Harder to control information marketplace
on
Beware the Internet
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· Score: 1
The big media players were gatekeepers of the popular media marketplace. This gave them a tremendous amount of wealth, power and prestige.
Now, with the Internet allowing a free flow of ideas outside of that controlled marketplace - print, radio and television - it negatively impacts their wealth, power and prestige.
Tightly corporate controlled print, radio and television media is very close to government controlled print, radio and television, with significant overlaps.
FYI: A good tutorial is worth its weight in gold. Don't mistake a reference for a tutorial.
A tutorial will walk you through the basics. A reference is like a dictionary. Good for someone who already has a good idea of what he's doing and just needs details on the specifics. A tutorial is for someone just trying to figure out how to apply the technology.
Many of us realize limited, legal immigration is a good thing. New ideas, smart people, genetic diversity, global perspective - all good things.
HOWEVER - when we have the system we have now - nearly unlimited illegal immigration plus skilled labor being imported primarily to suppress wages, then the citizens being affected have an interest in trying to stop it.
Perfect example of how lobbying works. In this case, it was multiple unions with Washington DC lobbying presences who stopped the construction industry from bringing in more foreign workers:
"Construction lobbyists fall short in push for more foreign workers By Peter Wallsten, Friday, June 28, 8:27 Washington Post
The sprawling Senate immigration legislation now headed to the House is packed with provisions designed to help businesses hire foreign workers, whether for computer labs in Silicon Valley, cruise ships docked in Florida and other U.S. ports, or seafood-processing centers in Alaska.
Yet in the frenetic push by K Street to cram in as many new guest-worker visas as possible, lobbyists for one industry came up short: construction..."
1) Doctors have the American Medical Association 2) Teachers have the National Education Association 3) Realtors have the National Association of Realtors 4) Senior citizens have the AARP
The employing companies certainly are represented in Washington DC. Which is why we get the system we have. There's the IEEE which gave a whopping 70-80 thousand dollars a year to politicians. The ACM - I couldn't even find them as a lobbying organization at all.
We can whine about it. But tech workers need a lobbying organization. Politicians do what's in their own personal best interests. And you can't expect them to vote against big donors. They won't even talk to you if you're not a sizable contributor or don't have some block of votes to present to them.
Also... in this field - software development - college is a big deal. Have a clear narrative about why you didn't get the degree. Broken home, supporting brothers and sisters, had to start work early? Joined the Army and immediately went into the work force after? Something compelling. Not a "college bored me so I dropped out."
You need a credible and compelling narrative to address this question, IMHO.
Also - very important - don't sell yourself short. If someone sees lots of accomplishments and prior work history and published papers, that will go far in making up for no college. Combine that with a credible and compelling narrative about why you didn't get a degree, and the company will likely think you can benefit them - you can solve problems and add value to the team.
You are a non-traditional candidate. You don't fit neatly into the application fields. How do you show that you can benefit the company more than the other candidates?
1) A fellow I know is an older non-traditional candidate. It took longer, but he got a job with a small company. Lesson: find a company with a less mechanical hiring process in which if you don't check box N, they won't submit your application to the hiring managers.
2) Physical job fairs: HR or even hiring managers look at your resume and you here. Structure your resume so your most impressive attributes are at the top.
3) Success in previous jobs seems like a good indicator of ability.
Tune and retune that resume. Give it to friends - but you are the final arbiter. I've had people I know and like give me utterly moronic resume advice. If I hear a consistent theme though, I'll likely address that recurrent theme.
Resume: Imagine you're on the other side of the desk and you've spent your days looking through stacks of resumes. Pretend that's your job - human resources. Their job and bonuses are based on how well they fill positions. So... why on earth would they want to take a chance on you? Have your resume answer that question. If an HR type provides bad candidates to the hiring manager, he'll get blowback.
I've seen the non-traditional candidate succeed but it took longer.
What the computer does is complicated. We use the written high level language to generate the instructions that the computer actually executes to "do something." The instructions are what "do something." Someone might stare in puzzlement at why some seemingly irrelevant value is bit-shifted right 8 bits. No reference in the code to it. BUT... there might be some library function that needs it. Or something. A well-worn code base is typically a well-tested and reliable code base.
I'm not saying one should never re-architect a kludge to modern programming paradigms. However, one must be very judicious in reworking something that's been working well for a long time for a lot of users.
To add to the previous comment, here are some of the skills someone would need to manage something like this:
1) Quite conversant with using Linux. Will need to install packages, add users, set permissions. Set up iptables. 2) Familiarity with network concepts. What is a web server and what does it do? Apache is a very common web server FYI. How do you set up https? How do you configure Apache? 3) Conversant in object-oriented programming. I'm guessing it's not just static pages on your site. Common web programming languages on the server are Java and PHP and ASP. PHP is the only open source option and is very common. Java is Oracle, ASP is Microsoft. "Javascript" is the most common programming language for the browser. 4) Conversant in databases, if you're building some sort of web application. MySQL (now MariaDB) is very common. Postgres is quite common. Both open source. Oracle and Microsoft make databases but they can get quite pricey. 5) Conversant with page layout formatting languages like CSS and HTML. 6) Someone who understands the importance of securing user data. Do they know what MD5 and AES is? Do they know the difference between one-way hashing (can't be decrypted) and decryptable encryption? 7) What about someone who is at least somewhat artistic and able to make the web page look good? Someone who knows about Flash perhaps? Or someone who can use image manipulation software like Photoshop to generate images?
As far as Chuck Schumer goes, the information is here.
I'm sorry.. the last 2 years especially have left me with nothing but cynicism.
It's not cynicism, it's realism. It's a simple understanding of normal, rational human nature, and how the system works. The Founders instituted a system of checks and balances because they understood it would be self-interested, normal, rational humans who would be leading the country. They weren't cynical in doing this, merely taking into account reality and trying to reach the best outcome.
I hear politicians always say, to the effect, "Trust us, or else you're cynical." It's stupid and naive to believe their words. Look at their actions, and who is paying them to get a clearer picture of what they're trying to accomplish. They are normal, rational, self-interested people and will do things to help their current financial position, their future financial position, help their friends and contributors, and punish their enemies.
The deep ocean is a dangerous place. The jungle is a dangerous place.
To think whatever might be lurking in deep space is all warm and fuzzy, ready to submit to our dominion, or tenderly treat us like children, eager to school us in the secrets of the universe, seems a bit naive.
I played BatMUD and 3 Kingdoms back in the early-mid 90s. A lot of fun. Heck of a time sink though. On the other hand, "Time you enjoyed wasting was not wasted." -- John Lennon / various attributions
Guns are a "high karma" device. Capable of great good and great evil.
On the one hand, they can be used to defend the innocent, save lives, and fight evil. On the other they can be used to kill the innocent, take lives and cause great evil.
It's a voluntary prostitute-john business. Politicians can threaten to shake down businesses. Businesses give money, politicians do what they want.
Every remedy has its own set of costs and benefits. But, I don't think the Founders foresaw this type or level of corruption. They instituted a system of checks and balances, because they understood human nature, and the system was designed to keep the leaders in check. I don't think they foresaw the power of various business-political complexes.
Seriously. In an interview with older guys, the people doing the interviewing want to know:
You won't be constantly challenging their authority.
You will be open to new ways of doing things.
You want to learn.
You can learn (show evidence).
You can take orders and carry them out and execute well.
Won't be cynical and infect others with cynicism.
You can integrate well with the team (you're not a douche).
Don't badmouth previous employers. Don't come off like a know-it-all. Be eager and positive, both in the position and cultivate those qualities personally.
It sounds like you can learn, and you've got a positive attitude. Getting that first break might take some effort, but get that initial experience and you're golden.
I was going to say, "If the Taliban and Al Qaeda were just saying bad things about the US, they wouldn't be on the business end of the drones."
However, the case of Anwar al-Awlaki gave me pause. He was a fellow saying bad things about the US. However, he inspired multiple mass casualty Al Qaeda terrorists and recruited for them, so he was killed.
"No one will really understand politics until they understand that politicians are not trying to solve our problems. They are trying to solve their own problems - of which getting elected and re-elected are number and number two. Whatever is number three is far behind." -- Thomas Sowell
Getting an agency chairmanship is probably quite an expensive proposition, but ultimately very, very good for the bank account. More expensive than an ambassadorship.
Money quote from the article: "He woke up under so much drugs, asked for a paper and pen and wrote, ‘bag, saw the guy, looked right at me,’” Chris Bauman said yesterday in an interview. " - ibid
Slashdot Mirror
Looks like we're going to have a lot more Wireshark users :)
Head meat and brain meat decays. So, capturing the consciousness and implanting that somewhere would be real immortality.
However, in the meantime, I'll settle for looking like this guy. Provided there are suitable donors of course.
The big media players were gatekeepers of the popular media marketplace. This gave them a tremendous amount of wealth, power and prestige.
Now, with the Internet allowing a free flow of ideas outside of that controlled marketplace - print, radio and television - it negatively impacts their wealth, power and prestige.
Tightly corporate controlled print, radio and television media is very close to government controlled print, radio and television, with significant overlaps.
FYI: A good tutorial is worth its weight in gold. Don't mistake a reference for a tutorial.
A tutorial will walk you through the basics. A reference is like a dictionary. Good for someone who already has a good idea of what he's doing and just needs details on the specifics. A tutorial is for someone just trying to figure out how to apply the technology.
Many of us realize limited, legal immigration is a good thing. New ideas, smart people, genetic diversity, global perspective - all good things.
HOWEVER - when we have the system we have now - nearly unlimited illegal immigration plus skilled labor being imported primarily to suppress wages, then the citizens being affected have an interest in trying to stop it.
To give you some context regarding the size of the IEEE's political spending in 2012 (ACM spent precisely 0 dollars):
1) IEEE spent 70,000 dollars on lobbying politicians in 2012.
2) The National Association of Realtors spent 41 million dollars on politicians.
3) The American Hospital Association spent 19 million on politicians.
Source.
Perfect example of how lobbying works. In this case, it was multiple unions with Washington DC lobbying presences who stopped the construction industry from bringing in more foreign workers:
"Construction lobbyists fall short in push for more foreign workers
By Peter Wallsten, Friday, June 28, 8:27
Washington Post
The sprawling Senate immigration legislation now headed to the House is packed with provisions designed to help businesses hire foreign workers, whether for computer labs in Silicon Valley, cruise ships docked in Florida and other U.S. ports, or seafood-processing centers in Alaska.
Yet in the frenetic push by K Street to cram in as many new guest-worker visas as possible, lobbyists for one industry came up short: construction..."
1) Not a "Union" any more than the AMA or the AAJ (trial lawyers association) is.
2) It is not an intermediary between the worker and management.
3) It is an intermediary between the worker and the POLITICIANS.
Management lobbies politicians to get favorable laws written. The workers need to do the same.
Many industries have a lobbying group:
1) Doctors have the American Medical Association
2) Teachers have the National Education Association
3) Realtors have the National Association of Realtors
4) Senior citizens have the AARP
And so on and so forth.
The employing companies certainly are represented in Washington DC. Which is why we get the system we have. There's the IEEE which gave a whopping 70-80 thousand dollars a year to politicians. The ACM - I couldn't even find them as a lobbying organization at all.
We can whine about it. But tech workers need a lobbying organization. Politicians do what's in their own personal best interests. And you can't expect them to vote against big donors. They won't even talk to you if you're not a sizable contributor or don't have some block of votes to present to them.
Well funded organizations - dealerships - are able to pad politicians pockets. Thus the politicians do what the organized contributors want.
If Tesla wants to do this, he needs to grease some politicians' palms. Not directly of course, but through the legalized channels - buying things for family members, contributing to shell entities which funnel money to politicians, that sort of thing. There are many ways to effect this.
Do that and Tesla's problems should go away.
Also... in this field - software development - college is a big deal. Have a clear narrative about why you didn't get the degree. Broken home, supporting brothers and sisters, had to start work early? Joined the Army and immediately went into the work force after? Something compelling. Not a "college bored me so I dropped out."
You need a credible and compelling narrative to address this question, IMHO.
Also - very important - don't sell yourself short. If someone sees lots of accomplishments and prior work history and published papers, that will go far in making up for no college. Combine that with a credible and compelling narrative about why you didn't get a degree, and the company will likely think you can benefit them - you can solve problems and add value to the team.
You are a non-traditional candidate. You don't fit neatly into the application fields. How do you show that you can benefit the company more than the other candidates?
1) A fellow I know is an older non-traditional candidate. It took longer, but he got a job with a small company. Lesson: find a company with a less mechanical hiring process in which if you don't check box N, they won't submit your application to the hiring managers.
2) Physical job fairs: HR or even hiring managers look at your resume and you here. Structure your resume so your most impressive attributes are at the top.
3) Success in previous jobs seems like a good indicator of ability.
Tune and retune that resume. Give it to friends - but you are the final arbiter. I've had people I know and like give me utterly moronic resume advice. If I hear a consistent theme though, I'll likely address that recurrent theme.
Resume: Imagine you're on the other side of the desk and you've spent your days looking through stacks of resumes. Pretend that's your job - human resources. Their job and bonuses are based on how well they fill positions. So... why on earth would they want to take a chance on you? Have your resume answer that question. If an HR type provides bad candidates to the hiring manager, he'll get blowback.
I've seen the non-traditional candidate succeed but it took longer.
Cruft is there for a reason.
What the computer does is complicated. We use the written high level language to generate the instructions that the computer actually executes to "do something." The instructions are what "do something." Someone might stare in puzzlement at why some seemingly irrelevant value is bit-shifted right 8 bits. No reference in the code to it. BUT... there might be some library function that needs it. Or something. A well-worn code base is typically a well-tested and reliable code base.
I'm not saying one should never re-architect a kludge to modern programming paradigms. However, one must be very judicious in reworking something that's been working well for a long time for a lot of users.
Also - go to different websites. For the ones you like, look at the very bottom of the page. The web design company that made it might have a link.
To add to the previous comment, here are some of the skills someone would need to manage something like this:
1) Quite conversant with using Linux. Will need to install packages, add users, set permissions. Set up iptables.
2) Familiarity with network concepts. What is a web server and what does it do? Apache is a very common web server FYI. How do you set up https? How do you configure Apache?
3) Conversant in object-oriented programming. I'm guessing it's not just static pages on your site. Common web programming languages on the server are Java and PHP and ASP. PHP is the only open source option and is very common. Java is Oracle, ASP is Microsoft. "Javascript" is the most common programming language for the browser.
4) Conversant in databases, if you're building some sort of web application. MySQL (now MariaDB) is very common. Postgres is quite common. Both open source. Oracle and Microsoft make databases but they can get quite pricey.
5) Conversant with page layout formatting languages like CSS and HTML.
6) Someone who understands the importance of securing user data. Do they know what MD5 and AES is? Do they know the difference between one-way hashing (can't be decrypted) and decryptable encryption?
7) What about someone who is at least somewhat artistic and able to make the web page look good? Someone who knows about Flash perhaps? Or someone who can use image manipulation software like Photoshop to generate images?
I'm sure others can add to this.
OpenSecrets.org takes a lot of the mystery out of who is paying whom in politics.
As far as Chuck Schumer goes, the information is here.
It's not cynicism, it's realism. It's a simple understanding of normal, rational human nature, and how the system works. The Founders instituted a system of checks and balances because they understood it would be self-interested, normal, rational humans who would be leading the country. They weren't cynical in doing this, merely taking into account reality and trying to reach the best outcome.
I hear politicians always say, to the effect, "Trust us, or else you're cynical." It's stupid and naive to believe their words. Look at their actions, and who is paying them to get a clearer picture of what they're trying to accomplish. They are normal, rational, self-interested people and will do things to help their current financial position, their future financial position, help their friends and contributors, and punish their enemies.
Be skeptical of politicians. The Founders were.
The deep ocean is a dangerous place. The jungle is a dangerous place.
To think whatever might be lurking in deep space is all warm and fuzzy, ready to submit to our dominion, or tenderly treat us like children, eager to school us in the secrets of the universe, seems a bit naive.
I played BatMUD and 3 Kingdoms back in the early-mid 90s. A lot of fun. Heck of a time sink though. On the other hand, "Time you enjoyed wasting was not wasted." -- John Lennon / various attributions
Great to see they're still around. Amazing.
Guns are a "high karma" device. Capable of great good and great evil.
On the one hand, they can be used to defend the innocent, save lives, and fight evil. On the other they can be used to kill the innocent, take lives and cause great evil.
In 1998, Microsoft was pursued by the DOJ in an antitrust case. In 2001, the case was dropped.
1) Amount of money Microsoft contributed, from 1990 to present.
Scroll down to the graph titled "Party Split" to see the totals by year.
2) The DOJ announced on September 6, 2001 that it was no longer seeking to break up Microsoft and would instead seek a lesser antitrust penalty.
It's a voluntary prostitute-john business. Politicians can threaten to shake down businesses. Businesses give money, politicians do what they want.
Every remedy has its own set of costs and benefits. But, I don't think the Founders foresaw this type or level of corruption. They instituted a system of checks and balances, because they understood human nature, and the system was designed to keep the leaders in check. I don't think they foresaw the power of various business-political complexes.
Seriously. In an interview with older guys, the people doing the interviewing want to know:
You won't be constantly challenging their authority.
You will be open to new ways of doing things.
You want to learn.
You can learn (show evidence).
You can take orders and carry them out and execute well.
Won't be cynical and infect others with cynicism.
You can integrate well with the team (you're not a douche).
Don't badmouth previous employers. Don't come off like a know-it-all. Be eager and positive, both in the position and cultivate those qualities personally.
It sounds like you can learn, and you've got a positive attitude. Getting that first break might take some effort, but get that initial experience and you're golden.
I was going to say, "If the Taliban and Al Qaeda were just saying bad things about the US, they wouldn't be on the business end of the drones."
However, the case of Anwar al-Awlaki gave me pause. He was a fellow saying bad things about the US. However, he inspired multiple mass casualty Al Qaeda terrorists and recruited for them, so he was killed.
Seditious speech in the US has only limted protections.
See also Hate speech and incitements to violence. They're not totally protected in the US either, from what I understand.
"No one will really understand politics until they understand that politicians are not trying to solve our problems. They are trying to solve their own problems - of which getting elected and re-elected are number and number two. Whatever is number three is far behind." -- Thomas Sowell
With that in mind: "President Obama is expected on Wednesday to nominate Tom Wheeler, a venture capital investor and fund-raiser in Mr. Obama’s presidential campaigns, as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, two administration officials said Tuesday."
Getting an agency chairmanship is probably quite an expensive proposition, but ultimately very, very good for the bank account. More expensive than an ambassadorship.
Money quote from the article: "He woke up under so much drugs, asked for a paper and pen and wrote, ‘bag, saw the guy, looked right at me,’” Chris Bauman said yesterday in an interview. " - ibid