Roads are funded by gas taxes, AND federal and state contributions (from other taxes). Schools are funded by local school taxes AND federal and state contributions. And the original post referred to taxes in general.
Yes, there is waste in government functions, but many of those functions are essential, and we haven't found better ways to do them.
I don't know what 'average' is:) but I'm looking at my W2, I made slightly more than 100K (which puts me way above median salary), and pay less than 25% counting ALL deductions (including social security). Adding sales and property tax would make it close to 1/3 of my income.
Although modern antibiotics are probably the biggest factor, life expectancy was around 50 in 1913 and is about 75 now; I bet you that things like potable water, health departments making it less likely that I get tainted foods and the FDA, among other government functions have helped this.
There's many different people, with many different opinions. *some* push for pure capitalism, others for some (or a lot of) protectionism. Nobody u (necessarily) throwing away any ideals.
For the *first* job you'll get out of school, grades *do* matter a lot. For the *first* job you get while *in* school (internships etc) grades do matter too.
But also, the impression you make on your fellow students and teachers matter a lot (many times you get jobs from them), and a good way to make a good impression is to be a good student.
Of course, get an internship, volunteer, or get a crappy computing job (Geeksquad type, hell desk etc), so you can hit the ground running for your first real job.
But no...I hear in some areas of the US, we actually have US public schools that teach in languages other than English. Not a course...but the whole curriculum is in Spanish...that is absurd.
It is not absurd, if you want either of two things: 1. Have Americans learn Spanish 2. Have recent immigrants learn academic stuff while they learn English.
Do you see a better way for achieving either of those goals ?
Nit picking, English is not required for citizenship, only for naturalization (and even then, not really required since you could get a waiver).
Also, the vast majority of immigrants learn English pretty quickly; it is just that learning a language takes time; most immigrants are doing a *lot* of effort to integrate.
And, the signs at Home Depot (and other merchants) are NOT immigrant's fault; they're Home Depot's (same for all other marketing materials:).
I grew up in Mexico, and CS undergrad (at the geekiest uni in my town) was about 2 males per one female. Our masters program gets many people from India, and we have about the same rate.
So this is something that is much worse in the US (but I don't know about any other countries). It is a combination of biology and culture, and our culture makes it worse than others.
But they should NOT act like the 1950s is the current American culture, or as if only British had any influence on it.
Not to preach, and other Americans can do what they want:) but I think we should appreciate current and past American culture, but ALL of it, and also look at other cultures and see what we like from them (as individuals).
We should say as American as Apple pie, but also as American as Chop Suey, and as American as Burritos (these last two are created in and typical of America, as opposed to Apple pie which is eaten all over the world).
Well, he *might* eventually get all those rights *if* he becomes a citizen; OTOH he may not become a citizen; he does NOT have any of those rights *now*.
Plus, we can vote, he can't (don't know about you, but I really appreciate that one), I *could* get unemployment benefits, medicaid etc (hope never need to), which he can't. Also, I know that my rights are *permanent* and not conditional; the state department could kick him out anytime for no reason; they can't take my citizenship away from me.
I can't see the original message, so I do not now what was originally said, but to say that foreigners have the same rights as citizens in the USA is idiotic.
I'm in GA (Actually, I'm a prof at a uni here). We have the HOPE scholarship, which makes tuition $0 for any qualified student, and even covers some book costs.
If you pay tuition, it is about $1600 per semester; and you don't pay any more money for hours after 12 credit ours. If you finish in 8 semesters, you got $12,800 in tuition costs. The starting salaries for most of our grads are in the high 40s (Computing, in Atlanta area), say $45K, which means about $30K after taxes; you can pay your tuition in one year if you want (if you live frugally).
So, 1 and 2 hold, if you know what you're doing. BTW, I lived in Louisiana and South Carolina, and both had a similar scholarship program. Maybe things are different in other places though.
I teach a DB class, and make my students do a simple web app (in php); I teach the version of functions with no placeholder since it is easier to debug (just print the string you're sending); this is also what you see in most examples (just googled pg_query, 143K hits, pg_query_params got 9K hits, ~ 14 to 1 ration !)
Of course, I'm changing my ways now, but unless we start teaching the beginners right, we're in trouble:)
Will change mean that I am not called a racist if I disagree with Obama? No, you already had that. Now you may still be called racist and may actually be racist, but just disagreeing with Obama has never been a sure sign.
Will change mean that slavery is now something that can finally be put to bed 145 years after it ended? Sorta:) Problem is legal discrimination ended just 40 years ago or so, so many people are still feeling its effects.
Will change mean that people can have a rabid hatred of Obama as people had of Bush and still be free? Sure; but you had that before.
Will change mean that people with little money will have more money? Yes, some.
With change my conservative values will that make me a target of hate? No, just derision:) but it depends on what you mean by conservative values.
Will change mean the majority be sensitive to my beliefs and values? Maybe... what beliefs and values ? what do you mean by sensitive ?
Will change mean nothing has really changed but people are now happy Europe is not mad at us any more? No and yes ?:)
Will change mean that our troops will be not be forgotten. When have they been ?
Will change mean that government will not take over our 401k, healthcare, car payments, house payments, freedom? Sorta. works for 401L, payments; govt will probably (hopefully?:) be more involved with healthcare; government, by definition impinges on freedom, but we will probably regain some of our freedoms.
Will change mean that Obama will campaign for change in 2012?:)
Seriously; the main problem is getting a decent package so I can develop:) OpenMoko is like $400, and the greenphone was similar. It seems qtopia is marketed to phone makers, not to normal developers.
This was an interview for a ColdFusion dev; you can be a great generalist, but if you don't know that language, you should say it.
The detail questions let me know whether the person knows the language, as opposed to whether he/she is smart; two different questions. Although I learn really fast too, using a language for several products gives you a different level of knowledge.
Actually, all people die, eventually:), but people don't really die of heat stroke. I grew up in the Yucatan, with max daily temps of about 40C (104F) most of the year, and *never* heard of anybody die of heat stroke.
OTOH, people used to put the oddest things about cause of death before modern medicine:)
I teach an intro to databases class, and am not requiring a textbook anymore; I provide my materials electronically for free. My goal for next semester is to edit it as a full textbook and put it on lulu
Asimov wrote a series for teens where the hero is Lucky Starr. Wrote a couple as a kid and loved them. Also, many of his short stories are good for kids (there are probably a couple of antologies for kids)
I think most (all?) countries do 'a poor job of coupling teacher pay to teacher performance', because measuring teacher performance is really hard. Many teachers suck at some things and are great at others. Most teachers will improve over time, but the cycle is yearly, which means it will take a few years before they have worked out their bugs and have encountered enough variety of kids so they know what works for each.
Well, how do you measure teacher performance ? You can do class visits, but they won't tell you all the story, unless you visit a lot; you can test the students, but that involves student performance (how much did they know?), you can use growth models (test before, then after the year, and see how much they improved), but still the speed at which the kids learn will vary greatly (not exactly IQ, but combination of IQ, motivation, family support etc).
Basically, if you give me a classroom with 10 'smart', 'well adjusted' kids, with family support and enough money to send them to Kumon if I suck, and I will appear as the greatest teacher ever. Give me 20 'problem' kids, with zero family support, and a bad environment, and I will appear to suck:). It's really hard, I would say impossible, to control for all those variables with the data we have and in the time frames we work with.
Also, the tenure system was created to avoid politicians firing teachers for politics. If we didn't have it, you'd hear about teachers in Kansas or Georgia being fired for teaching Evolution. Teaching would suck even more and you'd get less qualified teachers (the smart ones would go do something else:). Finding the right balance is hard.
Slashdot Mirror
ESXi is free (although most of the 'advanced' features aren't)
Roads are funded by gas taxes, AND federal and state contributions (from other taxes). Schools are funded by local school taxes AND federal and state contributions. And the original post referred to taxes in general.
Yes, there is waste in government functions, but many of those functions are essential, and we haven't found better ways to do them.
I don't know what 'average' is :) but I'm looking at my W2, I made slightly more than 100K (which puts me way above median salary), and pay less than 25% counting ALL deductions (including social security). Adding sales and property tax would make it close to 1/3 of my income.
Although modern antibiotics are probably the biggest factor, life expectancy was around 50 in 1913 and is about 75 now; I bet you that things like potable water, health departments making it less likely that I get tainted foods and the FDA, among other government functions have helped this.
Sorry, couldn't resist
There's many different people, with many different opinions. *some* push for pure capitalism, others for some (or a lot of) protectionism. Nobody u (necessarily) throwing away any ideals.
For the *first* job you'll get out of school, grades *do* matter a lot. For the *first* job you get while *in* school (internships etc) grades do matter too.
But also, the impression you make on your fellow students and teachers matter a lot (many times you get jobs from them), and a good way to make a good impression is to be a good student.
Of course, get an internship, volunteer, or get a crappy computing job (Geeksquad type, hell desk etc), so you can hit the ground running for your first real job.
From what I see, I can't redistribute, so it's not open source; right ? do they use an OSI approved license ?
Also, it seemed several other products had the same issue :) they are available for free, or very cheap, but they're not open source
But no...I hear in some areas of the US, we actually have US public schools that teach in languages other than English. Not a course...but the whole curriculum is in Spanish...that is absurd.
It is not absurd, if you want either of two things: 1. Have Americans learn Spanish 2. Have recent immigrants learn academic stuff while they learn English.
Do you see a better way for achieving either of those goals ?
Nit picking, English is not required for citizenship, only for naturalization (and even then, not really required since you could get a waiver).
Also, the vast majority of immigrants learn English pretty quickly; it is just that learning a language takes time; most immigrants are doing a *lot* of effort to integrate.
And, the signs at Home Depot (and other merchants) are NOT immigrant's fault; they're Home Depot's (same for all other marketing materials :).
Every few months there's a new article about how few males are elementary teachers and how we need more male role models :)
I grew up in Mexico, and CS undergrad (at the geekiest uni in my town) was about 2 males per one female. Our masters program gets many people from India, and we have about the same rate.
So this is something that is much worse in the US (but I don't know about any other countries). It is a combination of biology and culture, and our culture makes it worse than others.
But they should NOT act like the 1950s is the current American culture, or as if only British had any influence on it.
Not to preach, and other Americans can do what they want :) but I think we should appreciate current and past American culture, but ALL of it, and also look at other cultures and see what we like from them (as individuals).
We should say as American as Apple pie, but also as American as Chop Suey, and as American as Burritos (these last two are created in and typical of America, as opposed to Apple pie which is eaten all over the world).
Well, he *might* eventually get all those rights *if* he becomes a citizen; OTOH he may not become a citizen; he does NOT have any of those rights *now*.
Plus, we can vote, he can't (don't know about you, but I really appreciate that one), I *could* get unemployment benefits, medicaid etc (hope never need to), which he can't. Also, I know that my rights are *permanent* and not conditional; the state department could kick him out anytime for no reason; they can't take my citizenship away from me.
I can't see the original message, so I do not now what was originally said, but to say that foreigners have the same rights as citizens in the USA is idiotic.
I'm in GA (Actually, I'm a prof at a uni here). We have the HOPE scholarship, which makes tuition $0 for any qualified student, and even covers some book costs.
If you pay tuition, it is about $1600 per semester; and you don't pay any more money for hours after 12 credit ours. If you finish in 8 semesters, you got $12,800 in tuition costs. The starting salaries for most of our grads are in the high 40s (Computing, in Atlanta area), say $45K, which means about $30K after taxes; you can pay your tuition in one year if you want (if you live frugally).
So, 1 and 2 hold, if you know what you're doing. BTW, I lived in Louisiana and South Carolina, and both had a similar scholarship program. Maybe things are different in other places though.
I teach a DB class, and make my students do a simple web app (in php); I teach the version of functions with no placeholder since it is easier to debug (just print the string you're sending); this is also what you see in most examples (just googled pg_query, 143K hits, pg_query_params got 9K hits, ~ 14 to 1 ration !)
Of course, I'm changing my ways now, but unless we start teaching the beginners right, we're in trouble :)
Will change mean that I am not called a racist if I disagree with Obama?
No, you already had that. Now you may still be called racist and may actually be racist, but just disagreeing with Obama has never been a sure sign.
Will change mean that slavery is now something that can finally be put to bed 145 years after it ended? :) Problem is legal discrimination ended just 40 years ago or so, so many people are still feeling its effects.
Sorta
Will change mean that people can have a rabid hatred of Obama as people had of Bush and still be free?
Sure; but you had that before.
Will change mean that people with little money will have more money?
Yes, some.
With change my conservative values will that make me a target of hate? :) but it depends on what you mean by conservative values.
No, just derision
Will change mean the majority be sensitive to my beliefs and values? ... what beliefs and values ? what do you mean by sensitive ?
Maybe
Will change mean nothing has really changed but people are now happy Europe is not mad at us any more? :)
No and yes ?
Will change mean that our troops will be not be forgotten.
When have they been ?
Will change mean that government will not take over our 401k, healthcare, car payments, house payments, freedom? :) be more involved with healthcare; government, by definition impinges on freedom, but we will probably regain some of our freedoms.
Sorta. works for 401L, payments; govt will probably (hopefully?
Will change mean that Obama will campaign for change in 2012? :)
Seriously; the main problem is getting a decent package so I can develop :) OpenMoko is like $400, and the greenphone was similar. It seems qtopia is marketed to phone makers, not to normal developers.
This was an interview for a ColdFusion dev; you can be a great generalist, but if you don't know that language, you should say it.
The detail questions let me know whether the person knows the language, as opposed to whether he/she is smart; two different questions. Although I learn really fast too, using a language for several products gives you a different level of knowledge.
Actually, all people die, eventually :), but people don't really die of heat stroke. I grew up in the Yucatan, with max daily temps of about 40C (104F) most of the year, and *never* heard of anybody die of heat stroke.
OTOH, people used to put the oddest things about cause of death before modern medicine :)
For many, there isn't.
Oksana Chusovitina won a silver medal in vault (and she won her other olympic medal in 1992 :).
I teach an intro to databases class, and am not requiring a textbook anymore; I provide my materials electronically for free. My goal for next semester is to edit it as a full textbook and put it on lulu
Asimov wrote a series for teens where the hero is Lucky Starr. Wrote a couple as a kid and loved them. Also, many of his short stories are good for kids (there are probably a couple of antologies for kids)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucky_Starr_series
I think most (all?) countries do 'a poor job of coupling teacher pay to teacher performance', because measuring teacher performance is really hard. Many teachers suck at some things and are great at others. Most teachers will improve over time, but the cycle is yearly, which means it will take a few years before they have worked out their bugs and have encountered enough variety of kids so they know what works for each.
:). It's really hard, I would say impossible, to control for all those variables with the data we have and in the time frames we work with.
:). Finding the right balance is hard.
Well, how do you measure teacher performance ? You can do class visits, but they won't tell you all the story, unless you visit a lot; you can test the students, but that involves student performance (how much did they know?), you can use growth models (test before, then after the year, and see how much they improved), but still the speed at which the kids learn will vary greatly (not exactly IQ, but combination of IQ, motivation, family support etc).
Basically, if you give me a classroom with 10 'smart', 'well adjusted' kids, with family support and enough money to send them to Kumon if I suck, and I will appear as the greatest teacher ever. Give me 20 'problem' kids, with zero family support, and a bad environment, and I will appear to suck
Also, the tenure system was created to avoid politicians firing teachers for politics. If we didn't have it, you'd hear about teachers in Kansas or Georgia being fired for teaching Evolution. Teaching would suck even more and you'd get less qualified teachers (the smart ones would go do something else