What are you interested in? How in depth are you willing to study? I'm basically in the same boat and recently out of the blue developed a passion for math. I found there are plenty of free books available online. Right now I'm studying combinatorics, but every so often I take a couple of Khan Academy classes on trig. You might also want to check out Project Euler that offers the chance to combine math and programming.
Agreed. Still, as the parent of a 15-yr-old boy, I have firsthand experience with teachers behaving incredibly cruelly and unprofessionally. In these instances, combined with the normal pressures of high school, it is no wonder that a student on the receiving end of that behavior would choose such a drastic path.
I've just started showing my nine-year-old son how to do simple printing and math in Python (basically Chapters 2 and 3 in LPTHW), and he is pretty stoked about it. This will be a great addition.
Not to overburden the discussion regarding the last chapter, but I have to agree with the very last line: "You can code. They cannot. That is pretty damn cool."
I live in the Central Florida/Space Coast area, and there is a palpable fear that soon all these aerospace jobs will be gone with nothing to fall back on in a crappy economy. This speech was meant to be encouraging to a broad constituency of a state Obama and the Democrats need for future elections.
As far as science goes, the better-faster-cheaper ethos NASA had with the Mars Rovers should be revived. Robots are a terrific way to get actual science done. That said, the lessons learned from building and working on the ISS would be a good starting point for creating a vehicle to take people to Mars - a place we can eventually make habitable (http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~mfogg/zubrin.htm).
I'd have to echo the XHTML/CSS suggestion. Becoming proficient in just those two allow you to make robust, accessible sites, limited only by your creativity (and perhaps your client's requests). It might help also to study HTML5. After these, devote some time to JavaScript.
With these you'll have a nice little front-end development toolkit.
I am fortunate enough to have an employer and a manager who allow me to work from home. This used to be an infrequent option but became a necessity when I lost access to a car. (The office is a 45-minute drive away.) Even with having to get three children ready for school, helping with homework, preparing dinner and doing other household chores, I have never been more productive.
I start my day early and sometimes end it fairly late, but as earlier noted, with balance and discipline it can be extremely rewarding for both you and your employer.
Simply based on the victims' experiences, this seems more in line with ergot poisoning than a mass LSD experiment.
Acid trips are different for everyone, and the experience is heavily influenced by environment: physical, mental, and spiritual. In such a quiet, rural village, it is hard to believe everyone would have such similarly terrifying experiences. A few, perhaps, but the majority would be non-threatening.
Ergot poisoning, on the other hand, carries all the symptoms the villagers had, mania as well as convulsions.
Perhaps Mr. Albarelli gives the CIA a little too much credit.
The benefits of barefoot running can be obtained without going totally shoeless.
I haven't started running barefoot yet, but my beefy New Balance running shoes have been relegated to mucking about in the yard. I now run in a well-worn pair of Chuck Taylor hightops. Just going to a much more minimal shoe forced me to concentrate more on forefoot/mid-foot striking, a light, quick stride, and proper posture.
What many people overlook is that running is a skill that must often be relearned as we get older and run again for fitness (ever see any nine-year-olds with shin splints, runner's knee or ITB syndrome?). Cross-country skiing, cycling, and swimming all have skill components, why not running? Going minimal on footwear forces that attention to form.