I bet I know more about Religions (east and west) and Governments (east and west) then you think you know about "democracy".
Bully for you. I readily acknowledge the arrogance of "non-USians" who believe that Americans don't know "stuff." But I also have nothing to prove to a total stranger who inanely believes he is engaged in intellectual competition with someone he does not know in the very least.
I predict that the near future (2000-2010) will reveal a movement away from partisan politics and toward a more direct, nonpartisan citizen involvement. This can be called "direct democracy" as a perjorative to conjure up "mob rule!" rants, but it will actually be a new form of decision-making where citizens in communities (at levels from neighborhood to nation) will propose, deliberate, filter and vote (or come to a consensus) on measures. This new "community decision support" mechanism is already possible from a technical perspective, but the trick will be in getting people to find time to participate, learn the issues and simply to accept the responsibility in making a lot of difficult decisions. I could go about this concept, but this is just one side of the coin.
The other tilt is that parties no longer have a rationale for existence. No party can best represent the views of anyone, unless those represented are of the rare cults of the narrow-minded. I don't make this statement lightly. In these new times of very deep access to information we never could conveniently access before, the views of many individuals are likewise deepening and no political party can ever hope to align itself with these new, more thoughtful folk.
Once everyone starts viewing political parties for what they are, they will roundly reject them. Political parties advance a set of arcane ideologies that are represented in the form of their platforms. And these platforms are increasingly not corresponding to individuals' belief systems. Thus, when you vote for a party politician, you are selecting a boatload of positions, many of which you agree, but also many of which you disagree. And what follows if your choice wins the election is that he/she will advance many policies you disagree with. There's no effective way to have a voice on these individual policies, that is, unless you feel so strongly about an issue that the incumbent opposes, you'll get a chance to vote against them in the next election cycle.
Let's face the facts head on: As a lowly citizen, your position on any issue is hopelessly filtered to oblivion! And the cause of this is partisan politics.
Obviously, creating a "No Parties" party is totally oxymoronic (make that moronic), but many good people will need to find a way to overturn the current, overbearing apparatuses of the two-party system. The next step is for the adventurous among the very sharp, technically-minded individuals, the ones who are creating the Gnutella's of our time, to create Democracy 2.0, a mechanism that relentlessly erodes and eventually crashes the parties.
It's our turn to govern now. It's inexorable and it's right.
Have you yelled at anybody today? If not, then you're bottling up your stress. Yell at your co-workers, your manager, your CEO. Scream 'em all down good. It works! Just keep your resume up-to-date on a constant basis.:)
If you're some sort of liason between the techie types and some other manager, then you're put in an untenable position; enforce the 'party line' while having little or no authority. Being held responsible for someone elses work, without any authority isn't much fun.
Remember that power is not something that's given you...power is something you take. (Jock Ewing)
If you have the title of manager, take the authority, take risks, tell people what they need (not want) to hear, and give your people what they need to do their jobs. If you're not doing these things (even if it goes beyond what upper mgmt. wants you to do), you're plainly ineffective. It's easier to ask for forgiveness than it is to ask for permission. Do what a good manager should do, *not* what clean-arse higher-uppity types think you should do.
A great manager understands, facilitates, demands and protects. With a smile on their face.
Steve Magruder
Re:"Corporate Culture"
on
Disconnected
·
· Score: 2
There are many different ways to show that you are working "for the benefit of the company." One can work well with others in their job without playing the *boring* game of softball. There's nothing wrong with organizing social events for employees, but making people feel bad because they don't participate generates tension that ends up hurting more than helping the company.
Of course, I'm not advocating leaving a job for convenience reasons. But, on the other hand, I question the overjudgmentality of management types who don't try to understand the needs and desires of their employees (you know, the ones who are doing the *real* work).
As I've learned when talking with other employers, some people (potential employees) have caught on to this and have started leaving "gaps" in their resumes to hide it. Either way, their resume immediately gets tossed. If they do make it into an interview, they are grilled about the "missing" time. Ususally, it is some bullsh*t like, "Oh, I took a vacation for three months."
Job-jumping doesn't simply occur because of the greed to move from higher-paying job to higher-paying job. It also happens when jobs simply do not work out for various reasons, for either the employee or employer. People do indeed leave jobs because of poor work conditions and/or overbearing bosses. Think about it...carefully.
At any rate, most people do what's in their own best interests, whether it's for money or for self-esteem. On top of that, people make mistakes, and the easiest mistake to make is selecting an employer you thought operated one way, but really operates differently.
I'm not suggesting that *every* problem should be solved by more government. I'm more interested in corporate abuses that inherently cannot be solved by the market in a reasonable period of time. As a representative of the People's interests, the government has to be able to step in from time to time, in a very judicious way, to provide relief.
Do we really want a world where corporate leaders think they can get away with _anything_?
9) Fiscal Conservatism. Don't blow your VC wad on things your company doesn't directly _need_ to grow. The only possible exception is perks that some software engineers will require to even accept a job at your firm. Basically, you _must_ hire a finance vulture who knows their shit!
Perhaps this is the next phase of the maturity of the software development profession. (A few years back New Jersey was thinking of this, but mostly as a scheme to raise revenue.) We'll have licensed Software Engineers.
Agreed. Rampant corporatism will be the ultimate rationale behind ending the era of the nation-states. We have to have a polity that makes it impossible for corporations (or wealthy individuals, for that matter) to escape national laws they don't like.
The only option for antisocial corporatists should be to set up shop on Mars.
Perhaps we should be talking about the various bugs in IE 5.5, like its inability to consistently load pages fully and its overall poor performance compared to IE 5.01.
Microsoft has released a crappy product (surprise!) and Slashdot is using up bandwidth to talk about a "feature" that's been in IE for a long time.
As a former (thank !) IBMer, I look back to the days I was there being moved aimlessly (IBM = I've Been Moved) from project to project 'cause Big Blue really *enjoyed* canning projects! Whenever their pernicious bean counters sniffed out an ongoing (and sometimes almost finished) project that they discovered could not make them a 20%+ return, they hawkishly went after said projects with their death sickles. These morons had and have no shame.
Steve Magruder
Re:No one seems opposed to TLD expansion
on
ICANN Elections
·
· Score: 1
Hello Karl,
In previous ICANN discussions here, I outlined my six points why TLD expansion is a very bad solution in search of a nonexistent problem. Note that none of my points included anything about the technical aspects of it all (but just because something is technically possible doesn't mean it should be actually done). It's about economics, law and common sense.
With all due respect, I cannot vote for anyone who so staunchly supports such an immediate and grossly inordinate increase of TLD's. "That's my position, and I'm stickin' to it."
Slashdot Mirror
Steve Magruder
I bet I know more about Religions (east and west) and Governments (east and west) then you think you know about "democracy".
Bully for you. I readily acknowledge the arrogance of "non-USians" who believe that Americans don't know "stuff." But I also have nothing to prove to a total stranger who inanely believes he is engaged in intellectual competition with someone he does not know in the very least.
Steve Magruder
OK. Then, I refuse to call you a Canadian. Instead, I dub thee "Parasite del Norte".
And BTW, religion sucks ass. Your inane critique noted.
Steve Magruder
Steve Magruder
This story is par for the course. First, the traditional news media "built up" high tech. And now, the same media is starting to tear down high tech.
The "movie stars" of Silicon Valley are now getting their turn.
Steve Magruder
I predict that the near future (2000-2010) will reveal a movement away from partisan politics and toward a more direct, nonpartisan citizen involvement. This can be called "direct democracy" as a perjorative to conjure up "mob rule!" rants, but it will actually be a new form of decision-making where citizens in communities (at levels from neighborhood to nation) will propose, deliberate, filter and vote (or come to a consensus) on measures. This new "community decision support" mechanism is already possible from a technical perspective, but the trick will be in getting people to find time to participate, learn the issues and simply to accept the responsibility in making a lot of difficult decisions. I could go about this concept, but this is just one side of the coin.
The other tilt is that parties no longer have a rationale for existence. No party can best represent the views of anyone, unless those represented are of the rare cults of the narrow-minded. I don't make this statement lightly. In these new times of very deep access to information we never could conveniently access before, the views of many individuals are likewise deepening and no political party can ever hope to align itself with these new, more thoughtful folk.
Once everyone starts viewing political parties for what they are, they will roundly reject them. Political parties advance a set of arcane ideologies that are represented in the form of their platforms. And these platforms are increasingly not corresponding to individuals' belief systems. Thus, when you vote for a party politician, you are selecting a boatload of positions, many of which you agree, but also many of which you disagree. And what follows if your choice wins the election is that he/she will advance many policies you disagree with. There's no effective way to have a voice on these individual policies, that is, unless you feel so strongly about an issue that the incumbent opposes, you'll get a chance to vote against them in the next election cycle.
Let's face the facts head on: As a lowly citizen, your position on any issue is hopelessly filtered to oblivion! And the cause of this is partisan politics.
Obviously, creating a "No Parties" party is totally oxymoronic (make that moronic), but many good people will need to find a way to overturn the current, overbearing apparatuses of the two-party system. The next step is for the adventurous among the very sharp, technically-minded individuals, the ones who are creating the Gnutella's of our time, to create Democracy 2.0, a mechanism that relentlessly erodes and eventually crashes the parties.
It's our turn to govern now. It's inexorable and it's right.
Steve Magruder
Steve Magruder
If you're some sort of liason between the techie types and some other manager, then you're put in an untenable position; enforce the 'party line' while having little or no authority. Being held responsible for someone elses work, without any authority isn't much fun.
Remember that power is not something that's given you...power is something you take. (Jock Ewing)
If you have the title of manager, take the authority, take risks, tell people what they need (not want) to hear, and give your people what they need to do their jobs. If you're not doing these things (even if it goes beyond what upper mgmt. wants you to do), you're plainly ineffective. It's easier to ask for forgiveness than it is to ask for permission. Do what a good manager should do, *not* what clean-arse higher-uppity types think you should do.
A great manager understands, facilitates, demands and protects. With a smile on their face.
Steve Magruder
Steve Magruder
Steve Magruder
Steve Magruder
Steve Magruder
As I've learned when talking with other employers, some people (potential employees) have caught on to this and have started leaving "gaps" in their resumes to hide it. Either way, their resume immediately gets tossed. If they do make it into an interview, they are grilled about the "missing" time. Ususally, it is some bullsh*t like, "Oh, I took a vacation for three months."
Job-jumping doesn't simply occur because of the greed to move from higher-paying job to higher-paying job. It also happens when jobs simply do not work out for various reasons, for either the employee or employer. People do indeed leave jobs because of poor work conditions and/or overbearing bosses. Think about it...carefully.
At any rate, most people do what's in their own best interests, whether it's for money or for self-esteem. On top of that, people make mistakes, and the easiest mistake to make is selecting an employer you thought operated one way, but really operates differently.
Steve Magruder
I'm not suggesting that *every* problem should be solved by more government. I'm more interested in corporate abuses that inherently cannot be solved by the market in a reasonable period of time. As a representative of the People's interests, the government has to be able to step in from time to time, in a very judicious way, to provide relief.
Do we really want a world where corporate leaders think they can get away with _anything_?
Steve Magruder
Steve Magruder
Perhaps this is the next phase of the maturity of the software development profession. (A few years back New Jersey was thinking of this, but mostly as a scheme to raise revenue.) We'll have licensed Software Engineers.
California will have to do it first.
Steve Magruder
Let's make it our objective for 2100 that over half of the population of the world have a computer and know how to program.
NO!!!!! There's already too many wannabes in the programming profession.
But I might bend if MS renames VB to Idiotware. :)
Steve Magruder
Take your dollar-votes somewhere else. Put economic Darwinisim into action.
Yeah! If you don't like Wal-mart, shop at K-mart! That'll teach 'em! :)
Steve Magruder
Agreed. Rampant corporatism will be the ultimate rationale behind ending the era of the nation-states. We have to have a polity that makes it impossible for corporations (or wealthy individuals, for that matter) to escape national laws they don't like.
The only option for antisocial corporatists should be to set up shop on Mars.
Steve Magruder
Perhaps we should be talking about the various bugs in IE 5.5, like its inability to consistently load pages fully and its overall poor performance compared to IE 5.01.
Microsoft has released a crappy product (surprise!) and Slashdot is using up bandwidth to talk about a "feature" that's been in IE for a long time.
Steve Magruder
Steve Magruder
Blame Canada!
Steve Magruder
I prefer an actual office ROOM (not a fuquing cube!) with:
Steve Magruder
Steve Magruder
Hello Karl,
In previous ICANN discussions here, I outlined my six points why TLD expansion is a very bad solution in search of a nonexistent problem. Note that none of my points included anything about the technical aspects of it all (but just because something is technically possible doesn't mean it should be actually done). It's about economics, law and common sense.
With all due respect, I cannot vote for anyone who so staunchly supports such an immediate and grossly inordinate increase of TLD's. "That's my position, and I'm stickin' to it."
Steve Magruder