Nerdvana

I loved university. The exchange of ideas, being exposed to new ways of looking at the world, absolutely loved it. Since I left I have missed university a good deal. But I have found the solution!!!! (yes that many exclamation points!) It is called Open Course Ware. A number of universities including, MIT, Tufts, Carnegie Mellon, Michigan State University and several others have put course materials along with downloadable notes, exam questions, quizes, and youtube videos of lectures for a number of their classes. When I heard about this I was almost giddy. Could it be real? Was this another one of those cruel internet hoaxes?(unlikely) Then I went to the site.

I read in the book Cryptonomicon that the word nirvana could more accurately be pronounced Nerdvana. That is what this is. Nirvana for nerds. Any class or topic that you can imagine. Everything there are classes on Anthropology, Economics, Biological Engineering, Foreign Languages and everything in between. For the past two days I have just been sampling going from one course to another looking at at the online information, reviewing the course notes, checking out the 0nline lectures. It. Is. Amazing. Whoever thought of this should get a Nobel Prize or at least a really nice lapel pin.