Given your perspective then, I have to ask: is the mutual cannibalization of Uber with Lyft a sign that they're already beginning to peak and thus to fade? And will the regulated taxi services survive?
A really BIG world-war, with die-offs in the millions. Once that's done, we won't need to worry about a post-human economy. Everything will be right-sized... whether we like it or not.
I do it on occasion to fulfill the need to pick a fight. Sometimes the aggression just comes surging forth and rather than go down to a bar or a club and risk life, limb, and jail time, I come on here or on other sites to troll. Not saying I'm proud of it, but getting into a rhetorical fight is almost as satisfying as getting into a physical fight. I don't care about politics or philosophy, I just focus on some guy (usually another troll) who's a little too certain for my tastes, and go at it. Then afterwards, win or lose (and I lose a LOT more than I win, but that isn't the point), I feel better and I'm able to rejoin the real world and be decent and human and polite.
I'm not saying I'm evil or sociopathic, I'm just saying I troll because sometimes a man has just gotta get into a fight. Given that, sometimes I think the trolls over on Jezebel are doing the same thing... they're not necessarily misogynistic so much as itching for a fight with their female counterparts.
I agree with you in principle, but the rocket scientists are outnumbered by the businessmen (primarily Finance) and the blue-collar voters who do the grunt work. They're the ones who stand to lose the most because they both benefit from an inefficient economic structure like that of ULA or a government contractor firm in general. The executives get to charge astounding amounts of money, and the blue collar workers get a protected job that's shielded more than most from economic fluctuations prevalent in private industry. Hmmm... now that I think about it, you could cast this as a caste struggle: the upper and lower class uniting against the middle class. White collar workers like yourself are cheering on SpaceX, but SpaceX would undo the economic structure that benefits the upper class and the working class.
My I.Q. score is 119, which is pathetic because I couldn't even muster up enough Brawndo to bust out one more point and make it an even number. I punch myself in the balls every morning for breakfast, and have been doing so since I was four. I can read, but only out loud and I still haven't mastered punctuation. I believed everything I read, saw, and heard as a teenager and as such contracted every venereal disease known to man, got convicted for cattle buggery, and am forbidden to set foot inside the state of Rhode Island. When asked to program using Vi, I do so in EMacs, and I do so by flogging my keyboard with my limp penis. I blame Obama for having the nerve to be Dubya's father, I choke on chewing gum when attempting to walk, and I make all my phone calls while I'm on the toilet experiencing my weekly bout of dysentery. I keep on trying to run Android on my iPhone 3G, Windows on my Linux desktop, and I still cannot wear matching socks. I, sirs, am a complete retard.
The WASP community has been doing that to minorities for over a hundred years now. Redlining, anti-Catholic leagues, race riots targeting Chinese, marijuana laws... take your pick. Those were all legally valid (or overlooked) political tactics used by government and/or WASPs to screw over Americans who weren't like them.
Gotta second this--there is no such thing as The American People. There is no singular voice of authority and righteousness that has coalesced from a totalitarian and enlightened gestalt of minds. Rather, there are the American Peoples, many of whom bear conflicting interests and actively fight their disagreements out using the political theater. Those Senators are representing people who will be directly harmed by SpaceX's success. Those people and their employers have hired lobbyists to advocate on their behalf, which is totally within their constitutional rights. We just don't like it because their needs directly conflict with ours.
Those senators are doing exactly what they should be doing: protecting the interests of their constituents. If SpaceX continues to be effective and successful, then Boeing and ULA will start losing money, and that means they'll start cutting back on employment at those factories, which are in the jurisdiction of those senators. Which means unemployed voters, and large amounts of unemployed voters trump any economic benefit that cheaper spaceflight may bring. Especially when we're talking working class people who are unable to migrate to new jobs/locations. Before that happens, a lot of the potentially affected voters (and their employers) are hiring lobbyists to advocate on their behalf to stop SpaceX by any means necessary. This is exactly how democracy functions, and those senators are doing their jobs--as much as we may dislike it.
Any options for those of us who aren't running Android? Any workarounds or recommendations? This is a great idea, I just haven't read any suggestions or tips on this thread about how to record using iPhone or Windows phone.
What if we figured out a way to empower the service reps to fuck over their management but still stay within legal employment guidelines? After all, they've got to be the ones who hate all of this the most because they're being paid to be bad guys. And not just that, they probably were in circumstances that compelled them to choose that employment. Like, calling up a service rep and tieing up their line for twenty minutes with complaints and threats to cancel service, but then using the rep's authorization system to get discounts and freebies that end up benefiting you, benefiting the rep, and fucking over the operating costs of Comcast in the long term?
Not anymore. Fat devs and programmers don't get hired on as full time staff anymore. If they manage to get hired at all, they'r contractors. If you're under thirty and skinny, basically, then you will be hired because you're perceived as being a minimal risk in light of rising health care costs. Oh, and you send the informal corporate message that Health is In.
Dude, I got no problem with socks and sandles guys. Knock yourself out--hell, send me photos of yourself giving me a goatse in socks and sandles and I'll critique your thread counts and anal wrinkles. What I have a problem with are senior devs that smell like they live in a dumpster that's been coated with the oils from their armpits, wear clothes that came from said dumpsters, and who insist on eating only vegan bean soup from Whole Foods for every meal because they are recovering from an eating disorder (and gawd forbid I should eat anything else other than vegan bean soup from Whole Foods around them because I might trigger their eating disorder again or a sudden food allergy they didn't know they had until yesterday). AND said dudes make a LOT of money--more than enough to hire a therapist to help coach them through managing sensory input and a maid service for their clothes.
but gawddamn, if I meet ONE more unshaven skinny ratty-haired white dev/programmer in his late twenties/early thirties with an aversion to water, soap, matching colors and food (what is it with devs and eating disorders???) here in Seattle, I might just have to defenestrate the fucker to save my sanity. Preferably out an upper window at the downtown Macy's, so that said dev/programmer might actually observe cleanliness and fashion through visual osmosis prior to becoming one with pavement. I don't care if said beautiful mind is autistic, aspie, or what-not--Hygiene is source code!!!!!! Execute it on a daily basis! And if the sensory stimulus is THAT much of an overload then spend some of your six figure salary to get therapy and coaching on how to minimize input while maximizing the ability to incorporate the close proximity of other people!!! I much prefer the Indian and Chinese devs and programmers, not least because they don't have eating disorders and they both understand and practice a minimal standard of hygiene.
One more level down--that politician was elected by a population that is overwhelmingly white, elderly, doesn't travel much, gets their news from television, and has elevated children to the level of sacred cows.
There's a basic foundation that's roughly agreed upon, delineated by rules and best practices. Once those are mastered, then coding becomes an art form. And as art it can be subjective, defy description and all apparent rules of logic, and yet work incredibly well. If there's one thing I've learned on/. over the years from reading all the arguments between coders, it is that there is more than one way to become a master of one's craft (where coding is considered) and that coding becomes Art. Which I personally think is cool.
Because we don't want to give blacks, hispanics, Arabs and freeloaders the same benefits and privileges that middle-to-upper class White, South Asian, and East Asian Americans enjoy.
In my experience, harsh language is best tempered (and employed) by someone who uses it to judge the situation and provide correction, in such a manner as to insure it doesn't happen again. The language used gets as personal as it needs to, and no further. Ideally, no personal attacks would be used, just a critique of the work. And if that person who employed it happened to be in the wrong, they apologize. Does Linus acknowledge his own mistakes? And, if Linus goes over the line, does he acknowledge and apologize for it? If he does, then he'd be someone I'd want to work for--because I know that the occasional negative reinforcement would be beneficial and it's not personal. From what I understand, Steve Jobs was that way at Apple: a giant asshole, but capable of admitting when he was wrong, and backing his team to the fullest.
This is actually a very good piece of advice. Now that I'm in my late thirties and an established professional, I am shocked at how many of my peers don't know how to cook, clean, handle money, or their domestic affairs in general. These are invaluable skills to have, and form the basis for many good jobs.
I get what you're saying, Curunir, but I have to agree with OP because the men and women making these decisions are looking at the business like a game. And in that perspective, American workers do cost too much. To illustrate this, I'm going to give anecdotal evidence based on experience.
I work with/for men and women who are VPs and product/program managers. Every single one of them has an MBA, and every single one of them knows the business aspect of our given technology field. They are all upper class white American Anglo-Saxon protestants who came from upper class/upper middle class families. They view our business as one big game--a very intricate, intriguing, and never-ending game. They take this game very seriously, and they pay attention to the technology and quality issues insofar as it advances the business. And business is all about profit, loss, and sustainability. Because they're all MBAs, they're all aware that every company and every business venture has a life cycle. If they happen to be employed for a company that's in the beginning half of its life-cycle, then they will make decisions that 1) grab maximum market share, 2) produce profit, and 3) reduce losses. Everything they do falls in those three criteria. If they determine that the company they are employed in has reached maturity and will start sliding towards dissolution, then they adjust their priorities to 1) Maximize profits, 2) cut costs, 3) Extend profitability. This turns their business into a cash cow that gets milked, taken over, disassembled, and outsourced. As such, they'll pay for American talent during the start-up phase, but once the business has reached maturity and maximum market share, that is when they lay off the American talent and get H1B's/talented college grads to come in for a third of the operating cost in terms of salary cap, to operate the business for as long as they can before the profits give out. It is how business works, and short of going very protectionist and starting trade wars, that will always be how it works. The worst is, if YOU were to be a business owner, you would have to fight against being seduced into that mindset.
If one has a strong currency, then one commands the privilege of the market. That means one would get first pick of new opportunities, new investments, and everyone wants to do business because of that strong currency. What you pointed out is the adverse consequence of having a strong currency--lots of buying power, but limited ability to actually generate new income. Strong currencies benefit the investor class and continues to give them privilege in the market--and to a degree, at the expense of everyone else.
Slashdot Mirror
Given your perspective then, I have to ask: is the mutual cannibalization of Uber with Lyft a sign that they're already beginning to peak and thus to fade? And will the regulated taxi services survive?
A really BIG world-war, with die-offs in the millions. Once that's done, we won't need to worry about a post-human economy. Everything will be right-sized... whether we like it or not.
I do it on occasion to fulfill the need to pick a fight. Sometimes the aggression just comes surging forth and rather than go down to a bar or a club and risk life, limb, and jail time, I come on here or on other sites to troll. Not saying I'm proud of it, but getting into a rhetorical fight is almost as satisfying as getting into a physical fight. I don't care about politics or philosophy, I just focus on some guy (usually another troll) who's a little too certain for my tastes, and go at it. Then afterwards, win or lose (and I lose a LOT more than I win, but that isn't the point), I feel better and I'm able to rejoin the real world and be decent and human and polite.
I'm not saying I'm evil or sociopathic, I'm just saying I troll because sometimes a man has just gotta get into a fight. Given that, sometimes I think the trolls over on Jezebel are doing the same thing... they're not necessarily misogynistic so much as itching for a fight with their female counterparts.
I agree with you in principle, but the rocket scientists are outnumbered by the businessmen (primarily Finance) and the blue-collar voters who do the grunt work. They're the ones who stand to lose the most because they both benefit from an inefficient economic structure like that of ULA or a government contractor firm in general. The executives get to charge astounding amounts of money, and the blue collar workers get a protected job that's shielded more than most from economic fluctuations prevalent in private industry. Hmmm... now that I think about it, you could cast this as a caste struggle: the upper and lower class uniting against the middle class. White collar workers like yourself are cheering on SpaceX, but SpaceX would undo the economic structure that benefits the upper class and the working class.
My I.Q. score is 119, which is pathetic because I couldn't even muster up enough Brawndo to bust out one more point and make it an even number. I punch myself in the balls every morning for breakfast, and have been doing so since I was four. I can read, but only out loud and I still haven't mastered punctuation. I believed everything I read, saw, and heard as a teenager and as such contracted every venereal disease known to man, got convicted for cattle buggery, and am forbidden to set foot inside the state of Rhode Island. When asked to program using Vi, I do so in EMacs, and I do so by flogging my keyboard with my limp penis. I blame Obama for having the nerve to be Dubya's father, I choke on chewing gum when attempting to walk, and I make all my phone calls while I'm on the toilet experiencing my weekly bout of dysentery. I keep on trying to run Android on my iPhone 3G, Windows on my Linux desktop, and I still cannot wear matching socks. I, sirs, am a complete retard.
Is THAT where you went, Joe DiMaggio?
The WASP community has been doing that to minorities for over a hundred years now. Redlining, anti-Catholic leagues, race riots targeting Chinese, marijuana laws... take your pick. Those were all legally valid (or overlooked) political tactics used by government and/or WASPs to screw over Americans who weren't like them.
Gotta second this--there is no such thing as The American People. There is no singular voice of authority and righteousness that has coalesced from a totalitarian and enlightened gestalt of minds. Rather, there are the American Peoples, many of whom bear conflicting interests and actively fight their disagreements out using the political theater. Those Senators are representing people who will be directly harmed by SpaceX's success. Those people and their employers have hired lobbyists to advocate on their behalf, which is totally within their constitutional rights. We just don't like it because their needs directly conflict with ours.
Those senators are doing exactly what they should be doing: protecting the interests of their constituents. If SpaceX continues to be effective and successful, then Boeing and ULA will start losing money, and that means they'll start cutting back on employment at those factories, which are in the jurisdiction of those senators. Which means unemployed voters, and large amounts of unemployed voters trump any economic benefit that cheaper spaceflight may bring. Especially when we're talking working class people who are unable to migrate to new jobs/locations. Before that happens, a lot of the potentially affected voters (and their employers) are hiring lobbyists to advocate on their behalf to stop SpaceX by any means necessary. This is exactly how democracy functions, and those senators are doing their jobs--as much as we may dislike it.
Any options for those of us who aren't running Android? Any workarounds or recommendations? This is a great idea, I just haven't read any suggestions or tips on this thread about how to record using iPhone or Windows phone.
What if we figured out a way to empower the service reps to fuck over their management but still stay within legal employment guidelines? After all, they've got to be the ones who hate all of this the most because they're being paid to be bad guys. And not just that, they probably were in circumstances that compelled them to choose that employment. Like, calling up a service rep and tieing up their line for twenty minutes with complaints and threats to cancel service, but then using the rep's authorization system to get discounts and freebies that end up benefiting you, benefiting the rep, and fucking over the operating costs of Comcast in the long term?
Not anymore. Fat devs and programmers don't get hired on as full time staff anymore. If they manage to get hired at all, they'r contractors. If you're under thirty and skinny, basically, then you will be hired because you're perceived as being a minimal risk in light of rising health care costs. Oh, and you send the informal corporate message that Health is In.
Dude, I got no problem with socks and sandles guys. Knock yourself out--hell, send me photos of yourself giving me a goatse in socks and sandles and I'll critique your thread counts and anal wrinkles. What I have a problem with are senior devs that smell like they live in a dumpster that's been coated with the oils from their armpits, wear clothes that came from said dumpsters, and who insist on eating only vegan bean soup from Whole Foods for every meal because they are recovering from an eating disorder (and gawd forbid I should eat anything else other than vegan bean soup from Whole Foods around them because I might trigger their eating disorder again or a sudden food allergy they didn't know they had until yesterday). AND said dudes make a LOT of money--more than enough to hire a therapist to help coach them through managing sensory input and a maid service for their clothes.
but gawddamn, if I meet ONE more unshaven skinny ratty-haired white dev/programmer in his late twenties/early thirties with an aversion to water, soap, matching colors and food (what is it with devs and eating disorders???) here in Seattle, I might just have to defenestrate the fucker to save my sanity. Preferably out an upper window at the downtown Macy's, so that said dev/programmer might actually observe cleanliness and fashion through visual osmosis prior to becoming one with pavement. I don't care if said beautiful mind is autistic, aspie, or what-not--Hygiene is source code!!!!!! Execute it on a daily basis! And if the sensory stimulus is THAT much of an overload then spend some of your six figure salary to get therapy and coaching on how to minimize input while maximizing the ability to incorporate the close proximity of other people!!! I much prefer the Indian and Chinese devs and programmers, not least because they don't have eating disorders and they both understand and practice a minimal standard of hygiene.
One more level down--that politician was elected by a population that is overwhelmingly white, elderly, doesn't travel much, gets their news from television, and has elevated children to the level of sacred cows.
There's a basic foundation that's roughly agreed upon, delineated by rules and best practices. Once those are mastered, then coding becomes an art form. And as art it can be subjective, defy description and all apparent rules of logic, and yet work incredibly well. If there's one thing I've learned on /. over the years from reading all the arguments between coders, it is that there is more than one way to become a master of one's craft (where coding is considered) and that coding becomes Art. Which I personally think is cool.
Because if those kids are brown or black skinned, then we don't want to feed them. Tribe comes first and foremost. Always.
Because we don't want to give blacks, hispanics, Arabs and freeloaders the same benefits and privileges that middle-to-upper class White, South Asian, and East Asian Americans enjoy.
In my experience, harsh language is best tempered (and employed) by someone who uses it to judge the situation and provide correction, in such a manner as to insure it doesn't happen again. The language used gets as personal as it needs to, and no further. Ideally, no personal attacks would be used, just a critique of the work. And if that person who employed it happened to be in the wrong, they apologize. Does Linus acknowledge his own mistakes? And, if Linus goes over the line, does he acknowledge and apologize for it? If he does, then he'd be someone I'd want to work for--because I know that the occasional negative reinforcement would be beneficial and it's not personal. From what I understand, Steve Jobs was that way at Apple: a giant asshole, but capable of admitting when he was wrong, and backing his team to the fullest.
This is actually a very good piece of advice. Now that I'm in my late thirties and an established professional, I am shocked at how many of my peers don't know how to cook, clean, handle money, or their domestic affairs in general. These are invaluable skills to have, and form the basis for many good jobs.
Particularly west of the Mississippi and excluding Californians (Californians: like Floridans except less crazy)?
But there's a lot of people, especially on /., who refuse to acknowledge that, because it threatens their beliefs.
I get what you're saying, Curunir, but I have to agree with OP because the men and women making these decisions are looking at the business like a game. And in that perspective, American workers do cost too much. To illustrate this, I'm going to give anecdotal evidence based on experience.
I work with/for men and women who are VPs and product/program managers. Every single one of them has an MBA, and every single one of them knows the business aspect of our given technology field. They are all upper class white American Anglo-Saxon protestants who came from upper class/upper middle class families. They view our business as one big game--a very intricate, intriguing, and never-ending game. They take this game very seriously, and they pay attention to the technology and quality issues insofar as it advances the business. And business is all about profit, loss, and sustainability. Because they're all MBAs, they're all aware that every company and every business venture has a life cycle. If they happen to be employed for a company that's in the beginning half of its life-cycle, then they will make decisions that 1) grab maximum market share, 2) produce profit, and 3) reduce losses. Everything they do falls in those three criteria. If they determine that the company they are employed in has reached maturity and will start sliding towards dissolution, then they adjust their priorities to 1) Maximize profits, 2) cut costs, 3) Extend profitability. This turns their business into a cash cow that gets milked, taken over, disassembled, and outsourced. As such, they'll pay for American talent during the start-up phase, but once the business has reached maturity and maximum market share, that is when they lay off the American talent and get H1B's/talented college grads to come in for a third of the operating cost in terms of salary cap, to operate the business for as long as they can before the profits give out. It is how business works, and short of going very protectionist and starting trade wars, that will always be how it works. The worst is, if YOU were to be a business owner, you would have to fight against being seduced into that mindset.
Rachel? Battle Mountain? Ely? Or waaaaaaaaaaay out in the boonies?
If one has a strong currency, then one commands the privilege of the market. That means one would get first pick of new opportunities, new investments, and everyone wants to do business because of that strong currency. What you pointed out is the adverse consequence of having a strong currency--lots of buying power, but limited ability to actually generate new income. Strong currencies benefit the investor class and continues to give them privilege in the market--and to a degree, at the expense of everyone else.