are not allowed their cellphones, I imagine this would be a good alternative. I dont recall ever hearing that these are not allowed. Its not a land line, and its not a cell phone. Its the loop holes that makes KP so great!
What is truely awesome tho, is when you take it to sea. If you are lucky enough to have a ship with streaming internet, you can use it to make phone calls for free. Some ships have it banned, others have not. I have it next to me as I write this (I am in another country doing an internship) and I am able to call my parents when I want, as long as I have internet... for free. Obviously, this sounds like a sales pitch, but I assure you, its not. Any questions, PM me.
Something to look into:
MagicJack. I didnt discover it until I went to sea but its truely incredible. The USB plug costs $20 and a year of service costs $20. When you set it up, you select your phone number. The way it works is that you plug it into your computer, and then plug in a regular phone into that. It dials thru the internet to any land line or cell phone (US only) for free. When you pick up the phone, there is a dial tone and everything. Since Plebes are not allowed their cellphones, I imagine this would be a good alternative. I dont recall ever hearing that these are not allowed. Its not a land line, and its not a cell phone. Its the loop holes that makes KP so great!
What is truely awesome tho, is when you take it to sea. If you are lucky enough to have a ship with streaming internet, you can use it to make phone calls for free. Some ships have it banned, others have not. I have it next to me as I write this (I am in another country doing an internship) and I am able to call my parents when I want, as long as I have internet... for free. Obviously, this sounds like a sales pitch, but I assure you, its not. Any questions, PM me.
shutterbugC
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As of 2014, all computer ports are disabled so this will not work at KP for now. DoIT will enable the ports when they go to sea and then dis-enable them again when they return.
Sunk @ the Docks
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I had completely forgotten about that... Honestly, I am suprised they have not activated our computer cameras so that they can check up on us when ever they want, like Lower Merion High School did a few years ago.
kp2001
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I had completely forgotten about that... Honestly, I am suprised they have not activated our computer cameras so that they can check up on us when ever they want, like Lower Merion High School did a few years ago.
Which is why I always recommend people put a piece of electrical tape or something similar over their laptop cameras when they aren't using them.
marinermom
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When you say "ports" are you referring to all USB ports being disabled? Why?? What if they have a document they want to save to a thumb drive to print or bring to class??
They take their laptops with them if they need them for class. If they want to print, then there is a common printer they can use or they can buy their own printer. Yes, referring to USB ports.If they want to save something - there is always a CD
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USB PORTS
Thumb drives are a major security issue for many government offices and government contractors. In addition to being very easy to use as a means of spreading a virus from machine to machine, in theory, it would be very easy to install data mining software on the board in the USB port. I know I couldn't use USB ports in many places at GE or IBM when I did consulting work for them.
If you open up that email to help that poor Nigerian Prince get his money freed up, in addition to trying to get you to write a check, the buggers will try and put a virus on your usb drive and or hard drive that will allow them to see your security passwords, etc. Then if someone else uses your usb drive, they have another computer to mine. Very nasty and sadly, not that hard to do.
A little paranoid? Probably but it happens every day. Students tend to be a little more footloose and fancy free when it comes to drive sharing than many. As such, it didn't surprise me too much when everything got shut down last year. On a brighter note, they open up the ports when they are at sea and then close them down again when they get back to campus. That seems a reasonable compromise.
On campus, they can use network storage. I doubt they can use dropbox or other cloud applications but if they can, that is a great approach.
Forgive the length on this. I just started teaching at a state college having taught at a private university and the security at the state school is far greater. I feel our DS and DD's pain with IT regulations. In fact, I live it!
Thumb drives are a major security issue for many government offices and government contractors. In addition to being very easy to use as a means of spreading a virus from machine to machine, in theory, it would be very easy to install data mining software on the board in the USB port. I know I couldn't use USB ports in many places at GE or IBM when I did consulting work for them.
If you open up that email to help that poor Nigerian Prince get his money freed up, in addition to trying to get you to write a check, the buggers will try and put a virus on your usb drive and or hard drive that will allow them to see your security passwords, etc. Then if someone else uses your usb drive, they have another computer to mine. Very nasty and sadly, not that hard to do.
A little paranoid? Probably but it happens every day. Students tend to be a little more footloose and fancy free when it comes to drive sharing than many. As such, it didn't surprise me too much when everything got shut down last year. On a brighter note, they open up the ports when they are at sea and then close them down again when they get back to campus. That seems a reasonable compromise.
On campus, they can use network storage. I doubt they can use dropbox or other cloud applications but if they can, that is a great approach.
Forgive the length on this. I just started teaching at a state college having taught at a private university and the security at the state school is far greater. I feel our DS and DD's pain with IT regulations. In fact, I live it!
Disable their USB ports?! Surely not. Most newer printers connect via USB.
most newer printers are wireless.
kp2001
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For those wondering about all the computer issues: welcome to the world of Government IT.
It is a pure and simple mess. Restrictions that are made that make no sense are commonplace. Things that a private company IT dept would be able to handle easily baffle multitudes of govt IT departments. Some of this is due to security and some of it is due to the absolutely slow pace at which the gov't changes to IT issues.
It is a pure and simple mess. Restrictions that are made that make no sense are commonplace. Things that a private company IT dept would be able to handle easily baffle multitudes of govt IT departments. Some of this is due to security and some of it is due to the absolutely slow pace at which the gov't changes to IT issues.
Sunk @ the Docks
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While all of that is true, I feel that we, at the United States Merchant Marine Academy, are much less likely targets than say, IBM or GE.
Regarding the printers, yes, there are company printers, but for the one tri I was there in between sea years, I dont think I ever saw the one in my company function. Thankfully, we can use our mice still. As for printers, I think that those still function in the USB ports, at least ours do (2013).
CD's are not very practical. Nobody writes things to CDs anymore, unless they have to. It takes much longer than a USB, it has less space and you cant reuse the same CD over and over again.
I won't dispute that but I can't imagine everyone being required to go through the troublesome task of trying to get their printers to function wirelessly, especially in a Windows environment.
What a headache!