Maybe they do get paid

A followup to my last post: out of curiosity, I searched for more information on IBM’s student intern program, and found this page.  According to this, “Competitive salary is paid based on the number of credits completed toward a student’s degree.” So maybe the student who gets hired for this job will get paid after all.

But now I’m confused. (Which is not that hard to accomplish, actually.) If the job pays money, why are they looking for an “intern”? Don’t interns work without pay?

Then again, according to the online Merriam-Webster dictionary (I love Firefox’s search capabilities!), an intern is “an advanced student or graduate usually in a professional field (as medicine or teaching) gaining supervised practical experience”. This definition does not imply that the intern always goes without pay.

The morals of the story? Words can have multiple or ambiguous meanings. And, sometimes, I don’t necessarily know what I’m talking about. (You have been warned, dear reader.)

Like, duh

My post earlier this week was incorrect: it turns out that the Toronto Star’s website does support RSS feeds – you just have to click on a link or two to find them.

I’m spoiled: I’m used to seeing the RSS link right there on the main page.

4 to 6 weeks, or maybe not

Amazon.ca is confusing me. (Granted, that’s not hard to do.)

A couple of months ago, I ordered three baseball books from them. One of these books wasn’t scheduled to be published until this month. Because I’m trying to stay within budget (ha!), I selected the cheapest shipping option, which meant that I was willing to wait until all the books were ready and then have them shipped together.

Several weeks go by, as expected. Then, three things happened:

• On February 28th, they decided to ship two of the three books in a separate shipment (not charging me extra). I guess they figured I’d been waiting long enough, and was about to go postal or something.
• Earlier this week, they sent me a message saying that my third book had been delayed, and that I wasn’t going to receive it for 4 to 6 weeks.
• They sent me a message today saying that they had shipped the third book.

I’m happy to receive the book, but I’m thinking that maybe these guys need to send some memos to each other or something.