Without legal protections, you can still operate, but you take on more risk.
I don't think it's right that we allow companies to just erase their legal risk simply by writing magic words into an "agreement". Let's say I can just wear a shirt that says "If you read this, you've agreed to waive your right to sue me for anything, ever". Would that hold up in court? Probably not. But we allow companies to do this all the time with licenses and contracts. Hell, the whole point of forming a separate business entity is so shareholders can dodge legal responsibility for the decisions they (or the managers they elect) make.
If a company is negligent, and harms someone, however indirectly, it SHOULD be held responsible and punished. Just like I personally would be held responsible if I harmed someone. Nobody should be allowed to write "LA LA LA I'm not responsible for anything" on a piece of paper and opt out of justice.
mainstream Christianity (i.e. not creationist nut cases)
Mainstream Christianity (at least in the USA) consists largely of nut cases.
Imagine a hypothetical world without religion. One day, I walk up to you and say that a few thousand years ago, this invisible man who lives in the sky waved his hands and created everything (including the sky, where he had already been living) then put people on the earth, then made a whole bunch of random rules about diet and sex and how many slaves you are allowed to own. Then he started alternating between being kind of hands-off and being a punishing, miracle-making, war-making supernatural force. Then, for some reason sky-man decided to impregnate some random woman. Then the kid that came out got himself in trouble with the law, was executed, came back from the dead, and now the invisible sky-man decided that if you believe in all that stuff, he'll remove an evil force from your insides and you'll eventually get to go visit him in the sky after you're dead.
You'd think I was a nut case and send me to the loony bin!
But since it's written down in a special black book, that makes it totally sane and mainstream.
I found the hard way that an MBA without management experience will not just magically qualify you for the management track. Just like the undergrad degree, it's pretty much worthless without experience. I got an MBA from a top-10 school, and while it was interesting, and I value education for its own sake, all it did for my career was set me back 2 years and add about $100k in debt to my books. An MBA is not necessarily the magical career booster that it's sold as.
So, you'll base hiring decisions on wild speculation about someone's past? When you see nothing on Facebook about someone, do you dream that they're a serial killer or a space alien? What company do you work for?
You laugh, but that's the exact mentality companies have when hiring.
All things being equal, do you go with the qualified guy who has all his (admittedly harmless) childhood pranks documented on Facebook, or one of the ten other equally qualified candidates who don't?
"Better safe than sorry" is America's national motto.
Almost every job application I've filled out in the past few years has asked about prior arrests. One specifically went out of its way to point out "regardless of conviction".
The worst jobs I've ever had were where management, marketing, bizdev, etc. was basically nonexistant. Somebody has to hold meetings. Somebody has to answer calls from customers, partners, investors. Somebody has to drum up sales. Somebody has to write summaries for their bosses, who write summaries for their bosses. Computers can't do this. Guess who ends up having to do all that when there are no non-technical people around. Yup, you guessed right!
And then you're out of a job while the next batch of programmers arrives the next day, hat in hand, ready to keep making the managers and VPs rich. So who just got fucked?
This is a FINANCIAL TRADING COMPANY that does millions of dollars of trades daily. Any company as corrupted and dysfunctional as the one you describe will not last long in such a market, because there is no room for error in this business.
In other words, blame, incompetence and butt-covering doesn't happen in the financial industry. Wow, I needed a good laugh this morning, thanks.
Wow, that sounds super easy. After knowing how to build condenser units, why didn't you just start your own business?
Funded by unicorns or the tooth fairy?
Smartass "just start your own business" quips ignore the problem of start-up capital. It takes money to make money, otherwise we'd all be business owners.
Show me a former CEO of a fortune 500 company who is living in the poor house today because he fucked up. Now divide that by how many former CEOs of fortune 500 companies out there never have to work again and have children and grandchildren who never have to work.
... buys you a middle class -- and I don't mean upper middle class -- lifestyle
What the hell is the difference between "middle class" and "upper middle class" and "lower upper class" and "middle upper lower middle class"? Sounds like the creations of someone who needs to segment themselves in a nice tidy definable income bracket. 99% of us are N missed paychecks away from financial ruin--the only difference is the number N. Ridiculous labels like "upper middle class" only serve to promote differences that aren't real and pit fictional economic classes against other fictional economic classes.
If I write code for two days, of relatively equal quality and complexity, and sell each day's code to two different people, and one of them uses it to make $1000 and one of them uses it to make $100,000, it doesn't necessarily mean I should get paid 100x as much for the second job.
Programmers are a lot easier to find than people willing and able to lead/run a successful financial firm.
I'd argue there are plenty of people both willing AND able to run a successful financial firm--hell, I could do it, it's not rocket science. It's just that there are always fewer job openings for chiefs than for indians.
It's not like running a successful financial firm requires that much mental ability. By and large the hardest math you'll find the need for is exponents.
This kind of idiotic black-and-white mentality is exactly what is wrong with our legal system today. It's how we get travesties like "Zero Tolerance" and why there are more nonviolent people in prison now than ever before.
If you really think that rolling through a stopsign at 5mph is equally as bad as (and should be treated the same as) blowing through it at 45mph, please shoot yourself now, or at least stop voting for my leaders.
We're all one traffic stop away from total financial ruin and potentially jail. If it's not for something illegal today, it'll be for something illegal tomorrow, or simply something the police think might be possibly illegal.
Whether he's found guilty or not, his life is basically over.
If he's lucky, the ordeal will cost him thousands (maybe tens of thousands) when it's all said and done, and he wont get any of his stuff back. He'll have an impossible time getting a job, a loan, a security clearance, etc. with an arrest in his background. Many (most?) employers now ask if you've merely been arrested, regardless of whether you were charged or found guilty, so he'll be making minimum wage at best.
If he's unlucky, he'll have a bunch of jack-booted "law and order" Americans on his jury who side with the police by default and just want to see more people put in jail.
Who cares about locking down their voicemail? What is a "hacker" going to do to me with my voicemail messages? Should I be afraid that Mr. Hacker knows that my wife is picking up cereal and eggs at Safeway this afternoon? Or that my buddy wants to go out for beer after work?
Slashdot Mirror
It's downright blood money as speeding DOES increase fatal accidents in Nevada and there are statistics to back that up.
Driving increases fatal accidents over 'not driving'. Should we just outlaw driving? Why not play it safe?
Without legal protections, you can still operate, but you take on more risk.
I don't think it's right that we allow companies to just erase their legal risk simply by writing magic words into an "agreement". Let's say I can just wear a shirt that says "If you read this, you've agreed to waive your right to sue me for anything, ever". Would that hold up in court? Probably not. But we allow companies to do this all the time with licenses and contracts. Hell, the whole point of forming a separate business entity is so shareholders can dodge legal responsibility for the decisions they (or the managers they elect) make.
If a company is negligent, and harms someone, however indirectly, it SHOULD be held responsible and punished. Just like I personally would be held responsible if I harmed someone. Nobody should be allowed to write "LA LA LA I'm not responsible for anything" on a piece of paper and opt out of justice.
mainstream Christianity (i.e. not creationist nut cases)
Mainstream Christianity (at least in the USA) consists largely of nut cases.
Imagine a hypothetical world without religion. One day, I walk up to you and say that a few thousand years ago, this invisible man who lives in the sky waved his hands and created everything (including the sky, where he had already been living) then put people on the earth, then made a whole bunch of random rules about diet and sex and how many slaves you are allowed to own. Then he started alternating between being kind of hands-off and being a punishing, miracle-making, war-making supernatural force. Then, for some reason sky-man decided to impregnate some random woman. Then the kid that came out got himself in trouble with the law, was executed, came back from the dead, and now the invisible sky-man decided that if you believe in all that stuff, he'll remove an evil force from your insides and you'll eventually get to go visit him in the sky after you're dead.
You'd think I was a nut case and send me to the loony bin!
But since it's written down in a special black book, that makes it totally sane and mainstream.
I have no problem with a truly random distribution of jurors, but the lawyers always skew the distribution towards dumb and impressionable.
Not without experience.
I found the hard way that an MBA without management experience will not just magically qualify you for the management track. Just like the undergrad degree, it's pretty much worthless without experience. I got an MBA from a top-10 school, and while it was interesting, and I value education for its own sake, all it did for my career was set me back 2 years and add about $100k in debt to my books. An MBA is not necessarily the magical career booster that it's sold as.
Your argument boils down to "I'm right and you're a doo-doo-head". Were you captain of the debate club?
How does one "hate on" something?
I've heard of "hating" something, but not "hating on" it. Is that like "hitting on" a girl in the bar?
So, you'll base hiring decisions on wild speculation about someone's past? When you see nothing on Facebook about someone, do you dream that they're a serial killer or a space alien? What company do you work for?
You laugh, but that's the exact mentality companies have when hiring.
All things being equal, do you go with the qualified guy who has all his (admittedly harmless) childhood pranks documented on Facebook, or one of the ten other equally qualified candidates who don't?
"Better safe than sorry" is America's national motto.
Almost every job application I've filled out in the past few years has asked about prior arrests. One specifically went out of its way to point out "regardless of conviction".
"Stealing" data does cause harm: it increases the likelihood of [mis]use of the stolen data.
I'm "likely" to punch you in the face if I ever see you. Do you feel harmed?
My only encounter with Wave was people SPAMming me with wave requests. It'll pretty much be permanently associated with SPAM in my mind.
The worst jobs I've ever had were where management, marketing, bizdev, etc. was basically nonexistant. Somebody has to hold meetings. Somebody has to answer calls from customers, partners, investors. Somebody has to drum up sales. Somebody has to write summaries for their bosses, who write summaries for their bosses. Computers can't do this. Guess who ends up having to do all that when there are no non-technical people around. Yup, you guessed right!
Grow a pair and fuck 'em by leaving.
And then you're out of a job while the next batch of programmers arrives the next day, hat in hand, ready to keep making the managers and VPs rich. So who just got fucked?
This is a FINANCIAL TRADING COMPANY that does millions of dollars of trades daily. Any company as corrupted and dysfunctional as the one you describe will not last long in such a market, because there is no room for error in this business.
In other words, blame, incompetence and butt-covering doesn't happen in the financial industry. Wow, I needed a good laugh this morning, thanks.
Wow, that sounds super easy. After knowing how to build condenser units, why didn't you just start your own business?
Funded by unicorns or the tooth fairy?
Smartass "just start your own business" quips ignore the problem of start-up capital. It takes money to make money, otherwise we'd all be business owners.
Rest assured, the president of your company appreciates you defending his salary and bonus.
Related irony: People taking the day off of work to protest a tax increase that will only hit their boss.
Show me a former CEO of a fortune 500 company who is living in the poor house today because he fucked up. Now divide that by how many former CEOs of fortune 500 companies out there never have to work again and have children and grandchildren who never have to work.
... buys you a middle class -- and I don't mean upper middle class -- lifestyle
What the hell is the difference between "middle class" and "upper middle class" and "lower upper class" and "middle upper lower middle class"? Sounds like the creations of someone who needs to segment themselves in a nice tidy definable income bracket. 99% of us are N missed paychecks away from financial ruin--the only difference is the number N. Ridiculous labels like "upper middle class" only serve to promote differences that aren't real and pit fictional economic classes against other fictional economic classes.
If I write code for two days, of relatively equal quality and complexity, and sell each day's code to two different people, and one of them uses it to make $1000 and one of them uses it to make $100,000, it doesn't necessarily mean I should get paid 100x as much for the second job.
If you had a good salesman it would.
Programmers are a lot easier to find than people willing and able to lead/run a successful financial firm.
I'd argue there are plenty of people both willing AND able to run a successful financial firm--hell, I could do it, it's not rocket science. It's just that there are always fewer job openings for chiefs than for indians.
It's not like running a successful financial firm requires that much mental ability. By and large the hardest math you'll find the need for is exponents.
You either break the law, or you don't.
This kind of idiotic black-and-white mentality is exactly what is wrong with our legal system today. It's how we get travesties like "Zero Tolerance" and why there are more nonviolent people in prison now than ever before.
If you really think that rolling through a stopsign at 5mph is equally as bad as (and should be treated the same as) blowing through it at 45mph, please shoot yourself now, or at least stop voting for my leaders.
We're all one traffic stop away from total financial ruin and potentially jail. If it's not for something illegal today, it'll be for something illegal tomorrow, or simply something the police think might be possibly illegal.
Whether he's found guilty or not, his life is basically over.
If he's lucky, the ordeal will cost him thousands (maybe tens of thousands) when it's all said and done, and he wont get any of his stuff back. He'll have an impossible time getting a job, a loan, a security clearance, etc. with an arrest in his background. Many (most?) employers now ask if you've merely been arrested, regardless of whether you were charged or found guilty, so he'll be making minimum wage at best.
If he's unlucky, he'll have a bunch of jack-booted "law and order" Americans on his jury who side with the police by default and just want to see more people put in jail.
Why use pseudo-words like "leapfrogging" when real words like "surpassing" or "overtaking" work just fine?
Who cares about locking down their voicemail? What is a "hacker" going to do to me with my voicemail messages? Should I be afraid that Mr. Hacker knows that my wife is picking up cereal and eggs at Safeway this afternoon? Or that my buddy wants to go out for beer after work?
As Steve Jobs once said, "This is a non-issue."