Better pay than a substitute teacher, but no benefits at all. I have to pay for everything from my own pocket including 16 hours of CE every year, malpractice insurance, DEA registration, CPR certification, ADA membership, etc. And since I work in different places with no guarantee that they will have instruments that I like to use, I have to buy my own (just certain specific ones that I have grown particularly fond of), and let me tell you, dental instruments are not cheap. I get no life, health, or disability insurance and no 401k plan.
On paper I always had plenty of time off. But just try to take it. Then you find out how much time off you really get. And every time you change jobs, the clock starts over.
I worked at HP back when the HR dept used to herd all of us into a room every year to proudly explain that they had colluded with all the other big engineering companies throughout the bay area to set salaries and benefits. The subtext was obvious- stay here because you aren't going to get a better deal anywhere else.
I had an interview with a company in Agoura Hills while I was working for HP. After passing me around for a day the HR guy finally said they want to hire me and he gave me all pay and benefits info. I said "I'm getting 4 weeks of vacation at HP and you want to cut me back to 2 weeks (not that I could ever take that 4 weeks off), and the pay you're offering is a little less than I get at HP. Can we do something at least with the vacation time?" He said "Nope, that's the deal everyone gets, take it or leave it". I was back in my car in about 30 seconds.
I spent two years doing the prerequisites - general and organic chemistry, physiology, biology, microbiology, etc., then applied and got into dental school when I was 48 YO. 4 more years of school and I became a dentist in 2011 at the tender age of 52. I believe at the time I was the oldest dental student in the US. I don't know what they were thinking letting me into dental school. My only regret is that I didn't make the switch about 5 years into my engineering career. I had a lot of less than exciting engineering jobs. My hobby projects were always much more interesting than anything I got to do at work.
I spent the first 3 years as a dentist working in a public health clinic, sucking on the teat of Big Government (NHSC student loan repayment program). I liked the patients and the work was very rewarding but I eventually and came to the realization that public health clinics (at least the one where I worked) are operated by incompetents, criminals, or incompetent criminals. They got some sort of grant from the feds that paid $140 or $150 for every patient encounter in addition to the title 19 insurance payment, so they would schedule appointments at 45 minute intervals. I was working two chairs, each with a new patient every 45 minutes, plus doing exams in the hygienist's chair (sometimes 4 hygienist's chairs). You can't do a whole lot of dentistry in 45 minutes, and you can't write decent notes from the patient encounter. It was awful for everyone including the patients.
I took a swing at private practice for a year in a large group practice and we came to a mutual understanding that partnership in that clinic was not in the cards for me. That's when it occurred to me that I needed more between-jobs time. Now I work when I want and travel or just work on hobby projects. I figure I'll keep working for another 10 years or so, as long as my body holds up (dentistry is surprisingly demanding physically- I had shoulder surgery a couple years ago that took months of recovery).
In the 22 years I was an engineer I got to take a week off two or three times, otherwise vacation time was used by extending weekends to 3 days. The only time I was able to take more than a week off was when I was between jobs.
I pity those poor Chinese engineers!
After working full time as a dentist (4 days a week), for a few years, and finding the same sort of problem getting time off, I realized that I needed more between-jobs time. So now I do locum tenens work. It doesn't pay nearly as well as full time work in a clinic, but it sure makes life more pleasant. There seems to be plenty of locum tenens work available.
Carver used to make audio products back in the 80s and 90s. Their big thing was called "magnetic field amplifiers". They would churn out "white papers" on their technology and people would buy their stuff. None of it ever lasted long and they went out of business, several times, IRIC.
Carver's big "breakthrough" was, like Dyson, in marketing, not engineering.
I just bought a Miele vacuum cleaner. I studied a lot of reviews and found that Dysons have a reputation for being loud. That's what I was trying to get away from. That and the idiotic concept of "bagless". Bagless vacuums are great until you have to empty them. Then they make a mess. I suppose I could take the thing out to the yard, stand upwind of it, place the canister into a trash can, then open it up, but I'd still have to wipe all the dust off the canister before I brought it back into the house.
The Miele is quiet (my cats don't even run away from it), powerful, and disposal of the bags is very neat and simple. The handle extends long enough the I don't have to bend over to use it unless I'm trying to reach under furniture.
Why would anyone care about reducing power used? When I have a job like vacuuming to do I want it done as quickly as possible. If I got a 100W vacuum cleaner and then spent the next twelve hours vacuuming with it I might be able to get the work done that a 1200W vacuum cleaner will do in an hour. Power used would be the same but I'd have spent 11 hours less vacuuming with the higher powered option. Nothing is as valuable as my time. In fact, I'm going to stop wasting it by posting stuff about my vacuum cleaner in forums like this.
that if he's been in jail for 7 months and has not coughed up the password, either he doesn't know it or his stay in jail has been too "comfortable". In the fascist state this may become after the next election, having the guards looks away while his fellow captives make his stay in the jail "uncomfortable" might induce him to comply with the court order.
Doesn't the NSA have copies of everything the guy has been downloading?
Life extension, if it ever becomes real, will be for the very rich. The rest of us will live our normal lives of quiet desperation as we serve our life-extended masters.
I wonder if eating people who have has this therapy will extend the life of the eater? Hmmmm. One more reason to consider eating the rich.
How is it determined that every person's fingerprints are unique, that their irises are unique, that blood vessels in the retina are unique, that brain waves are unique?
With things that can change over time, how reliable are the biometrics? Fingers can be injured, retinas can change with macular degeneration and other problems, irises can change when the eye is injured, brain waves???
to realize that the quickest way around campus is knocking people over instead of going around them? It will only have to do it a few times before people hear about it and then steer clear of the robot.
If it continues to get smarter, it may decide that intimidating students into carrying its packages is the fastest way to get the job done.
A more political interpretation of this is that they're trying to replace student labor with robots. I think the students should file a law suit - delivering packages around campus should be a work-study position. I guess the guys in charge have a vested interest in keeping students on the hook for their student loans as long as possible...
There are thousands of patents on lenses which simply "refract rays of light". What difference does the refracting material make on whether or not a lens is patentable?
"But I'm sure Sarah Palin also "thinks scientifically" occasionally just by virtue of possessing a human brain."
Science is a conscious process, a discipline. Sarah Palin does not consciously think about her methodology and optimizing it to obtain results that reflect reality, therefore she does not think scientifically.
Slashdot Mirror
They're always up to something weird!
I'm going to tell my kid to stay away from science and become a lawyer.
Better pay than a substitute teacher, but no benefits at all. I have to pay for everything from my own pocket including 16 hours of CE every year, malpractice insurance, DEA registration, CPR certification, ADA membership, etc. And since I work in different places with no guarantee that they will have instruments that I like to use, I have to buy my own (just certain specific ones that I have grown particularly fond of), and let me tell you, dental instruments are not cheap. I get no life, health, or disability insurance and no 401k plan.
On paper I always had plenty of time off. But just try to take it. Then you find out how much time off you really get. And every time you change jobs, the clock starts over.
I worked at HP back when the HR dept used to herd all of us into a room every year to proudly explain that they had colluded with all the other big engineering companies throughout the bay area to set salaries and benefits. The subtext was obvious- stay here because you aren't going to get a better deal anywhere else.
I had an interview with a company in Agoura Hills while I was working for HP. After passing me around for a day the HR guy finally said they want to hire me and he gave me all pay and benefits info. I said "I'm getting 4 weeks of vacation at HP and you want to cut me back to 2 weeks (not that I could ever take that 4 weeks off), and the pay you're offering is a little less than I get at HP. Can we do something at least with the vacation time?" He said "Nope, that's the deal everyone gets, take it or leave it". I was back in my car in about 30 seconds.
I spent two years doing the prerequisites - general and organic chemistry, physiology, biology, microbiology, etc., then applied and got into dental school when I was 48 YO. 4 more years of school and I became a dentist in 2011 at the tender age of 52. I believe at the time I was the oldest dental student in the US. I don't know what they were thinking letting me into dental school. My only regret is that I didn't make the switch about 5 years into my engineering career. I had a lot of less than exciting engineering jobs. My hobby projects were always much more interesting than anything I got to do at work.
I spent the first 3 years as a dentist working in a public health clinic, sucking on the teat of Big Government (NHSC student loan repayment program). I liked the patients and the work was very rewarding but I eventually and came to the realization that public health clinics (at least the one where I worked) are operated by incompetents, criminals, or incompetent criminals. They got some sort of grant from the feds that paid $140 or $150 for every patient encounter in addition to the title 19 insurance payment, so they would schedule appointments at 45 minute intervals. I was working two chairs, each with a new patient every 45 minutes, plus doing exams in the hygienist's chair (sometimes 4 hygienist's chairs). You can't do a whole lot of dentistry in 45 minutes, and you can't write decent notes from the patient encounter. It was awful for everyone including the patients.
I took a swing at private practice for a year in a large group practice and we came to a mutual understanding that partnership in that clinic was not in the cards for me. That's when it occurred to me that I needed more between-jobs time. Now I work when I want and travel or just work on hobby projects. I figure I'll keep working for another 10 years or so, as long as my body holds up (dentistry is surprisingly demanding physically- I had shoulder surgery a couple years ago that took months of recovery).
In the 22 years I was an engineer I got to take a week off two or three times, otherwise vacation time was used by extending weekends to 3 days. The only time I was able to take more than a week off was when I was between jobs.
I pity those poor Chinese engineers!
After working full time as a dentist (4 days a week), for a few years, and finding the same sort of problem getting time off, I realized that I needed more between-jobs time. So now I do locum tenens work. It doesn't pay nearly as well as full time work in a clinic, but it sure makes life more pleasant. There seems to be plenty of locum tenens work available.
but even I know that you don't mix personal and business funds. The CEO is a dope for ever allowing it to happen.
If it's not "tactical" I'm not interested.
P.T. Barnum?
Carver used to make audio products back in the 80s and 90s. Their big thing was called "magnetic field amplifiers". They would churn out "white papers" on their technology and people would buy their stuff. None of it ever lasted long and they went out of business, several times, IRIC.
Carver's big "breakthrough" was, like Dyson, in marketing, not engineering.
I have a Miele C3 and it is fantastic. Quiet, powerful, and as you said, no cloud of duct when I empty it. It doesn't even scare the cats.
I just bought a Miele vacuum cleaner. I studied a lot of reviews and found that Dysons have a reputation for being loud. That's what I was trying to get away from. That and the idiotic concept of "bagless". Bagless vacuums are great until you have to empty them. Then they make a mess. I suppose I could take the thing out to the yard, stand upwind of it, place the canister into a trash can, then open it up, but I'd still have to wipe all the dust off the canister before I brought it back into the house.
The Miele is quiet (my cats don't even run away from it), powerful, and disposal of the bags is very neat and simple. The handle extends long enough the I don't have to bend over to use it unless I'm trying to reach under furniture.
Why would anyone care about reducing power used? When I have a job like vacuuming to do I want it done as quickly as possible. If I got a 100W vacuum cleaner and then spent the next twelve hours vacuuming with it I might be able to get the work done that a 1200W vacuum cleaner will do in an hour. Power used would be the same but I'd have spent 11 hours less vacuuming with the higher powered option. Nothing is as valuable as my time. In fact, I'm going to stop wasting it by posting stuff about my vacuum cleaner in forums like this.
that if he's been in jail for 7 months and has not coughed up the password, either he doesn't know it or his stay in jail has been too "comfortable". In the fascist state this may become after the next election, having the guards looks away while his fellow captives make his stay in the jail "uncomfortable" might induce him to comply with the court order.
Doesn't the NSA have copies of everything the guy has been downloading?
I don't like buffeting produced by 13 blades spinning at 100k rpm. It doesn't feel a warm summer breeze. You call this is an advance?
It's a marketing breakthrough!
Do you actually think that if life extension technology becomes real, anyone but the super rich will be able to afford it?
Life extension, if it ever becomes real, will be for the very rich. The rest of us will live our normal lives of quiet desperation as we serve our life-extended masters.
I wonder if eating people who have has this therapy will extend the life of the eater? Hmmmm. One more reason to consider eating the rich.
Holy crap! /. has handed you a perfectly good opportunity to talk about porn and you guys decided to talk about smoking?
What is wrong with you?
How is it determined that every person's fingerprints are unique, that their irises are unique, that blood vessels in the retina are unique, that brain waves are unique?
With things that can change over time, how reliable are the biometrics? Fingers can be injured, retinas can change with macular degeneration and other problems, irises can change when the eye is injured, brain waves???
Is there no honor among thieves?
to realize that the quickest way around campus is knocking people over instead of going around them? It will only have to do it a few times before people hear about it and then steer clear of the robot.
If it continues to get smarter, it may decide that intimidating students into carrying its packages is the fastest way to get the job done.
A more political interpretation of this is that they're trying to replace student labor with robots. I think the students should file a law suit - delivering packages around campus should be a work-study position. I guess the guys in charge have a vested interest in keeping students on the hook for their student loans as long as possible...
There are thousands of patents on lenses which simply "refract rays of light". What difference does the refracting material make on whether or not a lens is patentable?
I really do.
"But I'm sure Sarah Palin also "thinks scientifically" occasionally just by virtue of possessing a human brain."
Science is a conscious process, a discipline. Sarah Palin does not consciously think about her methodology and optimizing it to obtain results that reflect reality, therefore she does not think scientifically.
Plan 9!
How about a pencil cup, toothpick holder, or a keyfob made from a CT scan?
http://www.thingiverse.com/thi...
https://www.youmagine.com/desi...
http://cdn.instructables.com/F...
That should increase demand and production about 100X!