... if you can't learn COBOL in a week. It's all about syntax, and it's really not that difficult.
I've jumped from language to language my entire career, the first one was only the most difficult because I had to learn constructs like 'if.. then.. else' and looping and such. And recursion, which old COBOL didn't support anyway.
If someone can't translate their current skills into COBOL, they have no business being in computers at all. Languages change all the time, and if you can't learn a new one quickly, you have no future in the business at all. Hell, I once modified a program written in a language I had never seen before and had no manuals for.
A developer's goal should be to become proficient in many language, and at least knowledgeable in many more. Just last month, I had to read COBOL code in order to write a Java program because the files were created by a COBOL program and I had to know figure out to process EBCDIC files with COMP data into a class and what each field was for. No one on the team had a clue... it took me about 2 hours.
But I'm old and have skills because I've never said that I don't know how or can't do something. Instead of whining like a little baby when given a small challenge.
So.. this group of companies want to use other company's infrastructure in order to make money. And want to do so without having to pay for that ability.
Sucks to be you.... that's not how free enterprise works.
If you want to use someone's labor, be it Facebook or AT&T, there is always a price to pay whether it's up front in expenses or ads for 'free' service'. You pay your provider only to get you to the rest of the network, you don't pay for the 'rest of the network'. But your provider pays for that ability, and some of that gets pushed down to you.
If you want to use the 'best of the network', I don't have any issues with those providers charging something for that privilege. Either through fees on your end for improved throughput or fees to my provider for the same thing.
And if you didn't plan for that in your business plan or can't adapt, it's your own fucking fault.
Businesses are hit with all types of changes in expenses throughout their lifecycle. Adapt or die.
In 2014 Python and Java were the two most commonly-taught languages at America's top universities, according to an analysis published by the Communications of the ACM.
My first language was BASIC, because I learned it myself for an extra credit math problem using these things called 'computer manuals' every computer room had in the 70s. My second language was FORTRAN, because I learned it myself after I discovered that going to college was a complete waste of money when I could teach myself FORTRAN in a week for the cost of a book instead of paying someone else to do it.
37 years later, I'm still learning languages by myself from books and now the Internet because going to college to learn programming is a complete waste of money and time for smart people.
Mediocre people need it because they have to have that little piece of paper that says they know how to pass tests in order to get a job. And people that have been there lie about it to justify their waste of time and money.
I ask any perspective employer or recruiter what the work from home policy is during the job interview. If it's none, I usually end the interview at some point. If it's some, we continue to talk and I base my salary request on commute time and costs. The less work from home and the longer the commute, the more I ask for.
The only person to blame was the employee that neglected to figure things out ahead of time.
BTW.. my current job lets me work from home 100% of the time, so don't tell me it isn't a good idea to ask.
A recent New Zealand study found that the risks of death from second hand smoke is between the risk of getting melanoma and dying in a car crash.
So unless you want to start banning cars and going out in the sun, STFU about casual second hand smoke. Walking through that cloud on your way into the restaurant isn't as dangerous as driving to get there. I'm not suggestion people should take steps on their own to avoid it or not expose their children to it, but enough is enough from the nanny state governments of the world.
Smoking does not cause cancer, lung disease or other ailments. It increases the risk that someone will get them. Just as driving does not cause automobile crashes, it just increases the risk of having one.
What the article is discussing is bringing the successful down to the level of the unsuccessful. Not finding solutions for why some people don't become successful. Things like free government money and housing reducing the incentive to make one's own way.
The establishment of equal wealth does not elevate the low skilled, unmotivated people. It reduces the efforts of the highly skilled, motivated people. Eventually, the highly skilled, motivated people will rise above once again.
Just as they always have done throughout history.
Instead of treating the successful with disdain, diminishing their accomplishments, and complaining about how they have everything, it's better to strive to be more successful. Or, instead of blaming others for your poor decisions, learn from them and move on.
It's one thing to give people a leg up when times are difficult and expect them to grow. It's another to make entire segments of a population dependent upon other people and and instill a sense of defeat in them.
The later is what many government assistance programs do and why they are drains on an economy instead of growing it. I've known a few people that were very happy to collect their unemployment checks until they were in danger of losing them. Interesting how a timeline of decreasing benefits can be an incentive to try and be successful.
This is what happens when immature people are given any responsibility without oversight by adults. The same type of people that name servers after Star Wars/Lord of the Rings/Star Trek people/places/things and later hopefully learn how moronic they sound explaining things to the adults that provide their funding/paychecks and grow out of it.
... if Twitter shut down it's entire system and all the twits went away. Or are they called tweets??
Twitter.. working to become the home of the endlessly offended.
Anyway, there are plenty of other electronic means for people to offer up their viewpoints. Perhaps Twitter itself could shut down and stop being the source of useless news articles announcing that some celebrity no one cares about had a meltdown that amounted to nothing in the grand scheme of things.
The Constitution says nothing about "winner take all." It says nothing to suggest that electors' freedom should be constrained in any way...They were to be citizens exercising judgment, not cogs turning a wheel.
The US Constitution is very clear on this.. it gives each state the right to decide how popular votes will translate to electoral votes.
I know it galls some to think that they can't get their way, but it is what it is until you can get 2/3rds of the states to change it.
So stop being sore losers and move on. The 'real' United states picked Mr. Trump as President, not those self-righteous urbanites who think they need to run the country simply because a bunch of them choose to live very close to each other in shit holes like Chicago, LA and New York City instead of the beautiful rural areas this country has.
You mean the warring tribes that slaughtered and enslaved each other over resources?? That beautiful native American culture?? The ones whose properties are littered with trash and run-down homes among the few well-kept ones?? That one???
What bullshit. The American Indian is no more entitled to land they couldn't hold onto after migrating to North American than anyone else.
Or.. In the words of a failed president... we won.. get over it.
That goes out to both the Indians and Hillary supporters.
Ok.. they don't have image detection. But they do already have a fridge that has a camera to see the inside and a neat Android interface. My wife and I played with one at a local store recently and it was kinda neat. It had a nice whiteboard function to leave notes, supported streaming video and supposedly interfaced with the SmartTVs, although I'm not sure of the functionality. Since it appears to use Android, it was pretty intuitive to us. I don't think it would be to people who haven't used Android phones though.
I don't know how useful image detection will be without several cameras in the back and side of each shelf. But it was interesting to be able to see very clearly what was inside without opening the door. I wonder if the energy cost of the TV screen and computer hardware will outweigh the savings of not opening the door as often or as long.
It wasn't worth to me the extra $2K more a comparable fridge costs. It might be to people with more disposable income than I have.
Once someone learns basic concepts, such as if..then..else, loops, pointers, and recursion for example, many programming language skills come down to syntax, libraries, and debugging. I jumped from programming COBOL for 15 years to C, C++, and Java without any issues, so I'd guess that someone who is a decent developer to begin with shouldn't have too much of a problem shifting gears to most other languages. I've also worked in a smattering of other languages (PL/I, FORTRAN) and far too many '3rd generation' tools. I even once modified code for a proprietary language I didn't even have a manual for.
Logic, pointer theory, and spatial relationships are probably the hardest things for anyone to understand. Those that can comprehend basic logic constructs and are able to 'see' code in their head can probably easily shift from language to language with ease. Those that struggle with any language probably will have a difficult time picking up new ones.
I think the biggest deterrent to learning new languages today isn't syntax or how the language works, it's the libraries and associated debugging skills. I had far more trouble learning C, C++, and Java libraries than I did learning the actual language. Modern IDEs make it a bit easier with predictive typing and on-screen syntax checking. But trying to figure out how to read a file or output to the screen can be extremely difficult in some languages because of all the possible options with all of the different libraries. Fortunately, anyone skilled in Google can usually find code examples rather quickly.
And then there is debugging, which I think is still an art. Many years (decades??) ago, I had a developer come to me with a persistent bug he couldn't fix. After he explained it to me, he started to show me the code. I stopped him, and told him to go look at a specific part of the program, he was missing a period. He thought I was pulling his leg, but left and came back shortly and asked how I knew what the problem was without even looking at the code. I remember saying to him 'Scott.. the only difference between you and me is I've already made that mistake several times'. Debugging, like libraries, in any language takes significant experience to get good at.
Very well said. Be careful though.. I used to be able to eat whatever I wanted. Then I got married and had kids, and it all changed.
I've taken a different approach to losing weight that is slowly working, averaging 2 1/2 pounds a month over the last 2 years. And no set point in sight. Rather than waster hours at the gym or the idiotic exercise of jogging, I do what came naturally a hundreds years ago... work. It's amazing how much weight I have lost doing simple things like watching what I eat (i.e. stop buying chips, and eating Oreos in moderation), and laying pavers. Or mixing and pouring concrete by hand. Or using an ax and saw to cut down a tree and cut it to length instead of a chain saw. Installing my own flooring and kitchen cabinets instead of paying someone to do it.
And instead of a huge gym bill or bad feet or large payments to contractors, I have a beautiful house and yard. That I can point to with pride and say 'Yes.. I did that. No, I didn't have any training, I just googled it.;
It's been quite interesting to watch as my wife and I continue to eat less and less.. and realize, we are still satisfied. By listening to what our body tells us instead of some fad on the Internet, we have both reduced both our food intake and what we spend on food. We don't shun fast food restaurants, but we eat there less and less. And, to your point, enjoy what we do eat more and more.
I just bought a used sail boat that will need a fair amount of work. That should keep me busy for the rest of my life, it takes a bit of work to sail a boat instead of motoring around.
I may never reach the weight I was in high school, but that's a ridiculous goal. As long as I can get rid of the pills, I'll be fine.
Charity also works that way. And it's not forced upon people.
NOTHING requires ANY government to tax it's citizens and provide any social services. They do it because society wants it, and deems it necessary (in theory) or because someone wants to excercise power over other people and control things (more realistic).
And NO company is required to give a shit about their employee's personal circumstances. The good news is that those that do usually are able to have the better employees.What BS regulations like this do is reduce the number of incentives really good companies can offer to entice good people to come work for them. So we all end up with mediocre benefits, and society ends up paying for people who can't manage their own lives.
These types of regulations force the majority to subsidize people who make poor decisions. Schooling benefits society, so we agree to pay taxes to subsidize a minium level of public education. Fire and police also benefit society.
This only benefits people who are unable to make good decisions in their lives, don't know how to budget, are unable to save money, or don't have enough skills to work for the best companies. Those are not character traits that should be rewarded. For my entire life, I have gotten at least two weeks of vacation. And, as far as I know, every company I have ever worked with has leave-of-absence opportunities for reasonable periods.
For DECADES, people have managed in the US to deal with having a child and dealing with the life changes that come along with it. As an example, when my first wife had a child, she was able to have a friend watch our new son and was able to go back to work right away. She worked the early nursing shift, so we only needed 4 hours of child care. Later in life, she started working evenings and we didn't need any. I took ZERO time off other than some vacation time.
So.. what's the problem?? Why suddenly is it that people can't do this? My guess is it's the push towards people who want the government to wipe their own ass because they aren't capable (or unwilling) to do it themselves. The problem with that is then the government makes the rules, and creates a 'one size fits all' system that, for the most part, is just mediocre. Almost every US government program is mediocre at best.. public education, Social Security, Welfare, Medicaid, Veterans Administration. They all suffer from the same thing... a bureaucracy that is more concerned with keeping employed that serving needs. I see nothing in any of those systems that shows any indication that the government gives a crap about the people they are servicing. The horror stories in each of those program can fill volumes.
It's always amazing to me how many idiots run to the US government for help when their track record at doing anything sucks so badly. I like my choices better, take government benefits if I can, but not depend on them at all. I'll take my social security check when I get old enough, but I have enough saved up to not need it. I'll fall back on Medicaid if I have to, but I'll pay for my own insurance as long as I can.
And.. I'll decide what benefits I need from an employer. I don't need the government telling me what I have to take. They have already screwed up my health insurance, I'd prefer they don't start screwing around with really unimportant things to the majority of workers.
Please explain again why it's my company's responsibility to pay me for not working because I don't have any budgeting skills and, given 8 months lead time, can't possibly save enough money to take some unpaid leave. And I decided to have a child knowing I didn't have the money to take time off? And I'm also too stupid to have a financial reserve in case something comes up and I can't work for a period of time, or, heaven forbid, get fired or laid off.
Don't get me wrong, I don't have any issues with companies doing this. Competing for employees is one of the greatest features of a capitalistic system, and companies that offer the best compensation packages will end up with the best workers.
I think the expectation that it's their responsibility to do it is terribly misguided. Once again, we want to force everyone into a 'one size fits all' mentality, no longer differentiating between great places to work and crappy places to work because we want to force them all to have the same benefits.
I'm a firm believer in letting the open job market drive benefits. Companies were handing out domestic partner coverage long before it became a 'thing'. I know, I used it to get insurance for my girl friend over 10 years ago.
When I go to a job interview, I have a list of 'must have' benefits. This isn't on it, because I won't be having any kids anytime soon. But I might look for benefits like working remotely, which I currently do, because I'm old and want to be around my grandkids instead of where I can get a good paying job. I consider working remotely far more important than parental leave, because *I* need it.
Stop asking everyone to provide everything, and start taking responsibility for making decisions in your life. For those that live in nanny governments, you have no idea what you are giving up when you ask the government wipe your ass because you are too stupid to do it yourself.
So you are willing to donate your paycheck to get all of those stop lights updated then??? If someone has to pay for it, I'd rather the people whose lives are so important they can't stand the thought of waiting a minute or two at a light pay for it.
People manipulate their progeny all the time. Best schools, best athletic camps, etc. Those that have acquired wealth will always be able to afford the best of everything to give their kids an advantage. The rest of us have to work to become privileged. And many have.
Fortunately, biology itself provides bounds. Height is limited by the size of ones bones, too much height and bones can't support the weight without further increases in bone diameter. People of extreme heights have numerous joint and bone issues. Muscles taken to extremes rip ligaments and tendons from their anchor points. Even the human brain has limits.
We can fear the mythical superman of bio-engineering, but it's not as simple as tweaking a few things. And most people won't want their child to be a guinea pig, they will want proven, repeatable methods before paying for it. I can't even begin to imagine the testing that will be required before someone is permitted to perform any type of gene splicing on an embryo.
Beyond that, humans themselves have shown that those of limited means can do extraordinary things beyond those of affluence through hard work and determination.
So.. who cares. Le'ts use bio-engineering to start to eliminate genetic diseases.
And if they rule otherwise.. who cares. The UN has as much legal jurisdiction in this matter as the members of slashdot do.
Julian.. try personal responsibility and accept the consequences of your actions. Stop acting like you are any different than thousands of others that get accused of things. You don't deserve an of this attention, your 15 minutes of fame are over.
He's not whining about people being offended by his work. He's whining about those people doing something other than just not going to his next show. Things like trying to get him banned from future shows so that the 5 people who are offended get their way, but the hundreds that enjoyed it don't get theirs.
And he is 100% correct. Don't like guns or abortions or comics... don't use them, have one, or go see one.
And then stop telling the people that have different opinions they can't have them.
Slashdot Mirror
... if you can't learn COBOL in a week. It's all about syntax, and it's really not that difficult.
I've jumped from language to language my entire career, the first one was only the most difficult because I had to learn constructs like 'if .. then .. else' and looping and such. And recursion, which old COBOL didn't support anyway.
If someone can't translate their current skills into COBOL, they have no business being in computers at all. Languages change all the time, and if you can't learn a new one quickly, you have no future in the business at all. Hell, I once modified a program written in a language I had never seen before and had no manuals for.
A developer's goal should be to become proficient in many language, and at least knowledgeable in many more. Just last month, I had to read COBOL code in order to write a Java program because the files were created by a COBOL program and I had to know figure out to process EBCDIC files with COMP data into a class and what each field was for. No one on the team had a clue ... it took me about 2 hours.
But I'm old and have skills because I've never said that I don't know how or can't do something. Instead of whining like a little baby when given a small challenge.
So .. this group of companies want to use other company's infrastructure in order to make money. And want to do so without having to pay for that ability.
Sucks to be you .... that's not how free enterprise works.
If you want to use someone's labor, be it Facebook or AT&T, there is always a price to pay whether it's up front in expenses or ads for 'free' service'. You pay your provider only to get you to the rest of the network, you don't pay for the 'rest of the network'. But your provider pays for that ability, and some of that gets pushed down to you.
If you want to use the 'best of the network', I don't have any issues with those providers charging something for that privilege. Either through fees on your end for improved throughput or fees to my provider for the same thing.
And if you didn't plan for that in your business plan or can't adapt, it's your own fucking fault.
Businesses are hit with all types of changes in expenses throughout their lifecycle. Adapt or die.
In 2014 Python and Java were the two most commonly-taught languages at America's top universities, according to an analysis published by the Communications of the ACM.
My first language was BASIC, because I learned it myself for an extra credit math problem using these things called 'computer manuals' every computer room had in the 70s. My second language was FORTRAN, because I learned it myself after I discovered that going to college was a complete waste of money when I could teach myself FORTRAN in a week for the cost of a book instead of paying someone else to do it.
37 years later, I'm still learning languages by myself from books and now the Internet because going to college to learn programming is a complete waste of money and time for smart people.
Mediocre people need it because they have to have that little piece of paper that says they know how to pass tests in order to get a job. And people that have been there lie about it to justify their waste of time and money.
I ask any perspective employer or recruiter what the work from home policy is during the job interview. If it's none, I usually end the interview at some point. If it's some, we continue to talk and I base my salary request on commute time and costs. The less work from home and the longer the commute, the more I ask for.
The only person to blame was the employee that neglected to figure things out ahead of time.
BTW .. my current job lets me work from home 100% of the time, so don't tell me it isn't a good idea to ask.
... like a fucking phone???
Idiots ....
A recent New Zealand study found that the risks of death from second hand smoke is between the risk of getting melanoma and dying in a car crash.
So unless you want to start banning cars and going out in the sun, STFU about casual second hand smoke. Walking through that cloud on your way into the restaurant isn't as dangerous as driving to get there. I'm not suggestion people should take steps on their own to avoid it or not expose their children to it, but enough is enough from the nanny state governments of the world.
Smoking does not cause cancer, lung disease or other ailments. It increases the risk that someone will get them. Just as driving does not cause automobile crashes, it just increases the risk of having one.
What the article is discussing is bringing the successful down to the level of the unsuccessful. Not finding solutions for why some people don't become successful. Things like free government money and housing reducing the incentive to make one's own way.
The establishment of equal wealth does not elevate the low skilled, unmotivated people. It reduces the efforts of the highly skilled, motivated people. Eventually, the highly skilled, motivated people will rise above once again.
Just as they always have done throughout history.
Instead of treating the successful with disdain, diminishing their accomplishments, and complaining about how they have everything, it's better to strive to be more successful. Or, instead of blaming others for your poor decisions, learn from them and move on.
It's one thing to give people a leg up when times are difficult and expect them to grow. It's another to make entire segments of a population dependent upon other people and and instill a sense of defeat in them.
The later is what many government assistance programs do and why they are drains on an economy instead of growing it. I've known a few people that were very happy to collect their unemployment checks until they were in danger of losing them. Interesting how a timeline of decreasing benefits can be an incentive to try and be successful.
This is what happens when immature people are given any responsibility without oversight by adults. The same type of people that name servers after Star Wars/Lord of the Rings/Star Trek people/places/things and later hopefully learn how moronic they sound explaining things to the adults that provide their funding/paychecks and grow out of it.
... if Twitter shut down it's entire system and all the twits went away. Or are they called tweets??
Twitter .. working to become the home of the endlessly offended.
Anyway, there are plenty of other electronic means for people to offer up their viewpoints. Perhaps Twitter itself could shut down and stop being the source of useless news articles announcing that some celebrity no one cares about had a meltdown that amounted to nothing in the grand scheme of things.
The Constitution says nothing about "winner take all." It says nothing to suggest that electors' freedom should be constrained in any way...They were to be citizens exercising judgment, not cogs turning a wheel.
The US Constitution is very clear on this .. it gives each state the right to decide how popular votes will translate to electoral votes.
I know it galls some to think that they can't get their way, but it is what it is until you can get 2/3rds of the states to change it.
So stop being sore losers and move on. The 'real' United states picked Mr. Trump as President, not those self-righteous urbanites who think they need to run the country simply because a bunch of them choose to live very close to each other in shit holes like Chicago, LA and New York City instead of the beautiful rural areas this country has.
You mean the warring tribes that slaughtered and enslaved each other over resources?? That beautiful native American culture?? The ones whose properties are littered with trash and run-down homes among the few well-kept ones?? That one???
What bullshit. The American Indian is no more entitled to land they couldn't hold onto after migrating to North American than anyone else.
Or .. In the words of a failed president ... we won .. get over it.
That goes out to both the Indians and Hillary supporters.
National Geographic Releases Alarmist Climate Change Movie 'Before the Flood' On YouTube
There ... fixed the title for you...
Ok .. they don't have image detection. But they do already have a fridge that has a camera to see the inside and a neat Android interface. My wife and I played with one at a local store recently and it was kinda neat. It had a nice whiteboard function to leave notes, supported streaming video and supposedly interfaced with the SmartTVs, although I'm not sure of the functionality. Since it appears to use Android, it was pretty intuitive to us. I don't think it would be to people who haven't used Android phones though.
I don't know how useful image detection will be without several cameras in the back and side of each shelf. But it was interesting to be able to see very clearly what was inside without opening the door. I wonder if the energy cost of the TV screen and computer hardware will outweigh the savings of not opening the door as often or as long.
It wasn't worth to me the extra $2K more a comparable fridge costs. It might be to people with more disposable income than I have.
Once someone learns basic concepts, such as if..then..else, loops, pointers, and recursion for example, many programming language skills come down to syntax, libraries, and debugging. I jumped from programming COBOL for 15 years to C, C++, and Java without any issues, so I'd guess that someone who is a decent developer to begin with shouldn't have too much of a problem shifting gears to most other languages. I've also worked in a smattering of other languages (PL/I, FORTRAN) and far too many '3rd generation' tools. I even once modified code for a proprietary language I didn't even have a manual for.
Logic, pointer theory, and spatial relationships are probably the hardest things for anyone to understand. Those that can comprehend basic logic constructs and are able to 'see' code in their head can probably easily shift from language to language with ease. Those that struggle with any language probably will have a difficult time picking up new ones.
I think the biggest deterrent to learning new languages today isn't syntax or how the language works, it's the libraries and associated debugging skills. I had far more trouble learning C, C++, and Java libraries than I did learning the actual language. Modern IDEs make it a bit easier with predictive typing and on-screen syntax checking. But trying to figure out how to read a file or output to the screen can be extremely difficult in some languages because of all the possible options with all of the different libraries. Fortunately, anyone skilled in Google can usually find code examples rather quickly.
And then there is debugging, which I think is still an art. Many years (decades??) ago, I had a developer come to me with a persistent bug he couldn't fix. After he explained it to me, he started to show me the code. I stopped him, and told him to go look at a specific part of the program, he was missing a period. He thought I was pulling his leg, but left and came back shortly and asked how I knew what the problem was without even looking at the code. I remember saying to him 'Scott .. the only difference between you and me is I've already made that mistake several times'. Debugging, like libraries, in any language takes significant experience to get good at.
Very well said. Be careful though .. I used to be able to eat whatever I wanted. Then I got married and had kids, and it all changed.
I've taken a different approach to losing weight that is slowly working, averaging 2 1/2 pounds a month over the last 2 years. And no set point in sight. Rather than waster hours at the gym or the idiotic exercise of jogging, I do what came naturally a hundreds years ago ... work. It's amazing how much weight I have lost doing simple things like watching what I eat (i.e. stop buying chips, and eating Oreos in moderation), and laying pavers. Or mixing and pouring concrete by hand. Or using an ax and saw to cut down a tree and cut it to length instead of a chain saw. Installing my own flooring and kitchen cabinets instead of paying someone to do it.
And instead of a huge gym bill or bad feet or large payments to contractors, I have a beautiful house and yard. That I can point to with pride and say 'Yes .. I did that. No, I didn't have any training, I just googled it.;
It's been quite interesting to watch as my wife and I continue to eat less and less .. and realize, we are still satisfied. By listening to what our body tells us instead of some fad on the Internet, we have both reduced both our food intake and what we spend on food. We don't shun fast food restaurants, but we eat there less and less. And, to your point, enjoy what we do eat more and more.
I just bought a used sail boat that will need a fair amount of work. That should keep me busy for the rest of my life, it takes a bit of work to sail a boat instead of motoring around.
I may never reach the weight I was in high school, but that's a ridiculous goal. As long as I can get rid of the pills, I'll be fine.
Isn't that his same take on "there's illegal, then there's illegal".
Really?? We are supposed to respect the opinions of a bunch of whimpering babies that can't stand the sight of a Trump sticker on their campus without running in fear?? People who have signed petitions to ban the first amendment??
I suppose if Mr. Nye is desperate enough to look anywhere for support, he'll turn to anyone. Even the chronically clueless...
... to finally catch up to what I've done in Chrome for years now ...
Charity also works that way. And it's not forced upon people.
NOTHING requires ANY government to tax it's citizens and provide any social services. They do it because society wants it, and deems it necessary (in theory) or because someone wants to excercise power over other people and control things (more realistic).
And NO company is required to give a shit about their employee's personal circumstances. The good news is that those that do usually are able to have the better employees.What BS regulations like this do is reduce the number of incentives really good companies can offer to entice good people to come work for them. So we all end up with mediocre benefits, and society ends up paying for people who can't manage their own lives.
These types of regulations force the majority to subsidize people who make poor decisions. Schooling benefits society, so we agree to pay taxes to subsidize a minium level of public education. Fire and police also benefit society.
This only benefits people who are unable to make good decisions in their lives, don't know how to budget, are unable to save money, or don't have enough skills to work for the best companies. Those are not character traits that should be rewarded. For my entire life, I have gotten at least two weeks of vacation. And, as far as I know, every company I have ever worked with has leave-of-absence opportunities for reasonable periods.
For DECADES, people have managed in the US to deal with having a child and dealing with the life changes that come along with it. As an example, when my first wife had a child, she was able to have a friend watch our new son and was able to go back to work right away. She worked the early nursing shift, so we only needed 4 hours of child care. Later in life, she started working evenings and we didn't need any. I took ZERO time off other than some vacation time.
So .. what's the problem?? Why suddenly is it that people can't do this? My guess is it's the push towards people who want the government to wipe their own ass because they aren't capable (or unwilling) to do it themselves. The problem with that is then the government makes the rules, and creates a 'one size fits all' system that, for the most part, is just mediocre. Almost every US government program is mediocre at best .. public education, Social Security, Welfare, Medicaid, Veterans Administration. They all suffer from the same thing ... a bureaucracy that is more concerned with keeping employed that serving needs. I see nothing in any of those systems that shows any indication that the government gives a crap about the people they are servicing. The horror stories in each of those program can fill volumes.
It's always amazing to me how many idiots run to the US government for help when their track record at doing anything sucks so badly. I like my choices better, take government benefits if I can, but not depend on them at all. I'll take my social security check when I get old enough, but I have enough saved up to not need it. I'll fall back on Medicaid if I have to, but I'll pay for my own insurance as long as I can.
And .. I'll decide what benefits I need from an employer. I don't need the government telling me what I have to take. They have already screwed up my health insurance, I'd prefer they don't start screwing around with really unimportant things to the majority of workers.
Please explain again why it's my company's responsibility to pay me for not working because I don't have any budgeting skills and, given 8 months lead time, can't possibly save enough money to take some unpaid leave. And I decided to have a child knowing I didn't have the money to take time off? And I'm also too stupid to have a financial reserve in case something comes up and I can't work for a period of time, or, heaven forbid, get fired or laid off.
Don't get me wrong, I don't have any issues with companies doing this. Competing for employees is one of the greatest features of a capitalistic system, and companies that offer the best compensation packages will end up with the best workers.
I think the expectation that it's their responsibility to do it is terribly misguided. Once again, we want to force everyone into a 'one size fits all' mentality, no longer differentiating between great places to work and crappy places to work because we want to force them all to have the same benefits.
I'm a firm believer in letting the open job market drive benefits. Companies were handing out domestic partner coverage long before it became a 'thing'. I know, I used it to get insurance for my girl friend over 10 years ago.
When I go to a job interview, I have a list of 'must have' benefits. This isn't on it, because I won't be having any kids anytime soon. But I might look for benefits like working remotely, which I currently do, because I'm old and want to be around my grandkids instead of where I can get a good paying job. I consider working remotely far more important than parental leave, because *I* need it.
Stop asking everyone to provide everything, and start taking responsibility for making decisions in your life. For those that live in nanny governments, you have no idea what you are giving up when you ask the government wipe your ass because you are too stupid to do it yourself.
So you are willing to donate your paycheck to get all of those stop lights updated then??? If someone has to pay for it, I'd rather the people whose lives are so important they can't stand the thought of waiting a minute or two at a light pay for it.
Who gives a flying fudgecake what Snowden says. He has no talent except for stealing and running away.
Stop giving this guy air time, you might as well post my opinion as a story.
People manipulate their progeny all the time. Best schools, best athletic camps, etc. Those that have acquired wealth will always be able to afford the best of everything to give their kids an advantage. The rest of us have to work to become privileged. And many have.
Fortunately, biology itself provides bounds. Height is limited by the size of ones bones, too much height and bones can't support the weight without further increases in bone diameter. People of extreme heights have numerous joint and bone issues. Muscles taken to extremes rip ligaments and tendons from their anchor points. Even the human brain has limits.
We can fear the mythical superman of bio-engineering, but it's not as simple as tweaking a few things. And most people won't want their child to be a guinea pig, they will want proven, repeatable methods before paying for it. I can't even begin to imagine the testing that will be required before someone is permitted to perform any type of gene splicing on an embryo.
Beyond that, humans themselves have shown that those of limited means can do extraordinary things beyond those of affluence through hard work and determination.
So .. who cares. Le'ts use bio-engineering to start to eliminate genetic diseases.
I know, all Downs Syndrome babies are beautiful.
But I would prefer that no more ever be born.
And if they rule otherwise .. who cares. The UN has as much legal jurisdiction in this matter as the members of slashdot do.
Julian .. try personal responsibility and accept the consequences of your actions. Stop acting like you are any different than thousands of others that get accused of things. You don't deserve an of this attention, your 15 minutes of fame are over.
He's not whining about people being offended by his work. He's whining about those people doing something other than just not going to his next show. Things like trying to get him banned from future shows so that the 5 people who are offended get their way, but the hundreds that enjoyed it don't get theirs.
And he is 100% correct. Don't like guns or abortions or comics ... don't use them, have one, or go see one.
And then stop telling the people that have different opinions they can't have them.