+5 Insightful? What would you do if a 120-year old told you that you were a kid? You clearly don't think of yourself as a kid, so agreeing with the 120-year old in some attempt to relativize "kid" would be disingenuous. What's really going on is that people of all ages have tremendous creativity in finding ways to elevate their own status above others and calling other people kids is one of the ways to do that ("You're a kid, kid"). Your whole post is about comparing yourself to the OP. Your experience of yourself relative to the OP has no bearing on whether the OP is a kid or not. It only becomes relevant because the post is really about you and your status. Which of course it has to be, because you don't know anything about the OP - he could be 12 or 112 for all you know.
One thing I've learned, having only traveled a modest part of the way towards the decrepitude of old age, is this: don't ever let anyone put you down or say that you are not ready because you are too young or too old. The worst thing that can happen is that you fail, which usually is not a big deal, not in the grand scheme of things. Much worse to stay on the sidelines because someone told you that you were too immature or too wizened. Most of all, don't let people teach you to put yourself down. Calling people kids is exactly the kind of thing that holds people back in that way. As it elevates you, it deflates them.
Quoting in full because most of your comment is good (coincidentally I happen to agree with it). I'm only a few years younger that the GP, and as for "what would you do if a 120-year old told you that you were a kid?", I'd either laugh, or feel flattered. Stop being so sensitive. When I was in my 20's older guys at work called me "kid" all the time. I took no offense because it wasn't meant offensively, and didn't indicate a lack of respect.
That doesn't surprise me. Many of these "new" technologies aren't that new, but many people (especially younger ones quite frankly) are ignorant of that and think the latest thing must be new. I read an article not that long ago where someone justified hiring people who were no more than a few years out of school because the oldies (30) learned their trade before smartphones were popular. Therefore they didn't know about the "new" requirements like working with limited computing power and memory, and worrying about battery life. Yeah, that's real new - I was doing it in the 80's.
OMG, a shortage of toilet paper! Oppression! (though for some reason incomprehensible to right thinking people, pinkos think that's not as bad as disappearing your citizens).
The typical Latin American dictatorship the US has supported in Latin America is vastly worse than anything seen in Venezuela, yet we see endless propaganda about the evils of Venezuelan government.
That was an inconvenience. Denying somebody the use of your airspace is a typical bust their shoes tactic. It's a lot different than shooting down the plane.
We have room in Canada, I will pick him up on my battle moose.
I knew you Canadians had a secret weapon - nobody would be that polite without something up their sleeve.
Canada would be good because a trans-polar flight would avoid all other countries' airspace. NORAD detection of that flight could be foiled by a Canadian mole (NORAD being a joint US-Canadian operation). Nevertheless a battle moose would be too high profile. Hide him amongst some friendly Inuit. According to current trends the government probably has cameras in the arctic, but up there you can hide your face because there's always reason to wear a serious hoodie. Just stay off the water, or you'll be vulnerable to US subs (you know, the ones that never enter Canadian territorial waters without permission).
Backup plan: even if they find him, you can tie the whole thing up in First Nations politics. Nunavut could threaten to secede and join Russia, thus trashing Canada's arctic territorial claims.
My english is better than most other people's german, so please point out mistakes politely.
Like most German speakers I've encountered your English is good enough that I suspect that other language is just something you use around tourists. Ironically, having said that, I'd like to make one minor correction to your sig. It should be "My English is better than most other people's German..." since proper nouns are capitalized.
Sorry, but you're wrong. I've taught for twenty years, kids are just as vapid today as they were twenty years ago. Kids don't really change, just the styles and slang do. Today's OMG (which by the way is so yesterday) is simply an 2010s version of "gnarly dude". I recently ran across my HS yearbook from 1986 while cleaning out the garage. The girls looked incredibly young and the crap my friends wrote in them was dreadfully banal. Finally to put this in perspective while working on my MA in history I read about twenty yearbooks from 1933-1935 not only did I read the little introductions in the yearbooks but I also read the inscriptions. Guess what, they could have been written by a teen today. They were that close to the same level of stupidity. It was truly eye opening. The only thing that changed was the drug references (marijuana is bigger now), and the slang, otherwise they had the same adolescent stupidity.
Thank you! We old fogeys have got to stick together on this (I think I have seniority). Seriously, when I hear somebody who graduated HS in 1998 talking about "kids these days" I have to laugh. Do they realize that's the kind of things the class of '83 was saying about the class of '98? People have been talking about "kids these days" for a long time - Socrates complained about it.
I moved out in 2004, bought a house in 2008... despite coming up in an era of "no jobs" and "bad economy"
If you had a half decent entry level job before 2008 then you don't know what a bad job market is. Sure pre-2008 wasn't like the roaring 90's, but it was still a lot easier than post-2008. Welcome to the Great Recession (aka Lesser Depression).
You had to walk to school 5 miles, in the snow, uphill, both ways. Sorry sonny, but you had it easy. In the 70's we had to do it without shoes, over fields of broken glass, and if you got a cut or frostbite they beat the crap out of you for being careless. Damn whippersnappers and their newfangled "shoes".
I do feel bad for people just starting out these days. They have it a lot tougher than you or I did. Exercising the prerogative of old fogeys, I can say that I've had a few more decades than you to observe the youngun's trying to leave the nest. Sure some of them are lazy or just looking for excuses, but that's always been the case. I also know people in their 20's who have initiative and are willing to work hard, went to decent if not top tier universities, and can't find a real job to save their lives. They're living in a kind of limbo, wanting to get on with their lives but unable to. I do not recall anything like that when I was that age or in the intervening decades. Obviously not everyone got a great job right out of college, but a few years of persistence would usually pay off. As for moving out, the rents have gotten absurd. Used to be that even with a crappy job you could find a rathole that you could afford with a roommate. Not so much anymore. I know people who have to pay as much for a semi-decent 1 or 2 bedroom apartment as I pay for my house.
MEPs also voted to reject a number of amendments that specifically called for the suspension in Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) discussions.
Oh well. I was hoping some good would come of this and they'd at least suspend "free trade" talks.
our "AMERICA! FUCK YEAH!" school system and remnants of Manifest Destiny keep most people from thinking of it in those terms
Where did you go to school? I learned about the importance of the alliance with France when I was in grade school. My 9 y.o. daughter knows about it so it seems they're still teaching it. How could any American student graduate from high school (more likely middle school) without knowing about Lafayette, French material aid to the US, Franklin as ambassador to France, the importance of the French navy, or the French forces at Yorktown? While you were either attending the worst school in America or not paying attention, you should also have learned about the Spanish and Dutch contributions.
Slashdot Mirror
if you want a stable tech career ... good option ... the large consulting firms (IBM ...
What about a stable career in the US? IBM stands for India Business Machines.
And you have to figure it out with pencil and paper - none of those new-fangled calculators.
+5 Insightful? What would you do if a 120-year old told you that you were a kid? You clearly don't think of yourself as a kid, so agreeing with the 120-year old in some attempt to relativize "kid" would be disingenuous. What's really going on is that people of all ages have tremendous creativity in finding ways to elevate their own status above others and calling other people kids is one of the ways to do that ("You're a kid, kid"). Your whole post is about comparing yourself to the OP. Your experience of yourself relative to the OP has no bearing on whether the OP is a kid or not. It only becomes relevant because the post is really about you and your status. Which of course it has to be, because you don't know anything about the OP - he could be 12 or 112 for all you know.
One thing I've learned, having only traveled a modest part of the way towards the decrepitude of old age, is this: don't ever let anyone put you down or say that you are not ready because you are too young or too old. The worst thing that can happen is that you fail, which usually is not a big deal, not in the grand scheme of things. Much worse to stay on the sidelines because someone told you that you were too immature or too wizened. Most of all, don't let people teach you to put yourself down. Calling people kids is exactly the kind of thing that holds people back in that way. As it elevates you, it deflates them.
Quoting in full because most of your comment is good (coincidentally I happen to agree with it). I'm only a few years younger that the GP, and as for "what would you do if a 120-year old told you that you were a kid?", I'd either laugh, or feel flattered. Stop being so sensitive. When I was in my 20's older guys at work called me "kid" all the time. I took no offense because it wasn't meant offensively, and didn't indicate a lack of respect.
That doesn't surprise me. Many of these "new" technologies aren't that new, but many people (especially younger ones quite frankly) are ignorant of that and think the latest thing must be new. I read an article not that long ago where someone justified hiring people who were no more than a few years out of school because the oldies (30) learned their trade before smartphones were popular. Therefore they didn't know about the "new" requirements like working with limited computing power and memory, and worrying about battery life. Yeah, that's real new - I was doing it in the 80's.
OMG, a shortage of toilet paper! Oppression! (though for some reason incomprehensible to right thinking people, pinkos think that's not as bad as disappearing your citizens).
The typical Latin American dictatorship the US has supported in Latin America is vastly worse than anything seen in Venezuela, yet we see endless propaganda about the evils of Venezuelan government.
they'll start voting for people who stand for lower taxes and less government powers
Perfect! Sounds just like the kind of low corruption government we had in the Gilded Age.
They're not delusional, but they have been watching too many James Bond movies.
Just make sure it isn't commanded by Capt. Ramius.
That was an inconvenience. Denying somebody the use of your airspace is a typical bust their shoes tactic. It's a lot different than shooting down the plane.
We have room in Canada, I will pick him up on my battle moose.
I knew you Canadians had a secret weapon - nobody would be that polite without something up their sleeve.
Canada would be good because a trans-polar flight would avoid all other countries' airspace. NORAD detection of that flight could be foiled by a Canadian mole (NORAD being a joint US-Canadian operation). Nevertheless a battle moose would be too high profile. Hide him amongst some friendly Inuit. According to current trends the government probably has cameras in the arctic, but up there you can hide your face because there's always reason to wear a serious hoodie. Just stay off the water, or you'll be vulnerable to US subs (you know, the ones that never enter Canadian territorial waters without permission).
Backup plan: even if they find him, you can tie the whole thing up in First Nations politics. Nunavut could threaten to secede and join Russia, thus trashing Canada's arctic territorial claims.
P.S. For background, watch a rerun of Ice Station Zebra.
In North America you have a colder climate that may favor a different body size to some extent
A Maine Coon is much bigger than the average house cat - not much smaller than a bobcat. They also do well in Maine winters.
My personal guess is that around 25% of humans are unable to detect any sort of sarcasm
And most of them seem to post at Slashdot.
P.S. Irony, satire and facetiousness don't fare too well either.
Because posters will sometimes mention, or at least allude to, the country they're from. I can't recall any Japanese posters.
My english is better than most other people's german, so please point out mistakes politely.
Like most German speakers I've encountered your English is good enough that I suspect that other language is just something you use around tourists. Ironically, having said that, I'd like to make one minor correction to your sig. It should be "My English is better than most other people's German ..." since proper nouns are capitalized.
So if you hire an American, a HS diploma is a attendance record. Not a proof of competency or education.
I've never heard of any diploma that was proof of competency or education.
That's very different from what's being discussed in this article.
Unfortunately I don't think there are many Japanese posters at Slashdot in general. Canadian, European, Australian, Brazilian yeah, but not Japanese.
Sorry, but you're wrong. I've taught for twenty years, kids are just as vapid today as they were twenty years ago. Kids don't really change, just the styles and slang do. Today's OMG (which by the way is so yesterday) is simply an 2010s version of "gnarly dude". I recently ran across my HS yearbook from 1986 while cleaning out the garage. The girls looked incredibly young and the crap my friends wrote in them was dreadfully banal. Finally to put this in perspective while working on my MA in history I read about twenty yearbooks from 1933-1935 not only did I read the little introductions in the yearbooks but I also read the inscriptions. Guess what, they could have been written by a teen today. They were that close to the same level of stupidity. It was truly eye opening. The only thing that changed was the drug references (marijuana is bigger now), and the slang, otherwise they had the same adolescent stupidity.
Thank you! We old fogeys have got to stick together on this (I think I have seniority). Seriously, when I hear somebody who graduated HS in 1998 talking about "kids these days" I have to laugh. Do they realize that's the kind of things the class of '83 was saying about the class of '98? People have been talking about "kids these days" for a long time - Socrates complained about it.
I moved out in 2004, bought a house in 2008 ... despite coming up in an era of "no jobs" and "bad economy"
If you had a half decent entry level job before 2008 then you don't know what a bad job market is. Sure pre-2008 wasn't like the roaring 90's, but it was still a lot easier than post-2008. Welcome to the Great Recession (aka Lesser Depression).
When I was a kid, in the 90s ...
You had to walk to school 5 miles, in the snow, uphill, both ways. Sorry sonny, but you had it easy. In the 70's we had to do it without shoes, over fields of broken glass, and if you got a cut or frostbite they beat the crap out of you for being careless. Damn whippersnappers and their newfangled "shoes".
I do feel bad for people just starting out these days. They have it a lot tougher than you or I did. Exercising the prerogative of old fogeys, I can say that I've had a few more decades than you to observe the youngun's trying to leave the nest. Sure some of them are lazy or just looking for excuses, but that's always been the case. I also know people in their 20's who have initiative and are willing to work hard, went to decent if not top tier universities, and can't find a real job to save their lives. They're living in a kind of limbo, wanting to get on with their lives but unable to. I do not recall anything like that when I was that age or in the intervening decades. Obviously not everyone got a great job right out of college, but a few years of persistence would usually pay off. As for moving out, the rents have gotten absurd. Used to be that even with a crappy job you could find a rathole that you could afford with a roommate. Not so much anymore. I know people who have to pay as much for a semi-decent 1 or 2 bedroom apartment as I pay for my house.
A population of 120M hardly forces inbreeding. Are you basing this on the fact that almost all of them have black hair?
FTA:
MEPs also voted to reject a number of amendments that specifically called for the suspension in Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) discussions.
Oh well. I was hoping some good would come of this and they'd at least suspend "free trade" talks.
Then why bother with parentheses? Binary is an even simpler syntax.
FUCK YEAH! that's a simplistic explanation.
our "AMERICA! FUCK YEAH!" school system and remnants of Manifest Destiny keep most people from thinking of it in those terms
Where did you go to school? I learned about the importance of the alliance with France when I was in grade school. My 9 y.o. daughter knows about it so it seems they're still teaching it. How could any American student graduate from high school (more likely middle school) without knowing about Lafayette, French material aid to the US, Franklin as ambassador to France, the importance of the French navy, or the French forces at Yorktown? While you were either attending the worst school in America or not paying attention, you should also have learned about the Spanish and Dutch contributions.
Don't bother arguing with a neo-Reb - they still haven't gotten used to the fact that the traitors lost.