Free Online Education

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If you are an eligible educator, IRS offers you some relief for the tax year 2008. You can claim up to $250 as an adjustment to your gross income.

If you are a teacher teaching right from kindergarten through great 12, or if you are an instructor, principal, counselor or aide working in a school for at least 900 hours during a school year, you are eligible educator according to IRS.  In that case, you can deduct an amount up to $250 towards certain expenses as an adjustment to your gross income.  If you are filing jointly and both you and your spouse are eligible educators, you can claim maximum $500.  However, neither spouse can claim more than $250 towards his or her qualified expenses.

What constitutes qualified expenses?

According to IRS, qualified expenses include ordinary and necessary expenses paid in connection with the education.  Here is a list of such expenses for your ready reference –

Books or subscriptions – These include technical books, professional textbooks, professional publications, publication journals, newspapers, magazines and journals.

Teaching aids – They can be films, slides and other materials.

Education expenses – These can include books, papers, writing materials, hotel/motel expenses, expenses towards professional development.

Tools and supplies – These can include camera, films, classroom supplies, locks, lockers, supplies, postage, stationery, tape recorders, tapes, flashlight, briefcase and other classroom supplies.

Cost towards uniforms – These can include expenses on dry cleaning, lab coats, sports clothing, goggles, school logo items, T shirts, hats, special use items.

Auto expenses – These can include expenses towards meetings at other schools, transport of students and transportation during training.

Miscellaneous expenses – including computer usage, expenses on professional license, cell phone expenses, expenses on field trips etc.

Remember, an ordinary expense which is common and excepted in your educational field can be qualified as expenses eligible for deduction.  These expenses have a common logic – expenses which are helpful and appropriate for your profession as an educator.

There are certain expenses specifically disqualified by IRS such as expenses for home schooling, expenses for non athletic supplies for courses in health or physical education.

You need to reduce the qualified expenses by the following amounts –

Tax free distribution of interest under an education savings bond program. Tax free distribution of earnings from a qualified due SH and program. Tax for the distribution of earnings from a Coverdell education savings account (ESA). Any reimbursement you receive towards these expenses and not reported on your form W-2.

By filling your tax return, this deduction can be claimed on line 23 on form 1040 or line 16 on form 1040A.

If your expenses are more than $250, there is one more method to claim the rest of the expenses.  Suppose your expenses are $1000, you can claim $250 as educator expenses under this category and the balance $750 can be claimed as a miscellaneous itemized deduction.

Let’s face it; the internet has revolutionized our reality. Without the World Wide Web western world would be completely and utterly different. With the internet online education has not only evolved, but has exploded on the scene. There are a lot of promises out there, made by a lot of legit and also unaccredited online degree programs. One such claim is: here is a free online degree; you don’t have to pay for it at all. Well, this might be true, however think of the term “Quality.” If you are spending your time and energy on your education quality should be the most important thing, not cost.

Besides taking my word for it – think about a traditional college. Do they open their doors and say, hey you here is a free and legit PhD in astrophysics? No they don’t! Plus, any research will show that there are a lot of legit online colleges out there, but none of them are give free online degrees.

Once you start your research into real programs and not a college offering a free online degree. You will realize the amount of degree options for an inquiring mind. The main issue here is that you find and pick the right one for you. Do not let any other influence distract you when picking your online degree, even if there is a heading that rings, “free online degree.”

After you have picked your concentration of study, now it is time to look around for the proper online community that will help you grow as a student and person. How do you find the proper online college? The answer to this question rest with one word: accreditation. If you choice of online learning does not have accreditation click your mouse button to another website. It will be easy to tell if they are legit, since they will not try to hide this from you. They will be proud not to entice a future student with false promises like, a free online degree over here.

Also, do let other people divert you from an online education. First, if you are interested in online education that means you must be a busy person. Meaning, you have an fulfilling life, however some more education is going to advance your knowledge or career. Second, research shows if an individual has will and determination to study properly, there is nothing hindering him or her from learning the same as a traditional student. Thirdly, if you online college is legit, you are in a real college. OK, it might not have a campus like traditional college, but that doesn’t matter. The instruction, knowledge, and content are the same.

On top of all these points, must online colleges are less money than tradition colleges. Think about it – it is only online there are no buildings, offices and so on. The overhead is not there, just the learning and the professionals teaching you. Overall, do your homework and research on these programs and remember never fall for the “free online degree” slogan.

Do any of you understand what i have to do for the following question?

“Assess the following user computing needs and select the appropriate hardware Components for different situations. Describe the type of computer system they would need. Describe the amount of money they would need. Go shopping on-line.

a) a student on a fixed budget
b) a home Business user
c) a gaming enthusiast
d) a photographer
e) a home video enthusiast
f) a distance education user
g) a human resource manager
h) an accountant”

it makes no sense to me. it is for a computer class and i have no idea what to do. can someone please help? 10 points best answer. THANK YOU SO MUCH!

When planning a trip online, you can do more than book the flight. Many websites offer travel guides, lists of destination activities, etc. We’d love to know which online travel tools you rely on the most.

When clicking around travel websites, which sections do you find the most helpful?
40
Asked by Delta Air Lines – General – Travel
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What program will let me copy one hard drive to another?
2
Asked by epichero22 – Software

As the others have said, you need a cloning software. But you don’t have to buy anything. There are a number of free ones around, some from the hard disk manufacturers themselves … More >
0 0
- Answer by Lon T
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Now, where did I put that question?
Who cares about categories? We do – and so should you. Putting your question in the appropriate category increases your chances of getting a quick and sensible response, especially from an expert or top contributor who may be focusing on that particular subject area.
Read the Answers Blog >

What’s an original way to propose to my girlfriend?
If you’re looking for the perfect way to pop the big question, you could probably benefit from some expert advice. Luckily, J. Keith van Straaten has hit the streets to interview wedding experts and women in general on unique proposal ideas.
Watch and find out > >

Do you know a website where you can put in your route to find out how far you ran or biked?
1
Asked by Melissa B – Running

These are the sites I use: http://favoriterun.com/; http://traininglog.runnersworld.com/landingpage.aspx. They both allow you to map routes and find distance, etc. … More >
0 0
- Answer by Dr. K Pierce
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So, you want to learn Hindi? Well, let me start off by saying that this isn’t the easiest language in the world to learn. Having said that, it doesn’t have to be excruciatingly hard either. In this article, I’m going to give you a few simple hints to help make learning Hindi, or for that matter any language, a lot easier. You might want to make note of these.

At the top of the list, and this is something that really isn’t hard to do at all, is to make friends with a Hindi person. There is no better way to learn a language than from somebody who actually speaks it. No, you might not get all the grammar 100% correct (few people speak their native languages correctly) but you’ll get a good enough feeling for the language just by engaging in conversation with this person. Certainly, it will give you a jump start on whatever formal training you decide on.

This next tip might sound a little odd, but go to a local Blockbuster and rent as many Hindi movies as you can and watch them. If possible, find ones that also have English subtitles. This will make it so that you can follow the translation along with the action. You probably will want to stop the action after ever few lines in order to absorb what you’re actually listening to. This is a great way to pick up some of the language and the movie rental won’t cost you more than a few dollars.

Find yourself a Hindi radio station to tune into. If you don’t have any in your local area, you can usually find some on Satellite radio. Yes, you’ll have to pay a few bucks for the subscription but it will be well worth it. This is another great way to pick up the language. Just an hour or two a day of radio listening can make all the difference in the world.

Finally, see if you can pick up any Hindi publications and read them. If you can find any translations to go along with them, all the better. If not, a Hindi – English dictionary will do fine.

In my signature, you’ll find a review of a great resource for learning Hindi. I think you’ll want to check this out.

[This video blog entry is a companion to the article on EmergingEdTech.com at URL: www.emergingedtech.com Interested? Which of these topics and time-frames would you prefer? I’d like to offer a free online workshop for teachers (and anyone else who is interested) this summer. I’m planning on a 4 week workshop that would probably require around 2 or 3 hours of work a week. This would be a hands-on, interactive experience, in which all participants would communicate with me and with each other as we learn how to use one (or several) free web-based applications in the classroom. Please click through to the URL: www.emergingedtech.com and take our survey to provide your preferences. Thanks!

My bf Luke and i have been going out for about two weeks and now he has started stalking me….. he even made one of these yahoo answers things, and added me as one of his contacts…. Last night he appeared at my window, and asked if he could come in… i nearly peed myself because i didn’t know who it was at first, but i was really weirded out…. Can you tell me what i should do?

Ps. I’m kinda scared, and i think he will read this question and get angry….
Luke don’t call her that! You don’t even know her! Also, STOP, giving me dirty looks, or I’ll get Mr. Kendro, and if you talk to me after class or follow me, I’ll tell Mrs. Fay and you’ll get suspended. >:(

Sorry Mellisa, he has issues
Thats a really good idea thank you, but that boy that answered is him

Let’s face it; the internet has revolutionized our reality.  Without the World Wide Web western world would be completely and utterly different.  With the internet online education has not only evolved, but has exploded on the scene.  There are a lot of promises out there, made by a lot of legit and also unaccredited online degree programs.  One such claim is: here is a free online degree; you don’t have to pay for it at all.  Well, this might be true, however think of the term “Quality.” If you are spending your time and energy on your education quality should be the most important thing, not cost.

Besides taking my word for it – think about a traditional college.  Do they open their doors and say, hey you here is a free and legit PhD in astrophysics?  No they don’t!  Plus, any research will show that there are a lot of legit online colleges out there, but none of them are give free online degrees.

Once you start your research into real programs and not a college offering a free online degree.  You will realize the amount of degree options for an inquiring mind.  The main issue here is that you find and pick the right one for you.  Do not let any other influence distract you when picking your online degree, even if there is a heading that rings, “free online degree.”

After you have picked your concentration of study, now it is time to look around for the proper online community that will help you grow as a student and person.  How do you find the proper online college?  The answer to this question rest with one word: accreditation.  If you choice of online learning does not have accreditation click your mouse button to another website.  It will be easy to tell if they are legit, since they will not try to hide this from you.  They will be proud not to entice a future student with false promises like, a free online degree over here.

Also, do let other people divert you from an online education.  First, if you are interested in online education that means you must be a busy person.  Meaning, you have an fulfilling life, however some more education is going to advance your knowledge or career.  Second, research shows if an individual has will and determination to study properly, there is nothing hindering him or her from learning the same as a traditional student.  Thirdly, if you online college is legit, you are in a real college.  OK, it might not have a campus like traditional college, but that doesn’t matter.  The instruction, knowledge, and content are the same.

On top of all these points, must online colleges are less money than tradition colleges.  Think about it – it is only online there are no buildings, offices and so on.  The overhead is not there, just the learning and the professionals teaching you.  Overall, do your homework and research on these programs and remember never fall for the “free online degree” slogan.

Computer Desktop System Review — by Basia Diamonde

 

There are many features to choose from when you purchase a laptop, and it would be in the best interest of your bank account, as well as your frustration level, to choose wisely. To assist you in determining what you need and what you are willing to pay for, I will provide the following information. At first glance, you will see laptops that look almost exactly the same, yet have huge price differences. If you buy one “off the shelf,” you may end up with one that is more computer than you need at a much higher cost. If you are not computer “savvy,” a programmer or an information technology specialist (and, keeping it real, most of us are not), it can be overwhelming when you look at the specs for a computer and see this long list of giga bites, hard drives, processors, chips, CPUs, operating systems, etc.

Let me help you by breaking down the components of a laptop into simple, easy-to-understand parts. I will tell you the secret to finding the best quality and prices to meet your computer needs.

One little known secret about laptops is that they are all made in China by seven Chinese companies. The big retailers (Dell, Sony, Apple, HP, Toshiba) buy the components wholesale, put together “one size fits all” units, slap on their brand name logo, and jack up the price.

Only one Chinese company, Acer, sells laptops directly to consumers, but the quality of their laptops is quite low and I wouldn’t recommend it. This is one situation in which it is better to pay more for quality. Even if you buy a less expensive laptop, a computer is still a relatively significant purchase, and our goal here is to get you the best quality for the best price.

When retailers buy laptops they can sell “off the shelf,” they often have high end features that most computer users simply will not need. And for a dramatically lower price, you may want to start out with less and upgrade later if you find out that you need more. If you have a budget of up to $1,000, I will give you all the information you need to select a laptop that you will love.

Computer technology is changing rapidly and cost is largely influenced by “Economy of Scale” or “price point,” which drives retail cost. The price of laptops and every other consumer product you own can be drastically affected by how many items are sold, and this marketing reality does not necessarily reflect the quality or even the complexity of an item.

For a CPU (central processing unit, the engine of your computer), it could cost $1 billion dollars to design a new chip and less than $10 to actually make it. If a manufacturer sells 20 million of these chips, the cost to the purchaser would be around $60 per chip. At 500 million, the cost would be reduced to $11 per chip.

This is one reason computer companies buy the components they can get a good price on in bulk, then make these “one size fits all” laptops that may have more CPU power than you will ever need. And too much processing speed at the cost of everything else will result in a slow computer.

Balance

A laptop system needs to a balance of these primary components:

* Operating System

* Central Processing Unit

* Hard Drive

* RAM

Once you have made these important decisions, then you can add on the optical drive, video card, speakers, camera and other features you may desire.

OS (Operating System)

You have a choice of four Operating Systems:

* Linux

* Mac OS X

* Windows Vista

* Windows XP

Your first big decision in purchasing a laptop will be which Operating System to choose. Let me just mention a word on the origins of PC versus Mac. The Windows PC was developed from a business application perspective. It started with the spreadsheet and because this became such an invaluable tool in the business world, a word processing application was written for the PC by a computer programmer in DOS, and software has evolved in this vein.

Do you remember when you would turn on your computer and the only display on the black screen was C:/? Oh, those were trying times, but PC software has evolved a lot since then. Nevertheless, because of its origins, most business application software is still written for the PC, with running it on an Apple Macintosh as an afterthought.

The Mac was designed as an educational tool, more interested in user friendly graphics and interactive tools, purposely developed to be more intuitive and helpful to the non-technical user. It is more compatible with videos, music and games. The business sectors tends to prefer Windows; the creative class tends to prefer Mac.

If you choose an Apple MacIntosh laptop, I would recommend Mac OS X Operating System. If you choose a Windows PC, I would recommend Windows Vista. I won’t go into the pros and cons for each system here, since much has been written on the subject and you can learn more on the internet if you so desire. 

CPU (Central Processing Unit)

Almost every laptop comes with Vista Home Premium. To run Vista efficiently, you really need at least 2GB of RAM. If you really need XP, you will need to look for an older out-of-production laptop, which would have been sold at a much higher price to the seller, and will thus cost you more for fewer new features. However, if you gotta have it . . . you gotta have it.

Hard Drive

All the information on your computer, including program files, information files, photos, music, videos, etc. is stored on the hard drive for you to retrieve to your screen instantly by opening files in RAM. 250 GB hard drives are relatively new and 320 GB hard drives on laptops are pretty rare. The current standard hard drive is 160 GB.

Most business consumers use less than 40 GB of hard drive space, and every increment of larger hard drive can add $100-$200 dollars to the price of a laptop for just a little more capacity. It makes no sense to pay for more hard drive than you will probably ever use. If you don’t know for sure, I would start out smaller. It’s easy to add more storage capacity later by getting an external hard drive and much more cost effective than paying $100s more on the built-in components.

(RAM) Random Access Memory

For the computer novice, RAM is not to be confused with hard drive storage capacity. RAM is the amount of information that your laptop can have open on your screen at any given time, including minimized files and Internet Explorer windows. If you open too many windows and exceed your RAM capacity, the computer will lock up, and you will have to reboot to clear the memory. This could result in losing any unsaved information.

You don’t even need to grasp how processors work, just know that they are the speed at which your laptop operates. I would recommend a Turion processor unless I could get an Intel processor for the same price. Turion will typically cost at least $100 less for about the same speed.

Battery Life

If you are on the road with your laptop a lot and don’t have access to a power outlet, bear in mind that the processor will impact the length of battery life. Newer technology gets better all the time about scaling back when you don’t need full power, then jumping to life instantly when you do. The AMD Turion is the best AMD chip for this job, but Intel really dominates this concept with the Core 2 Duo and the entire Centrino line. If battery life is an important consideration for you, be willing to pay for it.

Optional Features & Add-Ons

Does size matter? It can definitely be an important feature in choosing a laptop. How heavy is it if you will be taking it with you everywhere? Will it fit into the available storage or work space if you will be traveling with it?

The cost for size is closely related to the “Economy of Scale” factor. Smaller, thinner parts cost more to make. Make it too small, and the resolution doesn’t hold up to be visible or you can’t see enough of the image or page on the screen and have to keep moving your mouse around. Because the computer market is so competitive, you can believe that manufacturers carefully weigh convenience vs. practicality.

Having considered all the “Economy of Scale” factors, laptop manufacturers seem to have settled on the 14.5 inch screen. And because they sell in huge numbers, they usually sell for the best price. If you go for a smaller screen, just know that you will be paying a premium for the same amount of computing power. Now and then a manufacturer will bet on a smaller size and produce gazillions. If you can get a super deal on a smaller one, grab one of these.

Cordless Optical Mouse

The first thing I would add to a laptop is a Microsoft Wireless Laser Optical Laptop Mouse. For under $25, they are a real bargain, and make it so much easier to navigate around the screen than the built-in mouse pad.

Cosmetic Features

You will most likely be able to choose a black or silver laptop cover or outer shell. Some laptops are now offering more vanity colors. Definitely choose your favorite color if you can get the important internal components all the same. Don’t sacrifice the quality of your hardware for fashionable chartreuse!

Video Card If you want to play high end games, upgrade to a high end video card. It could cost $100 or more, but you’ll need the extra capacity to watch DVDs or stream videos online.

Speakers You may also want to purchase good external speakers since the built in speakers will likely not be of suitable entertainment quality.

Changing Computer Technology

We are all very much aware that technology changes rapidly. We see new models of cars, trucks, boats, appliances, retail clothing, etc. rolled out every year, so we expect and even anticipate change. The rapidity with which computer technology changes is a whole ‘nother game.

Computer technology changes every two weeks. The reason it takes so long for this change to occur is that it takes approximately two weeks to complete a production run. By the time one production is completed, a better chip or CPU or something else has been developed or improved, and the “outdated” production that was cutting edge technology two weeks ago is never made again.

It takes another two weeks to ship a batch from China, so by the time the purchaser receives a shipment at its warehouse, it hopes to already have the entire shipment sold. Wal-Mart, Amazon, and retailers all over the US buy some at a previously agreed-upon price.

This is a very competitive business and the big companies are under a lot of pressure to order just the amount that they can pre-sell. If they miss their estimates and have computers left over, they will quickly unload them on the wholesalers at reduced prices while it is still state-of-the-art technology.

If another two weeks goes by, they are left with “outdated” computers they can’t sell, so they may have leftover units they pre-sold to Wal-Mart for $700 and will now sell them for $500 just to move them. This is an area in which you can get a great deal on a laptop.

The big computer companies can’t afford to go below “market value” because they have to keep the price of their brand name high. There are smaller reputable computer companies that specialize in this area of the market, however, and this is where you can get a premium quality laptop for a great price.

Remember that regardless of the “brandname” which is added to a unit once it reaches the reseller, the parts inside are all made by the same seven Chinese manufacturers and the quality is the same across the board, with the exception of Acer, which I have previously mentioned.

Desktop Computer Checklist

Operating System (OS)

Linus _____

Mac OS X _____

Windows Vista _____

Windows XP _____

Central Processing Unit (CPU)

Turion _____

Intel _____

Hard Drive

160 GB _____

250 GB _____

320 GB _____

Random Access Memory (RAM)

1 GB _____

2 GB _____

Battery Upgrade

YES _____

NO _____

Screen Size

15.4 inch _____

17 inch _____

Other _____

Cordless Optical Mouse

YES _____

NO _____

Cosmetic Features

Color ________________

Other ________________

Video Card Upgrade

YES _____

NO _____

External Speakers

YES _____

NO _____

So, armed with this information, make your checklist and go shopping.
 
I found a great website to order from that makes it easy by walking you through every step and has free shipping, too!
Computer Genius USA