Pack for a Blackout Thanksgiving - HackCollege Season 2 Episode 7

Just in time for turkey day. Save your mom the ironing job by packing your clothes in a way that prevents wrinkles. Then, scare the crap out of her by telling her that the average college student has had a black-out before. Plus, Kelly and Chris discuss how the government is buying $6.5 billion in student loans.Topics this week:

• Virginia Tech's text message alert system failed during a false alarm
• A new website that gets you paid for getting good grades
• The Education Department buys up $6.5 billion in student loans
• Use "bundle wrapping" to keep your clothes from getting wrinkled in a suitcase
• What do 101 college students say when asked: Have you ever blacked out?

Sponsors this week:

• Radar.net, the cameraphone picture-sharing service
• Squarespace

Comments

[Kevin Cupp]

I go to Virginia Tech, and they told us it was the company who runs the service that failed. It didn't completely fail though, I got the text messages that were supposed to be sent that day, and also got an email and a phone call (VT Alerts offers all kinds of ways of delivering emergency info http://www.alerts.vt.edu/). They also do tests of the system once or twice a semester, so we'll get it right eventually.

[devin]

Hey, great episode. You guys should do an episode or a post about how you find all the hacks you find. I'd kinda like to know what websites you guys check for hacks/fun/buying stuff/listening to music or whatever. These are some of my favorite:

lifehacker.com
uncrate.com
ted.org
joshspear.com
acquiremag.com
whiskeymilitia.com
pandora.com
digg.com