An E-Mail Plea: Help Pay My Tuition!

The e-mail looks like a scam: “I have to come up with big-time cash,” writes Max Stephenson. The 18-year-old is headed for New York University, he explains, but his mom is on disability, his dad works three jobs, and all his grants and loans only cover half of the school’s $50,000 annual tab. So to cover the gap, he’s hoping 10,000 friends of friends of friends will each put $2.50 in the mail or send the money via PayPal. “If you’re worried I am one of those internet rip-off artists, call NYU’s admissions office at 212.998.4500,” his e-mail continues, “and ask for someone in international admissions — they handled my admissions as I was recruited to play ice hockey for Russia and spent last year there.”

The thing is, his plea is legit. And two weeks after Stephenson sent his e-mail to 300 of his friends and his parents’ business contacts — and asked them to forward it to anyone they could think of — he says he has already received close to $6,000 from more than 2,000 people.

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Cell phones welcome in some classrooms

Cell phones have long been anathema in the classroom, banned as a potential distraction, at best, and as a possible vehicle for cheating, at worst. But lately, educators have begun changing their tune on mobile phones.

Abilene Christian University will hand out Apple’s iPhone 3G smartphone to two-thirds of this year’s entering class of 950 freshmen. Students will be expected to use the devices to brainstorm ideas and get virtual handouts and podcasts during class. Instructors will use them for such tasks as monitoring attendance.

“This is a new platform for learning, in the same way a laptop or a desktop was a new platform,” says William Rankin, co-director of mobile learning research at the school in Abilene, Texas.

Other schools across the country, from Michigan to Maryland and Texas to North Carolina, are coming to the same conclusion — that advanced wireless devices can be used as much for learning as for entertainment.

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[Thanks, Richard!]

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Britney’s Cheetos Chicken Casserole Recipe?

Ingredients:

4 to 6 chicken breasts cooked and cut into bite-sized pieces
1 can of cream of chicken soup
4 hard oiled eggs
1 onion diced
1/4 c. mayonnaise
1/4 to 1/2 c. chopped celery
1 bag of Crushed Cheetos for topping

Directions:

1) Mix above ingredients together and put into casserole dish
2) Crush enough Cheetos to cover top
3) Bake in 350 degree oven for 30 minutes.

Other celebrity recipes here.

Posted in Pop Culture | 5 Comments