I got a BS in CS.
It was a lot of work, and I learned a lot of arcane stuff. I also did a lot of busy work.
The only real programming related skills I picked up were almost exclusively from the work I did to support myself in college. Now I'm a professional programmer for a major defense contract.
I've got a ton of school debt that I'm paying off, and I "wasted" four years at a university. Now it's certainly true, that my piece of paper potentially helped me get jobs though I could have made the degree up for all my employers actually checked. It's also possible that the four years I spent in college, I could have spent working for minimum wage gaining programming skills and experience, and I would have gotten just as far as I am now. What's a piece of paper when I can show that I am a proficient programmer and I have references and experience? I at least wouldn't have come out the door with 40 grand in debt.
Claiming that college is a "must" anymore is just silly. It depends on what you want to do, and if you have the chops to start working for less, and demonstrate proficiency in an interview.
I don't particularly regret getting a degree, and it certainly was satisfying to say that I got a degree and graduated magna cum laude, but I am not so arrogant as to believe that my degree somehow makes me superior to someone who didn't go to college.
As other's have pointed out removing the URL bar is a stupid, stupid concept because of the fact that it makes the gui more confusing, less user friendly, and the user more vulnerable to phishing.
However, if Mozilla must absolutely screw up their interface, I would want the new URL bar to be integrated into each tab. The URL bar is dependent on the tab you are on, so why not make a small icon on each tab that you click to drop down the bar so the user can update the url.
I find it absurd to believe that someone who can't pick-up basic programming concepts and write half decent applications, at the end of 15 weeks, is going to make it a programmer out in the field. Maybe there exists nice plush programming jobs were you never have to learn new languages, hardware, or concepts, but I've never met one. As a professional programmer, my language, environment, hardware, and software constantly must change and evolve. I must constantly be learning new things to keep a competitive edge. If you can't hack that, you shouldn't be a programmer. This professor fits right in with a nice long line of academia who seems intent on giving students another excuse to fail at life.
My roommate works at a nuclear power plant in the US. The amount of safety systems is absolutely crazy. Redundancy upon redundancy. Interestingly enough, there are two half finished nuclear power plants near his one. Both of them were stopped by the government, half way through their development because of the nuclear backlash and Presidents like Jimmy Carter.
I normally pack a lunch and scarf it down while I keep working at my desk. I'd much rather get done that much earlier in the day.
Having said that, I do often take lunches with coworkers, but only when it's convenient, and I actually like them.
My team has an interesting alternative to lunch, which is far more constructive in my mind. Around 2pm, any of us in the group can call for a "yo" break if we need it. Then we all go stand around and shoot the breeze for 15-30 minutes outside the building. This allows us to socialize, blow off some steam, and get our minds focused again. It is well worth the company time because by around 2pm, you are already need a break to clear the cobwebs.
I hate Macs...I think they are over priced, glorified linux boxes, but for christ sakes! All you need is a half decent text editor and ftp/ssh. This guy is a troll.
I'd like to point out that GE used to (and still does) fund MSNBC which continually loves to deride corporations and the so called "Fat Cats" on Wallstreet. Oh the irony...
Apparently it's okay to not pay taxes as long as you're friends of the current Administration.
May I also be the first to ask why is this story on Slashdot, and why is it a weeks late?
No matter what a PC comes with, the first thing I do is slash and burn and install whatever I want. There's no way I'm going to put up with all the bloatware and possible malicious software the vendor installed.
Perhaps the real question is, "What isn't the FCC for?" It's a giant government regulatory agency with no clearly defined scope and no explicit boundaries. That makes it scary and unmanageable in my book.
While you might be right that the FCC shouldn't need Congress to codify all their rules, Congress should certainly be able to overrule them. Otherwise the people have absolutely no control over what this agency does.
While you are correct that Net Neutrality != Fairness Doctrine. Many conservatives are worried that the power exists to insert the Fairness Doctrine through Net Neutrality. If the government can regulate what and how an ISP manages traffic, with almost no/no congressional oversight, there is nothing to prevent them from implementing the Fairness Doctrine or anything else down the road. My biggest argument against Net Neutrality as it is currently being implemented is that it is being implemented not only without Congressional oversight, but actually against a bipartisan Congressional vote.
Like healthcare and several other items, this administration is bringing this legislation in through the back door. The concept of Net Neutrality is not a bad one, per say, but it needs to be implemented via the correct path (through Congress with correct proceedures), or not at all, otherwise it can't be controlled, and you have a very valid slippery slope scenario.
What are the two types of people who traditionally go to college?
A) The kids who's parents pay for everything, so they have no idea how hard life can be (thus less empathetic).
B) Those who worked there way up from nothing. Obviously they/we aren't gonna be very empathetic to people whining about how hard their life is and thus why they never made anything of their life.
Obviously there are other scenarios too, but I think that probably covers the bulk of college kids.
I am extremely conservative. I have two immediate family members who have been raped and several very close friends. I do not believe the US has any current punishment which is fitting for horrible destruction that rape causes. And yet...
I am incredibly enraged that the Supreme Court would rule that it is Constitutional to violate the 5th Amendment Due Process clause because of the children. If you want to give them counseling, then put a prescribed amount in the sentence. The courts have ruled that "life" sentences violate due process, and yet holding them indefinitely for counseling doesn't?
Emotion should, from time to time, temper the application of law, but never the application of rights ~ shellsterdude.
If what you say is the case (I believe you are full of crap), then explain this to me:
If a cancer cure is easy and cheap to manufacture, and drug companies are as unscrupulous as you say, then how come one of them doesn't release a cure, patent it, and then charge ungodly amounts of money? Sure, all the other drug companies would be screwed, but that one drug company would own the entire market, cut their competitors out of business, and rake in profits hand-over-fist. There will always be cancer, the guy who has the patent and the cure will make obscene profits. That doesn't even take into account all the future profits they will make from these people because they are still alive.
People who come up with these conspiracy theories of how drug companies don't release cures, truly don't understand how the market works. Your theory is analogous to saying that military weapon creators don't create more powerful or high-tech weapons because they don't want too many potential customers to be killed off too quickly.
Generic drug means very little profit (comparatively speaking). Patented drug is a lot of profit. Unless, of course, there is a safe and equally effective generic drug already out there. So, they would MUCH prefer no existing treatment while they try to cook up an expensive designer drug.
While there is much truth in your statement, you must take into consideration the enormous risk and cost of bringing a new drug to market. So in some ways, generic drugs still make a lot of profit because there is virtually no risk or overhead in the process.
Mod parent up. Climategate was the result of scientist taking their findings out of the field of science and into politics. Whether malicious or not, these scientists let politics skew their research. They modified data that "didn't look right". They deleted "anomalous" data. All of these things are clearly in the realm of politics instead of science. Scientists have the responsibility of presenting the science warts and all, as it is. Especially when some of the science is being funded by tax dollars and can potentially affect millions of lives because of the legislation which will be based on the results.
Climategate is no longer about whether climate change or global warming is or isn't happening. It is about the egregious abuse of the scientific method and peer review.
Wow, $6.79 of purchasing power per hour for 15 hour shifts! Where do I sign up?
Gotta love the libertarian view of "screw them, they're a different color."
I've pretty much stopped posting to slashdot because I'm so disgusted with you people.
Yeah, immediately assume that I am just a racist conservative. Why debate the facts when you can just play the race card?
$6.79 plus breaks plus free boarding is far from the "sweat shop" reactionary claims. Sure, it could be better, but this job is not hard manual labor. There are far worse jobs in China, and many people who would kill for this job. Does that make it a great job? Maybe not, especially by US standards, but demonizing it as slave labor only shows your stupidity. But why listen to me? I am only a conservative, so I must be racist.
The GDP in US dollars per capita of China is $3,566.
The GDP in US dollars per capita of the US is 46,584.
Simple math, using the $.52 per hour estimate from the "article" shows that the Chinese workers are making approximately: (.52 * 46584)/3566 = $6.79 per hour equivalent to US dollars. That isn't real bad. Plus, if you read the original article, you will find that the job also provides free food and board for their workers. Every two hours they get a 10 minute nap. They get 1.5 hour lunch breaks. In China this is a cushy job. It certainly isn't "slave labor" as some people are claiming.
While there is some truth in your statement it is also very misguided. First, we have to protect from conventional threats as well. For instance, North Korea, which is an not religiously fanatic. M.A.D. worked. It will continue to work against these types of countries.
You are right that religious extremists hardly care about innocents, nor do they have specific targets to respond to. However, you need to get passed the 60's nuke concept. Today we have very target nukes that can destroy everything in very defined areas. They can perform better than traditional weapons as bunker busters. Regardless of if a a terrorist cares about innocents, it is still worth our while to have be able to wipe them off the face of the earth if they attack us. It is worth our while to be able to tell a country like Pakistan that we can remove them from a map if they continue to harbor terrorists against our country. While the terrorist may not care about innocents, the countries that harbor them often will.
Obama already has gone around the world showing complete weakness. Now he has codified that weakness.
Slashdot Mirror
I got a BS in CS.
It was a lot of work, and I learned a lot of arcane stuff. I also did a lot of busy work.
The only real programming related skills I picked up were almost exclusively from the work I did to support myself in college. Now I'm a professional programmer for a major defense contract.
I've got a ton of school debt that I'm paying off, and I "wasted" four years at a university. Now it's certainly true, that my piece of paper potentially helped me get jobs though I could have made the degree up for all my employers actually checked. It's also possible that the four years I spent in college, I could have spent working for minimum wage gaining programming skills and experience, and I would have gotten just as far as I am now. What's a piece of paper when I can show that I am a proficient programmer and I have references and experience? I at least wouldn't have come out the door with 40 grand in debt.
Claiming that college is a "must" anymore is just silly. It depends on what you want to do, and if you have the chops to start working for less, and demonstrate proficiency in an interview.
I don't particularly regret getting a degree, and it certainly was satisfying to say that I got a degree and graduated magna cum laude, but I am not so arrogant as to believe that my degree somehow makes me superior to someone who didn't go to college.
As other's have pointed out removing the URL bar is a stupid, stupid concept because of the fact that it makes the gui more confusing, less user friendly, and the user more vulnerable to phishing. However, if Mozilla must absolutely screw up their interface, I would want the new URL bar to be integrated into each tab. The URL bar is dependent on the tab you are on, so why not make a small icon on each tab that you click to drop down the bar so the user can update the url.
I find it absurd to believe that someone who can't pick-up basic programming concepts and write half decent applications, at the end of 15 weeks, is going to make it a programmer out in the field. Maybe there exists nice plush programming jobs were you never have to learn new languages, hardware, or concepts, but I've never met one. As a professional programmer, my language, environment, hardware, and software constantly must change and evolve. I must constantly be learning new things to keep a competitive edge. If you can't hack that, you shouldn't be a programmer. This professor fits right in with a nice long line of academia who seems intent on giving students another excuse to fail at life.
My roommate works at a nuclear power plant in the US. The amount of safety systems is absolutely crazy. Redundancy upon redundancy. Interestingly enough, there are two half finished nuclear power plants near his one. Both of them were stopped by the government, half way through their development because of the nuclear backlash and Presidents like Jimmy Carter.
I normally pack a lunch and scarf it down while I keep working at my desk. I'd much rather get done that much earlier in the day.
Having said that, I do often take lunches with coworkers, but only when it's convenient, and I actually like them.
My team has an interesting alternative to lunch, which is far more constructive in my mind. Around 2pm, any of us in the group can call for a "yo" break if we need it. Then we all go stand around and shoot the breeze for 15-30 minutes outside the building. This allows us to socialize, blow off some steam, and get our minds focused again. It is well worth the company time because by around 2pm, you are already need a break to clear the cobwebs.
I hate Macs...I think they are over priced, glorified linux boxes, but for christ sakes! All you need is a half decent text editor and ftp/ssh. This guy is a troll.
I'd like to point out that GE used to (and still does) fund MSNBC which continually loves to deride corporations and the so called "Fat Cats" on Wallstreet. Oh the irony... Apparently it's okay to not pay taxes as long as you're friends of the current Administration. May I also be the first to ask why is this story on Slashdot, and why is it a weeks late?
Oh and if you say that the new application will implement the entire VOIP backend, then have you heard of Asterisk?
Empathy, Ekiga, Twinkle... the list goes on. Even pidgin has SIP plugins. Why is this project special or needed?
No matter what a PC comes with, the first thing I do is slash and burn and install whatever I want. There's no way I'm going to put up with all the bloatware and possible malicious software the vendor installed.
If your hat isn't foil lined, they've already got you.
Perhaps the real question is, "What isn't the FCC for?" It's a giant government regulatory agency with no clearly defined scope and no explicit boundaries. That makes it scary and unmanageable in my book.
While you might be right that the FCC shouldn't need Congress to codify all their rules, Congress should certainly be able to overrule them. Otherwise the people have absolutely no control over what this agency does.
While you are correct that Net Neutrality != Fairness Doctrine. Many conservatives are worried that the power exists to insert the Fairness Doctrine through Net Neutrality. If the government can regulate what and how an ISP manages traffic, with almost no/no congressional oversight, there is nothing to prevent them from implementing the Fairness Doctrine or anything else down the road. My biggest argument against Net Neutrality as it is currently being implemented is that it is being implemented not only without Congressional oversight, but actually against a bipartisan Congressional vote.
Like healthcare and several other items, this administration is bringing this legislation in through the back door. The concept of Net Neutrality is not a bad one, per say, but it needs to be implemented via the correct path (through Congress with correct proceedures), or not at all, otherwise it can't be controlled, and you have a very valid slippery slope scenario.
or is it that some idiots are going to use this free application and then bitch about the consequences?
Actually Mozilla uses the same terminology. See any of the data points on the graphs located at the Mozilla run: http://www.arewefastyet.com/
What are the two types of people who traditionally go to college?
A) The kids who's parents pay for everything, so they have no idea how hard life can be (thus less empathetic).
B) Those who worked there way up from nothing. Obviously they/we aren't gonna be very empathetic to people whining about how hard their life is and thus why they never made anything of their life.
Obviously there are other scenarios too, but I think that probably covers the bulk of college kids.
I am extremely conservative. I have two immediate family members who have been raped and several very close friends. I do not believe the US has any current punishment which is fitting for horrible destruction that rape causes. And yet...
I am incredibly enraged that the Supreme Court would rule that it is Constitutional to violate the 5th Amendment Due Process clause because of the children. If you want to give them counseling, then put a prescribed amount in the sentence. The courts have ruled that "life" sentences violate due process, and yet holding them indefinitely for counseling doesn't?
Emotion should, from time to time, temper the application of law, but never the application of rights ~ shellsterdude.
If what you say is the case (I believe you are full of crap), then explain this to me: If a cancer cure is easy and cheap to manufacture, and drug companies are as unscrupulous as you say, then how come one of them doesn't release a cure, patent it, and then charge ungodly amounts of money? Sure, all the other drug companies would be screwed, but that one drug company would own the entire market, cut their competitors out of business, and rake in profits hand-over-fist. There will always be cancer, the guy who has the patent and the cure will make obscene profits. That doesn't even take into account all the future profits they will make from these people because they are still alive.
People who come up with these conspiracy theories of how drug companies don't release cures, truly don't understand how the market works. Your theory is analogous to saying that military weapon creators don't create more powerful or high-tech weapons because they don't want too many potential customers to be killed off too quickly.
Generic drug means very little profit (comparatively speaking). Patented drug is a lot of profit. Unless, of course, there is a safe and equally effective generic drug already out there. So, they would MUCH prefer no existing treatment while they try to cook up an expensive designer drug.
While there is much truth in your statement, you must take into consideration the enormous risk and cost of bringing a new drug to market. So in some ways, generic drugs still make a lot of profit because there is virtually no risk or overhead in the process.
This is what government run, net neutrality gets you. I am sure glad the FCC is working to fix the system in America!
Mod parent up. Climategate was the result of scientist taking their findings out of the field of science and into politics. Whether malicious or not, these scientists let politics skew their research. They modified data that "didn't look right". They deleted "anomalous" data. All of these things are clearly in the realm of politics instead of science. Scientists have the responsibility of presenting the science warts and all, as it is. Especially when some of the science is being funded by tax dollars and can potentially affect millions of lives because of the legislation which will be based on the results.
Climategate is no longer about whether climate change or global warming is or isn't happening. It is about the egregious abuse of the scientific method and peer review.
Wow, $6.79 of purchasing power per hour for 15 hour shifts! Where do I sign up? Gotta love the libertarian view of "screw them, they're a different color." I've pretty much stopped posting to slashdot because I'm so disgusted with you people.
Yeah, immediately assume that I am just a racist conservative. Why debate the facts when you can just play the race card?
$6.79 plus breaks plus free boarding is far from the "sweat shop" reactionary claims. Sure, it could be better, but this job is not hard manual labor. There are far worse jobs in China, and many people who would kill for this job. Does that make it a great job? Maybe not, especially by US standards, but demonizing it as slave labor only shows your stupidity. But why listen to me? I am only a conservative, so I must be racist.
Edit, the food is deducted from their pay, but not the boarding, so I made one mistake.
According to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal)_per_capita
The GDP in US dollars per capita of China is $3,566.
The GDP in US dollars per capita of the US is 46,584.
Simple math, using the $.52 per hour estimate from the "article" shows that the Chinese workers are making approximately: (.52 * 46584)/3566 = $6.79 per hour equivalent to US dollars. That isn't real bad. Plus, if you read the original article, you will find that the job also provides free food and board for their workers. Every two hours they get a 10 minute nap. They get 1.5 hour lunch breaks. In China this is a cushy job. It certainly isn't "slave labor" as some people are claiming.
While there is some truth in your statement it is also very misguided. First, we have to protect from conventional threats as well. For instance, North Korea, which is an not religiously fanatic. M.A.D. worked. It will continue to work against these types of countries.
You are right that religious extremists hardly care about innocents, nor do they have specific targets to respond to. However, you need to get passed the 60's nuke concept. Today we have very target nukes that can destroy everything in very defined areas. They can perform better than traditional weapons as bunker busters. Regardless of if a a terrorist cares about innocents, it is still worth our while to have be able to wipe them off the face of the earth if they attack us. It is worth our while to be able to tell a country like Pakistan that we can remove them from a map if they continue to harbor terrorists against our country. While the terrorist may not care about innocents, the countries that harbor them often will.
Obama already has gone around the world showing complete weakness. Now he has codified that weakness.