THe New York Times has an article entitled African Languages Grow as a Wikipedia Presence by Noam Cohen (Published 8/26/2006)

In the article, Cohen states that Wikipedia is available in many languages. The article specifically targets the Swahili Wikipedia and how editors such as Ndesanjo Macha, trained as a lawyer in Tanzania and now directs a Boys and Girls Club in Greensboro, N.C., has led the Swahili Wikipedia to 1000 entries, a milestone for smaller Wikipedia language sites.

It is good to see Wikipedia get more coverage in the media. This time more positive coverage, instead of negative articles that focus on how “inaccurate” Wikipedia is.

Once I am back at Loyola (according to my Online Calculator classes at Loyola start in 143 days, or 4 months 26 days from today) I will update that article. The University Archives librarian says there are some major inaccuracies.

My younger brother tried to get into Snakes on a Plane last weekend, but the lady at the door was keeping track of who all had tickets. They couldn’t get in. So there goes $30 (there were a few of his friends with him) towards Accepted.

What makes Snakes such an amazing movie is that it goes that extra mile and gets an R rating. It is hilarious in how over the top it is. People getting bit all over the place, mile-high-club gone bad. Famous quotes.

But its audience is young males, like my brother, and they can’t get in.

Why didn’t snakes get the $20-30 million it was expecting? It’s the rating baby.

I have never had so much fun to be in an audience in my life. And the audience was only 14 people.

Snakes on a Plane wasn’t overrated. Well, it was, but the amazing amount of FUN the movie is, along with some iconic lines that will go down in history (”That’s it. I want these motherfucking snakes off this motherfucking plane”) make it, and I’m sad to say this, one of my favorite movies of the year.

The movie played itself off as an action thriller, or a horror or something, but Samuel L. Jackson was correct, it is just a movie you would spend your afternoons with a friend watching. And your friends are going to be laughing their ass off too.

I would hate to see the PG-13 version of the film, this movie was just great as an R rated film.

Alright, I am finished with 2 seasons of the TV show Arrested Development and just finished the first episode of Season 3. Great show. David Cross is a great actor.

That’s another show that I have seen the entire series in a row (except I haven’t finished with Season 3, working on that.)

Lets give the list of shows I have seen beginning to end:

The Sopranos
Big Love
Deadwood
Six Feet Under
Lost
House
Battlestar Galactica
Prison Break

On my ToDo List:
Scrubs
Smallville

$35,780..
$35,780..

For a year at Loyola University Chicago, it costs $35,780. I go for 1 semester, so $17,890 for Spring of 2007.

Bah!

Now I never realized how expensive Loyola really was. I was (and will be) paying approximately $11-12k/semester for my Loyola education. But my financial aid report doesn’t report my need-based grants. So the cost of a Loyola Education is $35,780 a year. Including Room and Board, of course.

See, Loyola Financial Aid thinks I am going part time. Which isn’t exactly true. I am going 0 time. I am not taking courses for one semester while visiting another school. So essentially Loyola considers me a “student” who is simply not taking credits. I am a student in the sense that I am already accepted to the university and have a record there, but not that I am taking courses this fall. But when I want credits to go back in to Loyola I am treated as a transfer student. Sorta.

Anyways, I’ll get everything sorted out before Spring 2007.

Still… $11-12k/semester is a ton of money. I am more than willing to spend it, because I signed up for a top-quality Jesuit education, but with UWM costing me $3.5k/semester in tuition (no room and board) I just have to wonder, is my education worth it.

Actually. That is interesting. Room and board at Loyola is listed at $9,614/year. That’s $4807/semester. Figure 11k-5k = 6k/semester in tuition after financial aid. The cost of UWM for me to stay at home is $3480/semester. So it is $6,000 for Loyola, and $3500 for UWM. Now remember, I get NO financial assistance to stay in Loyola’s dorms, it just isn’t setup that way.

So if you planted UWM in Chicago, and I was in their dorms, I would pay essentially $2.5k less to go to UWM, assuming the housing is the same price (high cost of housing will apply to any school there.)

Hmm, interesting. So the premium that I am paying at Loyola is twofold: I am getting a great high-quality education (which I could get at UWM too,) and I am staying in a great city. All for (this is a rough one) $4800/semester in room and board and $6200 in tuition.

Thank god for Financial Aid. And yes, the premium to live in Chicago is worth every cent.