There is no such thing as a soul, get over it. There are no scientific or legal basis for anything that survives after death, or enters a fetus as part of being born. There are electrical and chemical processes in the brain that enables thought, which humans and many animals have become complicated enough to be 'self aware'. That is your soul, nothing beyond a mass of brain tissue.
You can choose whatever point you want for yourself. I prefer the 'if it can be taken from the placenta and survive without anything means other than feeding' test. It is just as valid as the beating heart argument.
It is very legal for me to take a dog or cat into a vet FOR ANY REASON WHATSOEVER AND HAVE IT PUT TO SLEEP. So the argument comparing the treatment of dogs and cats v/s fetus would appear to not only sanction abortion but also sanction being able to have any person put to sleep because it's inconvenient. Or you only pick pieces of arguments that fit your needs and ignore the inconvenient parts.
Yes, I do prefer the convenience of an adult life over bring a child into this world when the parents are not capable of supporting it. So what, you think I really give a damn about your opinion of me?? I'm just sick and tired of people like you who think they have some right to force people like me to do something that has no impact on your life at all. Oh, I know, you feel the need to be the protector of those that cannot speak. Spare me, you just like feeling all high and mighty and self-righteous. Otherwise, you would have 10 adopted kids in your home. And not babies, children of drug addicts and abused children. Not just the pretty ones.
Speaking of which, adoption is another bullshit argument that has no basis in fact. There are thousands of children in this country up for adoption today because parents have died or become unable to take care of them after they were born. But because many adults will only adopt a baby, no one wants them. Plus it has become so complicated that many US adults that can afford it are fleeing to other countries to adopt.
So you sanction a continued foster-care life for these unfortunate children by bringing in even more unwanted babies. Shame on you.
The 'abstain from sex' is a bullshit argument, the only ways to not get pregnant are for a woman to either never have sex, or to have all her eggs removed. Birth control pills, tubal ligation, vasectomies, condoms, spermicide... none are 100% effective and the more effective ones have serious side effects.
On every birth control device manufactured is a statement along the lines 'only x% effective.' My wife and I were somewhat careful when we got married, and we had a child one year after we were married, so three months of 1-3 times a week sex was enough. Then we became even more careful, and less sexual, and had another one three years later. So we stopped altogether and got divorced after 8 years. Now I'm married to a woman without any ovaries and far happier than I have ever been in my life.
Oh... notice I said 'had child'. Even though abortion was an option, we choose not to use it. We considered it, but decided not to. So it's also bullshit argument that the availability of abortion makes everyone use it.
It is better to make abortions safer and easier to get than to deny them. A fetus is not a person to a significant set of the population on moral grounds, and to no one on legal grounds. Otherwise, a woman would be able to get a tax deduction or drive in the HOV lane as soon as she became pregnant.
The US legal and political system is based on the desire that the majority cannot force their will upon the majority, which why it is a republic and not a pure democracy. Specifically so that any religious group cannot force their will on people who do not have the same beliefs.
They are a mass of cells that one day could become human. My sperm one day could also become human, does that make masturbation a crime if I don't make every attempt possible to fertilize an egg?? Is a woman committing murder because she doesn't attempt to get pregnant every period??
Oh.. I know. Some chose an arbitrary point when an egg and sperm meet to decide what is human.
OK.. I chose the arbitrary point when a fetus emerges from a woman as the point a fetus becomes human. I have just as much basis for that statement as anyone who chooses fertilization. It's all arbitrary depending on your beliefs, since there are no scientific or legal definitions for a soul. Religious definitions don't count, as you just said. As far as the law is concerned, a soul doesn't exist.
I've noticed it also depends on whether or not the person arguing is the one that has to support it. Seems that people are more than willing to argue against abortion when they don't have to support the child in the end. I agree with the semi-serious argument that all anti-abortion advocates should have to sign up to adopt all the children that their cause prevents being aborted.
That flimsy argument aside, the US recognizes 90 days of development as to when an abortion can occur, so any embryo that is not developed past that point should be able to be terminated in the US without receiving any permission from a legal authority. The US does not define what methods are acceptable for creating embryos, both natural and artificial means are accepted. So whether or not an embryo is in a placenta or a petri dish should also be irrelevant. Since embryos can be frozen for years, it should be based on physical development, not length of time.
Fair opinion. No facts, but plenty of opinions. Nice analogy go. No basis in reality, but nice try.
So, people speed down the highway because they are poor?? Someone killed OJ's wife because they were poor?? A friend of mine's daughter was killed because the maniac who did it was poor?? Funny thing, I've known a lot of poor people that had more morals that rich Christians. In fact, I've known a lot of Mexican immigrants who had a much better work ethic than white asshole males in the workforce that think they are entitled to a job because they went to college.
Poverty doesn't cause crime, human emotions like greed, jealousy, envy, and lust do. People that are poor do drugs just like spoiled rich kids. And both groups will steal and murder for it.
So where is your answer to get people to drive in a safe and respectful manner? Or stop killing other people? Or stop mugging? Or selling narcotics? Anarchy?? We just let everyone do what they want??
Yeah.. thought so. Willing to whine and complain but you have nothing to back it up. You love to announce the system has failed, but have no solution.
Except probably more laws. 'Tax the rich and give it to the poor'. Yeah.. great idea. Don't forget that might include you one day.
But since there won't be anyone to enforce them, the laws will be just as worthless as your opinion.
I got news for you buddy.. if the cops weren't handing out at least some speeding tickets, the highways would be death traps.
So I guess the law must work at least a little. That's good enough for me.
I got pulled over in Phoenix a couple of weeks ago for not fully stopping at a stop sign. They had two motorcycle police officers monitoring the intersection.
Some may think 'what a waste of tax payer money, pulling people over for not making a complete stop at the stop sign'. But I decided instead of whining to talk to the police officer. Know what I found out??
They were there BECAUSE SOMEONE HAD COMPLAINED PEOPLE WERE SPEEDING DOWN THE STREET. In other words, they were doing exactly what the citizens who pay taxes asked for. Just not the ones that were speeding down the street.
Why did I not stop fully?? Because there were several kids hanging around the street and I was paying more attention to them than the stop sign. My fault, I paid the ticket.
But the police were hoping to slow people down so that none of these kids get hit because some moron is speeding down the street.
So.. the next time you think police have something better to do, the answer is yes. And if everyone would obey the 'not important' laws, like speeding or stopping at stop signs or not letting their dogs poop on the sidewalk, maybe they would have more time to do it.
All laws have to be enforced (or eliminated), otherwise people learn very quickly which ones they can get away with. When people learn they don't get stopped for speeding, they start to go faster. When they learn they can let their dogs poop anywhere, they will do that to.
So... shut up, pick up your poop, and let the police officers get back to important work instead of having to babysit your ass.
The pansy factor aside, scooters like this are just plain nasty to ride for any distance. Put this into a real motorcycle of at least 750cc or greater and you have something that you can ride all day. I've often wanted to have a direct feed from the GPS or movie camera into a hard drive so I don't lose data or need to worry about changing memory cards. (We use the GPS data to plan rides, it's as important to know how far you are going as well as change of altitude when you are on a bike. Cagers (i.e. people in cars) don't have to be aware of changes in temps as much as bikers do. When you start a ride at 1,500ft and end up at 7,500, you need to dress for it.)
Vibration can be an issue, my Garmin Legend GPS has only lasted a couple of years, it's starting to act flaky with screen issues and odd power-offs, signs that solder joints are starting to go. Garmin does make motorcycle specific devices that are supposed to be able to withstand the constant vibrations. I would be interested to hear of any hardened mobos or disk drives that could stand up to it.
My credentials for this opinion?? I lead a motorcycle group of over 350 bikers (and yes, some ride large scooters in addition to the Harleys, Hondas, et. al.), and ride over 20,000 miles a year.
But I agree, if a project is a 'waste of time', there is an obligation to tell someone. Once, maybe twice. Then give it up. Don't make it a goal in life. One thing I've learned is that there is often more going on that I know about, and it's best to argue in private with my boss and his boss, but support them in public.
That doesn't make me a yes man. A yes man won't even argue in private. It doesn't make me an ass kisser. An ass kisser says what other's want to hear. But there are often things going on that someone above my boss may or may not be able to discuss. As difficult as it may be to accept, sometimes I don't know everything that goes on in making a decision. Say my piece, frame it in a 'if we did this it would be better' light rather than 'that idea stinks' light, and have the grace to move on if told 'no'.
You get paid the same either way, and as long as you've told someone, it's their ass if it goes south. Well communicated emails are often a good idea.
If I wanted to buy a home that Joe Hobby had transformed using spare parts, I'd probably tell him to yank it all out. It if breaks, there is no one to fix it except Joe because he is the only one that understands it, short of paying an electrician to sort it all out. Who knows if it is even up to code?? And who knows how long the parts he has used is going to last.
Now, if his neighbor has gone out and purchase the latest GE Solar System, I might consider it.
Several years ago (around 1998) I learned some stuff on Tandem systems. Only used it for a year. Knew it was a dead end, so I made sure I didn't get sucked into having to support it, only learned enough to get done what needed to get done and made sure I stayed wrapped into my real job as the web guy.
Two years ago the company I was with had... guess what... Tandem computers. While I didn't have to write anything in TAL, knowing it and how to navigate around Tandem command prompts was very helpful. I could work with the Tandem staff on cross-platform inter-dependencies and at least talk intelligently with them. I could go look at logs and files on the Tandem instead of having someone send them to me.
No matter how dead-end a system may look, they will hang around for years and years. Go ahead and learn something about those dead-end systems, be the hero now and again when no one else will. Just be careful to not get shoe-horned into a permanent position where you become the only expert around.
After 30 years in IT, here are some things I've learned about advancing a career.
Never stay at a job too long. Raises don't keep up, jumping ship for more money does
Never say "I don't know how to do that". Instead, say, "I'm not sure how to do that, it will take some time for me to read up on it"
There is no such thing as wasted time. You get paid the same whether the project gets tossed or not. Learn something from it and move on. It's the company's problem they are going to waste money, not yours.
Get rid of the ego and listen, you might learn something
Ask questions instead of dictating. 'My way is better because' arguments aren't received as well as "I'm not sure I understand, can you explain why doing x is better than doing y??"
Never be the last one out of a sinking ship, your loyalty will probably not be rewarded.
Learn something new all the time. When you understand networks and databases and telephone systems and several languages and how business works and how investors operate, you become valuable. Only knowing how to code Java makes you a code monkey.
Accept the fact you don't know everything, and question your knowledge in everything you think you are an expert in.
I think these work regardless of whether someone is in a help desk, development, systems, or management role.
So what you are saying is the only accurate reporting are the ones you agree with. You seem to think that no one could take the time to read from the same sources and arrive at a different opinion from you because they felt that this article was more accurate than that one based on the sources or bias present. The reason other people disagree with you is because they are too apathetic to read the 'enlightened' material you and your fellow like-thinkers read.
I think I see the problem..... people have stopped believing others are entitled to an opinion unless it agrees with them.
I think this type of an attitude is more of a problem than the media.
The federal gas tax is $0.184 gallon. It varies by state from $0.264 in Alaska to $0.639 in California. Here is the source I used, but I also saw a couple others that backed this up.
So.. that $2 would be $2.50 here in AZ. Where do I sign up!!! I paid $3.35 this morning for 2 gallons in my motorcycle which gets 50mpg and only cost $7K new and has half the insurance cost. AND I get to use the car pool lane. Eat your hearts out hybrid lovers!!! (Sorry.. couldn't resist.)
Well my story is just the opposite. All my life I've heard people "preaching" about evolution because some guy with glasses and a lab coat told them so. Personally I just cannot take "the leap of faith" about the origins of life ; it seems so incredibly unlikely that one day a cell just "plopped" into existence with the ability to procreate, and then against all odds survived everything the galaxy will throwed at it for 6 billion years.
Let me understand this... you can't comprehend that on the millions of possible planets out there that it isn't possible for the conditions to have occurred during billions of years to create the first cells.
But you can comprehend in an almighty force that is all knowing, exists everywhere, created this entire universe just for this one planet, put us on it, pays attention to the prayers of billions of people, and gives us free will, then punishes us for using it if we don't follow his rules. Which he can't seem to adequately communicate since there are what, about 20 different main religions, and over 1,000 different Christian sects??
Your faith requires some real leaps of faith, where my beliefs just requires being able to say 'I don't know the answer to that'.
The more I learn about other religions, the more I am convinced Christianity is just nuts and no different from believing in Santa Claus.
The idea it takes everyone months to be productive is just wrong.
I started a new job three months ago, and have almost completed rewriting an application that is 8 years old, the authors are all gone, and no one left at the company has touched. The application was poorly written by some 'college grad' who knew nothing about writing code that is resilient, reports meaningful errors, and performs well. It also has numerous 'newbie' bugs, like inserting into a database, and assuming if it fails it means the key already exists, which also assumes that someone down the road won't remove the 'unique' tag from the index (assuming it was ever there at all). Or inserting into the database, then doing a 'select max' to find the auto-identity key. Doesn't work well in a multi-user environment. These are bugs they didn't even know existed, but an experienced programmer spots them in a minute, because he has made the same stupid mistakes before.
It could have been done in half the time, but they didn't trust me so I had to spend a lot of time in code reviews and documenting requirements. Spending a lot of time hearing 'Oh.. I didn't know it did that' and then explaining why the code did it.
They hired someone 4 years ago to do this, but it was 'too complex to understand??'
I've also participated in production events several times on systems I know nothing about. And helped resolve the problem, not just sat there listening.
Smart people are productive within two weeks, and can contribute from day one.
Paying people worth keeping more than they are worth is a good idea. Paying people not worth keeping more than they are worth is dumb. Then they can't leave.
If someone spots a truly smart college grad, someone who has that spark and didn't just go into IT for a paycheck, pay them extra to keep them. They will be worth it as long as they keep their ego in check.
You also cannot trust the certificates on the brain surgeon's wall. One really should be getting references to validate he is as good as he says he is.
What have we learned from this? The phrase 'Trust, but verify' can be applied to more than international diplomacy. If the author of the article had been smart enough to know that, the article could have taken a different route and actually been useful.
Employers who are paying programmers $60K right out of school are morons, they are not worth it. My experience over many years interviewing and hiring prospective hires is college grads take 6-9 months to become productive enough to warrent salaries above $60k.
They would be better off hiring two $90K programmers than three $60k programmers.
Now, if they are paying $45K for the first year until they can teach the college grads enough they can be productive, then they are getting their money's worth.
Given the choice between the person next to me talking to me for 8 hours about their insufferable life, or talking on a cell phone, I'll rather they talk on the cell phone. At least I can read my book or play DS or sleep.
I've never understood why people find cell phone conversations rude. I understand that people can be rude on the cell phone by talking too loud, or dangerous if driving. But rude just for calling their spouse from the store and asking wht brands of something she wanted was?? It's better than driving back home, asking her, and driving back to the store. In fact, it's reducing green house emissions!
Let people talk on the plane, maybe they won't spend the entire drive from the airport to the hotel chatting on the phone and being a hazard to other drivers.
I think the real reason it pisses people off is because they can't eavesdrop as well; they only get half of the conversation.
Having everything abstracted isn't always a good idea. Smart people will always be better at being able to get the most performance out of a machine, because we are creative and can think of how to use things in ways they weren't intended.
It's nice having the ability to abstract things completely when performance isn't paramount, but when those performance bottlenecks start to become an issue, it's nice to remove the abstraction and start becoming more specific about how things interact.
As a for instance, I remember a few years ago installing a SAN of sorts. The vendor's raid-10 wasn't fast enough, we would overrun the cache on bulk loads. So we built two raid-5s on two different controllers, and then 'mirrored' the controllers using the OS. Worked much better.
It's not trespassing until you tell me to get off your property and I refuse to leave. It is not illegal for me to walk onto property, only to stay once I am asked to leave. Entering the house is a different matter, and there are specific laws regarding that.
Precedents?? How about the old door-to-door salesman?? How about a stranded motorist knocking on your door asking to use your phone? How about the annoying sales fliers I find tagged onto my front door all the time.
It seems to me that unless you have a sign that says 'No Trespassing' or something similar, or a locked gate, then anyone can drive up your driveway or walk around the more open areas of your property. These houses are connected to a street using a driveway that is not gated or marked as private. Anyone can drive down them at any time.
Don't like that?? Put up a sign or a gate. Or ask Google to take down your pictures. Anything else is just being a dick or fortune hunter.
If only musicians had that choice. It's either join, or don't play. They have no choice if they want to get ahead in the business, they eventually have to pay.
Unions suck the life out of everything they touch. They used to be about the downtrodden, now they are about getting as much as they can and screw the little guy.
Don't believe me?? Go down to your local union plant and talk to the new employees. Ask how many of them have to wait patiently while lazy slackers who have been in the union for years go to the head of every line.
When unions abolish their seniority welfare plans and stick to pure productivity on who stays and who goes or gets promoted, I'll change my mind.
I will never install iTunes, so I don't have the problem. Apple (and Adobe) products are all well known for their selling of other products when you install them. I tolerate Adobe Acrobat because I need to read PDF files.
Funny... I never went to college, and have a 6 figure salary, married, and enough 401k money to live on my current salary and never touch principle. And I didn't waste tens (hundreds??) of thousands of dollars in the process (why would any smart person do that?). Instead, I got my ass into the work force right out of high school, and got my employers to pay for the courses I needed to do my job. I was only an office clerk for two years before being moved into IT. I took advantage of every opportunity that presented it self to learn more on the job and take on more responsibility, no matter how 'beneath' me it was. I became an employee that my various companies knew would take on any task and get it done, not whine about not having the right tools or enough people or a thousand other excuses.
Ok.. not true. I went to college for one semester, and after I did the math realized what a waste of money it was. I was very disappointed in the number of stupid people who went there because they were either sons and daughters of parents who could afford it, or got some worthless athletic scholarship. The truly smart scholars were few and far between.
If you're smart, you're smart and don't need college full time. If you're not, the college degree gets you past the HR screener to someone that can figure out whether or you have some skills they might be interested in.
I'm also fucking tired of college kids trying to justify their waste of money by saying 'we are well rounded' or 'we learned critical thinking'. No one gives a crap about that. Can you write code with any degree of skill?? That's all I care about.
To all the CS majors out there, I need someone that can take an 8 year old program that no one has touched in years and the original author is gone, find all the missing header files, get it compiled and fixed. Today. Not next week, today. You don't get to work on the fun stuff the day you start working. Get over it. I need someone with debugging skills and the humbleness to listen when I tell them 'you really don't want to code it that way' and present a more maintainable and stable alternative. Not some crap your college professor thinks works. I'll give you an opportunity to explain why you want to do it, but the end result is I have 20 other developers and I need all the programs to be maintainable, not some creative crap.
To all the high school kids out there... do yourself a favor and pay attention in high school. It's all you really need if you're smart. You don't want to work for a company that says 'college degree required', they put people into little boxes instead of finding the value in individuals.
All that said... if you WANT to go to college to learn, go for it. Learning is a wonderful thing. But don't buy into to the degree programs. Learn what you want to learn, not what they tell you that you have to learn. Talk to people outside of college and learn what is important. Colleges are businesses, they have other interests than yours in mind when they come up with a curriculum.
One cannot assume that all knowledgeable people think PAC money is bad, and that public financing of elections will have any impact.
I don't agree with either stand. PAC money means no Sierra Club as well as no Exxon. Lobbyists, in all of their forms, can do a much better job at 'educating' politicians than the average person can, I would rather have one knowledgable person, but biased, from the Sierra Club and one from Exxon talking to my congressman than thousands of consituents whose knowledge ranges from expert to 'I heard from my neighbor'. Just because someone doesn't believe in a particular viewpoint doesn't make it invalid. We all have different value systems, and this country was founded on our right to disagree with each other. If PACs are eliminated, they will be replaced by something else. There is nothing that stops Exxon executives from getting together as a group, and deciding amongst themselves who to donate to. The same goes for Sierra Club members.
Public financing of elections won't help, politicians will still muck rake just like they have for the entire history of this country and you still won't know what any politician's stand really is (plus, I think it would be unconstituional, that free speech thing works both ways). Ron Paul proved that the amount of money you raise has very little to do with being able to win an election. Or how good you would be as a politician (I think he would be horrendous, but just my opinion.)
Politics, whether it is your local club or the US Senate, doesn't change because the same people will still be running for office. Find a way to get someone who can really examine issues and make decisions to run.
I don't have that answer. And from what I've seen of world politics in general, no one else does either.
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There is no such thing as a soul, get over it. There are no scientific or legal basis for anything that survives after death, or enters a fetus as part of being born. There are electrical and chemical processes in the brain that enables thought, which humans and many animals have become complicated enough to be 'self aware'. That is your soul, nothing beyond a mass of brain tissue.
You can choose whatever point you want for yourself. I prefer the 'if it can be taken from the placenta and survive without anything means other than feeding' test. It is just as valid as the beating heart argument.
It is very legal for me to take a dog or cat into a vet FOR ANY REASON WHATSOEVER AND HAVE IT PUT TO SLEEP. So the argument comparing the treatment of dogs and cats v/s fetus would appear to not only sanction abortion but also sanction being able to have any person put to sleep because it's inconvenient. Or you only pick pieces of arguments that fit your needs and ignore the inconvenient parts.
Yes, I do prefer the convenience of an adult life over bring a child into this world when the parents are not capable of supporting it. So what, you think I really give a damn about your opinion of me?? I'm just sick and tired of people like you who think they have some right to force people like me to do something that has no impact on your life at all. Oh, I know, you feel the need to be the protector of those that cannot speak. Spare me, you just like feeling all high and mighty and self-righteous. Otherwise, you would have 10 adopted kids in your home. And not babies, children of drug addicts and abused children. Not just the pretty ones.
Speaking of which, adoption is another bullshit argument that has no basis in fact. There are thousands of children in this country up for adoption today because parents have died or become unable to take care of them after they were born. But because many adults will only adopt a baby, no one wants them. Plus it has become so complicated that many US adults that can afford it are fleeing to other countries to adopt.
So you sanction a continued foster-care life for these unfortunate children by bringing in even more unwanted babies. Shame on you.
The 'abstain from sex' is a bullshit argument, the only ways to not get pregnant are for a woman to either never have sex, or to have all her eggs removed. Birth control pills, tubal ligation, vasectomies, condoms, spermicide ... none are 100% effective and the more effective ones have serious side effects.
... notice I said 'had child'. Even though abortion was an option, we choose not to use it. We considered it, but decided not to. So it's also bullshit argument that the availability of abortion makes everyone use it.
On every birth control device manufactured is a statement along the lines 'only x% effective.' My wife and I were somewhat careful when we got married, and we had a child one year after we were married, so three months of 1-3 times a week sex was enough. Then we became even more careful, and less sexual, and had another one three years later. So we stopped altogether and got divorced after 8 years. Now I'm married to a woman without any ovaries and far happier than I have ever been in my life.
Oh
It is better to make abortions safer and easier to get than to deny them. A fetus is not a person to a significant set of the population on moral grounds, and to no one on legal grounds. Otherwise, a woman would be able to get a tax deduction or drive in the HOV lane as soon as she became pregnant.
The US legal and political system is based on the desire that the majority cannot force their will upon the majority, which why it is a republic and not a pure democracy. Specifically so that any religious group cannot force their will on people who do not have the same beliefs.
So take your souls and shove 'em.
You had me until the last sentence.
.. I know. Some chose an arbitrary point when an egg and sperm meet to decide what is human.
.. I chose the arbitrary point when a fetus emerges from a woman as the point a fetus becomes human. I have just as much basis for that statement as anyone who chooses fertilization. It's all arbitrary depending on your beliefs, since there are no scientific or legal definitions for a soul. Religious definitions don't count, as you just said. As far as the law is concerned, a soul doesn't exist.
They are a mass of cells that one day could become human. My sperm one day could also become human, does that make masturbation a crime if I don't make every attempt possible to fertilize an egg?? Is a woman committing murder because she doesn't attempt to get pregnant every period??
Oh
OK
I've noticed it also depends on whether or not the person arguing is the one that has to support it. Seems that people are more than willing to argue against abortion when they don't have to support the child in the end. I agree with the semi-serious argument that all anti-abortion advocates should have to sign up to adopt all the children that their cause prevents being aborted.
That flimsy argument aside, the US recognizes 90 days of development as to when an abortion can occur, so any embryo that is not developed past that point should be able to be terminated in the US without receiving any permission from a legal authority. The US does not define what methods are acceptable for creating embryos, both natural and artificial means are accepted. So whether or not an embryo is in a placenta or a petri dish should also be irrelevant. Since embryos can be frozen for years, it should be based on physical development, not length of time.
Fair opinion. No facts, but plenty of opinions. Nice analogy go. No basis in reality, but nice try.
.. thought so. Willing to whine and complain but you have nothing to back it up. You love to announce the system has failed, but have no solution.
.. great idea. Don't forget that might include you one day.
.. if the cops weren't handing out at least some speeding tickets, the highways would be death traps.
So, people speed down the highway because they are poor?? Someone killed OJ's wife because they were poor?? A friend of mine's daughter was killed because the maniac who did it was poor?? Funny thing, I've known a lot of poor people that had more morals that rich Christians. In fact, I've known a lot of Mexican immigrants who had a much better work ethic than white asshole males in the workforce that think they are entitled to a job because they went to college.
Poverty doesn't cause crime, human emotions like greed, jealousy, envy, and lust do. People that are poor do drugs just like spoiled rich kids. And both groups will steal and murder for it.
So where is your answer to get people to drive in a safe and respectful manner? Or stop killing other people? Or stop mugging? Or selling narcotics? Anarchy?? We just let everyone do what they want??
Yeah
Except probably more laws. 'Tax the rich and give it to the poor'. Yeah
But since there won't be anyone to enforce them, the laws will be just as worthless as your opinion.
I got news for you buddy
So I guess the law must work at least a little. That's good enough for me.
I got pulled over in Phoenix a couple of weeks ago for not fully stopping at a stop sign. They had two motorcycle police officers monitoring the intersection.
.. the next time you think police have something better to do, the answer is yes. And if everyone would obey the 'not important' laws, like speeding or stopping at stop signs or not letting their dogs poop on the sidewalk, maybe they would have more time to do it.
... shut up, pick up your poop, and let the police officers get back to important work instead of having to babysit your ass.
Some may think 'what a waste of tax payer money, pulling people over for not making a complete stop at the stop sign'. But I decided instead of whining to talk to the police officer. Know what I found out??
They were there BECAUSE SOMEONE HAD COMPLAINED PEOPLE WERE SPEEDING DOWN THE STREET. In other words, they were doing exactly what the citizens who pay taxes asked for. Just not the ones that were speeding down the street.
Why did I not stop fully?? Because there were several kids hanging around the street and I was paying more attention to them than the stop sign. My fault, I paid the ticket.
But the police were hoping to slow people down so that none of these kids get hit because some moron is speeding down the street.
So
All laws have to be enforced (or eliminated), otherwise people learn very quickly which ones they can get away with. When people learn they don't get stopped for speeding, they start to go faster. When they learn they can let their dogs poop anywhere, they will do that to.
So
My guess is that anyone that can afford this thing, can probably afford a real airplane and rent a car. Or buy a car everywhere they fly most often.
Compromises usually do not offer the best of both worlds, they offer the minimum.
The pansy factor aside, scooters like this are just plain nasty to ride for any distance. Put this into a real motorcycle of at least 750cc or greater and you have something that you can ride all day. I've often wanted to have a direct feed from the GPS or movie camera into a hard drive so I don't lose data or need to worry about changing memory cards. (We use the GPS data to plan rides, it's as important to know how far you are going as well as change of altitude when you are on a bike. Cagers (i.e. people in cars) don't have to be aware of changes in temps as much as bikers do. When you start a ride at 1,500ft and end up at 7,500, you need to dress for it.)
Vibration can be an issue, my Garmin Legend GPS has only lasted a couple of years, it's starting to act flaky with screen issues and odd power-offs, signs that solder joints are starting to go. Garmin does make motorcycle specific devices that are supposed to be able to withstand the constant vibrations. I would be interested to hear of any hardened mobos or disk drives that could stand up to it.
My credentials for this opinion?? I lead a motorcycle group of over 350 bikers (and yes, some ride large scooters in addition to the Harleys, Hondas, et. al.), and ride over 20,000 miles a year.
I was trying to keep the post short.
But I agree, if a project is a 'waste of time', there is an obligation to tell someone. Once, maybe twice. Then give it up. Don't make it a goal in life. One thing I've learned is that there is often more going on that I know about, and it's best to argue in private with my boss and his boss, but support them in public.
That doesn't make me a yes man. A yes man won't even argue in private. It doesn't make me an ass kisser. An ass kisser says what other's want to hear. But there are often things going on that someone above my boss may or may not be able to discuss. As difficult as it may be to accept, sometimes I don't know everything that goes on in making a decision. Say my piece, frame it in a 'if we did this it would be better' light rather than 'that idea stinks' light, and have the grace to move on if told 'no'.
You get paid the same either way, and as long as you've told someone, it's their ass if it goes south. Well communicated emails are often a good idea.
If I wanted to buy a home that Joe Hobby had transformed using spare parts, I'd probably tell him to yank it all out. It if breaks, there is no one to fix it except Joe because he is the only one that understands it, short of paying an electrician to sort it all out. Who knows if it is even up to code?? And who knows how long the parts he has used is going to last.
Now, if his neighbor has gone out and purchase the latest GE Solar System, I might consider it.
Several years ago (around 1998) I learned some stuff on Tandem systems. Only used it for a year. Knew it was a dead end, so I made sure I didn't get sucked into having to support it, only learned enough to get done what needed to get done and made sure I stayed wrapped into my real job as the web guy.
... guess what ... Tandem computers. While I didn't have to write anything in TAL, knowing it and how to navigate around Tandem command prompts was very helpful. I could work with the Tandem staff on cross-platform inter-dependencies and at least talk intelligently with them. I could go look at logs and files on the Tandem instead of having someone send them to me.
Two years ago the company I was with had
No matter how dead-end a system may look, they will hang around for years and years. Go ahead and learn something about those dead-end systems, be the hero now and again when no one else will. Just be careful to not get shoe-horned into a permanent position where you become the only expert around.
- Never stay at a job too long. Raises don't keep up, jumping ship for more money does
- Never say "I don't know how to do that". Instead, say, "I'm not sure how to do that, it will take some time for me to read up on it"
- There is no such thing as wasted time. You get paid the same whether the project gets tossed or not. Learn something from it and move on. It's the company's problem they are going to waste money, not yours.
- Get rid of the ego and listen, you might learn something
- Ask questions instead of dictating. 'My way is better because' arguments aren't received as well as "I'm not sure I understand, can you explain why doing x is better than doing y??"
- Never be the last one out of a sinking ship, your loyalty will probably not be rewarded.
- Learn something new all the time. When you understand networks and databases and telephone systems and several languages and how business works and how investors operate, you become valuable. Only knowing how to code Java makes you a code monkey.
- Accept the fact you don't know everything, and question your knowledge in everything you think you are an expert in.
I think these work regardless of whether someone is in a help desk, development, systems, or management role.So what you are saying is the only accurate reporting are the ones you agree with. You seem to think that no one could take the time to read from the same sources and arrive at a different opinion from you because they felt that this article was more accurate than that one based on the sources or bias present. The reason other people disagree with you is because they are too apathetic to read the 'enlightened' material you and your fellow like-thinkers read.
..... people have stopped believing others are entitled to an opinion unless it agrees with them.
I think I see the problem
I think this type of an attitude is more of a problem than the media.
The federal gas tax is $0.184 gallon. It varies by state from $0.264 in Alaska to $0.639 in California. Here is the source I used, but I also saw a couple others that backed this up.
.. that $2 would be $2.50 here in AZ. Where do I sign up!!! I paid $3.35 this morning for 2 gallons in my motorcycle which gets 50mpg and only cost $7K new and has half the insurance cost. AND I get to use the car pool lane. Eat your hearts out hybrid lovers!!! (Sorry .. couldn't resist.)
So
Well my story is just the opposite. All my life I've heard people "preaching" about evolution because some guy with glasses and a lab coat told them so. Personally I just cannot take "the leap of faith" about the origins of life ; it seems so incredibly unlikely
... you can't comprehend that on the millions of possible planets out there that it isn't possible for the conditions to have occurred during billions of years to create the first cells.
that one day a cell just "plopped" into existence with the ability to procreate, and then against all odds survived everything the galaxy will throwed at it for 6 billion years.
Let me understand this
But you can comprehend in an almighty force that is all knowing, exists everywhere, created this entire universe just for this one planet, put us on it, pays attention to the prayers of billions of people, and gives us free will, then punishes us for using it if we don't follow his rules. Which he can't seem to adequately communicate since there are what, about 20 different main religions, and over 1,000 different Christian sects??
Your faith requires some real leaps of faith, where my beliefs just requires being able to say 'I don't know the answer to that'.
The more I learn about other religions, the more I am convinced Christianity is just nuts and no different from believing in Santa Claus.
The idea it takes everyone months to be productive is just wrong.
.. I didn't know it did that' and then explaining why the code did it.
I started a new job three months ago, and have almost completed rewriting an application that is 8 years old, the authors are all gone, and no one left at the company has touched. The application was poorly written by some 'college grad' who knew nothing about writing code that is resilient, reports meaningful errors, and performs well. It also has numerous 'newbie' bugs, like inserting into a database, and assuming if it fails it means the key already exists, which also assumes that someone down the road won't remove the 'unique' tag from the index (assuming it was ever there at all). Or inserting into the database, then doing a 'select max' to find the auto-identity key. Doesn't work well in a multi-user environment. These are bugs they didn't even know existed, but an experienced programmer spots them in a minute, because he has made the same stupid mistakes before.
It could have been done in half the time, but they didn't trust me so I had to spend a lot of time in code reviews and documenting requirements. Spending a lot of time hearing 'Oh
They hired someone 4 years ago to do this, but it was 'too complex to understand??'
I've also participated in production events several times on systems I know nothing about. And helped resolve the problem, not just sat there listening.
Smart people are productive within two weeks, and can contribute from day one.
Paying people worth keeping more than they are worth is a good idea. Paying people not worth keeping more than they are worth is dumb. Then they can't leave.
If someone spots a truly smart college grad, someone who has that spark and didn't just go into IT for a paycheck, pay them extra to keep them. They will be worth it as long as they keep their ego in check.
You also cannot trust the certificates on the brain surgeon's wall. One really should be getting references to validate he is as good as he says he is.
What have we learned from this? The phrase 'Trust, but verify' can be applied to more than international diplomacy. If the author of the article had been smart enough to know that, the article could have taken a different route and actually been useful.
Employers who are paying programmers $60K right out of school are morons, they are not worth it. My experience over many years interviewing and hiring prospective hires is college grads take 6-9 months to become productive enough to warrent salaries above $60k.
They would be better off hiring two $90K programmers than three $60k programmers.
Now, if they are paying $45K for the first year until they can teach the college grads enough they can be productive, then they are getting their money's worth.
Given the choice between the person next to me talking to me for 8 hours about their insufferable life, or talking on a cell phone, I'll rather they talk on the cell phone. At least I can read my book or play DS or sleep.
I've never understood why people find cell phone conversations rude. I understand that people can be rude on the cell phone by talking too loud, or dangerous if driving. But rude just for calling their spouse from the store and asking wht brands of something she wanted was?? It's better than driving back home, asking her, and driving back to the store. In fact, it's reducing green house emissions!
Let people talk on the plane, maybe they won't spend the entire drive from the airport to the hotel chatting on the phone and being a hazard to other drivers.
I think the real reason it pisses people off is because they can't eavesdrop as well; they only get half of the conversation.
Having everything abstracted isn't always a good idea. Smart people will always be better at being able to get the most performance out of a machine, because we are creative and can think of how to use things in ways they weren't intended.
It's nice having the ability to abstract things completely when performance isn't paramount, but when those performance bottlenecks start to become an issue, it's nice to remove the abstraction and start becoming more specific about how things interact.
As a for instance, I remember a few years ago installing a SAN of sorts. The vendor's raid-10 wasn't fast enough, we would overrun the cache on bulk loads. So we built two raid-5s on two different controllers, and then 'mirrored' the controllers using the OS. Worked much better.
It's not trespassing until you tell me to get off your property and I refuse to leave. It is not illegal for me to walk onto property, only to stay once I am asked to leave. Entering the house is a different matter, and there are specific laws regarding that.
Precedents?? How about the old door-to-door salesman?? How about a stranded motorist knocking on your door asking to use your phone? How about the annoying sales fliers I find tagged onto my front door all the time.
It seems to me that unless you have a sign that says 'No Trespassing' or something similar, or a locked gate, then anyone can drive up your driveway or walk around the more open areas of your property. These houses are connected to a street using a driveway that is not gated or marked as private. Anyone can drive down them at any time.
Don't like that?? Put up a sign or a gate. Or ask Google to take down your pictures. Anything else is just being a dick or fortune hunter.
If only musicians had that choice. It's either join, or don't play. They have no choice if they want to get ahead in the business, they eventually have to pay.
Unions suck the life out of everything they touch. They used to be about the downtrodden, now they are about getting as much as they can and screw the little guy.
Don't believe me?? Go down to your local union plant and talk to the new employees. Ask how many of them have to wait patiently while lazy slackers who have been in the union for years go to the head of every line.
When unions abolish their seniority welfare plans and stick to pure productivity on who stays and who goes or gets promoted, I'll change my mind.
Musicians that fall on hard times can get a fucking job like the rest of us.
I will never install iTunes, so I don't have the problem. Apple (and Adobe) products are all well known for their selling of other products when you install them. I tolerate Adobe Acrobat because I need to read PDF files.
I don't need iTunes for anything.
Funny ... I never went to college, and have a 6 figure salary, married, and enough 401k money to live on my current salary and never touch principle. And I didn't waste tens (hundreds??) of thousands of dollars in the process (why would any smart person do that?). Instead, I got my ass into the work force right out of high school, and got my employers to pay for the courses I needed to do my job. I was only an office clerk for two years before being moved into IT. I took advantage of every opportunity that presented it self to learn more on the job and take on more responsibility, no matter how 'beneath' me it was. I became an employee that my various companies knew would take on any task and get it done, not whine about not having the right tools or enough people or a thousand other excuses.
.. not true. I went to college for one semester, and after I did the math realized what a waste of money it was. I was very disappointed in the number of stupid people who went there because they were either sons and daughters of parents who could afford it, or got some worthless athletic scholarship. The truly smart scholars were few and far between.
... do yourself a favor and pay attention in high school. It's all you really need if you're smart. You don't want to work for a company that says 'college degree required', they put people into little boxes instead of finding the value in individuals.
... if you WANT to go to college to learn, go for it. Learning is a wonderful thing. But don't buy into to the degree programs. Learn what you want to learn, not what they tell you that you have to learn. Talk to people outside of college and learn what is important. Colleges are businesses, they have other interests than yours in mind when they come up with a curriculum.
Ok
If you're smart, you're smart and don't need college full time. If you're not, the college degree gets you past the HR screener to someone that can figure out whether or you have some skills they might be interested in.
I'm also fucking tired of college kids trying to justify their waste of money by saying 'we are well rounded' or 'we learned critical thinking'. No one gives a crap about that. Can you write code with any degree of skill?? That's all I care about.
To all the CS majors out there, I need someone that can take an 8 year old program that no one has touched in years and the original author is gone, find all the missing header files, get it compiled and fixed. Today. Not next week, today. You don't get to work on the fun stuff the day you start working. Get over it. I need someone with debugging skills and the humbleness to listen when I tell them 'you really don't want to code it that way' and present a more maintainable and stable alternative. Not some crap your college professor thinks works. I'll give you an opportunity to explain why you want to do it, but the end result is I have 20 other developers and I need all the programs to be maintainable, not some creative crap.
To all the high school kids out there
All that said
One cannot assume that all knowledgeable people think PAC money is bad, and that public financing of elections will have any impact.
I don't agree with either stand. PAC money means no Sierra Club as well as no Exxon. Lobbyists, in all of their forms, can do a much better job at 'educating' politicians than the average person can, I would rather have one knowledgable person, but biased, from the Sierra Club and one from Exxon talking to my congressman than thousands of consituents whose knowledge ranges from expert to 'I heard from my neighbor'. Just because someone doesn't believe in a particular viewpoint doesn't make it invalid. We all have different value systems, and this country was founded on our right to disagree with each other. If PACs are eliminated, they will be replaced by something else. There is nothing that stops Exxon executives from getting together as a group, and deciding amongst themselves who to donate to. The same goes for Sierra Club members.
Public financing of elections won't help, politicians will still muck rake just like they have for the entire history of this country and you still won't know what any politician's stand really is (plus, I think it would be unconstituional, that free speech thing works both ways). Ron Paul proved that the amount of money you raise has very little to do with being able to win an election. Or how good you would be as a politician (I think he would be horrendous, but just my opinion.)
Politics, whether it is your local club or the US Senate, doesn't change because the same people will still be running for office. Find a way to get someone who can really examine issues and make decisions to run.
I don't have that answer. And from what I've seen of world politics in general, no one else does either.