I basically agree with everything you said. However, what you want funding for isn't what rtb61 wants funding on. National broadband? What population center doesn't have broadband? Even many rural areas are getting broadband already. So why is that a federal spending issue? I took it to mean he wants public wifi, so he can use his ipad everywhere he goes, and that is definitely a pet project I have seen others mention.
Rebuild "all roadways and bridges"?? He's nuts. And that is certainly in the 'trillions of dollars wasted' department. "Rebuild bridges that are falling apart" would have been sensible, but that isn't what he advocated.
National high speed rail? Does he really mean 'national', or does he mean 'in the urban/suburban area I live in'? Or actually 'in the urban/suburban areas anyone who matters lives in'?
People throw these ideas around like they think we are a European country. High population density, small to medium land area, one or two main geography features. A project may be expensive, but needs very little versatility, and has huge immediate rewards to most of the tax-paying population.
We could get national broadband to 99% of the US, and people would complain they can't get wifi reception during a vacation in a national park. It doesn't matter that they are at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, or the middle of Yellowstone. They expect coverage, and the taxpayers had better damn well provide it.
That is what I mean by trillions of dollars wasted on pet projects.
Yes, but he hits the main democrat talking points, so he'll be modded informative and insightful. Rebuttals that have facts and logical reasoning will be dismissed as trolling.
Yes, cut a few hundred billion dollars from defense spending annually, so we can afford to spend trillions of dollars annually to do your pet projects, half of which don't make sense at all for the country.
Put a provision in the law that anyone proposing to change it, and take the funds for their pet projects or 'think of the children' bullcrap, is immediately removed from office, barred from lobbying for life, all family fortune including property is confiscated, and their offspring are all sterilized.
The roads you drive on are the same as the ones I drive on. The computers you can use are the same as the ones I can use. You have just as much access to the infrastructure you talk about as I do. If you live in an area with poor prospects, you have the same opportunity to move to a prosperous area as I do. I moved almost 5000 miles to have a better chance to earn a living. And the 'guaranteed job' waiting for me disappeared. Oh well, so now I'm here, making my own life as best I can. Nothing here was just handed to me.
I've built up my business mainly by walking door to door passing out letters to introduce myself to potential customers. I average one hit in fifty, and I can't do more than twenty in a day. Don't tell me I have to share credit of that with you or anyone else. Every single person in this country could do the same thing with their skills. The fact that most don't do so doesn't mean they can claim my labor as their own.
No, I'm not "working in computer repair". I run a business that specializes in supporting local businesses, by keeping their computers and networks up and running. That includes repairing computers when they break, which I am working on today. It also includes upgrading equipment, which is what the paperwork I referred to above is for. For the upgrade I did, the labor was $3,000, hardware was extra. The monthly payment from one of my contracted customers pays a third of my rent, for four hours of work. Every month. My ship is coming in just fine, thank you very much.
And I have several "rich people" as clients. Some of them know as much as you do about computers, but they make more money doing business and paying me to keep them up and running. That is my best selling point. Case in point, my first customer had enough money that their bank literally borrowed from them. But their server backup wasn't working right. On the day I walked into their business, as a cold call, I sat in their server closet for two hours to figure out what was going wrong. Turns out the backup was about 10MB too big for a single tape cartridge, which their previous computer support company ignored for three months.
That is what I do for a living, not computer repair.
. As for Ayn Rand, I read The Fountainhead. While I understand her philosophy, her writing is horrible. I've said it before, it's like being hit in the head with a load of bricks. Not to mention, she was a complete hypocrite in her personal life. Seems her philosophy was more a rationalization of being an asshole, than honestly believing the standards she put forth.
Unfortunately, the same is true of the average right-wing voter, and most right-wing politicians as well. They all seem to lack critical thinking skills. That is why they argue with the idiot liberals, using the liberal's words.
That's a big reason why I don't support the political party that most assume I would. I support individuals, even if I don't agree with them, based on their own qualities.
First off, I want to address the "(*cough* bullshit *cough)" thing. Either you think he is telling a true story, and you feel he is an idiot for many reasons which you point out, or you think he is lying and just making up bullshit. Argue one or the other. If he's lying, why bother critiquing his understanding of time zones?
Now, to your main arguments, contracted support and lazy frenchmen.
He stated he returned the $30 million of equipment, based "on the basis of them breaking their contractual duties." So I would assume at the least the French company agreed to provide knowledgeable and competent phone support during whatever work day his company had. If his company ran one shift, from 8am to 4pm in his own time zone, at the least he had support, mandated in the contract, for that shift. If his company had three shifts working round the clock Monday to Friday, he had support, mandated in the contract, for at least first and second shift. And since third shift is working while it is daytime in France, it would make sense to have that covered as a matter of course, since the frenchmen are at work and all.
Maybe I am putting too much faith in support contracts being written by non-imbeciles, but the above assumptions seem the most likely situation based on his account.
As for the French only working for three hours, he never stated they clocked in at 1500 and clocked out at 1800. They are clocked in and drawing pay all day, but simply not actually doing any work while at work. Or that is how I read his story.
OK, I read it again. My point is still the same. You are making voluntary slavery the norm for everyone, because the alternative is crappy.
No, I'm acknowledging that for some people - in my opinion a large and growing cohort due largely to the anti-employee laws that have taken shape over the last few decades - "wage slavery" is reality. Not because the alternative is crappy - moving back in with your parents is "crappy" - but because the alternative is impossible (no work means a week or two later no food and no rent payments).
You are still talking about voluntary slavery, as opposed to actual slavery with whips, chains, and guns pointed at you. And if people have the mindset that they are slaves, that is their reality. My mindset was that I was a worker, working for a crappy manager, but I could change that situation at my will. And having family or not having family doesn't change that, it just makes the situation more or less crappy. By the way, I have been homeless before, but did what I needed to to fix it.
It is all about the way you view employment. Do they own you, or are you controlling your own life, while working to support yourself and plan for the future?
They don't own me because I was raised in a solidly middle-class household, have a relatively high income, a good education, ~12 months worth of living expenses in liquid savings and through multiple nationalities the ability to move countries in search of work. Many, many people are not as fortunate as I am. I recognise that. You don't.
Of course I recognize not many people are as fortunate as you, I am one of those people. I was raised as poor white-trash, we grew our own food, and mom made some of our clothes. She still makes her own. I have no savings to speak of, and am one bad week away from eviction every month. And many have it worse than I do. But it doesn't mean they can't overcome it, even on their own with no family support. People do it every day.
My point from the beginning is that it really depends on how you view your situation. Way too many people consider themselves unworthy of better condition, others use class hatred to excuse their own bad choices or laziness. But some, from the exact same circumstances, make a life for themselves, based on their own effort, intelligence, street-smarts, insight, whatever advantage they can use. So, I reject the automatic assumption that anyone is stuck where they are, enslaved by big bad business, and wholly blameless for their situation.
But thank you for replying. I always enjoy seeing others' viewpoints, whether I agree with them or not.
OK, I read it again. My point is still the same. You are making voluntary slavery the norm for everyone, because the alternative is crappy. The fact that I had a small bonus of family doesn't change that.
It is all about the way you view employment. Do they own you, or are you controlling your own life, while working to support yourself and plan for the future?
And my point isn't that only people who have family have the choice. I would have done the same without that support. Your argument is false, and the self-fulling prophecy of "the bossman owns me, I must do whatever he says" is not rubbish, it is reality for too many people. It should not be.
I think it is all the college students that mainly repeat the propaganda their professors funnel into their brains. There is certainly little indication their positions are derived from years of actual experience making a living on their own. And certainly no chance they have had the gumption to actually start their own business.
Note: For those who think putting up fliers for cheap computer/webpage work counts as starting a business, it doesn't.
Thing is though that the at-will employment relationship is very much lopsided in favor of the employer.
If you think that is true, for you it always will be.
I quit a job three days before Christmas one year, because the manager was an asshole. It wasn't worth my health or happiness to work there, so I quit.
If you are so focused on being someone's slave, that you can't conceive doing that, there is no hope for you. Go be someone's bitch, and leave the rest of us alone.
That's just the thing though. When my ship comes in, it is because I am here at 2 in the morning, reading a little/. after testing a hard drive for errors so I can install it in a customer's computer in the morning. And I still have a half hour of paperwork to do before I go to bed for three hours. You are not next to me helping me do this. The government is not doing this work for me. I am doing it, on my own, for my own business. That I sure as hell did build. Without your or the government's help.
So when my ship comes in, keep your fucking hands off of it.
No, I mean the people in front of me buying something that takes the cashier forever to ring up. Whether I stand in line behind 2 people or 20, it still usually takes a half hour to get out of that store.
Jill Stein of the Green Party was arrested outside the first debate between Obama and Romney at Hofstra University. She and her running mate Cheri Honkala were arrested and taken to jail for protesting the "mock debate, this mockery of democracy." This was on Oct 16, 2012.
She was also arrested a few weeks later for protesting the Keystone Pipeline, but her action at the debate is what I based my vote on. And as I said above, I don't really agree with much of their party planks, but I do support her integrity.
Slashdot Mirror
Awesome movie. I can't believe only two of us caught the reference.
When you retire, can you bequeath your user ID on me, Dread Poster Rogerborg?
I basically agree with everything you said. However, what you want funding for isn't what rtb61 wants funding on. National broadband? What population center doesn't have broadband? Even many rural areas are getting broadband already. So why is that a federal spending issue? I took it to mean he wants public wifi, so he can use his ipad everywhere he goes, and that is definitely a pet project I have seen others mention.
Rebuild "all roadways and bridges"?? He's nuts. And that is certainly in the 'trillions of dollars wasted' department. "Rebuild bridges that are falling apart" would have been sensible, but that isn't what he advocated.
National high speed rail? Does he really mean 'national', or does he mean 'in the urban/suburban area I live in'? Or actually 'in the urban/suburban areas anyone who matters lives in'?
People throw these ideas around like they think we are a European country. High population density, small to medium land area, one or two main geography features. A project may be expensive, but needs very little versatility, and has huge immediate rewards to most of the tax-paying population.
We could get national broadband to 99% of the US, and people would complain they can't get wifi reception during a vacation in a national park. It doesn't matter that they are at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, or the middle of Yellowstone. They expect coverage, and the taxpayers had better damn well provide it.
That is what I mean by trillions of dollars wasted on pet projects.
No, they are going to sell the F-18s for parts on eBay. I hope they don't decide to give free shipping; it would reduce the profit a bit.
Yes, but he hits the main democrat talking points, so he'll be modded informative and insightful. Rebuttals that have facts and logical reasoning will be dismissed as trolling.
Yes, cut a few hundred billion dollars from defense spending annually, so we can afford to spend trillions of dollars annually to do your pet projects, half of which don't make sense at all for the country.
Put a provision in the law that anyone proposing to change it, and take the funds for their pet projects or 'think of the children' bullcrap, is immediately removed from office, barred from lobbying for life, all family fortune including property is confiscated, and their offspring are all sterilized.
That should keep it safe for about 30 years.
Uh, I want to go to my cloud. Where's my cloud? I need my cloud.
WAAAHHH!!! SOMEONE STOLE MY CLOUD!!!
I know what you mean Dave.
This kind of attitude really annoys me.
I really don't care.
The roads you drive on are the same as the ones I drive on. The computers you can use are the same as the ones I can use. You have just as much access to the infrastructure you talk about as I do. If you live in an area with poor prospects, you have the same opportunity to move to a prosperous area as I do. I moved almost 5000 miles to have a better chance to earn a living. And the 'guaranteed job' waiting for me disappeared. Oh well, so now I'm here, making my own life as best I can. Nothing here was just handed to me.
I've built up my business mainly by walking door to door passing out letters to introduce myself to potential customers. I average one hit in fifty, and I can't do more than twenty in a day. Don't tell me I have to share credit of that with you or anyone else. Every single person in this country could do the same thing with their skills. The fact that most don't do so doesn't mean they can claim my labor as their own.
No, I'm not "working in computer repair". I run a business that specializes in supporting local businesses, by keeping their computers and networks up and running. That includes repairing computers when they break, which I am working on today. It also includes upgrading equipment, which is what the paperwork I referred to above is for. For the upgrade I did, the labor was $3,000, hardware was extra. The monthly payment from one of my contracted customers pays a third of my rent, for four hours of work. Every month. My ship is coming in just fine, thank you very much.
And I have several "rich people" as clients. Some of them know as much as you do about computers, but they make more money doing business and paying me to keep them up and running. That is my best selling point. Case in point, my first customer had enough money that their bank literally borrowed from them. But their server backup wasn't working right. On the day I walked into their business, as a cold call, I sat in their server closet for two hours to figure out what was going wrong. Turns out the backup was about 10MB too big for a single tape cartridge, which their previous computer support company ignored for three months.
That is what I do for a living, not computer repair.
.
As for Ayn Rand, I read The Fountainhead. While I understand her philosophy, her writing is horrible. I've said it before, it's like being hit in the head with a load of bricks. Not to mention, she was a complete hypocrite in her personal life. Seems her philosophy was more a rationalization of being an asshole, than honestly believing the standards she put forth.
I'm going to burst your bubble: It's already in the port.
Unfortunately, the same is true of the average right-wing voter, and most right-wing politicians as well. They all seem to lack critical thinking skills. That is why they argue with the idiot liberals, using the liberal's words.
That's a big reason why I don't support the political party that most assume I would. I support individuals, even if I don't agree with them, based on their own qualities.
First off, I want to address the "(*cough* bullshit *cough)" thing. Either you think he is telling a true story, and you feel he is an idiot for many reasons which you point out, or you think he is lying and just making up bullshit. Argue one or the other. If he's lying, why bother critiquing his understanding of time zones?
Now, to your main arguments, contracted support and lazy frenchmen.
He stated he returned the $30 million of equipment, based "on the basis of them breaking their contractual duties." So I would assume at the least the French company agreed to provide knowledgeable and competent phone support during whatever work day his company had. If his company ran one shift, from 8am to 4pm in his own time zone, at the least he had support, mandated in the contract, for that shift. If his company had three shifts working round the clock Monday to Friday, he had support, mandated in the contract, for at least first and second shift. And since third shift is working while it is daytime in France, it would make sense to have that covered as a matter of course, since the frenchmen are at work and all.
Maybe I am putting too much faith in support contracts being written by non-imbeciles, but the above assumptions seem the most likely situation based on his account.
As for the French only working for three hours, he never stated they clocked in at 1500 and clocked out at 1800. They are clocked in and drawing pay all day, but simply not actually doing any work while at work. Or that is how I read his story.
No, I'm acknowledging that for some people - in my opinion a large and growing cohort due largely to the anti-employee laws that have taken shape over the last few decades - "wage slavery" is reality. Not because the alternative is crappy - moving back in with your parents is "crappy" - but because the alternative is impossible (no work means a week or two later no food and no rent payments).
You are still talking about voluntary slavery, as opposed to actual slavery with whips, chains, and guns pointed at you. And if people have the mindset that they are slaves, that is their reality. My mindset was that I was a worker, working for a crappy manager, but I could change that situation at my will. And having family or not having family doesn't change that, it just makes the situation more or less crappy. By the way, I have been homeless before, but did what I needed to to fix it.
They don't own me because I was raised in a solidly middle-class household, have a relatively high income, a good education, ~12 months worth of living expenses in liquid savings and through multiple nationalities the ability to move countries in search of work.
Many, many people are not as fortunate as I am. I recognise that. You don't.
Of course I recognize not many people are as fortunate as you, I am one of those people. I was raised as poor white-trash, we grew our own food, and mom made some of our clothes. She still makes her own. I have no savings to speak of, and am one bad week away from eviction every month. And many have it worse than I do. But it doesn't mean they can't overcome it, even on their own with no family support. People do it every day.
My point from the beginning is that it really depends on how you view your situation. Way too many people consider themselves unworthy of better condition, others use class hatred to excuse their own bad choices or laziness. But some, from the exact same circumstances, make a life for themselves, based on their own effort, intelligence, street-smarts, insight, whatever advantage they can use. So, I reject the automatic assumption that anyone is stuck where they are, enslaved by big bad business, and wholly blameless for their situation.
But thank you for replying. I always enjoy seeing others' viewpoints, whether I agree with them or not.
OK, I read it again. My point is still the same. You are making voluntary slavery the norm for everyone, because the alternative is crappy. The fact that I had a small bonus of family doesn't change that.
It is all about the way you view employment. Do they own you, or are you controlling your own life, while working to support yourself and plan for the future?
I didn't "have a family" by "blind luck".
And my point isn't that only people who have family have the choice. I would have done the same without that support. Your argument is false, and the self-fulling prophecy of "the bossman owns me, I must do whatever he says" is not rubbish, it is reality for too many people. It should not be.
That's the thing. I was living paycheck to paycheck. Thankfully I had family to fall back on, until I got another job.
But my point is that the mentality of "you have no choice, big business owns you" is a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Fucking timezones. How do they work?
Because companies with customers around the globe still only run one shift, with no support engineers staffed in the off hours.
You dolt.
My thoughts exactly.
And I have gone into work 3 hours early to match someone else's timezone. Most productive part of my day for several months back then.
I think it is all the college students that mainly repeat the propaganda their professors funnel into their brains. There is certainly little indication their positions are derived from years of actual experience making a living on their own. And certainly no chance they have had the gumption to actually start their own business.
Note: For those who think putting up fliers for cheap computer/webpage work counts as starting a business, it doesn't.
Thing is though that the at-will employment relationship is very much lopsided in favor of the employer.
If you think that is true, for you it always will be.
I quit a job three days before Christmas one year, because the manager was an asshole. It wasn't worth my health or happiness to work there, so I quit.
If you are so focused on being someone's slave, that you can't conceive doing that, there is no hope for you. Go be someone's bitch, and leave the rest of us alone.
That's just the thing though. When my ship comes in, it is because I am here at 2 in the morning, reading a little /. after testing a hard drive for errors so I can install it in a customer's computer in the morning. And I still have a half hour of paperwork to do before I go to bed for three hours. You are not next to me helping me do this. The government is not doing this work for me. I am doing it, on my own, for my own business. That I sure as hell did build. Without your or the government's help.
So when my ship comes in, keep your fucking hands off of it.
Damn PR Man, you're good!
Your mod fu is far greater than mine.
No, I mean the people in front of me buying something that takes the cashier forever to ring up. Whether I stand in line behind 2 people or 20, it still usually takes a half hour to get out of that store.
Jill Stein of the Green Party was arrested outside the first debate between Obama and Romney at Hofstra University. She and her running mate Cheri Honkala were arrested and taken to jail for protesting the "mock debate, this mockery of democracy." This was on Oct 16, 2012.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/16/hofstra-debate-jill-stein-arrested-green-party_n_1971960.html
She was also arrested a few weeks later for protesting the Keystone Pipeline, but her action at the debate is what I based my vote on. And as I said above, I don't really agree with much of their party planks, but I do support her integrity.