Kind of late, but I'll reply anyway. First of all, I doubt anyone in the government is reacting with malice towards Time-Warner; they're simply saying that they might not allow the merger to go through. Time-Warner won't be punished or fined, they'll simply have to remain separate from AOL.
As for who gave them the authority, you answered the question yourself; the voters did. And I don't quite follow the next two sentences; personally I'm for it. I don't like the idea of large corporations taking unfair advantage of their size and market share to squash everyone else. Better big government than big business, because we can at least vote for the government. --
As a frequent user of the metrocard system, I've got to give them some credit; it works pretty much flawlessly. Yes, sometimes cards don't swipe, but it usually works fine. And the vending machines are a dream come true; imagine one that accepts every dollar, no matter how crumpled.
As a side note, I'm curious as to what the vending machines are running. The PATH subway system, which connects NYC and NJ has similiar boxes which seem to run SCO (I saw one that had run into a problem at boot time; was kind of funny to see the control-D message in a subway station). --
I think one of the problems we face is that a lot of IT workers refuse to accept that they might have trouble down the line in terms of finding employment. I can't tell you how many posts on slashdot (I'm sure we'll see some here) go along the lines of, "I was hired because I know what I'm doing! If you have trouble then that's somehow due to your lack of skills!". It's a pretty naive view; in the real world your job is dependent on a lot of things, and your actual competence isn't the only one (many times it's not even the most important). The state of the economy, the cluefulness of management, and luck all play a factor.
To answer the question posted, yes, it's mostly employers wanting to get out of paying American workers what they're worth. Personally I think the best thing for IT workers to do is unionize, along the lines of other professional workers; something like the American Medical Association or American Bar Association. Believe me, if the AMA sees legislation pending that would adversely affect their members, they move fast and they move hard. The Association of Information Technology Professionals fulfills this role to an extent; they do apparently lobby congress. I've looked through their 1999 report, and it doesn't say anything about a position regarding increasing H1B workers. They did, however, speak against UCITA, so they can't be all bad. Someone more knowledgeable about this organization would have to tell you more, but I think a lot of IT people are going to have to overcome to a certain degree their independent streak if they want to ensure that they're treated fairly in the workplace.
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Well, let's be fair; you're going to find that in any field. If say some CFO came out and complained that there were too few accountants, and the ones that did enter the industry didn't really enjoy their jobs and hadn't done bookkeeping in their free time since they were young and got that first leatherbound ledger, we'd probably laugh. A lot of people enter the IT field because they think they're going to make money. It's the same reason they enter any other field, and I don't know if they'd be any more competent if they were in marketing or sales. We just have to live with them. --
Same thing used to happen with me after marathon Doom sessions. It's a sad commentary on how much I let computers assimilate me that I found it really amusing. Strangely enough, I don't remember actually dreaming of it once I did fall asleep... --
Actually, it seems the vast majority of true advances in technology are achieved in the US. The Japanese excel at consumer electronics, but how many truly innovative things have come out of Japan technology-wise? Of course, this may be in part because of their decade-long economic recession in part.
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They are NOT planning on charging every web merchant for every web transaction that takes place - obviously that's technically (and legally) impossible.
It sure sounds like it. The CNN article says:
AT&T Corp. is considering a plan to charge Internet retailers a commission each time a customer buys something through the telecom's broadband network, an industry analyst said Monday. AT&T would also collect a fee from retailers each time a customer accesses their site through its network.
I don't know how illegal it is; it's their network, they could argue they're just forming a "partnership". As to how practical it is, simple; if the merchant refuses to agree, just block them.
Then again, I still haven't been able to get onto Yahoo to check the other article, so maybe the CNN one is off.
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come on, people have won Nobel Prices by showing that free markets make everybody richer
And 8 years of supply-side economics showed that it doesn't. Despite common misperceptions (mostly by economics it seems), economics is not an exact science; just because they use a lot of math doesn't make it so.
--
I don't know if you can judge everyone by their knowledge of common internet hoaxes. Politicians, by necessity, are generalists; they have to know a little bit about everything, and I've seen some otherwise intelligent, educated people get caught by this particular hoax. --
Despite all the predictions about how great online learning will be, I don't think it's an adequate replacement for a bricks and mortar degree, and unless the correspondence aspect doesn't show up on your resume, potential employers might not as well. If you can spare a few hours a week to go part time, you might just want to work for a year or two then go back. Probably have an easier time in class as a result of industry experience, too. --
Dell sells cheap, poorly built machines. If you ever maintained more than 20+ Dell workstations per group, then you know what
I mean.
My department maintains a lot more than that, and I've found them to be a lot better than most of the competition. They use better components, and everything's nice and standard.
--
Just look for an internet startup; a sizeable chunk of them use Sun, and a fair amount Linux. Plus the fact that whatever company you join will probably be out of business in a year won't matter if you just want to intern for a little while. --
I am the avarage teen punk geek.
So this is way before my time.
Do you have the Title/Author or
better yet ISBNS?
Finally tracked them down; they were published by
Scholastic back in the mid-80's, under the "Micro Adventures" title. Apparently they're out of print though, which is too bad; only online retailer who even lists them is Amazon. Probably have a bigger audience nowadays, though ironically fewer people probably have access to a BASIC compiler now than back then (when almost every home computer came bundled with it). But including a CD-ROM with Perl wouldn't be too hard. Actually be a better language to use, give kids some knowledge of non-linear programming without making them worry about all those variable declarations or header files. --
Hey, those were great...like "By Balloon Over the Sahara". Though the computer brand of interactive fiction DID predate them. Come to think of it, there was a choose-your-own-adventure-like series based (very roughly) on Zork; kind of funny how an electronic game spawned a paper one...
FLASHBACK! Alright, this is a geek crowd, anyone remember that series of books where you the narrative was interrupted at parts, and you had to type in a program? Well, you didn't have to, but when the character in the book (who was actually supposed to be you) did, they gave you the source code to type in along with them. Everything was in BASIC of course, and you usually had to debug it in some minor way. Was kind of funny how the programs that controlled every time delayed explosives device or computer operated door were in BASIC. The books were pretty cool though, I rarely had the patience to type in the programs, but you could at least follow them and see what you were supposed to modify...
Slashdot Mirror
Kind of late, but I'll reply anyway. First of all, I doubt anyone in the government is reacting with malice towards Time-Warner; they're simply saying that they might not allow the merger to go through. Time-Warner won't be punished or fined, they'll simply have to remain separate from AOL.
As for who gave them the authority, you answered the question yourself; the voters did. And I don't quite follow the next two sentences; personally I'm for it. I don't like the idea of large corporations taking unfair advantage of their size and market share to squash everyone else. Better big government than big business, because we can at least vote for the government.
--
If you're already in Nevada, why do it online? Might as well go to Las Vegas and get the free buffet...
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I meant unionize in loose terms, not along the lines of say the teamsters or something like that.
--
As a frequent user of the metrocard system, I've got to give them some credit; it works pretty much flawlessly. Yes, sometimes cards don't swipe, but it usually works fine. And the vending machines are a dream come true; imagine one that accepts every dollar, no matter how crumpled.
As a side note, I'm curious as to what the vending machines are running. The PATH subway system, which connects NYC and NJ has similiar boxes which seem to run SCO (I saw one that had run into a problem at boot time; was kind of funny to see the control-D message in a subway station).
--
Sounds even more borderline is-it-life-or-isn't-it than virii.
--
Or King Phillip Came Over For Good Spaghetti.
Laugh if you will, I've never forgotten it.
--
I think one of the problems we face is that a lot of IT workers refuse to accept that they might have trouble down the line in terms of finding employment. I can't tell you how many posts on slashdot (I'm sure we'll see some here) go along the lines of, "I was hired because I know what I'm doing! If you have trouble then that's somehow due to your lack of skills!". It's a pretty naive view; in the real world your job is dependent on a lot of things, and your actual competence isn't the only one (many times it's not even the most important). The state of the economy, the cluefulness of management, and luck all play a factor.
To answer the question posted, yes, it's mostly employers wanting to get out of paying American workers what they're worth. Personally I think the best thing for IT workers to do is unionize, along the lines of other professional workers; something like the American Medical Association or American Bar Association. Believe me, if the AMA sees legislation pending that would adversely affect their members, they move fast and they move hard. The Association of Information Technology Professionals fulfills this role to an extent; they do apparently lobby congress. I've looked through their 1999 report, and it doesn't say anything about a position regarding increasing H1B workers. They did, however, speak against UCITA, so they can't be all bad. Someone more knowledgeable about this organization would have to tell you more, but I think a lot of IT people are going to have to overcome to a certain degree their independent streak if they want to ensure that they're treated fairly in the workplace.
--
Well, let's be fair; you're going to find that in any field. If say some CFO came out and complained that there were too few accountants, and the ones that did enter the industry didn't really enjoy their jobs and hadn't done bookkeeping in their free time since they were young and got that first leatherbound ledger, we'd probably laugh. A lot of people enter the IT field because they think they're going to make money. It's the same reason they enter any other field, and I don't know if they'd be any more competent if they were in marketing or sales. We just have to live with them.
--
Same thing used to happen with me after marathon Doom sessions. It's a sad commentary on how much I let computers assimilate me that I found it really amusing. Strangely enough, I don't remember actually dreaming of it once I did fall asleep...
--
Actually, it seems the vast majority of true advances in technology are achieved in the US. The Japanese excel at consumer electronics, but how many truly innovative things have come out of Japan technology-wise? Of course, this may be in part because of their decade-long economic recession in part.
--
PocketChess.
--
Yeah, I know I wasn't actually first, so I deserve it. I'll go forth and sin no more.
--
Better hope your wife doesn't read slashdot...
--
It sure sounds like it. The CNN article says:
I don't know how illegal it is; it's their network, they could argue they're just forming a "partnership". As to how practical it is, simple; if the merchant refuses to agree, just block them.
Then again, I still haven't been able to get onto Yahoo to check the other article, so maybe the CNN one is off.
--
come on, people have won Nobel Prices by showing that free markets make everybody richer
And 8 years of supply-side economics showed that it doesn't. Despite common misperceptions (mostly by economics it seems), economics is not an exact science; just because they use a lot of math doesn't make it so.
--
I don't know if you can judge everyone by their knowledge of common internet hoaxes. Politicians, by necessity, are generalists; they have to know a little bit about everything, and I've seen some otherwise intelligent, educated people get caught by this particular hoax.
--
That of course should have read "if you can'T spare a few hours a week to go part time"
--
Despite all the predictions about how great online learning will be, I don't think it's an adequate replacement for a bricks and mortar degree, and unless the correspondence aspect doesn't show up on your resume, potential employers might not as well. If you can spare a few hours a week to go part time, you might just want to work for a year or two then go back. Probably have an easier time in class as a result of industry experience, too.
--
"Relatively cheap" in this case translates into about $250, delivered. What I'd like to see, though, is an aquatic version!
And I thought I was spoiled! It's a ROBOT!!!! We FINALLY get them, and you complain that it's not AQUATIC?!?
--
Dell sells cheap, poorly built machines. If you ever maintained more than 20+ Dell workstations per group, then you know what I mean.
My department maintains a lot more than that, and I've found them to be a lot better than most of the competition. They use better components, and everything's nice and standard.
--
Just look for an internet startup; a sizeable chunk of them use Sun, and a fair amount Linux. Plus the fact that whatever company you join will probably be out of business in a year won't matter if you just want to intern for a little while.
--
They could always marry someone from the marketing department.
Hey now, we don't have to go all crazy here. Nobody's THAT desperate for citizenship...
--
I am the avarage teen punk geek. So this is way before my time. Do you have the Title/Author or better yet ISBNS?
Finally tracked them down; they were published by Scholastic back in the mid-80's, under the "Micro Adventures" title. Apparently they're out of print though, which is too bad; only online retailer who even lists them is Amazon. Probably have a bigger audience nowadays, though ironically fewer people probably have access to a BASIC compiler now than back then (when almost every home computer came bundled with it). But including a CD-ROM with Perl wouldn't be too hard. Actually be a better language to use, give kids some knowledge of non-linear programming without making them worry about all those variable declarations or header files.
--
Hey, those were great...like "By Balloon Over the Sahara". Though the computer brand of interactive fiction DID predate them. Come to think of it, there was a choose-your-own-adventure-like series based (very roughly) on Zork; kind of funny how an electronic game spawned a paper one...
FLASHBACK! Alright, this is a geek crowd, anyone remember that series of books where you the narrative was interrupted at parts, and you had to type in a program? Well, you didn't have to, but when the character in the book (who was actually supposed to be you) did, they gave you the source code to type in along with them. Everything was in BASIC of course, and you usually had to debug it in some minor way. Was kind of funny how the programs that controlled every time delayed explosives device or computer operated door were in BASIC. The books were pretty cool though, I rarely had the patience to type in the programs, but you could at least follow them and see what you were supposed to modify...
MAN that takes me back.
Ooh, anyone remember Badlands of Hark?
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Why else would they be home all day long to claim "f1rst p0st fuxxxxerz!!!JH(*)&# eye 0wn jew" and talk about naked and petrified actresses?
I always thought it was some form of performance art.
--