I don't know, but I wouldn't be surprised if somebody already came up with this. I decided to make up this.sig because I got tired of the Creation vs. Evolution debate. If you watch it on tv, you can see the bias of people. My.sig would apply to both sides of the issue, because it's history and a view of what happened. If you figure out who said it first, let me know.
People keep saying that science has proved this and that. I truely believe that people in general have forsaken true science because of its apparent failures.
For example, doctor says to do this or do that. His idea failed, therefore science failed. In reality, science worked, but it was misused.
In a similar manner science doesn't fail in the Creation vs. Evolution debate, but people misuse it to come to their conclusions. I lean on one side of the issue, but I see people on both sides, making the mistake.
I have a friend who argues that life is backwards. We should start out at age 22 with...That should decrease as the years go by until at 65...
I'm surprised to hear that. I realize that people make wrong turns in life, but that suprises me. I was under the impression that these high paid 22 year olds, were a phenominom [correct sp?] of the.com era. I'd surprised to see data supporting his view.
The same guy also argues that only veterans should get Veterans Day as a holiday. I must say I agree, although I am not a veteran!
I've never heard of anything like that. In Canada, we have Rememberence Day on the same day of the year. Perhaps it would be wise to not make it a day off at all. I don't understand why people need a whole day for this kind of thing. Thanks for sharing this idea.
Historical events are not repeatable. *Types* of historical events are repeatable. We have seen that people die in history. Can they die again at the same point in time?
Science cannot *prove* history. We can use logic to clear out false information, and science can help. However science can't prove that an event happened. To prove that an event happened using science, you'd have to make it repeatable.
"We know very little about the development of hair cells," Duke said. "Most hearing loss in old age is caused by the death of hair cells, which are not regenerated."
So then, people with long ear hair must hear very well? Do people with long nose hair smell very well? If a person goes blind and his hearing becomes enhanced, then does that mean blindness stimulates ear hair growth? My, oh my. The body is just so fascinating!
If we understood the development process, there might be some hope of using gene therapy to stimulate the growth of new hair cells.
There are plenty of people with too much hair in their noses and ears! We just need to study them!
On a serious note, does this all mean that those who use cotton swabs to clean out the ear canal are actually damaging their hearing because they may be damaging the hairs?
The latest findings, published in the May issue of the journal Physics World, help to explain why some people's ears emit noise that actually can be heard by passers by.
I can't help but wonder what that sound is like. It would be interesting to have someone actually point it out to us.
On a slightly unrelated note, I hope that they can make use of this knowledge to put an end to the ringing in my ears.
For some odd reason, in earlier versions we never really had full control over our default margins. One thing that may help a bit is.../spadmin. This will allow you to change your default paper. For some reason it is set to A4 instead of US Letter. I don't live in the US, but still. In the previous stable version, you can now finally have equal margins all the way around.
I don't know what version 1.0 is like. I hope that what I said helps you guys.
I think that it would be good for employers to give employees longer vacations and more time off. But instead of deducting from their paychecks, they should just give them everything and let them save up for their own vacations.
On a slightly unrelated note, you get a wide variety of vaction plans and coffee break styles, even within the same country.
My brother's wife works for a company that gives her around 5 weeks off, and she works in the payroll dept. Apparently, she's quite good. She gets paid a fairly decent wage too.
On the other extreme, I've had low end retail jobs. One time I asked if I could go on a coffee break assuming that I was entitled to 2 15 paid breaks. But the manager wouldn't allow that. She insisted that it all [30 minute lunch + 2 15s] be done at once, and even tried to reduce it.
"Is it alright if I go on a break now?" "You have to go?"
That didn't sit well with me. Another employer gave an unpaid 30 minute lunch for each 6 hours of work, and an unpaid 15 only if you worked an 8 hour shift. Another employer gave one 30 minute paid coffee for 4 hours of work, another 15 minute paid coffee if there was another 2 hours after that, and a 30 minute unpaid lunch if hours worked totalled 8 hours. That was a unionized company.
As people go higher up the ladder and to better careers they'll get better breaks and holidays in general.
I believe that it would be best if companies asked employees to come in for approx. 8 hours, and paid them for the expected work. It would be entirely up to the employee to budget the time and money according to the employee's needs. If I need 4 hours of break today, and manage to complete the tasks, then lucky me. If not, then too bad. There are days when I don't mind working longer just to have a sense of acheivement. While there are others when I wish that I could relax a bit more and enjoy life.
Negotiating for a new contract every year would give *both* employees *and* employers a better sense of control, and it would allow them both to adapt to the changing winds of the economy.
Re:What if you get fired, laid off or don't want i
on
Company Paid Training?
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· Score: 1
surely if a new employee is going to take some risk for a new job, they should be looking for bonuses, stock options, promotions, etc..... not training?????
Yes you are right. That's why I asked what would happen if you don't want training. If the new emloyee is taking some risk for a new job then he will want something in return, and it's probably not training. As I said in the quote that you quoted, a certain amount of accountability is good. I wasn't refering to training as a reward. I meant to describe it as something that would help competition.
PS: Does MS Office work on your computer [the 386]? Just curious.
Yes, why? Just kidding.
No, but for those of us who work at home or don't have big needs, OpenOffice.org will work just fine--that is, if I can get it working. I think the key is to have about 80-100MB of swap partition. I'm going to give it a try tomorrow and submit a story to/. The reason that I'm trying that is because I like making use of old hardware, plus I want to contribute to the rule project.
For what it's worth, I'm not holding Linux up to the standard that a desktop *must* work on a 386, but I'd like it to work on one, if possible.
Honestly, I don't understand: you say that standards are a good thing, yet you don't like pdf files. I have to ask you, did even once a PDF file go wrong on your computer while display right on a coleague? To me, pdf (and ps, of course) are the best document formats out there. Simple, easily convertible to text (if needed), with no problems, and based on STANDARDS.
You bring up a good point. Perhaps I should rephrase. I do believe that standards are good in and of themselves, but that won't justify each standard. There are pdfs out there that have nothing sophisticated in the document, except for the title which is centred. Nothing wrong with that, except that the document is bigger than an html version would be, and you have to scroll left and right. Okay, you don't have to because there are alternatives, but in my opinion, it doesn't fit as well.
To rephrase and summarize, although standards are good, I don't need pdfs to read text for my needs. It depends on each person and a new standard may help make more people happy.
What the Linux community really needs is a single office suite standard, eliminating the compatibility issues.
I agree. I think that the standards that they need to agree on are file formats, and the desire to reuse as much code as possible.
Other than that, I'd encourage them to make as many skins and interfaces as possible. I believe that it's good to have variation so that people can customize according to their needs. For example, I have a 386 with 8MB of RAM and an approx. 540MB harddrive. I'd love to install a Linux desktop on it, but it's not going to be easy!:^) If there were a trimmed down version to meet my needs, then that would be great. A featureful, non-trimmed down version would really help those with lots of hardware.
Other variations may include plugins, so that documents can be browsed on the web, and we can finally get rid of pdf files.
You are right. "Advantages" is the way to go in selling. It has to have an advantage in order for it to be profitable and be based on good economics. If the newer method doesn't have an advantage then it only has disadvantages.
One interesting thing in Slashdot is that when one reads Slashdot posts, he can easily see how much bias there is. If it is a submission about how bad M$ is, then there will be about 200 messages in the first 5 minutes. If it is a submission about how to advocate/sell Linux or a decent piece of software, people won't be interested. This is because advocacy/selling requires work, while grumbling about their loss of rights is easy and they get to feel like martyrs.
Perhaps they should go back to their "luser" groups for a pity party!:^)
I've enjoyed messaging with you. Thanks!
What if you get fired, laid off or don't want it?
on
Company Paid Training?
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· Score: 2, Insightful
This whole idea scares me a little.
What if you get fired? Do you have to pay back? Probably.
What if you get laid off? Do you have to pay back?
What if you don't want training? Can they fire you for not being a team player? After $50K is a lot to commit to, if you aren't going to be around long enough. This could be their way of getting rid of you.
I wonder if they could force you to take $100K worth of training and get a certain gpa, and if you get less, then fire you and get their money back.
For what it's worth, I think that it's good that they hold workers to a certain amount of accountability, with regard to training. After all, hiring a new worker is expensive and risky. Getting the new employee to take up *some* [not a lot] risk would make the work place more competitive.
I think that you misread it. It's supposed to say, VanLUG, which is the Vancouver Linux Users Group. I just checked again, and I don't see VanLUGs, with an "s". I only see VanLUG, without an "s".
"Gee, I really like your product, and would love to run it on my main machines, but I run Linux and you haven't released for that, yet... Any hope of being able to buy a Linux version in the future?"
Exhibitors who hear that will make a tick on a chart in the back room under "Linux requests", and the more of those you get, the more likely something will pop. The way to get the list ripped up and tossed out is for the exhibitor to be besieged with guys "demanding" to know why they don't support "a real OS", or other inflamation.
*Exactly!* Your suggested phrasing is so unconfrontational and helpful. They *want* to know what the market wants, and your phrasing doesn't force them to be accountable to us. Just about everything should be based on economics, and this type of a phrasing acknowledges it. The other way is nothing but zealotry. They don't have to tell us why they do this or that.
I am not sure from your post, but I will ASSume that you are attending as an exhibitor, not just an attendee. In that case, there are a number of things I can think of to maximize your COMDEX presence.
Yes, you assume correctly. The people in charge were kind enough to give us a free booth.
I appreciate many of your ideas--especially the map one. I think that it's a matter of gathering enough volunteers, and resources. I wonder what VanLUG will think.
It's good to hear that your user group had good success.
It was free for our group and I had spare tickets/passes. I wouldn't recommend that people go to computer conventions for a holiday. I think that would a bad idea.
Don't have the only booth at the entire convention with Christmas-tree ribbons lining the back. It looked... well, pathetic.
We had a bit of a heated discussion on the mailing list about the decorations. I don't remember the Christmas stuff. I wasn't too pleased about the other things. I'm certain that we'll do better next time.
Janitors will always be around. Programmers will always be around. What makes anybody think that being a programmer isn't a dead end job?
Just add to that the fact that India is competing to be the best IT country on the planet. Then being a high paid programmer in westernized countries is even harder.
The magic of making a computer do what you want is wearing off. People will become less and less fascinated with programmers, thus those jobs will be saved for people with no social and management skills.
The average geek and nerd should still learn a little programming for their own use, but ultimately, as far as careers go, people should choose something else
Slashdot Mirror
Hi Timothy.
.sig because I got tired of the Creation vs. Evolution debate. If you watch it on tv, you can see the bias of people. My .sig would apply to both sides of the issue, because it's history and a view of what happened. If you figure out who said it first, let me know.
I don't know, but I wouldn't be surprised if somebody already came up with this. I decided to make up this
People keep saying that science has proved this and that. I truely believe that people in general have forsaken true science because of its apparent failures.
For example, doctor says to do this or do that. His idea failed, therefore science failed. In reality, science worked, but it was misused.
In a similar manner science doesn't fail in the Creation vs. Evolution debate, but people misuse it to come to their conclusions. I lean on one side of the issue, but I see people on both sides, making the mistake.
I'm surprised to hear that. I realize that people make wrong turns in life, but that suprises me. I was under the impression that these high paid 22 year olds, were a phenominom [correct sp?] of the
I've never heard of anything like that. In Canada, we have Rememberence Day on the same day of the year. Perhaps it would be wise to not make it a day off at all. I don't understand why people need a whole day for this kind of thing. Thanks for sharing this idea.
Hi Catskul.
I was only joking except for the last part. I'm sorry about that. I wish I could brush up on my humour.
However, I'm thankful that you did answer. I was suprised that the story mentioned hair like they did.
Thanks.
Historical events are not repeatable. *Types* of historical events are repeatable. We have seen that people die in history. Can they die again at the same point in time?
Science cannot *prove* history. We can use logic to clear out false information, and science can help. However science can't prove that an event happened. To prove that an event happened using science, you'd have to make it repeatable.
On a serious note, does this all mean that those who use cotton swabs to clean out the ear canal are actually damaging their hearing because they may be damaging the hairs?
I can't help but wonder what that sound is like. It would be interesting to have someone actually point it out to us.
On a slightly unrelated note, I hope that they can make use of this knowledge to put an end to the ringing in my ears.
For some odd reason, in earlier versions we never really had full control over our default margins. One thing that may help a bit is .../spadmin. This will allow you to change your default paper. For some reason it is set to A4 instead of US Letter. I don't live in the US, but still. In the previous stable version, you can now finally have equal margins all the way around.
I don't know what version 1.0 is like. I hope that what I said helps you guys.
I think that it would be good for employers to give employees longer vacations and more time off. But instead of deducting from their paychecks, they should just give them everything and let them save up for their own vacations.
On a slightly unrelated note, you get a wide variety of vaction plans and coffee break styles, even within the same country.
My brother's wife works for a company that gives her around 5 weeks off, and she works in the payroll dept. Apparently, she's quite good. She gets paid a fairly decent wage too.
On the other extreme, I've had low end retail jobs. One time I asked if I could go on a coffee break assuming that I was entitled to 2 15 paid breaks. But the manager wouldn't allow that. She insisted that it all [30 minute lunch + 2 15s] be done at once, and even tried to reduce it.
"Is it alright if I go on a break now?"
"You have to go?"
That didn't sit well with me. Another employer gave an unpaid 30 minute lunch for each 6 hours of work, and an unpaid 15 only if you worked an 8 hour shift. Another employer gave one 30 minute paid coffee for 4 hours of work, another 15 minute paid coffee if there was another 2 hours after that, and a 30 minute unpaid lunch if hours worked totalled 8 hours. That was a unionized company.
As people go higher up the ladder and to better careers they'll get better breaks and holidays in general.
I believe that it would be best if companies asked employees to come in for approx. 8 hours, and paid them for the expected work. It would be entirely up to the employee to budget the time and money according to the employee's needs. If I need 4 hours of break today, and manage to complete the tasks, then lucky me. If not, then too bad. There are days when I don't mind working longer just to have a sense of acheivement. While there are others when I wish that I could relax a bit more and enjoy life.
Negotiating for a new contract every year would give *both* employees *and* employers a better sense of control, and it would allow them both to adapt to the changing winds of the economy.
No, but for those of us who work at home or don't have big needs, OpenOffice.org will work just fine--that is, if I can get it working. I think the key is to have about 80-100MB of swap partition. I'm going to give it a try tomorrow and submit a story to
For what it's worth, I'm not holding Linux up to the standard that a desktop *must* work on a 386, but I'd like it to work on one, if possible.
To rephrase and summarize, although standards are good, I don't need pdfs to read text for my needs. It depends on each person and a new standard may help make more people happy.
Other than that, I'd encourage them to make as many skins and interfaces as possible. I believe that it's good to have variation so that people can customize according to their needs. For example, I have a 386 with 8MB of RAM and an approx. 540MB harddrive. I'd love to install a Linux desktop on it, but it's not going to be easy!
Other variations may include plugins, so that documents can be browsed on the web, and we can finally get rid of pdf files.
Any thoughts and comments?
You are right. "Advantages" is the way to go in selling. It has to have an advantage in order for it to be profitable and be based on good economics. If the newer method doesn't have an advantage then it only has disadvantages.
:^)
One interesting thing in Slashdot is that when one reads Slashdot posts, he can easily see how much bias there is. If it is a submission about how bad M$ is, then there will be about 200 messages in the first 5 minutes. If it is a submission about how to advocate/sell Linux or a decent piece of software, people won't be interested. This is because advocacy/selling requires work, while grumbling about their loss of rights is easy and they get to feel like martyrs.
Perhaps they should go back to their "luser" groups for a pity party!
I've enjoyed messaging with you. Thanks!
This whole idea scares me a little.
What if you get fired? Do you have to pay back? Probably.
What if you get laid off? Do you have to pay back?
What if you don't want training? Can they fire you for not being a team player? After $50K is a lot to commit to, if you aren't going to be around long enough. This could be their way of getting rid of you.
I wonder if they could force you to take $100K worth of training and get a certain gpa, and if you get less, then fire you and get their money back.
For what it's worth, I think that it's good that they hold workers to a certain amount of accountability, with regard to training. After all, hiring a new worker is expensive and risky. Getting the new employee to take up *some* [not a lot] risk would make the work place more competitive.
Oh, okay. :^) That was bit over my head. I think that I see what you were saying, now. Thanks for correcting me.
:^)
I don't have the sharpest sense of humour.
I think that you misread it. It's supposed to say, VanLUG, which is the Vancouver Linux Users Group. I just checked again, and I don't see VanLUGs, with an "s". I only see VanLUG, without an "s".
*Exactly!* Your suggested phrasing is so unconfrontational and helpful. They *want* to know what the market wants, and your phrasing doesn't force them to be accountable to us. Just about everything should be based on economics, and this type of a phrasing acknowledges it. The other way is nothing but zealotry. They don't have to tell us why they do this or that.
If he could get Linux to control the drawer, then the cash would be real secure! :^)
I appreciate many of your ideas--especially the map one. I think that it's a matter of gathering enough volunteers, and resources. I wonder what VanLUG will think.
It's good to hear that your user group had good success.
It was free for our group and I had spare tickets/passes. I wouldn't recommend that people go to computer conventions for a holiday. I think that would a bad idea.
I think that it is supposed to be "foci" and not "focuses", just like "octopi" and not "octopuses". I like using the latter forms of each pair.
We had a bit of a heated discussion on the mailing list about the decorations. I don't remember the Christmas stuff. I wasn't too pleased about the other things. I'm certain that we'll do better next time.
I was only there to set up one tiny little poster and place some business cards for our consultant members, so I wouldn't know.
Janitors will always be around. Programmers will always be around. What makes anybody think that being a programmer isn't a dead end job?
Just add to that the fact that India is competing to be the best IT country on the planet. Then being a high paid programmer in westernized countries is even harder.
The magic of making a computer do what you want is wearing off. People will become less and less fascinated with programmers, thus those jobs will be saved for people with no social and management skills.
The average geek and nerd should still learn a little programming for their own use, but ultimately, as far as careers go, people should choose something else